**The High-Performance MR2's First Track Day Experience**

As we revved up our MR2, ready to take on the racing track, our excitement was palpable. The car, with its sleek design and powerful engine, was primed for an unforgettable experience. With a mix of anticipation and nervous energy, we took off towards the racing circuit, eager to put our vehicle through its paces.

**A Day of Racing and Repair**

Our first challenge arose when we noticed that the exhaust system seemed slightly out of place. We quickly realized that this was not just a minor issue but something more serious. Our quick inspection revealed that the rear mount had been relocated, which caused further damage to the car's structure. This unexpected twist forced us to reassess our strategy and make some critical repairs on the spot.

**The Damage Assessment**

Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the rear axle had broken instantly after welding. The weld, which was meant to be strong, had weakened the metal around it, making it prone to failure. The sleeve, which was designed to withstand heavy loads, had indeed held up well, but the rest of the axle had not fared as well. We observed that the boot was torn and the shaft had snapped, leaving us with a significant repair bill.

**The Front Track Bar Takes a Hit**

As we analyzed the damage, it became clear that our front track bar had also suffered significant stress. The engine's sudden shift caused a kink in the bar, which led to chipping of the paint and potential structural issues. We realized that this was not an isolated incident but rather a result of our aggressive driving style. Our MR2 required some crucial repairs, including a new traction bar and reinforcement.

**Lessons Learned from the Track**

Our experience at the track taught us valuable lessons about our vehicle's capabilities and limitations. The rear axle's failure served as a stark reminder that we need to take extra precautions when pushing our car to its limits. We realized that we had underestimated the stress that the rear axle could withstand, and this incident would not be repeated anytime soon.

**Looking Ahead**

While our MR2's performance at the track was impressive, it also revealed some areas where we needed improvement. We decided to upgrade our rear axles with stronger, more reliable components. With a new set of upgrades on the way, we're eager to take our vehicle back out onto the racing circuit and put its capabilities to the test once again.

**A Word from the Team**

The experience was not without its challenges, but it's an opportunity for us to grow and learn as car enthusiasts. We'll be sure to apply the lessons learned at the track to make future modifications that will enhance our vehicle's performance. With a renewed focus on safety and precision, we're excited to see what the future holds for our MR2.

**The Road Ahead**

With repairs underway, our MR2 is poised to return to its former glory. The team is eager to get back behind the wheel and put their skills to the test once again. Will they be able to overcome their past mistakes and push their vehicle to new heights? Only time will tell, but with a renewed focus on performance and safety, we're confident that our MR2 will emerge from this experience even stronger and more determined than before.

**The Team's Takeaway**

It was a valuable learning experience for the team. We've gained insights into areas where we can improve our setup to make our car faster and safer. With upgraded axles on their way, we're confident that our MR2 will be back in competition shape in no time. The key takeaway from this experience is that even with the best-planned modifications, things don't always go as expected. It's essential to stay flexible, adapt quickly, and prioritize safety above all else.

**Conclusion**

Our first track day experience was a rollercoaster of emotions, from excitement to disappointment. However, it also presented us with valuable opportunities for growth and improvement. We've learned that even the most advanced vehicles require constant fine-tuning and care. With this experience under our belts, we're ready to face new challenges head-on and push our MR2 to its limits once again. Bring on the next adventure!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign guys we are here at the track with the router seat we're gonna see what this thing can do today so if you guys look over here a little different on the inside from last time so for starters we got all of the Interior out of this thing we're trying to get it as light as possible so we got the passenger seat out the bench seat in the back out we probably dropped a good hundred pounds getting all that stuff out of here because she's a heavy girl and uh we're gonna hopefully keep those rear axles together for a good couple runs but we also made a couple changes up here so if you look at the shifter we got ourselves a strain gauge installed right there got that guy wired in so now we don't need to use the clutch to shift it's just like the MR2 once we launch it I can just shift without the clutch and I think that's going to help it a lot with the stress in between the gears because when the axle did break it was on a shift because I was clutching it in between and that's pretty hard on it so we'll be able to strain gauge it I don't have to use the clutch after we launch and we're hoping that can help keep the axles together in this thing and then for the launch control we have a button right here on the steering wheel and we have our rev limiter set to that guy or our two-step set for that button right there so I'll have to go up get it on the e-brake hold that button and we'll have the launch control set up by the button and then once I'm ready to go I let up on the button let up on the e-brake and go uh we don't have a speed sensor in the transmission so that's why we are just running a button on the steering wheel for right now all you gotta do is pop a speed sensor in there at some point and then we can reference uh speed to turn off the two-step and then we won't need the button in the future but for today we got the button on there to control our launch control and that's about it guys got one wit custom axle in the back one Kyle Custom in the back we're gonna see which one breaks today I think yours is gonna hold up bro it's got the sticker on it the sticker is extra grip I got the yeah the built for a good time not a long time sticker between between us so that axle's a little wonky but so is the other one that broke yep so we'll see I don't know how it's gonna go as long as the rear axles can hold up I think we'll get a good couple runs out of this thing and to see what it does hopefully we can at least run a nine I would be pumped on a nine second pass today but even if it ran a 10 or just a personal best which was like that 11 2 or 11 of four if we can beat that I'd be happy either way but I'm just glad to finally get the Rousey out to the track and see what it can do because you know it's been a long time I'm excited for this man it's been so long the van's been out of the eye of everybody for a while yeah dude it's been so long since the routes he's been to the track to actually like try to put up a number and I know it can do it it's just we bought those drive train issues in the past because it's it's heavy and the oldest see what happens boys we got the Slicks on there we have to just Tech our tire pressures get our topped off of gas and uh we're gonna hop in this thing and send it down the track and see what happens the first run I'm going to go very soft on the launch it'll probably roll out pretty good because I'd rather get a good A to B pass get some data before we really try to launch this thing and just kind of go from there just get a little more aggressive on the launch as we go similar to how we ran the hatch the first time we made it all-wheel drive that process went super smooth but you know the hatch isn't as heavy as this big girl over here so I'm gonna go ahead get suited up get it ready to go and uh take this thing down the drag strip see what it does all right guys we're going to do a two-step check on the minivan real quick sorry if it's a little dark we're filming on a new camcorder we just picked up so we're trying this thing out for the track go for it foreign that was nine pounds we try it there okay I can just be soft on it I'm gonna give it a little more fuel try one more time all right guys first pass of the night in the minivan hopefully he slips this clutch nice and soft hopefully she doesn't break an axle I've been awaiting this moment for years come on baby nope rear axle broke that take long brick dude I saw that rear axle bust well first pass in the van was a big F definitely broke it hopefully just an axle frick it doesn't move at all yeah I don't know what happened guys she broke pretty good on that one I think the rear axle let go and then right when the rear axle let go the front tire started spinning like crazy and it started wheel hopping and then something else broke because it's not moving at all right now which sucks so hopefully it's nothing bad but first trip in the van didn't go so good sad day after the chat so the built for a good time not a long time axle to his name I I didn't even have a good time honestly oh what really sucks is it broke up front too did it yeah felt the back one go and then the wheel hop and then it started wheel hopping really bad and then the front one let go right after so those are five dude I did not think he would break a front axle after the chat he broke off into the and this side's dangling right here no see it up under the van at high hopes for their Odyssey but dude those were completely upgraded like yeah yeah time to uh get some custom ones built I guess the only thing we could do after that is put the bigger dip in it yeah but the wheel hopping alone killed it yeah I saw a wheel hop I'm surprised you stayed in it once he started hopping I tried to get out but it's like it was just already there it was already wound up oh yeah girl's ready to watch some races right away let's go do something impressive with the other car hopefully the MR2 uh does a little better so uh we just noticed the exhaust a little out of place too I have my thoughts of what happened that rear mount the move Buckle it again take the router seat of the track they said it'll be fun they said well guys we got her up on the lifts and we definitely did some damage taking the minivan to the track you know she's a heavy girl so I'm not surprised that something broke but it did uh do quite a bit of damage so we'll start with the rear here the axle that was just repaired broke instantly so that guy is over here and it actually broke right after the weld I'm gonna get it in the light here so it did snap on the outside of the weld so we're thinking that the weld probably weakened the metal right around there after heating it up just the process of welding it because that is right where she let go and the sleeve and everything held up fine but yeah it broke right there so that guy did not hold up that broke right away and then once the rear axle went it became front wheel drive and then it instantly started wheel hopping really bad as the front tires were just trying to hook up and it was just way too much RPM and power for it and it was just wheel hopping like crazy and then that led to this right here so the half shaft actually snapped on the switch I guess out of everything that could break up here that was the best option at first I was worried that something in the trans let go luckily that is not the case we just lost the factory half shaft the DSs axles seemed to hold up as far as their strength but this one did get pretty beat up in the process you can see the boot is completely torn and I believe it's probably okay in there Everything feels fine but that was smacking around it caught the uh oil sandwich plate a little bit right there put a ding in that guy so we'll have to get a new boot on this axle and hopefully it's fine and we can just get a new half shaft and swap that out but it just sheared it off right there and then the other bit is stuck in the end of the axle here so we're gonna have to pop that guy out this side looks okay though nothing broke over here and then if you guys saw last night we noticed that the exhaust looked like it shifted a little bit kind of down under the hood more than it used to be and with all of that wheel hopping and everything this engine's seen a lot of you know torque on it and stuff's trying to shift around and what happened was if you look right here this is our front track bar and I think you guys can already see what's wrong with that we put a pretty big kink in our bar it is not straight anymore at all it actually started to chip the paint right here right where our mid plate goes so the engine actually pushed itself into the track bar here and bent that guy and if you look you know down through the hole you can see how not straight that is you can see the Kink down in there so there's that as well the whole engine shifted so we're probably gonna have to do a new traction bar on the front there and we're going to need to strengthen that up somehow maybe run a thicker tube inside of this one so it can't bend as easily but everything else seems to be okay but we're definitely gonna have to make some repairs here if we plan on doing that again because I do want to bring it back out to the track and try it again we probably could have started a little softer on the launch because I mean once that rear axle went though it was kind of game over I was hoping it would hold for at least one but uh we're gonna have to address the rear axles probably wait to actually just get some upgraded nice ones and just something that can hold it but we have some work to do we wouldn't have found the weak points though if we didn't take it to the track so we will get some stuff ordered for this thing start getting that in the works but the radius might be down for a little bit boys definitely did some damage it's first time out to the track I need like a slide hammer there she is see the ends all twisted right there right where it snapped freaking radicy dude killing axles the one time we bring it to the track again hasn't gone in two years because of this same issue and she's still breaking stuff every time it's never a good day when you have to get pulled back by the John Deere well guys that's where the radius is gonna have to sit until we get some more axles in this thing but she'll be back foreign\n"