djr81

This. They are flat out getting their own sht together without worrying about us.

They havent "failed to adapt". Ford makes the Territory - a bloody good SUV but one that doesnt sell in big enough numbers to warrant more investment. The looked at assembling the Focus a few years back but the numbers didnt stack up. Holden makes the Cruze. But again, it doesnt sell in big numbers. It is not that the cars are uncompetitive just that the market has fragmented so much that NO CAR sells in big enough numbers to support local design and manufacture.

What industry? Manufacturing is stuffed across the board. THis is short but worth a look. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-10/llewellyn-smith-its-the-australian-economy-that-needs-saving/5145940?section=business

A sad day. But the question is this: What would they manufacture if they were to continue? The large car market is declining and there isnt anything that is replacing it in the kind of volumes needed to keep a factory competitive.

Bad enough that it can make a mess of a championship - but how happy would you be getting bumped to 11th in the constructors off the back of a double points windfall in the last race?

Would have had to be the old Spa circuit before they shortened it. But Im thinking pine forrest = Nurburgering. Oh and no one got a lol from the driver reference? My talents are clearly wasted here.

Guessing 1937? NFI where. Was tempted to say real men like the unfortunately named Englishman who drive for Mercedes in 1939. But I wont because that would be wrong as he ended up dead at the Belgian GP that year.

Yeah I did but the rings out of the box from Pacific were only very slightly tighter than those numbers anyway so they got put in as is - about 20 thou top which is what the spec sheet said.

Rumour has it MB were the team who voted no... TRAINING will continue in earnest for Australia's Daniel Ricciardo, who has been told to shed a couple more kilos ahead of next year's Formula 1 season. He is one of several already-thin drivers having to lose more weight thanks to the sport's new technical regulations, set to be introduced next year. This year's V8 engines will be replaced by turbocharged V6 units, heavier than their predecessors thanks to the added hardware needed by the new motors. However, that reduces the margin for the driver under the sport's minimum weight regulations, which take into account both the car and its pilot. Ricciardo, one of the taller drivers in the F1 field at 1.75 metres, tips the scales in the mid-60 kilogram range. But he will be looking to edge that down to the low-60s by the time testing of Red Bull's new RB10 begins in January. "Compared to where I am now, I need to lose a couple more kilos," Ricciardo told Brazil's Totalrace. "That's my goal." The issue of driver weight has become increasingly contentious, with taller drivers having to stay ultra-lean in pursuit of extra speed: every five extra kilograms costs a driver roughly 0.2 seconds per lap. "Haven't eaten for last 5 years! Minimum weight has been too low for ages," the now-retired Mark Webber tweeted earlier this season. Webber, whom Ricciardo replaces at Red Bull, stands at 1.83m and weighs in at 75 kilograms. With the muscle drivers need to withstand the strain of driving an F1 car for up to two hours at a time taking up a lot of their weight, that doesn't leave room for much else. Several F1 teams are currently pushing for the minimum weight of car and driver to be increased by 10kg to 700 for 2015. "I think it should be changed," Red Bull's technical guru Adrian Newey told Autosport. "All teams bar one did vote for that weight limit to be increased and it has to be unanimous - but there was one team that objected to it." The topic is set to be a hotly debated subject at the F1 Strategy Group meeting next week, where the teams discuss their thoughts on the future direction of the sport. For his part, Ricciardo doesn't expect losing the weight to be difficult, citing the competitors in his other favourite sport as inspiration. "It's not a problem. I like watching UFC (ultimate fighting championship) and those guys lose eight kilos in a week or something when it gets close to the fight. "Two kilos in four months will be easy." Ricciardo is set to make his first official appearance as a Red Bull driver when he gives their show car a spin in Sri Lanka next week.

Well there will always be an argument at the margin. But surely it cant be beyond someones ability to work out the cog of a sitting driver and put it about there in the sides of the cockpit. Would surely be less than the difference between having a driver with a massive jawline compared to a pin head. So DC vs ???

Actually no, it isnt. You specify a minimum cockpit dimension. You specify a minimum weight for the driver eg 90kg. You then specify the locations for the make up ballast that the jockeys carry. Job done.

22 to 23 thou for the top rings. Didnt bother with the seconds

He needs the FIA to wake up and make being a midget not the most important fkn measure of a drivers worth.

Motor is back together and working. Some random thoughts. 1. Removed the back of head oil drain. 2. The oil cooler/warmer standard on an RB26 has got some weight to it. Removed that and replaced it with an RB20 unit (Thanks Troy). Running a filter with an oil relief in it now. 3. Drilling out the oil returns in the head is actually harder than people make it sound on the interweb. They are quite lengthy and the top is a little difficult to get to. 4. What I was told about the ring gaps in the old engine was a pack of lies - they were bigger than quoted.

The point is/was that the racing business lost £6m in 2012. A year in which they actually won races. So this year will be worse, as will next year when they have a completely different set of rules to get around and no Vodafone, no MB money and less coming in from their finish in the constructors championship. You are right in saying that unless there is manufacturers money propping the thing up (or the owner has other companies eg Red Bull) that there isnt enough money coming in to allow the teams to properly compete. So hopefully Honda have some cash to put about. Making road cars seldom makes money - look at Lotus as an example. Ferrari are the only ones who have managed it but then again people buy them for the name and the noise and not much else. McLaren have been part middle east owned for decades. TAG is middle eastern and funded the Porsche motors way back when. McLAren poached them from Williams and they later became shareholders. Anyway this year has been their shttest car since 1995.

Had a look: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/oct/03/mclaren-f1-team-group-loss-2012 McLaren Group made a £2.5m pre-tax loss last year (so 2012) compared with a pre-tax profit of £19.7m in 2011, according to documents filed at Companies House. Hate to think what it would be for this year or next, come to that. And if McLaren are losing money then so must nearly everyone else.

Actually he used to be a mechanic for Jack Brabham. True story.

You can be both, you know. Just as long as your hating on the team cheater Abu Dhabi is all. Gunna get worse before it gets better for McLaren too. Hope the Honda is strong for 2015.

Well there is because running an F1 team over near on 40 years is a massive achievement. There are only a handful that ever survived for so long. Lotus didnt. Brabham, March, BRM, Ligier etc etc etc all went tits up. So the comparison is unfortunate because both Dennis and Williams have achieved massive success. Also, a large part of the reason Honda left Williams in the mid eighties is because they didnt believe a paraplegic could run a company. Allegedly. They left to go to McLaren, by the way. And Williams do ok on the other business activities front. Their hybrid power goes ok. Anyway McLaren is heading downhill - I reckon 2014 will be worse than 2013. Podiums will be but a distant memory. As will sponsorship. And quick drivers. None of which is welcome. For either team.

Yeah cause Frank Williams has had no success and no hurdles to overcome in his lifetime.

This ^^ is what is wrong with F1. Other than the few front running teams no one is getting anywhere near enough funding to run. Sponsorship is almost non existant - take a look at the teams: McLaren - some Mexican randomness for next year and little in the way of mid level sponsors. I would imagine they ran at a big loss this year and will be even worse next year. Williams - Basically nothing. Lotus - Only secondary sponsorship and how many tens of millions of losses this year? Sauber - Again basically nothing other than what the pay drivers bring. Borderline going bust. Force it India - Sponsors are the owners companies. Red Bull - see above other than the Nissan money. Ferrari - Dirty cigarette money still despite them signing agreements to do otherwise. Marussia - enough said. Caterham - The have GE but not sure what that is worth. Must be losing bags of cash too. TR - shows how much coin Red Bull have to piss away. MB - Petronas and Blackberry. Cant imagine Blackberry are long for this world. As one of two car companies with teams I dont imagine they care how much they lose. Make it up by selling sht cars with truck motors to people with too much money. Anyway point is that the distribution of prize and tv money is so unbalanced it means teams down the blunt end have basically no chance of dragging their way out of it. All because the F1 bergers are hell bent on shoving cash Ferraris way. The whole system is nuts and reinforces boring, predictable races and results.

The old system used to be better. Basically you had the numbers assigned to the teams. So Tyrrell was 3 & 4, Williams 5 & 6, Lotus 11 & 12. When you won a drivers championship the champion got to use #1, his team mate number two. The team that lost the WDC got to inherit the old number. So back in the day Williams ran 27 & 28. They took the WDC from Ferrari and Ferrari inherited 27 & 28. Which is why Villeneuve ran it a couple of years later and then for many years afterwards. Anyway the system used to work because there was some stability.

No Brian Hart stickers? Nah, not so much.

Chris is from WA. We dont do AASA racing in these here parts. Think Im correct om saying the restrictors bolt straight to the turbo inlets?

They are slightly shorter and push the top of the upright slightly further forward relative to a stock items. I have the missing inserts if that helps. I bought these ages ago and was going to convert them to a bush arrangement but it got too hard and I ended up making my own. Anyway there are two in the shed at home unmarked with inserts but no bearings.