Peak 370

Well, that little A Series is really something. Take your 350/370 to a Mercedes dealer and blag yourself a test drive. On the public road it would take something with huge power to get away at all. You could spend £90,000 on a new M5 and I would put my house on keeping it in sight on almost every road. 0-60 quoted as 4.6. Several mags have reeled off 4.3. This one has a remap and a sports exhaust and does 4 seconds flat. 10 seconds to 100. But it's the way it pushes everything it has into the tarmac. Incredible car. No spinning, no torque steer, just GOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Awesome car.

Duplicated post.

Sorted, new exhaust next week at CS. Cobra and Y.

Great pipes, sure.

55 limits? Trucks legally do 75 in most states ffs. You seriously need to go and find out mate. The USA really ain't your strength, is it?

PS guns are illegal in California so even that bit is wrong. I have been to the USA 39 times, my 40th is booked and people in the UK who think we have good roads for going really fast on are so out of touch. The UK is crap for really fast cars. There is nowhere to use something like an Enzo or Murcielago. But I did in California. One of the secrets is knowing where the cops turn a blind eye as nobody lives there and there is little traffic.

You are completely wrong docwra, sorry. I lived there for 2 years and hung out with sports bike and sports car guys several times a week. They have plenty of racetracks. They have thousands of corners. You clearly haven't ridden or driven there much if at all. I tested bikes out there briefly for a magazine and got to drive the best cars in the world including an Enzo and a Murcielago. They have desert roads that are straight for miles and virtually no traffic. Mental speeds we did most nights on Route 166 for example. I went past 200 mph in a 1969 car. Google Lattigo Canyon or Highway 2, known as Los Angeles Crest. No turns? FFS behave!

Huge wheels are daft. But they are way way way ahead on us on every other aspect of fast cars. Which is why I spend 4-8 weeks a year there. Empty canyon and desert roads, where 200+mph is fine. 60p per litre fuel. A 641 bhp super handling sports car 2 years old for £45K. A 500 bhp musclecar for £20K a year old. Free parking most everywhere, big spaces that fit a Hummer not a Smart car like here. The USA is fantastic for fast cars.

A/ I hate photography. 2/ I haven't seen it I the flesh. 3/ The relatively few car/bike photos I do have i cannot get on here, I have tried. It should be easer to do, not rely on joining a third party site.

I have just seen a Hummer with 30s. I had to look and see. Parked in a lay by (well most of the car was) it had a rubber band round the craziest wheels. I thought the 22s I had on a 300C were silly!

Smaller wheels have several big advantages. Lighter, better ride quality, less easy to curb, improve acceleration. The 22s you see on cars is plain daft. The only real advantage is looks, save maybe for racing certain cars. (Allows bigger brakes, too). Even then my Caterham is lighter and quicker on 13s than 17s.

A guy in Newport Beach California is restoring a rather tired Ultima. He is doing a lot himself but the engine is being done as we speak by a Yank V8 expert in L.A. His goal is 800 bhp and 1,000kgs. He looked at the engine possibilities, turbo, twin turbo, but settled on the simpler SC route by using a 2011 6.2 unit. SC robs power by nature but works lag-free from idle. He also has a Nissan 370, a 2009. I get to drive the Ultima next visit. :-)

Due to the shape it would do 210mph with 250 bhp. 350 bhp strangely, added just 15 mph, the new owner said.

It was an ageing US-spec Kawasaki ZX14. (ZZR1400 in Europe). Dropped compression to 8-1, but with an IHI small turbo running modest boost for 250 bhp. It did 9.33 @153 and 5 other runs under 9.5 (The next owner fitted a bigger turbo, with raised boost and a bigger intercooler for 350 bhp). That will be fun...

It wasn't too bad, no other damage. By comparison we were on the New Jersey Turnpike in May and a double semi (bloody long lorry) squeezed us and I had to run over a low wall/high kerb. It would have destroyed the front end of a sports car, but the Chevvy Blazer got away with a wrecked tyre and damaged rim.

Forced over tonight by a white van and mashed the alloy. Pretty bad too. Guy who does wheel repairs just looked at it and said borderline new wheel needed, but then said it will repair. Roll on Friday for the wheel repair then Wednesday for the Cobra exhaust / Y pipe / Pipercross.

9.9@144? Pah, I had a 4-cylinder that did a best of 9.33@153. I only got £8,000 when I sold it, too! Docwra knows what it was, but how good value does that sound?

Booked in. With Y.

Almost as hard as me picking my next car! I have promised myself a GTR, but drove a 2008 Z06 last week. What a beast that is. I have gone with Cobra.

With prices of the 2.4 5-cylinder derv so close to those of the 1.9, I'd say get the bigger engine. 5mpg or so won't break the bank at a guess and you'll have 240 bhp with a basic remap.

My best was a 147GTA. 2005 I think it was. A very quick car in it's day. 6.0 to 60 and a sound track to die for.

I had the Seat equivalent, the Ibiza Cupra, same engine. The Seat rides a little lower than the Skoda and is a little lighter. But a good engine. I had mine remapped, but it's the only map I have ever taken back off. It was just 1 mph quicker over a regular lights to lights sprint I do (to 80/81) than stock. Remap just didn't achieve!

Mailed CS about getting a Cobra for my 370Z. Around £900, fitted, with the Y Pipe so not too bad at all.

Of course, it's not ptw ratio stopping it being quicker, it's wind resistance. Barn-door drag coefficient.

Very impractical but when the weather is nice, or as a track day car it's great. I am not particularly quick as a driver, nowadays, I have slowed down a fair bit compared to when I was 25, but the strengths of this little Caterham run to more than 0-60 or 0-90 as many think. On short circuits another strength is being passed on the straight by an R8/911/GTR and simply re-taking them on the brakes. 450 kgs and brakes good enough for a car 1500 kgs mean you just watch them brake, count to 2 and brake, pretty much. 140 flat out sounds naff but is actually enough on road or track, unless it really does have very fast sections. Quarter mile-wise it will do that 140 before the 440 yards is up. Probs 11@140?