Twistee

5 minutes ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

That’s the only thing with Pukekohe, it’s history, and unfortunately it has been under invested for many many years. Take away all the temporary tents, stands and facilities from the Supercars and what is left is pretty poor.

Not the best spectator track, with only certain small sections visible from each vantage point, with the back straight and hairpin (the best bits) only visible if you are a long way from everything else.

Great track to race on, if you don’t scare yourself at least once on each lap then you are not pushing hard enough!

With the Horse Racing Club being the landlord and the motor racing circuit the tenant it was only going to end one way, and that writing has been on the wall since Hampton Downs opened.

Totally agree, for me it's rose tinted. The track is epic and teeth shattering in places, it floods routinely despite all the drainage improvements and getting out of the elements is not possible at the best if times. Time stands still for no one, and the operating cost must be huge. I'm surprised it survived this long, there have been a few times where it looked like track was done for. 

I'd be up for one of the play days, they seem to be on the calendar for the next few months. Possibly something others would also be interested in?

Many people like myself have a lifetime of memories associated with Puke. My earliest memories stretch back to 1985 and the Nissan Sport 500, I was 6 or 7 at the time and my father who was a motorsport nut and car collector ended up with VIP tickets into what was quite a fancy grandstand at the time. In all fairness when you are 7 years old and you get to go into a catered area at a motorsport event everything seems pretty fancy. Looking back I was fortunate to have attended some crazy motorsport events as a kid outside NZ, but going to Puke was something that cemented the dad and lad relationship and I was lucky to have many fond memories of being burnt senseless (because dads are great at packing the basics...) while inhaling a heady mix of leaded fuel, roasted clutch, brake dust and tire smoke. 

Fast forward to present day and I've been lucky enough to take my daughter to the last two Supercar events at Puke, and while she loves the noise and spectacle of the cars I suspect she loves the hot chips drowning in tomato sauce even more. While Puke has been on borrowed time for years it is sad that we won't be making any more memories there, either driving or watching - and horses don't count. 

The Unitron Computer M3 sounded epic. 

On a side note, I left the M5 at home as I didn't want to deal with the stress of parking it in a paddock (for anyone that has not been to Puke during race weekend every local farmer within walking distance is selling off street parking). An hour after arriving at Puke my wife messaged me to say she had to go out ASAP, having never driven the M5  she got a crash course on how to operate an SMG in 5 text messages and a video link . 

I think they are good value, especially if you go in aware of what the possible issues are. Agree they are an oddball, but I think they are a long way from the worst looking thing to come out of bmw design. Welcome along.

It's compulsory to grow old, it's optional to grow up.... 

Pretty hard to not feel like the system is broken right now. God forbid anyone would ever entertain the thought of having an adjustable silencer, not like that has been a factory option on countless cars for years.... So much of the cert law just seems to be a knee jerk reaction. 

Regarding bikes, I can handle just about any straight piped bike other than a Harley. There is something about them that is just brutally obnoxious, and the whole idea that a Harley is somehow an all out  performance bike and all other brands are so called "crotch rockets" speaks volumes about the interesting owners. Possibly the idea that bike exhausts with a factory db stamp on them seem to get through all manner of inspection, yet the moment you touch a car exhaust the cops are on you as a boy racer. 

Had a MacBook air for years and it was fantastic as a couch surfing machine, but apple definitely realised people were holding onto them as they were great and did the typical software update kill off routine in the name of security and battery life. End result no more crapple in the household other than the wife's company iphone and that is a connection pos. The lack of user serviceability of apple laptops is a deal killer for me.

I've had those types of mats in two cars and they are great for me, I have a red chip driveway and fill the interiors with stones in no time flat. I  understand they are not for everyone. They are great for catching everything and cheap. 

Love the floor mats

Don't rush buying an M5, don't limit yourself to what is on TM right now - none of those come close to JUN's one, at a bare minimum why not pony up for a flight to Wellington and see what a mint M5 is like in the flesh before looking on the open market. If you do convince his wife to part with it I will take my finders fee in petrol vouchers . 

YOLO Baby!! You don't buy a v10 anything because it makes sense to the banker. 

Call Racebrakes and talk to them about disc/pad options. And possibly look at brake ducting upgrades.

Ideally lowest km with a service history, LCI is more than just cosmetic and there are hardware improvements on the S85 that came with the later built cars. As long as you have a warranty and are not going in blindly thinking that your case will be different and the car will be mint with the bare minimum of maintenance then you will be fine. There are plenty of us with E60/E61 with good ownership experiences unlike what the majority of keyboard warriors will have you believe, the common link is that we all feed the beast what it needs. They are a supercar, don't for one second think you are buying a high powered Camry.

@Jun was looking at selling a while ago, and that is a well sorted car that ticks all the boxes.

7 year old just had a brain fart and walked a soft art pencil along a recently painted wall. Then tried to rub it off with her finger...... Open to ideas on how to remove graphite from a low sheen wall paint without damaging the finish.

Congrats, I don't envy anyone selling a car these days. The same platforms that are meant to make it easier to sell seem to have the opposite effect. 

I went through 3 mid range Karchers and a Nilfisk before buying a cheap Bosch. The Bosch has lasted for three years with no issue. I still can't believe it outlasted machines 3 times the price. Only thing I don't care for is the car wash gun foam kit. That aside for the price I can't fault it. I still use a big petrol blaster for heavy work, everything else it's the Bosch. 

That looks great, it's a pity that we pay a premium for some things though. There is a CAT branded heavy duty 12v power supply that does all the amps on a dolly for under $100 in the US, but they are way more over here. They are the perfect tool for keeping the battery going when coding or fault finding, and seem to be the go to overseas. 

It's just an OEM style filter, I don't see any issue with it. Pretty sure I've used far worse.

Is it worth the premium? Guess that's up to the market, and right now there are non comp spec versions that are turning over regularly for far less. There are plenty of people who are over extended financially trying to liquidate toys at inflated prices at present, not saying that this is the case here but it doesn't take much of a look around TM to find plenty of examples. 

Reading the owners question reply I think they will be keeping the car. 

Parking Distance Control 

26 minutes ago, KwS said:

I believe the NZ new cars not having cats was due to us having sh*t/leaded petrol at the time, which would kill a cat. My M3 was NZ new catless and didn't even have o2 sensors. 

Cheers for the correction, I had forgotten all about the wonders of leaded fuel. 

If you put up the vin into one of the online vin docoders it will give you the build spec. Or put it up here and we can help out. Cat delete removes the factory catalytic converter / smog kit. Why? Expensive and not required everywhere by law. I bet when this was new a cat was quite a pricey piece of kit. I would be surprised if this had the delete.

Good luck, I hope it all works out. There is a Monaco blue one that was a barn find that I missed out on that sold for under 2k, it needed the fuel system refurbed and a clean. It has been for sale for the past 6 months on and off with no takers since being cleaned up. The e34 market is a bit all over the place at the moment. That said, you have a low km car which will help - BUT it came from HK and that can stand against it as many buyers see that as a long term electronic nightmare due to high humidity exposure. I'm sure what ever happens you will get more than what you would have traded it for, and if it's still around in a couple of months I'll be in touch.