brillomaster

exhaust helps a lot how does it drive with a lightened flywheel? although you might need an uprev to fully appreciate it, I normally prefer a lighter fly for the responsiveness of the engine revs rising and falling, just makes a car feel more 'zingy'

think of it this way - if it weren't for all the Jukes and Cashcows and Micras that Nissan sells, there wouldn't be the funds to develop a 370z or a GTR... equally, you have to thank the buyers of small economical cars, since they'll bring the fleet CO2 emissions average down so that Nissan can continue to make gas guzzling sports cars

the 14v readout just says that the alternator is charging correctly, but doesn't give an indication of the battery capacity or the draw on it. the door sounds like a function of the power, maybe the battery is getting so flat the ecu/locking system/alarm is all going to pot. if you cant get it sorted before the next time you go offshore, maybe disconnect the battery and leave the bonnet on the latch, then when you get back open the bonnet and reconnect it?

if we stay on topic, I see no reason to lock this... I find the power delivery of the zed is deceptive, since its got such a flat torque curve. put your foot down in any gear and as long as you're over 2500rpm or so, it simply picks up and sets off. With minimal amount of fuss. however, where it does feel fast is if you keep your foot in, it keeps building and building and BUILDING, all the way up to the redline, by which time you're moving very quickly. while the linearity of the power delivery can be a bit unexciting for a sports car, it does make for a good GT car. On the other hand with a turbo car, you get all the whizz pop bang attitude, put your foot down and theres a pause, then a big surge of torque that pins you to the seat, then tails off to a pretty poor redline. in a turbo car its not the acceleration you feel, its the accelerating acceleration as the engine produces a sharply rising torque curve. so you get the torque earlier in the midrange, whereas a zed needs the revs to make the power.

sounds to me that the camera is using battery power when it shouldn't be, even if just a trickle. A car battery shouldn't be flat in two weeks, how old is the car/battery? would be surprised if a 370z battery had gone bad already. Was the car able to sit for long periods and then start up before the camera was fitted? when electronics are concerned I don't believe in coincidences.

if you do have a spare switch, i wholeheartedly recommend you wire it up to one of these: so it sounds like this:

yeah thats been on ebay a couple of times i think... unfortunately its in N.Ireland, which is a little bit far for me!

id be interested to know what an uprevved 370z makes! been kinda considering if/when I could upgrade to a 370z but have to drive one first to see if an extra 60hp is worth the extra outlay.

what tyres are you running? asymmetrical tyres (ie ones with continuous lines of rubber round them, Michelin PS2s, Conti Sportcontacts) tend to be quieter than directional tyres (falken FK452s, Hankook Ventus V12s)

53 plate on just 56k, bought two years ago on 41k.

nice one, sounds like a good day! yeah i like being on track with MX5s... they know their weaknesses and generally move over no problems. Looking forward to our day in two weekends time, hopefully the weather will stay dry! and what are you saying about BMW drivers! we're a lovely lot as for porsche owners, not so much, but thankfully there dont seem to be many of them on trackdays we go on.

So how was it? pretty much the perfect weather for it , got any videos of your on track action?

if its just a bit more noise you're looking for, cobra resonated will fit the job perfectly - I've recently swapped from standard to cobra resonated and it sounds just lovely, definitely a good place to start! if you do decide you need more/different noise later on down the road, you can always flog the cobra and upgrade.

only thing that would stop me using it every day is if i couldnt reverse it out my parking space due to snow. Thankfuly, no snow this year round here!

Mmm that A class does look nice! although clearly designed for bigger rims than that, they look tiny! Point taken about Plato's attitude sometimes - although I do think he plays up to it, and the old guard always seem to be bitter about the young guys, Neal is the same for me.

Haha he does split opinion! personally I prefer Plato to Neal, but would prefer to see either Shedds or Jordan on the top step this year Is Jordan going to be in a silly Honda Civic estate as well or is that just the team dynamics boys?

us too looks like a really good track, i think it will suit heavier higher powered cars better than the lighter nimbler stuff, our target is 110 on the back straight i reckon. need to get our car sorted out first though... going to pop down my local part worn tyre place for a rear tyre - although it cant be a Goodride, Accelera or Hankook, as we'd hate to have a matching pair

Entertaining video from Auto express here - and a susprising outcome. I think the choice of track and the wet conditions did the zed no favours (somewhere like Donington or Snetterton in the dry and the zed would monster it), but still the peugeot does remarkably well. Given a choice between the two, the nismo Z does everything for me - looks, power, noise, the works. Whereas the peugeot is the exact opposite... just looks a mess and a 1.6 turbo engine about the least desireable way i can think of to make that level of power.

takes a while for the release agent to wear off new tyres, what style of driving was the first 150 miles? if its cruising along a motorway, thats not going to be working the tyres particularly hard, so would take even longer to wear off the release agent.

wow that's a geeky question - however I will refer this thread to my GF when I get home, and get her views - I suspect DC, Batman and the Joker will be her answers!

gonna depend a lot on the conditions... on an ice rink, probably about 800rpm, in third gear, no throttle maybe... on a dry dragstrip with sticky drag rubber, you can probably dump the whole lot at a launch and it wouldnt wheelspin. somewhere in the middle, say a dry day, smooth tarmac and fairly decent tyres, with a standard zed, maybe 4000rpm? though to be honest i can count on two fingers the number of times i've tried to do a quick launch in the zed, and both times the tcs cut in, so i clearly need more practice!

useful tip for any tight allen key bolts... seatpost over the end for extra leverage, and you get a nice comfy saddle as a handhold

Crikey that one of Ken on our bonnet looks very, very disturbing! Was a good day, perfect weather, track could have been a little more engaging though.

yup will be watching every single race on itv4 i reckon - might try and get along to rockingham as well.

i think if you're fitting a 4 into 2 into 1 manifold to a zed you're miscounting the number of cylinders