scathing

I love Internet forums.

Thanks to the yellow lights at Palm Beach, none of my shots turned out right. They've all got a horrid orange tinge. And the only one I could photoshop into a reasonable look is the front of Stan's car. The rest look like they've gone through a dodgy IR filter. http://www.au-z.org/gallery/sau_20060210_pizza

I'd like Sabine Schmidt or Vicki Butler-Henderson to be my girlfriend. Especially Vicki - love that accent, and her love of going sideways.....in a car.

Pictures will be up....Sunday maybe? I'm pretty much booked solid today.

Yeah, the V35 coupe and the Z33 are too close in niche to survive in a market as small as Australia's. The only way you could do it would be to bring it in as an Infiniti G35 as a part of an Infiniti launch (which Nissan Australia is considering), spec it up both in terms of interior and powertrain, and then sell it well above the Z's price. Maybe get its value up to $85K+ (which is well above the $70K for the top-spec Z33, and maybe try dropping the Z down to a $55K base instead of $60K) to position it against the BMW 330i, Mercedes CLK350, etc (obviously it has to be cheaper since its not Euro). Full leather interior and electric options, so it competes in comfort. With the 35th Anniversary engine it'll make more power than the Euros already, but I'd like to see at least a Nismo catback to give it a decent advantage if not a full exhaust and a mild cam upgrade. Use the Z33 as the low-end "sports" car and keep it in RX-8 territory, and the V35 as the luxury GT coupe to run against the Euros. Or just scrap the 350Z completely. Its not like there's any other 2 seater in its price range, and having rear seats would make it more competitive against the Monaro and RX-8 for people that want practicality in a sports car. However, I wish they'd at least bring in the V35 sedan and f**k the Maxima off.

Saw it tonight. Didn't look too bad at all, but I much prefer the white one that was at the BBQ cruise. The colour didn't do it for me. I might roll up tomorrow morning and see if I can wrangle a test drive.

Are you using DS2500 / DS3000s? They will squeal a lot when they're cold. The DS2500s are a sprint racing / semis street pad and the DS3000s are more of a longer duration track pad. You can try pulling them out and using anti-squeal paste. I haven't done it myself, but I've heard it works wonders.

I think a Nurburgring time is a good way to market a sports car. Because its such a long lap with a diverse mix of corners, and the road isn't in the best of conditions, assuming you've got drivers of a similar calibre it comes down to how easy the car is to drive. Its one of those places where you need a semi-sports suspension and a good mid to top end power delivery. To be quick at the 'ring you should have to build a good all-rounder. The suspension has to be stiffer than your average econobox to get good body control, but it can't be racecar stiff or it'll skip everywhere. There are some corners so tight that your revs will drop, or blind so you can't just throw the car in at the limit, and so you need something with a usable midrange as well as a strong top-end. That sounds like the kind of setup your amateur / clubsport racer in their only car is going to want. Its not something tuned to the ragged edge that only a pro is going to be able to use, but at the same time its still going to be a better car than what your mum uses to get the groceries. And because the Nurburgring is so long, its hard to just pull off a blinder. Its a lot easier fluke the 10 corners of Wakefield Park properly than it would be to string the 50+ corners of the 'ring together without making a mistake. Since the corners increase and decrease radius, change camber, up and down hill, with a mixture of corner entry speeds, etc...its a much better way of determining a car that will corner well in all conditions, and make it easy on the driver. An easier car won't be as hard to drive, so you won't tire out and have lapses of concentration as much...nor will it punish you if you do make a mistake. A single lap dash of most race tracks means very little. If you want to separate a well sorted quick car from a slow one, you'd have to do a full 10-15 minute session to see if the driver is still consistent at the end of it. See if the drive can still place the car exactly where they want on the racetrack, how much effort they had to expend to drive the car at their level, or if the car's run out of brakes or is overheating. On the 'ring, one lap would be enough. Maybe 2 if you want to torture test it.

That wasn't in production trim though, if I remember correctly. I believe the GT-R was running non-standard boost and full slicks when it posted that 7:59. The Porsche 911 was the first car to break 8 minutes in a setup that you could pick up just off the showroom floor and drive to the Nordschleife.

I dunno if it was called Godzilla because of its efforts at Bathurst. Wheels Magazine coined the phrase when they put the Australian-delivered R32 on the cover in 1989, but the GT-Rs didn't win the Bathurst 1000 until 1990/91. Still, its nice to know that Australia has contributed to the GT-R legend in more than one way. Aside from the fact that every Jap import enthusiast on the planet knows, and tells the story, of how we kicked it out of competition because it was too fast even with a weight and boost penalty.....one of our local mags coined the nickname that everyone refers to the vehicle by.

I don't see a dilemma at all. If you can afford a GT-R, buy a GT-R. Its a better sports car, and if you're going to modify a vehicle you always start with the best "base". If you're worried about high maintenance and running costs, and the whole "sports car" thing isn't really your deal, buy a Corolla (or a Celica if you must have a car that looks like a sports car but without the "sports" compromises).

For my street car, when I can't put it down in the dry with a decent set of streetable tyres, then I'll have too much power. If I were to build a track car, when I can't put the power down in the dry with a set of full slicks then I'll have too much power. Right now, I'm going to guesstimate 300rwkW will be about the maximum I'd want in my street car. Especially if I can shift my power curve higher up in the rev range. Otherwise, I'd be happy with around 250rwkW. I should still be able to floor it out of 3rd gear corners without wheelspinning at that level.

It depends. Your average patrol car won't carry EPA gear, but if you get busted when the cops are setting up defect stations chances are they will have mobile EPA gear. Side effects? You'll blow flames. You'll stain your bumper. It will probably smell. You'll constantly be paranoid about getting picked up by the cops / EPA. Personally, I don't think its worth running test pipes for street use. Modern high flow cats don't restrict that much unless you're making big numbers. Certainly not enough to notice on the street.

And my photos are here: http://www.au-z.org/gallery/sau_20060205_bbq

Unless that was an Evo you drove, that Holden of yours must be horrendous. I drove a friend's Lancer GLXi, and it rolled around like a toddler on bubble wrap. In that case, buy the GTS-t. Engine performance modifications are banned for P platers in NSW regardless of the induction type, so if you're not planning on driving a car you're legally permitted to then just get the turbo and give yourself a half decent reason for it.

Photos to come (hopefully in the morning). Most of my rolling shots are too blurred I think, but we'll see how it goes.

One thing I've noticed is that the work businesses do for high profile clients (like high circulation magazines or celebs) is a lot different to the work they do for the rest of us.

You're right. Its OK that he drove like an idiot, and that he's so self centred when you get busted dead to rights doing something that couldn't possibly be an accident. It'll be OK. Life will be wonderful. Nothing bad will ever happen to you, and if it does it will definitely be someone else's fault. Now would you like to go into the back yard? My kid's sandpit is free if you want to bury your head.

I won't deny it. But, the difference is, if the cops ping me doing 30km/hr+ over the speed limit while overtaking a whole bunch of cars that were doing the speed limit on their left side, you won't find me whinging about how the cop that pulled me over was being a tool. And secondly, if it was my livelihood I wouldn't put it on the line for something as useless as overtaking a bunch of people that are still maintaining traffic flow. If he's so sure that he was only doing 114km/hr in the 100 zone (rather than the 80 zone that the cop alleges he measured him in) then he can elect to take it to court and seek a reduced sentence. You'd be close to the top of 3rd gear at that speed, I'd guess? What kind of "accidental slip of the pedal", or how much power and torque does your engine make across its rev range, that would have you accidentally add almost 60km/hr to your speed...assuming you were anywhere near obeying the speed limit in the first place? If you were in a higher gear, the acceleration would be low enough for a normal person to have slowed down well before then. And your car would be so low in the rev range before you slipped that there's no way you couldn't have caught it before you hit 80km/hr...once again assuming that you were doing the right thing before your accidental slip. Were you on a sedative or something? Or do you drive a Veyron? Or are you just full of shit? Otherwise, here's some advice for you. Just because your foot slipped when you were doing 115km/hr in a 60 zone to "accidentally" do 121km/hr isn't going to garner much sympathy or respect for your inteligence.

Understandable. Ah well, it was a thought.

That 350GT was hot. I wouldn't mind a four door if I were to need a set of rear doors. The rims were Volk SF Challenges. First time I saw them were on this 350Z. White car, gold rims. Hot.

Should have brought it back and tried to sell it, or raffle it, or something. Maybe even donated it to a soup kitchen or hostel on behalf of the club (or even yourself), rather than just wasting it. I know the Matthew Talbot Hostel puts on meals for homeless men in Sydney. Hopefully you don't get out of pocket next time, but its a shame to just throw out usable food. It'd be good if it went to a good cause. Also, thanks for putting on a good spread and the efforts you did make. It was a great day.

It wasn't too bad. Must go buy a portable pergola / tent thingy next time. Damn it was hot.

HICAS (or any 4WS) is great on a street car that gets driven well below the limits. Theoretically, it should improve the steering response, stability and turning circle of the car.....in the same way that theoretically, traction and stability control makes your car go faster around the corners As for a brief description on what HICAS does, run a search for the word "HICAS" on this Q&A page: http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/february05/ask_sarah/

Light-tune daily driver: R34 GT-R M-Spec Nur Heavy-tune semi-track machine: R32 GT-R The M-Spec is the comfiest of the GT-Rs, which is more important than a couple of tenths on the track for a daily driver. But if I could afford to have a "toy" GT-R and be allowed to modify it properly (and not to a set of regulations for racing) I'd get the lightest GT-R and bolt on the good bits from the later ones or aftermarket (like the faster ATTESSA from an R34).