Drivin Ivan

I have th eopposite problem, the key will come out at any time even when the engine is running - I have even had them come out when getting a particularly nasty slide back into line. When I was getting the tyres fitted the kid at Protyre managed to remove the keys without turning the engine off, when I came back half an hour later it was still running on the ramps. The kid comes up to me and asks how to turn the engine off! So I said "exactly the same as any other car just turn the key to the off position" - get a tenner off the price of the tyres for the incompetance. Ivan

That could well have been me in my dark red (cherry Red pearl) SWB, very dirty at the moment - it's not for polishing it's for driving rather quickly. Ivan

Same slightly dented one that I have still not had repaired - I have lowered it and made it sit on the road a lot better since you last saw it - the haevy layer of dirt I had put on it earlier that day may have disguised the bent bit - I couldn't resist the coutry lanes in the rain - nearly dented it more a couple of times on muddy patches...... :smw: Ivan

New rear shocks are from the Z centre about £80 delivered The strut brace can be found on the internet for £100 Tyres are the ones that cost the money: £450 from Protyre for UK standard spec sizes (225/50 16 front 245/45 16 rear) :Goodyear F1's on the front and Continental M1's (porsche fitment) on the rear. New Springs were from Mike at MJP eastern Autos (see trader's section) made to my specs around £180 delivered - 15% harder and a 30mm drop gives exactly 1 degree extra camber (which is just perfect). When you have done that pay someone for a 4 wheel laser wheel alignment and you will have a car that handles very very nicely. Ivan

That was my Red Z sorry about the wave - I used to have a scooby! there is no excuse for such behaviour and I apologise unreservedly Ivan

Note the metric scale too, Kgwhatsists (I only want to know one thing from the gauge boost or no boost) The 14 scale you have seen is a UK car measured in PSI (now that one I do know) Ivan

Locking up in the wet is still easy with ABS, are you sure you weren't expecting too much from the ABS. All twin turbos come with ABS - what a scary thought: no ABS on a car this heavy...... and I have the lightest model .......shudder... Ivan

I improved the handling of my car by getting some new springs (30mm lower and 15% harder - custom made by Mike at MJP), new standard shocks on the rear (fronts are OK still), a rear strut brace (Cusco) and spending the money on decent tyres. I haven't adjusted the camber so it is running with 2 degrees all round and it sticks to road like glue. Ivan

When my ball joints went they did not make any noise just screwed the handling. My shocker being buggered does make a lot of knocking noise, this is loudest when the wheel is unloaded and going over rough stuff (e.g. inside wheel going over a grate). Ivan

Thanks for the Ebay link but I would prefer to fit new parts to the car if at all possible. Ivan

This place is great, answers in minutes but still not sorted yet... Just tried Luke at the ZCentre and he is away on holiday until the 12th. Any one else got any clues please? van

I am in the middle of putting some new springs on the rear of the Z and have just discovered the strange loose feeling is due to the fact that the rear shocker is broke. Does anyone out there have a pair of standard rear dampers I can lay my hands on for a reasonable sum? Cheers Ivan

I like to think of it as a "sex and drugs" theme park Best advice is: wait till later, that's when the best whores are out Shop around in the coffee shops, prices and quality vary widely Get high, get horny :nana2: :cool: Drivin Ivan

If you just want a set of cheap discs for the porterfield pads to chew up then try one of the cheap web based places ( http://www.speedways.co.uk/shop/index.html ), if you want something decent (you really do!) then speak to the traders and ask what they recommend - make your own mind up from what they have to offer. I went with Brembo discs (no cuts or holes) and have not managed to warp them. The porterfiled pads did them no favours though - on the other hand I did stop faster than a motorbike! Drivin Ivan

The ring taxi one is good as it does give a better impression of the gradients and how bad the traffic is most of the time. If you watch how much the white car moves around too you start to get some idea of how hard you have to concentrate - that was a slowish lap too. They have the new M5 as the ring taxi now and it is much much faster and considerably bigger too. When it came up behind me for the first time I thought I was being chased by a block of flats. Drivin Ivan

Had a look at the first two - pretty good. You still don't get any impression of just how steep the climbs and drops are though. Drivin Ivan

There is no getting away from the fact that if you drive fast it will go wrong and you will crash at some point. I drive my Z fast, that's why I bought one. I have lost control at speed many times, some of those times have been OK one of those times ended up with the back end all messy - I keep it that way to remind me (and cos it will cost a fortune to fix). The Z is a big heavy car that spins very easily - you may catch it one way but it really bites back hard the other way. Life is about choices - you have to make your own Drivin Ivan

a 2.0L Honda engine is a fine thing to own and drive but in the end they do not enough power. Drivin Ivan

It's a Toyo Poxy. It will last about 10 minutes (or 4000 miles) and not realy give up that good a grip even when hot, avoid where possible. This has been my experience on other cars. Drivin Ivan

Cheers Greg I am about to go out to a party so I will bother Ryan tomorrow afternoon - that would be a nice and easy way to sort it out. Cheers guys Ivan

Sounds reasonable, thanks very much Jeff. Are there any traders reading that can offer me a quick turnaround on the parts described above, please? Thanks Ivan

I have found that the trip to the Nurburgring has not left the car undamaged. The rear steering arms have got lots of play in them at the wheel end. Can someone describe to me the way the joint works as when I had a look this afternoon I became confused. The joint seems to pivot up and down, which seems reasonable to accomodate the suspension movement, but I cannot work out how the rubbers are all going to fit together - is it some kind of rose jointed affair? I have got side to side play in the wheels at this joint on both sides and I need to work out what I need to fix the problem. The car is undriveable in the wet and not that great in the dry and I am worried that using it may cause further damage to the drive train as the wheels pull against each other. Any help much appreciated. Ivan

There were so many moments when I thought my pants were gonna fill with something a little firmer! The worse one was when I was changing down to third the rear wheels were locking when I forgot to match the revs - but there is so much to be thinking off: Mirrors, track conditions, line, boost, tyre temp, brake temp trying to blip the throttle before letting the clutch fully out and then having to endure crazy G forces - so easy to make a mistake that can lead to another - you get this on pretty much every corner for the first 6 or 7 laps. I was pretty confident that I had got more than 1 lap below 10 minutes, but I was not there to try to do lap times I was there to do a Recon mission on the place. Now I know what I am gonna need to go there and try to set a lap time that could be considered respectable for a standard engined Z car. One of the most important is some friends there to compare notes and give encouragement, Had I gone alone I would have been put off pretty quickly. Ivan

I did try to learn the track on the XBOX and playstation, but you get a real eye opener when you get there. There is no distance between the corners, they just go from one to another with no time between them at all. Some parts of the track give you so much compression downforce that when I went round once badly needing a piss there was a small leak - I didn't make that mistake again. Tyres and brakes are taken to the limit - I had to wait at least a half hour between runs to let everything cool down enough to go again - that's with braided lines and racing brake fluid (£50 a litre Castrol SRF). I did get some new front pads from Ryan before going out and they performed really well - consistent throughout - I think he said they were the Mintex pads. I have got Goodyear Eagle F1's on the front and Continental's on the rear and once I managed to get them hot and sticky they really gave good grip and confidence at high speed - Had to do a burn out down the straight to get the rears warm in the damp though. Ivan

The Z car handled the track really well. I took the carousel on quite aggresively from the start - the car took it really well, It is really bumpy but also grips the car and pulls you round. The real skill seems to be when to feed the power back in (size of testicles directly relates to how soon you press the pedal hard). I managed to data log my 6th lap before the battery went on the laptop - looked like 10:30 ish lap - I have yet to import it into a spreadsheet and look at properly. By the 15th lap I was much quicker and cursing the motorbikes for being so slow in the corners. It was totally satisfying to out accelerate most cars up the big hills - especially the lotus and VX220 (Opel Speedsters) drivers with thier semi slicks. The ring taxi (M5 with a few tweaks) was pretty scary when it came up behind - so much faster!! Saw a lot of seriously nice cars there: White lamboughini Countach, Carrera GT a million GT3 porsches (seriously every other car was a GT3). Had a lot of people asking about the Z car - taking pictures too - mostly because they thought the damage on the rear was done there! I will be going back fairly soon. Just worked out that I have spent over £500 on Fuel too!!!!! OIL price Crisis, what you lot talking about I have been on holiday..... Drivin Ivan