Datsun makes it to the list again!

The reason this will be hard to make work in the US is the litigious nature of our country and high insurance costs. Sure, he can build the track, but can he make it as inexpensive to go for a lap as the real one? Probably not.

Too soon?

Where this really could help is in acceleration and top speed, or rather having both. It's all well and good that motors make all their torque at 0rpm, but that's no reason not to multiply it with a low gear ratio. I don't think a 5 speed is necessary given the wide operating RPM range of most motors, but there is an…

Yeah, alot of it is up to the metallurgy as well. There are ductile aluminum alloys and brittle ones. Unfortunately, alot of the stiffest alloys are also the most brittle. Factor in heat and machinability and it becomes a complicated question.

Eh, the same can be said for truly light forged or cast aluminum race wheels.

Motor efficiency is not as closely tied to RPM as it is to load, so I don't see this improving range that significantly.

I believe the rim on those was carbon, the spokes were aluminum or magnesium.

Sounds great, though I could use a little more rasp in the exhaust. That's just me nitpicking though

Fine with me. If he really wants/needs a licence that bad he can move to a different state as I'm pretty sure he'll be able to obtain one there at least after a certain amount of time.

If you'd like to see my Z project go here.

Fine on the Fairlady thing, but that definitely doesn't sound like a turbo motor. L28 or a something stroked in the 3.0-3.2 range maybe, but I'd be shocked if it were turbo.

Big day for me! I got the #2 suggestion and I own a 240z which is #1!

It's the fuel injector wiring harness, and its resting on the intake. If that is hot enough to melt wires/cause a fire, you've got bigger problems than wiring. Usually the part of that harness that crosses from one side to the other either runs under the intake or behind it and down...closer to the hot parts.

Awful, but it was only a matter of time.

I agree with both of you, and I know the color matching would be difficult with current plastics. I'm talking in an ideal world where our automakers had money to throw at development of bumper plastics, hence the moon comment.

599 GTO if only for the violence of the downshifts.

There was a period where I was driving a $500 95 Mazda 323 hatch and my buddy was driving an $300 BMW e28 with proper 80's super safety bumpers. Luckily my 323 was the low-spec version with the unpainted rubber bumper covers. I remember finding myself behind him at a light, him unaware of my presence. No one was…

I challenge the assertion that it having a useful bumper will negatively affect the general safety of the car. In fact, the mechanisms at play here in the effective 80's bumpers and modern ones are largely the same. There is a fair amount of energy, but it's orders of magnitude less than what is involved in a 30mph…

Messy? A little. Fire hazard? Unlikely, particularly on the cold side of the engine.