The unofficial auto thread

[HeyYou]

Only a minor F1 update this weekend given we're still two weeks away from the next race, with 8-speed seemless-shift gearboxes being confirmed for next season. The new 8-shifter should help alleviate the Turbo's struggles at low RPMs by allowing the drivers to hold the car within it's powerband-crucial with any sort of forced-induction vehicle.

 

In other news the Australian club racing scene suffered a blow with a fatal accident in the Queensland International Rally. Beyond the accident itself however, the situation has been made worse by the actions of a particular journalist. This man for some reason decided to devote the report to pushing an aggressive environmentalist agenda, and several completely inappropriate jokes at the expense of the killed co-driver and his family-and the racing community in general. CAMS, the Australian authority that overseas all club racing, has made a point of ignoring the statement, though it's badly offended virtually every racer I know.

 

It's also been a big weekend for me, there's been a bit of a restructure at work, and I've finally been moved off field mechanic duties, and into an office position-this is great news, since I don't need a big truck to carry tools and generators. As a result I'm more than likely going to buy an Impreza(just an ordinary one) as my new family car-I want something safe, which my girlfriend can drive easily, and the Impreza is just insane value for money right now. The other option is a Honda Accord, but it may be a bit bigger than what I want, time will tell.

 

I've also been able to secure a fairly low mileage 1999 Skyline off a friend who's moving overseas-since Skylines depreciate like toilet paper, and this one's very much a project car, they let me have it for a couple of hundred bucks. Me, I've always wanted a GT-R, and the R34 was always one of my favourite models. Sure, it's going to need an engine, and a new set of brakes, but I can fairly easily get my hands on. It'll be a fun project, and give me a few months, it'll be great.

 

A Skyline for a couple hundred?? Holy smokes. Those things are rarer than hens teeth here in the states. (considering they didn't start importing them until recently, shouldn't come as a big surprise though...) Congrats on the new toy. :) Pics??

[Vindekarr]

Don't have a camera.

 

I forget sometimes that they're a rare car in America, here they're about as common as a Mustang in the US. They're aspirational, but hardly uncommon, the same thing with the Silvia. Most cars here are Japanese, and Nissan has a huge market share, so they imported the Skyline directly as their flagship going back to about '85. The '90s were when they really started getting successful because of their racing exploits, the R32 GT-R absolutely dominated local racing during the early '90s, and people still remember that.

 

Picking one up that's pretty much wrecked for a couple thousand (a couple hundred when a favour is involved) isn't that hard if you're willing to A restore it and B shop around.

 

http://youtu.be/oZ2RDHZjScY

 

A one-lap video of a car almost any Aussie car buff will recognise; the 1990s "Godzilla" R-32 GT-R Group A. 650 horsepower street-legal monstrosity, totally dominated nearly every race it entered, and what it didn't destroy on pace, it outlasted with it's durability. The video also shows off that other famous Skyline feature, the constant smoke-trail they make. It's not because of anything WRONG with them; they spew black smoke because they used to run an extremely rich fuel mix-Formula One cars of the era had the same issue, over-rich fuel mix resulting in a constant plume of black smoke.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Vindekarr

[Vindekarr]

It's been said before this year, but that was one of the best races I've seen, and one hell of a way to go into the summer break. It was, from a fan perspective, almost the perfect race; a surprise winner, tense action all the way through, a few spectacular retirements, some epic duels that went on and on, and no boring Red-Bull breakaway. If you haven't seen it yet, you should, it was EPIC stuff.

[JimboUK]

Don't have a camera.

 

I forget sometimes that they're a rare car in America, here they're about as common as a Mustang in the US. They're aspirational, but hardly uncommon, the same thing with the Silvia. Most cars here are Japanese, and Nissan has a huge market share, so they imported the Skyline directly as their flagship going back to about '85. The '90s were when they really started getting successful because of their racing exploits, the R32 GT-R absolutely dominated local racing during the early '90s, and people still remember that.

 

Picking one up that's pretty much wrecked for a couple thousand (a couple hundred when a favour is involved) isn't that hard if you're willing to A restore it and B shop around.

 

http://youtu.be/oZ2RDHZjScY

 

A one-lap video of a car almost any Aussie car buff will recognise; the 1990s "Godzilla" R-32 GT-R Group A. 650 horsepower street-legal monstrosity, totally dominated nearly every race it entered, and what it didn't destroy on pace, it outlasted with it's durability. The video also shows off that other famous Skyline feature, the constant smoke-trail they make. It's not because of anything WRONG with them; they spew black smoke because they used to run an extremely rich fuel mix-Formula One cars of the era had the same issue, over-rich fuel mix resulting in a constant plume of black smoke.

 

It's quite a rarity here too, for a ten year old one in decent shape you're looking at maybe £6,000 (AU$10,000).

[Vindekarr]

That's the difference the direct import made. You could buy them off a dealer lot here, so there's a LOT more of them in the market. And mine wasn't a good one lol, I had to replace the whole interior and engine. I'm actually thinking of seeing if I can get a BMW M54(from a BMW M3 E46) engine to fit rather than the current RB26. It SHOULD work, and if it does, I'll lose a little horsepower, but that's by far one of the best straight-sixes ever made, and should be more reliable in a trackday setting. Plus dat sound.

[JimboUK]

Yesterdays F1 Results http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/2013/hungarian-grand-prix/results/race

 

It was nice to see the Mercedes not eat its tyres, maybe they have finally got on top of it? It's good for race fans too, Red Bull needs some competition, Lotus aren't quite there, Ferrari are going backwards and the less said about McLaren the better. With two high speed circuits coming up (Spa, Monza) things could get interesting, the Mercedes are far better suited to those types of circuits.

[Vindekarr]

Was a little disappointed that Nico Rosberg didn't do better, he's one of my favourites out of the current crop of drivers(because he manages to be a great driver without being a total douche) but hey, if you're going to retire from the race, you might aswell retire like he did; skidding off the track with a VAST plume of smoke and flames pouring out of the gearbox. I haven't seen a car blow up like that since last year.

 

For me, the other guy to watch at the moment is Daniel Ricciardo(Toro Rosso). Ricciardo is something of an unkown quantity outside Australia(where he's actually more famous/popular than Webber) but a number of the teams and drivers have been make some very positive noises about him lately. Currently he seems to be Red Bull's chosen heir to Mark Webber's drive(who is retiring at the end of the year) Me, I'd love that.

 

Ricciardo actually gets more screen-time than Webber does in Australia, not only is he a fan-favourite, but the media quickly got sick of Webber's shear inability to say anything interesting. From my experience of the guy(he's only a little older than I am) he's your fairly stereotypical Australian racing driver; working class upbringing, good mechanical skills, good technical driver, good in bad weather, and maybe not so good at qualifying. Him VS Kimi for next year's Red Bull drive? I'd put my bet, tentatively, on Dan. He's immensely popular in Australia, a country Red Bull spends an absolute fortune in, he's a much better known quantity to them than Kimi(having been one of their juniors for ages) and unlike Kimi, he's at the beginning of his career.

 

Kimi has the advantages of being a former world champ and a frankly outstanding driver, but he's going on 33, and his form isn't going to get much better. He has a lot of fans, particularly in America, but is extremely wilful, tends to completely disregard team orders, and I don't know how well he'd gel with Vettel-or a team that clearly employs favouritism. Dan? he's got the advantage of having driven the Red Bull before, he's a match for Kimi on raw talent, and he's hugely popular in Australia and New Zealand. He's also a lot better at following orders, but has the critical disadvantages of less market presence and vastly less experience than Kimi.

 

Plus if Dan doesn't get the drive, what sort of message will that send to the other Red Bull Academy drivers? so far only one out of 17 RBA drivers has earned a seat on the team, and that guy was Sebastien Vettel. If Dan doesn't get the job, they may lose several other key recruits, such as the frighteningly talented Carlos Sainz Jr.(who's father is their #1 Rally driver)

[Lisnpuppy]

I think Kimi is pretty content where he is. They have a competitive car and he doesn't have to worry about team orders with his BFF. Unless something went stupidly wrong he'd be daft to move. Not like he doesn't have more money than he can spend.

 

Still was happy to see Kimi at the 2nd place podium spot. He has always been my driver...even before I knew what he looked like lol.

 

Incidentally...a funny side note...when I first started watching F1 I couldn't remember all the names..and thus had nicknames for most drivers.

 

Kimi Raikkonen was Riki Tiki Ravi

Jenson Buttons was Buttons buttons who has the buttons

Alonso was alfonso roberto (of Fresh Prince of Bel Air fame)

Fisichella was still there and was Fishy-fella

Jarno turlli was tip-toe through the trullis

Schumacher was the shoemaker guy

Webber was Webber the Wrecker

Juan Pablo Montoya was still that..but said like the guy in the Princess Bride

 

So...I hope you enjoyed this comedy interlude

[JimboUK]

@Vindekarr I doubt the rumours about Alonso joining Red Bull will come to much, I don't think Alonso likes to share top billing in a team, just look at what happened between him and Hamilton at Mclaren. I don't think Raikkonen is going anywhere either, as said he seems pretty content where he is and it's not like he faces much competition from his lunatic teammate. I think it's going to be close between Ricciardo and Vergne, both show promise, it's a nice dilemma for Red Bull to have.

 

@Lisnpuppy My other half does that, I don't know who she's talking about half of the time. I know when she means Vettel, she has a very special name reserved for him, not one that is repeatable here.

[Vindekarr]

Yeah, the issue for me writing this stuff is, we get very different F1 telecasts. In Australia, we get the Sky TV fancy expensive one which has lots of interviews and so forth. I don't know about the US version, but you get to know most of the drivers face to face.

 

A few weeks ago they held a big testing weekend at Silverstone and several young drivers got to play around in F1 cars. Ricciardo was given Vettel's car for an entire day. Vergne, was nowhere to be seen. My money would be on him to replace Webber. He's got the popularity, the skill, and the backing for it, and unlike Kimi, doesn't have a race-winning car to complicate negotiations. Plus, I really like the guy. In all the interviews I've seen with him, he's just a nice, well-adjusted Australian kid.