scathing

Not density, polarity. Water and alcohols have different densities, but they will dissolve into each other as the molecules are both polar (i.e. have a distinct magnetic field on either end of the molecule). Hydrocarbons (like the octane in petrol, but most fuels like butane etc) are non-polar. The magnetic fields of their molecules are neutral. Polar and non-polar molecules will not dissolve into each other. Like dissolves like. Wow, I can still remember my high school Chemistry once prompted. Doesn't it make you wish it was school holidays so the people that have freshly learnt this stuff could chip in?

The R33 GT-R that ran the 7:59 was a development vehicle. It was on at least semi slicks, and running non-standard boost (as well as the speed limiter removed). Not sure about the exhaust and other simple bolt-ons. I believe, though I can't remember, that it may have had a full cage in it as well.

I've noticed that most of the high-priced Euro sports cars tend to put their calipers at approximately the "3 o'clock" position, such as the Ferrari and McLaren F1 examples you have above. As do modern Porsches, as a quick Google Image search shows. I'd hypothesise that it puts the weight as close to the centre of the car as possible, to lower the polar moment of inertia. Who knows if its better there than at the 6 o'clock position, which lowers the CoG as much as possible....

Sounds like an idea. If you're going to "pre-mix" it (i.e. not use a separate injection system) that you don't just pour in a bit into the fuel nozzle when you fill up. "Splash mixing" is not recommended by any of the manufacturers, as chances are it'll come up uneven and just f**k with your ECU's readouts even more. Consistently bad fuel is just as good, if not better, for your engine than inconsistently good fuel.

Why not check Red Book to see what your aforementioned NSX is worth, and then look around and see what the R34 you're planning on trading is worth, and then do the math? Its a simple keyword search followed by primary school arithmetic - I'd hope that if you have a driving license that its not too much of a mental burden on you.

If you can't tell that you're doing significantly above the speed limit by watching the scenery flash by, you don't deserve to be off your L plates. Your speedo being approx. 30% off isn't remotely legal, and you knew about it and drove like that anyway. You should have gotten defected for that too; its lucky the cop "didn't want to hear about it" and let it slide. On that note, why would you admit to breaking the law to a law enforcer? Evidently you want to get busted. Why don't you just save the courts and police the hassle and just cut up your license, because its obvious you're too damned stupid to drive a car.

Did anyone go to Eastern Creek on Saturday?

Not exactly, as lingering soul pointed out. The "boxer throb" you get from Subies is because of the crap design of the exhaust, which is forced upon them by the crap design of the engine. I could just as easily make any sound like that. The difference is that its a packaging requirement on a turbo boxer 4, and stupidity on any other kind of engine.

When the company's slogan is "The Ultimate Driving Machine" and their family sedan ad features it cutting through a windy set of roads...and their small / medium car ad replaces the vehicle with runners....what's that telling you about their "branding"? I can't believe there's any kind of dispute about BMW's marketing principles. They've always apparently been about "driving fast", which differentiated them from their major competitor (Mercedes) who pride themselves on their engineering. As for your other comment, have you ever driven a BMW or Merc? Ignore the marketing hype and the cars are tuned for cruising and midrange. Unless you've got an M vehicle the acceleration is hardly relentless....it just doesn't peter out as much at high speeds relative to low speeds like Japanese cars do. Slow and steady, but hardly quick. Your entry model 318i / 320i will not keep up with any Japanese small / mid sedan. The 118i takes 11 seconds to hit 100km/hr. A 330Ci / CL350 will still get smashed by the cheaper 350Z. With 400Nm from 1500RPM this thing will pull through the midrange with little lag, so on rolling starts it should be good. But once you rev it out and keep it up high in the rev range, its mediocre power output is going to blunt its constant acceleration.

Hopefully they didn't get one of those RB20DET powered GT-R's

BMW bills themselves as building the "ultimate driving machines" for "sheer driving pleasure". They like to pretend all their vehicles have sports car attributes. If this motor was going into a Volvo or Mercedes I'd have a lot less derision for it, since it would suit the brand. And most of the relatively upspec engines in VAG run turbos, and have a similarly flat torque curve with little reason to rev it out. Whether its in a Passat, A4, etc......its still a Volkswagen engine.

A wide spread of torque like that is great for a commuter car motor. It just picks up and pulls from any gear, at any RPM. But in a sports car (which is apparently what BMW sells) the engine is going to feel dull. The power delivery isn't going to crescendo at higher RPM, like all nicely tuned sports car motors do. It will just pull with monotony, and as it only makes 220kW its not going to propel you that quickly once you get those RPM up. It's going to drive like a Volkswagen. And, if you want torque, just take the diesel motor.

If you have a look at the part of the FAQ you quoted, it refers to the requirements under Vehicle Standards Index 06. Now, what does VSI 06 say about owner certified engine modifications (i.e. ones that don't require an engineering signatory)? So, is the standard equipment exhaust system relating to noise and emission control retained in your car, or is the exhaust on the car a Nissan option? I'm failing to see the ambiguity. On an extremely long shot, unless its a Nismo exhaust then any non-Nissan exhaust is out. Apparently most of the Nismo catalog is sold as options in Japan, where the car was technically sold. You just tick the boxes on the purchase form. At that point it becomes an optional OEM package. Aside from changing the consumables (oil, spark plugs, etc) I can't see anything an enthusiast considers a "modification" being owner certifiable. ECU, cams, exhaust, cats, etc all affect noise and emissions controls compared to stock. Even if it makes your car quieter and less polluting, its no longer using the standard equipment and so needs to be certified.

Dude, you want sidewall flex for drag. It increases your effective contact patch. Check out the serious drag cars next time you're out - the rear tyres always look like they're about to fall off because they run so little pressure. On corollary, run your front tyres with as much pressure as you can. It'll decrease the contact patch which will reduce your rolling resistance. It will also reduce flex so your weight doesn't shift off the rear tyres as much when you change gear. Are you dropping a big burnout to warm your tyres up before the launch? That can help a lot. I've also seen some people drive around the watered patch in the staging area too.

The 17 x 9.5 +15 sounds a bit suspect on anything but a GT-R. That size won't fit on my Z33, and I'm pretty sure the "regular" R34's wheel arches aren't as big.

I know what you mean. My mate's boss races BMW's, and they say the engines are fragile as well. They're built to rev high, but they don't like boost and they don't last long. Notice how BMW still gets around with a 2 year warranty, when everyone else offers at least 3....? His boss has an E36 M3R that has been stripped and prepped for race work, so its completely off-street. Rebuild, head work, unmuffled exhaust, etc......and it barely puts out any more power than my VQ35DE with a noise-legal catback exhaust and Unichip. And it certainly doesn't deliver power anywhere near as smoothly from the middle of the rev range. And it needs a lot more maintenance than my engine. I'm not a big fan of the M3's exhaust note either. I heard some fooli sik guy launch an E46 on George St on Saturday night, and it sounded a bit strained. That said, I did hear a CSL rip past the Shell at Rushcutter's Bay and it sounded the business. I would love a drive of an SMG equipped car on the track. The principle behind it, for me, makes perfect sense. If I was to build a race car I'd want an electronically actuated gearbox / clutch arrangement, especially one that shifts in 80ms (which is faster than any human and never misses). Actually, I'd prefer a DSG but a SMG-style gearbox would come second. When I read the power outputs I was kind of disappointed too. 225kW from a 3.0L twin turbo 6? I realise that its not necessarily in sports car guise (It'll end up in the X5 as well as the regular sedans) but when an R34's RB26DETT can put that out with almost half a litre of displacement missing, while still being completely OEM-like in its NVH, emissions, and response, I don't know why it makes so little power. The same as Subaru's and their past love of "symmetric AWD", or Holden and pushrods. They'll just pretend they never said anything.

Were they using some POS econobox that doesn't have a knock sensor ot adjust timing etc? Wouldn't surprise me if they weren't, and then actually reported that PULP is bad for the engine since it causes pinging in those boat anchors.

Civil cases don't have the same burden of proof that criminal ones do. So just because you can't prove it "beyond reasonable doubt" doesn't mean you can't win. That's how OJ Simpson could be found innocent of murder, yet lost the lawsuit from the family of the deceased over their deaths. You'd think you couldn't sue someone a court of law says they didn't do, but evidently its not the case. That said, I agree with you. If you persue legal channels, unless you get lucky and get awarded court costs it'll end up costing you more to do this (once you factor your time and stress as well as the purely financial perspective) than just rebuilding it with a nice set of forged stroker internals in preparation for more boost.

We could do it the weekend after the F1, if anyone is interested. Not necessarily a SAU thing (for insurance reasons), but if like minded driving enthusiasts want to meet up that would be cool.

Any workshop should be able to install shocks. And yeah, I'm with SK. Buying Pedders suspension is like buying ULP - its not for performance cars.

Depending on the cost, I'd look at a better aftermarket shock instead. Aftermarket doesn't necessarily have to mean insanely stiff. You could source a set of Koni Red non-adjustable sports shocks, and if you can afford it maybe a set of comfort shocks (like Eibach progressive rate springs) to go with them. If you have a look at the Euro cars, most of them are set up to handle quite well without a back breaking ride. It's not going to challenge a Jap coilover equipped car on the track, but I'm quite fond of the regular BMW 3 Series' suspension setup for street use. It goes where you point it approximately when you point it, unlike your average Camry / Magna / Falcodore, but it absorbs bumps almost as well as they do.

There are a couple of OEMs (Aston Martin is doing it on a couple of their cars in their range these days, off the top of my head) that do something like this. At a certain RPM a valve opens in the exhaust, providing more flow up top. I don't know if it just bypasses the centre muffler or if it opens a completely separate set of pipes, but either way the Vanquish and V8 Vantage get a whole bunch of noise high in the rev range. I'm considering doing something similar in my car if I ever replace the exhaust again. I was going to set up a bypass valve to route gasses around the centre mufflers at high RPM. I'd have it automatically controlled (say at a certain RPM above a certain speed. So on a stationary noise test or in first, and perhaps second, gear it wouldn't open at all) but with a manual override for when I hit the track.

I'm down on the F1 week and staying for the weekend after. We might have to get a cruise on! If people are up for a cruise, let me know. I'm also trying to hook up with some of the guys from JDM Style Tuning and 350Z-Tech for some driving.

I've passed people around corners on GOR before. You just have to know when and how. On the tight coast roads between Anglesea and Apollo Bay, I've used a spotter to check the road ahead. If no-one's come around the corner when you turn on the straight you can initiate a passing move from half way down one of those straights and go into those blind corners. As long as no-one comes around the next headland you're fine. Its hard to explain exactly...but lets try drawing some ASCII art. If the road flows like this: _____...................._________ .........\.................../....d............\ ...........\_c______/.....................\____b_____a Lets say the corner exit is at (a). If you don't see a car come around your nearest bend by the time you hit (B), or have a car appear at ©, you know that "blind" set of corners in the middle of the diagram are free and you can make an overtaking move. You have a passenger keep an eye on © as you start and concentrate on the road, to make sure that there are no oncomings. If you can't pass your typical GOR "mobile road block" by the time you're at (d), then the other car is going fast enough for you to not need to pass. The roads west of Apollo Bay suit our cars a lot more though. Since it no longer follows the coast, the corners open up and it suits our longer wheelbase cars. I had some great times flying through the rainforest towards the Twelve Apostles. EDIT: Dots inserted in the diagram so it formats properly.

Weekdays are great for L2S practice days at EC. I've been to 2 or 3, and there have been around a dozen cars at most. And the guys who did it were reasonable drivers in reasonable cars (myself excepted). But there were a lot more race cars out there, as well as bikes, so you didn't get as much track time. I'll be out at EC this Saturday for L2S practice since I can't make Friday (and some friends are going). If I get there and there are too many fooli sik cars I'll just go home, but otherwise it'll be nice to get some driving happening.