rtbiscuit

Well I just caved today and bought a titanfall edition Xbox one bundle. Thought now seemed to be the best time before they sold out and the only cheap option would be without Kinect or the game. Should arrive nicely in time for half term.

I run the 20 inch wheels, its a harder ride, but still built for cruising. The smaller 18s are very good and make for a very comfy ride. Jag front seats are uber comfy. I bought mine in Edinburgh and drove it back to Suffolk. Spent 12 hours in the car. And I could quiet easily have driven all the way back without any discomfort.

Have loved my xkr, its like driving an arm chair, my mates call it the Luxor-barge. I stick it in drive and leave it there. Does it all for me. and has been a god send with my dodgy knee.

There are 2 different boxes, one on the xkr and one on the xk8, from memory, both are Mercedes boxes. And both are pretty solid and reliable. Both boxes are supposedly sealed for life. But they can be oil changed. And that's the biggest thing. They need to have had a gear box oil change after 80k. If they have had the oil changed every 60-80k the box should outlast the car. The auto is good but it is old and a bit clunky, with the v8 their is a bit of a shunt, and the observations you make are pretty standard. With regards to the car and issues, the main thing to look for is if the timing chain pensioners have been upgraded. And have a look at the rear quarters and arches where metal meets bumper for sings of corrosion, and a peek underneath at the footedly floor pans. If your interested I've done all the big jobs on my xkr and I'm supposed to be selling it with the twins soon to go into nursery.

I teach kids to weld, its not rocket science, decent kit and a bit of practice anyone can weld with MiG both MiG and oxyacetylene have charts setup to tell you the settings for the materials. TiG takes a bit more skill as does ally gas welding, but basic welding is just that...basic

Most of the kids I see drop out/give up are more than capable of completing the work, they just chose not to, and most refuse to take responsibility for their own actions and attitude. Far easier to blame the system, than to own up to the fact they wasted their own opportunity.

History is what happened till yesterday and can't be changed, tomorrow is the future and any decisions I make can either help or hinder me and my family's fortunes. Maths and English are the important subjects, if you can't communicate and calculate your boundary's are restricted. Success cannot be measured in money volumes, it is measured in lifestyle and personal happiness. history is more than just facts, its the ability to look at information and beable to make educated judgements about the information presented to you. Its about being able to understand how we've got to where we are on an international scale. Its being able to distinguish between weak evidence and strong evidence. I'm all for STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education, but all the other subjects help to build a round curriculum and student. As I tell my students; English maths and science are core subjects, everything else is complimentary. Get your C's in the core subjects, and all the other subjects are there to help boost your overall A-C. Doesn't matter I have a levels and a degree, I couldn't get into teaching without a C in English maths and science. Want to join the police force.. where do you think they want the C grades, same with most courses, colleges, and the military. All those other complimentary subjects help you strengthen your core subjects. Put them into action, practice them. The more you use them, the better you get. If you cut the curriculum right back, you'd have very 2 dimensional students

so true that! Only a few degrees instantly give people access to reasonable wages, I'm thinking teachers, Dr's, lawyers. But then all of them also have to do years of further and continuous training to earn those 60k plus figures. I started my teacher training by doing the GTP (teacher version of an apprenticeships) so I have no PGCE, but I do have QTS. My initial salary was just about 14k before tax. Once qualified it only jumped to 20k. And its been a slow hard slog up the ladder. I'm now in a management position after 8 years of teaching, and I probably earn 10-20k less a year than all my mates from uni who didn't go into teaching. But I love what I do, I'm home in time to see my kids before bed. I'm around at the weekends, I have time off when my kids eventually will. I still do loads of hours un paid, but I do it because I like what I do and I like to see my students succeed. And I'd like to think long after I die, my students will be teaching their own kids the skills I taught them and I shall live on long after I've shuffled off this mortal coil. Never going to be a millionaire, but I've come to terms with that, and I'm content.

This is an urban legend, apparently bill gates 11 rules speech. Although its fake, most of the points ring true ----------Whether you like Bill Gates or not...this is pretty cool. Here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished out at a high school speech about 11 things they did not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teaching has created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world. RULE 1 Life is not fair - get used to it. RULE 2 The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. RULE 3 You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both. RULE 4 If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure. RULE 5 Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping they called it Opportunity. RULE 6 If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. RULE 7 Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. RULE 8 Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. RULE 9 Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time. RULE 10 Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. RULE 11 Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

The amount of people who get a degree and think they can walk into a 60k a year job are deluded. Even with a degree, everyone starts at the bottom. A degree is just a key to a door. It allows you to network. And sadly with many things in life people soon learn that its not always what you know, but who you know. And in some accessions the uni you went to can be that connection.

Video is good in theory, but fatally flawed. Yes the people he mentioned all made it without a formal education. But of all the people in all the schools who drop out or don't make it; they probably count for less than 1%. How many who dropout end up on the dole, how many never make it past basic menial jobs? Yes there are many who do well, and who progress faster and better outside the system. But compared to those with a good and progressive education still not as many. Also bear in mind all the people mentioned did well in a climate where work was far more available, jobs were easier to walk into. We have degree based people in menial jobs as there is so much competition for jobs. Degrees are common place and no longer hold the elite door opening key they used to. The key now if you go that route; is the eight degree from the right university. I'm a strong believer in apprenticeships, but not just for the weak students, we should be sending our a grades on them as well. As a teacher I'm more than aware that the GCSE system is only suitable for probably 80% of the students. But the issue is aspects like league tables, Ofsted and competing for the best students locally means that education is skewed to passing exams to get the best results. Before education can change the political system has to change. With regards to subjects like history, English and RS, etc they are all designed to develop well rounded and culturally aware students, that can look at information, weigh it on its own merit and make their own decision on what is right. Like it or not for many kids in the system, school is the most stable element in their life, and with more and more of the parenting being done by the system. School is more than just an education system. Its a family network and support structure. I teach design & technology, and yes I teach a lot of practical skills, behind most of my lessons is the teaching of how to solve problems. And how to think independently. And the likes of PE, teach the interpersonal skills and leadership they'll need in the future. As well as trying to keep them fit. Like it or not, we're competing on a global market, and with the likes of china having a gifted and talented number of students that exceeds all our kids put together, starts to put into perspective how hard the future is going to be for those without an education. This might put things in perspective

Always liked the Z4M coupe, very good cars, would pick it over the 350 every time. Better interior, lighter, better balanced, faster, I could go on.

Audi S4 the older one with the twin turbo 2.7 litre engine, not the later V8. Scooby setup, but a decent interior

http://paragondesignuk.com/

The only guy I know up that way is a jaguar specialists called paragon design, top guy, I drive all the way up from Suffolk for some things. But I reckon if you rang him he'd work on a zed. Tell him Richard from Suffolk sent you.

But you can get a titanfall edition for £390 which gives you a game and connect for £40 more?

Arr boooo will get you the dimensions this week all being well Excellent thanks man hope we hear something good spoke to him earlier, apparently they do it all in house. He's got a good vinyl guy. I've sent him this link and I'll see what he says.

4.2 litre and £zero....... Couldn't find an even smugger smiley. sadly the only downside to jaguar ownership is spending more than double the purchase price fixing it

20's do work on a zed, but only once lowered and a bigger brake and caliper kit fitted. Without it the discs look lost in the wheel. And gives that cheap modded Corsa look. I run 20's on my XKR, but to combat the weight issue they are a 2 piece forged split rim wheel from BBS. and the upgraded 355mm discs and 6 pot callipers. The difference in price for forged over cast wheels is big. Tyres cost a fortune the jag recommended setup of Pirelli Tyres cost £1300 for 4 Tyres. And at 285/30/20 & 255/35/20 their isn't a wide variety to pick from. 19's are a good compromise on the zed, and someone like tarmac or cougar store have a good selection at a good price in the correct offsets. Avoid trying to make cheap wheels fit with lots of spacers. Wide Tyres look better, especially on the back, so some thing like a 9.5 upto a 10.5 suits the car well.

Mines gone up as well now its £230 for the year. Still a bargain for a 4 litre supercharged V8..... Couldn't find a smug smiley

My mate runs this company V2race ltd https://www.facebook.com/pages/V2race-Ltd/219106794818243 I've just emailed him to find out who did the work on their cars. Their blue lotus Elise has a similar level of work to what you require.

see this is where personal preference makes this a very subjective subject. When I w's at a top gear roadshow a few years back, tiff needell did an engine noise section. He had a range of cars lined up with different engines and got them to show off. And it was very interesting. Cars I thought I'd love the sound of did nothing. For instance I learnt that day that Ferrari engines don't excite me. He had 3 there.and although they all sounded good, I found the note to highly tuned and screamy. Yes they were loud but their v8 and v12 did nothing. Where as the lazy tuned audi v8 in the spyker set the hairs on the back of my neck off. As did the mambo v10 the maserati v8. So if you think a 355 with tube is nice, try a maserati or limbo with a tubi. Sarnie will defo vouch for that.

sorry Arran, but have to disagree, the zed engine has been one of the most dissappoint sounding engines I've owned. Its not a bad sound, but its a long way from being the best. If I'm honest even with exhausts etc I'd put it as an average sound. Not dull, but doesn't set my heart a light.

Looks top notch

4 pots Subaru flat four Porsche flat 4 5 cylinders Audis 5 cylinder engine V6 Jaguar XJ220 hands down the best ever V6 noise Honda NSX 3.0 litre or even better the NSXR Jaguar F type V6 Alfa GTV 3.0 VW golf R32 but only with the milltek fitted V8 The audi V8 in the spyker with the lazy tune makes the hairs on my neck stand up Ford gt40 engine Astons AJ-V8 V10 Lambo Porsche Carreras V10 V12 Jag e-type BMW 8 series