Duncan

lol at least my hackness is only proven in front of a car club instead of the whole world

soo....what were they? brand? compound? age?

Umm.....all emails are dead today

It's open to everyone now send that entry in

yep +1....my gtst made that noise for 3 years until I did it at the same time as replacing the clutch....don't worry! In fact....come along to Skids on Saturday next weekend

Yep, wrong way around Dave, original post fixed Jarrad, almost certainly that noise is your gearbox thrust bearing. A bit of noise from it is no issue, just replace it when you get the clutch done. It may have been brought on by the day but it isn't urgent to address. Adam, spot on, if you are using compression braking and find it helpful, you should have more rear brake bias. It's really just a bandaid for something wrong in the barke bias (because a foot brake will always be more effective and consistent) BTW Eric....always have 2 hands on the wheels when you are planning a spin

just to clarify....I run a normal, aftermarket pump, not an external pump/wet sump. Neither Targa nor production cars allows external pump, and in any case I am not convinced a oil pump belt is reliable in the sort of things you can do to a car at targa (potato field anyone?)

Hi Lee....I just sent a test fax then and it came through OK. 02 8915 1645. When the fax answers there is initially a recorded voice....you can ignore that, the fax will answer if it hears an incoming fax. If it is still fail....just email details to aggroman and we will work out a form for you to sign on the day

pretty sad outcome considering the effort you put into those cars, and the results they were getting. a turbo car won the ipra nationals this year too...but I hate to think how much that win cost

Oh....I owe a description on 'heel-toeing'! So you are cruising along at, say, 80klm/h. If you are on the road, you are probably in 4th gear at about 2000rpm. But you could also be in 3rd at about 4000rpm or even 2nd at about 6000rpm if you feel nasty. Now put yourself on a race track, heading towards a corner where you know you need 2nd gear....but you are in 3rd. When you are ready to hit the brakes, there is lots to do.....pick the right braking point, brake hard enough to make the corner, pick the right turn in point, look at the apex and corner exits. And of course get back to 2nd gear to exit the corner without bogging down! So, you hit the brakes, clutch in, back to 2nd gear, clutch out....and you head backwards off the track. (or more likely, you hear a brief chirp and a wiggle from the rear and you get away with it). The problem is, you have changed from 3rd to 2nd in say 1/2 a second, forcing the engine to accelerate from 4000rpm to 6000rpm in the same time. It can't speed that quickly and the rear tyres lose traction (compression lock) until the engine gets to the right revs. The good news is, it is easily fixed and avoided, in 2 ways. The best way is to learn to heel-toe, and practice it whenever you can. Simply, heel-toeing is having one part of your right foot (normally the ball/toes) firmly on the brake, and without lifting off the brake, use your heel to blip the throttle while the clutch is out. If you rev the motor from 4000 to 6000, then let the clutch out, you will get a beautiful smooth downshift, and still be braking hard all the way. In fact if you get the revs spot on you won't need the clutch to select the new gear at all. The other way to avoid compression lock is to change down gears late in your braking. Easier technique but hard to time and still not as smooth as heel-toeing. If you wait until you are travelling at say 50 instead of 80, you are less likely to lock the wheels because the engine has to change less revs when you change gear (eg 3000->2000 instead of 6000->4000), you will just challenge the gearbox synchros more. If you aren't confident with heel toeing, you must change down gears late in your braking to drive safely on the track! Unfortunately....the track is the easiest place to practice heel-toeing because there is a large change between gears. You can and should practice on the street, but when you only have to blip the throttle 500 revs instead of 2000 it is tricker to get get spot on. Even so.....give it a go every time you can!

good work Eric....looking forward to doing it in the dry one day too! But for now it's Wakefield next in December....

for sure...if you beat the z's speed you are a winnah! that thing was crazy

in my experience, if you are going to stay somewhere average it may as well be cheap too. I've not been impressed with travelodges although I haven't stayed in the blacktown one. Try the Ibis at Sydney Olympic Park its new cheap and close (1 freeway)

+1, I was a bit surprised too. Maybe there is an issue with dynamic camber when it squats to leave the line?

a genuine 180 is right on the money, especially on semis...well done. Great times overall

Yeah Ben, it is much easier to book than Wakie....less than half the price and available with 2 months notice instead of 2 years.....we will be back there for sure. I don't think the run offs are a HGE issue with the low average speed (except in a bloody 450kw Z....), and I'm sure they will work on them over time. Lee....were in the WRX?....if so, find out what's wrong in the back of that car! I don't think I've looked through the front windscreen of another car on a race track so many times on the same day before

sooo....did you make it back OK? (big thanks for Bunsen Scott for tailing you home ) Any verdict yet? lol sorry. but that's how i bought mine too....I borrowed someone else's Let us know if you work out what was happening with the brakes...the track is slow and hard on brakes so maybe they were just hot, but it really seems like you have some sort of sticky piston somewhere? or maybe a bad wheel bearing? Great driving Adam, you were keeping a bunch of quicker cars honest out there. Sorry Not. See you at Texi.

Thanks very much to Matt and the rest of the team for organising this day, it was a small group and average weather, but the venue is great and everyone got plenty of good track time. For those that haven't been there before (or still haven't ), this is a shortish, tight track which is brilliant fun. It has everything - tight corners, blind corners, great camber and elevation changes, and a lovely arse-puckering downhill section where commitment really pays off. It is a great track and easy on the car (other than brakes) due to the short sessions and shortish straights. The only real downside is some run-offs are tight (right Eric?....haha who I am kidding....my off was HGE!!!!), so take it easy and you will really enjoy the place. It was great to see so many new faces, and I bet you all learned heaps about how your car handles, and what you can get it to do as a driver. In particular I went out in about 6-8 cars during the day, and i hope the feedback was useful to everyone. Finally, we had a great reception from the guys at MDTC; at the start, during the day and even afterwards. In a world where new tracks and venues are hard to find and very expensive, MDTC shines as a place where you can still enjoy beginner's motorsport.....big thumps up to thos guys. At only $115 or the day, I reckon most people spent more on tyres/brakes/fuel than they did on entry. A++, will try again

just make sure they are going to marulan too there is fuel at the SHell at Sutton Forrest about 30min before Marulan. There is also a BP at Marulan but I don't know the exit road for the track so I don't know if the servo is before or after.

weather looks reasonable tomorrow...see you all out there around 8am

BTW Bob, is your car an ex-Kerry Packer car, or another one?

Sorry, we need to abide by the venue's rules. The motorkhana on 3 September has more open rules There sure are, and we will take entries up until the day until we are full because we have not filled the day. But the only way to guarantee a spot is to pay and send a form prior. the plan is.....put the roof on Seriously though, if it rains, you just learn 10x as much about car control on the day. It's amazing how quickly things change on a track in the wet

The format of sprinting and time attack is identical. And look how hard F1 work to make qualifying interesting....I genuinely wish you all the best getting audiences interested in the difference between a 1.28s and a 1.29s lap of Eastern Creek. I love it....but I don't kid myself that is a mainstream interest. Also, I strongly agree about the anti-modern issues in CAMS supersprinting and racing, and I put my effort/time/work where my opinions are there, eg trying to get skylines covered under sports car rules, and trying to work with IPRA to make turbo friendly rules (and trying with sports sedans too....not that I got far!). The sooner grids are full of 20yo skylines instead of 40yo geminis the better. Mostly the issue for tracks is the damage drifters do to the edges from what I've seen. Very few tracks welcome drift events which makes it damn hard for those guys to practice. BTW....if drifting makes a better circuit racer, why don't 50m freestyle swimmers train as synchronised swimmers?

exactly 206kw at the motor for sure There is plenty of disagreement about whether 2wd vs 4wd makes much difference. I've never run them back to back 2wd/4wd but I have had the same car dynoed at different places with the same tune and found up to 20kw difference. And flywheel to wheels loss also comes with some controversy. Some claim about 25% loss from flywheel to wheels, but personally I guess it is mostly a fixed amount, not a simple%...otherwise a 1000kw car would be loosing 250kw in the drivetrain I'd work on an estimate of 30-50kw loss, but flywheel kw really don't mean much....it's what you put to the ground that matters BTW....191awkw for a dead stock gtr sounds pretty right to me. Great result considering it's 20 years old.

Umm It is almost free to try this sort of event. We are running a 'khana on the skidpan in Nirimba in 3 weeks, entry cost is $50 if you were a SAU NSW club member....ie it will cost more in fuel and tyres than it will in entry fee! Most motorsport is not cheap....but we actively try and create some events that are as cheap as possible. Come along and give it a go.