Ekona

Awful news, I hope you find something soon buddy.

That's the phrase I was looking for earlier! I googled for it and everything but couldn't remember what the correct term was, so chickened out with just 'vision' I already do the kerb-looking in corners to watch for the road tightening or unwinding (helps on track something chronic), it's the longer vision on normal roads that I suck at. Still, I'd rather admit that I'm not perfect and learn than assume I'm awesome and carry on regardless I guess.

Couple of little things I wanted to add to this after someone mentioned them to me in passing the other day with regards to driving... When overtaking, never pull back in until you can see the car in your rear view mirror. Now I'm pretty good at leaving space anyway but for the last week I've been using this technique on the motorways instead, and I have to say that it's utterly fool proof. Once you can see the car is behind you, the gap you leave when pulling back in is perfect and almost 100% prevents any coming together of the two vehicles. Looking as far down the road as you can. This is my personal biggest flaw as a driver as I tend to look only a short distance past the bonnet which can mean for a staccato drive at times, but if you force yourself to look as far down the road as you can see you'll find that your vision will automatically pick up what's happening immediately around you, and you'll naturally start to leave that crucial 2-second gap which allows for your planning time to increase. It feels horrible at first, but the more I do it the more benefit I'm getting from it and hopefully it'll come more naturally with time. Just thought I'd share.

Working on high-pressure, large-bore water supplies day in day out, it scares the hell out of me when people take liberties with it. That video is a great albeit scary example of just how vicious it can be.

Great news, might make Trulli up his game a bit when he gets his car back with improved power steering in Hungary. Karun seems a really nice bloke, will be interesting to see how well he does in the Lotus against the other smaller teams.

I suspect it was pure coincidence, but it won't hurt to be a bit careful when plugging the D1 controller back in though. There's no reason at all why it should drain more power from the battery, but even so...

Sounds like the battery to me. When you say it's showing green, do you have a tester available? IIRC the volt counter in the dash should show 12 or more if the battery is charged, or at least that was the case for me in mine.

Thanks for your reply mate When would you start causing harm, when you keep it at around 6k for a prolonged period? What about revving it past the red line but not holding it there? I've always thought it was bad due to the lack of airflow. Also heard it's hard on the gearbox/clutch? On the other hand I've heard it's good to rev it up whilst idling to blow out the carbon particles etc clogging the system when it's not been thrashed for a while. Gearbox and clutch won't be engaged so won't be moving and there's no load on the engine so very little to go pop, especially with the rev limiter in play. Blowing out the particles sounds like a myth to me, there's no real science behind that at all that I can see. A good ol' fashioned Italian tune up can help sometimes, but not just revving in neutral. As far as holding the car at the limiter goes, whilst I wouldn't do it personally that's pretty much how they test engines to destruction. I'd be amazed if Nissan didn't do just that to the V6 in the Zed for days on end.

If the engine is warm, no real harm mechanically.

An R8 is a great car. A V8 Vantage is a great car. A 911 is a great car. They all stand on their own as great cars. Why does the GT-R always need to be compared to another car before people say it's great? Sure, it has it's downsides (expensive parts, dodgy dealers, too clinical) but then so do the others I've named (in order: switchgear from a TT, dodgy quality, common as muck). Each to their own. Some want a car that just goes fast, some want a car with more involvement, and that's why some people buy a Mustang and some buy an Elise. As long as we have choice, everyone's a winner.

Exactly. It's a witch hunt now designed for political point-scoring, nothing else. FFS the people who did this are in prison now, why are we so concerned with trying to nail the Murdochs to the wall? There's a lot of tiny minded people in this country who can't stand to see people be successful via working hard, simply because they've got differing political views.

Remove and refit, sounds like a stone or piece of road debris is caught between pad and disc. Depending on how bad the scoring is on the bad rotor, you may get away without replacement of them both.

Sorry, but that's quite ugly IMHO. The front end is too droopy, and from the A-pillar back it looks like a last-gen Celica. Nice colour co-ordinating, though.

No worries fella, glad I could be of help At the end of the day, no matter what car you're in it's only a lump of metal and plastic, and it's the relationships you build up with fellow car nuts that really count IMHO. Get a good bunch and you're set for life, hence why I'm still here.

Track day readings should be done at 0.5m from the tips, not 1m. I had 104dB from mine with a Popcharger and the K1 on there.

That pic is actually a gen2 997 911, not a Boxster

Even more of a reason to try one, as if you're only going to be in it for a year then you don't really have anything to lose. FWIW I used to be a Porsche snob as well until I drove 987 S 6 years ago and completely fell in love with the cars and the brand. One short test drive and I very quickly understood why people raved about Porsches. Ironically it was a very similar feeling I had when I drove a 350Z for the first time despite it being a Nissan.

Go and drive one, and then tell me they're not one of the best handling cars of modern times. Get past the badge and you'll find a stunning car. I really don't get the whole badge thing, and I'm not just referring to Porsche. If the car is good and you like it, who gives a rat's ass what the badge is? You wouldn't stop buying steak if suddenly the only stuff you could get was Asda, even if the quality was more Waitrose would you?

You can remap any of the ECUs on the 911s for more power (and I mean any going right back to the 60's), but only the 997 got the sport mode and the various goodies that came with that. It affects the clutches (I have two on the PDK, remember) in so far as it will cause some extra wear in them, however it's all very carefully controlled by the DME (ECU in Porsche-speak) so it'll be minimal. The biggest strain is on the gearbox oil as it gets very hot during launch, and if it hits a certain temperature it will stop you activating LC until it cools down enough again. No damage though, and no need to change the gearbox oil until after 6 years IIRC as per the usual servicing schedule. It's a remarkably resilient bit of kit.

LC is only for the gen2 997 PDK cars sadly mate, and it's literally just a couple of buttons and a flash of the ECU to get it activated. Also remaps the throttle to be more sensitive when you put sport mode on, and it's a must-have on the later cars I reckon.

Yup, had it about 9 months now and still loving it, as I guess you can tell

Yeah, I tried being all cool and yoof but I don't think it really suits me

Either do the hack or replace the head unit. Tape adaptors are wack, yo.

I'd been itching to get the 911 out for a blast this week for no other reason than that I've recently had the Sports mode & sports exhaust fitted to the car, and I haven't really had a good chance to go let her rip and prove to myself it was £3K well spent. Anyhoo, it's a lovely evening round here so I went to a decent set of roads near me and set off. To cut a long story short I was having a blast until I came across some traffic, and since I was in no rush and there's zero overtaking opportunities on this stretch I sat back and let them get ahead, then nailed it until I caught up. That is, of course, until I realised I still hadn't tried the launch control that comes with the sports mode... I let them all go miles into the distance, checked there was nothing around me and the road was straight and well-sighted, and went through the procedure very nervously. Left foot on brake, push Sport Plus button, mash the throttle to the floor and watch the revs climb until they settle on 6500, then smartly release the brake. I didn't really know what to expect, but I don't think I expected it to be such hysterically giggly fun! The moment you release the brake the whole car squats, shuffles a bit on the rear then takes off like a stabbed rat with not so much as a murmur from the tyres. It's a very surreal experience as you feel the traction control work its magic beneath you, and then the power just keeps on coming and coming and HOLY CRAP HOW QUICK IS THIS??!! Honest, it's bonkers and yet utterly mesmerising. Thank god that Porsche can engineer a gearbox that let's me do this over and over again without voiding the warranty Mental. I'm still smiling at the experience and now I can see just how Car and Driver in the US got a 3.9sec 0-60 out of a C2S and a 9.9 to 100 too. I really hope this kind of thing becomes common place in sports cars sooner rather than later, as it may be a gimmick but it's a bloody brilliant one. I love my car