Greetings

Do me next!

'm looking for a new helmet which would be HANS compatible and also a HANS system. With regards to the latter, I'm sold on the Simpson hybrid system. However, when it comes to the helmet, I'd really like the Simpson Diamondback for obvious reasons but now I can see that it's a Snell M2010 which if I understand correctly is suited for open car racing or motorbikes? Therefore, used in a closed car it could be quite stuffy to wear? Does anyone have experience with this? f**k me that's beautiful. With regards to power, look into LS engines - it's a common swap in the US but then they put it into everything with four wheels. Perhaps some sort of BMW engine, maybe the S54 from the E46 M3? That's almost as high revving and has lots more power so shouldn't ruin the character of the car. There's bound to be bags of room for it and the weight distribution shouldn't be impaired too much.

To put a long story short there is a man who I commissioned to do a job. It's been almost 6 months since the deadline. He keeps lying to me, telling me things are progressing brilliantly but has no evidence to back it up. He's the kind of twat who's fine with having a meeting to discuss what still needs to be done because he thinks he's a master in deception and everything will be ok when he confronts me. So I've asked for a meeting today and rather amusingly he's agreed. But this time I don't plan on leaving with empty hands. The funny thing is that we've signed a contract stating a 20 quid fine for every day over the deadline. Although the contract is valid, going to court to claim my ~3 grand is not something I want to do as I'd far prefer him to finish the job. I've already got him to sign a promissory note for 600 quid 2 months ago which he signed and later refused to pay. This is now in court but that's easy since they just enforce the note without requiring any attendance and I hand it over to a debt collector. He has no sense of responsibility so I've decided that I'll present him with a few options today and if he doesn't agree to any of them, just take his laptop instead. I've already asked him to bring it to the meeting. I very much doubt he's using it as a tool to do the job since he admitted some time ago that he commissioned it to someone else because he can't handle the task. So from my point of view, he won't be needing it.

He's making it sound like masturbation. I find it rather amusing that he uses certain arguments to reinforce his statement and when the arguments backfire on him, he completely dismisses them. I thought the response to his letter was very good - no insults, just facts and counter arguments anyone with an open mind should understand. Good job. There's no point in getting into a slagging match with such people. By just being far more civil and mature than him you've completely "disarmed" his accusations.

It does feel a bit like cheating Definitely less skill involved than without ABS. With regards to stiffness, I can see where you're coming from. Definitely going to re-set the ARB's to a soft setting for the next comp which is apparently incredibly bumpy. However, this makes weight transfer between corners a bit more difficult to control. At the end of the day though the problem is not in the stiffness but the centre of gravity being too high up

Isn't plastic better though? You want the piston to be softer than the cylinder surely?

It tastes brilliant. I always imagine Red Bull tastes like metal would if you could eat it (I know metal has no flavour but if it did, it would taste like Red Bull). Dave, I know this won't help, it's not possible to win with people who believe in conspiracies. But Red Bull was introduced to the market in the late 80's so it couldn't have been tested 40 years ago in order to determine whether to sell it to the public or keep hydrating troops with it. Then again you'll probably say that before it was introduced to the public, it was given to troops by the Illuminati to better control the outcome of wars. Red Bull is epic, if not as a drink then as a company. End of.

Use it almost every time I touch the brake pedal (literally). Besides, you cannot brake hard in a corner without locking up the inside wheel/wheels. With ABS you can use tyre grip to it's full potential. I used to compete without ABS and while it wasn't a problem, I did get a lot of flat spots on tyres if I tried to brake in corner entry. Perhaps in a typical race car which lacks any body roll grip is spread more evenly in corners and this isn't a problem? I know many race cars don't use ABS.

Narr. I would never give up ABS or traction and stability control on my daily driver. They have helped me countless times on ice or snow. Wouldn't give up ABS on the M3 either. You cannot make up for the lack of ABS with skill. You'd need at least 2 brake pedals to do that.

Good to know some justice was served. Although if it was me hitting that tyre wall I'd probably be making sure both his legs get broken. What kind of license points are you talking about? Racing license or drivers license?

This hasn't been posted in here yet has it? What a massive cock. I'm amazed that the driver came out in one piece, it looked like a really hefty impact.

Status: In progress Parcel Details Parcel number: FWYI8751337GB Service: Status: In progress So yeah, it hasn't been delivered. And Mike, this is a tracked service

Interesting point. I thought BTCC was full of epic drivers but then I only find myself watching early 90's races. I came across a recent one and wasn't too impressed. Over here, hillclimb is where the rich people go. It's apparently not uncommon for these guys to look for competitors, pay their entry fee and cover some of the costs involved in participating. My friend not only had the entry fee paid, he was also given a car in which he posted a better time than its owner who invited him to the competition The reason they do this is that in some classes there aren't enough competitors for the winners to get a title. The only way they can get a title is to pay other drivers to take part. I'm hoping to make use of this next year, I think a forum post stating that I'd like to take part but can't afford it will do the job. Some clips from the outside for those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkbBM8kgMg0

Turns out that many of my BMW Challenge rallysprint competitors are ex rally/racing/hillclimb champions. I was stunned while talking to one of them who got his first title 8 years ago in the rally of Poland. He says that this seemingly amateur competition without a doubt houses the best drivers in the country. Many drivers from this series who haven't even come close to a podium finish at the end of the season have taken part in the national rally cup and won their classes, those who could afford it moved on to the rally championships and continued to win. I'm absolutely stunned by this.

Comp over, this time it was at our local track. I was treating it recreationally yet managed to come 1st in my class and 4th overall, just 2,5s behind 3rd place. All cars in the top 3 were Evos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YR6kTi84BE Used Yokohama Advan slicks this time, still not as good as Dunlops but was rather pleased. They have a sort of strange understeery feel on the limit, I think the rubber is too soft. And since they were 610's rather than the usual 640's I had an epic time with the gears. Definitely going to go back from 4.27 to 4.45 for the next season. It makes short shifting so much more worthwhile and there's more entertainment with the gears. Going to change the gearbox next week, it's had enough. I'm also running new front disc which were incredibly cheap (couldn't get hold of anything else) and Ferodo DS3000 pads. I must say that the pads are insane, the brake works like a switch and when you touch the pedal, it's like hitting a wall. I'm going to install these on the rear too although it's probably worth checking what pads will work best with the temperatures I'm getting. After the run my front discs are near 510C and rears are around 200C. I'm sure the car can brake even better because engine braking seems to help slow it down which suggests the rear pads are shite.

Ok fair point, but both those cars are styled in some way. Whether the result is good or bad is a different matter

I was just looking for a spare Daihatsu for the winter and found this in the search results: Is it just me, or is this the ugliest car ever made? It's just some car. It's even more shocking when you think that someone had to design this thing, someone else had to sign it off and at the very end, someone had to take pictures of it to be used in brochures and advertising. And at no stage did anyone think "you know what, this isn't very good looking, perhaps we should have done something differently". I understand the difference between good looks and just ordinary looks which are meant not to offend the buyer, but this is something else.

The outside is the badly worn bit so to the left of the pic.The inside edge is to the right. Maximum wear is on the outside and minimum in the centre. I don't know what cars these come off but I have a feeling they're touring cars. Not 911's, those run Michelins if I'm not mistaken. You're making rather accurate guesses today The tyre profile can be seen in the pic to the right (sort of). They're 640's on 18" wheels. It's similar in profile to a 255/35R18. I wouldn't call them very low profile but they don't have a high profile either

No regulations whatsoever, it's an open class. In terms of the way they wear, and the car setup they are probably unsuitable as you say. In terms of grip and unsprung weight they offer, they are brilliant. Adam, this sounds very much like what I got on Saturday when I used my friend's pyrometer. I think I got a maximum of 40/45 on the front with a 10 degree spread and 60 on the rear with a similar spread. You say the tyres quickly cool down which I accept as a fact but I therefore wonder what the front tyre temps on my competitor's Megane must be when he's getting 95C after a run Would increasing pressures not make the inside wear a bit more? Because I must avoid that based on the pic below. These are my last 2nd hand Dunlops after about 100 miles of special stage: They still performed brilliantly in this condition - on the last run I used them on, I hit 1.4g lateral. Edit: the tyres above were run at 2bar hot. Apparently not enough.

Is there any universal knowldege when it comes to tyre pressures, temps and wear? I bet technical literature is hard to find and probably way too complex but if you have a link, I'd be grateful. From what I remember you're part of a uni racing team? Essentially what I'd like to know is what my goal should be when it comes to temperatures and pressures after the run because those are the ones I can measure. Currently the only problem I have noticed is very uneven wear. Excessive wear occurs on the outside 1cm of thread. The middle is lightly worn and the inside is somewhere in between the two. This is obviously due to low pressures but I was also told that Dunlops I use come off cars which run 5-9 degrees negative camber. This counters the weak sidewalls which result in ridiculously low weight - the reason I enjoy running these. I have yet to try a set on higher pressures to see how much I can counter tyre roll and the wear problem but I wonder whether that should be my goal when setting things up.

I have my theory about this but I will keep it to myself. (what a useless post)

^ Exactly That would probably be highly illegal But yeah, the possibilities seem endless. When I got my first electronic scales I would measure how much a sip of tea weighed. Now I can see myself measuring tea temperature without having to check whether it's cool enough to drink. Life will be so much easier. Mr. Bearded Dragon is probably going to enjoy it too.

There was one change - arb was mounted to the strut, not wishbone. This gives less roll and although I doubt this would contribute on that surface, theoretically that induces understeer. But the lack of grip was too apparent both on the front and rear axle for it to just be a setup issue. Either way I'll be softening the front arb. Although stiff, that suspension is very compliant. The high speed damping on that kit is bang on for rough surfaces and these weren't rough (well, just a bit). As for the roll, if I could blame the setup it would be that. But I find it highly unlikely considering that all I did was mount the arb's the way they should be mounted in the M3. My friend has a theory about these tyres having undergone some very bad heat cycles - perhaps they were overheated, then rapidly cooled before they got removed from the previous car they were on (GT3 Cup). Either way, I've ordered a very accurate Longacre manometer and a laser pyrometer to better understand tyres, pressures and temperatures. And for the future, I'll be ordering my tyres from people who make a living out of selling 2nd hand slicks, not a friend who's part of a racing team and visits all the mayor events in Europe. The former have reliable suppliers, knowledge and a reputation to upkeep, the latter doesn't really know what he's getting.

Haha, sometimes the worst things can be pretty undramatic though

Pretty much what Jardo said. The car was equipped with 1 metre of fresh Michelin racing slick rubber. The car should be hitting up to 1.4g in the corners on that surface and braking just as well. In the mean time, those tyres were probably delivering no more than 0.9g which is equivalent to an ultra high performance tyre. So I was experiencing understeer in corner entry and mid corner, oversteer on exit and snap oversteer on the quick bits. This goes in contrast with the typical behaviour of racing slicks which is like driving on rails.