Ekona

Nearly two years exactly after her first track day, I final got a chance to take the Bummer back out and this is the first time she's been tracked since I started the upgrade program. Snetterton 300 was the destination, never been there before either so a baptism of fire all round Nice and dry all day, temps in double figures, couldn't really ask for better conditions. The track layout is reasonably easy to learn and get to grips with, and there aren't any really odd corners that need you to take a bizarre line or anything like that. As long as you remember that every single corner here is a very late apex, you can't go wrong. So how was the car? Both superb and useless, in equal measures I spent the first couple of sessions with the dampers in road settings to get used to the track, however these proved to be way too soft still so I bumped them up by a further 5 clicks all round (now sitting at 5 from stiff at the front and 10 from stiff at the rear). This transformed the handling, and meant I had far more confidence to really lean on the car. At 1642kg full it's not really something you can throw in, and I had to massively adjust my driving style to suit as it simply won't pivot very quickly on the apex. It means you can't really chuck the car in as I usually do on track, and you must maintain a very smooth driving style to keep the balance and pace up. Actually very rewarding when you get it right, and start a nice flow going. I also tried a little experiment... To wing or not to wing, that is the question? Center Gravity suggested that where I located the wing along with the angle of it meant that it might actually be doing something useful after all, so I removed it and tried some hideously unscientific tests. On the Bentley Straight I was losing about 10mph by the braking point due to drag (not really surprising), however it was the corners that fascinated me. Low speed stuff was irrelevant, but the higher speed corners like Riches and Coram were very noticeable: With wing off, turn in was sharper however I was unable to get the power down quite so quickly without unsettling the rear. Wing back on and I got the opposite, turn in was blunted but the grip under power was improved. I mean we're talking fractions here really, and tbh either setting didn't make such a difference that I'd prefer it, so the wing stays on purely for looks. The biggest issue I had were the brakes. I'm on OEM all round, great on the road but one hard lap and they're toast. Grumbly, fading, squealing, just not good. Coming into Brundle (fnar) I ended up lifting and doing two applications, just to get the car to slow down enough. I'm already looking at discs and pads (looks like I share a brake pad size with the E92 M3 so CL RC5+ should be available, and a disc with the E92 335i so options there too) as going for a full BBK setup is north of £3K, and tbh I don't and won't track the car that much to make it worth while. Comparing the car to others on the, I was noticeably faster through Hamilton than pretty much everything else barring the Caterhams, and I'd not sure why. I caught a 997.2 GT3 through there and into Oggies at a rapid rate of knots every lap, but he'd then murder me under braking and bugger off. I managed to blag a few pax rides with a race-spec EP3 and a Mountune FRS mk3, and my entry speeds were almost identical to theirs so I was pleased in that respect as both drivers were seriously capable of piloting their machines. We were all on road tyres too (me on MPSS, EP3 on ContiSC5, and the FRS on Neovas) so nothing to distinguish there. This is the first time I've properly tracked the MPSS, and given they're half dead already I was cautious with my use of them as I didn't want to kill them sliding round the hairpins all day. Which, btw, is hilariously easy to do in something as big as the Bummer. No need to fear though, they were absolutely wonderful. Plenty of dry grip, nowhere near as squealing as the Contis, and they wore perfectly evenly all over which shows what a great job CG did on the alignment for me. I still want a set of semi slicks for the car, but no-one should fear tracking on MPSS at all. The Contis I wouldn't use, as the Civic owner had to stop by 3pm as they'd started to disintegrate with chunks coming off the outer shoulder...! Not good. All in all, it was a brilliant day and in a brilliant car only hampered by typical BMW brakes. Everything else though came together perfectly, from the suspension settings to the seat being proper comfy AND supportive enough for track use, and being able to finally use the power the car has. Time to book the next one up now, methinks

Only illegal if you use them, otherwise they remain an MOT failure only.

Want to explain how having a better sounding exhaust isn't a pro? Or maybe give some evidence to prove that any of the cons are actually noticeable and not just theoretical BS? Because it's a ******* exhaust leak! You cannot genuinely need explaining why a leak at the exhaust is Not A Good Idea At All. You're p*ssing hot exhaust gases over components that aren't supposed to have them, any idiot can see that's a terrible thing to do. No exhaust will ever sound the exact same as a sodding leak, neither will you ever be able to replicate that tone, so why bother? It has no purpose whatsoever. There are a billionty different exhaust for the Zed out there, and I guarantee you one of them will meet your tone/noise/looks demands. You're not trying anything big or clever by this, it's the kind of thing I'd expect a 17 year old to do on his first Corsa. Get out there, listen to a few different exhausts on a meet, and pick one. There's plenty out there for £600 already that are quality.

There is no pro to having an exhaust leak, but many cons. That's possibly the most retarded 'mod' I've ever seen on here.

This is very concerning, how many miles had you done since you last checked? You're well under the minimum mark, and coupled with a spirited driving style you may well have done some damage to the engine.

Brilliant :lol:

His eyesight is the messed up bit, if you don't spot a huge truck coming towards you what else have you missed? I may or may not have said that to him, which didn't go down well...

I think that's funnier than the Pastor one from a couple of years back

Nah, he thought I was giving him the w*nker sign. Genuinely wasn't, I'm not that bloody stupid. My only experience of a proper little Hitler in a police uniform. Every other one I've met has been polite but firm, this guy was just a total bellend.

What?! Evos were driven by people with no taste who just wanted an angry looking car that went the fastest. Subaru owners wanted a car that sounded as well as it drove In fairness, in the hey day of the rally reps there were so many more Scoobs that they became utter chav jokes, and the owner's clubs were full of people dressed head to toe in the rally gear. Evo owners never really went down that route, which at the time was a much better place to be. Nowadays I think a stickered up Impreza in the proper rally trim looks immense, and the clubs seemed to have shaken off the chavness and you're seeing a more passionate support than the Evo gets. Proper 180deg change. Back in the day I'd have picked an Evo over the Impreza (nearly did, until Mitsi cancelled a test drive and I drove a 911 instead, boy was than an expensive day in the end!) but nowadays I'm very happy with the gentler nature of the Sti over the Evo. And the 10k service intervals

I do the clapping thing too, got me in trouble once when I did it to a copper who pulled out on a roundabout in front of me without looking and then caught me in the rear view mirror giving him the full applause

We nicknamed her the Poison Dwarf, and I wouldn't touch her with yours Now, if he could've had the looks of the Hot One, the personality of the first one and the sex addiction of the Filthy one, I reckon that's the perfect woman right there

https://www.hasmclarenbrokendown.com/

3000GT and 300ZX were spectacularly heavy and complicated, awful things to work on and (whisper it) not actually that good to drive. Subaru > Mitsi any day. History will tell of the Evo being the quicker car, but the Subaru was the one that stole hearts.

Oh, if only one of my mates was like you. Let me give you a brief context of his life so far, I think he's 35 right now so 22 when this started? 2004: Meets really nice girl, smart, funny, friendly, reasonably attractive. 2005: Dumps awesome girl, starts dating midget. 2005: Gets midget pregnant after a couple of months. 2006: Midget has kid, the day after the child is born she tells him she doesn't love him and wants him to leave. 2008: Meets seriously hot chick who is rude as hell. 2009: Sells really nice house he loved to buy even more expensive house, because she said so. 2010: Has child with Hot Girl. 2011: Marries Hot Girl in £40K wedding. 2013: Has second child with Hot Girl. 2013: Hot girl tells him she hasn't loved him since before she got pregnant, kicks him out of HIS house. 2014: Divorce. She has custody, keeps the house, takes most of his wages for CSA. She goes absolutely mental, screaming and claiming all sorts of random stuff. 2014: Sleeps around A LOT on TInder, meets horrendously filthy girl who is happy for threesomes and lesbian orgies. She is also a mother of 3. 2015: Marries Filthy Girl. 2015: Gets Filthy Girl pregnant. 2016: He pays for massive works on her Mum's house, which they're living in. 2016: She has kid. Kicks him out because (guess what?!) she doesn't love him any more. Moves boyfriend in the same day that he leaves, whilst he's still in the house. 2017: Hooks up with new girl, only met her once so no judgement passed yet That divorce is in the middle of being settled, but she's claiming he cheated on her (technically he did, but she was in the room at the time cheering him on!) and will no doubt take him for the rest of his cash. So he'll end up paying for the four kids he's had, along with the three kids she had with her other partner as of course they're now used to living in a certain fashion. Now this guy is possibly the nicest, gentlest, meekest guy you'll ever meet, but jesus f*ck does he make poor life choices with women He just needs to leave them alone, hell he could've bought a different hooker home every night for those years and been better off financially.

Lincs is doable though?

Yes,it's called driving without reasonable consideration for other road users, code CD20, up to £2500 & 3-9 points on your licence.

Hand on heart, a 997.1 Turbo is significantly quicker than a 997.2 C2S. That's not blurry, that's crystal clear

I'd totally be crazy cat man, given half a chance.

Miles too big, you'll be scrubbing half the writing on the sidewall when turning.

Every time you speed and get caught, you're an idiot. You're screwing over every other sensible driver. Cams and cops tend to sit either in 30/40 zones, or on boring motorways. These are either dull places to speed, or boring places to speed. Every time you get done you reinforce the fact that it's an easy money earner for The Man: If we all stopped getting caught, they wouldn't be able to afford to run the bloody things! Stop driving like knobs and getting caught, and be a considerate driver to the rest of us.

Have you not learnt yet that doing things in the cheap doesn't work for you?

Revup and HR interiors are significantly better, more textured plastics, silver trim, better placing of hazard button etc

The HR has better plastics than the DE.