MLCrisis

Hi, all. You all know about the issues we have with the "Hoon Laws". Now is your chance to do something about them. This thread is for New South Wales to gether information about the practice of the hoon laws in your state. This is what I said in the similar thread, now a sticky, in WA: I believe that the "hoon" laws are badly drafted and give the police far too much power. They are bad law! There are sufficient laws without them. The rules of evidence are also being seriously diluted by pursuing convictions on the word of members of the public. Little old ladies phoning up to say "he was going very fast" should not constitute sufficient evidence. Hopefully it does not, but we shall see. Populist measures are too easy for politicians, but by implementing such poorly thought out laws those politicians fail to do their duty to ensure that the laws they enact are sound. If they are not sound, they bring the whole system into disrespute. More particularly, they place the Police in the impossible position of applying those laws in an impartial manner, when their human frailty means falling short is inevitable. Hence, they themselves become undermined by the very position that these laws put them into. I would like to compile evidence of the hoon laws in practice. So if you know of poor application of the law, inappropriate actions by police using the hoon laws, the use of questionnable evidence, or similar, please let me know via this thread and/or pm. Please only first hand experience - not "I know a bloke, who's mate's girfriend's brother". If we compile sufficient evidence, I intend to put a submission to the Government to change the law. Let the punishment fit the crime! If anyone else has experiences they are prepared to share, please add them on. Good experiences as well as bad. If you were done fair and square, then please say so. If the policeman was reasonable in his/her behaviour, please say so. If they were aggressive and overbearing, let us know. If you were aggressive and disrespectful, let us know. Best to have basic facts here and more detail in a pm. Thanks everyone. Please note that I am not knocking the Police, they do a hard job that not many people would do. But a badly framed law allows them to overstep their real powers and some of them will use it - because they are not all saints! So there you go. We need good data to support our argument. We need information in each state to fight this, as no state government will want to go it alone in repealing them. Please be careful in what you post. This is not intended to be a thread for you to rant or argue. It is to gather facts. Thanks guys. Go to it!! Cheers.

Awesome post!! Arf arf!! I take it you have not driven an R34 GTR around corners then. I am sure the 370Z is a great car. But really, it is not in the same class as the R34 GTR. It may have a better weight distribution, but that is not enough to make a significant difference. I am fortunate enough to own a car that magazine articles, books, TV shows and everyone on the street tell me is one of the best street cars of all time. With a few mods and a mild tune, I have 375 hp at the wheels. I have lapped our local circuit a lot faster than I deserve to and every day when I park it, I look back in wonder that I actually own this beast. Yes, a 370Z would be nice. But compared to an R34 GTR .... ..... Cheers.

Hi, Not all BP stations are "doing the dodgey" when they have "Out of order" covers on the pumps. On Wednesday evening, I went into the BP station on the corner of Harbourne and Cambridge in Wembley. The Ultimate 98 pumps were all covered. I went in and asked what the story was. The guy told me they had run out and were getting more in at 10 O'clock the next morning. I made a mental note of the unleaded price (104.2) and left. I went back Thursday evening. Ultimate 98 available, so I filled up. I also checked the unleaded price - and, lo, it was still 104.2. So they were not claiming they had run out just so they could jack the price the next day. The price did not move. They had just run out! I am quite sure that some of the pricing practices by fuel stations are dodgey. There may even be occasions when groups of stations act as a cartel and, thus, illegally. However, the international crude and refined product prices that influence the price we pay at the bowser are very volatile. The costs that the refineries and fuel retailers have are perhaps less so, but are still subject to change. Changes in the price they charge at the bowser will inevitably lag behind changes in crude oil prices. Changes in exchange rates also influence a complex picture. So it is not a simple relationship. The fuel retailers always seem quick to put the price up and less quick to move it down, I grant you. But don't condemn every BP station because you suspect one or two you visit may be manipulating things. Don't hail another retailer because a station you visit is able to serve you at a lower price on that occasion. It may just be that they have run out. It may just be that to turn a profit they are obliged to raise their prices. By all means make this a fuel watch thread. But when you have limited information and do not fully understand the factors that affect fuel pricing in WA or the pricing policies of various retailers, condemning one retailer over another is pointless. You are free to believe what you like, but you should not knock anyone without being sure of your facts. Unless you want to join the ranks of keyboard warriors and radio call-back punters who offer nothing other than prejudice, misunderstandings and half-truths, safe in the knowledge of no come-back on them and content with their short time in the sun. Bah humbug. P.S. And don't tell me that the West knows any better! Quite clearly, they don't.

Wow. Thanks for that. I can guarantee that your assessment is as scientifically valid as your spelling is accurate. But if you're happy with Caltex 98, no-one else is going to persuade you otherwise. It remains, however, just your opinion. Cheers.

Hey, Brendan. You may well have just discovered the limit of my knowledge of what goes on in Japan! My understanding was that the higher performance cars, like the GTRs, are tuned from factory for 100 octane fuel. Not sure about the GTSTs/GTTs. So you could well be right there. If a car has been set up for 100 octane, then you would be well advised to get it tuned for our 98. I believe, however, that the factory computers can compensate to some degree. I think you would find that for a car with a factory computer set for 100 octane, the manual would advise you that you could use 97/98 without too much problem, but advise against using 91/92. (I will have to check my manual!) Anything tuned with an aftermarket computer in Japan definitely needs re-tuning for 98 octane here. So the straight answer to your question is that if it is tuned for 100 octane, it will knock if you drive on anything less. The lower octane fuel you use, the worse the knocking and the more likely you will get permanent damage. Remember that knocking is, in effect, mild detonation. (Not strictly true, but as near as dammit without getting a PhD!) Maybe Rezz can help, if he is still around? Cheers.

Yeah, if the engine is tuned for it, you can run it on 95 or even 92 octane. The power would be down though. It would probably not run well on 92 octane, because the tune would have to be so rich. The problem would come when someone is using a car with a set up from Japan and running that on 95 octane fuel. Knock would be a constant feature and detonation only a small amount of spirited driving away! Cheers.

Hi, all. There have been heaps of threads about comparing fuels, so please have a look at them to see more about it. Some facts that may help: ## The BP refinery at Kwinana is the only refinery in WA. So it supplies all fuel to all other retailers. There is a product sharing agreement between the oil companies. The way this works is that the local refinery in whichever part of Australia, where there is not another refinery for a large distance, will supply basic fuel to the other retailers. This saves each of them shipping loads of it across the Nullabor, etc. (The minor independents may buy cargos, i.e. ship-loads, of refined product on the spot market, but I doubt that makes up much, if any, of the market.) ## So BP Kwinana supplies fuel at 91/92 RON and 95 RON (or close to it) to the other retailers. They each add their own ingredients to "make it their own". Hence, Shell Premium (95 octane) that you buy here is pretty much the same as Shell Premium over East. ## BP Ultimate is the only 98 octane fuel in Australia that achieves its octane rating largely through refining. The other fuels, such as Shell Optimax and the Caltex stuff, achieve it by taking a 95 octane refined fuel and bunging in a load of additives (unless things have changed in the last year or so). So the "nice smell" you get from the Caltex stuff is indeed from all of the aromatics and the like. ## Shell Optimax is not available in WA, presumably because the cost of installing the kit to mix the additives and ship the additives is too great. But Caltex have done it .. ... .... ... !! ## There is considerable debate about whether the additives that achieve the octane increase are good, bad or indifferent for your tuned motor. ## If you are driving a Skyline, whether GTST or GTR, you should be very careful running it on 95 octane fuel. The cars are tuned from factory to run on 100 octane fuel in Japan. So if you are doing any hard driving, you will probably be getting some knocking and could get a catastrophic detonation, if you push it hard enough. If your car has been tuned on 95 octane, your tuner should be telling you to change to 98! ## BP are not the only stations that engage in the practice of marking their higher octane/premium pumps as "out of order" the day before they are putting prices up. My wife has experienced this with several Shell stations with their 95 octane premium. When all is said and done, any 98 octane fuel is likely to be adequate for your car, if it has been tuned for 98 octane fuel. Any differences you might experience between brands are unlikely to be significant or scientifically based. You are as likely to see variations over several months with the same fuel as the crude mix changes or there are minor variations in additives. Just to show I am subject to human frailties and bias like the rest of you - I only buy BP Ultimate. The one time I bought the Caltex stuff, the car appeared not to run as well and I got less from the tank. And my favourite toy when I was about 3 years old was a BP tanker by Matchbox! For your homework, please write 2,000 words on the effect of distance on the operation of the petroleum industry in Australia. Cheers.

I also used SmartSend for 18" rims and tyres from Brighton, Vic, to Perth, WA. Cost $220, plus $90 insurance. Took just over five working days, so were picked up Monday morning and delivered next Monday morning. Able to track them on their website. All arrived OK with packaging intact. Cheers.

Rims all received OK in WA! Thanks, Shaun, for doing such a good job of packaging them. The rims are in excellent nick, as you described them. Tyres don't have too much left in them, but they will do for a couple of track days. Thanks again. Cheers. P.S. For anyone interested, Used SmartSend for freight, which all worked out well. I will add a note in the "freight" sticky.

My condolences to family and friends and best wishes to the injured for a speedy recovery. I would not usually join this type of thread, mercifully few as they are. However, I was so appalled at the comments posted on the Perth Now website, that I added my own and also wrote the following email to the Editor. Anyone else who wishes to add their two penn'orth, his email address is on their "contacts" page. Feel free to plagiarise my note!

Thanks for posting that up, mate. I am chasing info on freight and will send you an SMS. Cheers.

Hi. If these are still for sale, are you willing to send these interstate by courier? I am in WA. Naturally I would pay the freight. Cheers.

If you are all still going at 3.00 am, why not come out to the airport and meet me off my flight??? One day there will be a SAUWA function that I can attend! Cheers.

All part of the service!! Been there myself a few times .. .. ..

Nah - it's Kevin Rudd. Haven't you been watching Rove?

I take it you were not driving cars in the 70s. Your general point is reasonable, but you need to get your facts straight. A car was considered quick in the 70s if it managed to get to 100 km/hr in less than 9 seconds. Cars with 120 hp were considered to be reasonably powerful, but they also had much less equipment and weight (mostly). Now the average family sedan has 150 kw (at the flywheel) and despite being around 1.5 tonnes manage to get to 100 km/hr in less than 9 seconds. Certainly, many cars today are more stable (even without the electronics), have far better brakes and are much safer in a crash. But most young driving enthusiasts today are in cars that can accelerate far quicker and can get themselves into trouble in a shorter distance. That almost certainly makes crashes more likely, but that is debatable (as this thread and others show!). I happen to believe that is the case; others may not. Cheers.

Nice pics! Particularly of my car!! I thought your car was one of the best there. Thanks to Dani and Perth Street Scene for organising a good day. Good chance to meet people and have a chat. Enjoyed meeting Kurt (if that is how you spell it) and his family with the nice, white V35. Also, Kelvin, Mike, Nav, Kels, Dani, Matt, Rhys, Ben and others. Good to catch up. Meanwhile, I reckon SAUWA need a new banner for these things. We shouldn't be beaten by a load of V8 Utes!! (Good on 'em for a good effort.) Mind you, one problem for SAUWA is that half of our members are dispersed through other clubs at these things, such as Club Motivate, Anti-lag, Tuned WA, Driving with Heels (or whatever), etc. There must have been more than twenty Skylines there, but only eight as SAUWA - without any banners to identify us. Still had fun, though! Cheers. P.S. The Luis Vuitton BMW Z3 was not the only example of the fact that you cannot buy taste!!! At least it was really well done. I think one or two people got the "Show" bit, but forgot about the "Shine"!!

Been there once or twice.

Address is as I gave it - Meagher Drive, Floreat. I mean the car park for the Perry Lakes Athletic Stadium and the offices of Rugby WA (not the rugby ground, which is next door). The car park I am talking about is the biggest car park of the complex and is along side the basketball stadium (i.e. the decrepit shed!). See this Google Earth link: Google Earth link Cheers.

Hi, guys. Why not meet at Perry Lakes Stadium car park, off Meagher Drive, at 8.45/8.50? It is right next to the venue, BIG and tucked away so that you won't get any hassle from cops. (It is all still open because Rugby WA have their offices there and will do for about a year.) I live just around the corner and a few people are meeting at my place at 8.45. We will drive by the Perry Lakes Stadium car park and pick up anyone there and then head in. Looking forward to seeing you all there. Cheers.

Just play Opera. Pavarotti doesn't have duff-duff! It confuses the hell out of the cops too!

*cough* Stopped at GREEN light!! Often stopped at these lights. Driving along, zoned out, stopped. Passenger says "Erm, aren't you supposed to keep going on green?". Fortunately nobody behind me. Only happened a couple of times. Also driven through roundabouts and complex junctions and straight afterwards thought "How did I get here? I don't remember going throught that roundabout/junction!" Doesn't happen more than once in a few years, but it freaks me when it does. I always check mirrors, speed, adjoining roads at junctions, looking ahead, etc, etc.

I was totally put off the Bayside Blue R34s by this. But time heals and I ended up getting one. It made a big impression on me though and I have shown my teenage sons these pictures. I know how easy it would be for them to "borrow" my car. Sorry to de-rail the thread. If people don't want to see this, then moderators please remove. RIP. Article from the Daily Telegraph attached. Fatal_EVLR34_He_wasn_t_allowed_to_drive_it.htm

*cough* Mine is blue ... .... ...