Tim Trott's Blog
The weblog of an amateur Astronomer, Photographer, Programmer and car enthusiast.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Cars category.
Sunday 18th May 2008
On Saturday 17th May 2008 over 2000 Japanese performance cars descended on the small Wiltshire village of Castle Combe to take part in the annual Japfest show hosted on the circuit. As well as club stands from every major owners club, there were stands from some of the top tuners and trade stalls with lots of shiny bits to buy.
Although the skies were overcast (and very dark at times) the weather stayed dry and we had a great day, although it wasn’t as good as previous years. Driftworks put on two drifting demonstrations, most of the owners clubs had track times and thankfully there was nowhere near as many accidents this year as last.
During the day I managed to take over 1630 photos filling 2x 2GB compact flash cards and a 1GB card shooting in JPEG format, I have since whittled that down to 124 pictures which you can see in my Japfest 2008 pictures gallery. A small selection of photos are attached to this post as a preview.
You can also see my Japfest pictures from previous years: Japfest 2007 and Japfest 2005
Attached Thumbnails
Comments: No responses yet
This post is filed under Events, Photography, Trackdays by Lonewolf at 1:45pm
Ice Crystals on the Roof of my Skyline
Monday 11th February 2008
As I went out to the car this morning, I was greeted with a sheet of ice all over the windows, then I noticed the sun glistening in this beautiful crystalline formation on the roof. I just had to take a picture to share (see attached).
Attached Thumbnails
Comments: No responses yet
This post is filed under Nissan Skyline by Lonewolf at 4:02pm
Friday 1st February 2008
After a lot of thought I have decided to release a few pictures of what was left of my Honda Civic after the car crash I was involved in two years ago this month.
In February 2006, as I was driving home from work down a quiet B road after my late shift had ended (11pm), an oncoming driver lost control of his vehicle and ended up on the wrong side of the road, on a blind corner. Both my car and the oncoming MPV were doing between 55-60mph which resulted in a combined impact speed of 110mph I was hit head on.
Luckily I’m still here to tell the tale and still recovering from my injuries which you can read more about here.
This is what’s left of my Civic, not a lot. I didn’t see the wreck myself, but I’m told that there wasn’t a straight panel to be found. See how the exhaust is flattened? That was due to the car lifting off the ground during the impact and landing with considerable force. The boot lid is a few inches clear of the rest of the bodywork, as are the doors; the whole car is banana shaped.
Attached Thumbnails
Comments: One response so far
This post is filed under Car Crash, Injury and Recovery, Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 9:03pm
Saturday 17th November 2007
The Skyline must be feeling a little unwanted as I haven’t driven her since my wrist operation in September. She has been treated to a full check over and service ready for winter at Abbey Motorsport. My brother-in-law was kind enough to drive us down and back over two weekends.
While she was at Abbey, I had new brakes fitted all round - DBA discs with Ferodo DS2500 pads on the front and standard GTR pads on the rear. I also had the brake lines replaced with Nismo braded lines for added braking efficiency - the GTR is a heavy car and needs all the stopping power it can get.
I have also finally had the exhaust gas temperature gauge replaced. The old one broke about 8 months ago, so now I am using the VeilSide gauge I purchased at Japfest 2007.
(Un)fortunately Abbey found the cause of my faulty boost gauge - the heater core was leaking coolant onto the electrics! This incurred extra cost as they had to dismantle the climate control to replace the entire heater matrix. While they were at it I asked for a full air conditioner service and recharge. I also had to have a new boost controller fitted to replace the soggy one.
I have also fitted (myself) Piaa silicone windscreen wipers ready for winter and new Piaa Xtreme Cool Blue White Light headlights so I can see driving down the country lanes on my way home from work.
Now I have my GTR back on the road, I can start saving up for the next service!!!
Comments: No responses yet
This post is filed under Nissan Skyline by Lonewolf at 8:45pm
Thursday 5th July 2007
It looks like the 2008 F1 season will be a non starter as Microsoft have just been selected to supply the ECU’s for all the F1 cars. Anybody who uses Windows operating system can vouch for it’s frequent crashing and error messages, so this should make the season a bit more exciting - Who will be the first to start their car?
A cars ECU is the computer responsible for all engine electronics in the car such as injectors timing, fuel pump, spark timings, abs etc… Without the ECU, a car will not function. Modern ECU’s contain a 40-50mhz processor, which may not sound fast compared to home computers, but the processor in a car is running much more efficient code. Microsoft = Efficient Code?
Will “Pitstops” renamed “Reboots” and will take three minutes: “Windows has detected a change and needs to reboot…!”, Will the pit crew be replaced by paperclips? How are the teams going to add “Ctrl, Alt + Del” to the steering wheel? Drivers must now be prepared for the message:
You have turned the steering wheel, Microsoft requires you to restart the car for changes to take effect.
And finally, not only will teams be working out tyre and fuel strategy, but also counter virus and counter hacking strategy as well.
BSOD: DRIVER_IQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Comments: No responses yet
This post is filed under Cars by Lonewolf at 2:17pm
Road signs ‘lost’ on many drivers
Friday 8th June 2007
According to a new survey, many British motorists are lost when it comes to understanding common road signs. Some 67% of the 2,500 people polled did not recognise “no through road” signs, and one-third could not identify the sign for “no motor vehicles”. Fewer than 33% knew what a “no cycling” sign looked like and one-third were confused by height restriction signs.
Vauxhall’s poll found drivers would like to see signs such as “cash machine nearby” and “urban foxes crossing”.
Full Story: BBC News Website
Is it any wonder that Britans roads are chaos? We live in a time where, it seems, anything goes. As far as I am concerned, these drivers should be taken off the road to study the highway code and then take the driving tests again. Do these people know what the national speed limit is I wonder? or for that matter a circular sign with a large 30 inside?
Comments: No responses yet
This post is filed under Cars, What is the World coming to? by Lonewolf at 8:04am
VeilSide Titanium Teardrop Exhaust
Wednesday 23rd May 2007
I bought a VeilSide exhaust at Japfest last Saturday from Nemesis Performance trade stand (with a huge reduction in price) and it has just arrived. 
We spent this evening fitting and testing it, we had a little problem with one of the hangers being not high enough but we got around that easily enough. It has a loud, deep burble on idle which I love, it sounds great on full throttle and the overrun is fantastic (pop, pop, bang!, pop, bang!) however for a daily driven car the normal cruising speed is defining inside the car :(. I am looking at getting a silencer insert for it as will as sound deadening in the boot (which I will first have to make water tight as it leaks - what is it with Jap cars and boot leaks :roll:)
Just waiting for a dry day where the engine is cold to install the VeilSide Exhaust Temperature Gauge.
Comments: 3 responses so far
This post is filed under Nissan Skyline by Lonewolf at 10:46pm
Thrills and Spills at Japfest 2007
Sunday 20th May 2007
Japfest is one of the UK’s largest gathering of Japanese Performance vehicles, and this year was set to be the biggest Japfest ever. There were plenty of high performance cars on show, including Ten of the Best, Driftworks and loads of other power cars.
I have only previously been to one other Japfest in 2005, in which car clubs were the main emphasis, however this time it seemed to be more on the tuning companies and track shows. Not that I’m complaining mind you, we all love to see the Driftworks gang tearing up the tarmac!
A few spills this year, the first I saw was a Honda NSX spinning into the tyre wall then rolling over. Good job Honda’s are safe as it was a fast impact. Car is a write-off but luckily the driver walked away seemingly uninjured.
Zen performance were looking very fast on track until the scooby engine blew up in flames, not sure what happened as we only saw the smoke. Everybody looked OK though which is the main thing. Only a few minutes after they had cleared that up another car decided to catch fire in exactly the same place - this time it was the Whifbitz RX7. Shortly after that another one went up in the pit lane. We don’t know what that was though.
Trade stands were packed all out, but I did get a load of Meguiars stuff and I managed to secure a VeilSide Titanium “Tear Drop” exhaust for my GTR as well as a VeilSide Exhaust Gas Temperature gauge to replace my faulty Blitz gauge. Now I have no money 
With all this action going on, plus all the show cars I took over 900 photographs on the day, filling up four CF cards. Took all of Saturday evening and most of Sunday to process them! So head over to the gallery NOW to see my Japfest 2007 Photos.
Attached Thumbnails
Comments: No responses yet
This post is filed under Events, Nissan Skyline, Trackdays by Lonewolf at 5:13pm
