Ekona

Why do I never get these calls

That's very cool mate, nice one. I'm looking at replacing my wedding band at some point and that kinda thing appeals to me too, any ideas on cost?

Surely you just get your butler to do it, not that it would need doing anyway as the car is kept in a heated garage. We do all have butlers and heated garages on here, right?

Heh, that's one car I've got masses of experience with FSBs and flexing: I remember when I had my first one and had to take it off to get some extra bits in the front, ended up with chronic understeer and nearly put myself into the armco as I wasn't expecting it. Not fun.

Large capacity NA, allegedly. That's for this concept, though. Which looks great. Which means the final version will look nothing like this, if indeed it ever gets built.

Those wheels suit the blue well, don't they? I think I may have a set of gold ones from my old race car project somewhere, might need to fish them out... Well worth doing mate, it's amazing the difference a fully stripped interior can make to the car. So much lighter, so much noisier, it's brilliant!

So I did some work on the car over the last couple of weekends. First up was to decat it. Not for the noise (it's a four pot), not for the power (2bhp max?) but for the weight saving. It makes a massive difference losing a few kilos at the business end of the car in terms of handling, so it feel a lot looser at the back end now. Oo-er missus indeed. This was coupled with an overdue oil change, nothing fancy going in there just the regular Mobil cheapo Ford stuff they've got on special in Halfrauds. Interestingly, and other more knowledgeable folks out there may already know this, but it seem like there's only a couple of different types of oil filter thread out there across all cars, which means you just pick one that is the size you want. You can go larger for more capacity, or smaller to save money. I'm currently running one from a Honda Accord, and it fits perfectly! Decat was a bastard to do, as there are three studs on the exhaust manifold that are commonly referred to as The Three Amigos in MR2-speak, and they always seize up and snap. Mine was no different, so we had to remove the whole thing and drill the stud out. We butchered the threads doing so, and just about managed to get a stud back in hanging on a handful of threads right at the bottom. I wasn't happy with this, so I ordered a brand-new performance manifold from the US (it's a Che manifold, if that means anything to anyone) which solves the problem and should give me around 10bhp with the decat and the Cobra exhaust I'm running. Oooooh a whole 150bhp to deal with...! Next up was some serious surgery on the seats. The previous owner had fitted a Sparco Sprint V seat, the same as I ran in the MX5, however he hadn't done what I would class as a proper job at all. He'd basically drilled the aluminium floor pan, and bolted through using M6 bolts and washers to space where necessary (!). Seriously not good, and I wanted to sort something out properly before I drove it in proper anger. As such, I borrowed some 3mm steel sheet from a mate, and set about cutting some brackets to suit. One was easy as it now fits in the stock holes, the other was a faff as I had to drill through the floorpan again. This time however I used the sheet to create a sandwich of steel to stiffen everything up, and then layer it to get the correct height. It's worked beautifully, and the seat is now at a much better height and angle than before. I can put some runners on it if I want, and I do have a spare set indoors, but for now I'd rather stay a fraction lower than have the ability to adjust fore and aft. Best bit? I celebrated my handiwork by booking another trackday at Spa in March Just need to get her weighed now. Oh, and fit the iPhone mount and cigar lighter socket I've ordered. Guess I'd better fit the front strut brace that's coming tomorrow as well...

Y'know, I've only just got that joke there You may think your paint is smooth, but if you've never clayed then you ain't felt nothin' yet

Very, very sad

Were I not out this weekend, I'd have been on this for sure.

Seems reasonable enough, my own experience of the AD08s is limited so I'll gladly bow before you on this one

I've yet to race, however I've come close to doing so and it was purely funds that put me off. Myself and a mate were going to share a drive in the MR2 Championship, in a mk3 MR2. We bought the car, we sorted it out in terms of parts, and then we did the figures for the racing. By the time you add up accommodation and travelling costs, plus the entrance fees for the race, plus consumables (set of tyres and pads each race at least), plus budget for damage, plus a couple of track days for testing, we were looking at sums that were getting daft just to tick the 'I've done a race' box in our lives. You need to allow for all the time spent away at race meets as well as time working on the car too, and that's a lot of your year taken up. It's why I've started ploughing money into trackdays instead. I don't doubt it's not half as thrilling as racing, and yes it's something I still very much want to do at some point, but unless you've got a solid budget as well as the time then for me it was a non-starter. On the other hand, there's people like MrLizard who have had huge success and some cracking tales of racecraft in the recent past, and he will give you the other side of things.

For me, it's a straightforward case of this: 1. What are the monthly repayments? Are they affordable? 2. Does it have vaguely normal servicing requirements (i.e. not like Ferrari where it's £3K every 5000 miles)? 3. Do I really, really want it? That's all. I don't look any further than that, which means ignoring anything about depreciation or fuel costs or insurance. Driving is my hobby, my passion, and I have no qualms about spending obscene sums of cash on something that gives me so much fun. Some folks have nice houses and luxurious holidays: Me, I have my cars.

You don't need pressure sensors if you have runflats. Our Mini CS has FR but no PS.

Driven sedately it's no worse than any other combination of mixed tyres, but driven hard or in bad weather I seriously wouldn't recommend it.

In a perfect world we'd have laws that suited modern vehicles and took conditions into account, and loads more sensible police officers with an empty court system to deal with them. For example, I'd like to see on the spot fines given to people who don't indicate. I'm certain that a huge majority of accidents would be avoided if people just used their indicators every single time. I'd then like to see every single speed limit removed, and the dangerous driving charge altered and more widely used. You may be legal doing 30 past a school at 3pm, but it's damn as hell not safe. Likewise it's probably okay to do 50 past it at 2am. If you think a speed is safe then do it, but just be prepared to justify yourself in court. If people thought that way then they may consider their speed more often. While we're here, remove the ambiguity about undertaking. Just make it legal, and then nail to the wall anyone sat in the 2nd or higher lanes. I mean an instant week ban where there is clear video evidence of the offense being committed. Three simple things, and that would revolutionise driving in this country. Would also cost a fortune so will never happen, but hey ho.

Mine let me buy the VXR220, so I'd definitely say that's a yes!

Interesting theory, but in reality you'd end up with huge oversteer in the wet due to the 888s giving up their grip much more easily than the MPSS, and understeer in the dry due to the MPSS not being able to give as much grip as the 888s. In short, you pretty much end up with a car that has neither the everyday impressive usage of the MPSS nor the massive amounts of grip offered by the 888s. RS-Rs are worth looking into though.

Dem knees.

10 Long term partner? GOTO 30 20 Single or casual relationship? GOTO 40 30 Pick practical car that's as quick as she'll let you have, without spending so much it means she can't go on holiday this year. GOTO 50 40 Pick fastest, bestest, most impractical car and sod everything else. Money for food is optional. GOTO 60 50 Drive in a reasonably rapid way, but with an eye on fuel economy 60 Drive like you stole it Covers 99% of the population, I believe.

A remapped one will be damn as near quick as one, and with a MUCH better interior too. MrD from Seloc/PH ran one at a few VMax days, that thing was bastard quick. Not massively exciting in the twisties mind you, but then neither is a Scirocco. That's not to say either isn't extremely competent, though.

Yup, I'd take a TTRS over a Scirocco R, even if it meant saving up an extra bit of cash.

Remapped TTRS is bordering on GT-R fast, especially with the DSG. That's where money would go if you're looking at them along with the Scirocco R.

They are high-performance road tyres. Trust me on this.

I bet you would. In fact, I'd take a test on that any day, you'd tell by the first corner.