brillomaster

Chris Evans says a lot of things, like 'I don't want the top gear job' I'm still saying it wont, after all, former top gear did 22 series without a female, all the worldwide versions of the show are without females, and it just wouldn't be top gear - unless they're moving away from the 'three blokes larking about' format.

so whats the general consensus - will the new line up include anyone from the fairer sex? my guess is it wont!

im pretty sure i'll be watching it. After all, it can't be worse than the US version, and i like that!

I want white tyre lettering on our track BMW - because race(track)car! wouldn't put it on a road car though.

just road use and a bit of social driving i'd go for EBC redstuff, had them on the front of my zed for a year with no issues at all. considerably quieter than the ferodo DS2500s I had before, which squeaked everywhere. Pm Cougarstore for decent prices

going to be awesome! still room for a few more if you fancy it (and can afford it!) Come on Ekona, lets see this turbo'd MR2 in action!

we once saw the bonnet fly up on some poor girls old corsa or something - she must have been doing about 50mph, flew up, ripped the bonnet off the hinges and smashed the windscreen. Understandably she was pretty shaken up, poor girl. luckily it was a relatively quiet A road, stayed with her until her boyfriend arrived. but yeah, definitely check that your bonnet is secure!

yeah its an uber slippery slick surface, the cars get absolutely filthy!

good man, will see you there! looking forward to seeing how the new beemer compares to your zed

http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=245&aspect=45&diameter=18&wheelwidth=8.5&offset=33&width2=315&aspect2=35&diameter2=18&wheelwidth2=12&offset2=20 theres the workings for you... the inner rim will be 31.5mm closer to the strut than a standard rear wheel, the outer rim will be 57.5mm further out compared to standard. heck you may even need a spacer to get it on without rubbing on the inside!

personally, I reckon something like the blancpain series, or Lamborghini super trofeo would be quite sweet. either that or F1 - i'd want a series that offered a good amount of seat time across a whole weekend, and get a chance to see lots of different racetracks. maybe not F1 as I couldnt be arsed with all the modern systems management going on and the politics, I just want a big naturally aspirated V10 or V12, no TCS to save you if you balls it up, and mechanical grip so you can follow cars closely through the corners. My dream series would have been FIA GT1 in a Lamborghini Murcielago, but sadly that was discontinued.

haha an inch makes a lot of difference when its regarding width and poke

haha nailed it!

Which would stick out more than the +20 ahem yes I realised I had offsets the wrong way round when I said it! but even so, going for a wheel that's 3.5" wider than standard and lowering the offset by 13mm, that's a no from me! Still, interesting to see how this pans out!

also have a quick look on rimtuck.com - the only people running 12" rears on a 350z have offsets varying between -6 and +12, none as high as +20. http://rimtuck.com/search/thumbnails&make=Nissan&model=350Z&widthr=12&sort=1

lol sorry mate but that looks ludicrously far out!... a quick check on wheel fitment calculators says the outer rim will stick out 57mm further than a standard zed rear wheel, normally people only space the rears by 25mm, you're another 32mm beyond that! you'd need serious arch extensions to make that work in my book. ps have you got some spacers on the rear you've forgotten to take off maybe?

you should be alright, you'll still have the standard cats and middle resonators in place. give it a go, worst that happens is you just take them off again. But everyone says the standard exhaust on a 370z is far too quiet, so I reckon once they're on they'll stay on.

what system is it exactly? is it the 370z cybox short tails exhaust tips?

if you have a name and address, maybe a polite letter?

Alrighty finally got a bit of time to do a bit of a write up of last weekend... Arrived fairly earlyish at rockingham - only an hour or so from me, and since ken had the car i didnt have to faff around wit tyre pressures and fuel the night before, just turn up and drive! The day itself was actually fairly quiet compared to a lot of days we'd been on - although there were a lot of racecars testing so they were in the pits more than usual. Lots of caterham academy cars (since they have a race at rockingham this weekend) and then a few other club level racecars, but then a few roadgoing BMWs, VW golfs, an MX5, that kinda thing. Our car was looking mighty fine has to be said, ken likes clean car and even though the paintwork was so scratched it wasnt possible to clay it or polish it, just washing it made a huge difference! and kens old road tyres were all on - bridgestones RE040s on the front, and some marshall things on the rear. To start with the day was a bit manic - all the caterhams came out in one go, and they hunt in packs like a swarm of wasps - damn pests. clearly ignored the bit in the briefing about it being a trackday, we had whole packs of cars passing on the inside of corners, one ***** managed to do two corners before crashing at the hairpin and causing a red flag, plenty of others were spinning out in front of us. it basically got to the point when you saw a pack approaching, you might as well stop on a straight and let them all past, then set off again. Its times like these i'd really like to just turn across the idiot caterham thats overtaking under braking into the chicane, cos his car would come off a lot worse than ours, and it would be his fault. but i really feel for the novice drivers out there, im sure they werent have been expecting that! BMW was reasonably good in the morning - having the decent tyres on the front now meant hints of oversteer, then after 5-6 laps lots of oversteer as the rears overheated. cue big powerslides out the hairpin, which was fun! there was an E46 M3 that followed us into the hairpin, was clearly impressed by my antics that he then pulled off a huge slide coming out on to the next straight, hilarious! and the old VW golf that was so stiff it was cocking the inside rear wheel a good few inches off the ground when cornering, mega. Then at lunch, well, everything changed. Ken had managed to get our new tyres fitted the day before, and they were waiting in our garage. So, over the lunchbreak, off came the road wheels (with 225/45 tyres all round) and on went the federals (245/35 front, 255/35 rear). with some trepidation about running a brand new set of tyres, Ken headed out to see what they were like. and within a few laps it became apparent that decent tyres was something we should have bought a long time ago, car was completely transformed! Once they'd got a bit of heat in them and the pressures were corrected, they were mega. They just inspired so much confidence - through the fast corners you can just keep it pinned - round the very first turn one, on the road tyres we were wimping out and lifting just at the apex, but with the federals its easy flat all the way round, no worries. and Kens late braking and turn in at the hairpin was something to behold. and then the fast gracelands left hander, can just carry so much speed through its unreal. A really REALLY good upgrade! And even better, the menace that was the caterham academy cars now couldnt keep up! we always had a slight edge in a straight line, but now we were just as fast through the corners as well - the only place they still had and advantage is through the low speed, quick direction changes parts - we're just too heavy for that. But somewhere like Donington or Snetterton i strongly suspect we'd be faster over a lap. Only had one problem during the day - the rearmost exhaust hanger gave up, but someone kindly gave us an industrial sized cable tie so we patched that back up. there was also a slight vibration under hard braking, but nothing too major - despite the brakes getting pretty warm there was always good stopping power and no hint of any fade, which is good. managed to take a few videos, and ken has quite a few photos he'll hopefully upload, but here's ken doing some laps on the new tyres - these were actually some of his worst laps of the day, but still fast! so looking forward to Donington now! the old 330ci went really well round there a year or so ago, so hoping for even faster lap times with the 328i on decent tyres.

could be any of air, fuel, or spark. air - faulty MAF, clogged air filter, dead animal in the airbox... fuel - dodgy fuel pump, just plain out of fuel, throttle position sensor is faulty, dodgy injectors spark - dodgy plugs, dodgy coil pack, duff ecu. dodgy crank position sensor. EDIT now that I've posted something vaguely useful, time for something wholely not useful - why is this in the car care forum discounts area?

welcome along! first mod - stubby aerial

yes.

Right then its officially official, there are only 15 places left for Donington on 18th July, and the price has gone up by £20 to £269 Get that place booked if you haven't done so already!

to be honest nothing is essential... however the standard exhaust WILL split between the mid pipe and the back box, definitely worth upgrading when it happens. other than that, i'd say the car was pretty good just as it is - then modify accordingly depending on whether you want go or show. brake lines are fine if you just do road work but will need doing if you do any trackdays, similarly the standard 18" Rays are fine, but you might want to go bigger and wider if stance is your thing. Engine mods are by no means essential in my opinion; you have to spend a lot to get quite little gains, and that money would be better spent on petrol and driving the thing! the only essential things are make sure the servicing is done and that is running on the right fuel, but you're right, neither are modifications, just best practice.