CaptainSensible

Thanks for your comments. That's interesting because of all the kits out there the Caterham's are supposed to be the best quality, hence why they are so pricey. I'd never a expect a kit car to be anywhere near a mainstream car in terms of build quality (especially if I'd built it!) but I'd expect them to bolt together without parts needing altering.

After a couple of drives in Caterhams last year its really got me thinking about getting something similar at some point in my life. The bang for buck on offer is awesome, supercar performance for just a fraction of the cost. The thought of building my own car really appeals as well, although I have next to no mechanical ability (or tools for that matter!) I was up at the Autosport show a couple of weeks ago and was really impressed by the Westfield stand. I though the cars looked great, not a good as a Caterham but a good budget option. It's a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, I'm planning to buy a house this year (with garage) so not in a positon to do anything until then. So just interested to hear of anyone's experiece of building a kit car, escpecially if like me they had no mechanical knowledge before building. From everything I read the Caterham and Westfield Kits are just like big meccano sets which sounds like a lot of fun!

Mental. Probably would have been cheaper just to buy one!

These guys have a pretty good reputation. They have looked after me before, and a few others: viewforum.php?f=170

Good luck with the Caterham, let us know how you get on with it. I've been increasing tempted by a Westfield recently (the poor man's Caterham) as bang for buck nothing comes close to a 7 replica. Plus they are just so much fun to drive, makes the Zed feel quite stodgy afterwards!

Chesterfield for PM!

Hmmmm.. so at the moment the government is throwing money at pensions when really they should be watchin their pennies. Ive just been reading about pension credits, and if i understand them right, they are saying that a pensioner couple should get £240 a week (for example), and if their state pension is less than that, then they can claim pension credits to bring them up to the full amount. Pension credit is another VIP pass which automatically means you get full council tax benefit & housing benefit etc. And yet, we are saying that in 30 years time there will be no money left to give pensions. Whilst i know people are living older, surely the money we are paying in now should go towards our own pensions. If us "young uns" are paying for the current crop of pensioners, what happened to all the cash those pensioners paid in when they were young? Also, with the influx of millions of migrants into the UK who are all working, surely that means more people are paying tax / NI than ever before? Not exactly throwing money at pensions, but as the population gets propotionally older the current pension beenfits on offer for individuals will cost the goverment more and more. That's one reason why they've been trying to reduce their liability on public sector final salary pensions, but that's another debate. I'm currently 33. I've been saving into a pension for the last 10 years and am not anticipating a penny from the goverment by the time I reach 65. Either the state pension will have dropped to a laughably low level, or it won't kick in until you hit at least 70. Or both. So I need to have accumulated quite a bit of capital by then, hence my interest in the forum share tipping club.

I suspect by the time you retire (assuming you have 30 years or so) there will be very little money available for state pensions as so much of the population will be of pensionable age. So if you would like to retire before you're 70, you need to start saving ASAP.

The guys that already offer this kind of thing aren't stupid. They realise that if you let someone drive their car on the ragged edge that maintenance bills will sink them. That's why they place the restrictions they do. If you honestly think you can just over look this and not worry about damage/wear and tear you are living in cuckoo land. Sorry to be harsh, but that's the way I see it.

Down 16%, bugger. Classic buy on rumour sell on news. Hopefully porduction will start soon enough then the gains will really be made.

According to RRL's Twitter feed Puntland has officially spudded!

Where do you watch GT1? Sounds good but never seen it

Another strong day for RRL and RMP, could there be some Puntland news just around the corner?

Good luck with GKP lads, I sold out a while ago for a small profit but wish I'd held! Any idea why RRL isn't tracking RMP up today? RMP +17.5% RRL +1% Could it be due to tomorrow's option exercise at 7.5p? Hopefully more good news re Puntland soon.

Good luck with GKP lads, I sold out a while ago for a small profit but wish I'd held! Any idea why RRL isn't tracking RMP up today? RMP +17.5% RRL +1% Could it be due to tomorrow's option exercise at 7.5p? Hopefully more good news re Puntland soon.

Ouch Captain, that's some big old losses, but if you are still up since you started trading you are ahead of most people! I don't think it ever pays to look at the what ifs, no one ever times it perfectly so judging your returns against that is futile. I actually think for those with some spare cash now is a brilliant time to get into some bombed out stocks. Unfortunately I need to keep my assets liquid as hoping to but a house next year.

Too much mulled wine?

It's a pointless comparison on a wet day, but they aren't going to reschedule filming just because its been raining. Knowing Castle Combed fairly well, i'm pretty confident it would have been a different story in the dry.

I reckon Rules is done in F1, Sutil has got the be the favourite for his Williams seat. Unless Sutil signs for Lotus (pretty unlikely), then he could just live to fight another day...

Sorry buddy, I'm too impatient

It's perhaps a little early for this, but I for one have found the latest driver merry go round pretty interesting. Quite surprised about Torro Rosso dropping both drivers for next year and bringing in new blood. I would have expected them to keep Alguersuari, he put in some good performances last season. Really pleased that FI are keeping Di Resta. I think he had a good rookie season but he will really need to pull out the stops next season to show his worth. His performance in DTM show he's got what it takes to be one of the top drivers in F1, but then again there's been quite a few drivers who've been sucessful in other series who have struggled to shine in F1. We'll have to see. All in all its shaping up to be promising season, especially with the return of Kimi. I suspect the performance of the top cars will all be a lot closer, which should make the WDC all the more interesting. I still think SV will win though. Anyway that's enough of my ramblings for now. It's a shame only half the races will be shown live on the BBC, but I'll still be watching.

Key question really is what are you other outgoings? If you live at home and then don't pay much in the way of rent, bills etc. I'd say you'll be fine. It's definatley a fair step up in running costs through, tyres are best part of £100 each, it will eat brakes if you drive hard/track it, plus its a thirsty beast who only likes to drink 98 RON.

from Bristol

I've run them on the my last two cars with no issues. There must have been either a dodgy batch or he's talking nonsense.