Roy

The Sunday brought with it some better weather, but the real crime was the Pub at the top of Eau Rouge as closed...so we couldn't sit back and booz on during the days racing. This meant we walked around some more..I started at Mrs Brisby who was still slaving away pouring punters beers...but all in all was a pretty laid back race weekend. Access to the pits cost something like EUD10, but otherwise entry to the even was free. Imagine going to a v8 Supercar round and entry being free! I would be happy with thus guys job if it meant I was paid to travel Europe and play cars every 2nd, 3rd weekend And yes, this is the Jag getting in on the action again at the start of the final race

After bashing around Zandvoort in the lil Caterham it was time to head back to the eastern part of Belgium to watch a "Superstars" meet at Spa. Its basically a European V8 Supercars round, where they have 3-Series, 5-Series, Maseratis, C-Class, E-Class, 300C, Jaguars etc all being powered by V8s with some general control Aero. There are a few ex F1 and Sportscar drivers in there...and all supported by F3000, GT3s and Ferrari Challenge race series. Of course being Spa means one minute you are walking around taking off your jumper because you are sweating...then 15mins later the clouds move in and its raining The poor old 300C blew up at La Source coming onto the straight

If you are doing track work on DBAs then its best that you have done plenty of street kms. The gentle temperature cycling makes the rotors more durable for when you take them on the track. If you have done less then 5,000kms on them I would go as far as saying you are reducing the life of the rotor by tracking it so early. I have bolted on sets of DBA 4000 rotors and within 50kms having been tracking them...surprise surprise they all cracked within 1000kms of use When I was able to put thousands of street kms on them before track work they seemed to be far more durable, where I got years and 25,00-30,000kms out of them. (though they were old 4000 design and I think between buying my original set in 2002 and replacing them in 2005 they changed their method of manufacture and slots to their detriment) Which brings me to warming up and cooling down. On your out lap i would tend to just bring your left foot over and carry a little brake when you are accelerating out of corners...just for 2-3 second intervals on corner exit. Then depending on the length-space you have between corners I would lightly brake to wash off around 20km/h once or twice....and then brake early for an upcoming corner and have two applications of the brake to wash off the speed you need for entry to the upcoming corner. Do that on your out lap, and then on your first full lap I always have a big lift-off the loud pedal before braking for a corner, combined with short shifting at about 5,500rpm when accelerating. The short shifting on your first full lap also helps with getting engine oil temp up to temp, gearbox and diff temps, exhaust manifolds up to temp and of course your brake rotor. Then on my second full lap I only then start to get up the car proper, even then its about finding a rhythm which only normally comes for me on the 3-5th lap. Re cooling down, its really car and track dependant. At least one lap where you cruise at around 80-100km/h, no WOT, only very light braking for the slow corners..try not to even touch the brakes. Keep an eye on your mirrors and make sure you are managing the faster traffic...some times its best to just go for a drive on the main highway outside the track and just cruise at the speed limit to cool everything down. My preference is to have my brake rotors cool enough that I can touch. By then coolant temps have usually dropped back to below 80 deg C as well. Even with the cool down, when I park I always leave it in gear and hand brake off If you are doing track work in Melb keep an eye on the events section of the Vic thread and come say hello to us in attendance. There isnt anything really complicated about it....I think of it as good housekeeping when doing track work.

No way you can run these on the rear. The piston sizes mean you would most likely not be able to run them on the front properly as you would end up with a massive bias increase on the front. Also being lug mount means they are not very adapatable to an installation....even if they are dirt cheap....they wont do what you want them to do

LOL, A man who is going to be live a long tortured existence much like myself. I think it will be sooo cool to be in my old peoples home and be able to rant about how I took my lil GTSt all the way to Europe and belted it around tracks door to door with GT3s, 458s etc etc. LOL, sticking "RB20 POWAH" stickers on the sides of any exotics that get lapped by the lil GTSt Almost happened this year, but the strong Aussie dollar meant I fast tracked my long held desire to own a Sierra. Next year the R32 goes to live in the UK for the near-mid term. If anyone is interested in a motorsport trip to Europe next year then keep an eye out in the Motorsport section as a few friends look interested in joining me next year where we will be doing three of the following: Jerez, Imola, Zolder, Saxon Ring, Zandvoort or Spa...along with Tourist days at the Ring and an F1 GP

You can drive your whilst being registered in Australia but you do need to apply for a permit and it restricts the period of time that you can drive it. After that period expires you are expected to get the car registered over there. So when driving with the tourist permit on Aussie rego you must have a copy of the Aussie registration papers and your permit on you at all times. If you are pulled over since you don’t have an EU licence the Police will expect you to have an International licence. In the UK you are ok for up to 12 months on an Aussie licence, but if you are going to Europe then best get an International licence as the Police expect it….

The talk is that is the point of any seat, even a Williams for 2012. Get bum in seat, get his eye in. Get used to tyres, gadgets of the current spec car and then with Massa, Schuey and Webber all off contract at end of 2012...we will also know where Kubica is at. He is only 31. Woudl be interesting to see if Red Bull again turn their back to the Jr drivers who they have helped develop for the sake of being able to have two WDC in their team, ie McLaren

Yeh but a tree will stop me pretty quickly I have thought this over plenty of times and I think its wisest I keep to the few circuit days I do.

Christ, maybe I should have popped into Force India when I drove past Silverstone the other week, it may have got as many chins wagging as Kimi's recent visit to Williams. I think I am a better fit at FI than Kimi at Williams....still interesting to see if there are any developments in the Kimi-F1 side of things

My DR30 money went into the Sierra. If I flog the Sierra then the DR30 build could be back on. Only problem is I think I want to build a car more then actually enter tarmac rallies. LOL, no navigator, no crew, no talent means I doubt I would end up doing too many rallies...but would love to build one all the same

It is cool that you can give your car a rip on the Autobahn but you have to remember its a public road. Just like the Ring, which means you need to either spend a fair bit of time over there to get the right combination of low traffic, good weather/visibility to give it a go. I got my Sierra Cossie up to a little over 200km/h but with traffic out there thats all I was comfortable trying to do. I think flat knacker the lil Cossie wouldnt do much more then 250-260 anyway. LOL, I had enough boost up the Cossie so it gets to 200 easy enough....just dont trust the traffic conditions or know the roads well enough to know when they are going to return to limited sections. And yes you can take your car over there. Depending on what you want to do and how long you are over there it can make sense. My R32 is going for a boat ride in Jan next year for some Alps/Autobahn and track work Do your research and get things sorted well ahead of time and you will realise its not all that hard to get sorted and is reasonable value if you want to do track work. You will have the most trouble with insurance But if all you want to do is flog a car on the Autobahn and do a few laps of the Ring, then hire an A6 as they flog ok on the Autobahn and hire something for the laps around the Nurburgring. Others will no doubt have had more luck then me, but with all the rain, traffic etc Ring isnt a place where you really get to push a car, and neither is the Autobahn. If you are going to do track days over there then I think the combination starts to make using your own car more attractive

Best thing about MotoGP is easily the grid girls!

Welcome to SAU Daniel. In my time in Germnay I have never really seen any German registered R32 GTSts. If i see them they usually have UK plates

Have you tried PFC06? They are a nice bitey pad, but in my car I struggle with locking brakes with them. I am abotu to bin them for some RS4-2. Much lower bite nad friction coefficient. I think some of the high u pads are for non boosted brakes etc

He is in the US and already pointed out that RB30s are not an option due to availability and prohibitive cost. Unless you know how to get an RB30 to him cheaply then ....

WDC in his second year? Talented driver no doubt. But he is a pretty lucky mug. He won the WDC by a corner and a point. Wont go into the bad luck that Massa hit through the season including engine failures with 1-3laps to go in Spain. I go into race weekends thinking Hamo is a real threat this weekend, but never think of him as a threat for a WDC. The guy is an egotistical retard who cant mount a WDC campaign to save his life. You only have to look at his best string of race results! His first 9 GPs were his most consistant. Once he took the pressure of himself to be disciplined because he thought he had proven a point, :he had arrived"...the real Lewis started stepping into a race car and he started punting people, binning it and being shit by trying moves that would get him on the highlight reels. And dont mistaken the above as a complaint. God bless him for being so stupid, makes entertaining viewing

I want footage of the TVR!!!!

Well after a days searching i found a place that is about $200 cheaper then locally. Will be putting my order in on Monday so Ash/anyone esle let me know what you are after

You should have seen the size of the steering wheel in his hands. He looked like Harry and the Hendersons 3 weeks and 3800kms...you will love it. I racked up 6,000kms in the Cossie without even trying One thing though, I was getting about 500kms to a tank, 60L tank so a tank was costing me about AUD$120. I did look at a 6spd LT1 91 Vette, but so glad I didnt do it because the fuel bill would have killed me

Are you doing the Nationals Russ? I have a bucks day/night on the Saturday so no go for me But i expect for you to murder a 1:21 or better!

I have grabbed sets of Endless, Ferodo and Competition Friction pads from the US nad UK, but none of the places I have dealt with in the past stock Pagid ads. Locally I am up for $650 but seems I can do better importing them...any company proven reliable?

I sooo wish I could have hung around for this... http://www.bossgp.com/news/54/1/jan-lammers-and-tom-coronel-race-against-each-other-in-formula-1-cars But was off catching up with friends in Ireland. In hindsight, should have hung out in Europe longer

Funny isnt it. BIG hypothetical, if Webber had of gotten up and he was looking pretty solid. it woudl have been Red Bulls first win, 12 months before Vettel in Monza, Webber would have had the confidence of being a GP winner in a reasonably comepetitive RBR, much like Vettel 12 months later in the STR. You wonder what would have happened with confidence if Vettel came into RBR with Webber being a GP winner. They say confidence is a huge thing, Vettel and Button all speak of the confidence and release of pressure having won the GDP....Webber looked great mid season then fell away. Mika being handed his first wins did wonders for him...but isntead, Webber got take out by the hatchet man

Some more pics of the other cars in attendance...with only 120hp I was thankful there wasnt as many Juno and Radicals at there was at previous occassions with these guys. The bias of road cars meant you were actually quicker with the lil 120hp giant killer We bumped into the lads at the track and on the highway to Germany the next day. We sat and talked Cossies early in the day as he had a mint (far minter then mine) Monnstone Blue Cossie with black Compomotive wheels. He had the shits as mine had 6 pot APs whilst he only had 4 pot APs on his Cossie. I laughed and pointed out the fact that his track car was an AWESOME sounding and performing M3...which had 6 pot APS Wickedly fast R500 that had a sequential box and was the quickest car on the day. Quicker then the GT4 458 on slicks...lol the Caterhams really are giant killers Tyres were well used as after being tag teamed by me and Jarrod all day And the joys of track days in Europe...harassing 997 GT3s with a 120hp Caterham. It truly is amazing how quick you can go when there is no weight...other then my gut And the only footage I have been bothered to format and put on youtube to date...