BMW RACER

I use the basic foam ear plugs, but just in my left ear. That seems to be where most of the buffeting comes from. Unless your car is RHD

That's great!! I think the T70 MK IIIB is one of the most beautiful cars ever!!

Mike. I think Ari Vatinen is the rallying equivalent of Ayrton Senna in F1. There's Ari, and then there's everyone else! When I raced in 1987 it was with Mitsubishi driving the Coors Racetruck Challenge Mitsubishi pick ups. 120 non turbocharged horsepower at sea level! I think my time was something like 17 minutes. Those two long straights towards the top took a looooooooong time. The good news was since we were so slow they sent us off first, that meant we could walk back down a couple of turns to spectate. Puegeot had two cars, one for Juha Kankunen the other for Ari. I was standing up on some rocks (I'm dumb, but not dumb enough to stand in the direct line of fire!) at one of the last hairpins before the top. Juha came up first. Very good, but then Ari came up. I've never seen such commitment. He slid into the corner at a 45 degree angle Scandinavian flick (That meant the car was pointed left as he came into the right hairpin!) he was pointed out over the edge! Then he flicked the car right, all four wheels spraying dirt, he must have grabbed at least four more gears as he accelerated out of sight. It was all popping, banging and spraying. When the dust settled he was gone! I was just standing there with my mouth wide open! I knew I had just seen something special! We walked back up to finish (no mean feat at 14,000 feet) Ari was just climbing out of his car as French TV stuck a mike in his face and was asking him about his run. His reply was "Ya.... It was OK... I made a few mistakes..it was OK" He was so cool, it was no big deal to him! As far as my oops was concerned, in 1994 I was running a Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 in High Performance Showroom Stock. Four wheel drive and twin turbos made it a great car for Pikes Peak. During my qualifying run (they use the bottom half of the hill) at about 46 seconds in on Jeff Zwarts Porsche video there's a right turn, probably about 80mph in the Mitsu on the old "Pennsapress" surface which is like rough tarmac with a thin layer of dirt on top I came in a little too hot, got the tail out, figured " no problem the burm will catch me" WRONG!! The left rear hit the burm and swung the car left! And I went early Christmas tree shopping! That was the biggest crash I've ever had. Bent every panel on the car. When it was done the only straight panel was the gas flap 8-) I was lucky, even with a stock seat in the car the only injury I got was I separated a couple of ribs (not too bad unless you sneeze) When I raced in '87 the course was good old dusty dirt, that was the best. If they paved the whole thing I think that would be next best. The Pennsapress is the worst, it's really treacherous and unpredictable, especially if you're using a street type tire. Still one of the best events in the world.

What a sissy!! He'e got tarmac AND guadrails!! Here's my favorite Pikes Peak run: No tarmac and not a single guard rail. Vatinen must have balls the size of watermelons!! I was lucky enough to race this event for Mitsubishi in '87, '92, '93 and part of '94 (could have used a guard rail then) Seriously, I've met Jeff and he's a great guy and has been doing a great job at Pikes Peak for years. If you ever get a chance to witness the Pikes Peak Hill Climb do it. It's a fantastic event, the whole town of Colorado Springs gets involved and you're there for a whole week. It was definitely a high point in my racing career.

+1

Trust me. I'm not worthy to carry Ayrton's helmet bag. I think Ayrton was one of the best drivers ever. I'm sure had he survived Schumacher would have a lot fewer World Championships! I can't wait to see the documentary that is coming out this year. However....... Am I the only one who wonders what he was doing with that first upshift they show? And I'm not sure about the whole blipping of the throttle deal, I'm sure it's a carry over from go-karts. I'd love to see pedal/steering cams from other great drivers. Like maybe Gilles Villenueve, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda etc. I'd love to hear some other opinions

Nice camera work.

TALENT DOESN'T COME WITH THE CAR!! What a bunch of wankers!!

What are wipers?

My dad flew Lancasters for the RAF in WW2. I can't get my head around how it must of felt to him. 18 years old, the excitement of piloting this plane vs the knowledge that there's a 50-50 chance of coming back!

How many miles on your T9 and how does it work? Do you see how this is going?

I was thinking about one of these for my Crossflow also. Does anyone have any experience with the aluminum heads? I wonder if it needs to be ported to be equivalent to the Caterham SS1700 head?

Mac. Who's doing the motor?

Stiglet looks about the same size as the Stig on US Top Gear

Pacific Sports Car Club used to have a time trial out there in the early '70's It was a blast!! You could do great high speed drifts in the dirt. BUT. I always had car problems afterwards. I ended up renting a car (Pinto with a 4 speed) The dust is hard on the car. It's like brown talcum powder

Hey Troops. Does anyone know anything about these? http://www.gkdsportscars.com/overview.html Just so happens I have a donor car. I just crashed one of my BMW 325 racecars. I'm pretty sure I didn't damage any of the stuff this car needs.

Or.................. THE TALENT DOESN'T COME WITH THE CAR!!!

That looks great!! I think the Minilite/Panasport wheel suits the Caterham. I'm thinking of some 13x7 Panasports w/888s for mine

That has to be the best looking Cobra kit I've ever seen! I love how low it is. Is JBL still around? I wonder how expensive they are?

I usually skip watching practice and just catch qualifying and the race. But i think the first practice will be very interesting. FIA used to require that a track had to hold one event before it was certified for F1...................... GEE $$$$$ I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED THERE??

Good stuff! This is my favorite: YouTube - A Spitfire flying low

"What do you think she can do in an auto-cross?" Fall over? I want to see pics from the autocross. Can you even see the pylons from up there? If you hit a pylon will the be able to use it again? Good luck

LUCAS. The inventor of the three way switch: OFF, GLIMMER AND BLINK!!

"Old Farts remember World War II, Pearl Harbor , Guadalcanal , Normandy and Hitler." I don't remember any of this. But I am old and I do fart. Does that qualify me?

The guy I bought my car from cut it off with a hacksaw (He gave me the bracket, easy to reinstall, except I like the no-tire look) http://www.lotusowners.com/ForSale/CHCAT2/pages/b2_JPG.htm