djr81

My point was based around my experience of running in sprint events over here in WA. For the record. The suspension is aftermarket. The bushes are good, as is the transfer case. The engine is good. I try pretty hard, atleast to the limits of my (lack of) talent. My point was that the amount/number of mods & work in general to keep an R32 competitive with, for example a late model Evo is pretty extensive. Further to keep the car in touch with a range of other eg modded WRX's, Supras etc it has to be driven hard. Checking the tyre temps (by way of an example) on return to pit lane is illustrative when you can do the same on a Supra next to you. Lap times the same (within a few tenths) but my tyre temps (& brake temps) were much, much higher. None of the thread was an attack on anyone manhood. The reason I made the post is that whilst my lap times are as good as those for people driving GT-R's a couple/three years back, instead of getting outright trophies I get a line in the press release as also ran.... By the way - check the weight of an EVO they are over 1400kg's!

Well when I started the discussion it was supposed to be about the sort of road registered car that you take to track days/hill climbs/sprints of whatever description. Not so much about scratch built mega dollar race cars. Even less about people who think GT-R's come with a halo & can nevah loose. Or brakes? My point was that the newer cars apper to do the same or better lap times with less punishment on the driver & car & also with fewer dollars spent on mods. But I guess that is pretty much inevitable. Otherwise we would all be driving XY falcons or something. Not sure about the 350Z's. I have only seen one of them out & about over this way. Wasn't that quick - mostly because it just doesn't have the horsepower. It is perhaps telling that the Mitsubishi dealers see fit to organise track days for the Evo boys, but that the Nissan dealers don't bother.

Have a look at the following pic & then you can stop arguing.

I think Skaife is a bit busy trying to figure out how the hell he is going to find the money to pay back Tom Walkinshaw. I would hate to see the size of the pineapple, er bill TWR (or Walkinshaw Performance or whatever the post bankrupt organisation is called) sends out each month.

Well 888 has sucked wang so far this year. I guess the Stone Brothers motors aren't all that good yet. SBR are struggling & JB's car is no rocket ship in a straight line either. It is odd than when you are at the circuit the only engines with a distinctly different note are the five produced by SBR. Even the Team BOC cars sound the same as everyone elses. Judging by DJR's new found competitiveness with the 888 underpinnings it is hard to point the finger at that. None of which excuses Lowndes from being hosed by his team mate. But given Frosty is spanking Richards it would appear the way to get people to perform is to pay them less than their team mate.

Best check the history books. The only thing that stuffed him was getting sod all points for the endurance races. Kelly gapped him big time by driving into second when Garth finished badly at Sandown & DNF'd at Bathurst. Which served him right for changing teams.

RKelly has about as much chance of winning the championship as I have. The only question that remains is how much daylight will there be between Garth Tander & second place.

It was simply because Tander finished 8th (nowhere) that Kelly won the round. Had GT passed Radisich during the last lap before the premature end of the race he would have won the round. Where there is equal points the person infront at the end wins the day. Yet again Kelly did sod all to deserve anything on the weekend. He was demonstrably slower than Tander all weekend & it was only a botched pit stop that allowed him the win. On the other side of the ledger Morris, Perkins, Gary Rodgers & Brad Jones all went home with very broken cars. The entrants group bang on about cost control & then happily turn up to circuits knowing they are guaranteed to suffer significant damage. It is probably good that they are leaving Pukekohe before someone gets killed. Unfortunately they are replacing it with yet another stupid bloody street race. Guaranteed carnage to entertain the #@%^wits who "only watch it for the crashes", but a danger to everyone elses wallet & wellbeing.

Well give him his due. It was an amazingly effective way of getting publicity. You couldn't buy that much coverage & all he did was damage/bin a Ferrari.

Why put in a caliper with larger pots if you are already having issues with a lack of rear bias? It will only make it worse. Check the pads aren't glazed & try removing some pad material fron the area closest to the hub ie increase the effective working diameter of the pad.

You are on the money.

Well rather than speculating have a look at the price list to Toyo's. With regard to brakes the Brembos fitted to Nissans are generally regarded as being excellent. Like alot of things that people venerate they are over priced & over hyped. There isn't too much wrong with the GT-T brakes. Get some pads, fluids & pay some attention to the cooling. They will be fine for the most part. Whne you reach the point where they are holding you back you will want something better than the povvo pack Brembo fitted to the GT-R's.

Speaking of engines, I was reading Jack Brabhams biography/autobio last night. When he was casting (get it, casting. anyway) around for a V8 block that Repco (Now ACL, not technically the Repco shops) could turn into an F1 engine he went to Japan in 1964. He viewed a small V8 motor with an aluminium block & cast liners. Unfortunately he formed the opinion it was too fragile for the basis of an F1 motor. The interesting bit is that the block was made by a little car company called Prince......

If you are taking the motor out you may as well fix up the oiling system with some baffles & put a restrictor in the head. Also shop around for pistons. This lot will live with 400rwhp.

Put some more air in your tyres. RE55's vibrate like a bitch when they are low on pressure & you push too hard. The thing should pull like a teenager from 4000rpm up. Unless there is a hole in the torque curve you shouldn't have problems with response. Just dial in some front end -ve camber & get the sway bars sorted.

So what your saying is that your personality is your preferred form of contraception.

Well actually I was saying the complete opposite. Ferraris used to be good looking cars. But in the last 10 or so years just about everything they have build gets touched up with the ugly stick.

Bayswater tyres. 9371 9988

Historically Ferraris sounded pretty & looked pretty. But they were badly built & handled badly. Their handling is much improved nowadays which is in marked contrast to their looks.

Like you say it is not ideal. I like to think if I am going to have to lug around kg's of cast iron lumpen rotors atleast they can be doing something useful. The inner radius of the pad shows it to be designed for a smaller rotor. There again I guess you don't buy Wilwood rotors & DBA non hatted rotors unless you are doing it on the cheap. I don't like the stuff much, but by god it is cheaper than Brembos etc & at the end of the day it still works.

So are you saying Italian built cars, particularly Ferrari are paragons of reliability & build quality? They are actually one of the few makes worse than Holden.

Well yes & no. It is not so much the diameter of the rotor as a whole, but more so the depth of the race of the rotor. See the attached photo for an ugly example of what the things shouldn't look like. You can see that there is a fair amount of rotor face not being wiped by the pad & also that the inside radius of the pad is quite a bit different to how it should be. It is something to be a bit careful of when buying aftermarket calipers & rotors - particularly if you are mix & matching.

Cheers Baron. I take it by wider you mean a larger radial depth. If so that is in accord with what the rumour mill has been saying.

Well I replaced my RB74's with DS2500's. I found the Ferodo pad to be quieter, work & recover better at high temperatures, work better from cold & have good feel. The key is to bed them in properly. If you don't you will suffer from the maladies listed above. They are a better pad than the RB74.

If you #$%^ it up get some paint stripper. But be sure you have the type that works on aluminium. Most paint strippers are caustic based. Caustic eats aluminium.