Roy

What stand? I am starting to think it is easier to catch an Asian race. I really want to catch a last OS race of Webber. Singas I imagine is rubbish for spectating. Plus, your life will never be the same after a trip to the right places in Singapore

In India (Actually...may have been Korea) Dan had a spin wioth a dozen laps to go when I think it was a swaybar or something failed in the car and it started pullling under brakes. He limped home to 9th giving 8th position to Jev in the process As well as looking at points you need to consider Dan had 5 points finishes...should have been 6 but the fuel pump failure at Monza with a lap to go. So not saying it means more ... but its a differenrt measure which when you factor with quali performance gives rise to possibility the thinking behing why they thingk Dan is ready for the step to RBR and not Jev. More points finishes....superior quali performance etc etc

Pics of damage and condition or rails etc?

Yeh, talk is that Kimi's management are meeting RBR again at Spa for final discussions. I really want Kimit o stay at Lotus. Hate to see farktart Hulk in at Lotus. The Joe Saward publication is actually veyr good as he only writes a few bibs and bobs, its mostly some other old school journos with good insight!

You will hate it....Joe Saward's GP+

Hang on....he gave JEV his points finish in India. Fuel problem robbed him off points in Monza....if you go back to last year Dan was flat our robbed of points so it was very close. Dan had more points finishes despite being robbed in Monza to boot. The race pace is an interesting thing. That is something that will be interesting to see when you cant hide behind the car and away from the cameras. It appears as though JEV has superior race pace but again...there is cause for doubt as to the merit of that claim when you consider Dan gets everything out of the car in quali but in the race ulitimately falls back to the general pace of the car...putting JEV and Dan on similar points of the track at the end of the race. PLUS the fact that Dan is higher up often the team split strategy and stops and put Dan on teh more agressive. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. I read an article in an online magazien I subscribe too that says Dan has the pace that they back to get the job done with agreesive strategy. They dont put JEV on the agressive strategy as he has shown to clash more often in passing and is starting further back so less point. So, its not a reason or an excuse but a consideration as to the respective race paces. When you look at the live timing Dans pace is gernally better until he hits the faster pack and then often gets backed up whilst JEV in free air cruises up to a spot of two behind. And agree that lower formula means a lot less in F1...Dan has not done a lot in Jr formula so god knows he needs to perform in RBR....but I think there is loads of promise there with repsect to his attitude and pace. Its up to him how close he can get to Vettel in races.

Would have been interresting watching Kimi go head to head with Vettel....but it robs another competitive team of a top driver meaning Lotus would probably fall back and not be challenging and making good racing...and I think Kimi would have struggled with quali pace and ultimately ability to beat Vettel. You are all speaking of Dan as through he is a 100% No.2! He is quick in quali and at Silverstone given a chance showed like Bottas he is very mature and able to race wheel to wheel and be tough in defending but not stupid...and can also put decisive moves on people when you have a tyre/speed advantage. I will wait to the 5th GP next year to see how much a No.2 Dan will be. At the moment I think he has the potential to have the sort of quali pace to put him on the same row if not higher than Vettel and from there we can see how it all goes. I am VERY happy that Kimi stays at Lotus and Dan has the potential to put himself up against the best benchmark in F1 at the moment. Surely that is the challenge of any young, arrogant sportsman...to test yourself against the best. NOT to only position yourself against people you know you can beat

Pretty pumped that Dan looks to be lining up in a good seat for 2014. Now for Lotus to confirm Romain and I am set for guys to barrack for next year

I take it based upon reading your post that you have not had a huige amount of success with the dramas you were having. I have some brand new Tomei 2.4L pistons that if you want I can have a hard think about price I am after and sell to you. I have been keeping them for an R31 coupe I will one day buy but sounds like you may need them mroe than me. They are only 81 or 82mm though from memory.

There is nothing either APP, or AP CP5555 about those calipers. They use the same pad shape...thats it. My calipers use a Porsche pad, just like many Harrops do...does not mean they are a Porsche caliper. If you are going gung-ho then 355 with a good caliper can fit in SOME 17" wheels. 343mm is a much safer bet for rotor size and 17" wheels....but even then some 17s wont clear 343s if they are a cast design wheel. That leaves you with the far more common 330-332mm rotor size and the plethora of setups that opens up to you. Frankly, pick budget and just go shopping...and wouldnt bother upgrading the rears. They are generally the same rotor size as std, just a little wider (2mm) and the caliper pistons are a tad bigger but you are hardly chasing more braking from the rear of a Skyline. If you have cash and done every other mod to reasonably get pace from the car then grab some rears if you can find them cheaply but hardly needed, especially if purchasing rears means you penny pinch on the fronts. If you want my 2c and you have the cash, then grab a genuine AP 6 pot kit running 343mm rotor. Otherwise just grap one of the Taiwanese kits with a 330mm rotor for 2k odd...loads of people run them with great success

As always the answer is it depends. You are odds on going to have all sorts of problems if you are going from a semi metallic pad to a ceramic style pad. From there you can also have problems when simply changing pad compounds. Best bet is that when you go from your street pad to a race pad make sure you do a weeks worth of kms on the race pad in light duty drives. The cold pad will generally not get up to temp and be rather abrasive. Give the rotors a good wipe down with some brake cleaner and then on the way to the track (or night before) follow your usual bed in procedure. Like wise when switching back leave the race pad in for some street driving to wip pad deposits off using the high friction-cold pad then swap over to your street pad and bed them. It worked ok for me when I was running Hawks vs RB74s. But frankly that was back when I ran 280mm std brakes and I think with any half decent brake setup then you can quite easily get a pad that serves both purposes these days

...and RBR buying out the Spaniards Fezz contract. I cant see this happening as no way Fezz woudl allow Alonso to compete against them in another car next year. Alonso woudl have to forfeit a lot of money and it woudl have to be covered by RBR. Not going to happen...not for a guy that is likely to cause political tension in the team...hell more than Webber did. Kimi woudl be plain sailing...Alonso not so much. But if it does happen says a lot about the Vettel to Fezz rumours!

Budget and what 17" wheel.?

Some pearlers in here.. http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/119541.html

LOVE your swaybar...and understand the reasons for the oil tank but think you should try and stick all weight between the axles..not hanging well in front of the front axle

Safe cars with airbags...who needs a helmet?

holy sh1t!

I will take your 355mm rotors off you. Talk to Chris at Racepace...doing his own kit yhese days....or just go buy whatever Just Jap are branding their Taiwanese stuff

Yeh its odd. I have never asked the question. Perhaps ring Project mu distributer and ask why their R34 and brembo equipped 380Z pad numbers are different. But they are the same pad shape so go with whatever is cheapest...which is why I recommended the 350Z stuff. I ran 350Z DS3000s with the R33 GTR setup I briefly ran

A few people have spoke of trying it but unless you have ABS I say it will end up a bit of a nightmare as the EVO brakes use a piston size as big./bigger than FPV Fords which is waaaay bigger than anything Nissan ever intended for this cars.

Thats why Hamo left. ..Nandos sponsors wanting to make the Mac drivers look like they have crapped their dacks in an ad campaign. Mark Webbers Canberra Milk commercial has more credability than that!

So a 355mm rotor is half the story. You need to make up your mind over the brand and check the hat offset. Manufacturers use different height hats and different thickness hats...all offseting the rotor differently that means you need a bracket to offset the caliper appropriately. If you dont have rotors than the link DJ posted is a good option. great quality rotors and hats and can buy the brackets off them.

bumpage

MAD for taking away the ABS ! I read in a jap magazine that the AD08R are the same compound as the AO50...differences are tread compound and the changes required to allow for smaller tread blocks. So should be pretty close to AO50 if setup right

So still in Sydney until coming weekend so happy to negotiate up until i get them out of my friends garage