Darkside

^^^^ Speak to John at Wheels World. I was the same on the yokies initially. Was a dyed in the cloth Bridgestone user and took some convincing to come across to yokie, also based on the fact the A048 were so crap!! But they are an excellent tyre. The M compound is the "hard" (they do an S softer one) and is the way forward. Better price than the dunlops generally as well.

^^^^ I'm not sure on the science Richard. Certainly heavier, more powerful cars (GTR's) hurt tyres more than lighter less powerful ones, but the pressure seems to be more dependent on the characteristics of the tyre and its carcass as opposed to the car its on. The tyre itself seems to have a sweet spot pressure wise.

^^^^ Hahaha, beat me to it. My 2.8 litre 900kg Evo loved the A050's. (ok...maybe a 2.0 litre 1260kg one) I found the max pressure in the dry to run was 34. Woo, also got the tip from the TA guys on the 32psi setting but mine seemed to go better and give more even temps across the tyre face at 34 hot. You definately start to hurt them over that. Although only exception being the wet. I found they offer more grip slightly harder in the wet. Chris, you are spot on re Barbagallo. The surface in general is very abrasive on tyres, and particular hard on the front left due to the layout. You can never have enough front camber on the front left there. Re the tyre wear, if you are wearing the middle out, that may be an indicator they are too hard and crowning in the middle. Teh edge wear is more about alignment.

^^^ Doesnt sound like you have much to worry about. I chucked my old EMO into the bush on its first outing. Was a bit of a repair job but it came back just as good as ever. If its driving well, then you probabaly dont have anything to worry about. I am sure we could keep working with the analogy above, but I migh leave it alone.

Cars like women have histories. Some times its better you dont know too much about where they ahve been.

^^^^^ Ahhhh, but you will never feel more alive! Right up until the point that you reach into your bag of talent and come up empty handed. But I hear you Bris. I reckon dreaming it and then building it is at least half the fun.

Was chatting to Stuart about suspension mods, and he did mention a guy down there in Tassie that is a bit of a guru at reengineering a car, but it also comes at a pretty significant cost. But I guess you get what you pay for. The classics are some pretty serious cars. I reckon my EMO was reasonably sorted and reasonably quick and I was having a reasonable crack and its AWD....(and an emo so any muppet can be fast in one..) . Then you look at the times compared to the leading classics in 2WD 1970's porshes and fook me, they are flying. Definate wolves in sheeps clothing. Although there is almost no limit to what you can do to them. There was some motorsport official guy in SA in something I read who didnt think it was such a good idea these older cars being able to be made to go so fast within the rules and that drivers will catch themselves out, and that classics should remain as classics and not be ablke to be updated.Back in his day you could only go as fast as you could afford, blah, blah , blah.. I think he was missing the point completely. Thankfully god invented turbos and made power relatively affordable.

No pace notes.... What could possibly go wrong???

I heard the RE11S are a bit fail and that was the main reason they hadnt been rushed out. Bridgestones latest and greatest was already going to be behind the other offerings. cant remeber who it was i was chatting to, but was someone who had back to backed a set they got from Japan.

In re 55 I was advised the SR and the SR2 were the dead same compound they just renamed it. Fark knows why they changed it. http://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/motorsport/RE55s.aspx Re your valving, its just a case of balancing the car. Snowy and I found a good industrial area car park after hours (dubbed "special place" ) is the ideal place for some practice. But what you are suggesting to me seems like its heading in the opposite direction of the stiff roll bar up front and soft at the rear. If you want the car to really rotate into turns, a softer front compression and stiffer rear should encourage the rear to come round. Just need to get a setup and go and try it. If its not right (too much over steer or understeer) just try heading in the opposite direction but maybe limit it to changes of one thing at one end at a time or you might get lost as to what is working. Rake on the car also makes a huge difference. Its kind of a lot to pull together at the last minute and expect it to be bang on. But at least the GTR guys here should be able to get you in the ball park. Take what I am saying with a pinch of salt though as I havnt had much expewrience setting up GTR's. But the last time I drove snowies in this type of competition it was awesome!!

Cool. If you dont have a hydraulic handbrake, some performance handbrake shoes, like the project Mu ones are a goood thing. A048's are rubbish, but should be better than a street tyre.

Can you get any Yokie A050? They are the tyre of choice at the moment IMHO. Run em at 34psi hot. A proper semi slick will definately gain you time even in the very short sprint stuff. Having an effective handbrake if you are familiar with handbrake turns can also help in the tighter stuff. Although Snowy and I proved in his 34 (when the handbrake broke) that quite often just getting round the corner tidily and then punching it can be almost as quick without the risk of over cooking a handbrakie. Re setup, as suggested I would have thought a softer front bar and stiffer rear would help. Generaly a car that is slightly more prone to over steer and has sharp turn in is a better thing for the point and shoot stuff. maybe toe out on the rear, but probably not something to experiment with for the first time in competition as it can make it pretty loose and shake your confidence.

^^^^ Definately. My thoughts were that was possibly part of the CAMS move. I think that is the only way to get an event sanctioned as a "national championship" with any creditbility and recognition. CAMS certainly has more of a public face than AASA. Although having competed in "the championship", admittedly not in the most high profile class, it seems a Targa Tas win outshines an Australian Tarmac Championship win. Case in point is most people would know Quinny won Targa but may not be so clear that Dean Herridge won the championship. The championship doesnt seem to have much profile. Also as far as events go, I dont think you can question that Targa Tas is the holy grail of tarmac rally in Australia and the one everyone wants to win or be a part of. So the series with that in it is the pick of the bunch IMHO.

Going to have to run that past Stuart.... Triple 48 IDA webbers FTW. EDIT: And Timmy I will definately have to make use of that expression. Winner.

Ah Woo, you have got the life. Sunshine and cold caronas could even make GTR ownership and maintenance funny. Maybe Snowy needs a trip north??

See Timmy, now thats what I am afraid of with the Rotor. Its just too far for me to come to suffer a fail early in the event.... But I am sure there is someone out there that can build a tough one if I dont ask too much of it. Rick Shaw seems to make em last. Re the 13BT, I think there is a window to run one as Stuart mentioned. Pretty sure there was a turbo model released at the end of the series overseas. That said, seems if you go classic MS there is just about no limit to what you can do to one regardless of what it had standard. I think you will find a few guys will go for the FC rotor chassi (series 4-5) as they had some nice updates but are heavier.

Yeah Timmy, hear all sorts of scary stories of 40k engine builds and the like. A major failure of any kind would kill my racing budget instantly. I reckon he would have to be getting pretty negotiable by now. As you say, its been out there for a loooong time. You definately have to price your race cars right to get them sold in a sensible time frame. My shitbox rice coooker might happen yet... Considering you can get a decent rolling shell for about 3k, people are asking pretty substantial prices for fairly basic finished ones. I kind of struggle to look at buying a finished car unless its exactly what i want or possibly priced cheap enough that it still stacks up after I change all the stuff I dont like. Kind of leads me to want to start from scratch as i would want to put a substantial cage in it. A few finished options below, but nothig that I reckon is a really nice finished package.... other than the genuine moffat one maybe.... But rather get a Lambo for that money lol. http://www.my105.com/listingdetails.aspx?id=5538&latest=1 This one is the look I would go for....but 30k for something not quite finished..... http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/1/k/rx7/id/5513/Default.aspx Tassie car http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/1/k/rx7/id/5335/Default.aspx And then we just get sillier... http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/2/k/rx7/id/4970/Default.aspx http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/2/k/rx7/id/4486/Default.aspx http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/2/k/rx7/id/4899/Default.aspx

I noticed the Porsche of Win formerly owned by Matt Close now driving a TT RS with its understeer of fail has had 10k droppped off the price. That would be pretty special for EM. Although Porches, a bit like GTR's scare me. Buying them seems to be the cheap bit. Keeping em running is the pricey bit. http://www.my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/1/cid/522/id/1947/Default.aspx

^^^ I think they just arent in the spirit of the event. Oh and the other fail thing in Targa West....200kmh speed limited.... Now where is the fun in that

^^^ hearing you on the RSZ. Soiled my pants at TT this year thinking we had over cooked one a fraction given the confusion between the differing placement of the lead in signs... Thankfully they were obviously giving us a little bit of leeway. My take on the Targa carnage is the same thing that caused me to have my epic fail. The repeated stages. The conditionns can change massively between runs with people cutting corners and dragging shit on. And i guess there is always the temptation to try to get a bit quicker on subsequent runs....combine that with piles of gravel in the corners... nasty!! Imagine repeated runs at Riana... We would all have pics for our pool room walls like Ben and Matty!!

WA courses are littered with chicanes and limited speed zones to get the speed down to the 132kmh average. Its wank IMHO. Go as fast as you can...oh except for this bit where you have to slow down to 60 kmh for a while and then speeed up, then do a slalom, and then a chicane... I kind of agree with the philosophy that a chicane can turn a safe straight stretch of road into a dangerous one. I really like the idea of 3,2,1 GO and just go as fast as you can til the finish. Woo, that would have been horrible to witness. Also am a big fan of pace notes. Really helps keep you safe if you use them right. Wouldnt bother with Targa NZ.

^^^ Spot on Timmy. I woudlnt bother. They almost capitulated this year and allowed Octagon spec cars, but I am guessing there might have been pressure from locals without octagon spec cars to not let them play. It certainly cost them entries as a coupe of guys I know pulled the pin. My old car ran in "invitational" class. Pay the same money but dont appear in the official results. Fail!! For locals, IMHO is a much better option to do as you suggested. Ship it east the once, and pick up a few of the shorter rallies. Next to no need for support crew. Just turn up with a well prepped car, tip fuel in it and have a laugh.

^^^ Good question Woo. I havent competed in it and havent bothered to, even as a local. My reasons were mainly shite bang for buck, ($ per competitive km) average roads by comparison to eastern states offerings and repeated stages, and what I consider as stoopid CAMS rules. I built my old car with the idea of bringing it east, so it was built to Octagon spec. Having to detune/spec it to run locally seemed a waste of time. And dollar for dollar, I could ship myself and the car east and run high country which has more competitve KMs and IMHO better quality roads and field, for much the same cost as doing the local event. No brainer for me. But I dont have first hand experience. Matt who has codriven for Snowy in all 3 east coast rallies and has also co driven a couple of Targa Wests really rates it. But can you really trust anyone who has owned a Honda Jazz?

Apparently there was a tarmac rally here in the west on the weekend.... Steve Jones 1st,(35 GTR) Team Sims second, (35 GTR) and Jim Richards 3rd by about 5 secs. (Porkchop) The Rullo GTR was up the pointy end for most of the rally (would have been GTR 1,2,3) but suffered gearbox fail. Word on the street was it was making pretty good power.

Hi Mark, this is a bit of a handball, but if you are building a car its well worth reading these regs....a few times.... These are the 2011 Targa Supp Regs. Word on the street is there isnt major changes to these at present so if you use these as a guide you should be sweet. Off the tops of ym head I am pretty confident you are sweet with the sump, just dont knw about the oil pump, but I am sure its in there. If Stuart drops past I am sure he will have the answer. Targa Supp Regs