Macca

Hi Doug. All good points. Having never insured for a Targa Im not sure on the protocol here. I deal direct with Victoria White the executive underwriter at SAUL (Prestigio) and ensure I get everything in writing. In this case Doug I would revert to Ron in the first instance then call or email Victoria direct for written confirmation.

John. Good on you for doing your own spannering. You need to learn how to do your own wheel alignment next!

kiwi 911

And 4 x bathroom scales for corner balancing....
.

996tnz

For the mini Targa Tour (Ecolight Sprint in Franklin) I just confirmed my experience, that I would have their required monitoring of the speeds and requested confirmation of cover, which came through via email. For any non-competitive track stuff it's usually an agreed higher excess.

Some good advice again from Macca earlier too. I too get a regular revaluation done by CCS, which in insurance terms provides a 'genuine pre-estimate of loss' to compare against any later one the insurer does.

Photos are a good idea but I believe it is important to declare all mods to the insurance company as the disclosure requirement is one of 'utmost good faith' (meaning we basically must bend over backwards to inform them of everything that could be seen as affecting the risk they're covering). Otherwise I think we may leave yourself open to having a claim invalidated due to undisclosed aftermarket suspension or whatever. Some others here may know more about any limitations on the above but I sent them my list and they were fine with it.

A claim is always the true test of an insurance relationship and I hope never to go there, but I've found Prestigio to be brilliant to deal with to date.

Enjoy the Targa guys. BTW, anyone else looking to top up on domestic brownie points may want to think about taking the missus to Hamilton for Phantom of the Opera in the next week or two. We'd both seen the 'official' production in Sydney some years back and rated Hamilton's one higher - well worth the trip down and the B&B. Being the centenary of their Operatic Society they've put a lot into it.

mjg

That looks great. I had almost managed to talk myself of upgrading to GoPro 3s after hearing you all complain about the battery life, but there's no way my old GoPro 2 would've handled that light that well.

John McM

Thanks. The light was variable throughout the video. The GoPro redeemed itself well. The full length video had its sound track muted by YouTube . When my iMac is back in action I'm going to re-edit with some recorded exhaust noise. It already looks great on Peter's enormous screen but I reckon I can raise it another couple of levels.

John McM

I had a camber level on order, but then realised I needed two so I flagged it. They would have measured the camber pre strut removal and allowed me to approximate the camber post fitting. Past that I have no ambition with alignment. What I'd like for Christmas is a lift. That's a game changer.

Macca

That's funny aye. My experience is the opposite.

Ive made my struts really simple to adjust front and rear (camber plates with monoballs front and monoballs rear but with RS heater bypass and cone filter clear view and easy access top of rear strut mount).

Im constantly experimenting with camber and front toe now. Ive stopped playing with the rebound/compression and sway bars f and have two simplistic settings (road & track). Unfortunately I dont get enough regular track work on the same track to nail a set of perfect settings for a particular track and tyre but Im talking with Sean about a private hire of HD sometime this year for a test day to do that. Will let you all know what happens with that as a few like Matt & Steve etc may be interested. Id like to bring Peter Alder (annual leave?) and between us really get the car nicely set up for that track. It would be good to have Dean there too. Probably a mid week thing....

From there it will be logical variances depending on ease to change (probably in most cases just front camber using the plates and scale (not super accurate but i have locking pins to stop movement) and sway bars and compression/rebound on the PSS10. Ive bought a pyro thingy with digital pressure and temp compensation to get accurate data across the contact patch and identify the ideal front and rear camber and toe in.

Im 100% convinced the 993 even at a lardy road car weight can be set up to take the infield as quick as the later stiffer cars with modern chassis control. Now the brakes+pads are upgrades and until the engine sh*ts itself and need an 3.9L rebuild the focus for me is practice/seat time and suspension. If I can get the handling through the tight stuff set up sublime then an added 70bhp is only going to translate into significant time benefits on the straights and out of sweeper where currently the 993 performs only marginally better than a 964 and so far off the pace of even a stock 996 GT3 that its immediate "wave them by" territory!

Macca

Your timing was perfect John. The light is sublime. You must have got up there a good 30 mins before Matt, myself, Steve & co as the sun was brighter for us. A shot of my inside footage gives a different perspective but the light is much nicer in yours and the headlights make an interesting contrast. I think outside the car wins in this instance!

P.S. The Gopro 3 is definitely better at handling contrast than the earlier version.

Ive done some research that indicated the Sony AW100 offering is a step up again in contrast management and also packs vibration reduction both features I believe are of benefit over GoPro. Packaging is better and battery life is also supposedly better (it uses the same battery sony are using for all their camera gear now the BL1 - same battery you and I have in your compact camera Matt) which is handy. Lense should be sharper (Ziess). Lastly it is rain resistant without a housing which is great for using on outside of car!

However there are no doubt compromises. The most obvious one is built in microphone placement which is aiming forward with the lens. I am also unsure on the image quality. My experience indicates you cant make a decision on camera from a spec sheet so Ive bought the AW100 to use in the GT3 (its the same price as the GoPro) so I can compare the two.

I think if you are in the market right now for a GoPro Hero 3 you need to seriously consider the Sony AW100V as well. Its not all a bed of roses of course but the build quality looks very good and the roll bar and suction mount are VERY sturdy compared to the "lego" feel of all the GoPro mounts. These are super-sized brackets that can be tightened permanently with a screwdriver or twist (much better purchase by hand on the twist parts than GoPro). The GoPro brackets and mounts were a little sub par IMO. It packs 13.5 Meg Pixel with exmar R quality footage (if required), packs WiFi as well as NFC which is useful if you have android or next gen iPhone 6 (suposedly)....

gt38088

camber adjustment ?? try this little sucker
Used with IPhone or any smartphone app.
I have one and take it on targa.

gt38088

http://www.exe-tc.co.uk/smartphone-camber-gauge
sorry forgot the link

John McM

I was looking at this to allow me to run around for a while before going to Peter. http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/stru...e-p-12116.aspx

Macca

Bloody brilliant! Was it expensive to ship ex UK?

gt38088

John the main issue is knowing whether the car and particular wheel is parked on level ground to start with. If you only ever so the job in your garage and can park in the same spot all the time you can check this and use the tool you posted. The exetec hardware uses a downloadable app which can calibrate the measurement to whatever approximately flat (but not perfect) ground that you happen to park on. which is a big benefit if doing the job in the on the run.

gt38088

can't remember to be honest Macca. but not outrageous, Its a nicely machined and very solid piece of kit

gt38088

go look at the app - think you can download a sampler free