Beer Baron

nothing wrong with that AW11 MR2 are a nice little car. good fun. nothing like an FD RX7 though but still fun in a different way.

yeah it gets a bit confusing when the stops are on. generally when a bloke stops early he drops down the pack but will gain back those positions again when the guys in front of him stop. so often the commentators will call him as being in a 'net 3rd position' or whatever even though on track he's really 6th or something. it's a bit more confusing lately as people trying anything from 1 stop strategy to the recent 4 stop strategies. so when you have guys who are close but one is stopping 3 times and one is stopping 4 times it gets a bit messed up in the middle of the race until all the stops are gone and you see where they end up.

posted result of 98/99 F1 seasons after I said, "don't post it I'm watching it now"..... bastard!

a set of A050s, RE55s or DZ01G will all be miles better than the R888s. the only downside is the cost....

yeah I say run the E85 bris. it will give you more power, and doesn't cost a bomb either. russ used to run the sunoco stuff but switched to E85. I've run with the Elf LMS (and turbomax) in robs GT3 and we used to use it in the alfa too. it was pretty good we certainly got a few more hp out of the alfa but it was so bloody expensive. talking over $5.50 a litre and that was 5 years ago and at the time we could get 'optimax extreme' which was the shell 100RON brew for like $1.50 so eventually we went back to that. I'm spewing as shell don't do the 100ron anymore and even united near me don't do united 100 any more either as I guess they sell E85 now. I'm going to move to that.

oh yeah brave pills for T1 is a good idea. there's definitely time made up there by just holding your breath and squeezing the loud pedal a bit harder than you think is wise.

lol, sure mate I will be there as usual and happy to offer any advice I can. I've turned lots of laps and watched many thousands from pit lane as crew there. but I would still consider myself in the 8-9/10ths range so you'll have to find that last bit on your own. It's a good track. nothing too mysterious about it so most drivers can get a good starting point fairly quickly and then work at small improvements from there. it does tend to go off a bit through the day on most days so setting good times in the morning is important. most corners really only have one approach or line that works best for 90% of cars/drivers so no real mystery there either unlike other tracks where there can be 2 or 3 equally good approaches/lines to a given corner and it means doing some experimenting to see what really works for you (oran park was a bit like that and wakefield is a bit too).

was webbers kers working in the race? every time they had the onboard graphics up alonso (or whoever was with webs) was using it but webber wasn't? and his start??? wtf?? he got off the line very nicely, was miles ahead of gonzo and vettel but just got mowed down in the '2nd phase' of the start? I mean surely it's just pedal to floor, bang through gears as requierd? no one can mess that up surely? maybe his car really is knobbled somehow or is it just his weight penalty compared to the lighter drivers? oh, and nee-san. you are a deadset prick. have ruined 98/99 f1 for me. you are lucky I don't ban you for life! seriously dude.... what was the point of that? surely anyone who was curious could have just googled it...

agreed but it hurts them badly when they are not in front. all well and good to use your overall lap speed to your advantage when you're in front but when you're behind you need that top speed to make some moves. yeah I said something similar about that time and then actually switched the race off. ok, I lol'd. yeah they are just wrong. I hear that mate. All I wanted was to see webber win a race in person. doesn't look like I'll get that chance now. I say save the F1 cash and instead go do a track day at spa again, or zandvoort or even burger-ring (maybe do the GP track?). Or just lounge in the Spa casino drinking your buck fifty beers and then head over to poland to find my long lost sister at the strip club. tell her I said "hi".

yep, just did hockenheim. yeah it was a kick arse track before tilke put his stamp on it. why on earth they keep hiring the bloke is beyond me. I mean all his bloody new tracks are the same. if they want the same why not just have 20 races at bloody shanghai or sepang? save money that way.

yeah to echo the guys above I wouldn't go for any off the shelf BC/HSD/hop sing chinese coil overs as they all have less travel than stock. a set of bilstein or koni shock inserts in the standard body's would be a good start. otherwise tough it out on the stock gear for a while till you can afford (and justify) buying a set of DMS or MCA rally suitable coil-overs with plenty of travel. i would stay away from the full locker. something like a jap 1.5way mech lsd would be the go. you do want some locking action under brakes so you can get a nice sharp turn in (too much lock and it will just want to go straight and you'll be understeering and having to work that handbrake like a mad man). but you need some oversteer on exit to get the nose pointed at the apex to fire you out. as far as getting 15s over your brakes look into those rally wheel options or the other option would be a set of TE37s in 15 inch, they may well clear the stock 296mm rotors and 4 piston calipers.

my experience with cars we've rune elsewhere and then at eastern creek is that you will need to go a little stiffer in bars/springs/dampers than you have at QR (nothing crazy though). EC is not particularly bumpy and how quick you can get it through turn 1 is pretty important. 2 reasons, it's at the end of a long straight, and the beginning of another fairly long one (from T1 to T2 is a long way). The more speed you can carry through T1 will get you down to T2 that much quicker. there is another long straight bit after the T9 hairpin which sends you into the T10/11/12 complex and it's an odd entry with the track curving right (T10) in the braking zone for T11 (left hander). need good change of direction here to be able to get on the power nicely for the double left hander which is T11/12 which brings you back onto the front straight. the rest of the track is mostly 3rd/4th gear stuff and again fairly smooth, no big bumps in braking zones or corner exit zones so you won't need as much compliance as you may do at QR. although as harry said I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water and make wholesale changes to your car just for EC. you may make it harder to drive. if you are comfortable with how it handles now perhaps some small incremental change is the best bet and just try and maximise seat time to get a handle on the track. I would say it's one of those tracks that's very easy to learn, tough to master. you should be able to get up to 8 or 9/10ths pretty quick but getting that last bit of time can be tough at EC. car sounds awesome. can't wait to see it. good luck.

I'll drink to that old son!

my advice would be just buy an R34 Cas and do the wiring mod to get it working in your R32. otherwise you'll need to fit an R32/33 cam to the head (no problem doing it as there is no physical difference in the head) and then you can run your 32/33 CAS no problem. to me, it's easier to buy an run the 34 cas. as far as standard cams go pretty sure R34 exhaust cam is longer duration (same lift) compared to 32/33 cam. inlet cams are same.

I thought 0.32?

I wouldn't run 255 semis on a 8.5. 235 is ideal. you could probably get away with 245 if you want though. I would buy a pair of 255s. try them on the front rims. see what you think. if you don't like it, put them on the rear 9 inch rims, and then buy 235 or 245 for the fronts.

don't worry you wont be alone in the lack of testing group! many cars will only be finished in June/July if then!! it seems many of the big boys are joining their own 'team last minute' this year. as far as weight goes that will be tough but with good aero and power you can still do well at EC. it doesn't punish the heavy cars so much unlike some other tracks as it doesn't have many really sharp changes of direction or lots of bumps etc. but yeah it will be a challenge but I think if it comes together you will be a serious contender. I hope you're going to drive it too. take a leaf out of berry's book and develop yourself with the car. from memory didn't they release some special 20 inch semi slicks (or were they only slicks?) specifically for the R35s? but yeah only 18inch semis I agree it will be tough. we struggled with grip in berrys 34 only being able to run semis the same width as guys run on evos when we too have a lot more weight and a lot more power. anyway, I'll be cheering for you mate.

i literally lol'd! sprung noel!! but it's ok mate. cause you are right. berry/newman 32 was/is one of the horniest RBs on the earth and I've heard plenty of good ones both here and in 7 years spent going to and from japan.

ahh well he did keep saying 3.2 so yeah maybe he means 3.2:1 not 3:2? I guess that makes more sense as he talks about 4.11 and 3.2 in the same post: but I've still not heard of any skyline with a 3.2:1 (or a 3:2) diff in it? or any comparable nissan for that matter. 3.6:1 yeah but never heard of 3.2:1. either way they are crazy tall. the 3.6:1 in the 34 GTR is already on the tall side with the getrag but it's stupid tall with a 5 speed GTST/GTR box in front of it. anyway I'm sure guiltoy will clarify.

jono/harey/trozzle. you guys are cracked. no way can you make that much with only 4, 600cc injectors. my 4 nismo 555cc injectors in my silvia are pretty much maxed at 240kw on PULP. you can get 250kw on 4X600cc on pulp but to do an E85 tune you're going to need 850s at a min. I'd go even bigger if you want to pull some decent power too.

nah I'm going to say falcon straight 6...

yeah but aren't 32 GTR (and most imports) dirt cheap in NZ due to lack of restriction on imports? I know NZD is not quite = AUD but it's not far off right? typically I've seen comparable imports are quite a bit cheaper in NZ. I'd say a car like yours would be worth low 20s in AUD. but yeah of course get whatever the market will pay.

yeah excels punch above their weight. good advise on the models. I didn't even mention the corrollas or swifts (probably the 2 most popular FWD rally hatches). the pulsars are ok, and with a SR20 in them go hard, but probably a bit pricey to build and run compared to the other 1.3 and 1.6 cars. there you go zebra, come and take away my applause. get some CDS and a welder. build your cage and you are half way there! if you can get a CW+P for it and a gearset then you'll be going places.

that's funny. I just made my gf watch AJ try and go through qualy. it's hilarious. forget the backmarkers names. I have seen episodes where he couldn't pronounce ANYONES name! some favourites. Rolf schumacher (how hard is it to say RALF?) takage (tak-kagi - should be tah-car-geh) rosset jacques vile-noooove nakano wurz (gets wurtz, or worse depending on mood) even barrichello variously got barry-chello or barry-kiiiilo he can't even say "trulli" - trooooool-iiiie frentzen (don't even get him to try heinz-harald) I think Hakkinenen he could say, but he did fk up coulthard (few different stabs at that one). he did seem to be able to say "Hill" ok though. to his credit. lol sometimes could get irvine right too. I still think Rolf was my favourite though as he was so consistent with that one.

yep, he did try and punch out coulthard at the end of Spa!! it was gold. never seen ze cherman so fired up. they both came back to the pits together (with schumi driving on 3 wheels mind you and still faster than the tyrells and minardis), schumi parks it, helmet off and starts storming over to Maclaren (great commentator murray walker as usual misreads it and yells "oh my! Schumacher is heading over to talk to the stewards" lol what an idiot). he bursts into Maclaren and starts pushing and swinging punches trying to get a bead on coulthard. jean todt is practically jumping on his back at this point (probably feeling guilty as it was indirectly his fault, if he'd said nothing it wouldn't have happened) and a few burly big mac crew dissuade schumi from plowing any further into their garage. yeah epic hakkinen pass on schumi was 99 (sure as hell wasn't 98 as schumi was GOD of Spa 1998). what year did hakkinen end up 'crying in the woods like hakkinen'?