Beer Baron

agree 100% mate. very neatly put.

well I have to say I was really excited to see the season start. and all that excitement faded by about lap 10.... firstly getting rid of refuelling is a dumb idea. like troy etc mentioned seeing the cars lapping at nearly 10 seconds off qualy pace is just lame. plus it just robs us of the chance to see passing when you have guys on different strategies. I mean it was hard enough for a 3 stopper who has the benefit of lighter car and more tyres to get past a 1 stopper in the past so how did they think putting every single car on the exact same fuel load would be a good thing??? plus now that the stop time is set by how fast you can change the tyres expect to see mistakes as guys try to change a set of 4 tyres in 1.8 seconds like red bull claim they can do. the big excitement in years gone by was generated by guys taking different fuel strategies and getting the most out of the points where they had a light car vs everyone else. it enabled teams to strategise. it enabled cars to get passed on track, and get leap frogged in pit stops. with that gone we are left with rubbish. also, is it just me or do F1 cars look 'cheap' these days? I also notice each car has MUCH less sponsorship than say 3 years ago. look at how many cars have hardly any sponsorship on them. I think some of the new teams have cheapened the sport and spread the sponsorship pool too thinly amongst them all. seeing all the cars with gaps of a couple of seconds after only a few laps was just a snooze fest. like troy said, expect to see people winning by 40 or 50 seconds. and these days you don't need to be 2 or 3 seconds a lap quicker to pass but even more than that. webber could not pass button despite being around 1.5 to 2 seconds a lap quicker than him at all points in the race. in the old days he could have used some different pit strategy to get some track position for a stint and pull some quick laps in clean air and pass him that way. now that option is gone. unless you can pass on track you are doomed to circulate behind the bloke for eternity. I also think the new 50 meter pit release rule is lame. that held webber up in his stop and cost him that place to button. and lol, the smoke out of webbers car was awesome. I saw it an thought... Oh no! here we go again! but it seems for once it was actually just an overfill. anyway, I'm heartbroken at the moment staring down the barrel of what could be the most boring season in recent memory. even with schumacher back it's not enough to lift my spirits at the moment.

hehe, russ got the taste for the f1 after watching that awesome brazil gp at my place! it got me fired up for some more f1 too. but damn this race was lame.

if you look at the pic of the 32 they ended up making a strap out of velcro that wraps around the cage. it had come off in that pic. something like that will help keep the top of the window in check.

you know what I think. there is not really much between them. my personal opinion. if you are buying new, might as well get the 10.5. a 265 will sit fine on either the 9.5 or the 10.5 and like troy said the 10.5 carries a 265 semi much better than the 9.5. most people would be hard pressed to pick much difference but for the slight cosmetic benefit go the 10.5 if you end up buying new.

it has some nice parts but I wouldn't be rushing in to buy it. like all cars it needs to be properly checked out and try and get a feel for the owner. how responsible does he seem? does he seem like the kind of guy who knew what he was doing mod wise and maintenance wise? does he seem like the type to spend money and spare no expense or does he seem like the type to cut a few corners? that is probably the biggest advantage of buying privately. you get to see the owner. checking out the owner is almost as important as checking out the car. as seeing what type of person the owner is will give you an idea of how the car was treated while in their possession. with a dealer the owner is hidden from you so you have no idea what type of person had the car.

oh, and with $25K as a budget you are looking towards the premium side of 32 GTRs (not the top end though as believe it or not the top end 32s are between $40 and $60K). with that in mind I'd be buying a very nice local example privately or I'd be looking to import one to order. get yourself a broker and tell him you have $25K MAX to spend and for that you want the car registered and on the road. he can figure out for you what you can bid on cars in japan in yen and then work within that. you should be able to pick up something very nice. perhaps even a reasonable condition v-spec.

spending $25K on an R32 GTR is a good idea. getting a 94 model is an ok idea too as they do have some small improvements (33 type crank etc). BUT just buying one off a dealer is not a good plan. if it really is a good car then it should come with service records or at least owners books etc from japan. also ask to see the auction report from when they bought it. ask them where in japan they bought it. all these things are important. like Roy said, you are most often far better off buying one from an enthusiast who has spent thousands and thousands of dollars improving and fixing his pride and joy than from a dealer who has spent the absolute bare minimum to make the car look half presentable.

lol, don't even start on xbox. every person I know with one has had more than one failure.

you know the old rule about all cars had to qualify within 110% of the fastest qualifying time to make the grid. something like that. I don't think it's still in play. it could be though?!?

the main problem you have is it needs double the boost! get it in to a tuner in japan and get them to check it out and if all ok get that boost up around 1.5bar so that the thing is nicely singing. at 0.8bar it will just feel lazy.

yeah I agree with what webber said too. 10 years ago you would not have seen these little pre-pubescent hacks in there up in the mid pack (or better!). they would have been lucky to make the 110% rule... what he said was pretty fair about the new hack teams and drivers. got to love webber. he is certainly not out there to win a popularity contest. his little defence of flava flav at the end ensures that!! lay of the chin man. he's a good egg!

BCPR6ES with 0.9mm gap. or BCPR7ES is one range colder if you like.

it's so hard to say if it will break or not. I ran my old grey gtr for a couple of years with 280rwkw and a OS tripple in it. did plenty of savage "dial up 7,000rpm and just drop the clutch" type launches and didn't have any box problems at all. but of course you have a fair bit more power. personally I say go for it. not much fun having a car you can't do what you want in it. if it breaks then fix it.

33 N1s have an oil cooler which is what you are talking about right?

well if it's only missing under light load and is fine under heavy acceleration then I'd be looking towards the 02 sensor. the symptoms you describe are textbook 02 sensor failure.

no prob guys. glad you all like the thread. I do still have lots more pics here somewhere and one day will get around to uploading. as the thread shows there is lots to japan outside of car stuff so no matter who you go with or what you're doing in japan you'll have a great time.

yeah agreed! I still have pics from as far back as 06 that I still haven't gotten around to sorting and posting. I have to say that lambo is one very, very tasting looking car. nothing wrong with that thing at all.

you mean the stock N1/Nur engine? they are quite happy with 550-600hp providing you do the supporting cooling and driveline mods in a street car and occasional track day car. If it's going to be an all out track car on slicks or new semis then I'd lower that limit down to around 500hp to help keep it alive. as long as temps, oil surge, and tune are managed properly 600hp for an N1 engine is a snap. As long as it's not detonating the pistons will last as will everything else. up to around 350rwkw is the sweet spot. Once you get much past that you will have spent so much on other bits (driveline, brakes, suspension, engine accessories, turbos etc) that you might as well do a forged build and dry sump it (if it's a track car). in serious GTR the $10K spent on a basic rebuild is just a drop in the ocean, money wise. but yeah, there is no inherent design flaws in the engine components that limit the power. it's more a matter of having adequate cooling, oil supply and good tuning. to sumarise: street/track-day = 600hp dedicated race car = 550hp but of course with the right gear you could have one making 1000hp but any hint of DET or cooling problems would see it end fairly quickly.

if going into a cams series prod sports would be the go for your car for sure. I used to run a friends car in prod sports a few years back now when it was basically a playground for guys with GT3 cup cars who weren't quite serious enough for Porsche Cup. It's now a much more diverse category and has a good mix of cars. Like duncan says don't let the "production" part of the name fool you. There are plenty of mods allowed to ensure fast, competitive racing. Not a cheap category if you want to be up the front outright though. but good fields if you just want to have fun.

there is a big difference between the VspecII and the VspecII Nur. VspecII is not much different from a Vspec or even non vspec. they have uprated suspension, rear diffuser and a few very minor tweaks. the NUR however has: carbon bonnet R34 N1 engine (has N1 block, N1 pistons, hand built, full balanced, N1 cams, N1 oil and water pumps, and yes it has N1 turbos) very rare (heaps of VSII's many less Nur's) all Nur's are 2002 models there are some other differences but the biggie is the engine and the exclusivity of it.

doesn't really matter too much as all the jap stuff uses the same flange just with bigger or smaller pipe inside it. the old hand made tomei dumps are 70mm ID, the new cast ones ones are about 65mm from memory.

yeah I was glad I didn't turn my PS3 on while all this was happening.

the beauty of 2 strokes is they are cheap and easy to rebuild. not many moving parts in a 2 stroke. very simple. and big bore kits are nice and cheap.

sorry didn't read your post properly. not sure on availability of pre-88 fusions in japan sorry. but the numbers of older cars in japan is not as low as most people would have you believe.