scathing

The VQ block is, from a technical standpoint, even better than the RB. Its lighter and more compact due to its construction and design. It also flows a lot better. The biggest thing holding it back is time. The RB is now a well-known quantity, whereas the VQ didn't really appear in an internationally recognised sports car until late 2002.

Taken all the "tec" from Nissan.....yes....because Nissan is the only company to ever turbocharge an inline 6 and stick it in a family sedan, so obviously any other company that does it is copying Nissan.

I'm the same. Assuming that I don't win the lottery and can afford an Audi RS6, if I need to buy a family car on a sensible budget chances are it'd be a ZF-geared XR6T. I'd probably do some very light-tune powertrain mods to it, swaybars and rims, and a small stereo install (multimedia head unit, replacing speakers in the factory locations, a single sub).

Hot chicks always dig gay guys.

Not all demo cars have to be quick. And the 300C convertible just looks awesome. I could do without most of the stereo gear, but the shape of the 300C without a roof should make Chrysler put the damned thing into production. Anyone who loves the look of the Bentley Continental GTC (and, who wouldn't?) but can't afford to buy one (and, who can?) would definitely go for a 300C convertible.

Its also passing a 911 when it ends up on the grass, not an RX-7.

In no particular order * Amuse FairladyZ * Hamann Gallardo Spyder * West Coast Customs 300C * Mines' "Ultimate Response" R34 GT-R And, from completely out of left field, the Lada Riva tuned by Lotus. Its not the most impressive of cars, but as a "demo vehicle" nothing demonstrates your automotive engineering prowess than turning that nugget into a driver's car. Also, the Prodrive P2 is a nice piece of kit.

I might put my bronze TE37s up for sale as well then. They're too narrow for the barge

Any idea on how much they weigh, especially compared to TE37s of the same size? I need to upgrade my track rims but I already have a set of TE37s.

If it was bought in Australia, the balance of the warranty is transferrable (its the law), but they will need the original receipt from when you bought it as proof of when it left the retailer. I'm not sure how Sony does things, but I know other computer manufacturers will use the build date to determine the warranty period if you "lose" your receipt. As long as 350z has not logged an issue with Sony or emailed in the warranty card they'll have no record of who bought the machine, and you can try this path instead.

Isn't absinthe with a splash of soda a "trip tonic"?

So what weighs more? The OEM handbrake drum, or this second caliper? Hmm....

I'm not talking about the battle and its fairness. I'm talking about who initiated the physical contact between the two cars, which is why I said...let me quote "who hit who"....and specificially excluded who forced the situation where that impact occurred. Like, if you took a swing at me then it doesn't matter if I called your car a slow barge that would do its best work being scuttled off the coast and used as a home for fish before threatening to do some illegal sexual acts upon your family pet in front of your children.....in the end you punched me in the face. I didn't headbutt your fist. You might have been severely provoked into doing so to say "why" you did it, but if someone asks for a description of what we both did then there's nothing anyone can say but you drew back and threw a punch at me after I spoke to you. In the same way, Lowndes got blocked into a situation where he was going to lose position (and possibly a championship) that was, from a sportsmanly perspective, quite questionable. He made a move to overtake and try and muscle his way in, but came off second best. From the footage above, Rick never turn in to Lowndes. Kelly just refused to give way when Lowndes forced his way in.

Motoring Journos doing any research would make a happy change. Especially those that write for generic news publications, not dedicated automotive periodicals. Even then, most journos are useless. And, reading through the article, there's so much wrong with it I don't even know where to begin. I'd expect this kind of ignorance over on Carsguide, but I thought Fairfax papers were a bit better. But, then again, Drive isn't exactly a bastion of accuracy either.

Sounds like you're one of those ricers that slapped a GT-R badge on your GTS-t to make everyone think you're hardcore.....

I don't particulary like the look of that GG50. The headlights are too narrow (very Gallardo-like) and I've never liked the look of the 612 it appears to be based on. Give me a Hamann 599 GTB any day.

More pics, and the story from someone on the scene: http://www.teknoscape.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=30068

There's a good chance I'll be there.

I was watching this footage. Let me know if we're talking about two different races, and if so feel free to ignore what I've said. I had another watch of the above footage, and on first watch of the in-car cam it does look like Kelly tapped Lowndes. Especially with the way Lowndes' rear bumper flexes a bit, and then the car yaws a little. But then I covered over the left hand side of the video and blocked Lowndes' car, so the exterior point of reference is the edge of the track rather than another moving object (which can throw off your perspective). All the way up until just past the contact, the location and angle of the line marking the edge of the track never changes on-screen. Which means Kelly was driving on his line, and doesn't turn in to Lowndes. Of course, once the impact is made Kelly has to correct his car or drop a wheel onto the grass, which explains the change in the angle of that line on the side of the track in the in-car shot. To me, it still looks like Lowndes drove into Kelly, not the other way around. That he did it because of what appears to be blatant blocking by the other Kelly is irrelevant to who hit who.

Maybe Rick Kelly is missing one of his testicles?

I'd concur with that. Especially Wakefield - its a tricky circuit that doesn't encourage ham-fistedness (which probably explains my inability to pull off a decent time). I remember the first time I went out to Wakefield. I went out "hard charging", throwing the car around and wrestling with it. I ended up doing a 1:19 at the end of the day. Last Thursday, I managed to do a 1:18 on a cool-down lap just keeping it smooth and taking it easy.

Their biggest issue was the alloy engines, which just couldn't handle the heat of rallying. From what I've heard (and I can't even remember the GTiRs these days) the cars were bloody quick for the first few days, but the engines just couldn't make it to the finish line. Cast iron FTW, huh?

As Tsuchiya would yell, "Unda, unda, unda!" Who makes a left hand turn and crashes nose first into a telegraph pole in the middle of the road? I'd expect him to have gone sideways and done a Peter Brock.

Last sales day of the month are always good. The dealers are more than happy to let a car go at a loss if it means hitting their volume target (since it can be worth a couple of grand, more than their profit on the car). The other thing is to check out the cars on the showroom floor. When I bought my car, there was a 3 month wait on them. So no dealer was discounting, because they didn't need to. And I went to a few. I eventually found a place that had one on the showroom floor, with a 4 month old VIN plate. They were willing to negotiate on that, since the car was built in the middle of the year and it was now the end of November. It only had 24kms on the odo, so it doesn't get any newer, but on paper the car would have looked relatively old. Considering I asked about 3-4 dealers beforehand, and they flat out said to me that they weren't going to negotiate (whether it was a car they had in stock, or for me to order one and wait the 3 months) and if I didn't like it they'd have no problems selling to someone else, the fact that I managed to get any discount was pretty cool.

That I'd agree with, if you're talking about a straight Kelly vs Lowndes battle. Whether Lowndes was off the line or not on the previous corner, with the gap he had it wouldn't have made a difference if he could have braked on the race line and taken a clean entry into the corner.