johns

It's definitely something to do with the speedo. For some delimiters there used to be a small geared adaparter which fitted onto the speedo cable from the gearbox I think, which geared down the rotations to the speedo cable.

About 120mph is the top end for a reasonably powerful Impreza on the main straight at Knockhill (standard cars will be about 100 - 105mph actual) and will be faster than most of the Elises and Caterhams. You might have to back off the throttle just a second or so before the braking point so shouldn't impact your enjoyment too much

Hope you get to the bottom of the problem

John

Looks better than I expected. Notice there is still no rear wiper and I'm not so keen on the aerial, but overall it's not too bad and I could grow to like it.

Sounds like a lot of fun for not much money

I'll need to check my diary to see if I can make it, and if I can you can count me in.

I hope there's a handicap system in place to allow those of us with heavier bones a bit of a chance

John

lol, may the best driver win and not end up on the podium wearing a size 0 Time Attack outfit

I'll have to make sure I keep some free space on my memory cards (ran out at Cadwell!), just in case

John

Pikes peak car - looks like the batmobile!

Image one of these on some Scottish gravel stages

Great write-up Scott. It sure is looking very tight overall going into the final round at Snetterton. I would expect the big power cars to have a distinct advantage on the longer straights - maybe you can borrow Andy.F's engine for a day

John

Well done Scott, great result!

It will be a very tense and close finish to the season now at Snetterton in a few months time.

A couple of the Lateral Performance Impreza, known as "the banana" in flight over the mountain section at Cadwell Park yesterday.

It's to stop spambots from picking up the email address and phone number from the forums. Common way of stopping them getting your details.

Just to add, that if anyone has a set near Aberdeen or any way on the route south, I can also pick them up on the way down for Scott.

John

Performance friction Z compond but as John says they are not cheap and it depends what you plan to do with them. looks like your wheels dont agree with your pad choice tho John

Give Alyn at AS Performance a ring he will be able to advise on a good choice for your usage and he is difficult to beat on price

That's because I haven't washed my wheels in about 3 months Arch I did actually wash them this last weekend, and 95% of the brake dust came off with just soap and a sponge. Unlike the XP8 pads I had before which had unremovable dust after a week of light commuting use!

If you aren't doing track days, or regular "very fast" road driving (ie have been happy with the standard pads), then I would stick with standard type pad materials.

I went for a set of Mintex standard material brake pads from Ebay. Cost me about £32 inc P&P and they have been fine. Only once have I got them hot enough to fade on the road, and then I just eased off for a while til they cooled down.

John

Ok guys, time to upgrade from my Cannon 350d and have been looking at a couple of options.

1st choice is a Cannon 7D and the 2nd is a 50D i am now aware that Cannon are launching a 60D soon ( thanks Stephen) what i need to do is make sure that my current lenses will still fit both and are as follows;

18-55 Cannon

10-22 Sigma

100-400 Cannon Telephoto IS

What are your thoughts on the two concearned,bearing in mind if i go for the 50D i could pay a good bit towards a new lens as its slightly cheaper,but this is not going to be the deciding factor.

I am also looking at filling the gap up to the 100- 400 IS with a new lens, what would you think would be the right choice for around £600 ish !!I have been reccommended the 24-100 Cannon IS ?????

I am not a PRO just like good landscapes,rallying,general stuff.

If there were any on here that had experience of both camera bodies and thought if there are major differencies that are noticable then the 7D and a new lens would be the way i would go, if not then the 50D is the answer.

Thanks in advance

Davie

Out of the two options, I would go for the 7D. All your existing lenses will work just fine, though the 18mp sensor might show up the optical limitations of the 18-55 lens, in which case the excellent Canon 17-55 2.8 EF-S IS would do the job very nicely.

The 7D has a better auto focus incorporating 19 AF points compared to 9 for the 50D. Perfect for capturing shots of fast moving rally cars in dark forests It also has a built in spirit level in the much improved 100% viewfinder, which is handy for your landscape stuff. The new 3" screen is great for viewing images - very clear and detailed. It can also capture about 8 frames per second, and record HD video. Not that you need it currently, but it can also wirelessly control external flash guns. High ISO performance should also better than the 50D. The 7D uses a chipped battery LP-E6 to give very detailed info on the amount of charge remaining. It is also rated at around 850 shots though in real life you can expect 1000+ shots easily before you need to swap batteries (Canon originals are about £60 each).

The 50D is currently about 60% of the price of the 7D as the 60D is due to be announced shortly (if you believe the rumours). It only has a 15MP sensor, but unless you regularly print bigger than A3 anything more than 10MP is somewhat overkill anyway. It shares the same hi-res 3" screen for reviewing images. You might some excellent deals on the 50D if you shop around. The 50D uses the same BP-511 batteries as many other models, and aftermarket spares can be had for as little as £5 each.

Both models will offer a huge improvement over your existing 350D, which you could continue to use as a backup/2nd body. E.g. on rallies have one camera with the 100-400, then swap to the 350D with a wider angle lens when the car gets closer.

I've got the Canon 24-105 lens, and to be honest it's on my camera about 90% of the time as a general walk-about lens if I'm not shooting motorsport. Great for portraits and general shots.

John

Uploaded a few more photos now before I start decorating

I've uploaded some of my photos to my gallery:

http://www.flatoutphotography.com/gallery3...php/SIDCGTM2010

Shiny

Fast

In the wet with slicks on!

Big smiles from the driver

John

Was a great day out, weather was 99% fantastic, apart from that short shower when I was stuck at the other side of the track

Massive thanks to everyone who helped out on the Saturday and Sunday to get the site set-up, and make sure the event ran very smoothly - it just wouldn't have been possible without all your efforts. The bonus fun track time for marshalls and helpers at the end was good fun, even though my passenger got a little travel sick - a big HP laserjet printer held in by the seatbelt - I'm sure I'll find all the bits eventually

I'm just downloading some photos from my camera just now, so should have them uploaded later this morning.

Well done to all the show and shine winners - stunning level of car preparation!

Even though we aren't allowed to time these events any more, the head to head pursuits added a new dimension to the fun track use and we'll hopefully do a lot more of them next time! We'll mark lines on the track next time in the centre to make it easier to judge the winners though

John

The sun is shining here

Looks like it's going to be a great day!!

Was a great day despite the weather. Could have done with a few more scoobs there, but I'm sure you'll do us all proud at our next event on the 18th September. Want a big Scooby turn out for that one please

A few photos to come later once I get the time to get them off the camera

John

Yes, it's one of the things we do to thank the ROs for all their fine work during the year

Only at Knockhill events, as the ones down south are jointly organised with other car clubs etc.

For £57.50 you could have 4 hours fun at Knockhill with a Touring Car driver sitting next to you. I'm sure you could spend more than that in a pub in 4 hours (well I could anyway )

John

Phone in sick Dale

As you know ROs get these events for half price anyway

£115 per car, for the whole 4 hour open pit lane session, plus unlimited free instruction if needed

Our instructor for tomorrow is touring car driver Jonny Adam. Don't miss up the opportunity to get some top notch instruction for free if you take part in the track day.

John

Back in the late 90s, I did about 20 full track days on standard brakes, and those were the horrible 2 pot sliding calipers! The only upgrade was better Mintex 1155 pads. Still had a huge amount of fun, and if the conditions are damp tomorrow then brake fade isn't really an issue as you never get that much heat into them or the tyres. Generally I would get around 6 to 10 laps on a hot dry day before fade started to kick in, so then just did a cooling down lap, 15 minutes in the pits and back out again In damp conditions you can more or less stay out for as long as you want!

With it being a summer event, and possibly a damp track, it could be entertaining watching people drift around the hairpin. It's not very often you get these conditions in conjunction with an empty track to explore the limits of what you and your car can do in a safe environment.

John

Currently we only have around 20 cars booked up to take part tomorrow morning!!

If anyone has ever wanted to try out track driving, but was too scared by a busier track, then tomorrow could well be your best (or last) opportunity!

I'm not sure why there is suddenly such a low demand for spaces, maybe the date was wrong with too many other events on the same day or coming up in the near future?

Maybe there just isn't the same interest in using your car to it's full extent in a safe environment without fear of speeding tickets?

Maybe it's the global financial situation, and people just don't have the money available to do track days?

It appears that some other track day organisers are finding the same thing, in that's it's becoming more and more difficult to get enough cars to cover the costs of hiring the track.

If anyone wants to have a play on a near empty track tomorrow, then drop me an email on john@sidc.co.uk

John

There's only a few slots left for taking part now on each of the dates, so if you are interested, just drop mike at GTM an email and let him know the dates you might be able to make, along with your car details.