djr81

Its the age old issue. You want a good result and learning can be half the fun. But learning by making every mistake in the book isn't so much fun. Or cheap. You could do a lot worse than the MCA stuff. You could do a lot worse than a Bilstein shock and Eibach spring combination. I would, at the least, talk to MCA. I am guessing the talk here is about their Blue series? http://mcasuspension.com/blue-series/ Among the question I would ask are: What are the spring rates he recommends for the 33 GTST. Is the valving linear/digressive? Ask if there is an option to replace the uniball with a rubber bush. Are there sway bars he recommends with the shocks - also castor/camber/toe settings and do you need many bushes to achieve those? I wouldn't expect he would offer these over the phone but it is important if/when you buy them. Owmuchisit.

The hard part in learning is being able to establish what is good, as opposed to what is better. For example, a second hand set suspension set up may be better than stock. But how close is it to being good? And how, if you are learning, will you know if you have got a good set up or not? I don't have a good answer to that because I have been caught many times thinking something was pretty good only to make a further discovery/change and the realisation that it was, in fact, pretty crap. Having a trusted supplier of equipment or the opinion or someone in the industry can help. But I have never met someone selling stuff who don't think its the dogs bollocks.

Why the hell don't they just paint them orange? Worked before.

From Bilstein: What difference is there between BILSTEIN B6 Sport and BILSTEIN B8 Sprint shock absorbers? The BILSTEIN B6 Sport is a mono-tube gas pressure shock absorber designed to dampen wide-ranging vibrations very precisely. Where an oil shock absorber produces an oily foam and creates a spongy driving feeling after a very short distance, the BILSTEIN B6 Sport remains constant, precise and stable. The BILSTEIN B8 Sprint is a mono-tube gas pressure shock absorber specifically designed to be used with lowered vehicles with shorter stroke. It also offers the same advantages as the BILSTEIN B6 Sport shock absorber.

It depends. The biggest problem is getting a decent amount of travel t the front. I would recommend Eibach 65 dia springs, 5/5.5/6 kg/mm front and depending on your preference probably a kg/mm softer at the rear. Use 10" spring if at all possible and make sure you get some strut tops as without them the suspension travel is hopeless.

Sorry, should read. My shocks have the following on the stickers: Front F4-B46-1471-HO Rears F4-B46-1472-HO They are, apparently, the old part numbers.

The Bilstein pbf cattle dog has the following listed: NISSAN SKYLINE Coupe (R32) 2.0 4x4, 2.0 Turbo 4x4, 2.6 Twin Turbo 4x4 B6 Sport Front 24-014717 Rear 24-014724 2.0 4x4, 2.0 Turbo 4x4, 2.6 Twin Turbo 4x4 B8 Front 24-016728 Rear 24-016735 My shocks have the following on the stickers: Front F4-B46-1471-HO Rears F4-B46-1742-HO Most people have the B6's but am not sure what the B8's bring to the party. Says they are a shortened version which would be useful at the front, not so much the back. Don't know what the valving differences are, however.

They most certainly do. What they don't make are adjustable shocks for 32 R's.

This was in Autosport today: A letter written to Todt by Caterham, Marussia, Sauber and Force India, a copy of which has been seen by AUTOSPORT, laid bare just how expensive F1 was. It provided an example of what a midfield team was now spending - excluding driver salaries, building leases, hospitality, marketing and media. Bigger teams are spending more, in some cases much more, while F1's minnows Caterham and Marussia have been trying to get by on much less. The breakdown for an average team went as follows: Hybrid power system $28 million Gearbox and hydraulics $5 million Fuel and lubricants $1.5 million Tyres $1.8 million Electronics $1.95 million IT $3 million Salaries $20 million Travel and trackside facilities $12 million Chassis production/manufacturing $20 million Windtunnel/CFD facilities $18.5 million Utilities and factory maintenance $2 million HR and professional services $1.5 million Freight $5 million TOTAL $120.25 million Of course such high expenditure only becomes an issue if income does not cover it, which is where much of the current problem has materialised. Income from F1's commercial rights is only around $55million - roughly half of the cost of competing - for a midfield team like Sauber or Toro Rosso.

What did you get?

No Caterham, no Marussia for the American GP's. Maybe someone will finally get the hint that teams need actual money to keep going. Sure as hell Bernie doesn't need any more and no one cares for whichever private equity muppets are gouging it all this week. Its not just the minnows, the midfield teams are bleeding money too.

Yeah I do. Sometimes they do get a ltttle close to the truth. To be fair to Michael he had no budget at Williams worth a fk as compared to this year where they have spent up big (and are massively in the red) and have a good engine. How sustainable it is remains to be seen. Also it isnt really down to him that McLarens aero is shit is it? As for the engines there are considerable freedoms. Whether they are enough to allow a wholesale redesign of the I/C, turbo, and packaging they clearly need is something I dont know. Still the I/C's vary from team to team so maybe it will be enough. But the split turbo doesnt explain the power advantage MB has. Renault is reputed to have a better battery system too. The other point is of last years enignes the Renault was the least powerful but made up for it in packaging.

Ouch McLaren has announced that Sam Michael is to step down as sporting director at the end of the season because the team is now ‘more than crap enough’. ‘Before we brought Sam on board we were dangerously close to winning world championships,’ admitted a Woking insider. ‘Thankfully, with his experience of making Williams completely rubbish, we were able to become the disappointing team we are today with a level of mediocrity we could only get from Sam. Or perhaps a Peugeot engine.’ ‘We are delighted with the soul-crushing dismalness we have achieved and that’s why it’s the right time for Sam to leave his role as sporking director,’ explained another high ranking source. ‘Of course, we are aware of what happened at Williams after Sam left. They became quite good. But hopefully our new Honda engine won’t work properly and we’ll be able to maintain this level of depressingly poor performance in his absence.’ ‘We are sorry to see Sam Michael leave his role as spurting director,’ said an official McLaren statement. ‘In particular, team personnel will miss their regular games of trying to guess what the f**k he actually does around here’.

Nice shots. Sun up. Sunset

As in parts from a wreck? I don't thing much in the way of consumables will be reclaimable from a wrecked GTR to be honest. Most of the stuff you consume: tyres, brakes, tyres, bushes, tyres, pads, tyres etc you need to buy new. I would think spare rims (so you can make sure you use up all your tyres) would be the most helpful if you are doing a lot of track work.

Kaikoura - worth the trip there. Not on the usual list of places but the NE of the south island is really nice.

Hoping he can do for 888 what he did for Williams & McLaren.

Was pretty simple they binned the group A rules and moved to the V8 formula. Obviously a 4WD turbo charged car is not a rear wheel drive 5 litre V8 so the GTR was no longer eligible. Just like the Sierra was no longer eligible and anything else was no longer eligible in turbo charged or 4WD form. Yet people bang on about how it was banned etc. The problem here is that with the restriction in the engine freedoms it is hard to fix the things that need fixing to make the Renault and Ferrari competitive. Honda may be ok as they have had a year to digest what works and what doesn't. It is in MB's own interests to maintain the freeze and to be fair, it is cheaper to do so. Whether or not it is in F1's interest is another matter. F1 is such an engine biased format now so it is pretty important.

Nah, just went for a holiday there.

Cats are all oppressed but especially the gingers.

Cant remember how long it took - the best part of a day after the bus trip there and then back again to pick the car up. The walking was probably eight hours or so. Concrete pour was for the pathways above the Ketetahi (I think) day shelter. NZ is really good for walking (tramping). Just love how casual they are about it all.

Maybe but when Hakkinen turned up (replacing Andretti) he out paced Senna in the same car in either practice or quali in Spain or similar with the first round they drove for the same team (cant remember). Which really got his attention. I think Irvine just pissed him off. Which he did to a lot of people. Irvine is one of my heroes. On very little talent he gouged huge coin out of F1. If only I had a little talent... Was trying to point out not the difference in the quali average (0.072 sec) but the improvement that Kvyat is managing. In the first 7 races he was beaten 5 times. 1.5 seconds behind in Australia no less. Since then he has been infront 7 out of 9 times. Anyway I seem to have more faith than you, but I guess well find out next year.

Well done. Concrete pour: