Soop Dogg

....or get a stillen bumper. It's polyurethane like the stock one, but (IMHO) looks much better.

Glad to hear everyone had fun. I did over £1000 of damage to my car at Marham 2 years back just because of the stone chipping. Had to have bumper, wings, bonnet, windscreen surround and mirrors all repainted. Basically anything that pointed forward! As it sounds like things haven't changed, then I'll not be going back. I'm all for raising money for charity, but when it costs me a grand to repair the damage to my car, forget it! Agreed though, it is a hell of a lot of fun.

If you must do it, put it into drive, foot hard on the brake, then lift the revs until the rears start spinning. As you lift off the brake, give it some more gas. However, as said already, this isn't good for the 'box. If you do it too many times, you'll overheat the fluid. Even on the first attempt, it is actually possible to blow the torque converter. Never, ever rev it in neutral and dump it into gear when the revs are already high. If you don't break the gearbox, you may break something else in the drivetrain. Don't do any of this at all if you aren't willing to accept the cost of repairing what might break.

Updates are what will keep us all occupied between now and when the full version comes out next year. There's lots planned apparently according to a comment on the latest GT TV program. I guess that's the best bit about having the machine online.

With regard to the tachograph question, there's a table on page 3 of this LINK that should help.

Unless your Landcruiser has been constructed or adapted for the purpose of carrying goods, then I'm pretty sure you don't need one. Also, if the reason for towing the vehicle is completely for private purposes and not in connection with a business (i.e. you're not carrying it for hire or reward, such as delivering it because you're a car dealer or something), then you wouldn't need one anyway.

It's a Durex advert, but I wouldn't say that it was in any way NWS. If you're not sure, leave it until you go home, I guess.

Hoping it's not a repost...

I didn't see these the first time around either. Very funny and very familiar. If we don't pay attention, our cats wake us up during the night by 'knitting' on the carpet with their claws or sometimes if we haven't hidden all the ping-pong balls, they'll play with one on the tiled floor of the kitchen - which as we live in a bungalow is next to the bedroom. (aarrrggghhh!!!) As well as doing all the stuff in that first clip - except the baseball bat thing. But we love them.

No probs Rick. You just didn't seem to notice that in the original post by Turbonut, it was said that the battery had already been changed. That's why the suggestions were heading towards alternator.

Not to mention quite, quite deaf. Not wearing ear defenders around that thing is just plain stupid. Sorry.

There's more to the alternator than just the charging bit. The voltage rectifier/regulator is contained within the alternator. If the diodes break down within this it causes the battery to drain as described. Normally, the diodes work kind of like a one-way valve, allowing the current flow from the alternator to the battery when the car is running, thus charging the battery. When the engine is turned off, no current can flow back the other way, so the battery keeps its' charge. If the diodes fail, current is allowed to leak from the battery to earth, so the battery goes flat. On many alternators, you can replace just the 'diode pack' rather than the whole alternator. (I haven't checked if this is possible with the Supra alternator, but I'd guess it would be)

It looked soooo painful - I couldn't really laugh because I'm funny about that sort of thing. But then I read this:

(I thought it was funny)

Lol. It's either that or a Terry Wogan voice in the way he reads the 'Janet & John' stories in the mornings. Excellent stuff!

As you bought the car recently, I'd still get the geometry checked, TBH. If it's been lowered at any point and the geometry left untouched, that will increase the camber so that it wears out the inside edge. No point putting new tyres on and wearing them out in another 3 or 4 months.

Just a bit squishy looking around the bottom bit then?

Nice! And it's the new supercharged ZR1 for 2009. Wonder who's driving it - would be interesting to see the lap times if it's in the hands of a pro. The C6 Z06 managed a 7min 42sec lap - this should be even better. edit: Apart from Alex beating me to the ZR1 thing, I just clicked the link and that also says '2009 Corvette ZR1 testing' DOH!

As does everyone else with a GZ. (Unless the person ordering the car new had it deleted from the standard equipment list) All (original) TT aerotops should have cruise too as they are all GZ's.

This is because all UK's are GZ's, I guess. Yours is actually retro-fitted. I fitted it on your car when Angie owned it. Someone said it couldn't be done and I kind of did it as a challenge. However, fitting it is a major pain in the ass. Fortunately for me, my first Supra (which I wrote off) had the relevant multi-plugs in the loom which I was able to cut off and use as this car didn't have them. I bought the cruise ECU, column switch, brake pedal switch (required because it's got 2 switch contacts in it - one for the cruise and one for the brake lights) and actuator from a written off GZ spec and spent a week putting it all together. It uses about 4 power supplies and has to have conections to the handbrake, gearbox ECU, instrument panel, brake pedal etc etc. In all there are (from memory) 23 wires from the ECU multi-plug that are necessary to solder into the vehicles wiring loom. Wouldn't want to do it again really!

Just been having a look for news of this on GTPLanet. Apparently the 'private races' functionality is still in the pipeline. It wasn't ever going to be ready in time for the European release, but it'll be included in an update at some point - not sure when though.

Meanwhile back in Westminster, our 'Ever-so-Green' (honestly) government are fiddling more figures. Just read THIS. And no, this isn't an April fools joke.

Once you complete the A, B and C parts, when you go to a new race, immediately before actually racing, theres a option in the Quick Menu at the bottom of the screen with a spanner on it - this allows you to perform a 'quick tune'.

Yep, I have and it's pretty good. You don't have to pay. 16 car races can get a bit manic! Other cars 'ghost' for a few seconds if they hit the barrier and spin onto the track in front of you, so you don't end up with all 16 cars in a massive pile up - which would have happened in some of the races I've been in! (you just drive through the 'ghost' cars who are subject to a penalty of 4 or 5 seconds with no power when they crash into something) As Homer said, the handling is much more realistic now. I lowered one of my cars by 11mm at the rear and 14mm at the front and totally screwed the handling! The weight shifted too far to the front and the rear was trying to come round every time I lifted off the throttle into a corner. (even slightly feathering the trottle was a problem) This online stuff is a lot of fun!

The Uno Turbo was the reason I got rid of my FTO in 2001 and bought my first Supra. I tried racing one on a long sliproad onto a dual carriageway and lost big time! Even more humiliating was the passenger leaning out of the window blowing kisses in our direction. Pi$$ taking git! Got home, got out of the car and said 'Right - that's going then.' Bought my Supra within the next fortnight, never looked back.