Cowboy1600

Yeah, on second thoughts many of your points are probably pretty spot on. But this isn't a "do a fun day, not a race day" argument. I know I want to do everything I can possibly get to. So the more options I have, the better. The idea of say 80 odd SAU and friends at Winton for the day is certainly appealing. And paying $100 or even $150 for the privilege would be very worth it IMO.

The only way they could possibly do you for hollowing out your cat is is they pull it off. No manner of equipment, short of a long pinhole camera, is going to hold up otherwise. "Tap tap" or emissions won't prove that your cat has been bashed out. It' might prove that your cat is worn out (or hollow) and that would see you recieve a notice to fix it and maybe a small fine for having an unroadworthy car. "It was like that when I got it" would easily see you walk away from court with an order to fix it and a reprimand for the police for wasting the courts time with such trivial matters when a simple "fix it, take it the VicRoads for an inspection when you do and don't do it again" would have sufficed in the first place unless it's the 8th time you've been done for these types of offenses.

457? Where did that number come from? There were roughly 70 cars on the track at any one time (I counted one session that was fairly consistent with the rest of the sessions). There were about 12 x 25 minute sessions over the day (I was there for the first @ ~11am, on track for the second then did every second one until about 4pm [may have missed one] - I did 4 sessions in total). So there was enough room for ~840 cars in total, assuming I can count. If there were 457 cars over around 840 cars on track throughout the whole day, no one did more than 2 sessions, or else someone would have had to do none. Are you sure there wasn't say 200 cars and 257 spectators? That would make much, much more sense. I'll be absolutely stunned if 457 individual cars hit the track throughout the day.

So the day consists of 2 x 15 minute sessions?

Most coppers wouldn't have a clue and most coppers aren't going to lay down on the road and crawl under your car with their torch. Most people will get away with a gutted cat forever. Only a few people will give the po-po enough motivation to actually go to all the effort of sussing out whether your cat is gutted. I suspect that a gutted cat would be the last of the OPs troubles if he does find himself attracting the attention of the police regularly, as it is with most people on here. My car is a prime example. Big front mount, pod filter, exhaust, gutted cat, lowered, upped boost. It's very, very "unroadworthy" according to the rules but I don't attract attention and have yet to have a copper even give me a sideways glance. If I do eventually give the cops a reason to have a look over my car they are going to find a myriad of things to pick on me for.

Damn, I'd be there in a heartbeat if I wasn't already busy. Be careful up there. Coppers have taken to hiding in the bushes with radars.

As I expected No probs, I'll stick with the original plan.

I don't think anyone is under the impression that a Mines is programmable. The comparison isn't being made between a Mines and a programmable ECU, it's being made between a Mines and a stock ECU. As soon as you do mods to an engine the stock ECU is no longer matched to the job just as a Mines is not matched to the job if it's an off the shelf variety. It seems very few people who have used a Mines ECU have actually had issues and it's merely here-say and innuendo that suggests they are crap.

Don't forget the drive ins. Consider yourself reminded.

Meh, I'm not to bothered. The parking is on a slight slope so I'll just roll start it afterwards of I have too.

Hi Kev, Thanks for that. I will certainly send Justin and Michael and email. I'll also be a possible starter for the 24th. However I'm still keen to investigate organising another one. I had a blast on the weekend at the fun day and figure if we could do it again, with an identical format, but limited to ~60-70 cars then it would be even better. So I'll be sussing out the costs and associated requirements to see if it's feasible. If it turns out it is then I'll look into organising one which I envisage to open to SAU, the WRX club and others on a "first come, first served" basis. Cheers,

What mods did the car have?

That seems to be my problem, too. Leave the stereo on for any more than about 3 minutes without the engine running and I'll be flagging down the next car to help give me a push.

Me rikee. Likely be attending.

Actually I'd say it's very different. There's no pressure to perform during a non-competitive fun day and no jostling for position or trying to race the clock. And again, I'll reiterate, if they can put on a fun day for 110-120 (my estimate from last weekend) cars for $30 each then one would figure they could do essentially the same thing for 60-70 cars for ~$100.

I don't actually recall suggesting it's an easy thing to arrange. I'm sure you could arrange a package with Winton to essentially put on a Fun Day, as per last weekend, only open to say 60-70 cars. If they can do it for $30 a car for around 100-120 cars plus some spectators and some garage hires, then surely they can do it for ~$100 per car for 60-70 plus a few spectators and the odd garage. Even if it's $120 for the day, having a limit of say 60 cars would be most worth it. That sounds a bit more like a race day than a track day. I know there are probably lots of people on here who love the idea of getting on a track but perhaps jumping right into a racing scenario might be asking a bit too much too soon. I'm no nubcake but neither myself nor my car are prepared to actually compete in some form of comp yet. Perhaps a few more days on the track combined with a little more investment in my car may help prepare me for a bigger step into competition, but for now a Fun Day certainly appeals.

I don't reckon 30-35 cars would be an issue. Being on track with upwards of 60 other cars at a time was manageable. You would occasionally get traffic but generally it wasn't too bad. It could be timed, but I'm not sure about rules and regs behind having timers. I wonder if PL insurance is more expensive once you place a timer in someones car? As for flaggies and the like, there are none. Winton has a full track light system which negates the need for flaggies. They had one towie and support car at the top of the main straight and the rest in the pits. I would imagine that the $7k-$8k fee (assuming this is even remotely accurate which I think is is as I'm sure Phillip Island is ~$8k for the day) includes safety and the like. On the weekend there were ~110 cars. @ $30 a pop + a bit of revenue from garages and spectators, it probably only turned over $8k-$10k. And numbers can be figured once this thing moves, should it actually have legs.

Typically, during the Fun Day @ Winton on Saturday the idea of an SAU only day @ Winton was brought up. Has anyone ever arranged something like this in the past? I have emailed Winton to try and get an idea of pricing and availability. Let's say it was $100 each for the track day, run similar to a Fun Day, but limited to say ~70 cars, who would be keen? It would be run as 35 cars on track at a time, 25 minutes on, 25 minutes off. On the weekend I counted 60 cars on track at one stage before I got sick of counting. I estimate there was ~70 cars. So 35 cars would be pretty sweet. You'd get a fair bit of clear track most of the time. It would be open to SAUers and friends. Probably the WRX fellas as there appears to be a fair bit of camaraderie between "us" and "them". I'd also put out an invite on other forums such as Ozdat. It'd be first 70 or 80 in with $100 gets a spot. If you can't go on the day find someone to take your place - no refunds. I'm assuming track hire for the day would be somewhere in the region of $7k-$8k - this is just a guesstimate (anyone here actually know what Winton costs to hire for a day or even a weekend?) Feel free to throw some ideas at me. Also give me an idea of whether you would attend something likes this, assuming you are available on the day. Also, if this was to be organised here and run as an "SAU" event, I imagine the powers that be in the Vic Club would have to be involved. So please, I'd like to hear some pros and cons and perhaps a bit of direction about how to get something like this off the ground.

One question to all the Mines haters. Have you actually had one in your car and has it caused issues? I understand the theory behind what you are saying, but as soon as you modify the exhaust/boost/cooler/intake then the standard ECU is not longer tuned for your car either. I've not used a Mines so am not speaking from personal experience but I've seen a ton of people on here poo-pooing them with what seems to be no actual evidence to support the criticism however many people who have run them or do run them are generally always speaking out in support of chipped ECUs like a Mines. So may I ask those who are so critical of chipped ECUs to actually support their theory with some evidence? Again, I'm not pro or against them as I've never used one, but it seems people who have on here have had generally good experiences.

I'm looking at going with DND with Nistune. I was all keen to go with Trent but he's $250 more expensive. I'm certainly not going to suggest he's not worth that extra coin, but I am on a pretty tight budget so $250 is $250. And at the end of the day I figure most/all of the tuners on here are going to be fairly well respected. If they were no good they would have been figured out by now and essentially run out of town so I reckon it would be difficult to go wrong with any of 'em. That's my 2c anyway

$1000 fitted and tuned? I know it's a low ball offer, but it's the absolute limit of what I have to spend on an ECU.

Do it, for sure. I was flat bikkies everywhere. Hitting just over 160 at the end of the long straight.

Sorry to hear. Was there much damage? It looked pretty straight forward, but I suppose its probably worse underneath. Glad to hear it wasn't due to a wall or some rubbins. Hmmm...Bozz has a point. It was a crappy day guys. I highly recommend staying away

What's the good reason not to go to fun days?

Just a a few final things: A) You stated that donations are disabled and it's being worked on. Is it likely to be a few weeks, months or years before it's rectified? B) Don't assume to know what forums I have and haven't chatted on. I'm on smaller and bigger ones than this and ones with more and less active classified sections. C) How much time do you spend editing posts each day? I bet if you add that up it's probably not that different to the time required to sort out dodgy dealers. D) If the classified section is so active, surely 6 complaints a month isn't that unexpected or unrealistic. E) Caveat emptor. If you are silly enough to be ripped off on a forum, then that's your problem. Why should everyone else have to put up with stupid conditions? Reeks of Nanny Statist if you ask me. Protecting those who need no protecting for a small minority who are too stupid to look after themselves. Anyway, I don't make the rules, I just abide my/break them. Perhaps making the donation system work again should be a priority?