James Junior

Last day before boarding the Chunnel we visited the historic Reims raceway. This used the be a grand prix circuit but was mothballed in the 60s. Now the home straight is a public road, but the structure of the old stands, pitlane garages and control tower is still intact, as are the old period placards. It is pretty surreal being there and well worth a visit. Here are the last of the pics:

A few more pics for you... Heading up into another of the Cols: I ended up dogsitting Jenna's dog so Kirstie could get in with her for a stretch: Kirstie and Jenna chasing me through the forests near Chamberry: Top of the Semnoz pass. This was a great run up and over mikes of twisting Alpine tarmac through a pine forest. Had the road to myself as the group had fragmented and enjoyed picking my own lines and going at my own pace: Split off from the pack one afternoon and had fun chasing Dan and the two supercars: Then we swapped places with Dan up front and the Mclaren and Gallardo chasing me. That was great fun: At the end of the day Andy casually quips 'fancy a drive in the Mclaren?'. Er....yes! He was very encouraging and we went on a loop of around ten miles through the French countryside. Got to power down some straights and get it hooked up through a few bends. It is several levels above the Z obviously in terms of acceleration and compsure:

Hello Payco, The exact routes have been devised and refined over years of research and scouting trips by Petrolhead Tours. Every waypoint, lunch stop and even fuel stop is meticulously planned to ensure every days driving takes in the best routes. As a result I wouldn't feel comfortable giving out Pete's routes in detail as it is effectively his intellectual property. However, if you look on the website there is a publicly available itinerary which gives you a pretty good outline of where we go and what passes we drive: http://petrolhead.tours/tours/europe/the-alps/

Right dudes, time to put the laptop down, will share a few more pics later in the week. Also have some video clips you might like. Once I am up to date I will go back and see if I can fix the broken links.

Stopped by the police heading up into Val D'Isere for a document check. Apparently they had received reports from some locals that a group of sports cars were driving quickly and making lots of noise on the area...: Top of the Col De L'Iseran looking out over the glacier. Kirstie was riding shotgun with someone else that morning, so I just parked up by myself for half an hour, got out and stood bathed in Alpine sunshine drinking it all in. An incredible place. I took some great interactive 360 videos that are on my FB but cannot post them here sadly, so these pics ill have to do: Stopped at the top of the Col De Gallibier having just driven up the twisting road below to take some more snaps: Alex's E30 M3 and Aaron's Cayman R parked up at the lunch stop. Old school and new school German engineering: Hanging out with Stu and the Exige at the top of the Col Du Bonette: On the descent I sadly obliterated a marmot that ran out into the road suddenly. I pulled over to check the car and there was no damage. Stu helpfully pulled up behind me and declared 'well, its definitely dead!'. Thanks mate. Mario helpfully made this picture to mark the occasion: Parked up outside our hotel for the evening after an amazing fast canyon run being chased by the Exige:

So here is my selfie-loving co-pilot Kirstie. She is an amazing passenger and also a great photographer. Most of the photographs taken from inside the car are hers: Snap of the Exige at driver briefing at our hotel halfway up Grimsel Pass at the start of day three. The mountainside in the background was wreathed in fog at first and gradually emerged as the sun burnt it away whilst we discussed the day ahead. Spectacular! Chasing the Cayman R and C63 down Furka Pass: Here is most of the gang parked up together at the summit of Nufenen: Kevin's Gallardo Superleggera in the sunshine at the top of Nufenen: Daz's GT3 in the mountains above Bourg St Maurice: And Alex's E30 M3 at the same spot looking the other way: Mario's GTS: Looking out over Bourg: The view from the dining room of our hotel for the evening:

Well thats annoying isn't it?! The image links are lifted from my FB account so don't know why they would disappear like that. I will post some more of my recent trip then start going back to repost the earlier images to see if I can fix them.

Well the first thing to note is that with the HFCs removed, on the rollers my car has apparently lost power and a chunk of torque. With just an intake and exhaust think it appears to be putting out bang on stock horsepower, with a small torque deficit. In pure acceleration terms, in most real world conditions, both the Cayman R, the Cayman GTS and the Z were very close. The Porsche's had a small edge, but nothing significant. I thought the Exige would be exponentially quicker given that is is packing 350bhp, but was surprised to learn it also weighs around 1,200kgs, so whilst it still has a big power to weight advantage, it is not as much as I expected. Given the room to wring it out, it was a fair bit quicker once it had time to hold its gears and ride the full extent of its torque. In the twisties it made little difference. In terms of braking meanwhile I found that I could outbreak everyone once the pads had some heat in them and they simply did not fade. Over the course of the tour I found myself having to radio through to pass the Exige and the GTS on a few occasions, as I was the more confident driver. The driver of the Cayman R meanwhile tended to gradually pull distance on me, especially in the uphill sections. I ran him close in his F430 a few months back, but this time around he was consistently quicker than me in the Cayman. One thing I have learnt having now done a number of tours, is that whilst the faster cars may make themselves known on the straights and the ascents, in flat or downhill twisty stuff the Z should be able to keep up with most things if you can master a momentum driving style. I still have a way to go yet, but definitely getting quicker. Hopefully the oil cooler and the confidence to stay off the brakes will help me get quicker on the uphill. I had a really good run with Stu in the Exige one afternoon where we lost the pack and played chase, swapping positions every now and then. In the uphill sections I was holding him up a bit, but on the longer downhill sections coming down one of the cols and in a twisty canyon section I started leaving him behind and had to wait a few times for him to catch me up. When we chatted over a beer later in the bar In pure acceleration terms, the Porsche Caymans

Parked up at Le Regal which is always our first hotel stopover after a long autoroute slog. Being so near the French/ German border it makes a great staging point to get right into the good stuff from the morning of day two: Off to bed after dinner and a few beers. Fun starts tomorrow... First proper chance to play in the hills on our way to the German border, chasing Mario's Cayman GTS and Adam's Golf R: Wrong turn into a cornfield in the German countryside! Er...guys....I don't think this is the right way! Heading up Fluelapass into the Swiss National Park above Davos breezing past the odd campervan: Time to stop for a moment and let the oil temp recover again near the top of Stelvio Pass as we neared our hotel: Great views up here: Very cold and wet start from our hotel at the top of Stelvio: Better keep the ESP on for now: Was foggy on the descent but it lifted further down the pass, providing amazing views: Waiting for a blast through the Munt La Schera tunnel to Livigno: Having fun despite the wet weather as we went up and over Albula Pass. Sometimes keeping things smooth in the wet is just as fun as going hard in the dry: Things dried out for a bit as we arrived at San Bernadino: But got worse again as we arrived at Susten: By the time we hit Grimsel the mountain streams had burst their banks leaving waterfalls tumbling onto the roads. What a spectacular drive that was. The Z is much better in the wet than you might expect and managed to hang onto the Golf R for miles despite its 4wd advantage: Thats it for now as I am flagging, but will post some more up when I get chance. Hope you like the pictures.

Well, I have just got back from another amazing tour of Europe. I thought this tour would sign the death warrant of the 370Z (er...in a manner of speaking!) and give me the final push to change her for something else. It is true that in such esteemed company, on a number of occasions, I did find myself craving a bit more power and bit less weight. In particular on the steep ascents, as the Z struggled to keep up with some of the more potent cars. And yet, I have come back home again this time with an even deeper connection with the car and a better understanding of how to drive it well. On a few days particularly towards the end of the tour, I got it flowing in a way that I never have before. I think the problem with the Z is that it feels pretty inert at low to middling speeds. As you start to wind things up and the weight begins to move around it can be quite alarming, as it comes as a bit of a surprise when you are used to the car being so planted. However rather than this marking anything like the edge of grip, it is actually the beginning of the zone in which the car starts to come alive. You have to learn to trust the tyres and use the brake liberally, often entering corners at higher speeds than you might initially feel comfortable with. Lifting as you enter the bend and just holding a partial throttle settles the car down as you feel the lateral force load up and keeping this momentum gives you the option of either powering out earlier if the bend opens out, or trimming your line and turning the car with a bit more lift or dab of brake if the turn tightens before the apex. The more you learn to do this, the more you get the car flowing in a wonderful rhythm, carrying pace through momentum, which in turn helps offset the cars modest power to weight ratio. You can really feel the weight moving around and the car feels alive in your hands, especially with the ESP disengaged, as this seems to make the tail more manouverable. On the last day in particular I had a sublime run chasing Dan's M235i, with a Gallardo and 12C on my tail across mile after mile of abandoned French countryside. On this stretch the car didn't once feel underpowered and did a great job of keeping the supercars busy. This tour I also really came to appreciate the new braking set up. The Endless pads are simply astounding. Paired with uprated brake fluid they need heat in them to become truly effective, but once warmed up they just go on and on, with immense stopping power and no fade. This very much redresses the balance on downhill sections, as you can outbreak pretty much anything, whilst giving you confidence where you need it most. The KWs also remain an awesome piece of kit and enhance the handling of the car in every way. I really recommend them to anyone who is into fast road or track work. The only weak point that I feel needs to be addressed now is the oil temperature. This got very high on a few of the longer ascents, especially those with lots of hairpin turns, sometimes putting the car into limp mode as it needed to cool down. I am going to start researching oil coolers as a little winter project after the season is over to see if I can remedy this, as I plan to keep the car for a little longer yet. I have so many amazing photos I don't even know where to start, but will try and post some of the highlights for you all.

Unfortunately Sipar I need a car that is suitable as a daily driver and for client duties. Whilst a forthcoming move to bigger premises will mean I can commute by train going forward, I will still need to travel out to the odd client meeting. For that purpose unfortunately the Exige is a bit on the raw side.

You should totally buy one!!....but I think you mean the IS-F? Which is also a very nice car, but likely a tad too heavy / wallowy on the fun twists of an alpine pass. EDIT - However, if you do the mean LFA can I be first in the queue for a passenger ride Ha ha....that's the one! I think an LF-A is a bit out of budget!

Thanks for sharing that Rich. In that case the figures could be correct. I must admit, of all the breather mods I had done, the HFCs were the only one where I actually felt a marked increase in performance and torque in my 'butt dyno'! However, based on my previous figures, whilst this is 'only' a drop of 18bhp, it is a drop of 40 ft lbs of torque! I was already having trouble with some overtakes and in hauling the car up the mountainsides in June. This time with less torque and a passenger the car is going to feel really gutless I fear. I must admit, whilst I like the Z as a daily, again I am starting to crave something with more shove for my touring exploits. Whilst it is fun keeping some of the supercars honest in the twisties, it would be nice to be able to take the fight to them in terms of power. The MR2 would be a blast, but dont want to put the old girl under such pressure, whilst I don't fancy testing the staying power (or lack thereof) of 1990s braking technology on long Alpine mountain descents! I would love to stay Japanese, but the modern Jap performance car market is pretty non-existent at the moment. GT86 is way too underpowered for my taste. That pretty much leaves only the Lexus LF-A, but that is 'only' 400 BHP ish in a much heavier car, albeith with a lot more torque. Still not really any quicker on a good twisting road however given the weight and handling deficit against the Z. Obviously there is the GTR but that is not my sort of car at all. Pete and Dan our tour guides have chosen BMW M235is as their tour cars. It is not hard to see why - they are right at the efficient frontier in terms of bang for your buck and a very appealing all round package. The performance figures are ballistic given the combination of powerful and torquey power plants and light weight. They are RWD with a short wheel base so handle like a dream. The only weak point that I can see is the brakes, as is often the case with BMs. I had a quick drive of one on tour and it felt very quick. The only trouble with them however (aside from not being Jap!) is that they are butt ugly to my eye! Part of the tour experience for me is the car photography and I would not enjoy photographing one of those one bit! What do you guys think?

Davey - there is usually some pretty serious motors in attendance! I really feel the lack of torque when in this sort of company, especially climbing steep mountain roads. Mattross - nice picture! Did you get a video flyby?

Been back to rumbling around in the Z this week as it resumes its daily duties commuting into Manchester. It makes a great daily, but after time spent in the ballistic MR2 it feels like a right pudding, heavy, slow and lacking feedback. That said I know that it can be a communicative car, it just needs to be wound up to higher speeds to get it talking. Fortunately I am off on another tour next week. This time we are doing the Alps then doubling back and striking north through France, finishing at the old Reims raceway before hopping back on the Channel Tunnel. This time around I will have Kirstie in the passenger seat, so the pace will definitely be wound back by a notch or two. The attendee list is as intimidating as ever: 1. Pete - tour car 2. Dan - tour car 3. James & Kirstie - Nissan 370Z 4. Tom & Jenna - Porsche 997 & Z3 Coupe 5. Brian & Barb - AM V12V roadster 6. Alex - something fun 7. Andy - Gold 12C 8. Stu - Exige Cup 9. Luca - Audi TTS 10. Andrew - Z4 35iS 11. Darren - 991 GT3 12. Sean - 997 GT3 13. Simon - 997 GT3 14. Mario - Cayman GTS 15. Arran - Cayman R 16. Tom - Audi R8 17. Richard - C63 18. Ted - Z4M 19. Adam - Golf R Estate 20. Kevin - Aventador SV Looking forward to more mountain roads and roaring down the home straight at Reims - another petrolhead bucket list item to tick off!

A few more high res pics from the last tour. Glenna and Vanessa were following me for a stretch in the Pyrenees in their Cayman GTS:

Back to the Z again, it spent an afternoon at TDI North today getting remapped to take into account that the HFCs have now been removed and she is running stock cats again. The chaps at TDI were really friendly and very enthusiastic about their work. I was only expecting marginal gains compared to the current position. More than anything I just wanted to know the car was running at optimum efficiency. As expected the gains were meagre - 9 bhp and barely any torque. Throttle response felt improved however, Reportedly the car was running very lean before the map and chucking a lot of extra fuel in at low revs, which has now been fixed. So might get a few more MPGs, not that that ever really bothers me. Paul installed five modes that are switchable via the cruise control switch, without interfering with the functionality of the cruise control itself. The first three are different stages of thottle response, fourth is valet mode which prevents the revs from rising above 3k. Fifth is dead Z mode. With this enabled if you switch off the ignition and try to fire the engine again it just won't start until you disable it. This is intended for situations where the car is being left in any sort of scenario where security might be an issue. Airport car parks for example, so even if someone manages to break in, they'll never be able to pinch the car as it won't start. Unless of course they know what sequence of buttons to press to renable the ignition. The numbers on the dyno graph were significantly down on what it was mapped at by RS Tuning. At that time the power was an indicated 246bhp and torque was 300ft lbs at the crank. Today power was 328 bhp and 260 ft lbs at the crank, which is bang on manufacturers claimed figures I believe. I queried the difference as it seemed unlikely that a set of HFCs could be responsible for a 20 bhp and 40ft lbs gain/ loss! Paul said he had been having difficulty getting the car to put its power down properly in fourth gear, so had to map it in the higher gears, which allegedly gives lower readings but still leads to the same overall result. He said he was having difficulty even in fifth, but when he tried sixth the car was topping out at an indicated 170mph which he didn't feel very comfortable with! I didn't even think Zs were capable of that speed... Eventually he got the car to play ball in fifth and the final results are below. I would love to know pound for pound how it actually compares to the numbers prior to removing the HFCs, but will never know now! Regardless, figures are only really for pub bragging anyway. The car feels a touch less brawny without the HFCs but in reality there is no tangible difference, so I am sure the performance is there or thereabouts. That said, I am off to the Alps again in a fortnight and the car always feels slow as hell when you're chasing supercars!

I guess we all like a change every now and then!

In other news, I spent a fun day with two Minis and a 911 Turbo blasting around the Peak District yesterday. My friend Adrian a.k.a. 'Junky' had pre-planned the routes and found loads of great roads that were - to my amazement - almost entirely devoid of traffic. As the lacquer still needed to cure on the Z's bumper, I had to take the MR2, which was pretty intense given how slippery the conditions were. They are not known for being very forgiving, especially in the wet, sharing a somewhat morbid nickname with contemporary 911 turbos that some of you may remember. I don't think Kirstie needs to know about that one... I had to be very careful with the throttle as any more than half boost was spinning the wheels up. The brakes meanwhile are still the standard Toyota stoppers circa 1994, which are a little lacking in the wet, forcing you to adjust your driving style to accomodate looooong stopping distances. These limitations actually made the drive more enjoyable though and taught me a lot about hustling the car along in the wet, doing my best to keep up with the FWD guys and Adrian's 911. I could never have driven the MR2 like that in those circumstances with such confidence before I had my performance driving lessons. Just goes to show the value of proper tuition... The Minis blew my mind - both were packing big turbo upgrades and packing some serious firepower, crackling and popping on every overrun. I had no idea the MIni guys were getting so much power out of them. Always fun learning about other car scenes and see what others are doing. Here are a few pics:

Thanks guys. I must admit it has grown on me. Strangely it mkes the car look a touch wider at the front, but more compact overall. The lines are definitely cleaner with the blades and front lip gone.

So the car is now sans skirts and splitter. I eventually decided just to go ahead and have them removed and the whole front bumper repainted. Here are a few pics post-op. She looks all naked!

Bumpety bump. Still looking - someone hurry up and sell me one!

Hi Jonny, Just sending you a PM. James

Thanks guys. It is an incredible piece of kit and the condition is a credit to the former owner. It is also now much improved now its on KW V3s and sporting a nice Cobra exhaust instead of the old boomy Japspeed. I am starting to learn to really drive it now. I never could have driven the ones I had i my early twenties like this. They were simply too much car for me back then. Not saying I am Ayrton Senna, but mow with a bit more experience, a few more grey hairs and the benefit of some professioal tuition, I am really learning to hustle it along at a fair pace... so long as the roads are dry anyway!

Quick update - at last the Z is booked in later this week to have the front splitter and side blades removed, then its time for another remap on Monday. Will report back with some pics once done. Have also added a Cobra exhaust to the MR2 Turbo. Feels like I am hemorrhaging money on cars at the moment... All good fun though. In the meantime here are some new pics of the MR2 taken on Sunday night after a few hours of detailing. I know its a bit off topic but figure we're all JDM fans here! Feel very fortunate to be able to choose between the keys of two such amazing cars every day: