Lauren

It's fun, that's why you'd want to play with the balance of the chassis. It's the forte of the car after all. If you over tyre your car then you are just driving within the grip limits which IMO takes away the skill and more importantly the fun aspect away. I've now got stickier tyres on my car in a misguided attempt to compete in the TSS. However, having spent 35K miles on stock tyres and switching to the more sticky tyres, the inherent balance hasn't changed, so what I learnt on stock tyres is extremely relevant I think. It just grips more and means it tends to slide at higher speeds than it did before which is good and bad. As for your gearbox, well maybe you should have gone back to old tech.

To be fair Keith, there are some of us who enjoy balancing the car on the throttle and the standard tyres certainly enable that. It's not for 'numptys', given stock power levels it allows you to play with the chassis and the tyres last forever on track. I'd say if you're really into the driving aspect, i.e., you like to play with the chassis, certainly track it with stock tyres on first. You'll learn loads about the balance of the car and not at silly speeds. Remember anyone can stick a turbo on and go fast in a straight line....

The standard tyres take the abuse very well. You could drive round on them sideways all day and you'll still get 15K out of the rears.

Hmm, still a tyre to avoid then in my book. I think F1's are good road tyres, but sounds like they still aren't suited to the track. Yokos or Bridgestones tend to be much stiffer on the sidewall too. Stiffer sidewall equals better feel too and a quicker response.

When I used F1's they were too soft on the sidewall so would wear the shoulders quite badly. I'm sure the Asymmetrics differ from my old GSD3's.

Sounds like a good day. Are you on stock tyres? If so, I find that once they go off, they remain consistent and you can just slide all day really. Also they seem to take the abuse very well. They'll clean up on the way home and apart from a little wear to the shoulders (which doesn't matter really) they'll do it again and again. In terms of power increases do you mean the upper mid range of the revs? Really though you should be at 5000rpm and over wherever possible. I did tend to find that Church was at the top end of third and into fourth which made it tricky, though IIRC think I had it in 4th in the end, but getting a great exit from the Bookatrack Banking is critical for this.

Looks good. I reckon it still needs to settle looking at that pic. What did you go for in the end Ian?

Looks lovely, though I still think it has to be lowered a little. Wish I could be bothered to polish mine. Done it twice in 16 months, but not sure I've polished it this year.

This was a year ago! But, it's simply not worth the effort for a week or two of driving on the mainland. Mid summer I find I'm rarely driving in the dark anyway. I only stick them on if I know I'm going to have drive at night. A couple of beam deflectors is the obvious option really.

Does anyone know if there is a switch or anything to alter the headlight beam pattern for driving on the right side of the road? Just wondered. I've got two euro trips coming up so could do with sorting it.

Other option is to change the head unit for something aftermarket. The US ones may well be market specific. If you go aftermarket you can get something better with the sat nav and DAB too.

When I won that HKS oil last year. Expensive oil, but the spec differs from stock so I haven't put it in. In the end I've stuck with stock oil. My car has done 40K and uses no oil, so I thought it isn't broke so no need to fix it kind of thing. Also for the sake of warranty it made sense to stick to OEM oil.

Welcome aboard! I think the GT is a car that you personalise according to your own tastes. It's all good fun though, if expensive once you get going!

Welcome Howie, look forward to seeing you at some meets.

Welcome aboard Milosz. Whereabouts in the south are you?

The blue stripes make it! Wicked.

Fair enough. I'm only a bit passionate about this subject as I used to run the pitlane for bookatrack and when we had cars that were as loud as your's going past me at full throttle made me want to kill the driver with a slow painful death as it was just incredibly painful and totally unnecessary. Still, glad the GT won't be as loud!

I was thinking that too, can't think what else he could mean?

110db is ridiculously loud and way too loud for the track and for the road. That would just drive you (and everyone else) nuts driving around with an exhaust like that.

Over tyring a car makes it boring. You can drive it flat out everywhere. Handling is not just about when you are driving well within the limits of grip it is also about how the car 'handles' when you exceed the limits of grip and are driving in the tyre slip angle. If you're a keen driver and like handling, putting too wide tyres on just makes it really boring.

There's nothing stopping you put a livery on your car if that's what you want.

Always good to have a garage and more importantly to use it!

I think it's different, but it totally destroys the lovely rear three quarter line, having that black there. In a way it's cool because it will be unique, but I'm not sure.

Welcome aboard! I see you're getting well into the modding game. There is the Snetterton meet on the 5th July coming up, though passes may have all been issued by now as it's only days away. Also there is of course the third round of the Toyota Sprint Series at Blyton Park with a trackday on the Saturday and the sprint on the Sunday.

Have you got a before pic? Looks good, though I quite like the OEM setup.