writeoff

Most definitely. 1998 Black R33 GTR series 3. ~100k km, 400R Front Bar, HKS 2530 turbos, 18" Nismo LMGT4 wheels, Loud. Fast. Unbelievable! PM me if you want to know more.

I have a 33 GTR you can have to compare if you want. I'm sick of it being at my house. You can have it for... ever.

Thanks for organising the night Luke (Helso) & Steve (Madaz) and thanks Martin (HOSTILE) for providing the viewing pleasure of the GTRs racing around Bathurst. Congrats to Ben (Dohmar) for SAU Club Person of the Year (I have your plaque mate) and congrats Troy (Sapphiregraphics) for Best presented SAU-SA Car (I can't remember the exact title of the award). Thanks to everyone who came along especially Martin Donnon, John Munro & David (fungoolie) for representing the R35 GTRs. It wasn't until everyone left that I realised how few I actually caught up with on the night - apologies to those I missed - I was engrossed in conversations with Martin, Ryan, Bec, Christine & Andrew for most of the night. Madaz - FWIW I thought the food was pretty good but I was the 2nd last to receive their meal (I was one of the last to order though) which also contributed to my non-socialising. I look forward to bigger and better events in 2010 as SAU-SA develops even more from the outstanding foundation the execs have set.

Surely if you are Superman you could just fly them over? Where are you located?

Personally I would make sure I checked it just to ensure that I left nothing behind (under seats/mats etc) and leave it sitting at home so there is no risk in damaging it. You're about to take delivery of a new Audi why risk stuffing up that by having a (limited) thrash in a Vectra beforehand? What if you break something or hit something? How much would you kick yourself later?

Yeah and also I'm not a thieving scumbag prick that rips people off - but the example Vu is using is to protect the seller.

That is an extremely complicated way to rip someone off and IMO unlikely to be a clean get away as the level of identification, communication and contact required would result in a way to find the person again. You'd be better off doing the old 'lets take it for a test drive' and jump the driver. Much simpler and cleaner. In the two examples listed in this thread where people were ripped off were because they read an email to say they had the funds but didn't log into PayPal and check to see that the funds were actually in their account. The step after that is for the seller to transfer the funds from PayPal into their own personal bank account. If these steps had been followed the people would not have been ripped off. If you transfer $ into someone's account and they rip you off it is virtually impossible to get the $ back. The saying goes 'buyer beware' for a reason. I don't work for PayPal and it seems strange that I am defending them but as a user since 2006 I have never once had a problem whereas I have had two problems with groupbuys on SAU where I deposited funds straight into someone's account. I feel safer as a buyer using PayPal.

Of course. Why did no-one else think of doing that. With PayPal it takes a few days for funds to clear once they have made the deposit and then a few more days for you to transfer the funds into your own personal account. Best case scenario it would be 7 days between when the buyer puts money into PayPal and you have it in your own personal bank account. People being scammed by this are just lazy & or dumb.

I'd be keen but don't know whether I'll have the GTR back by then. I suppose I could always take the Peugeot out again. When you contact Clem see if we can increase the numbers to 24 - ie 3 groups of 8. That way it reduces the cost for everyone and as we saw at the last track day there is a fairly high drop out rate amongst the Skylines as the day progresses. This will be even more apparent if the weather is hot.

A great story GT and congrats on having the balls to take a risk and move to the other side of the planet to do something that you love rather than something you begin to loath (IT 9-5). Continue to update us with your adventures but PLEASE include some photos of the local women. Eastern European women are gorgeous!

Thanks for digging that up for me because I couldn't see how your friend's friend was scammed. Simple - they didn't transfer funds from PayPal to their own account. They probably never even checked their PayPal balance and just relied upon emails that do look legit (I've had several already). It still sucks and I feel for the people who were scammed but they did make a mistake allowing themselves to be scammed. Unless the money has cleared into your personal bank account it doesn't exist as far as I am concerned. The reason I wanted to dig deeper as I feel safer buying things using PayPal than other methods. And I have bought many things from overseas adding up to over $100,000 (Bentley + 2x GTRs + heaps of car parts etc) unseen and having never met or spoken to the seller. The only times I have been ripped off was on group buys on SAU - and these were a few years ago now. I just wanted you to point out a risk that I may not have been aware of and therefore vulnerable to. Thanks again.

Can you explain to me how it is a scam? I don't see it. The guy pays you first and picks the car up later. You don't hand over keys until the funds have cleared and are in your account. Where is the scam because I am missing it?

What makes you say that? How can it be a scam? He wants to pay first and collect later. I prefer to purchase something using PayPal in case the seller is running a scam. If I deposit funds directly into a sellers account it is extremely difficult & time consuming to get that money back if the goods never turn up (happened to me once on a SAU group buy) or if the goods are not as described (again happened to me once on SAU). If I had used PayPal then at least I have a conflict resolution process to go through and PayPal can get my money back a lot easier. Ask the buyer why he wants to use PayPal? And what are you worried about if he wants to pay first and collect the car later?

What is your budget? What do you want the car for? What do you want the car to be able to do? How new? Answer these and we may be able to give you some serious suggestions.

My 1000th post on SAU. Do I get another pip? So what to post? I've had a soft spot for the 911 GT3 RS ever since I went to the Nurburgring in 2006. Here are some shots of the pre-production 997 series 2. Complete with monkey bars & ironing board. And some before and after shots of the Italian Polizia's Gallardo LP560-4. Such as waste (to give it to the Police) of one of the best looking cars made atm (but not in that colour).

Before & after shots.

Looks good Cara. I think I've unofficially named my GTR 'F_ckin' Car' cause that's how I usually refer to it. Your names of Betsy & Miss Abby are much nicer.

The film wasn't scary at all. I watched it at home, alone, after midnight, with all the doors and windows open and the only thing I was worried about was when the scary stuff was going to begin as the movie was ending soon. It didn't. You may risk falling asleep before the movie ends. Double thumbs down.

Congratulations Andrew! I'm glad you had a great day. How soon is the honeymoon & where are you going? (Not that I want to tag along )

I'm in.

My daily is a Peugeot 205 GTI that I've owned for 12 years now.

This thread should be renamed to Damo's Speed Hunters daily fix of awesome. (That's not a complaint Damo). Some shots of a tough Peugeot 205 GTI by Shiny Racing.

Welcome Bengi and well done on a 1:29.3! That's an awesome lap time in your little Scarlet. Don't think that I'd get close to that in the Peugeot. How much power is that Toyota putting out and what does it weigh? Kim - did you sell your lap timer to Luke or did you just facilitate the purchase of another unit for Luke? If the former are you upgrading to another model? And to everyone who had a camera please post some more photos & footage. BTW I think it's pretty funny that we have a Helso, HELSLO & a Helso's + 1 on the forums now.

My biggest criticism of the day was that it was really hard to get a clean lap and not catch up to other cars. I was in group 2 for the timed laps and kept running into cars from group 1 doing their cool down lap & cars from group 3 doing their warm up laps. Everyone was considerate and tried to move out of the way but it forces you off the racing line and stuffed up the entry for the next corner. For the last set of timed laps I deliberately waited until group 4 was on the track and even then did a 2nd warm up lap as I could see I'd catch the cars ahead of me. It was no surprise that I finally managed a clean lap and posted my best lap times for the day. But to answer your question Kim I posted 1:27.x & 1:26.x in the first set of timed laps and went down to 1:24.06 for my final timed lap. I think they are going to post out the lap results with some notes.

Can you be more specific on the tyre and wheels sizes? eg 195/50/15 15"x7" +20 wheels. Also how much tread is left other than 2 hillclimbs? Whereabouts are you? Cheers.