Snowman

The big question (for the race guys) that hasn't been answerd yet is the weight. How much lighter have they made it? As for the price - well if the stories are true that they aren't making any $$$ out of the standard GT-R maybe they see this as a chance to get some of it back.

Ah you might be right. I read it had the 6 speed somewhere on the innernet - should have known to take what you read with a grain of salt.

All I'll say is that these guys really did take what was learnt not only by them in their 2 previous incarnations of the Z Tune (they existed in a different guise at the 2003 and 2004 Nurburgring 24hr race) but also what other tuners / racers had learnt over the previous 6 years the car had existed.

Na I kept all my old stuff. The main reason fo the 5 speed was the better 1st gear in the Dutton motokhana stuff. For Targa I think the 6 speed will actually be better so I'm just putting that back in. It's no big deal since I have to put the new motor in anyways. The new motor is a complete new motor rather than upgraing the old one (starting from a new N1 block) so I will just keep the old motor / gearbox together as a Dutton special and have the new motor / getrag as my rally set-up. Oh - interestingly for Ben to consider is that the 400R actually runs the 6 Speed Getrag as well.

LOL - I'm the opposite. Hated the spoon man (wish he'd shut up and play some damn MUSIC for a change. Weird concept playing music on an FM station I know). And Will and Lemo never knew what the hell they were supposed to be talking about it seemed. I for one am stoked they are all gone and hope they replace them with some decent people again. Bring back Crud I say. Maybe I'll actually go back to listening to MMM now that they are all gone because those guy seriously had me switched off.

http://www.mininova.org/tor/1935716

As far as I know the 400R has everything the Z Tune does (including the 2.8L) except for the bigger blowers. But 2.8L with N1's would be psycho responsive! And it does have 18 x 10" rims amoungst other things. And my car shouldn't be in late modern - it should be in Rookie! But anyways....

Honda Accord Euro. Go drive one - you'll be impressed at how nice they are. Otherwsie a Golf GTi

I'm hoping other than the obvious external colour difference you won't be able to tell the difference between mine and the real thing. I'm even having someone make me the badges since Nissan / Nismo won't sell me one! Although the Z2 engine spark plug cover plate is being a little more tricky but I haven't given up hope on getting that sorted as well. Infact we came up with a plan today on how we might make it so we'll give it a shot at least and see how it looks. But the build is not that hard to do since it's really just a GT-R with the entire Nismo catalogue thrown at it (plus the ihi/apexi turbs). And given the car already had most of the Nimso catalogue (cooler, diffs, injectors, afms, control arms, fuel pump etc) it's been real easy for me. The bits I didn't have have been easy enough to get although the only sticking point I've had with the change of what I was expecting of S2 regs to S1 is the Nismo cooler hard pipe kit (I just had silicone pipes which is fine under S2, but the Z Tune runs the Nismo hard-pipe kit which I'll need for S1 I believe). The Nismo 2.8L is the same as the Tomei one (so no where near as flash as the HKS kit) - but in this application it should do the job well. I Just won't be revving out to 10,000rpm or anything silly. But 2009 will see me with the car turned right down as I learn what this is all about but long term if the wick is turned up it should be quite competative. But given its capacity and year (corrected to 4700cc and 2005) it puts it in the exact same class as the R35, 997 GT2 and Lambo SLG's so it would need to be.

Just a quick heads up for all the people out there following "Z Secret" plans. I got my approval to run in the mail yesterday (Thanks guys!) - BUT I am going to have to run under S1 regs rather than S2. And honestly I think that's fair enough. But I'm guessing if someone wanted to do the 400R path they will be in the same boat (food for thought for anyone else thinking about either of these paths). The one thing I am super glad about though since getting this information is that on a whim I decided to do the cage and keep all of my trim in the car (despite the adivce to do otherwise). I'd have been in a whole lot of buggered if I'd had to fix that one. As it is there are a couple of little things I will have to change (as I had been working towards S2 regs in some area's) but the big S1 differences such as weight were never going to be an issue for me anyways. Just means I'll definitely be leaving the DVD player in the car now (offical weight of Z Secret is 1600kgs which is still a whole lot less than Russ' barge). 62 days to go

Adam - the standard R35 Paddleshifter is fixed in position (like in a Ferrari for example). Russ wanted it to move with the wheel so thats why he got that MCR modification.

Rubbish! Lets ignore LC for now. Ever been in an non TC car on grass and floored it? What happens? The wheels spin at a zillion miles an hour. What happens when you come off of the grass and back onto the road? There is a massive load as those high spinning wheels re-grip. If the car had TC on however you'd never had got those huge spinning wheels on the grass and then no massive load when you grip back up. And how about going from a wet surface to a dry one? Now back to LC. Who says that feature that is being used as LC was actually meant to be that? It's not in any manuals I've seen or heard about. It may just be a lower rpm rev cut due to the fact the car is stationary and consequently not getting any cooling. And people are just mis-using this feature to create a type of LC. I dunno. Either way like the above situations it puts pressures on drive-trains that wouldn't occur had VDC been switched on.

You're answering all your own question there. They won't void your warranty for using LC. They will void if for turning VCD off. That's all they'll have to say. And how does turning VCD off potentially void your warranty? Well with the VDC off you'll be able to do things like LC which will put a massive strain through the drive train!! If the VDC was on should something like an LC situation occur it would cut power and consequently the mechanical strain.

Officially neither does the EVO X SST nor the DSG VW's - but all of them if you know the right button sequences will activate the Launch Control. This will not be mentioned in ANY of the operating manuals by any of those companies but that doesn't mean that it isnt there - it is just not listed as "a standard feature" and they will refuse to admit its existence. But as I already mentioned they state that "The use & descriptions of this type of procedure being outlined in the testing and reviews is not endorsed by Nissan" which means it will still be there. And they also state that turning the VDC off will void your warranty so therefore should you do it and break the car its your problem. Put simply if they say the car doesn't have launch control (or should I say not reference that it does have it) they don't have to then say "it has launch control but you can't use it".

There is nothing in that letter though that says it's going to be actually removed (which is what I have heard from someone at Nissan already). The do say "The use & descriptions of this type of procedure being outlined in the testing and reviews is not endorsed by Nissan " which to me says it will still be there if you do the right tricks - but also if you do this and break the car the warranty will be void. What needs to be clarrified as far as I'm concerned is the VDC Off thing. Does switching it off at any time void your warranty for good or only void it should the "break" occur whilst the VDC is off. If it is the latter as someone who has one of these on order I have no issue with that at all. If it is at any time the VDC goes off then the warranty is void for life then I do have issues with that.

Remembering of course that Nissan Oz "won't be servicing any grey imports" it's not such a silly ideal if you have the cash to do it. It also means other Grey Imports know who to call should they run into troubles.

Yeah well I hear Kimmi Raikonen has asked Ferrari to put a 6MT in his F1 car next year because it's much better than his flappy paddles. And since the Spec V is going to be pretty much a dedicated racer I expect they'll follow suit.

Heard on the grapevine that Rally Burnie / Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge is officially gone from the calander. Anyone confirm its truth? If so its a big blow for CAMS and Tarmac Rallies. And it looks like Suncoast, Rally Tas, Classic Adelaide and Targa West are joining up to make a "Classic Championship". What are peoples thoughts on this? It is a good thing or is it going to turn it into an even bigger Them v Us so instead of just CAMS v AASA its going to be Classic V Modern as well?

Yep - and then Sam rocks on up in the M3 and at some tracks thats even faster so then you want to build one of them instead. He's a bad man for the wallet.

Yeah but we'll be doing our best to avoid all of that stuff. The car is just currently getting freshly painted afterall!

Because most jurno's can't drive and need electronic talent to make themselves look good.

Um.... given they are still 5-6 months from even being released here it's not likely you will find anyone renting one just yet!

It's good isn't it I'm playing this when the wife is around or else playing Fallout 3 when she is busy. Both are tops I must say.

Thanks boys. But I think I have found a replacement should James decide its a no-go, but I will try and get everything sorted out in the next few days. Appreciate the offer though Tim and should further complications arrise I'll be in contact. But you'll be pleased to know Tim that my Nav just completed his first rally in the right manner.

*sigh* - seems I need to find myself a new Nav for Targa Tas already. It turns out James' first born's due date has moved from the begining of March to April 15th. Don't ask me how he got that one so wrong. But needless to say he's going to be unavailable now.