PHG

A question..how many of those that started on Z221's or equiv are happy with overall/road/track..how they going on the long haul..

John McM

Just done 4,200km on my Z221s. I'm glad I brought them on the tour. Four track days totaling maybe 600km so far. I expect to get another 3 or 4 track days out of them and maybe another 1,500km.

PHG

great pics doug..you just gotta love those **** down, nose up sheer grunt 996TT shots...!!

PHG

they have lasted well the, John.. Not too noisy on the road?
Great pics of your car today..you are getting the best out of it by the looks of the pics

John McM

Noise is relative. They are definitely noisy when absolutely new but the ridges wear down and they become quieter. I find then comparable or even less noisy than road tyres on chip seal.

ChrisB_NZ

I fitted a new set of the Dunlop equivalents of 221s at Queenstown and did all the road driving and track work on them from there. Great on the track, no noise on the road, couldn't hear anything but the stereo and engine! Rear tyres completely bald now though.

Maxem

Had a big day at the factory today. Tour was excellent and strung out to 2.5 hours. Laid eyes on a few lovelies behind the factory gates and I don't just mean the office ladies. A dark green 918 Spyder (moving under electric power sadly and not the best colour), the new Macan and quite a few sorry looking 991 GT3's getting dusty. I resisted asking about rod bolts while in the engine shop. Museum was OK. The mix changes and not as good as my last visit, seemed to be a bit empty. Favourites were a 911T/R, an orange 74 RSR and a 74 2.7 narrow body but with the then new 3.0 turbo engine as a pressie for Frau Piech. Great news, I did solve the mystery of the cracked floor tiles. Last time I was there just after opening, every floor tile in the place had hairline cracks which I thought must have been part of the effect. Turns out the floating building and a new generation tile weren't compatible. The whole lot was relaid. Interesting aye?

Sun Ra

Thanks Doug,

My new GT3 should be delivered in AKL in time [was supposed to be this August, but it sounds like the new engine fix will cause major delays] for my March drive to Wanaka next year, and having never been your pix are very helpful for picking the routes! Awesome pix. thanks Watt

John McM

The journey is all but over. Total is 5,247km. Doug will have at least another 1,000km on that. All cars survived. Now awaiting transport pick up.

John McM

Autothority is hiding some old girls

O2GO

Currently onboard the 2pm Interislander. Decided to take the Inland Kaikoura Road which adds hslf an hour yo the SH1 route to Picton. I'd never been through this way before. It's a pretty hood b-road with both flat straight patches and switchbacks. One 15kmph corner. Lots of single lane bridges over lovely typical South Inland streams. It wasn't mountainous like I thought it might, just large hills and almost all farm land.

My plan is to leave Lola in Wellington for a couple of weeks and fly home until Jan and I return for our annual Easter tour. We're being joined by Jan's sister and husband from Dunedin on their BMW tourer bike to explore the West Coast from Wellington to Cape Reinga, then the East Coast all the way down to Waiheke Island.

We've covered 6,210km thus far with about another 1,500km to go. With the NI Targa Tour coming up we are getting a lot of car time for the first half of 2014! Lovin' it!

John McM

Good one Doug. The Distance King by a large margin. Chris and I flew into Auckland on time. Picked up our cars from Contis and went past Peter's place just as he was paying the Taxi. 996TT is running well.....

Having some time I took the RUF Bilsteins to Autolign. Both struts will have new shafts done. One week turnaround. Cost is roughly the same as buying new, however I want a matched set. Live and learn. Laugh is when I said I should have gone coilover the guy said don't go PSS9 as they're made for European roads. I asked if he was related to Peter Booth!

gt38088

Great weather, great pics, great tracks, great spirited driving on track, great company, Great cars and No breakages, couldn't ask for anything else.

Macca

^^^^^ +993

John McM

Agree, couldn't have asked for any more. Just transferring all of the pics and footage to a storage device. Took 5 hours for directly connected devices to transfer the data. Just on the iPhone there are 2,657 pics and videos. It will take a while to sort through this lot.