scathing

Have a read through the quoted posts, and work it out. I said that, once you start modding, a FI engine of the same displacement as NA will always make more power. Eug asked if F1 engines counted. I provided evidence that, even in F1, forced induction ruled. Not to ER3425GT, who started this thread. He said he wanted "non turbo yet equally powerful to a turbo model". I told him that, displacement for displacement (and implied mod budget for mod budget) that just wasn't ever going to happen. If it was "obvious", he wouldn't have asked.

I was considering putting a 3.9 final drive in my diff, so I had a look at how it would affect my in-gear speeds. This table provides the data, although it does need to be updated for the HR engines' cutout and the possibility that some FI guys might want to run the 3.2 final drive out of the auto diff to make more use of their wide spread of torque. I know, if I was going TT, I would.

And well it should. You might find this thread a worthwhile read.

On the V8 discussion, the V8s in the current Audi RS4/R8 and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage both sound amazing. Don't even get me started on the aggressive note coming from V8 AMG's these days. I much prefer their growl to the more high strung Ferrari V8 scream.

DBAs have a reputation for cracking, even their slotted rotors. I think most of the people doing it are doing it on the track though. If you're only doing GOR and the Spurs you should be OK. I would assume, and hope, that you're not pushing your car to the limit on either road and overheating your braking hardware. There's not much margin of error available on either road, and with GOR especially help can be very far away.

does F1 count? Yes it does. Have a look at the projected power outputs of the old 3.0L engines. Then compare it to the 1.5L turbo engines of old. NA has double the displacement, 20 years of development by some of the finest mechanical engineers, and only makes 2/3 of the power. The 2005 3.0L F1 engine makes about 1000hp, and you know that if an F1 engine builder can't make more power out of that litrage then no-one can. There are 2JZs making significantly more power than that.

Non-JDM 350Zs have a 250km/hr speed cut. I've hit 243 (speedo indicated) before, and that was a struggle to reach even though I was near peak torque. Theoretical top speed is around 300km/hr with a 6MT, if you crunch the numbers and calculate with a 6850RPM fuel cut. There's no way a NA FM platform car is going to reach it though.

I managed to get 45km/L once, but my camera f**ked up and it changed down before I could get a photo. On the corollary, I also managed to get 0.1km/L.

A bus also weighs a fair amount more than a car, so its not really a relevant comparison. If you compare two similar cars (for example, the BMW X5 3.0si petrol vs 3.0 sd diesel), they make the same power but the diesel makes far more torque. Even though the diesel carries more weight, has a higher drag coefficient, and a far lower redline, its still significantly quicker. F1 cars rev to the sky because they're limited to normal aspiration and a certain displacement. Without boost or cubes, the only way to get power is through revs.

LF-A = 9:30 average around the Nurburgring I realise enduro cars are set up differently to time attack cars so its running slower than it can, but 2 mins is a pretty big deficit.

The R35 is a homologated race car? For which series? The SuperGT car doesn't share the drivetrain with the roadgoing vehicle, and its that drivetrain that makes the car. Does anyone know what engine the GT500 car runs? I can't find any info on whether its using a VR block, or retained the VQ block from the 350Z/R34 JGTC cars.

I destroyed 3rd gear last week on the track. I should have a new clutch/gearbox by the time this is on, but I'll have to move my status to "maybe not" instead for now.

There's an 1800hp VQ35DE seeing duty in a tube frame drag car in the USA. While it has an extra half a litre of displacement to make its extra 300hp, the engine is also far newer than a 2JZ in a sports car platform and so has nowhere near the amount of R&D time being poured into it.

I have, pretty much. Of course, my car isn't "tough" so that may be why I found it easier to do so.

Now, that's not entirely fair. You can guarantee the driver is never going to hoon again, thanks to this incident.

I certainly hope so, or at least any P plater who wants to buy a yellow car. According to research, people who drive yellow cars have below average self esteem and are prone to wild mood swings. Sounds like an emo, if you ask me. Considering how teenage emos behave, have the cops considered that this was a "cry for help" hooning?

Superior to what? I'm a big fan of the Falken RT615s. Reasonable price, very streetable, and amazing amounts of grip. I know a couple of Federal 595RS drivers who say the same thing about those tyres. You can now get Bridgestone Potenza RE-01Rs (standard fitment on the R34 Z-Tune if you didn't tick the R-Comp option) from Australian suppliers, and they're widely acknowledged as some of the best S-Comp tyres available. But these are more cornering, rather than drag, radials so the sidewalls may be a lot stiffer than what you want.

Go get your money, I say. Just because its not his fault doesn't mean its not his problem. As a retailer, the Trade Practices Act says its his responsibility to ensure that he sells you the goods you ordered.

That will certainly get the attention he's after. If the displacement is equal, you will never get a NA car to match a FI car once you start modifying both. You can stay "non turbo" and run nitrous, but in my books chemical induction does not count as "normally aspirated". Running nitrous is as much "cheating", when it comes to making more power, as boosting an engine. You could sink a bucketload of cash into a 3.0L engine with the most lightweight internals and a stratospheric redline, but the thing will run like a dog down low and so you'll probably still get beaten by a cheaper turbo car making practically the same power with more midrange, or a turbo car that's spent as much as you have, or blown away by a turbo car that's had the same amount of money thrown at it.

Been meaning to do an SAU track day. Interested.

Some people put performance first, so the money spent on the paint and interior could have gone to lightening reinforcing the chassis, or making more power from the engine (or making it more resistance to generating that power level for longer periods of time), or buying a GT-R and doing almost the same thing with ATTESSA, etc. If someone else sank the time/money/effort that you have into making this car into a pure track monster, it wouldn't be what you've got. Its not what you wanted to do, but that's exactly his point.

I've found that thick walled mild-steel exhausts provide a deeper, and less raspy, note than thinner walled stainless or titanium exhausts.

Honda drivers don't need someone else to kill themselves in the mountains.

I got mine from 88speed.com. A guy with a sticker cutter based in Melbourne, but they came out OK. EDIT: Bingo http://www.88speed.com/catalog/product_inf...b8cc7b726a74aed

Yeah, sorry, I meant to use the word "parallel" rather than "series".