brillomaster

My wife bought a canon 100d a couple of years ago, mainly cos for a dslr, its really rather small! Standard 18-55mm lens is a great starter, but she also got a 10-14mm wide angle, and a 50mm prime which is great for bokeh! Took it all round japan, took thousands of great photos.

Yep i did 350z to 335i... a simple remap sees it hit 360bhp which is looovely... i loved doing the rolling start out of an average speed zone, the way it piles on speed is just silly. Also a lot more refined inside, put still a nice tone from a straight six. Gentlemans express i called mine- in se trim it looked a lot like any other e92, but the old saying, speak softly but carry a big stick! No probs running it, just needed half a litre of oil between services. Great car. Looking at a 135i now as a track car, so much grunt for a very reasonable price these days.

Thats not too bad... at least it was in a straight line! Our worst two overtakes at spa were an audi r8 that got alongside us through les combes, forcing us well off the racing line, and a megane that despite my road positioning suggesting an overtake was NOT on, still managed to squeeze past just as i was about to turn into eau rouge. In the damp.

redline is at 7500 so I'd say HR.

great to see that you're on here Neil! watched the full series on the Renault Clio pretty much back to back, and following the 350Z build and videos. When you're ready for a trackday, be sure to post it on here and I might come along in my Z4. A slightly off topic question... if you have the opportunity from another trackday, could you make another video comparing you and your mate's lap times? I found it really interesting and useful to see where and how you can lose time on a circuit.

such a non story. besides, everyone knows that the NEDC test is complete rubbish anyways. 'oooh my Mitsubishi outlander PHEV does 135mpg!?! great, I can drive from London to Derby on one gallon of petrol!' Errrr, no. you can drive 20 miles on infinite MPG as you're using the battery, then the remaining 110 miles at 40mpg, like every other 2 litre diesel.

Have you got any trackday experience in other cars? haven't tracked a zed myself, but have been in a couple on track. A zed is great on track, good handling and straight line speed, but since its a bit portly you'll get through tyres and especially brakes quite quickly if you skimp. if you're new to it you might get away with some fast road pads (Ferodo DS2500s, EBC Yellows) and high temp brake fluid, as long as you keep your sessions on track short. if you get into it then you'll probably need to go for Carbon Lorraine (CL), Performance Friction or Carbotech pads, but they're pricey. As ZMANALEX says the standard rays wheels are the best initially - light and strong, and easy to get hold of, plus plenty of rubber available in an 18. cant comment on what tyres are best, but I use Federal 595 RSRs as a starter - cheap (about £100 a corner) good grip and seem to last a decent length of time.

assuming 12,000 miles a year, 4 litres loss over 4 months sounds acceptable to me. a litre every 1000 miles I'd live with, if it got as bad as a litre every 500 miles or less I'd be getting worried.

haven't you already gone up? thought the standard oil was 5w30?

8 of us staying in interieur musee, so next door to houx annexe so may well pop over for a pint!

Would come along to see some faces I haven't seen in a while, but alas there's some little motorsport event that day in france that im already commited to!

have you seen any pictures of the car after it was damaged, and do you know who did the repair work? also, id double check you can get insured on it first (as with buying any new car) Also, how many miles a year do you think you'll do? might help to consider how much you'd expect it to depreciate, and what the price difference might be when you come to sell it, and if its enough to offset the savings you'd be making on a cat d car now.

depends, a car is worth what someone will pay for it. if you buy a cat D, then when you come to sell a car, someone else will buy it if its cheap enough. Also, in my opinion, if a car is declared cat D at 20k miles, and then goes on to do another 80k miles afterwards, it really isn't that different to a HPI clear car that's done the same miles. I'd say the cat D status loses impact over the years. Personally, I would make yourself known to the seller and let him know you're interested - with 2 days to go and no bids, it might not get any bids at all, in which case you could offer 7.5k or something ludicrous, see what he says. And besides, if you want a 370z, then buy it, and worry about resale value in 4 years time, after having enjoyed whats probably a perfectly serviceable 370z

p.s what was your view?

well, the reason i got rid of my zed was because i could get a car that had an extra 80bhp for the same weight, since in a roadcar i like going fast in a straight line. however if it was a track car, i'd take the weight reduction since going fast in a straight line is only one part of track driving, whereas less weight helps on braking and cornering as well.

went to japan for 3 weeks in May last year. Best. Holiday. Ever. we were knackered by day three, but so much to see and do, would happily do it all again. we started off in tokyo for five days and did akihabara, ginza, edo, the fish market and the senso temple. then did 5 days travelling north to shibu onsen, then matsumoto, over the japanese alps, kanazawa and takayama. then a few days in kyoto, in which time we also day tripped to nara and osaka. then back to tokyo for another 5 days, this time seeing harajuku, ikebukuro, shinjuku, and also odaiba and tokyo disney. some of the highlights for me bonging a buddist temple bell nightingale floors crazy videogame arcades bunny cafes dog cafes riding the shinkansen (bullet trains), and flipping the seats round when the train reversed direction feeding deer by hand in nara seeing old neon signs in osaka tokyo disney (mickey speaks japanese, yet still sounds like mickey) sushi restaurants ramen shops exploring japanese castles riding double decker cable cars walking round stunning japanese gardens seeing local teens walking round who'd hired fancy kimonos for the day going up the metropolitan government building in tokyo at dusk seeing the snow monkeys plus about a billion more things.

I really try and justify a reason why I need a super saloon in my life, but just cant make it make sense over what we will be my ideal all round car - a BMW 430d gran coupe. looks good, coupe style lines yet with 4 doors and a big boot - folding rear seats probably an option as well. quiet, comfortable, economical, automatic with paddles good to drive - its a mid sized RWD bmw, and fast - a 3 litre diesel will see 280bhp with a remap, or theres a 440i if you really need petrol and power. easily in budget as well.

so.. how did it go?!?

yup, we're booked and paid for... staying alongside the Bugatti circuit just inside the Dunlop bridge, though not in a zed.

interesting... looks like a Yoko AD08, but at the cost of a federal 595 RS-R. shame as I've just bought new tyres for my track car, otherwise I'd have given these a look!

indeed, bought my father in law a 6TB hard drive for £120 on black Friday! yeah I've no doubts the battery tech will continue to increase... a bit more speed would always help the spectacle, though in my opinion they should take out the ridiculously tight hairpins that always just cause a traffic jam on the circuit - though I appreciate fast flowing corners is a little tricky on city streets, where there are a lot of 90 degree turns.

I think what formula E needs is a chain drive - this thing sounds demonic! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khrEAf_4SD4 however, if a formula E car sounded like this, then it wouldn't be allowed to race in city centres, which would then defeat the point. From what I understand formulaE cars only make about 240bhp in race trim (270 in qualifying), so compared to ICE formulas they're a little slow... but a few more years of progress to up those numbers to 400-500bhp.

tyreleader.co.uk work good for me, plenty of supply of AD08Rs, NS-2Rs and R888Rs. However my personal choice is Federal 595 RS-Rs.

how about a new shape BMW Z4? little larger than a zed, all the usual BMW refinements, folding metal roof, auto box if required... that could be a good car for a man of your experience to cruise around in?

personally went from a 350z to a BMW 335i coupe. looks and sounds good, more power, more refinement, flappy paddle box was good. other thoughts - plenty of older big engines mercs for the money, with v8s and v12s... all autos though. BMW coupes, 6 series, 3 series coupe? jags are a good shout. porsches - money might not stretch to a 911, but plenty of boxsters around at that price point.