Project GTR (zed replacement)
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jap.slapper
- Posts: 985
- Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:55 pm
- Location: On top of my Welsh mountain
Sounds like you gave it a good run out though chief despite the niggles, fingers crossed it won't cost too much to sort for next time round
[img] Q. If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you rather be stranded with....Ray Mears or Bear Grylls?
A. No question....Ray Mears....you could make a shit load more stew out of that tubby little fecker [/img]
A. No question....Ray Mears....you could make a shit load more stew out of that tubby little fecker [/img]
"Slicks down to canvas" Only you mate, only you!! 
A great read and I find it interesting that you still torture yourself with this shit, year after year
I love my GTR's especially the R32 but as a hardcore track focused thing they just present huge barriers........massive financial commitment, old architecture that seems to need constant support (fixing, money or tweaking) and as they are so intrinsically heavy, they are also heavy on tyres, brakes, tranmissions and everything else.
I know I don't know you that well, but I think that maybe the 'arrive and drive' style may suit you a bit better than the constant spannering and bills method. You can buy a pretty well sorted endurance race car for 10-12k and that will almost certainly lap most tracks at the same kind of pace, albeit with far less than your horse power.
I guess ultimately, when buying and running a GTR part of the 'fun' is the pedigree of the marque and the reputation they have as 'Godzilla'. Removing the associated bluster of the badge and you can go far faster for less cash (All in my opinion of course)
I like forward to hearing of more tales of tyre shredding antics
A great read and I find it interesting that you still torture yourself with this shit, year after year
I love my GTR's especially the R32 but as a hardcore track focused thing they just present huge barriers........massive financial commitment, old architecture that seems to need constant support (fixing, money or tweaking) and as they are so intrinsically heavy, they are also heavy on tyres, brakes, tranmissions and everything else.I know I don't know you that well, but I think that maybe the 'arrive and drive' style may suit you a bit better than the constant spannering and bills method. You can buy a pretty well sorted endurance race car for 10-12k and that will almost certainly lap most tracks at the same kind of pace, albeit with far less than your horse power.
I guess ultimately, when buying and running a GTR part of the 'fun' is the pedigree of the marque and the reputation they have as 'Godzilla'. Removing the associated bluster of the badge and you can go far faster for less cash (All in my opinion of course)
I like forward to hearing of more tales of tyre shredding antics
http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
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Monster
- Posts: 1150
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:35 am
- Location: In the pub, err, I mean working late....
Stuart wrote:"Slicks down to canvas" Only you mate, only you!!
I honestly don't understand why my tyres always seem to wear out so quickly....
I also surprise myself with my continued faith - I was telling a guy at work earlier how I'm convinced once I have a new diff, tx pack and another set of tyres I'll have a summer of track Eutopia, but knowing in my mind that it's complete and utter bollox
kind of know where you're coming from but have to disagree with most of your commments bud.
When you put in perspective what I'm doing with the car, it represents less of any of those commitments (perhaps bar cash, but then even then things aren't too pricey on them as there are so many about, and SO many tuning bits) than most cars. Don't forget I built a Primera race car - same issues, shit car, (handled great but slow as fook and same development probs), the Z32 - we all know how that went and it's a case in point - when it was stripped out and ran 400bhp it was as reliable as a micra and still big track grins, but when i asked for big power etc it gave me the same probs as the gtr and then went pop, again....
Ultimately you can get carried away with the "rep" of godzilla but the reality is, and always has been, yes you can build 1000bhp gtrs, but there's not much left of the original. I truly don't believe that, regardless of it's age, you can take a car and ask it to pretty much treble it's abilities in all areas - power, braking, stopping, steeering, heat control etc and not expect to have these issues. It's a road car. It's like saying, well John Cleland used to clean up in his cavalier, therefore I can buy one, lower it and double the power and expect it to do what his one does. Ditto Cossie's. It doesn't matter if you want a 700bhp gtr, or a 300bhp fiat abarth (new one) it's the same shit. I know a lot of people, with a lot of tuned cars, and any that have gone more than a chip to up the boost and are expected to perform to their best on a circuit, have cost time, money blah blah blah. OR had big compromises that you have to live with - and I don't want that.
Even tho this is my 4th GTR, and the oldest, it's badge, heritage, or myth actually has no pull for me. I love the car and want to use it.
As for the race/endurance car plan it's something that's crossed my mind before - clio cup cars, or cupras look awesome value!!! However, i get a strange kick out of a car that was originally a road car being rapid, and also the fact that if I want to take it for a blast on a sunday on the road I can do. I also think that anyone who thinks buying a race car and expecting it to not need a lot of money thrown at it to keep it going is deluded - 90's touring car? twin caliper front brakes pack up? where do you buy and how much do you spend? and who works on it? and where are they based? It's like buying a 2000 year 911 turbo - you might buy a
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jap.slapper
- Posts: 985
- Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:55 pm
- Location: On top of my Welsh mountain
^^^^ logs off laptop and steps outside house to find the GTR has shit itself all over the road....
next stop Radical
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3660991.htm
I've had many a long conversation with Jamie Sturgess ^^^^over the years about his Radicals and other track cars and it's obviously won him over....so much so that he's already upgraded
I can see the appeal of both a self built (like your GTR) and an off the shelf buy (like a Radical) and for me personally (if the long haired general would let me) I'd have a Radical for having fun on track and a self built alternative for self satisfaction that I'm not a complete muppet and I can build a track car if I try
Give it a year chief and see if you can get a relatively reliable few track days out of the old girl possibly by applying a little bit more mechanical sympathy than perhaps you're used to. Maybe then if it starts to go down hill and the niggling little issues start to become costly big issues, maybe then reconsider your options
but i think it would be a shame to look at sacking it at this stage of the game when you're so close
but I suppose a lot of it boils down to $ at the end of the day......and of course for some people there's an element of having the balls to stand up to ones wife!
next stop Radical
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3660991.htm
I've had many a long conversation with Jamie Sturgess ^^^^over the years about his Radicals and other track cars and it's obviously won him over....so much so that he's already upgraded
I can see the appeal of both a self built (like your GTR) and an off the shelf buy (like a Radical) and for me personally (if the long haired general would let me) I'd have a Radical for having fun on track and a self built alternative for self satisfaction that I'm not a complete muppet and I can build a track car if I try
Give it a year chief and see if you can get a relatively reliable few track days out of the old girl possibly by applying a little bit more mechanical sympathy than perhaps you're used to. Maybe then if it starts to go down hill and the niggling little issues start to become costly big issues, maybe then reconsider your options
but i think it would be a shame to look at sacking it at this stage of the game when you're so close
but I suppose a lot of it boils down to $ at the end of the day......and of course for some people there's an element of having the balls to stand up to ones wife!
[img] Q. If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you rather be stranded with....Ray Mears or Bear Grylls?
A. No question....Ray Mears....you could make a shit load more stew out of that tubby little fecker [/img]
A. No question....Ray Mears....you could make a shit load more stew out of that tubby little fecker [/img]
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Monster
- Posts: 1150
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:35 am
- Location: In the pub, err, I mean working late....
jap.slapper wrote:^^^^ logs off laptop and steps outside house to find the GTR has shit itself all over the road....
next stop Radical
You're too close to the truth Pez - I'm sure it breaks itself whilst parked up!!And similarly, although nowhere near as bad as Stuart, I do have a tendancy to suddenly change my mind and take a different route. So maybe after the next breakage I will be radical shopping!
Only been in one once and it totally blew me away
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jap.slapper
- Posts: 985
- Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:55 pm
- Location: On top of my Welsh mountain
Monster wrote:oh noooooo, I just went on pistonheads....radical....
Might as well go for the SR8LM version then as that can be made road legal....rude not to really
455 horses in a car that weighs the same as an empty packet of Quavers and if you've got the balls (and appropriate skill level I suppose) then it can lap the ring' in 6 mins 48
Badass!!
SR8
The Radical SR8
Based on the SR3, the SR8 is a more extreme version intended for track use but can be registered for the road. The SR8 also features the largest engine Radical has ever put in their cars, with the 2600 cc RPE RPA V8 constructed by combining elements of Suzuki inline-4s, and producing 363 hp (271 kW). A further variant, known as the SR8LM, increases the engine to 2800 cc and brings power output to 455 hp (339 kW). In August 2009 Michael Vergers, driving an SR8LM, set a new lap record (6 minutes, 48 seconds) for a road legal production car at the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCrburgring]N
[img] Q. If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you rather be stranded with....Ray Mears or Bear Grylls?
A. No question....Ray Mears....you could make a shit load more stew out of that tubby little fecker [/img]
A. No question....Ray Mears....you could make a shit load more stew out of that tubby little fecker [/img]
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Monster
- Posts: 1150
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:35 am
- Location: In the pub, err, I mean working late....
Quick update after much interweb searching, but mainly talking to those in the know...
I had the car out tonight and rear diff is def fucked, managed to get inside rear off the ground on an v eneven bit of a car park, when I tried to pull away it span up so that's not locking.
Looking less likely that the tx box clutch pack is done as it does actually engage straight away, makes me happy, especially after others confirmed that in this case it should be OK.
So I'm now looking at 1.5 way LSDs, and thought while i'm at it I might aswell bung one in the front too. I've heard that the GTRs respond really well to them in the front. So if anyone knows of anything to look out for that would be helpful, currently thinking Nismo or Cusco but could easily head off in another direction. Just need them sharpish.
I had the car out tonight and rear diff is def fucked, managed to get inside rear off the ground on an v eneven bit of a car park, when I tried to pull away it span up so that's not locking.
Looking less likely that the tx box clutch pack is done as it does actually engage straight away, makes me happy, especially after others confirmed that in this case it should be OK.
So I'm now looking at 1.5 way LSDs, and thought while i'm at it I might aswell bung one in the front too. I've heard that the GTRs respond really well to them in the front. So if anyone knows of anything to look out for that would be helpful, currently thinking Nismo or Cusco but could easily head off in another direction. Just need them sharpish.