Tim S

I am also owed money for brake pads which I ordered in the ESR clearance which were never sent. I have spoken to Andrew about this via email and it would appear he accidentally double sold them. He promised me a refund but to date I haven't received any money.

No response to recent emails so not sure if he's still using that account.

Well that was about the worst kept secret in motoring!

I have also heard that some manufacturers supply their own Stig, and that other drivers including Julian Bailey are used when Ben Collins can't do it due to racing or other commitments.

Yes it was my fault I jumped into a timmy spot right outside the shop.

In which case for heaven's sake man up and take it on the chin.

Having said that, have a quick look at the forums at http://www.pepipoo.com first to see if there are any mitigating circumstances (lack of signage etc.).

Hi all,

I've booked myself on this track day. Any other Zeds fancy it?

Event Location: Corby, Northants

Event Price: £175.00

Noise Limits: 103dB @ 0.5m, 45° from Exhaust, ¾ max RPM

(This limit will be fine for the vast majority of Zeds)

Itinerary

Full Day

09:00 Driver, passenger, spectator sign-on

09:30 Safety briefing

10:00 Driving begins

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Driving Resumes

17:00 End of driving

2nd drivers, passengers & spectators free

Instruction £20 per session

Booked through http://www.bookatrack.com/.

My second driver's spot is taken but as passengers are free I'd be happy to give passenger laps - come and find me on the day.

I've also posted this up on the other site.

Exactly - and I am confident I am a better driver (I'm going to look a right pratt now if I lose!)

 

Track day at Brands £199 each - £500 wager - new set of tyres after - could be an expensive day - but what the hell

Nice one - Brands is an awesome track. Are you doing the GP or the Indy circuit?

Your tyres won't be knackered after a single track day unless they're marginal to start with (and you'd be daft to start a track day on marginal tyres). You will overheat the brake fluid though if it's still standard - RBF600 improves things no end.

When I've been to Brands they've been quite fussy about camera mounts - i.e. it has to be on a proper mount (not sucker mounted to the windscreen). That might vary by organiser though.

I reckon it's all going to come down to the driver. Don't let us down!

Ive secured only 2 interviews in 3 1/2 months of searching and applied to well over 40 jobs, but, as its all webbased now, that doesnt mean alot, just means clicking a button, which in essense, all it does is 'flag me up' to a recruitment consultant, nothing more.

I think they probably get deluged these days with email/click-to-apply CVs, so most will get binned unread. I have found in the past I was far more likely to get an interview (or just some legwork from the agent) if I followed up any application with a phone call.

The phone call can also help give you a better idea of whether the job advertised is real or not. I think judging by what's expected for the money a lot of the ones on Jobserve etc. are made up.

Having said that I haven't looked for a couple fo years so it may have all changed.

Good luck searching!

I think it looks quite good. My mum would think it's a real Ferrari! I don't see the harm in replicas.

What about Cobra and GT40 replicas? Do people think they're sad too? I guess with most of those the engine is pretty similar to the original, and they tend to look the part a bit more.

My dad has an Exige S which we share for track duty. I would say that although you could use it as an everyday car, you probably wouldn't want to. It's extremely focussed - so not relaxing to drive at all - and it doesn't like bumpy surfaces. It is a fantastic track weapon though, and has brakes which make your eyes feel like they're being pulled out!

Reliability-wise the only thing that's gone wrong in the 10 months he's had it is the instrument cluster (replaced under warranty).

I haven't driven a standard Exige S2 but I'm told they're very peaky without the supercharger, and there's a big step in power when the variable valve timing takes over.

If you're worried you wouldn't fit in it, go and find an Elise or VX220 to try sitting in - they're pretty much the same inside.

I believe it cuts out automatically on wide-open throttle anyway.

 

Thats clever stuff, I didn't know that.

Then again I'm not always driving a Zed so I would be interested to know how many other cars do this.

I know current Scooby WRX's do it too. I presume most quick-ish cars do these days.

I always turn try turning the aircon off on whatever 1 litre shopping car we hire on holiday to see if it'll make it go faster, and it never seems to work!

I never switch mine off unless I need that extra bit of poke

I believe it cuts out automatically on wide-open throttle anyway.

...all I was commenting on was that there was a group buy on the site and I cant get any of the action, which is why I asked thi forum.

I'm fairly certain there was no maximum to the number of people on that GB - if you contact Jon who was (is?) organising it it may still be going ahead.

Well given that the numbers of road deaths haven't improved in a statistically significant manner since the introduction of speed cameras, I'd be inclined to agree with you. And that includes the fact that cars are becoming safer and safer to have accidents in.

I don't even think it's about revenue generation as there is some evidence that the scheme runs at a loss. I think it's the refusal of the DfT and certain police chiefs to back down and lose face.

Thats "up to" 50%. On some roads motorcyclists account for far more than 17% of deaths. In Lincolnshire for example on some roads they apparently account for a HIGHER percentage of deaths than car drivers/passengers.

 

Even using the figures above, 17% of deaths from motorcyclists is MASSIVE! if they account for around 2%% of road users but 17% of deaths, yet car drivers account for say 80% of road users but 50% of deaths.

 

For a single group of road users to account for a death rate almost 9 times higher than their frequency on the road would infer, and safetey camera partnerships to continue to invest in camera technology that does not even target that group is absolute madness.

 

I firmly believe that these "safety" cameras, are no no longer about safety at all, if they were, any new cameras would not be totally useless against the group most at risk of death on the road.

Ah, sorry, I thought you meant overall. You may well be right about some roads.

Like a lot of the current government's policies I think this one is based on a flawed assumption (that excessive speed is always unsafe) and speed cameras are a cheap way of addressing that assumption.

There's loads of stuff about why cameras aren't making the roads safer at http://www.safespeed.org.uk/ (not bike specific).

But surely from a safety point of view, if there are some motorcylists who ride unsafely as well as drivers who drive unsafely, shouldn't the camera's be able to catch both the rider and driver if speeding?

 

Ok there are alot more cars on the road than there are bikes but it should be even across the board and the same for everyone.

And saying that there are fewer bikes than cars don't you think 17.7% is a high % of the total deaths?

I would argue that safety and speed aren't linked in the way the government seems to presume - i.e. you can drive/ride safely above the speed limit as well as drive/ride unsafely below the limit. Traffic police would be much better at catching the unsafe road users than automated cameras.

There's no doubt that motorcyclists are more likely to be killed on the road than car drivers per capita - regardless of blame, if you're on a bike and involved in an accident there's less to protect you. I was just taking issue with the 50% statistic.

I think the cameras face the front of the vehicle because they need the high contrast black & white plate to read it properly. The government could even the stakes by forcing motorbikes to have the reg displayed on the front if it wanted to. Perhaps it's not bothering because there aren't enough motorcyclists in total to make it worthwhile from a revenue point of view?

The same is true of the fixed camera vans - rightly or wrongly motorcycles are impervious.

Motorcyclists account for approximately 2% of traffic on the roads of the UK, but up to 50% of all road deaths.

I'm sorry, but that just isn't true! I feel as a biker I should come up with some sort of defence.

The data for 2002 (the last year I could find on the Office for National Statistics website) shows 609 motorcyclists or passengers killed out of a total of 3431 total road deaths for the year, which equates to 17.7%. This is eclipsed by pedestrians (696 or 20%). By far the largest group as far as road deaths go are car drivers and passengers (1747 or 50.9%).

The data is here BTW: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=4031

I'll concede that there are motorcyclists that ride unsafely, just as there are drivers that drive unsafely, but I think you're being a bit unfair on motorcyclists. I agree with you that festooning the road network with speed cameras isn't the solution.

As title, I bought my Rays second hand and they don't have the original centre caps - anyone want to sell me their spares?

 

Cheers.

 

Not sure anyone will have spares Tim, as they only come with 4 if at all (I think).....

 

You could order some from Envy, Funkstyling or plenty of places in the states.

 

I'd do the latter due to the double dollar at the mo!

Yeah - I was hoping someone may have replaced theirs with the 'Z' logo ones and may want to sell the originals to me cheap! Probably a tall order though.

As title, I bought my Rays second hand and they don't have the original centre caps - anyone want to sell me their spares?

Cheers.

Hate Sky+ after having experienced TiVo, which I discovered was available in the UK some years ago and the subscribers to it then still receive it.

 

 

Guy

I have a TiVo, as you say it still works fine. I've put a bigger disk in mine too. Shame it won't do high def when everything switches over to that.

You won't be polishing through the laquer on the black 350 as there isn't any. Its a single based colour with no laquer.

Are you sure that's right? When I bought a Kuro touch-up kit from Nissan they provided a black one and a clear lacquer one in the same pack which implies there's a lacquer coat.

I bet its no ordinary exige, i think it has been played with

It's got Ohlins single-way adjustable dampers and a race ARB, and the suspension has been set up properly, but the engine is standard. It also has uprated front brake discs & pads and uprated fluid but standard calipers.

Full post here: http://www.exiges.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=82354&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 (not sure if you need to log on to see it).

Just behind me Southbound on the A3 just north of Burpham this morning. 53 reg I think. Anyone here?

As description... you saw me first and flashed your lights. Anyone here?

To further confuse matters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower

But broadly, 1 PS = 0.9863201652997627 BHP.

 

More annoying though: There's no map reading light, and the interior light can only be turned on by opening the door (unless I'm being stupid, which is possible)

 

Press the actual light you utter dipstick

Well, it's hardly obvious is it? Are you expecting me to have read the owners' manual or something?

....mentioned on another thread, but the fact you can't switch of the headlight washers...yet you can independently work them

You're so right. When they take you by surprise it reminds me of the stealth ship in Tomorrow Never Dies. The car is instantaneously surrounded in a cloud of mist.

More annoying though: There's no map reading light, and the interior light can only be turned on by opening the door (unless I'm being stupid, which is possible).

Plus the paint thinness.