Quote from nmanley :

Based on your age and size you'll be very happy with the performance and handling of the new Kawasaki Ninja 650R

This is what I have. It could be too much power for a new rider, but at the same time if you're careful and have a healthy fear of death, you will be okay. It's a lot better than starting off on an all out sport bike. And the riding position is very good for practicing low speed riding too. Not an intimidating bike at all. I started on this bike and am happy with my decision. I keep playing with the idea of getting something with more power now, but to be honest this is plenty and I would get more satisfaction going faster by improving my riding than getting a quicker bike.

Quote from MonkOnHotTinRoof :

they have this:
http://www.jenko.si/optika_ccd.php
and this:
http://www.jenko.si/optika_3d.php

and they are supposed to be good

Having the right tools means nothing if the person doing the job doesn't have a bloody clue... I took my car to a place that just got brand new top of the line alignment rigs, and came out of there with a car that would understeer on left hand turns, and oversteer on right hand turns.... Turns out the alignment on the left side was significantly different in camber and toe to the alignment on the right side.

One thing a lot of people ask about the MX-5s is whether you should go for a 1.6 or 1.8, or if it really matters. A lot of people will automatically say "oh get a 1.8 it's got more power and it's faster!" but there's more to it than that. The 1.6s are sweet little engines, and rev nicely. The early cars they were in are nice and simple and light... With the 1.8 engine came modifications to strengthen the chassis, and the 1.8 cars generally weigh more. Straight line acceleration between 1.6 and 1.8 cars is therefore very similar. However, the 1.8 certainly feels stronger under 4000rpm than the 1.6. And the brakes are better on the 1.8s... and if you can find one with a Torsen diff, you'll be very happy... Personally if I were to start over again I'd find a 1.8 with a Torsen... I love my 1.6 and it's a lot of fun (especially in the wet!) but some extra torque and a Torsen would make the sideways action even more enjoyable

Anyway, just don't fall into the trap of thinking the 1.8 is better cos it's a bigger number than 1.6... test em both out and see what you like... Probably the difference in feel of a car in good shape compared to one that's in crappy condition will be at least as large as the difference between a comparable 1.6 and 1.8 anyway...

Quote from zeugnimod :

Then why did you feel the need to make a post in Jordan's thread or even read it further than the first post if you absolutely don't care?

Because he's an attention-whore and knew making a comment like that would stir things up.

Quote from lizardfolk :

LOL Carl Edwards incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgmyB1jy3J4

That's awesome Glad to see they have a sense of humour and ingenuity!

If that's true, that's some f***ed up s**t! Well I guess it is either way...

ATC - I'm still working on that comeback! Another day or so should do it!

I just found this

I didn't get the chance to see any of this on TV, but I found a few minutes of footage on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzpeK2FPWo

If anyone else finds any more footage online, please post up, would be interesting to see!

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I also love how you left out the high horse part, which tells me you agree with the opinion but don't like the stigma that comes with publicly admitting it.

No, I just left it out because it wasn't that part of the post that I was replying to, and I like to trim down the quotes to take up less space on the page. As I've done with this one...

For what it's worth, I wouldn't start an RIP thread myself, but when someone does, I respect the fact that they felt the need to share this with the people on the forum. Even if I felt that nobody should post RIP threads, I wouldn't mention that in an RIP thread, because I don't see what it achieves. I'd just not look at the thread and not post in it. But that's just me

Not a bad start! But I still feel he's not getting any recognition for posting negative comments in that RIP thread... Which has got to suck cos he did go to the trouble of posting several very negative comments in that thread! And Tristan is apparently unfairly getting all the heat for simply agreeing with the instigator

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I love how everyone is attacking Tristan when it was me who was attacking people who make RIP threads. He was, like a few others, just agreeing (sort of) with that I said.

Awe, are you sad that you're not getting attention in this thread and Tristan is? Must be tough... Come on everyone, lets complain about P5YcHoM4N so he can feel more valued by people he doesn't even know

It's ok, that chicane is one of the most difficult parts of the track! One thing to be careful of is when you make any input, make sure you do it smoothly. If you need to lift off the throttle and then reapply the throttle in that first chicane, doing so abruptly could actually make it more difficult to make it through there without any problems. So just smoooothly lift off the throttle and then smoothly reapply it when you can. You shouldn't need to brake there, so just experiment with adjusting the throttle and see if you can pick up some speed. Also, if you're at very high revs and the throttle is very sensitive, try the next gear up to see if it feels any easier to modulate.

Yeah I'm thinking of starting a thread explaining that I think there are too many pointless threads started these days.

Quote from durbster :

Koni shocks and springs. I was surprised to learn that what I thought were standard shocks were actually Bilsteins (painted black for some reason), so what I've been assuming was a standard Mazda car wasn't at all. I loved how it handled before but it was pretty awful over bumps and the rubber bushes were worn to MOT failure.

The new setup isn't as instantly responsive but I think the balance is better and there seems to be a lot more grip now. I have reached that conclusion because the seats are now incapable of holding me in properly

Cool I have koni yellows on mine, with stock springs. I put a racing beat from sway bar on the car, and with the stock rear sway bar this was about the most I could do and remain in the stock class for autocross. I was very competitive with this setup, although to be honest the stiff front sway bar and stock rear bar made the car less fun on the street due to understeer. So now I've added a racing beat rear sway bar too, not legal in stock class in autox anymore, but much more nicely balanced for the street and for autox and a lot more fun.

New shocks make a HUGE difference eh? I couldn't believe the difference in the ride and also how the car gripped in bumpy corners when I put the konis on the car...felt like a new car.

Quote from Töki (HUN) :

I felt that you would comment that Mazda

You are psychic I wouldn't have commented if I hadn't seen the roll bar... just thought maybe it's seen some track action!

Glad to see you still have yours durbster What springs/shocks did you get?

An MX-5 can go through a car wash, but you will get soaked Don't ask me how I know :P If the window seals are old and worn out, it can leak quite significantly. Even with new seals (I replaced mine last year) it will leak in very heavy rain, but for the most part it's okay.

But yes the MX-5 is a good bet...they are really very reliable cars, and cheap to maintain and fix. I've had my '90 for 7 years and taken it from 90,000km to 250,000km and it's not had a single thing go wrong with it. Yes, I've had to replace the clutch and shocks and do some other maintenance work of course, but it's not let me down once, and I'm not exactly kind to it

Quote from thisnameistaken :

This isn't a grief competition.

+1. Stupid and insensitive to try and belittle the grief someone is feeling because you have had something 'worse' happen.

Sorry to hear about your dog I was very sad when our dog died and still miss her now, and that was 8 years ago... I've almost not wanted to get another dog because you create such a bond, and know that it will end, it's sad...but as with so many things, much better to have had the experience and then be sad when it's over, than not experience it at all.

I like that you went from a big merc to a small mazda Do you track the MX-5?

Hmm, I am working on a good comeback...I will get back to you on that within the next day or two

The forum for LFS screenshots (edited or not) can be found here, for future reference And once you add some AA and AF, and turn off the HUD, as suggested, you'll be doing fine with the screenshots!

Yeah it would be easy to judge from the outside and say that other passengers should have stopped it, but from everything I heard nothing much could have been done given the situation.

And Canadians for the most part are very nice, but there's always the odd exception!

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Why do people always follow up offensive comments by saying "no offense". Here is a life tip, if you feel the need to say "no offense" at the end of a sentence, then it was offensive and if you didn't intend to cause offense you should of worded it differently.

I do agree though, the effect is not wrong, its just a little bit over the top and needs to be slightly toned down.

You're stupid. No offense...




On a more serious note, there is some fantastic work in this thread!!!

PS. I was totally joking ATC, please don't hurt me

Welcome! I'd say start with whatever car you're comfortable with, but the FBM provides close racing and isn't too difficult to get into. It also makes a lot of sense if you're aiming to race entry level single seaters in the future...

I'd start off practicing offline, get used to the car and just take your time building up your speed in LFS (I'm assuming you don't have a lot of practice currently). Once you're comfortable lapping consistently just go online and find a server. The standard of driving is often quite low in demo servers, so if you really want some good racing you might find a good demo server, or you might end up buying S2.

As long as you understand the limitations of a racing sim (no g-forces, lack of peripheral vision, limitations regarding physics etc etc) you can certainly learn quite a bit about race craft and driving technique.

Quote from bunder9999 :

give me a few days, i'll start another thread.

I know this sounds like a crazy idea, given how exciting it is to find reasons to start new threads around here lately, but you could just make another post in this already existing thread

Quote from frokki :

You could replace the headlights with scale models of the Smart Car, only improving the looks.
EDIT: Without making it worse i mean

I'm sure they'd be very excited at this design breakthrough, if only they didn't have issues with not having the rights to the design of the smart car!