brillomaster

Seems that BBC are bringing back top gear in the USA, except its no longer called Top Gear USA, and it wont be on the history channel. Anyone else going to be watching this? I'm actually a little sad that Tanner, Rutledge and Adam were ditched, I actually really liked the last season ('murica) possibly more than GT and either of the new TG UK series. On the plus side, Tom Ford is back on our screens, found his reviews very entertaining on Fifth gear back in the day. https://www.topgear.com/car-news/top-gear-tv/top-gear-america-new-us-based-tg-series

Just to update on this, the MOT tester was fine with the brake pad wear sensors being disconnected and throwing a warning up on the dash, so I wouldn't worry about that. Not even an advisory! They were however concerned with the rusty sills

I know, one of my friends is going to Ibiza for his 30th, but I prefer things a little more chilled, so it'll be a spa weekend with friends. though no treatments cos treatments are for girls! real men just hang out in the jacuzzi with the bubbly water

well from one forgotten birthday to another, many happy returns!

psssh fine whats a guy gotta do to get a birthday message around here? jeeez... only been on the forum for like, 5 years, and have made nearly 4000 all completely relevant posts, many of which when I actually had a 350z... and today is the big 3-0 thought someone would have remembered but noooo... well fine. I mean, sure, I don't actually have a zed any more, sold it three years ago, but still, after my real family, and my real life friends, work colleagues and guys I say hi to in the street, this forum is like, the most important thing to me! Well fine. that's it, I've decided that i'm no longer contributing to this forum with my tales of bmws and trackdays in bmws. Must be because it's a 350z forum or something. I'll take my witty banter to the E90 forums, i'm sure they'd remember my birthday... Anyways, i'm going to go to my awesome spa break with my wife and real friends, and think about how this forum has massively let me down while I eat my delicious dinner, and get tipsy on overpriced hotel beer. and then later on i'll have a little cry into my Martini Asti I'll be smuggling in to the hotel room. maybe next year i'll get a birthday greeting, cos, you know, I have all the cards and presents from actual friends, but what I really wanted was to be wished happy birthday on an internet forum. Hurrumph.

i'd have red, for that quali lap look! except the quali lap look is now purple, which isn't available...

*ahem* ... *cough cough* ...

nroamlly a pizza, or if its an extended period of time i' might have a singaore chow mein from the Chinese over the road. (which is dangerous in itself!) if i'm feeling really extravagant it'll be a chicken tandoori on naan, delicious but a little pricey for a posh kebab!

we're also in the process of buying a house - admittedly its a little more complicated as its my second property, but the waiting with solicitors is a bit annoying... its the not knowing that gets me! but hopefully will keep progressing, there is no chain to buy, both purchase mortgage and remortgage have been agreed, so think we're just waiting to exchange. Its also stressful because the house was a repossession so everything is public knowledge, so until we exchange contracts, someone could potentially swoop in with a bigger offer and we might get turfed out the deal.

Nice vid of Chris Forsberg drifting up a mountain road in California in a V8 powered 370Z... the catch being, no practice runs allowed, and looks evident by the lack of tyre marks on the road. this guys has some mad skills, and also sizeable gentlemans vegetables as there don't seem to be many guardrails, but plenty of large drops...

while i wouldn't put wanli tyres on my own road car, the Porsche is only pushing 228bhp, i'm sure it can handle some wanlis for a while. and i'd probably have 4 matching wanlis, than a mismatch of other tyres, some good and some bad. at least the handling will be consistent!

Ha Bedford is the one place I don't mind if it rains a bit! but even if it does rain, you'd have to be driving like a complete mong to get into trouble if you leave the traction control on

The track beemer has just had new rear brake pads fitted, and a few bulbs replaced, so she's MOT ready! booked in for Monday, hopefully since the garage knows the car it'll pass without too many problems. Any more thinking about Bedford? good central location, decent long track suitable for novices and more experienced drivers alike. at the very least its a chance to stretch your cars legs, a zed should hit 120 or so on the long back straight

happy birthday Will! didnt realise your birthday was 4 days before mine!

well, if you'll bear with me i'll let you know about brake pad wear indicators... since i'm about to MOT my track car, which has both wear indicators snipped and the warning light showing on the dash... other forums suggest its just an advisory, assuming you visually appear to have brake pad material left and the brakes work, which they do! I can't believe your brakes are that bad as standard... i'm coping just fine with a simple pad change on my track car, didn't even bother with the fluid as haven't needed to! I know im some 300kgs lighter, but on the other hand i'm only working with a 300mm front disc... and it'll stand on its nose if I really stamp on the middle pedal. I reckon its the pads... standard BMW pads are gash. get some proper pads first and see how you get on. PS sorry for going off topic!

Anyone got any idea where the Guilia review was filmed? those roads looked simply stunning. I presume scotland, but where?

federal do 595 RSRs in a 265/35/R18 and a 285/30/R18, for £98 and £106 respectively off tyreleader, any of them good for you? i reckon you'd need 500+bhp to unstick a 285! https://www.tyrelead...deral/595-rs-r/ though that said, i wouldnt run them as my daily tyre, i swap them on and off at the start and end of every trackday.

like the write up! i like snetterton, nothing too complicated but satisfying to get right. also its a good track to play with the balance of the car, since there is a good mixture of steady state corners to reallty nail down what the car is doing, without worrying about stuff like gradient and camber. How did you find the corner at the end of the bentley straight and then the tight left at the end of coram? i always found that tricky to get the car stopped and change direction without unsticking the rear. are you running 18s? get some federal RSRs... 245 front, 255 rear. i think even from MPSS you'll notice a difference. and in terms of longevity, the rears have done about a dozen trackdays now and still have 3mm tread. (fronts got killed early due to a lack of camber and too much body roll on the new car before the suspension was sorted) Actually, tell you what... get yourself along to Bedford GT on 14th April, then you can try my 328i on decent tyres. And feel what decent brakes feel like, getting along nicely with EBC Bluestuffs, the fronts have done 4 trackdays now and still have pad left.

whats the route this year wendy? feel free to PM me. unfortunately we're still out, but interested to see what the route is this year! (reckon i could do it all in 2 tanks now that i have a diseasel... )

what about tyre stencils and some spray paint? i'd well consider this for my track car, but unfortunately they don't seem to do Federal http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=tyre+stencil&_sacat=0

Harsh, but hilarious all the same

its an optimistic sale to say the least - i'd have to be really living on the cheap before i'd consider secondhand oem suspension that had done 110k! even my £650, 198,000 mile track bmw got brand new ebay coilovers when one of the dampers went. and the rest of the suspension went straight in the skip when it was taken off, didn't even consider trying to sell it.

nice to see a 350z doing regular trackdays! get yourself down to Bedford on the 14th April if you fancy seeing how you get on compared to a cheap BMW driven by someone with no regard to its wellbeing

life is too short to get worked up at people... same kind of thing happens at roundabouts in rush hour... no point getting worked up by someone pulling out on you on a roundabout, cos if they didn't pull out then they'd never get anywhere, and it'll only inconvenience me for at most 3 seconds while I lift slightly. however, have had someone who knew exactly what they were doing when the pulled out to do an overtake with me rapidly approaching... had to come to a dead stop for them to complete their overtake, numpty. and as mentioned, in that scenario there was no time to sound horn or flash lights, I was too preoccupied with not being involved in a head on collision.

This is what you're up against if you do decide to come along...