djr81

Actually he can have my copy. Just be warned that I threw up on it when reading the Cochrant interview. Apparently I joined Cams because of Tony. And people go to track days because of V8 Supercars. And a whole pile of other tendentious bullshit. Phark can we have Motorsport News back to being fortnightly? Even if it was a week old by the time it got to the newsagents over in WA it was atleast readable.

What Roy said is correct. Rain will result in spray which when combined with what will almost certainly be an over zealous approach to safety will mean tonnes of safety cars. It is their first night race and spray & overhead lighting won't be a happy combination. So you had better hope it doesn't rain. Track looks to be pretty difficult to overtake on.

Knurling (grooves for want of a better word) aren't that hard to get cut into the bushes. Like anything you just need the right tools.

Very few R32 GT-R's were painted blue. Chances of finding a V-spec one of those is slim at best. Chances of finding a V-spec for the money you have listed is equally slim. Chances of finding one in good nick for that money... Anyway my point is you may have to think about how much you are willing to pay & the specs you are after.

Well for a start all R32 GT-R's understeer. It is an inherent trait because of poor weight distribution. There are some setups that can help but ultimately you will never "fix" it. You have the same size tyres front & rear & yet the 60/40 weight distribution is asking the front to provide 50% more grip. So ofcourse it will understeer...... Anyway: You need to determine at what stage of the corner you are concerned with. Eg turn in, mid corner or corner exit. You also need to think about your driving style & make sure it is matched to the chassis characteristics. No point firing into a corner and then missing the apex by a yard or two. Think about your apex speed, how much you trail brake, your cars rake adjustment (GT-R's are sensitive to this) and lastly your throttle application. With regard to suspension set up a few pointers come to mind. 1. Front end negative camber helps. Alot. You then need to constrain the roll of the car to ensure the camber changes are effective. 2. Don't use too much rear camber. Get the guards lips rolled if your tyres are scraping. 3. Sway bars are a must have item. You will end up running the rear on hard & the front on soft. Play with the front end to see if the increase in roll stiffness has a corresponding grip increase because of better roll constraint (Which is the opposite of what normally happens - you need to try it to see if it works as per the text book or not) 4. Spring rates are a matter for your own preference. Somewhere in the range of 5 or 6kg/mm front & 4 or 5 kg/mm rear are good numbers for R compound tyres. Softer for ordinary tyres. 5. R32 GT-Rs run very little castor. Something in the order of three degrees. It is possible to increase this but IMHO the changes increase suspension wear too much (to the upper link) and don't help that much because you start with such a low base number. In any case the amount of camber increase a small castor change makes at approx a quarter of steering lock is not large. 6. Don't run the car at too low a ride height. If you are getting corner exit oversteer (without an Attessa controller) then the cure is simple. Get the rear diff fixed as you are almost certainly single spinning for the, err, win. Another good tip is to purchase a book on tuning car suspension (Carroll Smiths stuff is good) & make sure you are ontop of what the car is doing.

Apparently Rays don't sell steel nuts anymore. So can anyone recommend something in steel that will go with my CE28's?

If you want to compare the Stoptech calliper to a Brembo then the F40/F50 series would be more appropriate. There are any number of elements to what constitutes a good callipers, including: Appropriate piston area. Stiffness. Weight. Size ie not too fat. Mounting type. Pad avialability. Pad size. Resistance to heat transfer from the pads to the fluid. Price etc etc. The Brembo callipers as fitted to Nissans do not offer much more than the Sumitomo callipers other than a brand name & bolting up to a larger rotor. You also need to consider that when buying a complete set of brakes/callipers/rotors/pad etc that the pads & the rotors should be regarded as consumables. Basically if you aren't going through a number of sets of pads per year & changing rotors relatively often then you probably don't need a brake upgrade. Brakes are one of the least influential elements in setting a good lap time at a sprint day or similar.

The cut out method is actually pretty good. Just glue/stick the paper cutout to a bit of cardboard & run it around. There is an old thread somehere with a few brake clearance sheets on its & ID's for rims. Maybe add some of whatever you find to that because ensuring callipers clear rotors can be a pain the arse. Ant was kind enough to help me out by checking the AP clearance against an 18" Volk rim. The rotor was a 343 by the way.

Apparently they could have decided on a ten place grid penalty for the next race but instead chose a fine/time penalty depending which incident everyone is whittering on about presently. Sorry I can't keep up. Then of course there is the option of a $100 Million fine. But somehow they resisted that aswell.

Seriously man. Such tip offs are supposed to be anonymous. Now you are going to have to think of something else.

It is hard to be adament about the whole thing. Which to a large extent is the issue. Presumably everyone wants to see hard, tough, tight racing with people having a go. The standard as it appears to have evolved subsequent to this decision becomes overly difficult for a driver to determine whether he is in the clear or not & hence the racing will suffer. The sequence from what I remember was. 2 cars fired into the chicane. Lewis slightly ahead but on the wrong line. This enable Kimi to ensure he had to either go off track or back out of it. Given Lewis had point fk all of a second to decide I reckon he made the right call & I still doubt he could have backed it out - mostly because of Kimi's line. Once back on the straight Lewis backed of & ensured he was behind the Ferrari & according to McLaren 6 to 7km/h slower than him. Now the point is arguable if this was sufficient. But given the circumstances & the extra grip available to the McLaren I would reckon so. Others don't which is fair enough. I suspect a lack of traction or something else may have affected the Ferraris terminal speed. I mean the thing isn't short of hp & 6km/h takes a fait bit of making up in the time/distance left. People are trying to compare like with like ie assuming the Ferrari was on par with the McLaren at that point which IMHO they weren't. The mess made of the race in the last laps makes I think the penalty rather disproportionate. LH loses 4 points & his chief rival gains 2 for a racing incident that did not affect the outcome of the event. Here is hoping there will one day be something interesting to talk about in F1 other than FIA involvement. Nah, never happen. Anyway I am glad no one called me a part time know nothing muppet. Because clearly I am full time.

What penalty. What incident? 2 races ago was Hungary & I can't remember anything being dished out?

I dunno. I don't reckon you get to make an overtaking move & have anything in reserve. It just doesn't work.

Eh? Which one of the drivers has aids? What everyone ignores is that the corner apex speed of the McLaren at that point was hugely superior to the Ferrari. If you watch the next lap after the overtake you will see Kimi maintaining speed with LH until a few corners later when his car snaps on him. There follows a series of spins etc ending with him in the wall. It is relevant simply because it indicates the paucity of grip the Ferrari had at that time of the race. It was the better grip of the McLaren combined with the poor line Kimi took into the corner following the chicane that allowed Hamilton to get past. Remember Kimi ran into the back of Lewis at the apex of the corner so it was not as though he only just snuck by. As for the argument about whose had track positioning into the chicane this reflects one of the fundmental changes in F1. In years past (& not too many at that) drivers would not run each other out of road simply because to do so would result in someone getting hurt. They can do it now however because of the replacement of walls & sandtraps with run off areas. They all do it & it detracts from the sport.

He couldn't stay behind Kimi because of the line the Ferrari took into the chicane. What Hamilton had when he was behind Kimi was a slower speed. To get this he backed off & allowed Kimi past. He none the less made it back up along the length of the straight which sort of indicates there is more to the story as ordinarily he shouldn't have been able to. Six km/h is 1.6 metres per second. So every couple seconds along the straight should have represented a car length. By contrast a 2/10's gap at 100 km/h is 5.5 metres & at 200km/h 11 metres. So by allowing a couple or three seconds to travel the length of the straight you end up at a point where there is fk all in it either way. For me the overtake was about what Hamilton did under brakes not what happened on the straight, ie about the grip available to the car not its terminal speed. In any case the terminal speed of the McLaren would have been down on that of the Ferrari. So I don't reckon there was much in it either way. My opinion (for what little it is worth) is Hamilton did enough to satisfy the regulations. Yes he missed the chicane (or was forced to) but by backing off & letting the Ferrari past he satisfied the requirements. That he was able to outbrake Kimi is good for him. Kimi took a couple of different lines on the approach to the corner which may well have raised a few eyebrows in diferent circumstances. The more important point was it was good racing. The kind of thing that should be encouraged. I don't really need to see more boring, processional F1 races, nor the FIA interfering with the championship again. Nor I suspect does anyone else. Here is hoping Kimi can get it together & put up a good fight to repeat his championship.

If you watched the race & the McLaren you would have seen how tail happy it was. It would appear that Hamilton is happy to set the car up that way & drive it that way. Which is great because it looks a treat on the tellie. Also any car on the last lap on slicks was hopeless. Try 30 seconds slower than those with wets. The point needs to be made that if the McLaren was 6 km/h slower than the Ferrari & behind it (although no one has said these two things necessarilly coincided) then surely the gain in position is addressed? The shame of it all is the 40th anniversary of Bruce McLarens breakthrough win in a championship F1 race (yes kiddies there used to be non championship F1 races) was 40 years ago at Spa and it has been all but forgotten. Send them all out in M7's on the full length circuit in the rain & see how hard they really are I say.

Well twenty twenty hindsight is a wonderful thing, but in this instance it ignores a few salient points. 1. Kimi basically shoved Lewis off the road. 2. Hamilton pulled back onto the track behind the Ferrari. 3. The only reason he was able to overtake was because of Kimi's stupid lines going into the following corner. The fundamental problems with this are two fold. 1. Yet again a race has been decided by stewards instead of out on the circuit. May be an opportune time to think about it when Monza turns into a pathetic procession. 2. Yet again the standings in the championship have been changed to close them up. Hasn't the FIA learnt that this sort of carryon turns people off the sport in droves? McLaren said it would appeal the decision. "We have studied the details and put them before the FIA stewards," said a team statement. "They show that after cutting the chicane Lewis lifted off, he was 6 kmh slower than Kimi. After conceding the lead to Kimi, Lewis repositioned his car on the right and beat Kimi on the brakes going into the hairpin."

I dunno. I guess it is easy to blame Renault for everything but the reality is it is hard to increase terminal speed without a huge increase in horsepower. Put it this way if you carry more wing you will increase your apex speed at the expense of the terminal velocity. So I am by no means sure that all of Red Bulls issues are down to the engine alone. I vaguely remember Arrows blaming all things Yamaha for their lack of speed. Ron Tauranac briefly came on board & fixed their engine installation problems for them. Result - a happy motor & a far more competitive car.

They went away? You can pretty much always rely on F1 teams to adhere to the letter of the law & compeltely violate its intent. Truth is Renault aren't spending as much as they used to & it is showing.

Hmm, odd. I have always found the RE55 to be cheaper than an equivalent Toyo in the larger sizes. Better too than the 888's. The price guide I have infront of me lists 245/40R18 at $478 & the 265/35R18 at $555. It may be out of date or you may be able to getter a better price than the list. Anyway check the build date on the tyres....

Why R888's? There are better/cheaper options for GT-R's. Anyway first things first the price difference is about $80 per tyre. Secondly 245's are a bit smallish on a 9.5" rim.

This is to the best of my understanding. The R32 Gt-R's with Sumitomo callipers had 1" BMCs according to the shop manual. Brembo equipped R32's had 17/16's BMCs. N1's with Sumitomos (Or Nismo versions if you like) has 15/16's with no ABS & Brembo equipped N1's had 1" BMC's. Cars without ABS have 3 outlet BMC's. Brake master cylinders for R32 Gt-R's. Part numbers are stamped on the end of the master cylinder. There appears to have been two different part numbers available for most build dates. This may be as simple as Nissan sourcing master cylinders from two different manufacturers - Tokico & Nabco. Stock model: Build dates from 8908 to 8911 Part number 46010-05U20 Size 1" Build dates from 8911 to 9108 Part number 46010-05U00 Size 1" Build dates from 9108 on Part number 46010-05U20 Part number 46010-05U00 Size 1" V-Spec model, ie with Brembo brakes. Build dates from 9302 on Part number 46010-05U02 Size 17/16's. N1 versions. This gets confusing & may well be incomplete. Early version appear to have 15/16" master cylinder sizes. I would guess (Note: NOT SURE) that they may well have three outlets rather than the normal two for stock GT-R's & have Sumitomo callipers. The number of ports relates to the presence of ABS. 2 ports for ABS, 3 for Non ABS. n Interestingly they appear to be smaller in size than their equivalent ABS equipped stock or V-spec GT-R's. Any way: Build dates 9002 to 9108 Part number 46010-02U00 Build date 9108 on Part number 46010-02U00 The specification is listed differently for these units but is in Japanese on the spec sheet & I can't read it. The alternate parts listed are here Build dates 9002 to 9108 Part number 46010-02U20 Build date 9108 on Part number 46010-02U20 Later versions had a 1" size. Build date 9203 on Part number 46010-05U01 for a Tokico unit. Part number 46010-05U21 for a Nabco unit. There may well be more options but that is the limit of my knowledge at present.

You need to first sort out what callipers you want to run & whether you still want ABS before you select a brake master cylinder. Keep in mind the Sumitomo calliper has (relative to most other brands other than Brembo) a large piston area.

This has been dealt with at length a number of times. Maybe try a search. But in the meantime some things you may like to think about. 1. You need to remove the motor to fit sump baffles. 2. If you upgrade the oil pump you may as well fit an oil restrictor to the head. 3. To fit an oil restrictor you need to remove the head. 4. If you are doing that you may aswell rebuild the thing...... But he last. most important point: If you overfill the sump with oil you will not suffer from oil surge & the motor will be fine.

That is usefull info. For some reason when you look at the brake stoppers as offered by Cusco etc they appear to differentiate between the Brembo & non Brembo Gt-R's. No idea why. Anyway this is what little I have been able to find out. Brake master cylinders for R32 Gt-R's. Part numbers are stamped on the end of the master cylinder. There appears to have been two different part numbers available for most build dates. This may be as simple as Nissan sourcing master cylinders from two different manufacturers - Tokico & Nabco. Stock model: Build dates from 8908 to 8911 Part number 46010-05U20 Size 1" Build dates from 8911 to 9108 Part number 46010-05U00 Size 1" Build dates from 9108 on Part number 46010-05U20 Part number 46010-05U00 Size 1" V-Spec model, ie with Brembo brakes. Build dates from 9302 on Part number 46010-05U02 Size 17/16's. N1 versions. This gets confusing & may well be incomplete. Early version appear to have 15/16" master cylinder sizes. I would guess (Note: NOT SURE) that they may well have three outlets rather than the normal two for stock GT-R's & have Sumitomo callipers. The number of ports relates to the presence of ABS. 2 ports for ABS, 3 for Non ABS. n Interestingly they appear to be smaller in size than their equivalent ABS equipped stock or V-spec GT-R's. Any way: Build dates 9002 to 9108 Part number 46010-02U00 Build date 9108 on Part number 46010-02U00 The specification is listed differently for these units but is in Japanese on the spec sheet & I can't read it. The alternate parts listed are here Build dates 9002 to 9108 Part number 46010-02U20 Build date 9108 on Part number 46010-02U20 Later versions had a 1" size. Build date 9203 on Part number 46010-05U01 for a Tokico unit. Part number 46010-05U21 for a Nabco unit. There may well be more options but that is the limit of my knowledge at present.