brillomaster

initial D live action is awesome! but make sure you get it with the original soundtrack, not the crappy American tunes!

cheapish decent tyres, have a look at Hankook Ventus V12s - very nearly on a par with bridgestone, goodyear, dunlops and so on, just a little bit cheaper. as for kumhos or avons, a friend of mine ran avons on his mini cooper s, and that stuck like glue round corners so i'd have to recommend avons!

Welcome along! If you're anywhere near Leicester get yourself along to the CS meet in mid June, look for details in his post.

psssh, admiral only charged me £19 to put a cobra on mine, you paid too much!

nothing out the ordinary there, just a bit unfortunate they've all hit at the same time! if you want to do it on the cheap you'd get by with £400 for tyres, secondhand standard exhaust off ebay for £100, and do the service yourself. but once its all done, you should be good for at least a little while, although sounds like you might be around the new brake discs time as well if they haven't been done already!

my advice would be stick with brands that are known for making just cameras and imaging devices, rather than big electronics brands... so Canon, Nikon, Kodak and so on. My GF bought a Kodak a while back and its still shooting awesome photos, way better than the camera on my 1 year old Sony Xperia smartphone. Its all about getting light into the camera, a smartphone just cant cut it cost its got such a tiny lens, you'll have no chance in anything other than perfect light.

+1 for Admiral, by far and away the cheapest when I was getting into high performance motoring in my early twenties.

Might it be worth opening this up to the 300zx club as well to make up the numbers?

Mine was a 1.4litre Pug 306... only had it for 6 months before I decided I really needed more power! eventually sold it to my brother for £700 I think, a few weeks before the water pump went and I believe the car was scrapped. First rwd car was a mk2 MX5 - few months after getting I thought i'd do some mad drifting exiting a roundabout... didn't have a clue what I was doing, back came round and mounted the verge backwards. no real damage other than knackered wheels and my pride, but did scare me straight about rwd cars and doing skids - immediately after that got some autosolo practice, and now I only go sideways on trackdays

Well why didn't you say so then! Been to Scotland with my dad for a week long road trip, but that's in the UK, and on our own, whereas your pic shows a European mountain pass with some mates, does mine count?!?

not specifically about the car details as far as im aware... I have posted images of the beemer before, but was a while back, got more action shots now!

does it have to be competitive motorsport? if not, i'll post some pics of our trackday beemer later

strange question... I drive mine to work every other week, 20 miles each way. Also drive over to my dads on the welsh borders and then on into wales when we go walking. Also weekends away with the fiancé we'll take the zed as its by far the better GT car!

I think all booking Bedford on August 23rd is the best idea... nice central track, good for beginners and experienced drivers alike. We can reserve a few garages and make a proper day of it. We'll be hard pressed to get the numbers for an exclusive trackday, but if there are 10 of us say it'll still be pretty awesome.

Yes. K1= probably the loudest exhaust for a zed, barring no exhaust at all. add decats, even louder still! Ask Bennett if he still has any hearing left - I think hes running the setup you describe and i'm pretty sure small children's heads explode when he drives past.

if you're going to the ring for the first time you're better off spending the time making sure your car is ready, so check oil and fluid levels, tyre tread, amount of brake pad material, condition of bushings etc. A car that stops and handles properly will be worth a lot more than one that accelerates to 60 a fraction of a second faster.

well its the only slot that day - when the full trackday is having lunchbreak, they run the taster session during lunch. if you just go on the website all the info is on there.

I strongly suspect it would be with other beginners, but without all the bravado attached with getting on track at japfest and trying to impress your mates lol. The structure of the taster sessions is a full briefing, use of a simulator to get a feel for the track, then three laps behind a pace car to learn the lines, and then 20 minutes of free driving - great value for £30 all in, even includes helmet hire. As long as you take it steady and leave sensible gaps between cars, I don't think there would be a problem If you come along for the whole day, you're welcome to come out in the beemer in the morning and then you'll be one step ahead of the game when the time comes for your taster session.

Hi All, Myself, Will and Ken are booked up to go to Rockingham on Saturday 21st of June, if anyone would care to join us Rockingham run really professional full open pitlane trackdays - unrestricted use of the pit garages, and full trackday entrants can also use the wet skidpad area for free. Alternatively, if you have never tried track driving before, Rockingham run a 20 minute taster session in lunchtime for just £30, so perfect if you've always fancied seeing what your zed will do on a track! Anyone is more than welcome to come out in the beemer as well over the course of the day. We have garage reserved just for us, so hoping this can turn into a bit of a club social and get a few more members introduced to track driving. Cost is £195 for the full day if booked in advance, or £30 for just the lunchtime session. For full details and booking, see the rockingham website, link below. http://www.rockingham.co.uk/trackdays/track-days-rockingham.php Look forward to seeing a few people there!

what kind of power to handling ratio do you want? cos it will dictate what cheap car you get. if you want decent twisty cornering ability but don't mind being overtaken on the straights, go for an MX5 or an MR2. if you want loads of power but not that good through corners, get a cheap zed or maybe an old 5 series with a V8. Personally, I think a 3 series is the optimal balance for a cheap track car - enough power to hold you own on the straights, relatively light to get through the corners. plus parts are dirt cheap. Used to have an MX5 and have been on a track in an MX5, just didn't have the power to satisfy me, no matter how good it was through the bends. there just so happens to be a track prepared 328i on ebay at the moment for a grand... its just like ours, except better lol. might be worth a look? depends how much work you want to do on it yourself, or if you're like me, and just want to drive it! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-328i-Sport-Coupe-Road-Legal-Track-day-Car-/331201638804

well most people are welcome to try the beemer out... as long as you can successfully get your own car round a track, you can probably handle the beemer. Plus she's an old German girl and she likes being manhandled by anyone who'll have her 6 people have taken the beemer out on track so far I think.

We're off to Bedford Autodrome this coming Monday with Javelin Trackdays... have noticed both a 350z and a 370z on the list of attendees, anyones on here? we'll be in the ropy green beemer, come over and say hi

well, in all the trackdays we've done with the beemer (about a dozen now) we've never seen anyone crash their car, either into another car or into a barrier. A few mechanical issues sure, but nothing to crumple bodywork, apart from the odd cone or two. EDIT That's not to say it doesn't ever happen though! theres a post on here about a 350z that collided with the armco at Bedford, so if you're going to take your pride and joy on track, get some insurance! generally very good etiquette on trackdays, you let people past if they're faster, and people let you past if you're faster. watch for brakes and tyre wear, but other than that its the most fun you can have in a car with your clothes on.

sheesh 9k for a 77,000 car with leaking exhaust and engine and airbag warning lights on?!? that's about £3k overpriced, or my car has doubled in value over the last 2 years! its a buyers market, plenty of decent well looked after examples out there for a lot cheaper than £9k... keep looking, these things can take time!

Bedford Autodrome is my local track! (bar Mallory - but that's not much of a track) count me in. will be in the Beemer with Will and Ken, but we can more than hold our own against a standard zed.