warps

Do you actually notice it when driving though? Mine is similar - easy to hit your helmet on the cage and it restricts movement somewhat. I was gutted the first time I sat in the car with a helmet, as I hadn't considered it when buying. Thing is, I don't notice it at all while competing, and that's even when having to look out of the side window in gravel events.

Yes they will chase you. Just pay the fine you tight arse

If you do want to get out and do some events, the Willowbank Autocross events are normally arranged by IWMAC http://iwmac.org.au/, although there are a couple of other clubs who also run days there. Also, there's a khanacross that's run at Pimpama every few months by the CGTMC http://www.gctmc.org.au/. This is just up the road from me, and again suitable for road cars (although I've never run there personally). They have an event coming up in October, and another in December. They also run one at Maudsland, and used to run one at Arundel on Brisbane Rd (at the RDA centre). Don't know if they still do that one though.

Or better yet bring it to willowbank for the next autocross / dirt sprint. You'll get to drive in on slippery surfaces (semi slicks are the best, as the track packs down hard throughout the day) and you'll definitely get to feel what it does at high speed (I was hitting the limiter in 3rd, so fast enough to have some fun). You'll also get to see and talk to some very experienced drivers, and pick up a few pointers on driving the car at its limit. It's a good safe environment, with very little to hit and minimal chance of doing any damage. At worst your car will get dirty and you'll hit a witches hat or 2. Motorhkanas are fun and all, but they don't give you a real feeling for what your car will do at speed. The first time the tail steps out at 100km/h might be scary and a surprise, and I'd rather do it on a flat gravel track than on the tarmac. The first autocross I entered at Willowbank was taken out by a 1.6 litre MR2 on stock suspension. Can't be too bad a thing, hey? Next sprint at Willowbank is 19 Sep. For about $100 (if a non club member and you don't have your own Dorian - cheaper if you are a member and have a Dorian) it's good value for money.

Stupid question, but are you sure the temp gauge is working properly? This isn't the only place where you get intelligent responses to questions. You have just been looking in the wrong places. If I ever needed help on a WRX, I think I'd head over to some gravel rally forums.

GPL has been doing that since 1998 But then again, it's a real simulator - the original and still the best.

I've never had a bad problem with interference noise, so haven't had to troubleshoot too much. HAve you got a good, clean source of power? I'm guessing a suppressor or some kind of filter should fix the problem. On the topic of building a cheap intercom, I'm sure that if you can get quality electronic components cheap then you could build something cheaper than what's on offer. I know a guy in Newcastle building his own trip meters for rally (Ben Semple - member of Westlakes AUto Club for anyone interested). While his gear is cheaper than the main name brands, it's not what I'd call bargain basement. I think he was quoting somewhere near $400 for his top of the range model. I paid a couple of hundred over that for a Monit, but that was just my preference. I believe a few people have bought Ben's trip meters and are more than happy with them. To echo Kel's comments, if you're a newbie driver, then you'll struggle to digest a lot of information while you're driving. Start off with basic notes and work your way up from there. The first pace noted rally I ever did, we just took the road book and added notes to any corner that was actually different to how it looked entering the corner. Ie if it held a surprise, then we made a note, otherwise we left the calls as they were. This worked very well for us, but having said that, we were used to blind rallies and already had some experience at reading the road. I know that the top level drivers will have much finer descriptions for corners, but for those guys the difference in winning and losing is whether they can enter a fast sweeper at 120, or 140. THe slow stuff is always easier to read and you tend to have more time / room to respond if you stuff up a call

Exactly as it should be. Think of riding a motorbike. The SMG's are also expensive to fix, and will need a full overhaul by now if not already done.

Can't really blame you but honestly, try one first and then decide. In fact, if you're ever up QLD way and there happens to be an event on, you can have a go in the Honda. No it won't blow your mind with its hektik acceleration, but it more than compensates with corner grip and sheer fun. I grew up on a staple diet of RWD's and wasn't interested in FWD either, but I thought I'd give it a go when the honda came up at the right price and right time. I figured it would be a good way to get my kids into it (my son can drive in Khanas as of the end of this year) but now I'm not so sure I want to share

It's not about gimmicks or features. It's about quality - the Graytronics is orders of magnitude clearer, and more reliable. I don't know af too many people who haven't had trouble with Terraphone intercoms. don't think that just because it has bells and whistles, it's a good product. If you want clear calls that won't let you down at the worst possible time, stay well clear of the terraphone stuff. I too thought it was good when it was all I'd ever tried. When I moved on to the graytronics I realised what shyte the terraphone stuff was

Just checked through some history, and looks like the Graytronics was closer to $360, rather then the $200 I remembered. Still, good price for something that is a league above the Terratrip stuff. (Note the headsets are compatibnle with Terratrip, so if your nav has terratrip headset, then they can still nav with the Graytronics intercom, and vice versa.

Don't let the FWD thing put you off. The Civics are about the most RWD FWD you can get. My first ever drive of mine was a track day at LAkeside, and I must say it's the most fun I've had in a car for years (have just stepped out of an RX2 gravel rally car). Also, the FWD's may understeer if you try to drive them like a RWD, but on slippery surfaces they will match much more powerful RWD's if you drive them right - they are a fantastic khana car. In fact, the FWD driving style lends itself to attacking each corner faster than you should, and if you look like overcooking it, then you have to push it even harder (as opposed to a RWD where you ahve to dance on the throttle to balance it) For your budget you could pick up a complete rally car (Civic, Corolla, Swift) with allthe hard work done, including LSD, CR gearbox and maybe even some Murrayflex / DMS suspension. This will be as much fun as just about anything else on the track, and will also be fairly competitive in the tight twisty stuff. While my times were 10 sec off the fastest cars of the day, I know there are a good 2-3 sec left int he car without doing any changes (and it's still riding on the tall, soft gravel suspension). I was feeling my way around the track, learning the car and I haven't a lot of tarmac experience so was nowhere near the limits of the car. Besides, I managed to get within 0.7 sec of a Porsche 911 (997) so I was pretty happy with that. I don't care if he wasn't trying hard. that's not the point. Anyone who thinks that FWD's are boring should have a look at this.

I used a Graytronics intercom in my last car (which I sold with the car). It can be run off a 9V battery (which is what we did - just threw a new battery in for every event) or can be connected to the car's 12V power via the supplied power cable. The quality is fantastic ( better than terror phones) and they're cheap - I think mine was under $200 complete, though I'll have to check that. The mic boom attaches to the helmet with an allen bolt clamp, rather than dodgy double sided tape that falls off. The sound quality was so good I could hear all of the rattles in the car through my nav's microphone - had never experienced that with a terror phone before. I know some people who have used blue tooth intercoms, which is good for communicating to the driver when the Nav's at the control table and the car's still waiting to enter control. DOn't know if tarmac rallies use the same system so can't say whether you'll have the same advantages. Of course you can buy Stilo or Peltor intercoms / helmets with sound cancelling technology, but I think the price might be a bit steep for your budget.

Erm 205,000 km for a 10 year old car is hardly what I'd call very high. Possibly higher than desirable for a unique car, but knowing BMW reliability, it's only just run in. Hot Dam, that thing's just down the road from me - so tempting to go and look at it!!

Yeh I had to read it again - 5L 400hp could be read as 500 in a quick glance. The V10 jobbies were good for 500hp apparenlty but still out of my price range. Personally I wouldn't care if there are hundreds of mockups going around. If anything, it will stand out less (I'm not into standing out in a crowd). If you have the real thing, who cares whether there are wannabes trying to make their 318i look like a M3. Makes them a bunch of tossers, but doesn't detract from the genuine thing IMHO.

Who said it had 500hp?

C63 Rocks - if for no other reason than the sound. They're a bit small for my liking (bit cramped in the back seat for adults) but make an awesome cruiser and good for track days if you're game. Have you consideres the BMW equivalents? Don't know what sort of $$ you're looking at, but the E39 (1998 - 2003) model M5's are around the $40k or less. 5L 400hp V8 with 6 speed manual - A lot of perforomance for not a lot of money.

That's an aftermarket spot / driving light switch. Obviously had after market lights fitted at some time (or someone's had the light switch from a kit iand used it to switch some other accessory) You might find some wires tucked under the front bumper or around that area.

Yeh those petrol Rodeos suck the juice, don't they? We used one as a service vehicle in a rally years ago, and on the drive to the rally (about 250km) the Rodeo (loaded with a few tools and spares) used more fuel than my XR6 ute did with a 2 tonne trailer on the back of it.

500-600kg, although the hire ones are usually closer to 900kg Only if the vehicle doesn't have an official towing rating. almost everything these days does, and you can saffely and legally tow more than the weight of the towing vehicle if the towing vehicle is designed for it.Remember also that once your total towed weight goes over 2000kg, you need 4 wheel brakes on the trailer, with a break away braking system. For $2k you might get a rough second handie if you're lucky. To get something like what you need for towing a heavy car like the GTR, bank on $5k+ for a new trailer (a good one) or at least $4 for a good second hand one that doesn't need a complte rebuild. I;ve been down both paths and can say that buying a purpose built trailer to my own specs was the best decision I made. Oh, and I note the new Pathfinder has 140kW and 450Nm - not a bad upgrade for the little diesel. If only I could get the Ti in a manual without the sunroof i'd trade mine in a flash.

Somewhere slower than an R1 and faster than an Aurion. Like it makes a toss of difference anyway. Surely there are more important ways to determine a car's performance potential than a single figure (which conveniently happens to be the GTR's strong point)

don't over think this. More important to have a reliable car that you're comfortable and familiar with than having mods to make it go faster. Looks like the mods you ahve should do nicely. The 888's will be fine. the Ku36 are a semi slick (they're rated as a 140 treadwear, so should be in the same category as the 888's, but they'r eno match). If you can get all the suspension and brake work done and properly set up, then spend the rest of the time driving the car as your daily. Overall you'll be faster in a car that you know intimately than you will in a more heavily modified car that you've only driven a few times. When I used to take my daily driver to a track I got times much better than the level of modification of the car suggested I should ever achieve. Knowing the limits of your car is better than having higher limits, but having no idea where they are. My 2c anyway.

Lachlan vs the world raises a valid point. The coolant temp is generally read at the thermostat, so if the temp probe for the switch is near the thermostat, then you need to set the temp slightly higher than the thermostat opening temp. If you've set the temp probe in the bottom tank, then this is supposedly cooler than the top tank, so you will need to set the switch lower. If the radiator outlet water temp is the same as the inlet temp, then correct, there is no heat being removed from the water. 100 deg C water will still cool engine components (some of which are approaching several hundred degrees C) but obviously we start having issues with the water boiling, not being pumped around, effective cooling etc. However, setting the fan to cut in when the radiator outlet temp is higher than the thermostat temp may in fact cause problems as Lachlan has said (because it is coming back into the engine much hotter again). I don't know what the limits are, as I haven't been dumb enough to try this.

Also remember FBT considerations. If you don't do many (any) legit business related km, you get charged FBT on the total value of the car (depending on the number of KM you do in a year). The more km you do, the less FBT you pay. Talk to your accountant.

From the guys I know who have done some serious experimentation and testing in rally cars, the consensus is that 4300K gives much more useful light than 6000K. The higher temp rating gives a bluer light, but light output goes down. Don't make the mistake of believing that bluer light is better light. Anything over 4300K and you will lose brightness. Also, have you ensured that your reflectors, lenses and wiring in your standard system is up to scratch? These cars are getting old now, and there's a good cnance that the lights aren't even getting the full voltage due to deterioration in wiring, switch gear, earths etc. I have done many an upgrade on old Jap car electrics. Fitting relays and decent wiring to the stock lights makes a huge difference, as does putting good quality halogen globes (not necessarily massive wattage bulbs, either)