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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Car shopping - what would you do?


Gaz6002

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If anyone is interested in getting a racing licence, I've written a series of seven blogs about the steps involved.

 

The first two links are here, and when the rest are published I'll stick them up too:

 

http://www.podisode.com/blog/guest-blog-gareth-evans-learns-to-race-part-1

http://www.podisode.com/blog/guest-blog-gareth-evans-learns-to-race-part-2

 

Ahhh, another HST fan :)

 

My favourite quote of his is still

 

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.

 

Makes me want to read fear and loathing on the campaign trail and hells angels again.. he is sorely missed.

 

And I now notice you have an ADHDTwitter account. bad bad man!

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This is a cheap and well sorted car, and Dermot is an honest guy and nice to deal with:

 

http://www.racecarsdirect.com/listing/37292/Modified_Formula_VauxhallOpelLotus.html

 

That's nice, but if I bought it I don't think I'd be able to get as much seat time as I'd like due to the budget required.

 

I went to see a guy about Formula Vee last week and I think taking everything into consideration that's the series for me. It's a good grounding, and allows me to learn proper race-craft and driving skills before adding aero later on. I had no idea how many huge names in racing came from Vee - so that has to say something about it I suppose. I'm still thinking, but it's likely I'll buy the car this week and arrange to go testing.

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Good luck with it, Formula Vee is indeed popular, but I couldn't stand the knowledge that the back and front suspension is just so, err, so bad..... :) They are a triumph of development over design though, you'll be into Z bars and weird suspension stuff in no time!

 

It's very much a starter series for me - I'm intent on following a route with more speed and downforce in the future but don't want to bite off more than I can chew straight away, both in terms of budget and skill level.

 

I've already done some reading about the Z bars :blink: now that is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

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If you download http://www.chriswilson.tv/mark.doc there is some excellent ifo on anti roll bars in general, and a bit on F Vee anti roll measures. Mark Ortiz is a consulting suspension expert, and you can sign up for his free suspension news letters, and he will answer questions. He is a true expert and legend, and has covered F Vee in depth in some of his earlier documents.

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Well, here she is. My new car. It looks slightly different now (pic was taken two years ago) but apart from some seatbelts it's on the button and ready to go racing.

 

Anyone have any suggestions for the cheapest places to get good quality racing clothing and helmets?

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Well, here she is. My new car. It looks slightly different now (pic was taken two years ago) but apart from some seatbelts it's on the button and ready to go racing.

 

Anyone have any suggestions for the cheapest places to get good quality racing clothing and helmets?

 

First Gav with that yellow/plastic monstrosity and now this? What's with our moderators driving anything *but* a supra?? :)

 

I assume you haven't been tempted by that mammoth Demon Tweaks catalogue?

 

So how do we go about buying Sponsorship space? :D

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First Gav with that yellow/plastic monstrosity and now this? What's with our moderators driving anything *but* a supra?? :)

 

I assume you haven't been tempted by that mammoth Demon Tweaks catalogue?

 

So how do we go about buying Sponsorship space? :D

 

One day I'll have another Supra. I hold them in such high regard - there really isn't another car out there like it. However, for the spec I'd want I'd need at least £20k to buy one out-right and around £70k to build one. Then I'd need a race series to make all that worth while, so things are just not stacking up in that respect at the moment. I've nearly bought several now, but luckily I've taken the plunge and bought a real racer instead.

 

That mammoth catalogue is interesting, but I can't help thinking it'd be cheaper elsewhere.

 

Sponsorship is something I'm going to look at, because last night the website that published my blog agreed to continue following my exploits as things move forwards. Hence - instant publicity to thousands of petrolheads each week for the company names on my car :D

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That mammoth catalogue is interesting, but I can't help thinking it'd be cheaper elsewhere.

 

Sponsorship is something I'm going to look at, because last night the website that published my blog agreed to continue following my exploits as things move forwards. Hence - instant publicity to thousands of petrolheads each week for the company names on my car :D

 

The catalogue makes a good prop to keep your laptop cool I found, but not much else - I always thought it was like a Halfords catalogue with a bit more stock.

 

See I was thinking more along the lines of Top Gear-esq sponsorships but then you have to go all sensible :)

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IMHO you need sponsorship to be competitive, in any race series otherwise the costs start to mount up.

 

Yep - I'm lucky in that I should be able to fund 2011 on the remainder of the cash from the sale of my Supra, but I'll be looking to arrange something ASAP.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Small update on this.

 

Yesterday I went to GPR at Silverstone and spent too much money. I bought Nomex underwear, a race suit, gloves, boots, a Bell RS3 Pro helmet and a HANS device.

 

Tonight I'm off down to Evesham to have the car fitted to me, then I'm ready to go testing.

 

Oh, and my blog about getting the race licence finishes here: http://www.podisode.com/blog/guest-blog-gareth-evans-learns-to-race-part-7

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