Lauren

GLOL, YKIMS!

That's what I keep thinking, but the trouble is, the more I look at it.....

Have you seen these, Toni? Could look good with the black/yellow combination.

Indeed. Mark is always trying to persuade me to get the TRD rear louvre:

Just more for my interest more than anything else, but given you've got the same width and size wheels as me and your's are cast copies of mine, do you know much they weigh?

LOL! Typical. The parking sensors are body coloured.

Boo! Thought that was no more than a few hours work at most!

I admit, I like going sideways too much to fit a grippier tyre. Well I did try it and found it made the car boring so going back to OEM tyres in ten days time. It was putting on the winter tyres last November that made me realise how much more fun is less grip. Sliding can be faster it just depends really. Above all I like to enjoy myself. A fast lap may bring a smile, but a sideways lap normally results in a lot more than smiling. I know which I prefer.

No worries, James. I find them okay in the wet, but obviously if you're a little judicious with the throttle you will be going sideways quite quickly, so smoothness pays off, with a grippier tyre it'll hold on longer in the wet but the same rules apply. Once the diff locks up, that's it of course.

If they were TRD I would get them but seeing as they are not, I'm not going to bother I think.

To give you an idea I got 14K miles out of the rear Primacys and 25K out of the front and that includes a number of trackdays and sprints. I also admit I like going sideways. I'd play with it a bit longer before you put the 225s on and find it hardly slides at all anymore unless it's wet.

The Whiteline gearbox mount and a carbon fibre gear knob, both together come to a little under a £100.

Yeah, I got the impression it was something to do with breaking airflow which is apparently good when it comes to drifting or when the car is sliding. This is how it was explained to me by my Japanese friend.

Yeah, I'm not sure. These are the ones I saw on the car in Japan: DSC_ 1109 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr DSC_1107 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr This car was Tommy Kaira.

That's basically the size of it. More grip equals cornering faster but when you run out of grip you're going to have a bigger accident if you don't catch it. It may mean though that for the most part you simply drive within the grip limits of the tyres which will of course mean you're going faster. I think you have to weigh up if you like steering the car on the throttle or not. Obviously it's a skill that takes time to get right and it's not without risk. So it depends upon whether you're happy to have the car move around and feel comfortable with that. I think more grip is probably safer until the point it lets go at higher speed, but that balancing the power and grip levels so you have just enough power to drive at and beyond the slip angle of the tyre is where it's at for me. A car only truly comes alive when you're steering it on the throttle IMO. I may be in the minority though.

If it helps I found on a Rav4 I had recently that putting up the bass and midrange two notches and the treble one, certainly helped.

That would be my thinking. Whilst I could put a supercharger or turbo on to balance the grip and power well with a 225 tyre, it's far cheaper to reduce the grip back to stock levels as then with my suspension I can fully exploit the chassis. I think if the car isn't moving around, you're not into the handling of it and balancing the angle of the car with the throttle is very much what it is to be in the 'zone' at least for me any way. Last year I put on Advans in 225's and the fun dissapeared. Yes it was faster, but that's not everything for me. Whereas with the stock Primacy tyre I could play all day and it was a lot more fun as I do like to drift a bit.

You can't adjust the sub separately that's what I noticed when I looked at the settings. The only control you have got is the bass, mid and treble. That's it I'm afraid. This is why I didn't go for it and put in my own system. Keethos has it though, would expect he's played around a bit. Guess you could try a bit more mid range?

Nice, looks like you went with running the stock tyres on 8" rims. I do the same with my 8" TE37's. I actually like the little bit of stretch as it keeps the sidewalls stiff which makes the car more responsive.

Up to you with the air filter as there are a few options such as K&N, HKS etc. All much the same I would expect. In regard to the oil filter I would just use a stock one. TRD ones need to be changed twice as often and I'd honestly think that paying silly money for aftermarket oil filters is really just about bling rather than achieving anything. Again I would only use stock oils and coolant, just thinking warranty here. But it's up to you of course.

I'm not surprised. I had 225's on (Advans) and I found it hard to get it drifting or get the rear end to move around. So 235's will be more so. I'm going back to Primacys on my 8" rims so will be interesting to see how our times compare at Snett which I don't know at all. Still not had a remap yet either! It's my theory that I can drive a car faster if I can steer it on the throttle more. We'll see!

Cool. Track looks a bit too busy and full of billies though! Nice spin at the end!

I'd love to come but it happens to be the same day as the first TSS at Snett, so I'm already booked up for that I'm afraid.

Keith's car is yellow now?

Yep, agree having used full face helmets for 14 years, going open face is just so much more comfortable. The benefits of being able to have a drink and vape whilst in the pitlane make life a fair bit easier. Also being able to talk and people being able to hear you is a bonus too. Much, much cooler too when it's hot.