Sydneykid

The issue is that the pads will stop working (fade) long before the brake fluid fails (boils). So spending (waisting) money on ~600 degree brake fluid isn't going to give you any benefit. You might as well save the money and buy some ~300 degree brake fluid this time. Let's face it, you are going to have to change the brake fluid when you put the new (~600 degree) pads in, so you might as well only spend the extra money on the ~600 degree brake fluid when you actually need to. R32/33/34 Skylines with their 4 spot front/2 spot rear brake callipers have fairly good heat transfer insolation from the pad to the fluid and, as long as you do a cool down lap, new/fresh brake fluid boiling is not an issue. It's when the system gets contaminated by water (brake is hygroscopic) that boiling becomes an issue. We use Castrol Response Super DOT 4 and have never had fluid boiling issues. Cheers Gary

Beers have little appeal, Jack Daniels is OK though. When do I next get to Adelaide....Clipsal is run for this year, maybe the F3 round at Mallalla in May, if I am feeling masochistic. Most guys find that on SAU that there is an almost unlimited amount of knowledge on Skylines, they just need to learn how to use the Advanced Search function properly. Give it a go, in the interim this is not a bad read; http://rbmotoring.com/gallery/album151 Be carefull, a lot of the literature was released for the R32GTR and the Stagea ATTESA is more R33GTR (later generation). Cheers Gary

And only 3 months more talk Speaking of the exchange of valuable information, a few guys have asked me to find out some details as it pertains to their car set up; I don't remember seeing a format for the day, except the Superlap at the end for the fastest 5 from each class. Is it Lap Dash format, one car at a time, a warm up lap, a flying lap and a cool down lap? Or SuperSprint format, 2 groups of 4 cars at a time with a warm up lap, 3 flying laps and a cool down lap? Or Track Day format with groups of similarly paced cars running 20 minute sessions? I assume that official lap times will be provided by Natsoft using their removable transponders. Will updates be available via the garage video feed? At a quick count I see 80 or so expressions of interest. Considering the 90 limit can I assume that entry acceptance preference goes on receipt date of EOI? I asume there will be no problem with having 2 cars in the same garage? Has the Friday been reserved for practise at OP for Superlap competitors? Cheers Gary

No problem, there is a bit of queue though, so get in early. Cheers Gary

As you found out, that isn't true. High CoG and low CoR = fall over (technically called excessive roll couple). Cheers Gary

If the springs have sagged to that height, then when you put them onto a bottom spring seat (on the Bilstein shocks) that is 20 mm lower, then the car will be 20 mm lower. Keep in mind that GTT's handle best around 350 mm front and 340 mm rear (centre of wheel to guard). Which you can use the additional circlips on the Group Buy Bilsteins to achieve. All prices are in the Group Buy thread, if you need further info PM is best. Cheers Gary

Most of them don't know/care about suspension geometry, they just stick rediculous spring/shock rates in them and there is no movement, so geometry is irrelevant. Then they have to stick new super soft tyres on for every run in an attempt to mask the suspension issues. You kicked most of their asses last year with a comparatively miniscule budget, almost zero practise and infamiliarity with the event and the circuit. Don't fall into the copy cat trap, take the technically superior high ground. Cheers Gary

Only if you have the geometry under control. If the geometry is crap then wider tyres just make it worse as you get larger transition differences. The contact patch decreases dramatically and the transfer between grip and slip is hard to feel for, let alone control. Cheers Gary

That's what 30 minutes of talking to me will do for you Cheers Gary

Twin Turbo. It will be quite an engine...

Something is bent, you need to find out what it is and replace it. That's a simple task of working you way around underneath and measuring all the spacings, comparing left to right. Once you find out what part is bent, then it is simply a mater of replacing it. If it is minor subframe location you can undo the mounting studs about haflway and lever the subframe around, it only moves a little bit, maybe enough to fix the crab. Most times it is a bent control arm though. Cheers Gary

The current generation laser aligners with PC do it automatically. Can't carry all that crap with us to the track, so we use the portable stuff, camber gauge and toe gauge. For string aligning of thrust angle you first find the centre of the front axle and the centre of the rear axle, we do that by dropping a line down from the subframe to chassis mounting points. Once you have established the centres (of each axle), you string a line between them down the centre of the car. Then measure out from that centre string to the centre of each wheel. That tells you if the subframes (and the suspension hanging off them) are aligned to the centre of the chassis. The next step is to measure the wheelbases, down each side of the car, centre of wheel to centre of wheel. That picks up if it is a "banana" chassis. If the subframes aren't aligned to the centre or the wheelbases aren't equal , then you need to move the subframes around on their mounting bolts and/or replace the bent components (control arms etc) until they are. Once you have the subframes centered then you can check the toe. We don't do this everytime we do a wheel alignment, only when the car is first built and/or if we suspect that it is bent somewhere. You can then check and adjust the toe by measuring out from the centre string line to the inside front and rear of each tyre. Obviously this is not what we do when we are doing a regular wheel alignment, at the track we don't have that sort of time luxury. We adjust the camber using the portable digital camber gauge and the toe is done using a toe gauge that I made up based on a Nascar one I saw when I was in the US. We don't adjust caster at the track. Cheers Gary

If he doesn't know how ATTESA really works, he will only confuse the issue. Most guys (even engineers) think that GTR 4WD is the same as WRX 4WD or EVO 4WD or Audi 4WD. Where as us ATTESA experienced guys are fully aware that it isn't even close to being the same. But hey what would I know, I only have a diploma, a degree and a masters and have been involved in all levels of circuit racing for 35+ years. Cheers Gary

1 Lots. Plus its is NEVER a good idea to run lowered springs with standard shocks, they can't handle the extra rate. http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...c=103158&hl 2. No, it will camber up as the suspension compresses, the same as it does now. Cheers Gary

Personally I would always check the thrust angle when doing a rear wheel alignment, hence the 4 alignment heads need to be attached. Otherwise you can have the rear wheels parrallel with each other, but not in line with the fronts. So the car would drive down the road sideways, called crabbing by us old guys. Cheers Gary

Geoghan style Cheers Gary

Did you flow check the injectors before you put them in? Cheers Gary

My understanding is that Trust sell a top feed fuel rail and 6 alloy collars all together in a kit. Hi Octane have them for around $400, which seemed a bit steep, so I am currently casing Nengun to see what they can do. If the price is still too high, I have a spare standard GTR top feed rail and I will get the race machinist to lathe up some alloy collars for me. Cheers Gary

I'm not speculating, I know exactly how it works. Track work, turn left, turn right, power on, power off, all of those transient things "unlock" the clutch pack under instructions from the ATTESA ECU. Driving along the freeway in straight line with power on does not. It's truly that simple. The total tyre diameter is ALL that matters, width is irrelevant, profile is irrelevant, wheel diameter is irrelevant, tyre compound is irrelevant. As long as the tyres are the same circumference, that’s the ONLY thing that matters. For circuit work with longer races, say over 1 hour, we run a pump and an oil cooler on the transfer case to keep the temperature of the clutch pack fluid under control. We also run the same on the rear diff and the gearbox. Cheers Gary

With 19" wheels, the tyres have basically no sidewall to absorb impacts, so you are going to need suspension that has the capacity to soak up the bumps. Otherwise the discomfort will drive you and your passengers crazy, so keep that in mind when choosing the suspension. The most effective way to lower it, maintain reasonable ride comfort and achieve superior handling is by changing the shocks. The Bilsteins in the Group Buy come with additional circlip grooves which enable you to lower it using the standard springs. Around 20 mm works very well, that's 365 mm centre of wheel to guard. If you want to go lower than that then you have no choice but to change the springs as well. When selecting the Group Buy kit, I found the Whiteline springs to offer the best ride compromise. You will find the Group Buy details here; http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...showtopic=88141 Cheers Gary

There are front and rear differentials that help with the corner turning differences. Plus it is a short term difference, corners don't last for kilometres. When I get the ATTESA shudder, from different diameter tyres, it is during a long straight'ish run (think freeway). Time for the ATTESA to "wind up", for the plates to get hot, for the hydraulic fluid to overheat etc. Cheers Gary

If were he runs is anything like the billiard table smooth Bahrain track, then he could almost get away for 4 bits of 4 x 2 instead of springs and shocks. Cheers Gary

oops

As we have discused before, Sandown is two drag strips with a wiggle in between. It's all about horsepower, a little bit brakes and handling is definitely third on the rung there. The cheapest way to faster lap times at Sandown is more power, it is almost unique in that (Bathurst being the other). At other tracks the dollar per lap time ratio comes from handling improvements. An unfortunate truth, if you want go faster at Sandown then buy some more horsepower. Philip Island is unique in its high average speed, there it's once again top end power followed by aerodynamics. Our Philip Island set up is totally different to every other track in Australia, for example we run spring rates there that are 20% to 30% higher than anywhere else. We run the biggest swaybars in the kit and both the bump and rebound damping are at the top end of the settings we use. We run more camber at the Island than we do anywhere else. Like Bathurst it is technical track and rewards driving experience (time in the seat) and a bit of bravery. You don't need a "pointy" car there, it rewards consistency and predictability, you need to be able to trust the car's response and a little bit of understeer is not a bad thing. Of the three, Winton is probably the closest to the other tracks in the country, it gets dirty like Wakefield, it has some interesting low and mid speed corners like Oran, it is more of a torque layout than a horsepower one. You need the chassis to be responsive, no understeer at all. Then it's punch out of the endless right angle corners, so it's power down (soft rear end) and engine torque. The easiest way to a good lap time at Winton is to run there the day after the allocated V8 practise. The rubber lay down is important, going there after it has rained is a waste of money. As you can see the set up at the 3 tracks is very different, a compromise setup won’t work in Vic like it does in NSW where the 3 tracks (Bathurst excluded) are not so dissimilar. For a start you need at least 2 sets of springs and swaybars. You need to know how much and be able to adjust the camber and toe accordingly. You need to run more rear squat at Winton than you would even contemplate at Philip Island. You can almost get away with simple single adjustable (rebound) shocks at Winton and Sandown, but bump adjustment is important at Philip Island. You can survive without a rear wing and front splitter at Winton and Sandown, but they are a must at the Island. The RB31DET decision was easy for me, the old RB20DET needed a rebuild and a circuit spec upgrade (sump, oil pump, turbo etc). When I added it up it was going to cost more to build the RB20DET into an RB24DET than start from scratch with an RB30DET. So the big cube decision was a value for money one for me. Then, to cap it all off, someone offered me silly money for the RB30DET (with RB25DE top end) after one outing, so I had enough to build an even better RB31DET (with an RB26 top end). Keeping all of the above in mind, at Sandown and Philip Island the RB20DET is always going to suffer in comparison, it is truly 100 bhp or so short in the power to weight stakes in an almost full weight R32GTST. Even if you did get the extra 100 bhp for those 2 tracks, then the throttle response and the all important punch out of the corners at Winton would be AWOL. In comparison, what you have now would work OK at the 3 tracks in NSW with a bit of practise and set up data. Bottom line, move back to Sydney or stick an RB25/26/30/31 in it. Cheers Gary

I think you grossly underestimate the potential of your engineering skills and those of the car itself. We managed to get a full weight S14 (1340 kgs with driver) that had 225 rwkw down to mid 1.06's at Wakefield on 235/45/17 A048's. That's a whole lot less in the power to weight ratio stakes than your R32GTST. Standard callipers, good pads and rotors (DBA 5000 series on the front), Bilstein shocks (slight valving changes), coil over conversion, Eibach springs, adjustable swaybars, Noltec caster and camber kits........so basically the Road & Track Group Buy suspension kit. It's not a one off either, Johno from Heasmans did similar in his S14 with slightly less power. There is absolutely no logical reason why an R32GTST shouldn't be even better, the strut based S14 front end is such a pain compared to the double wishbone R32 set up. Cheers Gary