SimonB

You should be able to use a serial to USB dongle, PC World or somewhere like that will have them.

No worries mate, I figured you were a bit preoccupied! Don't know if I've still got your bank details from before, if you send them me again I'll give you the 30 quid.

Which fitting is leaking? The unions that go into the filter takeoff need to be sealed with Dowty seals if they are BSP threads (they look like metal washers with a rubber inner bit), as there is no port for it to seal on. If they are NPT threads you need some PTFE tape on them.

Oh yeah, durrrr..

Colour code 6NO (gunmetal) is missing. Good stuff though!

Well I have a facelift RZ (so Recaros as standard) and my trim code is FB20, so looks like that theory isn't quite right!

Yay! Spotted. You must have been stood right next to me when you took that first photo! I took some video from exactly the same spot of them starting it up and Katayama driving off and getting a bit sideways!

Proper ducting for the FMIC would be my suggestion. I.e. an undertray if you haven't got one already. You have a GReddy E01 if I remember correctly? If so you can monitor intake air temp if you have the external signal harness by connecting it up to the relevant wire on the ECU. That way you can see what effect your changes have.

Nice, I'll be there tomorrow. I love the Festival of Speed, it's great.

Thanks, got to give DangerousBrain the credit for thinking of it - I remember him saying it would be a funny thing to do at a Jap show or something! That was indeed our Celica and beemer being sent to the shops for some more beer and food...

What a nightmare, hope it's not as bad as it sounds and you get it sorted mate. And CJ, you've blown up yours as well! Shit.

Here's some pics, courtesy of Alex our "official" photographer. He's got plenty more on the way. Our convoy: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Life%20On%20The%20Campsite/slides/DSC_4891.jpg The drive home: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/The%20Drive%20Home/slides/DSC_4985.jpg http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/The%20Drive%20Home/slides/DSC_4982.jpg http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/The%20Drive%20Home/slides/DSC_4983.jpg

Yeah, that'll be ok. I'll just have to not wash the wheels for a while so they are the same uniform dirty colour!

On autos, the ECU uses the trac control butterfly to help smooth out gear changes even when the trac is turned off. Other than that it doesn't do anything when switched off. If you disable it permenantly (by removing the fuse or the whole trac control ECU) you will apparently have not quite so smooth gearchanges on the auto. On a manual it makes no difference, so disable it and lob it in the bin...

Sorry mate, been in Le Mans for the last week! Anyway, that sounds like a plan to me, happy to do that. Do you want me to post them or we could meet up somewhere if you need them sooner as you're not a million miles away from me?

Yep, that was me!

It's hard to explain the pure magic of wandering up to Tetre Rouge with a few beers as the sun is going down with the cars screaming past a few feet away. The noise is intoxicating. When it's dark you can see the brake discs glowing and flames from the exhaust as they take the corner at an unlikely looking speed. There's nothing like it. Or watching the prototypes through the Dunlop Esses curves - the amount of speed they carry compared to the GTs is unbelievable. Then you wake up on the Sunday morning after a few hours sleep because the inside of your tent is about a million degrees. The noise is all around you and you have a slightly odd moment when you realise they are still racing and there's still a full 8 hours left!

Yep, RPS fly for me and it does indeed make the gearbox sound like a bag of spanners. You also get a rattly graunching noise at low revs in a high gear, e.g. when pulling from 2000 revs or so in 4th or above. People often ask me what's broken. It does drive slightly better with more engine response, and is good for track days when you heel 'n toe. Next time I have to change the clutch it's going in favour of a standard one though.

Got back last night, after officially "the best Le Mans ever"! Mainly due to the bunch of guys I go with, we really did it right this year. We had 2 Tuscans, a Cerbera, my Supra, a Celica and the BMW beer wagon all in viper stripes, and boy did we made an impact travelling through France! Have to say I nicked the "shopping list" idea from DangerousBrain. One of our crew had a 6 megapixel digital SLR, and took some amazing photos. I'll post some up when he's sorted them out, he's got around 1000! Some definitely material for next year's calendar. I also have about 4 and a half hours of video to edit! Most of it won't make much sense to anyone else though! I saw a silver Supra down at Indianapolis on the Friday with graphics on the side, and passed a silver standard looking one by the side of the road on the way back - we waved at each other.

Well, I'm signing off for a week, off to Le Mans in the morning. You guys are welcome to pop in to Houx on your way to the circuit - you won't be able to miss us as we're all viper striped. Even the paddling pool for beer cooling has viper stripes! Woohoo, gonna be a great one this year I can feel it!

Yeah, we thought the Tuscan would be really hard to do because of all the curves, but they went straight on no problem and look fantastic. The rear of the Supra under the spoiler was a nightmare to do, and the Celica was tricky too. We've got another Tuscan and the beer wagon (BMW) striped too.

We're on the 2pm Eurotunnel on Wednesday. We're staying in Hornfleur Wednesday night, then down to Le Mans on the Thursday. I've got some more stickers planned, you'll have to wait until after I get back or come and see them for yourself in Houx campsite though so I don't give the game away...

We've been busy putting stripes on our convoy of cars ready for Le Mans this weekend. Viper stripes is the theme this year! The Supra actually looks ok with Viper stripes. Here's some pics - I've striped the bottom of the front bumper too now. Striping in progress: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Car%20Prep/slides/LM-(105).jpg First half of the convoy: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Car%20Prep/slides/LM-(5).jpg Tuscan: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Car%20Prep/slides/LM-(108).jpg Supra finished apart from the bottom at the front: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Car%20Prep/slides/LM-(110).jpg Cerbera we did today: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Car%20Prep/slides/DSC_3442.jpg Back of the Celica: http://www.alexgoss.com/Le%20Mans/Le%20Mans%202005/Car%20Prep/slides/DSC_3450.jpg Woohoo! 2 days to go!

In a word, yes.

Yes it's fame at last for Ray, there's a good pic in the write up of JapFest of him going round the track on page 18. Someone else with a silver car with a Veilside nose is in the main pic leading the article too.