hrd-hr30

I've just gone from a ~300rwbhp GTR to a ~300rwbhp Datsun 1200 coupe. I know all about 2wd vs awd!

but you guys are on full slicks...

I'd be up for that. I'll be heading out there on the Sunday if anyone want to meet up for the drive? I've only got a diesel Patrol at the moment though, so you might have to wait for me to catch up after Cunningham's Gap! :lol actually, I'm not joking - it ain't fast up hills... but I'm negotiating with a guy about a Skyline in Melbourne at the moment though, and there's a slight possibility it might be here in time if all goes well

that's right. its about a 2hr drive from brisbane. Just keep going on the highway past QR/Willowbank and that will take you straight into Warwick. There are permanent big Green signs on the roadside directing you to Morgan Park Raceway - you go through Warwick and pretty much out the other side of the town towards Stanthorpe before you see the sign directing you to Morgan Park I can't find any info on gate costs or a race program, but from experience, qualifying will be on Saturday morning and most of the races including the final will be on Sunday. They're running a Top 10 shootout on Saturday afternoon for the Top 10 in both over and under 2L classes, so that might be worth watching too. I'd expect gate cost to be about $30? I'll see if I can find out more. The QLD IPRA Nationals page doesn't have much info at all...

The Improved Production Nationals are on at Morgan Park Warwick next weekend. Included in some of the high quality cars coming up from down south are at least two of the best GTRs running around. One driven by Dave Loftus and the other by John Boston. They're extremely well built cars and definitely worth coming to see. I'll be there on Sunday to see if my mate's track record gets done by the interstate GTRs! So if you want to see 2 or 3 GTRs out the front of a field again like the good old days of Group A racing and this pic from the last NSW IPRA round get out to Warwick and check it out!

Just use whatever car you're driving now. Best way to get into motorsport is just start doing it. You'll learn and have fun in whatever you're driving.

FRONT: I'd recommend adjustable upper arms. I used the JJR dog-bone style on my R32 GTR. They looked well made, and I had no problems with them at all. The offset bushes for the front are horrendously expensive and wear quickly. REAR: either adjustable upper arms or offset bush kits. If going arms, you need to replace both upper arms (normally called the upper control arm and traction rod) to avoid bump steer problems. bushes are a bit cheaper and work OK on the rear - again one bush needs to be fitted to each upper arm to avoid problems with bump steer, but don't offer alot of correction. expect about 0.75 to 1 degree of camber correction from an offset bush kit. you can use two sets of bushes if needed and put them in both ends of each arm, but by then you've paid almost as much as adjustable arms are worth - probably more if you're not fitting them yourself!

QR is very hard on brakes. The ducting is a good idea, and looking at the fluid. how old is the fluid in the car? It does go off and needs to be replaced fairly regularly. Particularly in humid climates like Brisbane. Flushing it with a 600deg fluid is probably the solution. Penrite make a 600 degree fluid that worked fantastic in my GTR at QR. And its half the price of Motul stuff. Autobahn stock it. About $16 for a 500ml bottle IIRC. It also gave me the best pedal the car ever had. 2 bottles is normally enough to completely flush the old fluid out. definitely worth trying before looking at more expensive brake upgrade options.

interesting - can't say I've really looked closely at any of those category's lately. Not a huge fan of the V8's and every time I'm at a rally I'm on a road block out in the forest watching them fly past. I'll keep an eye out in future to see what they're doing. interesting that some senior officials are saying the opposite of what is recommended in the CAMS manual too. although I have had a scrutineer tell me the GTR's shoulder straps, which went to the rear seat, should have been crossed! I told him I'd rather unclip the harness, take it out and use the lap sash belt than put my neck on the line (literally) for his idea. He certainly wasn't a senior official though! one more thing on the ROLL CAGE subject though - make sure whoever builds it fills out and signs the CAMS Safety Cage Registration form!

I'd be more inclined to listen to the advice I heard/read from CAMS and belt manufacturers than some local racers. the idea of short harness straps "causing" rib or other internal injuries is totally backwards logic in my view. its the crash that causes the injuries. the belt's job is to hold you securely in place during the crash to prevent any impact injuries - much nastier than bruised ribs. if the impact is such that the webbing of the harness causes some injuries, be thankful that that's all that happened to you and thank the harness for saving your arse! the best thing you can do to mitigate the risk of internal injuries in a high G impact that is use a 3" harness raher than 2" to increase the surface area for the load of the impact to be spread over. another good reason for short as possible shoulder straps is limited occupant movement in a rollover situation and in the worst case scenario of a seat or its mountings breaking.

harness webbing will stretch 'x' amount per foot in a heavy accident. So the longer you make the shoulder straps the further they will stretch. that means you will get closer to, or hit harder, some of the hard immovable objects in your cabin, and in crease the risk of whiplash or other neck injuries and potentially risk 'submarining' (sliding under the loose harness). The Harness's job is to hold you firmly in place in a heavy accident, not to give you a soft cushiony bungee effect that might let you hit the wheel or cage members. CAMS reccomend shoulder straps should be as short as possible.

yep, AASA is only at QR up here at the moment, but if Lakeside ever reopens its likely to also have AASA events as QR has control of that venue too. I think they run some events in other states too. You can always run to IPRA specs in QRCS, or you could build to IPRA spec without the expensive parts needed for the restrictor - the restrictor design itself, and the low gearing required. shoulder straps should be as short as possible. Ideal angle of the shoulder straps is between horizontal and 10deg below. Its a little sharper than that in this pic taken just after the cage went in. I was planning at that stage to lower the seat to get my fat arse closer to the ground, but ran out of time before the first event after having the cage fitted... took me longer to mess around painting in there than I thought! the cage builder allowed for that in positioning the harness bar.

yep, short circuit is head to head racing. I was just going to do the supersprint. Not entirely sure I'll be out there anymore, I'm doing Grafton Hillclimb 2 weeks before this and want to do the QRCS races at QR 2 weeks after, so I might have to skip this one.

there's other options for circuit racing than IPRA. As Beer Baron said, its not cheap or easy to make a late model turbo car fast under IPRA rules. AASA are running racing series these days with much more open rules - no turbo restrictors for a start! http://jdmracing.myfastforum.org/index.php Much cheaper motorsport with more of an emphasis on the enjoyment of it. I'm looking around for another skyline or silvia now to go racing with them. for cages, call Eddie at Ipswich Race Prep, or try Nathan at Motorsport Solutions Australia. They're probably the best value cage builders up here. Haven't got their numbers on me. I had a cage built by Eddie in my old Datsun 1200 coupe (pics below). I just bought another 1200 race car with a Bond cage and its not a patch on my old car - bars are miles away from the shell.

further to what they've already said, changing rim width and offset also changes your scrub radius, which has an effect on straight line stabilty. you may notice that tramlining effect gets worse under hard braking.

yep. its in very good condition. the wall is still close to the track onto the front straight, but it will leave you alone if you leave it alone

I run AvGas in my racecar. 5 reasons why what you've done is a bad idea: 1) AvGas is lower specific energy. meaning you risk running lean without a re-tune to suit. 2) its leaded and illegal for road use. 3) its leaded and will kill your cat converter. 4) AvGas has a short shelf life and degrades quickly = lower octane. 5) AvGas is very hydroscopic (absorbs moisture) and can cause problems in your fuel system if its not straight out of a new sealed container. good thing you only got 25L, so at least it won't be in there for long. but I'd be topping up that tank with 98 or higher unleaded to dilute it as much as possible and avoid any nasty side effects.

because its got all the weight of a GTR and none of the power. The worst of both worlds! GTR is about performance, and the GTS-4 doesn't have much of that - power, brakes, diff, track... GTS-4 was a commuter with awd, that's all. The GTS-T is a better performer than the GTS-4, maybe its a more worthy contender for the min-GTR title??? its not a mini GTR even if you add the front bar and rear spoiler , its still just a heavier, slower GTS-T.

Stanthorpe

http://www.racechrono.com/?lang=en found it on the IPRA forums. thought it might be handy for some people here, and we might get some feedback about how it well it works! see if its worth upgrading my old phone...

they're two old school round headlights under there, not just covers on the rectangular headlights. looks good - from the front anyway and its a Z18

R34 was never homologated AFAIK. Group A was dead and buried by then, and they were never rallied or raced in sports categories that require FIA homologation.

Is there a lack of grip all the time - ie in turn-in, mid corner and exit, or just when you're trying to accellerate out of a corner? does it feel like the wheels are skipping (or loosing contact) over bumps/corrogations in the road? if you're only having problems under accelleration, then the ATTESSA controller might be the best way to go. But I'd also check the age of your tyres first. Even the best tyres will be crap if they're old. There's a code on every tyre that can be interpreted to find out their age. Any GOOD tyre shop will be able to tell you how old they are. I've personally had 2 sets of brand new Pirellis on different cars and both were sh1te! The P-Zeros on your old man's Subie are roprtedly very good, like a Bridgestone SO2 - a very soft high performance tyre, but I'd be dubvious of anything short of that by Pirelli. but from the sound of what you're decribing from the ride quality of your car, its probably got more to do with excessive spring and shock rate than anything else. Jap coilovers are reknowned for running silly spring rates. If it was my car first thing I'd do after checking out the tyres is find out what your spring rates are, and replacing them if they're in the crazy japanese category... A good suspension shop will be able to help you there And check the condition of your bushes etc as Duncan suggested My 32 GTR handled very well with the standard ATTESSA and HICAS and everything else people say is bad. Look for problems with the gear you've got before trying to patch it up with buying more gizmos.

Tha CAMS Manual is on-line now - here's the CAMS specs for cages. Tells you everything you need to know... CAMS Schedule J - Safety Cage Structures

Saloon Cars new control tyre is a 235 or 245/40*17 Kuhmo semi slick - can't remember exactly... The front runners will be throwing them out pretty early so you should be able to pick up reasonable 2nd hand ones nice and cheap if you look around.