Roy

I had watched cars race at Zandvoort on old classic F1 races, and of course watched what I could find on youtube, but I truly did not know what to expect. Truth is I was keen on doing Zolder in Belgium, but timing didnt work out. So Zandvoort was a bit of a 2nd option, which WAS A BIG MISTAKE on my behalf. Its a beach side track, which meant that every session I had to wipe the lense of the on-board camera otherwise it was all clouded over with sea spray.... The real surprise is the gradient change, how tight the place is and how most corners are either blind and or quick with no run off. So first few sessions had me hating the fact that I hadn't paid more attention before getting there about understanding the track layout. But thankfully Jarrod and I were tag teaming the car which gave you a chance outside the car to get your head around the layout. Stoked that by the end of the day to just circulate in the little Caterham, lap after lap with no probs. Such a great fun little car. Was greeted at the track in the morning with bad news that the R300 we had hired was binned at Eau Rouge on Tuesday, the other ran off and damaged its fuel tank....so we were given a part refund and handed the keys to a std Caterham SV Superlight. With only 120hp it didnt really matter as I think the effort to climb through the cage of the R300 race car meant I actually enjoyed the std one more. Though being the SV, it is a larger chassis for tall guys like Jarrod so I had trouble with pedals etc, but it didnt take long to get comfortable with a few pillows in the seat to push me forward to the pedals Jarrod about to go out for his first session...he looked absolutely HUGE in the lil Caterham The fleet of cars that were brought to the track for hire This is the car we should have been driving, but there is always next time

But Boullier is speaking with Cosworth as he has to pay for his engines now and that means loads of dollars he doesnt have. From what I understand Lotus (Proton owned and managed by some Danny Bahar fella didnt pay any money to the F1 team for some reason...yet they kept the car painted in their colours as they didnt want to publicly pull the colours and be without a naming sponsor. Seems the cheque is in the post which is always the case with dodgy Malaysian businesses

So after the GP we dropped across the border into the Czech Republic where we were pulled over by Police. After a small delay and explanation of why an Australian owned a UK registered car and was about to drive down a country pass full of hookers (i had no idea at first what these girls at bus stops were doing wearing so little in the middle of the day waiting for a bus...but after another few hundred metres the penny dropped ) ... we on our way to Cesky Krumlov Definitely a cool little town to spend the night. Anyway, up early in the morning we had a big 11hr drive to Amsterdam where we were going to spend a few nights before heading to Zandvoort for a track day in the Caterham R300 So get the Cossie fired up, get it on the Autobahn And if we were going to get there in decent time, we had to do parts of the 11hr drive at full wack The old 87 bus felt pretty good at 200km/h. Better then it did in the wet at 80km/h on the same roads. I started to get a bit of confidence back that in a weeks time, the Cossie could be a good thing around the Ring

A big V12 Fezz would be awesome up in the Alps. I would stay away from Stelvio though in such an expensive car. You will struggle with ground clearance and turning circle. Best do the more flowing Passes

..and how is this for an angle. Since Renault-Lotus (the black and gold one) is really only Renault by name due to Concorde Agreement...and with Renault now putting engines in RBR, Williams, Caterham and Lotus-Renault...what is an engine deal worth to a team? I just read that Boullier is a little tight for cash and has been speakign with Cosworth about engines for 2012. This will be great for Cosworth getting a 3rd team back on the books but bad in that it paints a pretty bleak picture for Boullier's team. So, with lots of talk of the French govt wanting the return of the French GP, Renault wanting French drivers that they will subsidise an engine deal with Boullier in return for giving Grosjean a seat?

LOL, that was the one I was trying to link...what is it with this site lately that now makes it so hard to link youtube vids?

and another... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0vZqFPWrZo I think MW enjoyed DC in the garage a lot more

This is some of his better work

And before anyone else jumps in...yes I have piled on the kgs the past 12 months. Part of the terrible project I have been on since coming back to Aus Anyway, car stuff. We ripped through Austria over a number of days and then arrived in Budapest by Friday, ahead of the weekends GP. I have to say, the feel of Budapest is GREAT, I realy liked the city and will beback there to spend more time holidaying. It helps that girls are pretty amazing looking, and the really good looking ones??? Scary good looking! But some pics of the GP... About two laps later Hamo dropped it right in front of us... The boys flying the colours... End of race grid walk Also some great pics from Jarrod at http://www.jrmphotography.com.au/

Chartered Mech Engin bit is easy...when i asked a friend who is a Vic Roads engineer he told me you need industry experience. I dont get that working in the pharmaceutical industry

How did you link it...there are some other good ones as well...and the one when he was in the Jag outfit looking at the stunning brunette with DC But the best one is when he was behind Sarah Jane pulling an "awwww yehhh" face at the site of her bum in lycra And interesting to see GSK and McLaren are in bed together now. Perhaps I should get a job with GSK and see if I can worm my way into a role with Mac

I am sures its not common. But the point is: 1) Its wrong to say that you can throw an RB25 in your car and just re-stamp the engine block with your RB20 number hoping nobody pics the plenums etc 2) If you throw an RB25 in your car you depending on state, have to have a certified engineer look at the conversion. The catch is they will look at everything, not just the transplant, So if they are not happy with your ride height, exhaust, ECU, front mount location, intercooler, carbon fibre bonnet etc then these can all be stumbling blocks to getting engineering There are ways around it and compromises...we should maybe post up a tutorial thread by those that have done it from start to finish in respective states.

Oh, yes...even with Mark not getting any race wins...he seems to have enjoyed all of his lat baron years... http://www.motorsport.com/#/all/photos/main-gallery/?q=sarah%2Bjane&s=2&p=1 3rd pic down on the left...Look at the expression on his face...he is pumped to be in F1 There is another ripper shot fromn the front that i cant find

So, any developments?

I dont think the Police would ever check by the road. Hell, I dont drive with my rego papers so not sure they would bother calling up the powers to be to get the number they should be checkign for?!?! But if the car is seized and searched...for whatever reason and there are a few, then I suppose it only becomes an issue then. Even then if you can get a letter from your mechanic I am sure that would explain things I will be going through this in 2 weeks as my new car doesnt have matching numbers so will see how far a nice smile gets me at Vic Roads

Or be unlucky with getting busted for doing a bit of a 3am squirt one morning and you and your car be on a watch list because of where it was parked from time to time (person of interest to police)

I am going on what I have been told, I think they do mag particle test or something. You need to machine a fair bit off to get to a level where you can stamp the new number without any metallurgical evidence that there was an original number there. The give away is the hieght of the casting where the stamp is. Its one of those things, if everything looks std under the bonnet you will be ok. If you have high mount, catch cans, detailed engine bay and you may have been doing something silly when pulled over...the car may get a good once over and if impounded or you need to get it engineered to cover your mods...its just another one of those things to worry about. (Yes I am paranoid, you only get that way when you see a friend get dicked in the situation I just explained, 200SX doing 180km/h...headaches for speeding and more headaches with car legality) My 2c, when the 20 dies I will be doing the new engine and getting the whole car engineered...just for peace of mind

Rolls, i hear what you are saying and understand. But get caught with an RB20 with forged pistons, nistune and a GT-RS running 22psi and you will be epa'd...and you will have to do what you can to pass an emmissions test. Get caught in a car with engine numbers that have been ground off and re-stamped then IF questions are asked you would want to prove you arent caught up in re-birthing with re-stamped engine numbers. Worlds apart between doing that and running more boost to make power as if the question is asked by Police or registration body...i would rather not be accused of rebirthing a stolen engine I understand engines are stamped all the time and some people are not fussed. I understand my car has things on it that make it illegal...but changing rego papers with new RB25 engine number opens up a can of worms. I know from experiences of a friend who got dragged over the coals for a smiliar thing and I happen to know some NSW police who were on a task force hunting doewn stolen and re-birthed cars Didnt your car come from Vic with an RB25? Was it regoed properly by previous owner?

Not being argumentative, its a genuine question. Can you give me the name of an engineer that is going to sign off on the conversion if i have a std ECU and R33 or better brakes? Reason I ask, is in Vic and NSW the legaility side of things is in my experience a lot harder. In Vic I tried to get my car regod as a 2 seater adn the engineer wanted to go over the whole car in order to approve the VIC Roads/FIA/Cams compliant cage. This meant my gear nob, steering wheel, wheel sizes, seats, intercooler and airfilter, injectors, AFM, , turbo setup, exhaust, ECU all needed to be changed or tweaked to the engineers liking. Esentially the two engineers I spoke with wanted to go over the whole car and look at every single non std mod. One guy was far more stringent then the other, but IMO if you are going to do an RB25 conversion either buy a car already engineered... buy a compelte stocker, get the RB25 engineered then mod it...or get a far more workable solution going with your engineer. I think most people recognise the reality of mods being legal yet they still mess with emmissions etc...the question is what will get you a roadworthy or through a defect station?

But T04GTR, not the widest range of pads available for those race calipers

Look through Hamo glasses when he turns his head and I wonder whether he has been crying. He seems to be wiping the sides of his eyes...and their appears to be a reflection at the bottom of his eyes behind his glasses. Probaby perspiration...but wouldnt surprise me

Anyone see the post race conference with Hamo? What a sook. "Yes"..."No". Like he is giving himself a self imposed gag order! What a child having the passive aggressive sook to Lee

Stumbled across this...anyone know who was piloting the R31?

End of an era...want to swap for a Cossie

But enough of being romantic about cities and girls who I wanted to do lovely things to...one of the points of the trip was for me and Jarrod to get up into the Alps. Jarrod was responsible for navigating ... and truth is he did a great job. But I couldnt help myself with my last night in Zurich being a beer fueled trip which saw me lacking sleep for the trip up into the Alps...and ok perhaps I was a little quick to have a brain fart at whatever was going on around me . Didnt stop me giving him so much sh1t...but you get that If anyone ever goes and drives Stelvio Pass then make sure you drive up the main side and back down. Because we were doing three passes in one day we happened to go up the back of Stelvio Pass and my god...dirt roads, motorhomes, cyclists and rolling backwards doewn hill as often as we were driving up... So despite Top Gear raving about Stelvio Pass, I think Flüela Pass pass was the better drive. More flowing and not so stop go with all those tight hair pins. Crime was half way up the Alps my in car camera dies so no footage of the drive But suppose that means we have to go back next year, and truth is you dont want to drive through France due to tolls so best get a little but more east and head south through the Alps Amazing roads and unlike Grossglockner Pass in Austria, the traffic wasnt too bad and you could get a good head of speed up. The only crime is we were only up in the Alps for two days as we had to keep headign east...as a thirsty Austrian was waiting