IanB

I have, actually. I have driven the civics, MPS 3's, clio sports, GTI golfs etc etc and I did not like them (the R32 golf however was awesome!). The feeling of a FWD is unmistakable and in my mind unenjoyable - its something you can try and hide and something you can try to mitigate, but you cannot ever remove it completely. The feeling of a RWD however, is something to promote - there is no need to hide or mitigate it because it is what you want. Im not "limiting" myself by ruling out FWD because there's nothing there for me to rule in. This whole push to FWD is coming from the bean counters in the car manufacturers who have decided that its cheaper to build FWD and their marketing departments are now trying to sell them as "sports cars" all in a bid to increase profit margins - I'm not a fan, I most likely never will be, but to be honest, that's ok. I will periodically try new fronties from time to time no doubt, various mates will get them and I will have a go. I am happy to give them a chance, but nothing FWD has ever given me the same satisfaction mid-corner as my GTR and its highly unlikely that any FWD ever will. Does that mean that they are all 100% rubbish? No. I never said that. A good FWD is probably better then say, a hiace van, or even a commodore or falcon (in certain situations), but not much else. FWD will always play second fiddle to the other platforms in my mind, and that's due in part to the nature of FWD being cost-orientated as opposed to RWD and moreso AWD which tends to be performance orientated. I dont "hate" FWD, I have nothing against people who like or drive FWD; infact FWD makes sense if your building a commuter car or even a commuter car which may sometimes double up as a sports car. But if your building a sports car that may sometimes double up as a commuter car, RWD is a minimum in my mind, if I am going to pay money for it. I don't want this descending into an argument or a slinging match so this is going to be my last post in this thread. Sorry if I offended anyone with my thoughts, but that's the nature of discussion. Regards, Ian

Actually the Astina shared the same platform as the mazda familia, which was designed as a sports car. So it wasn't all that bad. Add to that the turbocharged motor and I personally don't think its a bad example of a FWD for comparison at all. It also weighed quite a bit less and had more power then the DC2R, and as such was probably quite a bit faster as well. Perhaps the Honda would handle better, who knows? I don't think there'd be that much in it. Anyway, I'm not being a "hater" - I am just speaking from my own personal experiences. I have driven several "sports" front wheel drives, including some rather new ones, and I just wouldn't pay money for them, because FWD is in my mind the worst of the three platforms. But if you like your fronties and think they are the bees knees, then go for your life. We should probably all get used to it anyway, because affordable RWD sports cars are near extinct (if its gotten so bad that people are seriously looking at commodores and falcons) and AWD is starting to go that way as well (with the coming demise of the evo). Ferrarri, Porche, Lambourgini etc etc have never built a FWD. Why is that do you think? What about a 350GT skyline or something like that?

In Regards to the FWD / RWD arguement: In my life, I have owned 4 cars. I started with a Mazda Astina, which I blew up. I then proceeded to get a familia half-cut and drop the BPT motor into the car which gave me a turbo FWD. My next car was a R32 GTR, and I then bought another (which I still have). After that, I went halfs with my partner for a S15 which we use as our daily drive (some may question the wisdom of having a second turbo car as my daily, but I digress.). This has given me a fairly broad experience over the three platforms AWD, RWD and FWD. Out of all the cars, the Astina was faster then the S15, but slower then the skylines in a straight line. It was however by far the worst handling of the three cars, despite being the lightest (I'd have to check that but im pretty confident), and had this particular habit of power-understeering towards the largest immovable object it could find. It torque-steered all over the shop and if something should go wrong, was by far the hardest car to pull out of a tight spot - also, compression lockups were the kiss of death. Now granted that there have been vast improvements to the world of fronties since then, but I am comparing apples to apples, and both the astina and skyline were from the early 90's - Also, if people are going to argue that the Astina was never supposed to be turbocharged, I would say that the engine bay went so far as to have the mounting points for the factory sidemount intercooler from the Familia, so it was clearly on the cards at one point. Those that say FWD can be sports cars are wrong, and are probably merely trying to defend their own decisions or circumstances which have given them "sports" front wheel drives. SSS pulsars, MPS 3's etc etc etc are all commuter cars first and sports cars second - which is fine. But when you put them up against the likes of Skylines, RX7's, Supras etc, all of which are *dedicated* sports cars, then they come off a very distant second. FWD is the budget option, its cheaper to build and easier to maintain, and is the most fuel efficient, but none of these virtues makes it good from a performance point of view. I will say however that I have noticed something about frontie drivers (in particular Clio Sports drivers) - and I had the same problem when I was one - they are forever trying to tell you that FWD is better. Which it simply is not. In regards to the falcon: My parents had a territory for a few years prior to the subaru they have now. Be wary of ford build quality - they last just a little bit longer then their warranties and even before then you are starting to notice thing degrade in a hurry. They are built to a budget and that budget is not very large. Also, I would be checking whether or not the car has a LSD - the territory did not, which it got away with because it was AWD, but for such a large and heavy car you would expect that you would get at least a LSD.

Yeah I saw harry getting rather sideways coming onto the straight - my heart skipped a beat! I thought he was going to go in there for sure. You did well to catch it mate. Pity that you didn't have such luck next time

Hi ladies and gentlement Here are the times for the day. There were some timing errors which I have tried to filter out (with a stock evo doing a 38 second pass etc) so these times are to be taken with something of a grain of salt, but never the less: Boyd Taylor 59.89 Greg Burrows 61.64 Melinda Bergman 61.05 Stephen Winter 63.2 Adam McLeod 65.21 Stuart Wallis 62.92 Jared Anderson 77.42 Scott McInerney 64.27 Gino Goodall 66.44 Joel Sang 75.79 Brenton Steel 74.95 Brad Slack 68.64 Stewart Pilmer 74.2 Johann Bell 68.02 Michael Gray 67.54 Harry Doling 59.07 Ben Wormwald 65.33 Ian Batley 62.17 Jason Bridge 58.36 Daren Irvine 59.96 Grant Mcinteer 64.72 Jesse Bridge 69.34

Actually sorry skylinegtts, I am unable to send you a PM for some reason. My number is 0400 813 419.

Hey mate, sorry, are you Stephen Winter? If so, we have already spoken. If not, I have PM'd you with my number

Hey Khe, I have sent you a PM We have pulled support for bikes at this event due to a number of factors, and as such we now 3 open spots again to fill. If anyone is keen to come along, now is a good chance Regards, Ian

Hi Guys We have had a couple of drivers pull out and are looking to fill two positions. Date has been confirmed with QR as the 5th July, am currently waiting on them to get back to me with final confirmation. It would be preferable to get one more bike and one more car. Attendee List: Ian Batley - Paid Brad Slack - Paid Scott McInerney - Paid Graham Slack - pending confirmation Stewart Pilmer - Paid Adam McLeod- Paid Steff Hollywood Stuart Wallis Jason Bridge - Paid Boyd Taylor - Paid Alex (Brads's +1) - pending confirmation Joel Sang Graj Gray - Paid Open Position Open Position Chris Paterson - Paid SAU Username: Marlin Harry Doling - Paid Noel Teelow - paid Johann Bell - paid Greg Burrows - paid in full Bikes: Will Fagestrom - Paid in full 'Pete' Fagestrom - Paid in full Rob Mair - Paid Mark Regards, Ian

Done and Done Running list: Attendee List: Ian Batley - Paid Brad Slack - Paid Scott McInerney Graham Slack - pending confirmation Stewart Pilmer Adam McLeod Steff Hollywood Stuart Wallis Robbie Roach Woulter Degreees Pascal - pending confirmation Joel Sang Graj Gray Brenton Wanahockalugie Leal Minnis - Pending Confirmation Chris Paterson - Pending Confirmation SAU Username: Marlin SAU Username: hrd-hr30 Noel Teelow Johann Bell Greg Burrows Bikes: Will Fagestrom 'Pete' Fagestrom - pending confirmation Rob Mair - Paid Mark Please see facebook for payment details and due dates. Regards, Ian

Updated running list: Attendee List: Ian Batley Brad Slack Scott McInerney Graham Slack - pending confirmation Stewart Pilmer - pending confirmation Adam McLeod Steff Hollywood Stuart Wallis Adam Mcleods Friend Adam Mcleods Friend Adam Mcleods Friend Joel Sang Graj Gray Brenton Wanahockalugie Leal Minnis - Pending Confirmation Chris Paterson - Pending Confirmation SAU Username: Marlin SAU Username: hrd-hr30 Noel Teelow Johann Bell Open Position Bikes: Will Fagestrom 'Pete' Fagestrom - pending confirmation Rob Mair Mark We only have One open position left and 5 drivers pending confirmation. Be quick if you want to take part!

Hi Mitchel That would be great, will add a lot of organisation to the day to have someone running the pits etc Regards, Ian

Done I completely agree on the grouping - could you please send me a PM with your lap times and facebook details? Regards, Ian Group A: Ian Batley Brad Slack Scott McInerney Graham Slack - pending confirmation Stewart Pilmer - pending confirmation Group B (6 drivers as per request): Adam McLeod Steff Hollywood Stuart Wallis Adam Mcleods Friend Adam Mcleods Friend Adam Mcleods Friend Group C: Joel Sang Graj Gray Brenton Wanahockalugie Leal Minnis - Pending Confirmation Chris Paterson - Pending Confirmation Group D: SAU Username: Marlin SAU USername: hrd-hr30 Open Position Open Position Open Position Group E: Open Position Open Position Open Position Open Position Bikes so far: 2 - need 4 bikes and group E will become the bikes.

Currently, the groups are fairly rough. Group b is a group that has requested to run together, group A should all be roughly the same time. Groups C/D/E are subject to be reorganized once we have some more info on what their composition will be. We will aim to get everyone of roughly the same times together.

Hey mate No worries, ill put you down for a spot Shoot me a PM with your facebook details if possible. The list so far: Attendee List: Group A: Ian Batley Brad Slack Scott McInerney Graham Slack - pending confirmation Stewart Pilmer - pending confirmation Group B (6 drivers as per request): Adam McLeod Steff Hollywood Stuart Wallis Adam Mcleods Friend Adam Mcleods Friend Adam Mcleods Friend Group C: Joel Sang Graj Gray Brenton Wanahockalugie Leal Minnis - Pending Confirmation Chris Paterson - Pending Confirmation Group D: SAU Username: Marlin Open Position Open Position Open Position Open Position Group E: Open Position Open Position Open Position Open Position Bikes so far: 2 - need 4 bikes and group E will become the bikes. Regards, Ian

Hi All I am putting together a privately organised track day on or around the 5th of july at lakeside raceway. Pricing is 136 dollars for a half day. We are currently aiming for a afternoon session. This event will be run with an AASA permit and there will be timing staff there on the day. Lakeside also confirmed that they will allow us to run bikes and cars on the same day so long as no cars and bikes are on the track at the same time, so if we can get 5 bikes then we can run 1 group of bikes and 4 groups of cars. We currently have 2 bikes, looking for at least two to three more if we are going to run bikes. We are looking at 25 drivers for this event. We are currently over half booked with quite a few pending so its first in best dressed. All drivers require head to toe clothing and a proper helmet and a AASA licence. No QLD Drivers license should be required to participate in this event. Bikes, if we wind up running them, require full leathers and of course an approved helmet. Possible dates we are looking at at the moment are: Thursday 23rd of June Tuesday 5th of July - Preferred date Format will be 5 groups of 5 vehicles, one group (5 vehicles) on the track at a time. Staggered starts, 1 warmup lap then 5 hot laps then 1 cooldown lap. Everyone Should get 4 - 5 sessions provided everything goes smoothly. There should be plenty of track time for the money, and the track shouldn't be very crowded. If anyone is interested, please let me know here, or alternatively add me as a contact on facebook where there is an event page setup for this. Regards, Ian Batley

Sold pending payment

Price drop, $7000

upsy daisy

More info: I have the front bar, it was just locked away and the person who owns the house its being stored at wasn't home so I couldn't get it out.

Hey mate, sorry to hear about your loss. How would the FMIC go fitting up to a S15? (is it R34 specific or generic?) If its not taken let me know. Again, sorry about your loss. Feel almost dirty buying things from you under this circumstance.

Pics:

Hey Mate, I will take photos at the first chance I get: its in storage at the moment so I would have to go out there to take photos - I will try for this afternoon.

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-nvm, found an alternative solution. Thanks anyway