mikuni

I also found it interesting that Nissan went to Cosworth to get there motor for LMP1 not Viry-Châtillon.............

Same!

What a season opener that was. One of the craziest F1 weekends I can remember. Only 15 cars starting the race and 11 finishing. It would have been a little bit quiet if you were watching it live. When we went there were still 24 cars and even then there could be a decent length of time without a car in front of you. 

It was a little bit of a stale race, with Hamilton leading from start to finish and barely a challenge from Rosberg, but we know from last year that Rosberg has the potential to fight, and can also out qualify his team mate. 

It's cool to see Ferrari and Sauber back up there, and the Honda troubles are not unexpected. Mercedes are a couple of seconds faster than they were last year, so Honda have a massive development disadvantage. They have aimed high and missed the target, but obviously have the potential to be at the front. It will be interesting to see how the improve during the season, and in fact if they improve during the season. 

Renault is a bit more worrying. They seem to have completely lost the plot. The cars were actually accelerating under braking at a couple of points over the weekend, like a sticky throttle, which is interesting with fly by wire. I'd be quite unsettled driving those cars at the moment. Apparently the relationship between Red Bull and Renault has fallen apart too, with neither party wanting to sit around the table to discuss the issues in an amicable manner. Oh how the mighty have fallen. It seems a far cry from when Renault were threatening to quit without a hybrid-turbo formula. 

17 June 2011 - Renault is the only enthusiastic supporter of the tiny turbo concept, which has failed to attract interest from new manufacturers.

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/f1-engine-debate-rages-on/

An interesting letter. It shares some of my concerns when I first heard Tony Quinn was looking at purchasing Taupo, but I'm not sure it is entirely founded. As mentioned above, Highlands falls into a slightly different category, and remember, it probably wouldn't even be here right now if Tony hadn't come in with the capital to complete it.

The letter has a slight er of scaremongering, but I guess the TCC are genuinely concerned. I won't say any more on that, but "buying debt" is hardly a proposition that many people are going to jump at.  

Definitely need more pictures of this thing. I am intrigued and I love a unique car with a history. Even if it is a half arsed attempt at one. 

I'll be there this Saturday. Might see some of you guys there. Looking forward to it!

All of the below are just normal internal combustion engines (4 stroke), but they all have slight quirks that are cool.

Most boring first;

Mazda's Skyactiv technology. 14:1 compression petrol engine.

They have a lol exhaust manifold and interesting pistons to prevent detonation, among other things.

The Porsche 918 (Hybrid) uses some awesome technology, probably the most simple aspect of it all, but for me the coolest, is having the intake and exhaust opposite to most current 'V' engine designs. I know this has been used in the past, but it makes for an awesome application in a modern mid engined supercar.

Exhausts

Also the new Mercedes F1 engine, that has the turbo split across the engine front to rear, so the hot side is at the back with the exhaust going straight out, a shaft running through the 'V' of the block, and the 'cold' side at the front. Much better for packaging, performance and efficiency. I just can't find any pictures that actually show it. They all seem to be conventional turbos. 

Damn.. I liked your post because of the good time and the win, then I read that it might be a bent valve that ended the day. Bugger!

Bump/reminder for tomorrow night because I already forgot.

Not racing, but will try and make it up there for a look.

Wow a full birthday. Will be like a brand new car now.

I'm keen to come along again. Will decide closer to the time if I can be bothered breaking my car again, but will at least be there to watch.

Have changed the first post, but Markku can you setup another facebook page and change the links? Keen for Taupiri again, or should we try Rangiriri for easier Auckland participation?

Also, need to get a few more Hamiltonians there this time!

Just watching the V8ST race and had a laugh at the poor buggers that got the pit box near where our cars were. Might be a little slippery.. 

Theres a good guide on the NZTA website. I can't be bothered finding the info for you, but I'm sure it will have something for length.

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/glovebox-guide-safe-loading-towing/guide-safe-loading-towing.html

The most interesting part is that the rated tow capacities of vehicles are just a guide, and you can pretty much tow what you want as long as you don't crash... something like that anyway 

edit: Actually, here you go. Seems like 8m is surprisingly OK, as long as you can stop it in the required distance (7m from 30km/h)

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/factsheets/13d/trailers-light-simple.html

What breed was your crappy pedal box? Not OBP?

Need to build up a matrix weighting system to decide this for people, as it is pretty much the age old question on this forum

What is most important to you?

• Cost
• Reliability
• Noise
• Ease of installation
• Cool points
• Period correctness
• Ease of repair
• Doort
• Uniqueness
• Fuel economy
• Shiny

Many of the things he is talking about are done on new cars, so he is sort of just applying new tech to old cars, which is kind of cool. There are other advantages to newer vehicles, but not worth going into on this forum!

The article seemed a lot more like him just talking about how smart he is and how stupid everyone else is rather than anything actually of use to anyone.

But the best part of the article, and something I have always lived by, is this: "Instinctively, replace anything with "Lucas" written on it."

I've been to one but didn't participate, but it seemed pretty good. Well structured running, so everyone gets equal time on track.

And lets be honest, at a normal trackday most of our cars are broken for the afternoon sessions anyway.

Maybe some Honda springs, but ironically it would probably be cheaper to just buy a 2nd hand set of coilover springs on TM

Paid 

Yeah Joe's idea is best. The box would likely be splash lubrication so not too much worry there, just need to make sure the diff gets a good feed of oil being so much higher. I looked very seriously at this, but the biggest issue was relocating the starter, which is actually quite tricky. Moving it to the front is pretty much the only option but there is no meat there for it, so would have to make something meaty, and my BTCC-ness means I'm reluctant to move that much weight in front of the engine.. haha

Any suggestions on burger venue? We could try the pub at Mercer (Last post Tavern?) I'm not sure if Muddy Waters is open again yet. Otherwise somewhere in Huntly maybe? 

Have been to Rangiriri pub a couple of times before and it isn't too bad, but that was a while ago. Not too far away from the track too.

^ they're stopping the construction of commodores next year so it would seem the writing's on the wall, unless they're to change the rules and let a smaller holden offering (barina feeate? lel) in.

You must be part Brazilian. Thats the type of thing they do over there.

Chev Sonic (Barina Sedan) running a Chev push rod V8 Brasil Stock Cars

Or a mini Chevy Cruze running a 2.7 quadcam V8 in TC2000

So lol/weird/awesome/shit

Agreed, it will hang about for a few more years at least.

I never thought I would say this, but I just hope it stays with V8's or at least something decent. With everyone else going to small capacity turbo engines motorsport is losing something. It still needs to be a spectacle, and sound is definitely part of that. 

Touring car regs seem to have a decent overhaul every 5 to 0 years at the most, so I'd say current regs would get them through until 2017 or so, by which time they might be running coupes on the current chassis, but then they may look at something a little different. I'd be surprised if the manufacturers wanted to run coupes though. Those niche market cars sell themselves, but always in small numbers. Its the mass market sedans that they would want to market with motorsport. 

Ford weren't offering factory backing from 1979 to 1993 as far as I'm aware, anything with a Ford badge was privateer run, so it's not the huge thing people are making out. In fact many series run without any manufacturer support, look at current BTCC. The money just needs to be there and for that it needs fans etc. 

Definitely looks very tight, especially if you have to lift it and stand it up a little more still. If you stand it up, will you be able to push it back in the engine bay a little to gain a bit more clearance?

Your deadline is looming

Looks like it's going to be down to the wire

I can't be bothered reading thread, but the thing that bothers me more is putting a sweet Saab turbo boat anchor in a boring, ugly RX8. I wouldn't really bother, just get a better base to begin with.

Yeah the saab 204/234 engines from 93 to 99 are very very tough. Cheap too. Take the omega or manta A series boxes plus some others. Holden used those omega boxes yeah? Can't remember what in.

The 4 cylinder VN Commodores use the same box. Getting hard to find now though, and I would be dubious as to whether one would stand up to 400Nm+, they are Getrag but they aren't huge.

I might rename the thread, just to draw more people to it rather than starting a new one? See how many are keen and go from there.