scathing

Not if everything else is kept constant. The only thing that changes is the shape of the contact patch.

It doesn't force air at all into an engine. It injects a molecule from an on-board source not even found in the atmosphere in anything more than trace amounts, which then breaks down into nitrogen and oxygen. With it not even being found in the atmosphere, how is it natural? I suppose it could be a perception issue. Most of you guys come from a FI background, being Skyline drivers. I come from a NA background. The way you guys see it, anything that's not running an air compressor is NA. The way I see it, anything that adds a mechanical or chemical component into the airstream is not NA. Some of the drag racing fraternity seems to agree with me, because they separate aspiration into separate classes. You've got naturally aspirated, forced induction, and chemical supercharging. So just because something is not FI doesn't make it NA. You've got that third option...which not everyone may have picked up on. I've never said N2O is FI, in the same way that a compressor-based induction unit is. I just said its not NA.

Then I guess no car is "naturally aspirated", if you're going to be like that. And no, I didn't miss the aspiration part. Which is why octane booster or different fuels is completely irrelevant to what we're talking about. And the engine is not breathing on its own, from the atmosphere. I stick someone on a life support respirator, but I'm not forcing air into their lungs under pressure, are they "breathing on their own"? Not really. "Ram air" is a property of hydrodynamics. Air flowing through certain shapes naturally does certain things. Using a mechanical compressor or injecting a molecule from a bottle into the intake (regardless of if its in the intake tubing or into the manifold) is hardly the same.

As per the pic, they should have "FORGED MONOBLOCK" on raised writing between two of the spokes.

They got rid of inline 6's for packaging, probably. Inline sixes need longer engine bays, and it pulls your centre of gravity further forward. Having a longer crank (relative to a V engine) also means it has to be relatively strong, apparently, because of how the force is applied in it. The reason why they got rid of those specific inline 6's (the JZ and the RB) is because of emissions. They are pretty old engines...even though inlines tend to sound better and be smoother than V's.

Mine can, but being a newer car it could be a recent addition to the unit. It was one of APS' biggest selling points when they ran a tech day at AutoTech. So yeah, the Unichip tuners I'm aware of in Sydney: CRD Unigroup Auto-tech All come pretty highly recommended by various people.

The DS2500s are a "sprint" pad. They require almost no heat to come into operating temperature so they work from the get-go, and they can handle a reasonable amount of abuse. My mate's Formula Ford ran DS2500s in the NSW State Championship, where each race is around a dozen laps, or about 15 mins. No fade. They're not heavy cars, but the rims are tiny which means the brakes are tiny, and they work their brakes harder than most of us ever do. The DS3000s are an "endurance" pad. They need more temperature to come on (they are noticably weak when cold), but they'll handle more heat and I believe last longer. If your race isn't won or lost based on your ability to stop in the first 2-3 corners because all the racers know there's plenty of time later, its a better pad.

I was using DS2500s for a while. I didn't notice any degradation in performance when cold, and it took a fair amount of effort for me to fade them (even on my underbraked car). The only thing is they cover your rims in dust if you even look at your brake pedal. And they squeal when cold. I'm on OEM pads since I did a brake upgrade and got pads with the calipers, but as soon as these pads die I'll be going back to the Ferodos. Dust or not, they work.

On your criteria, I'd say go with nicer tyres on current rims. Money you spend on buying bigger rims is money you're not spending on tyres. Take my Z for example (since I only know these prices off the top of my head). I could go to heavy-as-lead 19's with Nankangs or Wanlis or some other dodgy tyre on them from the Temple of Chrome for around $2800...or buy a set of Michelin Pilot Sports in the OEM size. Michelin Pilot Sports vs Nankang NS2s? Even with the Nankangs being 30mm wider its not a hard choice, if you're talking about grip.

Conficious once say, "Wun man's bumpa is anovva man's parking sensor"

Those rims have to be worth 20kW, at least. Couple that with the bodykit, and you've got your 200kW. If he had stickers on the door, he'd probably be up around 220kW.

Where do you draw the line between "just another mod" and any other kind of mod? Everything is "just another mod". Not trying to be argumentative - I'm just really curious about the thought processes behind how manually adding a chemical not found in the atmosphere into the intake reconciles in people's head with the definition of "natural".

How is injecting a molecule stored under pressure in a bottle that breaks down into oxygen and nitrogen in any way "natural"?

The Infiniti G35 is a "Skyline" since its identical to the JDM Skyline of the current era. Its a logical "clean sheet" continuation of the R3x series. Otherwise, someone ask the poor boy if the R32-R34s were "playing off the" name since they have no resemblance to the original KPGC10

Its not hard to beat the 350Z - its underpowered and overweight. That said, is the Supra even meant to be a Z competitor? I always thought that, as the flagship, it was meant to be a GT-R competitor. In my mind, its always been a step above. Maybe because the Z has always been second fiddle to the GT-R in Nissan's range, but the Supra is the range topper. Maybe the LF-A will be the GT-R competitor, and the new Supra will be aimed at the Z.

There are quite a few Americans that like the winding road, circuit racing, and auto cross. Unfortunately, with NASCAR their biggest motorsport series (like our V8 Supercars) so people assume that's their thing. Just like I don't give a flying f**k about two mechanically identical cars with fake taxi bodies, a lot of Americans don't give a stuff about NASCAR. Anyway, here's Clarkson's review of the current Z06. And here's Tiff's. Both are guys that don't have much time for American motorvated sofas, and they both love the circuit behavior of the Z06.

Other sites are linking to 2005-dated information saying it'll be badged Infiniti over there as well. Its almost the end of 2006, for Christ's sake.

Dept of Fair Trading should tear the dealership a new one. If you've got receipts / work orders for all the repairs done, as well as the delivery of the bike, the "Merchantable quality" requirement in the Trade Practices Act will sort the dealer right out. I can't believe they wanted money on a trade-in for an Italian bike, of newer vintage and lower mileage, for an old Jap bike. What was he smoking to think anyone would take that kind of deal? As for you being "too hard to deal with, and frustrating him", its his job to deal with customers. That's what he gets paid for. You're not getting compensated to deal with his shit.

Its not that much of a stretch of the imagination. The current Z06 runs a 7:43 around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. That's significantly faster than a 996 Turbo, a 415hp / 3800lb AWD car with a purpose-built chassis and a lot of money thrown into performance R&D. That said, I don't think Nissan will be happy with the GT-R until it holds the lap record for a "reasonable" production car (I don't count the Radical SR8 as "reasonable", even though technically it is a production car). And the 996 is a generation old, now, but I don't have the times for the 997 Turbo. It should have cracked the 40's by now, since the old 996 Turbo / light tune R34 ran a 7:51 or so. I think the next GT-R will be quicker than the Z06 on the track, but given the sheer pace of the Z06 its not going to be your typical "AWD turbo terror vs Yank Tank" battle, especially in the hands of drivers who know how to make a car go around a track fast.

Dude, I think I just filled the cup......

+1 On a lowish budget, I'd look at: EK Civic VTiR Nissan Pulsar SSS Proton Satri GTi If you can afford it, the RenaultSport Clio is one of the most enjoyable cars I've ever driven. Definitely so for the cost. Its so very chuckable. The engine is torquey and willing to rev to the limiter, and in such a light car it just pulls and pulls.

Powertrain - parts of the car that affect the power output. Have a look at the P1 and P2 license conditions, specifically: So anything that affects the way the engine performs is not allowed. Doesn't matter if its a catback exhaust, VTEC controller, air intake filter....anything that affects the engine's power output can't be touched. So the only way of making the car go faster than stock (in a straight line) is to work the other side of the power to weight ratio. Or play with gearing. Or you could learn to drive properly and attack those corners like a mofo to make up for your dearth of power....of course there's a chance you will crash doing so, rendering the stupid restrictions irrelevant. But, kamikaze-cornering-style, supa-late-braking-technique, is what Hondas are all about.

High compression, lightweight bottom end? You've done pretty much all the bolt-ons. The only other thing I can think of is an intake manifold with shorter runners. That will shift your power band up in the rev range, but I have no idea what an RB25DE bottom end will rev to before breaking.

Probably true, but completely irrelevant. The law states that you can't do any powertrain mods to the car either. So it doesn't matter what a "properly turned vtech" will do, since legality apparently is an issue for you it doesn't matter. You'll get your butt kicked just as much in a Type-R with an exhaust as you will in a dead stock R32 GTS-t. A stock Type-R cuts a low-to-mid 15 quarter. Which is about as quick as a P-plater legal car you're going to be able to get, unless you can afford an Elise or are willing to put up with a kit car like a PRB. The Type-R has always been about making up time in the corners, not in the straights. And stealth mods on a Type-R are pretty useless. Doing the internals will cost you a fortune (especially on the B18 since its already tuned to within an inch of its life) and doing an exhaust will be obvious. You can go weight reduction by replacing most of the exterior panels with thin fibreglass or carbon, and changing the final drive, but none of that is cheap.

You must be really keen to own an S15 on a "restricted" license if you'll spend $30K on a non-turbo S15...... I suppose you can always sell it when you get your full license to another P plater who wants an S15 shape. Maybe it'll retain value better than the turbo ones for that reason, but your buying market will be extremely limited and P platers aren't generally reknown for having lots of money.