brillomaster

glad you're having a good day, yeah take it easy out there, can't imagine conditions being any worse! as for hairpins, remember slow in fast out - especially in the wet, get the car through the corner and straightened up before applying any power! on the plus side, wear to tyres is pretty minimal on a wet track, and brakes will stay a lot cooler as well. EDIT - as Dan says, don't get caught with a lap timer app, will get a very stern talking to I suspect. Even if its not live visible timing in car, its still not allowed - at a Javelin day we were warned that even having spectators timing laps was forbidden. do what everyone else does and take lap times from the video footage when you get home;)

i'll do what I normally do when im driving - consider everyone else an idiot, and expect people to be indicating incorrectly/changing lanes unexpectedly and so on and so forth. To be honest its quite easy to spot who is about to do something stupid - anyone driving a Honda jazz/Nissan micra for example WILL stop at an empty roundabout, anyone driving a black BMW/Audi WILL tailgate me then attempt to undertake me when the thing im overtaking moves over, anyone wearing a hat... well they just need to be given a very wide berth all the time! just defensive driving that's all. expect the unexpected, then don't get irate about it.

Forza 6 will be out then haha perfect, so i'll be able to pick up copy of forza 5 for peanuts as well!

hmmm id love to play it and Forza 5 on the XBone, but not going to pay £400 for the privilege! in fact in the case of horizon 2, it would be playing £400 for some rain and some dirt... I'm quite happy keeping the money and having it sunny every day in forza world!

its not bad, but... somehow i was expecting a little more... for one thing the map isnt quite as vast as i was expecting, and while the landscape is lovely, i was expecting a bit more contrast... plus also i've only been playing a few hours and im already 37% complete, not sure its quite got the longevity. enjoying razzing around in a 370z with a GTR engine swap though, shifts along nicely. just splashed 300,000 credits on a Huracan though, had to be done!

Nice one! Bargain price for track oriented rubber in 18'' size. We're up at Donny in three weeks, then hopefully snetterton mid November. Let us know how you get on with them!

you only live once... if you want a porsche, you gotta buy a porsche!

just in case you havent seen, we've been finding tyreleader are cheapest for 595 RS-Rs these days...

my advice would be to go wider, so 235 front and 255 rear - if you aren't worried about traction control then theres a 245/35/18 option as well, could run 245/35 front and 255/35 rear. you may also consider Kumho KU36s - on tyre reviews they have virtually identical ratings, except KU36s have two central grooves to aid with water displacement. if you do get 595RS-Rs let us know how you get on - we're strongly considering getting a set of 245/35/18s all round for our track BMW.

errr, its a ten year anniversary dinner... you want to keep things light on the stomach for the après dinner events, no? that steak is ridonkulous... yes its 2 kgs, but £99 is a pretty hefty outlay... possible alternative is to get the steak between you... special occasion warrants spending £100 on dinner, and its romantic to share, and that way you might actually have a hope in hell of finishing it!

front end is essentially a huracan, but the rear is a bit weird and shooting brake styled, so i'll just take a huracan, please.

are you running any other changes to exhaust other than the back box? if its just backbox, you'll be fine, i think the resonated one is 85db, and then non resonated is 90db. miles away from the 105db limit. if you do change the brake pads before the day make sure you have time to bed them in properly before using them hard. i personally think brake pads, fluid, line and then discs is the order to upgrade, we've been tracking a bmw 3 series for the last year and a half with just pad and fluid change, and its been fine. and regardless of any changes, make sure you dont overstretch the car - make sure you do a decent cool down lap at the end of every stint to let the brakes cool, and dont put the handbrake on when you come in the pits. also check tyre pressures during the day - they'll go up by as much as 8psi as the tyres get warm, so i'd let air out down to 30psi when they're cold to start, and then check them again once they're warm - you probably want around 33psi hot pressure, then can play with the balance if the is over or understeering. as for clutch just drive it with mechanical sympathy - need accuracy with gearchanges. how is your heel and toeing? you'll need to slot 2nd for the two hairpins.

hmmm going to have to work a bit hard to make a silver A5 look good! Maybe.... ?

oooh is it in Germanic black? get it lowered on some 19s, job done!

thanks for that, 2 minutes of quality time wasting achieved!

my DE is going to have to live with 97 im afraid, since that's what sainsburys super is (and I believe a few other supers are 97 RON as well) but even so, I only go above 5k once in a blue moon anyways.

That can't be true, the vert looks bloody awful with the roof up! the coupe looks a lot nicer. also, does the convertible have the trademark z rear strut brace? if it doesn't, then that bracing must be put somewhere else in the car.

I'm very much looking forward to getting this, loved Forza Horizon. hopefully the soundtrack will be equally as good as the first game as well. And am very glad that its on the 360, for us luddites who think an xbox one is still far too much money!

every ounce counts! lightness is the best mod you can do to a track car, and great thing is its free! really looking forward to trying it it tomorrow, very real possibility we'll be one of the faster cars on track - 230bhp in a lightened beemer should be sweet

its fine, in 2 and half years and 24,000 miles the only things needed doing other than tyres and brakes has been a rear wheel bearing and a new exhaust to replace the original that had a hole in it. not bad for an 11 year old car.

well, in all fairness the motorsport season is in summer, so I cant really see it being too much of an issue... and as I say, spa francorchamps is well known for being misty/raining a lot of the time, doesn't seem to phase them. it'll just add to the drama of motorsport in wales!

car doesn't get driven hard and is unmodified? full F+R set of Pagid brake pads for £63 delivered on carpartsless... yellowstuff and hawk ceramic seems a tad overkill for a car that doesn't see any track work. Sy, have you had any problems with the standard Nissan pads to warrant an upgrade?

does it have to be slicks? Can get brand new Kumho KU36s in that size for about £70 each, or Federal 595 RS-Rs for about £80.

indeed, Europe has some great purpose built circuits, which are a lot better than our old airfield based circuits. the plans for the track remind me of Portimao circuit in Portugal, or Navarra Circuit in Spain, both purpose built venues. Except without the sun and heat, obviously. But hey, Spa Francorchamps makes a name for itself with the changeable weather conditions, and it rains a lot in the valleys!

Hopefully it will go ahead - the main protesters are the enviromentalists, and other UK racetracks who don't want any competition. However speak to anyone in the local area (my fiancée's dad included) and they are all for the idea, after all that area of wales is one of the poorest parts of the country since the steelworks closed down several years ago, unemployment is very high and the promise of jobs and investment is very appealing (whether these will actually be delivered is another question). As for the location, yes it is on one of the highest points in south Wales, but its just common land out the back of an industrial estate. it has very good road links being just off the A465 Heads of Valleys road, and as such is easy to get to from Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and Abergavenny.