scathing

There's also Powerplay's gallery: http://www.powerplayimports.com/minigal/in...Y%20JULY%2022nd

I was there. My car's front wheel bearing packed it in over the weekend, so I managed to finangle a drive in the girlfriend's MX-5. f**k that thing needed new tyres. Every time I touched the throttle in the fish hook it wheelspun. With the way the car's set up it won't oversteer though, so I couldn't even enjoy it. I could have knocked a good second off my time if I could have exited the corners without single peeling it. Still, I had a great time. I've got some video from the cameras I brought, and when I do my write up for The Motor Report expect some good shots from the photographer I brought down.

Dans Data has linked to SAU regarding the whole Firepower thing in this thread. Being a scientific sort, he's already debunked these fuel pill things regularly, and gotten stuck in to Firepower (to a point where the directors were insulting him via email and threatened to sue him. Typical quackery. You can read more about Firepower here.

The steering column is really close to the exhaust manifolds. I know that extractors for the car are steering side specific. You can't buy US extractors for our cars. I can't see the situation being any better with turbochargers.

Those studies are heavily funded by the Victorian government, who would love an excuse for more powers to fine people for, so its not surprising other state governments are lapping it up.

Come out to a multi-club supersprint. AROCA (Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia) is one of the clubs, along with the NSCC and HSV Club, and maybe you can pick it up. I can't stand Alfasuds. Loudest things there bar the VK ex-race cars, but slower than a wet week. I don't understand the "soul" and "passion" either, but a mate used to have an old Alfa 75 and has a soft spot for it. The way I see it, "character" is a zealot's euphemism for "things that a sane person with a normal car that doesn't suffer from would call shit".

Hey guys. I've booked Wakefield out for a private track day. Its being set up as a "no frills" tday. There will be no official timing (stop watches and personal lap timers are permitted) and we aren't bringing any gun drivers to provide driver training. While we are charging a bit more, we are also limiting the field to a maximum of 25 drivers. We will run two sessions of 12-13 vehicles each, which means you'll be looking at two runs an hour. As the field thins during the day, this will change. The initial plan is to run 2 solo-occupant "timed" sessions (not official timing, but stopwatch / lap timers) and 2 passenger permitted sessions an hour (so one type for each group), to ensure fairness and to comply with our insurance requirements. The last time I ran one of these things became a little freer in the afternoon. After lunch time, with the inevitable breakdowns or people getting tired, we ran an open pit. By mid afternoon, we only had 4 cars on the track with the open pit so people just kept lapping until they wanted to pit in. We're aiming this track day at people who've got the basics down, and want some solid track time to practice and experiment. Even if no-one breaks down and everyone runs every session they're entitled to, with two sessions an hour you're still looking at double the track time of most days. I'm no pro driver, but I'm happy to go for a ride in anyone's car and point out where I think the line is, and give the (dubious) benefit of my experience. Since its a small group, it'll give you a chance to meet everyone and you know that everyone there at least knows someone else. The last one was great, since everyone knew everyone else. Everyone checked their mirrors to let faster traffic through, and you didn't get giant egos trying to intimidate other drivers. Our aim is to retain that spirit, to avoid some of the more negative vibes you can get from regular Wakefield open days or heavily booked track days. We've had questions about whether people can drift, too. The answer is yes, but for insurance purposes we must have a dedicated drift session with no passengers. When we fill the ranks I'll email everyone and see what people are interested in, and work it out from there. As no-one is likely to drift all day (the tyre cost would be prohibitive) then we'll alternate the drift-interested group between one grip and one drift instead in the morning, and play it by ear when the field shrinks. Details: Location: Wakefield Park Date: August 18, 2008 Cost: $200 per driver Contact Details: 0430 046 338 or [email protected] (tell Carmen who you are and how you know me) or PM me Payment Details: Direct Deposit: Savings account BSB: 012 129 ACC: 592 355 971 ANZ payment description; Please write your real name and forum username (with forum) as your description or you can use Paypal to [email protected] Additional Costs: You will need a AASA License (as they now own Wakefield) or a CAMS L2S or above. We don't organise licenses so if you don't have either, you can pick up an AASA on the day for $50. As for positions. its first in, first served. If we do get enough interest, we'll run a reserve list.

He was, apparently, after "some love". I'm just scared about what the child of a person who thinks its good to free-rev an engine to a 9000RPM limiter breeding with a chick that finds that kind of thing alluring would be like. Anyway, you can read all about it here if you want. I'll leave for you to decide what you think of the guy after reading his motivations for doing it were, and how he responds to others for calling him out on doing it.

I know someone with a HKS ST on 350Z-Tech. You could ask him for a photocopy of the Bill Of Materials, if one came with the kit, (or use the BOM for the APS ST) and try and replicate it as best you can using local parts. I have no idea what turbo APS uses in their ST kit either, but HKS HKS uses an externally gated GT3037.

Alfas, for me, are cars that look when they're released and sound good but are shit at everything else. Old Alfas were unreliable. New Alfas are relatively slow and boring to drive. None of them age well, appearance-wise. The resale on them reflects that. That said, I do really like the look of the Alfa 159 sedan and I heard a V6 one tear by me a few months ago and thought it sounded porn. I'd consider buying a 1-2 year old one as a daily if I could afford it.

America's "octane rating" is the average between its RON and MON rating. If I remember correctly, and I probably don't, their 91 octane works out at 95RON and their 93 octane comes out at 98RON. It was only a few points off. However, since neither is commonly available outside the major cities, they tend to tune for a lower grade fuel than we would. I'm not sure why the Stillen kit was suffering emissions. It could be the Stage 1 aspect of it (the lack of intercooler), and so it might just be dumping extra fuel in whenever it overheats (all the time) and killing the chance of it passing. Its more than possible that a Stage 2 kit, with its intercooler, will not suffer the same fate. I was talking to Peter Pilkington about it (he used to prep the white 350Z in Nation's Cup for his son Nathan), as he was at a track day where they were running the car and he had a chat with them about the vehicle. It was out the same day that the owner of the white V35 that now runs the 4.2L engine and APS Extreme TT kit popped his original motor at Wakefield.

A mate on another forum fitted something similar on his S15, and with a water temp gauge on the exit of his radiator he did notice a temperature drop (a few degrees, less than 10) after fitting it. Still, unless you're tracking the car or you've done a lot of mods that increase engine bay heat, I can't see it being a major issue.

This is a little out of left field, but the guys on Nissan Z Tech keep going on about how good the STS Turbos are (rear mounted turbocharger, basically replacing the rear muffler). You retain your extractors etc, and its not even intercooled, but apparently its defies common beliefs on thermodynamics and it isn't horribly laggy or making no power. Its non-invasive, although it will require tuning, and provides a mild power increase. Something to consider, at least.

There's someone in NSW with the Stillen Stage 1 kit (no intercooler, I don't think) and from I've heard its shit. The thing heat soaks so badly on the track that it loses most of its gains after a few laps, and the owner was having issues engineering it due to emissions. I know someone who fitted the original HKS supercharger (with the Rotrex) on their 350Z, and when I drove it I thought it was OK. The linear power gain means you barely notice any increase (it didn't feel any better than my NA) even though it made 50rwkW more than my car. I did rev it out to redline, so its not that I was just driving it outside the centrifugal supercharger's boost range.

Have you ever watched Top Gear before? None of the "epic races" are car reviews. They hardly ever mention anything useful about the countries they're travelling through. The fact that some Japanese cuisine even gets mentioned gives it more culture than what they normally do, and its not a travel show. Clarkson regularly refers to 911's as trumped-up Beetles.

Most modern Corvettes have two overdriven gears. The Commodore inherited the 'vette box with the LS1/LS2, and the modifications went to the shift feel rather than gearing. You'd think that the ZR-1 would have a close ratio box, given its focus, but with that much torque its probably not necessary.

Renting WSID would probably cost money. They just randomly show up to a carpark for free and put it on, since they're not charging admission. They probably got kicked out of Reading Cinemas in Auburn for the shenanigans last time.

I'd say more like 12-18 months. We're at least a season behind, usually.

I should have mentioned that I'm a 350Z owner, but since the car share the same platform and hardpoints most of my impressions and experience still apply. The 350Z is a little lighter and a little stiffer than the V35, which makes the chassis a tad more responsive, but in general there's very little in it. That's what I was thinking. Most self-fitted twin turbo kits I've seen have been in the region of USD$6500 + shipping + fitting, and not all the kits are "complete". Then you need to land it, and pay for it. A HKS Single Turbo kit won't leave you much change from $9K + fitting, so I can only imagine what their twins kit is like. Have a read of the V35 subforum. If I remember correctly some people mentioned that they weren't stock in all models. I'm pretty sure that some offer a VLSD (as is the case with the 350Z), and for NA applications I've found it to be sufficient for a street car. Otherwise, you can find someone who has upgraded their LSD and buy the VLSD off them. It shouldn't be worth very much, but I don't feel like it needs to be replaced. I only single peel around really tight (1st gear) hairpins. APS 2.5" true dual is the first one that comes to mind. They're passable for NA applications and, compared to my HiTech single, they make the same peak power but lose a little in the midrange. A lot of people have ended up making custom cross-pipes for them, to get some of that midrange back. On the APS TT they're ADR noise legal, so NA with no turbos to muffle the sound they might be a tad over. It won't be noticably so, however. They are, obviously, also suitable for FI applications. Pretty sure the Nismo exhaust links back to a single pipe after the cats. Its good for NA, but I wouldn't be running a single 2.5" midpipe-back exhaust on a 3.5L engine with forced induction. I'd say they were sufficient. I'd suggest taking one for a test drive since feel is very subjective, but in my 2 years of non-Brembo usage, street and track, I found them to be good enough. Yeah, your twin sounds quite aggressive. You can get singles like that. I drove Dumhedz's old S13 when he had a really aggro single with an unsprung centre. The Nismo twin plate Coppermix is nothing like that. I'll be honest and say that, as its being bedded in, its getting grabbier and less easy to take off smoothly without too many revs (its only got around 250km on it right now) but its still drivable and the clutch feel is reasonably progressive, and I still think its just a matter of getting used to. Considering I was on the stock clutch for 4 years, I think its just a mental thing. I drove a mate's R33 GT-R with a twin plate, and his car was far more difficult to take off than mine is now. Before the Nismo twin plate I was running a JUN chromoly single mass flywheel with the stock clutch, so yes I do. Its not that loud, but its certainly audible and people are sure to ask me what that racket is. Only if I'm trying to throttle in 6th gear from 1200RPM. Otherwise, it doesn't rattle at all. I haven't had time to thrash the car to get the driveline really heated up, which is where my JUN wheel would really chatter, but the news I've read about on forums is that the Nismo flywheel doesn't rattle. It might take a little getting used to, but so far it feels far from bad. The resistance of the new clutch is less than stock, and the friction material is superior, but its quite progressive. I'll let someone else drive it in the near future, and see what they think. Here's what Cain's graph looks like. The graph has his NA line (which looks like the car was dead stock, judging by the peak power figure) as well as after the APS Twin Turbo install. NA or FI, that's a very smooth line. Doing bolt-ons to the NA doesn't make the power graph that much curvier. You will pick up more midrange and top end, but its not the lightswitch VTEC feel. I've driven an APS TT powered 350Z, and it feels like a stock S15 / R33 GTS-t...just faster. The car had 275 width Pirelli P Zeros on the back, and if you floored it from 3000RPM in a straight line it didn't break traction in any gear. Well, technically it would slip at 6000RPM in 1st, but you'd just then change gear into 2nd. If you did that in 2nd, it would keep traction all the way to the limiter. The V35 shares the exact same suspension geometry as the Z33 (but with different rate and height springs/dampers, and as I said before the V35 may not have a VLSD) so getting the car to put the power down in a straight line isn't a major issue. You will need to respect the throttle on FI out of corners, of course, but that's normal. With NA, I can mash the throttle in 2nd gear once I get to the apex of a bend and not worry about wheelspin if I'm driving the car properly. Only if I flick the wheel or other weight shift tricks, or kick the clutch, will the tail break away.

A twin turbo kit for $4500? What's the catch? I wouldn't worry about the auto then. The VQ35DE has so much torque that you don't really need to change gear. You can drop to 20-30km/hr in 4th gear in a V35 and it'll still pull cleanly, albeit slowly. If you're mostly highway mileage (I assume not bumper-to-bumper on it), the car may as well be an auto since you'll not need to change gear. The V35 will comfortably do 60km/hr in 6th so even if you have to slow down on the highway you can leave it in gear and re-accelerate. The auto's "manual shifter" is also in the "wrong" direction (away from the driver for upchange, towards the driver to downshift) for enthusiastic driving, and you have to go aftermarket to get steering wheel paddles or to correct the shifter. Does it have to be Nismo? There's a range of manufacturers that can sell you good quality parts. The Nismo LSD, from what I've heard, is quite clunky. Its not like you have to deal with Nissan servicing anyway, so it doesn't matter if the parts are aftermarket as long as they're good quality. Exhaust-wise, there are plenty of companies selling exhausts for the V35 (which is identical to the Z33's, aside from needing a small piece of pipe to increase the length as the V35 is a longer car). The non-Brembos aren't that bad. The feel is reasonable-to-good, although the initial response isn't as good as the Brembos. I fitted my non-Brembo 350Z with Brembos, and it took a while to readjust to the touchy brake pedal. If you're not hammering the brakes hard, then there's almost nothing between them in actual stopping distance. 2 feet at 97km/hr is sweet f**k all. However, if you're going on the track I'll be the first to tell you that they don't cut it. I did the usual Stage 1 upgrades (DS2500s pads, DBA slotted rotors and RBF600 fluid) and I'd fade them out quite easily on semi slicks. Even with street tyres I was eating an entire set of rear pads in under 10,000km with 2 track days in there. You can get OEM Brembos second or third hand for under $2K these days. If you want better braking performance and you're willing to spend a little extra, get V36 Sport brakes. You will need aftermarket wheels to fit those monsters, though. Why don't you want a twin plate? I just installed a Nismo twin plate Coppermix, and the pedal feel is lighter than stock. Its grabbier than before, but not painfully so. Its still easy to find the friction point and slip it slowly for a smooth take off. You only notice that it bites harder if you come off the pedal too quickly, and the car lurches forward with a bit more force. Its rated for 640ps, which is higher than the 400ps that most V35s/Z33s generate on factory internals. As there's no NA VQ that makes that kind of power (even Nismo's 380RS only makes 400ps) one would assume that it would cope with the torque of an FI application.

I've run the DZ101s in the past. I really liked them. Great street tyres. They lasted me between 20-25,000km (which is the longest I've ever gotten out of a set of tyres). I found them good in the wet and dry.

According to the press release, the 7:26 lap time was done on the stock Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's, which are a soft street tyre. They're soft, but with their tread pattern and UTQG they're easily daily drivable. They're certainly less aggressive in the tread and UTQG than the Bridgestone RE070s the GT-R comes with, or the usual aftermarket S-Comp choices of the Falken RT615 / Federal 595RS / Bridgestone RE-01R / Dunlop Direzza Z1 / Nitto 555R II.

Be sure to check Final Gear for the Top Gear Season 11 Episode 4 Torrent on Monday morning. http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planettopgear...son-japan-race/ Shit, as they say, is on.

My favourite call. Wankers with "sex spec" cars, and skanks. What's the difference between that and Auto Salon, aside from the fact that one's inside a building?