Iron Chef

It reminds me of "The Kramer": 'He is a loathsome offensive brute, and yet I can't look away...'

Copy and paste from my comments on NS.com... Its 'remote' location is the prime reason why the group pushing the Motorplex is still gunning for a venue at the Port. Oh and the drag track is about 3m too narrow for drags, so would require a full resurface before any ANDRA events could be run. It's good news for sure, and it WILL happen if the Sporting Car Club has announced it (Lyn Punshon is a champ, and he doesn't muck around), but it's not the silver bullet for motorsport that most people think (and more importantly that the government is hoping everyone will think, to take the wind out of the sails of the Motorplex)...

A little part of me dies every time I take another look...

Eugene's car makes me warm in the pants...

Hahaha that just made me think of this one...

Short version: the squeaky wheel gets the grease lol

Brandon if this N1 ends up coming to SA, I'll pay for you to bring yours down here for All Japan Day next year

See below. About $10 a litre for mine Liquid paper for touch ups haha

Is that your way of telling me not to hold the N1 for you then? Perhaps an email to that effect might have been nice The N1 will be up for grabs on the site soon, for anyone interested.

It's only an ID inspection, so no need to book in. BUT you MUST have the Consumer Information Notice paperwork to go with the compliance job, as well as a copy of the import approval, and your car MUST match the work done on the CIN. If it doesn't you'll be taking a trip over the pits and the compliance workshop will be in a whole lot of trouble. You'll need to ditch the 18s and borrow a set of stockies with new tyres, then make sure the tyre brand and size matches what's on the CIN (if they have a specific brand listed - hint: it's easier to get the workshop to change the CIN to match the tyres rather than the other way around).

Feel free to send me pics of their service histories verifying their kms, then I'll stand corrected...

Unless you shop somewhere in Japan that I don't, no they can't, unless you want one that has 150,000km knocked back to 50,000km or has been hit by a bullet train. R34 GT-Rs are actually going back up in value at auction in Japan, not down. I don't recommend spending any less than $45K as an absolute minimum for a 34 GT-R.

Owning an N1 is a blessing and a curse - on the one hand it's built for track work, but the reality is that they're definitely also appreciating assets. For reference's sake, I've bumped the insurance on mine by $30K since I bought it, purely based on the offers that have floated in from time to time, and that's just from Australia, I'm sure if I put some feelers out in Japan I could send it back and do pretty nicely out of it. (I'm not though, don't stress!) Finding a 32 N1 that hasn't been tracked and is in excellent nick, is like running into the Loch Ness monster whilst out for a swim. You could probably count on two hands the N1s that have aircon fitted from the factory too. If it was going in my shed, I'd put it back to stock and take it out on weekends every now and then for a fang through the hills, same as I do with my 34 now. My own N1 won't be seeing a track any time soon, the potential for disaster is too great, that's why I bought the Evo 8. But I don't keep it in a cocoon either - cars are meant to be driven, if I worried about what other drivers might do, I'd never drive any car. James it really depends on what you want out of a car - if you want a daily and track weapon, don't buy the N1. If you want a weekender that will almost definitely be an appreciating asset (let's face it, that's pretty rare scenario in cars!), then the N1 is the way to go. Edit: Just read Pete's comment lol - great minds...

Gayer than AIDS.

Hmmm...how many kms on your current one? My suggestion, personally, would be to go an buy one already built. It might not give you the same satisfaction as building your own, but it's a hell of a lot easier on the wallet...

In terms of ease of obtaining parts, my brother in law lives on the west coast of SA (most people would call that pretty remote) and in terms of basic parts for servicing, he's so far had about a 50/50 strike rate with the parts he needs being readily available through Mitsubishi Oz, because the 6A13TT is a sibling to the 6A12 motor of the Galant hatches sold here in the mid '90s. For the rest, one phone call to Mitsubishi NZ solves the problem. I actually owned my Galant BEFORE they became eligible under SEVS (brought it back as a personal import in 2000), and just bought all my parts through Mitsu NZ, three days transit time if I was ever in a hurry and needed them asap. Most times, I'd book in for a service at my local, and my mechanics would contact the parts guys in NZ, they'd list the cost for all the parts needed for the service, I'd pay on VISA, and they'd turn up a few days later. It's even easier now because there are workshops who are starting to get more and more experience with them. As has already been mentioned in this thread, they're not great for extracting huge hp out of, mainly because it's pretty tight working in the engine bay. The auto gearboxes work fine forever if they get regular fluid changes, same with the AYC diffs. In terms of size and seeming roomy, the Stagea is 30mm longer inside, but the Legnum is both wider and taller than the Stagea, as well as being 80kg lighter...

EK9s don't exist in Australia, and when they do they're closer to $30K. $20K-ish would probably get you an EP3 though... What are Aussie delivered Integra Type Rs fetching these days?

He means the test car has to be stock standard, not VIP style, not bagged, slammed and rolling on 20x12s

^^Agreed! West have you ever driven a Mitsubishi before? Given that they can be imported for the same money as an early model RS-Four Stagea, but have more power, a better torque spread, are lighter, faster and are better looking, I fail to see how 'over-priced shit box' works in this situation. Unless I was chasing big horsepower, I'd choose a Legnum over a Stagea every day of the week, and I'd even choose a manual Legnum over an Autech 260RS because they have better power in the mid-range where it's most useable as a daily driver.

Just to update, the Y33 Cima is now on the SEVS list, so now's the time to start hassling RAWS to see if they'll do them

It's a Thursday, USS Tokyo took first priority haha

hahaha - you're a poet and you didn't know it! I'll clear out my PM inbox and shoot you a reply asap.

Beat me to it