Mikelly

Good sources for "cheap" safety gear... http://www.newenough.com http://www.helmetsrus.com http://www.moto-directory.com/apparel/leathers.asp http://www.motorcycleleatherexchange.com/index.html There are others I'll update later... Lot's of good deals out there on gear for riding and doing track events! Mike

I'll preface my comments with the following... I'm 42 years old, had my "M" class since 1982, and I've had one ticket and zero accidents since getting my M. My business partner races Supermoto and thru him, I've been able to get my hands on several Supermotos, including a custom Husqi/Fast-by-Feracci built race bike, and he currently races a KTM560 SM... He competed last year in the Pikes Peak race on it. Some will argue that you should start out on the smaller, less complex bikes. In some aspects I agree... to apoint. The problem there is you grow out of them awfully quick. If you ride a lot of miles, you'll learn to hate the bike quickly. I'm a big fan of large "standards" for starters... The Honda Nighthawk 700-750, or the Yamaha Secca models, or any of the older ZRX1100/1200, Suzuki Bandits would be great choices. I also agree with Tom and Alex on their recommendations, although I'd caution against any bike with extensive plastics as a first bike. It's a given that you will drop your street bike. I've been fortunate to date of not having dropped one since I first started riding, but that first bike, a replica of Prince's Purple Rain bike was a tank and truly easy to drop, because it was so tall, I was so short and it was so heavy! At your size, you'll need "more bike" than the conventional wisdom of some. So I'd caution taking to much advice. Just beware that the bike you buy will have more acceleration than you probably are ready for... Treat it with a broad degree of respect and ride YOUR ride. I've seen a lot of death and destruction around bikes over the years. Those who die ride beyond their skill level and clearly do not respect the bike and their own lack of skills in many cases. I don't recommend large group rides, and I don't recommend riding with anyone that you don't already know to be a safe rider who uses good judgement. Standup wheelies in traffic to look cool might "look cool", but isn't safe, smart, or legal... Above all, don't let the bad influinces of others reel you into an early death or a long stint in the hospital. Your equipment/safety costs should equal the price of the first bike you buy... A great helmet (LOVE my scorpian), bike specific boots with proper ankle/shin protection, a good jacket with CE armor, and proper gloves are a good first start... I dont ride without my safety gear, ever. Dress for the crash, not the ride. Mike

Where to start... In 1994 (May have been 1995, I'm aging) I was in my Zcar (Yellow F-prepared champ in my region back then) with full cage, whaletail, MSA typetwo body kit and cowl induction hood flying up 495, the beltway for Northern Va. I was heading around the "inner" loop, where I'd run up to the GW parkway, and around to the entrance for a certain government agency that employed me back then... At about the Gallow's Rd. exit a White VW Baha came screaming up past me and I fell in behind him. We ran thru traffic, in and out of lanes, and managed to really haul the mail thru rush hour traffic... Back then it was a crap shoot getting to work via this route, but traffic was flowing this day and the two of us were slicing and dicing lanes like nobody's business... So I'm seeing helicopters tracking us and thinking "those news choppers are really keeping pace"... Turns out it was Fairfax County's finest... Apparently a news/traffic helicopter picked us up on visual and reported a "RACE" in rush hour traffic and the cops started following... A race. I approach the Rt.193 exit and I'm seeing five police cars, three fairfax boys and two state troopers... As I pass them, they swarm in around me and the VW get's away... Just like that, boom, done... I'm on the side of the road. Thankfully, and this is the ONLY time I ever did this, I had certain identification that gave me some "authority" status with the agency I worked at. The cops kept me on the side of the road for 30 minutes... Many of my co-workers that also took GW Parkway to work, and new my Yellow Zcar well, recognized me and figured I'd done something dumb and would likely be going to jail... By the time I got into the office the phones, internal mail and inter-office gossip was burning... Fortunately, the weaving in and out of traffic saved me. The chopper couldn't get a good "pace" on us, so he couldn't say that we were specifically going XXX speed. I think we might have actually hit 80MPH, but that piece of road around Washington DC is normally 55mph zone... Anyway, they thought about writing me for reckless, and racing, but because I didn't know the guy, and just fell in behind him "following" his flow thru traffic, they gave me a stern warning and let me go... Im sure the credentials I had visible didn't hurt either... Then there was the time I was pulled over on I95 heading south at Woodbridge Va.... Maybe later... Mike

Interesting incident happened to me the time before last at VIR... We were in my porsche, which is extremely aerodynamic. I snicked it into 6th gear and pulled a 180MPH "displayed" digital read out on the 4000+ft. back straight. Just as we hit that speed the car was buffeted by a gust of wind and forced into the next lane... easily 6ft... Almost ruined a good nomex suit and oakley fireproof underwear... I later found that the digital display in these cars is known not to be accurate. I was probably only doing in the 170s...But still... Things get hairy at those speeds... Mike

I saw it first hand on Saturday and all I can say is WOW!!! It looks as good in person as in the pics and what I like is how sturdy it is... Mike

OK, Enough... Knuckleduster, You reported your own thread for moderation because you're not happy with the fact that someone like Tony, who has more knowledge and real world experience, both on the dyno and the salt flats of Utah, than most of our membership combined tried to give you good info and educate you in the process. My advice is to take a step or ten back, come into this website with a lot more desire to LEARN and a lot less desire to argue your point. And above all else, read the rules and understand why HybridZ is here... It's here for accurate info to be dispensed to the masses... You might want to come back and reread this once you're over the purchase of your twicepipes... You might find that Tony was giving you a LOT of good info that you should have listened to... Mike

If you can afford it, the VW GTI, if it's been done properly. If you can fix it cheap, 90 Celica... It will be dependable, and you'll be able to get setup-parts for it to make it fun and competitive. I'd think the Audi would be very expensive to replace parts on. You said "cheap", so I'm assuming maintenance is also impacted by Budget. Mike

John, I like this write up... Reminds me I need t doublecheck my electronic valve to see what pressure it was set at when I bought it... I want to say it was much lower than 30PSI... Careless I'll run a cheap filter on mine for breakin... I have the Canton canister type filter for when I'm running the car at regular oil change intervals (Every other track weekend), but why waste a $30 insert on a 30 minute run in session? Mike

Not sure which model you're referring to... The 996TT came OEM spec'ed with 330MM front and rear. Your best bet is to get custom "hats" made from some place like http://www.colemanracing.com as they can provide the custom offset and proper bolt pattern you need... I'm actually using their setup on my 996TT now with an upgraded vented and slotted rotor, along with a size increase to 350MM. The POrsche OEM rotors are cross drilled and not a favorite for much beyond street driving, and are VERY expensive if your friend ever quits working at the shop he's at. Mike

This is also a common occurance on newer Porsches... Not sure if the Ferrari use Pentosin in their powersteering and clutch hydraulics but they do in the Porsches and that stuff is very flamable. Been a number of reports of 996TTs catching on fire at stoplights not long after doing clutch work. Mike

When Malvern Racing was still in business, they had them. When I was doing Lseries motors (a decade ago) he was local to me, near Charlottesville Va. I know he died a few years back, but don't know who took over the business... 271 Malvern Farm Dr, Charlottesville, VA 22903-7440, United States Phone: (434) 971-9668 There's still an active listing for the company, so give them a try on Monday and they may be able to help you out... You could also try Dave at: http://www.thezdoctor.com/ Mike

I built a "kit" for my Vette when I was tracking it... go here: http://www.racerpartswholesale.com and check the mocal units out... don't bother going larger than a -8 on the braded lines, and you should be fine. This is the same exact setup I'm using on my V8 motorsetup and I plan on doing roadcourse duty with it in the year 2029 when the car is finally finished. Mike

About 6 weeks ago we logged 1050 miles in 3 days running from my home over to the Blue Ridge Parkway, then down the parkway all the way to Fields of Dan, across 58 west to Mt. Rodgers, then up and over to Marion Va., where we stayed for two nights while we rode the south western corner of Va, WVa, slipping across the lines of Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina. I averaged about 58 miles per gallon, and I'm riding a modified Kawasaki ZRX1100... Only complaint I had was not having a big enough tank... 4 gallons means lots of stops! Mike

Yea, the boys that were at the last Chin event Pete, Mark and I went to were having all kinds of problems with silly little stuff breaking ON TRACK or in the pits... Lots of power steering fluid boiling, vacuum leaks, belt tensioner issues, and a host of other issues being recorded... Problem is GM doesn't let much of the Cadillac race team "stuff" trickle down to the production cadillacs, and these three guys were grumbling about all the compromises they had to make on these cars... I reminded them that they're driving cadillacs on a road course, and should be marvelling (as the rest of us were) at just how well they were doing. Mike

We had a few members here looking at the Northstar motor. Didn't seem to work out! Mike

That's because the northstar motor isn't the motor we're discussing in "racing" cadillacs. The CTX is running the LS based motor that is in the same camaro/firebird, Pontiac GTO and all of the Corvettes since 1997! Mike

There were several cadillacs at the last Chin Motorsports event. Mostly CTXs and they had LSx motors in them from the factory. Although I wouldn't call them "fast", I'd certainly call them as fast as some modified C5/C6 corvettes, on a road course no less! Mike

Very well said! Guy, Congrats on your run... Mike

You're not in the wrong forum, so long as you read our rules and abide by them, showing fellow members mutual respect... Nice work! Think I saw a pinhole on that 350Z's expansion tank! Just kidding! Mike

Thanks guys! Mike

IF you're LISTING A CAR: Members will ask you pointed questions about the CONDITION, BUILD, QUALITY, and TYPE OF MODS. If you don't want to be QUIZED about how you built the car, or IF it was built properly, then DO NOT LIST YOUR CAR! Attacking members for asking questions will get you BANNED! If you are POSTING in an AD FOR SALE: Do NOT post your car for sale in another members AD. Do not make negative remarks about a member's asking price. TAKE ALL NEGOTIATIONS OFFLINE! If we see flaming from any party in an ad, the ad will be pulled and the offending member will be banned. GOT IT? Good luck, and happy hunting! Mike

I want to echo what RonTyler posted here... Nostalgic-Hero, You need to knock it down about 20 notches... You're close to a little long term time out... Park your attitude on THAT side of the keyboard. Not sure I'd want to post anything on this site if I thought someone like you was going to rip it appart... But hey, we don't allow that kinda crap here. If you want to provide constructive critiques then that's one thing... However, the tone and spirit of your post clearly doesn't suggest you intend anything positive in your comments... So, take it else where. Mike

I used to sell amsoil, and use it... I don't anymore... Mobil1 TDT 5W40 in my Porsche 911 Turbo and Rotella 15W40 in the diesel truck! I'll probably run a 5W50 or 15W50 in the Datsun when it's done. I'll never sell Amsoil again, not because the product isn't good... I wasn't happy with their "technical" support, or lack there in. Mike

My guess is the whole "ban 1/4 tracks in NHRA" cry will kick up again... Some pushed to force them to 1/8th mile tracks several years back, and it wouldn't surprise me if it gets debated again... Mike

Myron, the weight of your car gives me hope for mine. Mike