AudiOn19s

Nobody uses the full full course at VIR except for a couple of publications. I have no clue why they don't run the traditional "full" course that all the clubs and race organizations use, that would give us a much better comparative data to look at.

I think they look the business and completely on-point for the car. No blingy caps needed for serious use. I too am somewhat suprised with the size of that 235 on an 8 as I was always under the impression that Yoko's runa little small. Either way solid choice on the combo. I too can't wait to hear more driving impressions as you get them broken in as well as the effect of sticky rubber on the rest of the feel of the car (increased body roll, etc).

I'd love to find an old air cooler to do that body treatment too. It's soo rediculous yet absolutely perfect. Mine will be area red

Wish I could have made it, there was some great stuff up there I would have loved to drool on.

Sorry I was thinking ZL-1 not 1LE. Bravo GM. I actually drove a couple 1LE 4th Gen's when they came out back in the day and they were a good car

Question is this, will it actually stand up to 30 min poundings on the track without having heat issues. FI cars make amazing numbers but are notorious for being one lap wonders. Dare I say itd be better without the blower.

I like italian.....cars http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6tTsMAVb0do/TzFIUzE3VKI/AAAAAAAADJY/utMDj3EyQko/s1600/Fiat+500+abarth.PNG

I've used wheel medic with positive results in the past. However I'm currently dealing with an issue with a recent repair. Being in a service business myself I've always said that it's not IF you make mistakes but it's how you deal with those mistakes that defines you. I hope the re-repair works better this time as I'm a little put off by the lack of urgency to make things right.

Completely agree. Most street cars adhere to the soft spring, big sway bar therory, it's the way to go for a street car that has to make compromises, but that much brake dive highlights the car doesn't have enough spring in it. Sways can only make up for soo much.

just feeding the fire

this graphic proves what Jones is talking about though. Alot of the modern cars are pretty quick around a track, pull impressive traction numbers thanks to modern rubber and good brakes but they still drive like a wet noodle in process. http://image.motortrend.com/f/30181882+w786+ar1/2011-ford-mustang-GT-2011-BMW-m3-brake-dive.jpg ...besides we all know the best car in the world is an M3. **side note - we're almost to page 3 and we've completely stopped talking about the BR-Z / FR-S / GT86. I hear they are nice but don't have enough power **

I've been looking for something more official to go in the bottom of the hole, for now I've got an old grill base being held up on a couple of blocks of wood. Seems to be pleanty of air that can get down in there none the less.

I'm still not done with everything, but many asked what we were doing with the hole / fire pit to finish it. Here's a crap-tastic photo I took this morning while the dogs were doing their business. Built up with stone around the pit, found some curved benches, etc to finish off that area. Eventually the plan is to build a stone sitting wall where the benches currently are, but this is the current solution for that area. http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/patio.jpg

All BR-Z, FR-S GT86 threds should be at minimum 3 pages in length...just helping this one along.

My brother's (Smokey) FD is one of the best all around performing cars I've ever driven for the money. I believe it's a 99 spec engine still on the stock twins with mainly reliablity and suspension mods. It does have a tune and bolt-on's but nothing crazy. The boost comes in quick, the power is good (325-ish wheel), the car weighs less than 2800 lbs and has proven reliable. He's taken it to open lapping days 2 weeks in a row and the only failures have been a couple of bolts that came loose on the exhaust. Never ran hot, never blew up, and based on our data analysis I beleive it to be every bit as quick as my GT3 around the track....for 2.5x less money. It's a little finiky because he's precautionary and adds pre-mix, always chaging oil and plugs but as long as you understnad that going in and keep up with it those are just part of FD ownership. My only thing with FD's is this, when he was shoping for the cars it amazed me what people thought was a "nice" car. We looked at some really rough examples that people thought were nice, matter of fact it was truely difficult to actually find a nice one. The one he ended up with was used as a weekend / track car just how he inteneded to use it and to be honest, despite the track time, I think it was still probably the nicest one that we saw the whole time. Lots of those things just beat and you can pretty much skip even looking at the low dollar ones because they will be a disappointment in person.

+1. Some sort of ozone machine is needed. Most of that smell is likely still stuck in the headliner, more often than not it's best to just sack up and replace it as really deep cleaning a headliner will more than likely destroy it.

Welcome to the world of needing to over maintain everything. Chris' RX-7 looses exhaust bolts / gaskets every time we go. Then again we keep telling him to put things together with thread locker and he never listens.

+1, I got pulled over for the same reason, cop checked all the paperwork, ran the VIN to make sure the car was not stolen and sent me on my way apologizing that my breakfast got cold while he pulled me over to check.

there's like one dude on Autopia that can get it, it's a european only delivered product from Meguiars. Quarts are like $75 shipped!!!...for a quart!!! not again, I tried it, it was nice, it's not $75 nice. Search for M101 and you'll find the one long thread. Only polish I'll ever sack up big money for again is Menzerna PO85RD...to me that stuff is totally worth it when working with dark colored cars, otherwise I just cant' see it. Shoot me a PM with more details on the finishing polish you used, love to hear more about it. Andy

Glad to see you making more progress, I'm with you on waiting till winter to make it completely right. Have you tried the M101 yet? Last 'Vette I worked on I used M101 with Surbuff pads via D/A and had just as good of results as I would have with a rotary and wool. I'm not totally sold that M101 is worth the price for anything other than the hardest of the hard clears when M105 is soo "reasonable", but it was a life saver on that particular vette. ...however you should have brought the thing to Nelson Ledges instead and got it all dirty and THEN claned it.

uhhh...maybe you missed the session where I went out and got the tires hot...then pitted and waited for that car, came out behind him, hunted him down and passed him....carrying a passenger in my car. I got back to the pits and Jason was standing there with a big grin on his face and said "You did that intentionally didn't you?" ...but I'm always looking for ways to go quicker.

That sucks, I wondered why I hadn't seen you out there. Quite a few of my friends have been having issues with breaking studs while on the track lately and have just gone back to wheel bolts to avoid the frustration. Not sure if stresses are different on the studs or there's a much more limited life, but thats a crappy situation.

I really like this picture but it sparks the debate that my friends and I have been having. Looks cool to hang that inside tire but 4 tires on the ground is always quicker than 3. I was going to adjust the rear bar to get a little more roll control at the back but the car is already soo balanced that I hate to dick with it. The real answer is probably another 100lbs of rear spring rate AND getting rid of the 150lb helper springs and just running the main spring in the rear. http://waggz.smugmug.com/Cars/Nelson-Ledges-7-21-Group-A/i-4DWG6Gm/0/L/IMG0791-L.jpg

Yes, blue mustang is Theweiser1. Good CR turn out

I was the one in Greg's car that gave you the "Special" point by out the passenger window We were sitting in the pits and could hear your regular sideways adventures. Every time we would stop to make sure there was no impact then see you emerge coming up the straight a few moments later... "Cordell again!"