Lauren

The point you have to remember is that the stock crank pulley would not have a harmonic damper if it did not need it. You take your chances, your engine etc. Until you've done a decent amount of mileage with a lightweight pulley it is difficult to tell if it's an issue. Low mileage race cars don't really give you that info. I must admit, I see no appeal in being a guinea pig.

You need to get a URL that ends in '.jpg', then click on the image icon in the editor and paste it in.

I've got tbh, I wouldn't touch a light weight undamped pulley with a barge pole. That the stock pulley has a harmonic damper means it is there for a reason.

Google EVO Triangle.

NA tuning means they will struggle to meet emissions. I would guess there isn't that much to be gained from head work. The engine is already 100bhp/litre. The only way to increase power is to rev higher and higher, which won't meet emissions and would also be prohibitively expensive. Turbo charging is not keeping with the spirit of the car. Supercharging is perhaps the obvious option. I didn't vote, because I think it's better just to leave it to the tuners.

All the handfree stuff and alarm is fitted at Portbury Docks. I think in terms of your driving position, maybe it is just that and you are trying to get a similar driving position that you may have had in previous cars. In the Clio you sit too high anyway, so lowering the steering wheel would be appropriate in regard to a gaining a better driving position.

I don't know what 'clutch knock' is. But if you mean when you put it in first and you get a slight amount of driveline shunt, then it's the idle shaft, but they all do that. As for the revs going up and down. They all do that too.

The rear lights are as they are in homage to the 2000GT. All the rage back in the 60's, but an important heritage nod anyway. It's not hard to pick up a set of 17's. Stock wheels are virtually worthless and easy to paint/powdercoat. The 16's come in 205/55/16 or some such. I had a GT Limited in Japan, but that is much lower spec than your's with everything paired back.

Okay fair enough. I'd have to wonder though, a) is it really necessary and does it actually do anything apart from stress the area more? I'm not an expert though, just looks an odd way to do it.

Congrats and you could well be the first person to order a Primo. I've literally not heard of anyone else ordering one, so your rarity wil be ensured! Just comparing specs. There isn't a huge difference, it's mainy just headlights, no rear spoiler. Though I admit, I would hugely miss cruise control and the climate control the most. But otherwise there isn't a huge difference.

Yes, I can see where it's fixed, but I can't understand what it would add apart from potentially restricting the movement of the lower wishbone as I'm guessing that brace will need to swivel as the suspension moves? Still glad you got some suspension sorted.

What is that bar running from the lower wishbone mount to further along the lower wishbone? Does it bolt to the ARB bottom mount? Just can't see and struggling to see what it would do.

Please put up prices and pictures.

Yes I agree, that they do certainly have their worth. I was able to drive a snow cover lane at 70mph down the Silk road. But showing off aside, what I did notice was how much less grip they have over the Primacy tyre when temps were 5C. I don't think the winter tyres really offered much more in regard to grip in the wet either. The temperatures were just too high for them. I've learnt a cold, greasy road offers no grip whatever tyres you have on.

My experience, is that winter tyres don't really offer any advantage until it's below 3C. The 7C thing is more marketing than anything else as the temp seems to vary around that mark in the winter months in the UK.

This tyre doesn't seem to solve anything. I've ran winter tyres the last two winters. They are kind of fun in that they have no grip whatsoever but it is very obvious that I would have beem miles better off leaving the summer tyre on through the winter. There were probably two days through each winter that the winter tyre paid off.

17's look just fine providing you lower it 20mm. I run a 17x8 with the OEM tyres on. Plenty of oversteer and very controllable. If you put whopping wide tyres on it will just be boring. 225's if you put an SC on I would say. I think it's good to learn the car NA and do the handling first before you think about SC's. Done 63K in mine so far pondering whether I will SC or not. I probably will, but now it's easy for me to know what I'd do in respect of tyre sizes.

In regard about laptimes, apart from the hypercar trio we all know about, there are not that many other cars that try to set lap records for their class. Of course exceptions like the Megane RS Trophy with the Nurburgring option box ticked is going to be more hardcore than the usual one, but you'd expect that of course. Primarily the Ring is used to test the handling with a great mix of, well everything. When you go there you often see development cars all over the place. It's an absolute mecca that place really. Just petrolhead heaven. For most cars it's about feel, balance and involvement above anything else and that's really what the Ring is all about. The best road you'll ever drive that happens to be one way and is used as a racetrack. Though it was built as a racetrack of course.

I took the 100hp on track. It was terribly flawed though as soon as you started getting above 7/10ths. Fiat put lower and much stiffer springs on but the dampers were the same as all the other models. Load it up round a long corner and it would pogo diaganolly as the dampers just could not control the springs!

I will go back to the Ring one day. If there was a heaven, the Nordschleife would be it. I could spend my life driving around there. It could easily be an obsession which is largely why I haven't been back in the last 8 years. The risks there are high, but the thrill of it is like nowhere else.

Akio Toyoda participated in the development of the GT86 at the Nurburgring: http://www.tune86.com/ft-86-news/16526-toyota-86-philosophy-interview-tetsuya-tada Driving the Nurburgring, well the Nordschleife is not about lap times, it's all about the drive. There is far more to the Ring than just laptimes!

Oh okay. That's a shame that they took you on the development ride so to speak. That's not the way to do things.

Fair play, Jimmy, I don't want to appear over critical of the review at all, I wish I had your friend's presenting skills! NiceBiscuit, I've driven the Ring a number of times. It's the kind of place that has a very good variety of everything in terms of corners, surface and all manner of bumps and dips. It's very far from being a billiard smooth surface like say Silverstone or say Magny Cours. The Abarth has a bit of an issue as they set the rear up pretty stiff. I had a Panda 100hp and whilst it was engaging to a point, it's ride wasn't very good and I think Fiat simply skimped on the development of the car perhaps given it's price bracket. So it's not the Nurburgring's fault, there are only a handful of cars where manufacturers talk Ring laptimes after all, but it is a major testing base simply because it's one of the best places to do it. That the GT86 rides reasonably well proves that you can develop a car's handling round the Ring (as well as many other places) without ruining the ride.

Actually in reference to the Nurburgring, cars that are tested on it to setup the suspension do make great road cars, it's the best track to use in that respect because it is so bumpy and much more like a road than a race track. This is why most manufacturers use it. The 86 was tested a good amount a the Nurburgring.

It's why I read mags like EVO because they do in-depth reviews of cars and test them on a variety of terrain. I know the EVO Triangle well enough and the roads they used, so it gives me a much better picture. Driving a B road or a decent A road is what I'd expect tbh in any review. Not wishing to criticise your friend, he presents very well, but I'd rather a review than a story. That was the problem always with TG, they seemed to missed the point.