Mike Rainbird

Stef,
Or alternatively, would you rather have EVEN better brakes AND an extra 170bhp?!

Diablo,
Sometimes I wonder if you lot can read! The money I have spent INCLUDES the original purchase price AND the cost of fuel. It is EVERY single nut, bolt, modification, running costs (EVERYTHING) added together and divided by the time I have had it, so when you think about it, it's not THAT bad (£8,000 is fuel for the six years - amazing how much you can do just at weekends, thats still 10-12,000 miles per year!). Mind you the first year the fuel was less than £900 and that was the year I did the most miles in the car! Just goes to show how much fuel has gone up, the mileage has stayed roughly the same, but the cost has more than DOUBLED (God I hate John Prescott et al)...
Mike

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Great comment in Training WRX about two wheel drive cars - I think it is very applicable here and is talking about traction.

"If you sidestep the clutch in a 2WD you will chirp the tyres and impress the hard-of-thinking."

Obviously why Cosworths appeal to a certain audience - preparing myself to be mauled by Mike!

David

Craig H

Mike,
I agree with Diablo - spend 20/30/40k on an Impreza, you'd easily get a reliable 400+bhp, strong transmission etc etc. That would then be an interesting comparison.
I can see where you're coming from with your car, but I actually prefer something that I think WON'T end up killing me.
Maybe I'm getting old.

Mike Rainbird

Dear Rannoch,
Why would I want to maul you on the BBS? I do enough of that on the track!

And you STi owners can hardly poke fun of us 2wd people for trying to impress by wheelspinning (Mr Spin all four wheels and engulf the car in smoke!)- afterall look at that thing on your boot - what's that all about then?! If thats not supposed to be trying to impress the hard-of-seeing, base-ball cap wearing, Max Power brigade, then I don't know what is! (But I'm sure it is genuinely functional....not)

See you next year!
LOL
Mike

Diablo

See us next year?

Doubt it. Cant see your Saphire being Y2K compliant (No - i'm not in IT).

Something on it isn't going to work come 1/1/2000..........

LOL

D.

Stef

Rainbowman.

Yes, but not a Cossie!

Stef.

Penni Whitehead

There you see - I've even moved it to the top for you - kkk - pmsl.!
Piccies ----

chrisp

Hi Mike,
I havent replied to this thread recently and I read about disclosing your everyday car. I remember that conversation at Donington very well and wasn't going to mention it but seen as your brought the subject up. Its a special Subaru rear open top edition if memory serves me correct. Its a two door isn't it and you can wash the inside and outside with a hose . I am not giving anymore clues.

Its true what they say :
"When the roads get tuff the tuff buy Subarus"

cheers

chrisp

Mike Rainbird

DAYTONA - OUTDOOR KARTING (TWIN-ENGINED PRO-KARTS)5th December

Wow, what an experience - only my second time in a twin-engined jobbie and third time out-doors, and I just want to go out again ASAP. If you didn't go to the above event yesterday, then you don't know what you missed!

Keith (fellow RS nut) and myself travelled the 2¼ hours from Norfolk (poxy roadworks on A11 again!) to do battle with the Scooby boys. Unfortunately I didn't get to "properly" meet anyone new, just the same old friendly faces in the form of Stef (and his Fireblade riding karting partner, didn't catch his name) and Branners (Supra Club).

We had a two lap each practice before-hand, which gave only an inkling of the handling and speed of the karts compared to the indoor single-engined types. Once the tyres were hot the grip was phenomenol, but cold tyres caught loads of people out in the practice and at the beginning of the race.

It soon became evident who knew the circuit from previous outings and despite our "virginity", we were doing amazingly well. The format was a 1 hour endurance race with the most laps completed in that time deciding the winner. It was down to the individual teams to decide how and when to do driver changes and we had decided on a (hopefully) one stop strategy after half-an-hour. The grid started in virtual kart order with us being kart 18 and therefore near the back of the grid. Keith went out first and his lack of experience in a twin-engined kart really showed (first time). His best time was a quite high 1:16.86 on lap 12 and he was averaging 1:20s. Despite this, it was good enough to bring us up from 16th to 9th by the 15th lap. And then our first disaster struck! With ten minutes of his session still left he came around past the pit wall and saw someone with green overalls waving frantically at him to come in. Assuming this was me giving the signal for him to come in for my drive he pitted on the next lap. However, I was inside the cafe having a nice cup of tea with my race-suit only half on and no helmet or gloves.... Fortunately I saw him come in and ran outside to see what was wrong. Obviously in my state of attire he immediately realised that I hadn't been the one to wave him in (Scooby sabotage?!) and went out again, but by this time we had lost almost 2 minutes and had gone back into 11 place. Keith's final ten minutes were then spent trying to make up the lost time, but this concentration saw him miss a yellow and he got black flagged for overtaking.

As it was at the end of his session anyway, we did the change in the sin bin, but were not allowed to until his 30 secs were up!

When I finally went out again we were back in 14th place on lap 24. However, by lap 25 I had made up two places and then another two by lap 26. I then had a rather lonely drive until I caught some more people up on lap 29 which saw us go into 9th again. I was alone on the track for five more laps where I was averaging mid to high 1:13s putting in my best on lap 34 of 1:13.30s. This was rewarded by another place one lap later and we were in 8th place. By lap 37 this was then 7th as a yellow flag had bunched people up and I was again fighting through the traffic! Another two laps and another place saw us up into 6th, and then it was to go all horribly wrong!

Coming out of the left right chicane just after the bend after the start / finish straight in a gaggle of karts with me rapidly catching up, I could see that the kart at the back of the pack was hesitating as to which way to go. First he went left and then he started to go right, at which time I decided to dive down his now exposed inside to try and get past both of them before the hair-pin (my favourite overtaking place over the previous laps). Unfortunately, the kart at the back decided that he would also be better off going down the inside as well! By this time my front wheel was level with his rear and as he moved across my front wheel road over his back one where I then proceed to go airbourne with the wheel flying off in a seperate direction (having been ripped off by the impact) and the kart nose-dived onto the grass with our race finished almost ten minutes from the end....

Obviously they tried their hardest to repair it in time, but all we were able to do was go out on the last lap and take the chequered flag having gone from 6th (and still climbing a place every two laps!) to finishing 14th. Gutted? I should say so, but there was a consolation in the fact that Stef's team finished 3rd and the only teams that finished in front of him were a "one-man" team (no change required so naturally he finished first) and a team that obviously raced there all the time as they got the fastest lap as well as looking the fastest staight away even in the practice.

We will deinitely be back for more in the new year. The other highlight was taking Stef and his mate out for a blast in the Cossie. Unfortunately the roads were wet, which meant that we were limited to low boost (23psi) and only 350bhp. I'll let him tell you about that though, as to me it felt slow - but they seemed to enjoy it anyway....

Best regards
Mike

Stef

Bloody hell Rainbowman, don't you go on?!!!
Good write-up though (yawn!).
You didn't go into very much detail about the fact that you're kart was TOWED back to the pits on the back of a TOW-TRUCK though, but at least it made you feel at home!
I'll post the picci up as soon as I find someone with the facility to do it!!
Great day, great racing, but I would have preferred it if the qualifying was done properly. Like you, we started from the rear of the grid which is a definite disadvantage early on.
As far as your car is concerned though, I am in awe! My mate (Ebby) has a fireblade, and despite the damp roads, once grip was won, the power was absolutely amazing. Neither of us had aver been in anything like it. The mid-gear acceleration is just mind-blowing.
And that's on low boost! 23psi for god's sake! My car peaks at bloody 14, let alone 23!!!!
I came away with nuff respect for both Mike's car, and his ability to handle it.
If anyone gets the chance to have a ride, take it! You will be amazed, it's as simple as that.
That aside though, I could not live with it day-to-day as it's just too impractical.
No one ever said that 420bhp was practical though.

Stef.

sunilp

Would it be easier to continue this on a fresh post to speed up access times?

Regards from someone who knows nothing about technical things like u lot

sunilp

Would it be easier to continue this on a fresh post to speed up access times?

Regards from someone who knows nothing about technical things.

Mike Rainbird

Dear All,
How do you access Penni's board, as I have seen that she is after some pictures (but I have never seen the site detailed anywhere), and as I know what a big fan she is of this posting, I would love to send her some pictures of some "proper" cars Turbo glowing RED hot anyone or perhaps flame-outs!? (Both my car and a mate's).
Thanks
Mike

robski

Mike,

I may be wrong but I think its a pin board.
Dark ages I know, but some people still use them!

rob

Branners

I was just over on the RS Board and noticed a discussion about the new SVA test. Rather than discuss it on a FRD site I thought I would try and continue it over here (and keep this thread going).

I was talking to an importer yesterday about the new SVA test thats coming in possibly from March 2000. The rules as they stand at the moment are that any car UNDER 3 years old has to be SVAd, anything over doesnt. The new rules mean that anything UNDER 10 years old will have to be SVAd. The new rules mean that noise levels will need to be checked, as will emmissions and this is supposed to be done on a rolling road. The current thinking is that the Impreza wont pass, and neither will the Supra as the emissions are too high. This may mean new cats being fitted, which isnt a cheap option.

The other problem is that there are only a small number of SVA centres in the UK, and the waiting list is currently 3-6 weeks, and thats with the current rules about cars under 3 years. One importer is going to use the SVA centre thats being set up in Holland to test his cars as its also cheaper to ship to Rotterdam than it is Ireland or the UK. So if you order from Japan your waiting time may go up drastically.

The importers also believe that most of the monster cars (like 450bhp Supras) wont pass the new tests, especially with the 5" tailpipes on the HKS Drager exhausts.

Another point that has been highlighted is that cars from Ireland tend to be of a 'lower quality' and that most importers are tending towards dealing direct with Japan. Also mentioned was that all importers will have to be VAT registered to get the SVA test, and this should reduce the number of dodgy dealers (Im sure all you IT contractors know how much fun the VAT people are if you mess them about..)

I might try and get more info from the importers, but if anybody has anything else to add I would be interested to hear it...

John Branigan

chrisp

It was me who posted on the RS site. I read a small piece in Januarys EVO mag. EVO say that it will increase the SVA price ten-fold but it will closer to the EWVTA (european whole vechicle type approval). I cant see that really as its 550 at the moment (according to STiImports) means it will increase to 5550. If this is correct then it will add 5K to an import. At todays rates buying a STi 6 4dr would cost you approx 27K all in (shipping,vat,sva etc)another 5K for sva price increase puts it at 32K - "P1" money. Having said that with the yen getting stronger if the 31,000 initial estimate for the P1 was on a better exchange rate then it may be nearer 33,000 - 35,000.

cheers

chrisp

[This message has been edited by chrisp (edited 12-12-1999).]

robski

I think that STi imports cost includes fitting the bits that are needed to get through the current test. I think the actualt test fee is cira 150, not 550

robski

Mike Rainbird

Is this test anything like the American one? I remember reading somewhere about the problems the Yanks had with the McLaren F1 (they had to fit those horrible bumpers on it to get type approval etc.). However, once this was done and the costs paid for (think it was $25k for the F1 (chicken feed compared to the $1 million price tag!)), there was fortunately a loop-hole. Once all the bits hd been put on to gain the type approval, once it was in the country, the customer could basically modify it how he wanted (as in revert back to proper spec).

What I'm trying to get at is that will there be the same loop-hole so that you can import a modified Supra (or what-ever), put all the standard bits on to get through the regs and then revert back too tuned spec as soon as it passes?
Mike

Branners

Theres always loopholes. Same thing with removing cats, you just put them back on when you MOT, or find somewhere that will test it as if the cats were still on.

The importers I spoke to said it was going to be £1,200 to test a car but I cant see them paying that one every single car, so perhaps it is the case that they only have to test 1 of each type to be able to sell them.

I think a bit more research is needed, but which ever way it goes the prices will go up especially with the Yen to pounds rate being so high.

Still cheaper buying an import than a UK spec Supra thoough.

chrisp

1000 pounds sounds alot better than 5000. I couldnt quite believe it myself. Robski and Branners thanks for the info . Theres a guy at work thinking of an import (celica GT4 turbo 1990) and his face hit the floor when he thought that the price of the car had doubled becuase of the test. Hes alot happy when he found out the 550 included the work needed to get through the SVA. He is thinking of using MVI services has anyone had any dealings with them ?


Cheers

chrisp

[This message has been edited by chrisp (edited 13-12-1999).]

Mike Rainbird

Dear All,
Just thought I'd let all those interested know that the secret mods won't be ready until April / May time, as we are having trouble sourcing a vital part of the conversion. Accordingly, Santa Pod is a safe place to go until then (providing you can beat 12.7 @ 118mph!).

See you soon.
Best regards
Mike

AlexM

Just when you thought it was safe....

Diablo

Damn - Mike's pc still works

Happy new year Rainbowman!

(Don't suppose the secret part for your ultimate conversion is a Scoob?.....don't you know there's a waiting list?)

Still, no sign of Stef this year.....

lol

D.



[This message has been edited by Diablo (edited 06-01-2000).]

Annabel

Diablo

Won't be long - we picked Stef up from Heathrow this morning after 3 weeks in Florida!

He'll be logged on before the day is thru' - I'd put money on it!!

ChrisB

I hope Stef enjoyed himself sunning himself in Florida.

Here's all us back in Blightly saving the world from Y2k Meltdown!

Chris.

AndyMc

could anybody tell me the web adress of the RSOC my mate wants to know .

Andy

chrisp

Stef

Hello everyone.
I'm back, and it sounds like you've all missed me!
Didn't think this thread would stil be going though.
Anyway, hope you all had a great holiday, I know I certainly did!!!!

Stef.

Area 52 Autosport

Hi Mike

What are you hoping/expecting on the bench?

Forgive me for not wading through to find out if you have already answered!!

Laters

Ben

Mike Rainbird

Dear Ben,
Sorry can't tell you - hush, hush and all that, but I will say that it will be not much more than I already have, but MUCH, MUCH more drivable. Put it this way, the delay is being caused by the technology not being readily available yet.....

Stef,
At last you're back - has been pretty boring without you taking the pith. What's happening with the red Scooby?
Best regards
Mike