chav

Thanks. Did it last? (the plating not the wife)

Hi Buzzer. Did you ever find anywhere to plate? Anyone else know of anywhere in Thailand?

I was treated to a fill of Nitrogen on a new set of track tyres. It was the first time and i was expecting as the theory proclainmed for the tyre pressure not to increase when the tyres got hot. I was disapointed as the pressure did increase. I didn't bother with Nitrogen again.

Who proclaimed the tire pressure not increasing?? It increases but not nearly as much and whereas regular air continues to get hotter and expand more, nitrogen stabilizes at a maximum temp far lower then plain air and does not continue to increase so maybe it was the operators lack of understanding and unrealistic expectations .. Wouldn't be the first time, of course you probably used it in a 5 or 8 lap race too in which case it's benefits are not as dramatic as it is over a longer stretch. As was stated earlier "it's a cumulative effect" and a few laps is not cumulative..

But that's ok you continue to use your air I love an edge on the track and maybe we'll meet out there some time and I'll wave at you on the way by!!

Too bad they don't allow FWD in the European classic series there are plenty of them around that are considered every bit as classic, but I understand that the RWD guys don't want to be embarrassed and have a chance to win at something on occasion ...

I saw the same rise in pressure as the air. Wasnt sure sure if it was due to a poor nitrogen mix. I may well try it again when I am better equiped and hav more time to study.

You are able to run FWD in retro (Pre '84 or '86, I cant remember), we have Minis running with us. It would be the Open RWD that they can't run in for obvious reasons.

look forward to seeing you there, nest round is 11th & 12th at Bira.

I was treated to a fill of Nitrogen on a new set of track tyres. It was the first time and i was expecting as the theory proclainmed for the tyre pressure not to increase when the tyres got hot. I was disapointed as the pressure did increase. I didn't bother with Nitrogen again.

There is an area good for pick-up bits near Lak Si / Viphawadi junction (just by viphawadi Hospital)

Bang Na KM12 will probably have parts too.

What is it you need?

Age, body type and engine?

My first FWD car was an '84 audi coupe. Big old 5 pot that looked great but was crap around corners and a pain to work on. Since then I have avoided FWD drive wherever and whenever possible.

Viva RWD ! (4WD is OK but a bit of an overkill)

Hi,

I have been bringing used engines into Thailand now for about 7 years. Most of these have been BMW. S14, S50, M52's and so on.

Engines & Engine + gearboxs brought in by themselves, i.e not mixed with other parts are taxable at 10%

There are plenty of tricks to keep the duty low also.

One thing worthy of noting is that you neet to register the imported engine with the Land Transport department so that it can be added to your / your customers blue book.

Engines are best shipped dry, so if you have a reliable person to drain, crate-up and lift the rest is easy.

Drop me a PM if you want any further help.

Cheers.

Perhaps some public service road safety / consideration infomercials on Television slowly help. 'The Don't Dazzle, dip your head lights' campaign in the UK is one I remember. There could be a 'Don't be selfish campaign', I've saw something similar in Malaysia a couple of years ago.

I've made that point to other ex-pats here when the subject has been raised, I think that it could work, especially if it was endorsed by a well respected authority (you know who I mean)

Quite a few years ago it was common place to be told during the day time that you were driving around with your lights on - especially whist on a motorcycle. It was common pratice in europe but deemed as totaly ridiculous here. Then one day an ex-PM suggested that for safety reasons it may be a good idea; particularly when running up the motorway the wrong way. Overnight the example set in this case by Malaysia was adopted by many. To this day it is still happenening. Maybe gradualy if other 'saftey tips' were presented by public figures things may gradually improve.

Farangs who think they are inherently better drivers than Thai people.

They are, on the whole.

At least farangs have been taught the fundamental common sense stuff that is totally missing from your average native driver.

There's one now; right on cue!

Add me to your list too.

I know some of the best drivers in Thailand and they mostly are Thais, they are racing drivers. The percentage of dexterous Thai drivers on the roads however compared to 'ferangs' is frighteningly low - the standard here is low, therefore by having better driving standards in 'ferangland' we qualify as drivers of a higher standard - arguably not automatically better drivers because road manors may play a role in that definition.

I was involved in modifying vehicles for the military. One of the mods was to add batteries to run coms equipment. We installed a switch and regulator system that would only charge the secondary batteries once the main one was fully charged. It would also protect the primary battery from running to low.

They use things like this on boats to.

http://bluesea.com/category/1/productline/overview/329

Funny idea, but yeah why not. We use it in the race cars for analysis. Upto four cams, recording on sd card, when full overwriting older files. Gives you also GPS position, speed, lateral and Longitudinal G's, drift angle etc.....

Most will use 2 cam equipment since it gets cost prohibitive, around 60k baht including data analyses software

http://www.videovbox.co.uk/

Hak

I have a GPS data logger which is good if you can be bothered to download and study the data, this however is great. Which one do you have the Lite or Pro? (one can never have too many toys)

I like the idea. Not only for the reason of recording incidents that we may be unfortunate to be involved in but recording other drivers acts for entertainment (and a bit of education) Imagine posting the stuff on You Tube, you know it could shame people (or a nation) into changing their road manors.

There have been cases however of drivers being prosecuted because of recordings posted on the web, not sure how the law treats such things here.

A traffic cop mate in the UK went round a corner to find a motorcyclist rolling around on the deck. The rider had promised his wife he would sell the bike after recording his last run. The cop found the tape and the rider got 2 years for speeding and reckless driving, the video showed him doin 160 MPH.

Chav, I'll run in "euroclassic" I need the points to be allowed to race in bansaen.... Will be a fun weekend with the supercars from downunder....

H

I missed the classics race how was it? As I was arriving your yellow monster was on its way back to bangers on a low-loader.

It was a great turn out, I have not seen that many down at Bira for a few years - its good to see the popularity increasing.

The NZ Super cars were fantastic to see, noise was awesome.

Agreed, and fantastic to put those pesky Toyotas in their place for once!!

Well to put them into 2nd and 3rd anyway.

At one point there was oil between S1 & S2 which took the toyotas of into the greenery, they were able to keep staraight and continue though.

Chav, I'll run in "euroclassic" I need the points to be allowed to race in bansaen.... Will be a fun weekend with the supercars from downunder....

H

I missed the classics race how was it? As I was arriving your yellow monster was on its way back to bangers on a low-loader.

It was a great turn out, I have not seen that many down at Bira for a few years - its good to see the popularity increasing.

The NZ Super cars were fantastic to see, noise was awesome.

I ticked the Tour bus catagory as those and heavy trucks have probably caused me the most instances of emergency breaking. Thinking about it further most of the accidents I see involve these vehicles too.

Second on the list would be Bangkok taxis and Airport limos.

I think you need to get the Monks round and do an exorcism - but not until you have repaired the leak first.

Are these guys allowed to just turn up and enter if they have not been racing throughout the season? Sure will make it a bit more interesting, maybe you can get them to take out the Toyotas

I think they have been invited (according to website) its a good PR stunt. They can race but no championship points - just trophies for the day if they can beat those Toymotors.

Can you please give directions from Pattaya or GPS coordinates....I looked at the website and the map left me a little confused as I am not real familiar with the area as of yet.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

Mike, this should help.

http://wiki.worldflicks.org/bira_international_circuit.html#coords=(12.9214895,101.00910545)&z=16

Also Bira site is:

http://www.bira.co.th/

dont forget our local heroes.....

H

I wasnt planning on running he..he.. are you?

Be interesting to see how Thomas gets on sgsinst those heavy weights.

This weekend (21st & 22nd August) at Bira circuit Pattaya will be rounds 5 and 6 of Super Car Thailand.

There is a delegation of New Zealand drivers with their cars racing to. It should be pretty interesting because these are the cars and drivers:

Craig Court - Ford (Spec car to confirm)

Cameron Jones - Mazda RX666 (4,000 cc turbo)

Andy Green - Jaguar XKR (6,000 cc engine N/A)

Lee Brennan - BR2 (5,400 cc engine N/A)

Malcolm - Dodge VIPER GTSR (8,000 cc engine N/A)

Wayne Wonder - Chevrolet (5,800 cc engine N/A)

Official website for super car is here: http://www.supercarthailand.com/main.php

And some details on the visitors here: http://www.motorsportlives.com/supercar-news-15.html

Well a quick grind with a die grinder will take care of that and should have been done were the dealer competent and had taken proper notice. I noticed however that EBC pads don't seem to come with a standard groove in them either? What's up with that?...

I would not advise that anybody should try to modify there break pads in any way and I would be horrified if any dealer or garage did so to.

ALL EBC brake pads are slotted and chamfered. They also feature a thin layer of abrasive for conditioning the disks.

Supercar schedule:

http://www.supercarthailand.com/schedule/

Touring cars:

http://www.gpimotorsport.com/prorc/2010hc.asp

I find this link very useful for knowing what is going on at Bira:

http://www.bira.co.th/n5-calendar.php?tpl=circuit&ch_id=2&dfMonth=08&dfYear=2010

If You want to clean the internals of a sludged up old engine use flushing oil.

And here is som info on brake fade:

If you ride a motorbike or drive a race car, you're probably familiar with the term brake fade which is used to describe what happens to brakes when they get too hot. A good example is coming down a mountain pass using your brakes rather than your engine to slow you down. By the First Law of Thermodynamics, as you start to come down the pass, the brakes on your vehicle heat up, slowing you down. But if you keep using the brakes, the drums or discs and brake pads will stay hot and get no chance to cool off. The next time you try to brake, because the brake components are already so hot, they cannot absorb much more heat. Once they get to this stage, you have to look at the brake pads themselves. In every brake pad there is the friction material which is held together with some sort of resin. Once this lot starts to get too hot, the resin holding the pad material together starts to vapourise, forming a gas. That gas has to have somewhere to go, because it can't stay between the pad and the rotor, so it forms a thin layer between the two whilst trying to escape. The result is very similar to hydroplaning; the pads lose contact with the rotor, thus reducing the amount of friction. Voila. Brake fade.

Read more: http://www.carbibles...l#ixzz0wkovkyhc

and the single most efficient way to avoid brake fade, is to increase rotors size and cooling

all brake pads I have seen past 2 decades have been slotted to let dust/gas/water escape easily

I totaly agree on the cooling for brake fade and I wish it was the case that slotted pads were the norm here, sadly the main dealers still sell one piece as the picture shows - looks like this one couldnt take the heat. (This is an OE pad)

all the Toyota and Honda pads (all fom Nissin) I have had replaced here since 2004 have been slotted

Tokyco same

You are fortunate, the pad in question (although I was avoiding identifying it) is a Nissin from a G7 accord.

And here is som info on brake fade:

If you ride a motorbike or drive a race car, you're probably familiar with the term brake fade which is used to describe what happens to brakes when they get too hot. A good example is coming down a mountain pass using your brakes rather than your engine to slow you down. By the First Law of Thermodynamics, as you start to come down the pass, the brakes on your vehicle heat up, slowing you down. But if you keep using the brakes, the drums or discs and brake pads will stay hot and get no chance to cool off. The next time you try to brake, because the brake components are already so hot, they cannot absorb much more heat. Once they get to this stage, you have to look at the brake pads themselves. In every brake pad there is the friction material which is held together with some sort of resin. Once this lot starts to get too hot, the resin holding the pad material together starts to vapourise, forming a gas. That gas has to have somewhere to go, because it can't stay between the pad and the rotor, so it forms a thin layer between the two whilst trying to escape. The result is very similar to hydroplaning; the pads lose contact with the rotor, thus reducing the amount of friction. Voila. Brake fade.

Read more: http://www.carbibles...l#ixzz0wkovkyhc

and the single most efficient way to avoid brake fade, is to increase rotors size and cooling

all brake pads I have seen past 2 decades have been slotted to let dust/gas/water escape easily

I totaly agree on the cooling for brake fade and I wish it was the case that slotted pads were the norm here, sadly the main dealers still sell one piece as the picture shows - looks like this one couldnt take the heat. (This is an OE pad)