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hrd-hr30

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Everything posted by hrd-hr30

  1. BBC say its a done deal http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24042352 "The Finn, who won the world title with Ferrari in 2007 but was replaced by Alonso at the end of 2009, has signed a one-year deal with an option for 2015." Lotus have said they want Hulk if they lose Kimi. Massa back to Sauber??? Can't see anywhere else for him.
  2. seems poor sportsmanship is cool these days
  3. Caravan Trade and Industries Association of Queensland in conjunction with RACQ publish a comprehensive Vehicle Towing Mass Guide based on manufacturers' specifications: Holden Commodore VU VY V8 s / ss Utility man / auto 12/2000-08/2004 500kg unbraked 1600kg braked #1 Load level hitch req'd over 750kgs. #9 Owner's handbook MUST be referred to for additional vehicle fittings when towing. The only Commodores rated to tow 2100kg in that model are the auto sedan, wagon (ex VY factory LPG Wagon) and one tonner, and even then it has this condition: #8 Max 80km/h over 1600kg. Commodores and Falcons are simply not a great choice for a tow car.
  4. yep, early 90s are definitely the supermodels of the modern era. Personal Favourite is the 1990 Ferrari.
  5. I'm not writing Dan off before he's started, but the facts are these: Dan is not outscoring his current team mate. Not last year, and again this year. I don't think the three, soon to be four time WDC will be terribly worried in terms of the championship. Dan appears to be a good qualifier. Problem is, Webber was also regarded as a very good qualifier... I wouldn't rate Dan as better than Webber in that regard. Maybe he'll prove that wrong, but I don't think so. Webber is also a very good racer. I would definitely rate Webber's racecraft and race pace as significantly better than Dan's. Dan does have one thing on his side, and that's the potential to improve.
  6. +1 on LT tyres. The only way to go for tandem axle trailers. Do it before you go on that long drive! Chequerplate ramps are completely hopeless in the wet. Better off with ladder style ramps or an open mesh - lighter too. Something not too expensive to sort out in the future. I thought side-marker/running lights were a requirement for trailers more than a certain width, which is prety much all car trailers.
  7. yep, STR split their strategies and Dans worked out better. Seems to me it's always better to finish on the softer tyre if you are going to be in the pack though. Finishing with a long stint on primes is just asking to be passed by people finishing on fresh options.
  8. Jesus! "the same piece of track" made me think you were talking about the pass... Vergne had a slow puncture in the last stint as well, so can't really say it was a straight up head-to-head race. And it was two places, not a few. And guess who's stil got more points
  9. on much newer, softer compound tyres... would have been something wrong if he couldn't pass him in those circumstances.
  10. My only conclusion is that RBR want the guy with the better qualy pace to put it well up the grid and Trulli train it for the entire GP!
  11. 6th and first of the cars one lap down is alot better than 2 laps down and 15th... Rather than trying to dismiss it as shit for being a lap down, it was actually a 6th earnt fair and square. No wierd weather conditions, safety cars or retirements from regular front runners contributed to it, unlike Dan's two highest finishes this year - 7th in China where Webber, Rosberg and Sutil all retired. And 8th at Silverstone where the tyres played havoc with the field and took out Vergne and Grosjean, safety cars heavily influenced the race and Vettel retired with gearbox dramas. Those results are just dumb luck, and flatter Dan in the points tally.
  12. India? At Monza, at least Dan had better luck thean Vergne whose suspension failed early in the race. Yes Dan had more points finishes last year, but never finished as high as Vergne did. Vergne got 8th place four times. Dan never finished that high. And again this year, Vergne has provided their best result so far.
  13. He's damn near a No2 at Torro Rosso! Sure he's faster than Vergne in qualifying, but behind on points again this year and finished well behind on points last year despite having far less retirements both seasons. I can't see him mixing it with Vettel.
  14. you're a masochist Roy! Initially I thought RBR would be mad not to sign Kimi if they had the chance, but I've been convinced by others that you really only want one top flight driver per team. Looking back at how RBR almost let 2010 slip away by having 2 drivers stealing points off each other and the same happening at other teams, eg McLaren in 07, I'm convinced you want one guy who is clearly faster and No1 in the team if you want to win driver's championships. Ferrari showed how it's done with Schumacher & Irvine/Barichello. That's why Vettel ignored the team orders in Malaysia - you don't give away points to your team-mate if you want to win championships. And particularly not if you're faster! And that's why RBR aren't signing Kimi or Fernando. That talk was just to get under the skin of the other teams.
  15. Give it a go - they work alot better than people expect. Bit of a blog on it here showing the progress in laptimes as I do one mod at a time - http://performanceforums.com/forums/showthread.php?67288773-Shitbox-Soarer-street-track-project-sixty-second-slushbox&highlight=
  16. surprisingly well I think. On cheapo road tyres (235/40R18 Federal 595SS and 265/35R18 Achilies ATR Sport 2) it ran 63.7 last time at Lakeside. Totally stock apart from Tein S-Tech lowering coils (which I cut to be about 20mm lower again) and a HKS SLD. Everything else including the whole exhaust system, air filter, boost, brakes - everything are all standard. I fitted the factory optional Torsen LSD, if you want to count that as a mod. Only other non standard stuff is a seat and a wheel. I have BC coilovers and the NT01s at home which I'll fit before the next track day. I'll be dissapointed if that doesn't get me 3 seconds over the shitty street tyres, which would put it solidly in the mid 60s. But we'll wait and see. To put that in perspective, my 1250 kg 180SX which supposedly had 200rwkw and heaps of aftermarket suspension, R32 GTR brakes, cage etc, ran 59.8. on R888s.
  17. Sorry, I've been away taking advantage of the great weather camping up at Rainbow beach. I bought a set of the good/early FZ201M back in 2010 and used them up until I sold the 180SX in the middle of 2012. They were still setting PBs. I loved them. I would have bought another set without hesitation except the bloke who initially put me onto to them (who also drives an S13) told me they'd changed and were about 3 sec a lap slower now, and probably slower than RSR's! I've since heard nothing but bad things about how slow they are from everyone else who has bought a set of FZ201 recently. We're in the same sort of boat - I'm just tracking a car for fun. Hey, it's a stock automatic Soarer. I just want a cheap set of semis. Don't have to be the fastest things in the world. The other tyres at the lower end of the market are Toyo R888 and Nitto NT01. They're both made by Toyo, in the same factory in Japan. They both have the same construction. They both have the same treadwear rating. They have different patterns. I used the R888 ont he 180SX immediately before I bought the FZ201. At the time I hated the R888's, but they turned out to be only a few tenths slower than the good FZ20'1s. It's just that the car felt loose on the R888 and glued to road on the FZ201's. So I priced them up and went with the NT01 on the off chance that they are better than R888. It was under $1200 delived for a set of 245/40 R18 NT01s. I haven't used them yet though. But since I bought them a mate got hold of a set of 17" Hankook Z214 2 groove 'cheater slicks' for not much more than what I paid. These Z214 are cheaper than the Z221 which is true semi slick. They are also faster. If you don't need road legal rubber, these things are the best bang for buck at the moment by a long margin. They're probably the fastest tyre out there and also one of the cheapest.
  18. Of course the Federal guy isn't going to say "yes, they're shit now" But hey, it's your money, find out for yourself.
  19. For Merc, I think it was the tyres more than any other factor. Look at the last GP in similar, though not quite as hot, conditions. There's nothing gradual about that improvement. The reports from the YDT at Silverstone were that these new tyres were more durable in their performance. So i don't think its a coincidence Agree about Lewis - he needs to man up a bit. I've been trying hard to give him a fair go since he moved to Merc, but he doesn't make it easy to like/support him. Out of the car anyway. He drove brilliant yesterday.
  20. Really didn't expect Mercedes to win in those conditions! But they didn't seem to have any more tyre deg than any other team. Looks like the effect of the new tyres was greater than that of the hot conditions. Some good tracks for the Mercedes coming up too - Spa next, Monza not far away... Vettel is still in a commanding championship position, but Kimi and Fernando should be getting very nervous about Hamilton after Mercedes demonstration of their rear tyre performance in that heat. Hamilton wasn't messing around intraffic either - pretty impressive. The pass on Button after the first (iirc) pitstop set up that win. Vettel came out behind Button after his stop as well and couldn't clear him until Button's tyres went off. Those new tyres are bad news for Lotus. They still go well in the heat, but their hot conditions advantage over the rest of the field seems to be diminished. Grosjean was probably the fastest of the front runners if he could have got past Vettel I think he would have caught the Merc pretty quick. He was a bit hard done by with that penalty. Sure he went all four wheels over the line, but that's only about a foot or two wider than the normal line in that corner. Not exactly over the top when you have another car squeezing you out, despite him having his nose well in front. But I guess rules are rules and if they don't permit people completing a pass "off the circuit", they had to penalise him. In my books, that was a very good, gutsy pass. And I'm not exactly his biggest fan. The difference for Vettel is that his pass on Button in that same corner was his pass was already completed by the apex because he got up the inside. He didn't complete the pass off the circuit, but was he only able to make that stick because he didn't slow enough to make the corner? To me, I think that should be a penalty as well. If you launch it up the inside to make a pass but come into the corner too hot to stay on the track, you should have to give the spot back, or be penalised. To me that's worse, because he didn't have anyone inside him squeezing him wide, he was simply using more of the track to gain an advantage. If Grosjean stuck to the normal exit line, I reckon Massa would have hit him... Cracker of a race. Particularly for a place that's supposed to be next to impossible to pass on. Again it shows we don't need DRS - the zones were too short to do anything here and the race was all the better for it, imo.
  21. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2375379/Hungarian-Grand-Prix-2013-Budapest-heatwave-set-test-new-Pirelli-tyres.html#ixzz2a7wmsQ54 Thanks Pirelli. At least we know in advance that Lotus will dominate, Red Bull and Ferraris will fight over the minor places, and Mercedes will struggle (assuming the weather forecast is right). I guess the championship needed a bit more artificial intervention...
  22. there's a couple of quick early commodores hillclimbing up here. They can be made to work pretty well. And look like lots of fun behind the wheel. Good luck witht he project
  23. between the new pit lane speed limits increasing time spent in the pit lane per pitstop, and the new tyres which apparently turned out to be more durable in terms of performance and life as well as strength/safety, race strategy just got turned on its head...
  24. ah... I recognised the R8 as a RWD GT3 car but the Lambo didn't quite look as 'out-there'. Beating full on GT3 spec cars is no mean feat! We'll all do rain dances for your next race.
  25. Great Stuff Snowy! The Lambo on the grid behind you would be AWD as well, wouldn't it?
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