JetSet

Well, presuming it hasn't been cleaned during the past 12 months it will almost certainly have been subjected to bird poo which can easily attack the paintwork as it's fairly acidic and the purple stuff is very acidic. My RS Turbo was left out uncleaned for 12 months and the paintwork really suffered quite badly with dull patches and dull streaks where the bird poo had run in the rain. Pete

I paid £240 for mine from a member on here who'd bought them new from Alex and only had them on for 5 weeks. Pete

Every face lift car will have rear LED's, if this one doesn't have them then I'd want to know why, has it has a rear end shunt and the wrong lights fitted for example? Pete

Can't see history failing to repeat so Argentina or Brazil for the win. England to get through the group stage, just, but won't get any further than that. Pete Why not get further? If they get out the group they have to play one of Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast or Japan - actually I would say any of those teams is likely to be easier than either Italy or Uruguay? Just a hunch, during the group stages they'll suffer with the conditions, will be completely exhausted by the knockout rounds and all of our potential rivals are better suited to playing in hot conditions, especially Columbia and The Ivory Coast. Same goes for the other Northern European teams, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium..... Pete

Not going to express an opinion on this one but several countries have a Zero tolerance policy. It obviously works in Saudi Arabia, Oman, etc but how it works in The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia, I've no idea. Other countries are far more progressive than The U.K and I'd like to see these policies put into place. Stricter limit on Alcohol levels for drivers who have passed their test in the last 2 years and a very strict limit on certain drivers, ie, bus, HGV and Taxi drivers. Pete

Not going to complain about that. Some years ago, when the Tories first came to power and claimed they would end the war against Motorists (yeah right) they did come up with what I thought was a good idea, 2 points for minor speeding and a graduated scale up to 6 points for more serious speeding while retaining the right to ban someone for excessive speed. Pete

Can't see history failing to repeat so Argentina or Brazil for the win. England to get through the group stage, just, but won't get any further than that. Pete

This is the heart of the problem really. It's just a very arrogant stance that far too many people adopt "I'm a great driver, so it's O.K for me to use my phone while driving". I'm not highlighting you Dan, I'm just saying that you can't be in full control while using your phone, fiddling with your radio/Sat Nav, eating a sandwich, etc. 99.9% in control, yes but that isn't good enough, we need to get that figure as close to 100% as possible BY removing as many distractions as we can. Pete

And The Valiant too, over 100 built but I think there's only one complete non flying one left. Pete

Well that was fairly interesting .. Pete

Yeah, got stuck for ages at the 4 way traffic lights by Oulton Park today on my way to Sandbach. Didn't see any Zeds about but did spot 3 supercars in a lay-by in Middlewich. I didn't recognize any of them . Pete

I only need a 2 seater and so does Caroline. Situation changed slightly when our grand daughter, now 4, came along and her mum got a 3 year ban for drink driving. Means it's a little bit awkward if we want to take her anywhere. Have considered chopping one of them in for a 4 seater but.....no couldn't do it . Pete

Somebody in a passing "shed" shouted something detrimental at us at The Wales meet in Betwys-Y-Coed . Pete

It wasn't one of those new speaking ones though . Pete

Thanks for that, I finished up borrowing £20 from my step daughter who I bought the paint from, then transferred it back once I got home. BTW, paint was 100% legit, my step daughter's step daughter (complicated huh ) works at B&Q so we got the 20% staff discount and it was very expensive paint . Pete

O.K, Lloyds figured it was an ATM fault and the card has been cancelled, new card will be here in a couple of days time and I can get cash from my bank tomorrow. Cheers, Pete

My life got somewhat complicated today when an ATM decided to keep my card for no apparent reason . I'm in Sandbach with no money and my DTE reading 23 and it's 35 or so miles to where I live. Not only that but the only reason I went up there was to pick up and pay for some discounted B&Q paint. I have heard that some banks (I'm with TSB) will flag some transactions because they are out of your usual area but for goodness sake why keep my card? Anyone else experienced this? Got home and checked my account, plenty of money in there and I don't see any transactions that look dodgy. Have sorted it out with the bank after being put on hold for 30 minutes which didn't lighten my mood at all. Pete

Those figures above are not what I've been told, for example North Wales Police will send a notice of prosecution at 34 in a 30 limit, just ask Husky who got a ticket in Corwen on the Wales run (he posted a photo of the ticket). I also know of someone (my ex wife actually ) who got caught on The Aston Hill doing 58 and was not offered an SAC despite it being her first offense since she passed her test in the 70's. Of course, it could be something to do with the fact that she got caught again on exactly the same piece of road doing 60 a couple of weeks later, what a muppet. Pete

Yes, it really is futile changing your oil every 2,000 miles, it's a bit like taking a dirty £20 note into the bank and giving them £25 for a new one. Look, I worked for 25 years in the engine oil additive business as a chemist so I know just how many miles and how many years engines will run under all sorts of conditions and believe me manufacturers margin in a huge safety factor into their oil change intervals....should be changed after 5 years max though even if you only do a few hundred miles a year and of course you need to have the other servicing requirements done on a regular basis. Pete

I do quite a bit over 10% of my annual mileage over the 3 days of the Wales meet, around 400 miles out of an average of under 3,000 miles per year. Pete

Well blow me down, didn't think any would have made it as far as 1987 . Don't recall the one I drove being an auto, if it was then goodness knows how I got it home . Pete

Nice car, horrid wing. A bit steep for a 55 reg import, 6.8 -7.0k would be more realistic. Pete

Yes, I'm aware of it but it's still going to be a huge challenge. For example to satisfy America's current needs for gasoline they would need to set aside 47,000 square miles to grow the algae plus they'd need huge amounts of readily available water, which would rule out several areas that are already suffering water shortages. The U.S.A which is the worlds largest user of oil is also growing by 100,000 people per month Then there's the cost, it's estimated that with our current technology it would cost around $700 to produce a barrel of algae biofuel although this could be reduced to $300 in 20 years time which might get some of the big players/investors interested. With current estimates of remaining fossil fuels and potential new discoveries anything from 50 to 150 years, I don't see anything other than pilot schemes in the next few years. Pete

Ethanol, and other bio fuels are fine up to a point but they have drawbacks and aren't a long term replacement for fossil fuels at least on their own. The main drawback is that although its renewable we will never be able to make enough to satisfy future consumption. For example, if ever acre of agricultural land in The U.K was dedicated to producing biofuels for jet engines, rather than food, it would produce around 50% of the fuel needed for just The U.K's airports. In the States if every corn and maize crop was converted to Bio fuels it would provide 15% of America's current gasoline consumption. In other countries, like Brazil, it would lead to massive deforestation and further accelerate climate change. What we need is genuine renewable energy for the long term that isn't going to have a detrimental effect on our way of life, our climate and our food production...not an easy job, maybe impossible With the worlds population growing at a crazy rate and some countries barely able to feed themselves now, I dread to think what the future holds. Pete

There are no fixed speed cameras on The A55 and as mentioned the only mobile is where the limit drops to 50 through Colwyn Bay. The road is patrolled both by marked and unmarked vehicles who would pull you for speeding. North Wales police are very handy with their tickets, they send them out on a Monday (or Tuesday if there's a bank Holiday)....I know this because Caroline dealt with speeding courses for 12 months. Pete