Blazin

I was boared at work and was reading the following article about the propsed F1 race track at Tissamaharama: http://www.autolanka.com/Article_read.asp?article_id=125 Does anyone know about the progress of the track? Is the first phase of the project completed according to plan? Even though it is unlikely, it would be amazing if Sri Lanka could host a Grand Prix. It would definitly raise the profile of the country. But there's one planned in India, so I think the chances of hosting a race in Sri Lanka as well are pretty slim. Considering the population and the endorsement opportunities in India are massive compared to Sri Lanka. Still, it would be cool to have a FIA approved race track in Sri Lanka for other motorsports.

At the end of the day, all this new technology will be brought in to the market only if there is customer demand for it. So obviously if everyone is preopared to accept the self drive cars, then the manufactures will bring out the technology. But in my opinion there are too many people out there who enjoys driving, so you will never get entirely self drive cars.

Yea I've considered them all. With the lotus, I can only get the one with the Rover K-Series engin, which is crap. And I don't really like the look of Z3. Honda S2000 is nice but too pricey, and got the same problem with the VTEC not being used in normal driving. Actually, for about £800 you can get the ECU remapped from Hondata to improve the low down thottle response on teh Type-R. So thats an option a swell. In UK, the Boxter has held its value quite well, you can get a 97 basic spec (ithink 2.5 litre) on efor about £10-11, but the 3.2S is M3 E36 money, and I'd always rather get an M3 instead. They are wicked, still very expensive here, but I guess with the new M3 4.0 litre V8 coming out, they prices might drop.

Yea I'm tempted man, i don't think i can find an average millage 330ci sport manual for 10 grand. Its hard enough finding a manual on its own. But I'll keep looking. I know its out there...somewhere!

Pericles, you are right about the Skyline man. Even if I learned to live with the Boy Racer image, the Gt-t doesn't look that nice. I don't know what it is but the Gt-R looks amazing! Yea japanese cars still have a bad image over here, even though they are so much better than the regular european car (apart from the Germans). The problem with the Mercs and the BMWs are that they have that snob factor. I think Audi has got the right ballance with their new range. My other option is to forget buying something new and spend the extra money on modding the Type-R. I've learned to live with that boyracer image now anyway.

Nah, Civic Type-R is 17. I think Integra is 18, as well as Accord Type-R. not sure bout s2000

Yea Jeremy Clarkson is a bit a of a geek. I'm think of spending about £10k max. I though I could get about 9K for my Civic but because of the new Type-R the second hand value of the old one's have dropped sh*t loads. Its worth about £7500 now! Oh man, the Alpha GT looks amazing but its still too new so way too expensive right now. And the 3.2 is pretty thirsty. I like the facelift Alpha 156 as well. Golf R32 are ok, only just slightly quicker than the Type-R but a lot less economical, and I don't think they handle as well. And I can't get insured on anything above Insurance group 17 till next July. So the Subaru's, Evo's, S4 and the M3's are out of the question.

Ha ha, yea that's exactly what I mean! And to make things worse the guy who I bought it off has put a noisy exhaust as well!

Yea its the E46. Man, you've got me thinking again. I'm never going to come to a decision over this! You are right, you can't compare the S3 with a 330ci, the 330 is on another level. Only thing with the S3 is that it can be tuned very easily to a sub 6 second 0-60. But then I won't be able to sell it on afterwards. And the other thing is Audi has a better image than BMWs, specially for young drivers. I mean look at the Top Gear 'Cool Wall' for instance, there isn't a single BMW on the cool side.

Yea, thats true, I think if I do buy it I'll have to keep it for a while. But if the engine's only done 7k then I can tune the hell out of it!

Apparantly, it was a problem with the cam belt. So I guess the belt must have gone and screwed the engine. I'm going to go and have a look at it and check out all the paper work to if it adds up. But even if its all coesher, I'm just worried that I won't be able to sell it on because of the engine change.

Yea its a great car for a diesel, but its way too expensive in the second hand market. But also, problem with diesels are you get all that torque but the high end power doesn't last long enough to use it properly because you need to change gears so quickly. Anyways, to further complicate things, I've been offered a 2000 Audi S3 for a lot less than the price of 330ci. The stock S3's not that quick (210bhp) but you can easily remap the ECU to 260bhp! My only concern is, its had an engine change but carried out by Audi under warranty. So the car's done 87k miles but the engine's done less than 10k. Do you guys think this will add to the value or devalue the car?

I've read quite a few reviews, but never came across the engine trouble issues. Thanks man, I need to look into that. I think a car with the sports package would be good, I test drove one without the sports package and it was a bit sloppy compared to the Type-R. And there seems to be so many autos around, so bloody hard to find a manual.

I am thinking of selling my Civic Type-R and getting something with more low end torque. I hardly use the VTEC these days. Its just not practical for every day driving. So my options are a 1998/1999 Skyline R34 GT-T or a 2000/2001 BMW 330Ci. Even though its slower (0-60 6.5secs compared to 6.2secs on the Skyline), I prefer the 330Ci because I think its more refined and looks better, and more economical as well. Are there any 330Ci drivers here who can shed some light on what the handling is like?

I know armoured cars are quite popular with celebrities in Europe, but I guess there are different levels of armouring. And i don't think the full bomb proof armouring is widely available in Europe. So I reckon the details of the full armored cars used by politicians is very sensitive information, and not many people will be able to find that sort of stuff out.

Nah man, Toyota will use some of the F1 technology in their new Supra. I don't think the GTR will even come close to it. Bt then again it needs to be affordable as well. No one's going to pay like £80k for a Toyota.

Even though its a pain in the ass, I guess there are bigger things to worry about in Sri Lanka these days.

Yea I think they 250bhp version will take at least another year to be released. But I'm sure they'll bring out the same version in japan as well, just like the current Corolla T-Sport is available in the Japanese market as Toyota Runx. I think the 2.2l 175 bhp diesel will be quite good to drive as well. The Honda Civic 2.2 diesel is only 138bhp!

Man look at the new Civic it looks sh*t, its a good thing the Auris looks nothing like it.

First drive of Auris: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/motoring...yota_auris.html Looks like Toyota are going to take on the hothatch market with 250bhp turbo charged version too. That should be interesting. Watch out Civic Type-R and Golf Gti!

For fuel efficient engines the oil levels should really decrease. But its worth checking now once in a while incase some damge causes oil leakage. But for high performance naturally aspirated engines you have to check the oil quite regurlarly. For VTEC, Honda recommends you check the engine oil level every time you fill up with petrol. And the more VTEC you use, the more oil it burns. Before I had mine serviced, it used to burn about 1 litre every 2-3k miles.

I've looked into it man, but it was a bit pricey when I tried to book it. And with the added servicing cost afterwards (brakes, tyres, clutch) I didn't think it was worth it. Also my insurance wouldn't cover any accident at the track. You never know with some of the nutters that go to these track days. But I'd still love to do it one day. Have you been to any trackdays yourself?

Yea true. I drive a honda but I'd go for a Toyota performance car anyday (if they made any). But now after a few seasons in F1 it seems like they are going to bring out a few performace cars. And the new supra looks like it will be sh*t hot! And hybrid's the way forward these days with all this global warming and climate change worries.

Yea man, i've got to start saving. Or wait a few more years for the proce to drop. I wonder what the market price for it would be? Its meant to compete with the Nissan GT-R, and I guess the top spec audi TT. By the I am not being serious about saving for one. It could be out of production by the time I get enough money together.

Guys, it is officialy time to put an end to all those new Supra rumours. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpr...e_a_hybrid.html Its coming out in 2008 in a hybrid version, and it looks phat! Lookout GT-R! Toyota are hitting the performance market, and its about time.