petrolhead

2011-10-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Just been to trackday at Spa in Belgium on the 4th Oct 2011 with a load of Northloop buddies through Circuit Days. I hired a trailer from Southern Trailers in Alton and booked a DFDS return ferry - going out on the Monday and coming back on the Wednesday morning. I had dropped an email to Neil and Ann AEAVentures for a twin room.

My sister, Paula, who is 90% blind after a terrible domestic accident said she wanted to come along to experience a road trip again with her "big" brother. The last one we did together was the Le Mans 2004 trip in the BRG Excel SE.

In addition through Northloop I had been given a set of Blue EBC pads for the Elan to test out on the road and trackdays. When I received them I went down to the garage I use in Newbury, Sterling, and borrowed one of their ramps to change the pads over. I had a bit of difficulty getting the bolts on the rear calipers to come loose! The pads that were in there had only been fitted about 11 months before?

I had to enlist Sterling's help to get them loosened - involving a huge breaker bar and a lot of strength.......................

I then bedded the pads in over a few days on the road - gradually building up to full braking as advised by EBC.

The pads are really good for the road as initial bite comes in early and does not require a lot of heat to be effective - so the blues are ideal for road use.

The night before I was to set off on the trip to Spa - Neil sent me an email saying there had been a big mix up with the booking and 7 people turned up instead of 5. So no room at the Inn for

Martin and Paula, but he would organise something else locally and not to worry................

So on the Monday morning I went early and got the trailer and loaded the Elan and we set off for Dover. Well - a combination of traffic, roadworks, accidents etc meant we missed our ferry. doh!

So 2 hours added to the journey already.

Paula wanted some cigarettes and some for our Mum so I said lets stop at Adinkerke which is the best and cheapest place for ciggies. I plugged it into the sat nav and when we landed at Dunkirk off we went. Or we would have done had there not been roadworks and a "deviation" which took us all round the houses........anyway this added another hour or so to the journey.

However, this was not the end of our delays - Belgium has "found" a load of money to fix their roads and subsequently there are roadworks everywhere. This added more time to our journey

- so much so that we did not arrive at our alternative hotel until 1030pm.

However, the hotel was in darkness and the doors were all locked and no phone numbers on the noticeboard. To cut a long boring story short - we phoned Neil - he came over - found s Privee phone number - the owner got out of bed and let us into our room.

The next morning we headed off to the track with a little trepidation as the previous day the fog had not lifted until 12 and then the Marshalls had lunch until 1300. The morning was glorious with blue skies and sunshine. So no issues there :-)

Found Spa with no issues and unloaded the Elan and went to sign on and attend the briefing. It was Daren's 40th so we all sang Happy birthday to him before he started the briefing.

Roof down, helmets on and all strapped in we set off for the sighting laps. Arghhh, some people had got it all wrong and were overtaking the tailenders on the sighting laps only to find a "snake" of relatively slow moving traffic........................fortunately no major issues - just some red faces :-)

Did a dozen or so laps in the morning and then a fine drizzel started, not good, track very greasy and slippy - no likey :-(

Fortunately it was 12 and time to stop for lunch - lets hope the rain drys up over lunch.

The EBC Blue pads were superb - Spa is a very demanding circuit and speeds are high and the

brakes and pads take some high speed punishment. The blues did not protest or fade once in the morning - they were just excellent - filling you with confidence to brake later and later. Increasing the enjoyment of the day with every lap.

I have upgraded the Elan's front brakes to Wilwood 4 pots with 320mm disks and it is a good system. I had been pleased with the previous Wilwood pads apart from the excessive dust created under braking.

The Blues are a step up from the Wilwoods and do not create as much dust - let us see what the afternoon will bring.

After lunch we went out with the wet weather tyres and wheels on, but it quickly became apparent that a very dry line was forming..........yippee :-) Rushed back into the pits and put the track tyres and wheels back on and zoomed back out onto the circuit.

The tyres heated up really quickly and the pace picked up really quickly - I had also got to know

the circuit better and understood my lines and turn in points. I was really enjoying this so after

about 7 laps I went back into the pits to see if my sister wanted to come out for a few "hot" laps - she did so off out we went again.

A picture tells a thousand words - I had the smile surgically removed the next day..............

You can just see the EBC Pads sticker on the front bumper.

Here is the car going up Eau Rouge at speed - you can see the EBC sticker clearly in this one.

I did another 10 laps and then Paula wanted a rest so we came back into the pits.

However, I was buzzing and was soon back out on track enjoying myself. The pads did not fade once and just kept braking consistently all day - from the start to the finish. I only came in as it was near the end of the day and I was running on fumes :-)

Here is a link to a friends Vimeo page where you can see the elan in action at Spa being followed by a classic Lotus - A Sunbeam!

:-) http://vimeo.com/30137572

EBC - the pads are fantastic and there is loads of meat still left in the pads. I will definitely buy another set of these and will be recommending them on the Lotus Elan Central website -where I will post a link to my blog.

DN4 a 2 day trackday at the Ring - or "I'm in heaven"

2011-08-06T00:11:00.000-07:00

DN4 - I have been looking forward to this for months - and praying the weather would hold :-)

Picked up the trailer and loaded the Lotus on it ready for the trip over on the Sunday, Track

Wheels and tyres (check), Jack (check), tools (check), spare tyres (check), brake pads (check), 20 litre Petrol can (check) less time off track:-), warning triangle, yellow reflective jacket (check) - all systems go!

Set off on the Sunday morning to catch the midday ferry - smooth journey down to dover with no traffic problems. However, the trailer was a bit "snaky" so when I got to Dover I had time to

loosen off the straps and move the Lotus forward by two inches and then secure it with the straps.

For the rest of the journey it was much more stable - cruising at 70mph and achieving 30mpg - excellent. The Rover is a good old bus and uses a BMW Turbo diesel engine.

Got to the Ring but it was too late to register so I went straight to Jochen and Sofia's. I had packed a nice bottle of Rioja a 2004 vintage that my son had bought me as a present. so we drank that with some food that Sofia had prepared, lovely. Then early to bed for an early rise to get down to the car park to register and get my transponder.

I was in the overflow car park so I found a good spot and parked the "rig" and unloaded the Lotus. I then went over to register and the "Mexican" and friend were still setting up - slackers :-). The lovely Hannah signed me in and got me my numbers, wristband and transponder.

What a field of machinery was here for the event - very impressive. The fellow Scot with the

Ferrari 308 GT4 - one of my favorite cars of all time was there. Photo from Frozenspeed site -

Jochen does take marvellous photos, really captures the essence of the event.

I tried to catch up with him over the two days but we were never in the same place at the same time!

Loads of people I know where there in their cars, but difficult to meet up with anyone? Either they were on track or I was............

Pulling in to go on for my 3rd lapping session I spotted Bruce at the entrance and gave him a wave. He had his helmet and asked if he could jump in for a pax lap or two - NP I said. we had to adjust the belts as the last person to use them had been very slim and small - probably my daughter.

Now - Bruce can talk - he would probably win the talking Olympics if he entered - lovely bloke and a volunteer Ring Marshall. With hundreds of laps under his belt in both cars and bikes - some of them painful. Here is a lap (the middle of three) with Bruce giving a running commentary. http://vimeo.com/26697626 He did talk through the whole three laps - at one point commenting that here we were lapping the Ring and chatting as if we were on the E40!

I then bumped into some of the Northloop guys and Floyd asked for a couple of laps, so I went and got the Lotus and picked him up and off we went. At one point he asked if I use the kerbs at the top of the hill after the depression in Foxhole - no I said "it unsettles the Lotus".

Then going into Speigel curve just before Miss Hit Miss I cut it to sharp and mounted the kerb! In 8 years of going to the Ring in various cars I have never touched that kerb! Floyd said I

thought you just said you didn't use the kerbs and then you go and use a kerb that nobody uses!

Here is the lap http://vimeo.com/26734984 How we laughed :-) but no drama really just a small sphincter movement..........................

There was sporadic rain but it was hot so it never settled and apart from some over exuberant Italians everything went well - as someone said "I have paid for all the track why are you in my way......"

Here are some more photos from Frozenspeed - excellent as usual and I like the new fisheye lens ads a new dimension to the pictures of your car. The guy in the Carrera GT was pedaling it really quickly and certainly knew his way around - you can see him flash past in one of the videos.

The last lap of the day was a bit traumatic - three cars were ahead of me in the queue a race

prepared MX5, Clio Sport and an E46 M3. They took off and I followed behind - some cars came

past me a Renault Megane 250?, Scirocco rental and the Italian 599 GTO (glorious noise) and a GTR.

I then motored onto Adenaur Forst where I passed a Cayman and onto Metzgetfield.

I was coming into Kallenhard when I spotted the E46 facing the right way but with his back

bumper in front of him! Everyone was OK and his two friends in their cars had parked up to help him.

Carried on and was getting into the "groove" and another E46 went past going up Kesselschen - noticed he had an attractive blonde passenger :-) dropped to fourth and was accelerating into Mut curve at just over 120 klicks - when I and the E46 had to do some very hard braking!!!

The rental Scirooco had lost it and ping ponged across the barriers and was broad ways across the whole track - three wheels knackered. front and rear bumpers off and damage to most panels...........ouch expensive and the 12000 euro excess!!!

This is the danger of the Ring - this chap had been driving like a cock every time I encountered him on the Ring - with the cars electronics saving him! Earlier in the day he and another Scirocco rental had come up behind me at the same corner two abreast and too fast - causing me to brake very hard at the next curve before Steilstreke or I would have hit them as they went passed me in the corner!!!

Once the electronics have given up the guy has no talent or capability to recover and this happens - no one was hurt - only his wallet - but he was lucky. The Ring is a very unforgiving "beast" and you have to treat it with respect. Here is the video

http://vimeo.com/27366264

So the session was red flagged and we all came off - parked up in the Grone Holle and bumped into Steve in his Manthey prepped 996 GT3 in white - lovely - he was with some HPC guys and one of them was the Cayman I had passed at Adenaur Forst. The Ring was closed and with two recoveries it would be closed for some time so I decided to go and load the Lotus on the trailer for the trip home.

I also had to take out the Vbox and cameras and give them back to Jochen/Frozenspeed - he rents the system out for 150euros for a half day and 250 euros and as you can see from the videos it is a good system.

Then the boring journey back to Dunquerke and then home......it is always a low time to know you are leaving the Ring and probably not coming back for months :-(...............

Ring Trip with James in the 968CS

2011-08-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

A good friend, James, called me a few weeks ago and asked did I want to travel with him to Spa and the Ring in his 968CS - of course I had to think about it for all of a millisecond :-)

So on the Saturday morning my alarm went off at 3.06am...........................my god thats early.

On the road before 4am and got to his house for 5am.........

so we caught the 7.20am train and were in Spa for midday - sharing the driving.

The 968 has adjustable suspension on the shocks and the rebound - so it was on "soft" setting for the trip over.

A friend of James was racing at the Spa classic in his race 944 - and we were stopping to watch - and be pit crew if needed. Unfortunately it pissed down with rain and his race was eventually stopped and cancelled after 6/7 offs.....very frustrating .

We carried onto the Ring and the rain dried out but we arrived too late for any laps. We both had an early night as we were going to get up for some early laps in the morning. Met up with Max in his GT3 and had some good laps on a virtually dry track. Max then headed off back to UK. Discovered he only

lives a few miles down the road from me!

The track was closed for incidents quite a few times but we got about 6/7 laps in total.

There was a classic car show near the TierGarten and I took some pictures. A lovely BMW3.0CS

which had been converted to a convertible - it was very well done. An original Lancia Stratos but I managed to loose the picture of that and a fabulous Merc Gullwing.

Here is a picture of me at the highest point of the Ring - Hoe Acht.

Went down the Pistenklaus for a steak on a stone on the Sunday and it was mobbed - some prat then put black pepper on their stone.....

The next day the 968 owner said I could do some laps with the car and Jochen did me a deal on a Ring card with three laps - great when a plan comes together :-) So I got three dry laps without incident - well!!!! almost..............

I came out of Karrousell and a car going round the outside clearly didn't see me and I had to go wide

and onto the grass not good when you are in someone elses car. no harm done though

Cadwell Park with Mazda on Track Apr 2011

2011-05-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

Booked a Cadwell Park day with MOT, booked a trailer and hitched it to my latest tow vehicle, a Rover 75 Tourer with BMW Turbo diesel engine (31mpg while towing). A really good car for a "daily" and pretty good for towing, bit of a surprise really.

Arrived very late in the evening and thought I cannot be ar**d to pitch the tent or find a hotel.

So I will just fold down the rear, blow up the airbed, jump in the sleeping bag and that will be that! Wrong - inside a car is like sleeping in a fridge I was f***kin freezin, never again.

The day turned out to be glorious - blue skies and hot sunshine all day :-) excellent.

It was not just Mazda MX5's but a whole mix of cars.

A gaggle of Fiat 500's with a number of them being Abarths. These cars are very rapid and

handle really well as you will see in some of the later pictures. There were BMW's, some Lotus Elise's, some Westfields and Golf GTi's.

Here are some pics of the Elan on the day - it was my first time using the Luke harneses and

what an improvement - really keep you firm in the seat, which in turn gives you more control. I am getting the passenger site fitted shortly.

The car is still rolling too much in the corners - so I think I will try the 40% stiffer and slightly lower springs from SJSportscars.

On this lap with the BMW M3 following I got it a bit wrong on the back of the circuit going into Chris's.......bit too much lift going into the bend. the back came round and I had to stomp on the power to stop it spinning, but it was quite a lurid sideways slide. The BMW driver came up later and said well caught :-)

The day just got better and better, especially

with the tyres up to temperature.

The photographer keep taking pictures of me attacking the mountain, he was hoping I would lift

the front wheels - they got very light and

squirmed but no full lift :-)

Couple of BMW M3's going into Hall Bends - couple of good guys. the E36 is owned by 3 guys who share the cost of running a track car - good idea.

The E36 was fully stripped out with a cage,

bucket seats and harnesses.......Oh! and running on slicks - GLOL

Another picture showing the body roll and the sunshine on the day, great day no mishaps, no stoppages and a good time had by all. Then the four hour journey home....................................

Elan Injectors

2011-03-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Had the garage take out the injectors and sent them off to be cleaned and refurbished. They came back looking almost as good as new! It has made a significant difference with an extra 110cc of fuel getting into the engine in a more controlled manner.

Throttle response is improved and I think I have cured the problem with the MIL light coming on under hard acceleration.

Further Elan Upgrades

2011-03-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

I have changed the seat in the Elan for Bucket seats I bought from a fellow Elan member on the Forum www.LotusElanCentral.com I then sold the old seats to another forum member - Dave. Forums are great when they work like this :-)

Tony lives near Newcastle so as an addition to the seats I was able to pick up a door for his partner's damaged car and drop it off on my way up to Scotland.

Pictures of the seats fitted to the Elan -

Also got 6 point Luke harnesses which I will fit next week and new seat belts from the Lotus Aftersales division.

The Elan is going into the bodyshop on Monday for two days as a st**id woman ran into the back of me in traffic last summer and the repainted bumper is now showing runs in the paint? 8 months after the repair - wierd.

Overdue Update

2011-03-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

Been busy with family tragedies - Mother in Law died - Father in Law wanted to die to join her! - Father died - 5 friends died of various cancers - and all sorts of Sh*t on other fronts............sometimes life sucks.

"If it wasn't for bad luck I would have no luck at all......"

Did two track days at the Nurburgring with Destination Nurburgring in the Elan - fabulous. Here are some pictures:-

This is April 2010

Very well run and a great selection of cars - even a Ferrari 599 FXB - the noise was incredible as was the speed.

Here are some from the Aug 2010 DN or DN2 as it has become known :-)

Most extreme Capari driven by a "professional" who didn't understand that the flags apply to everyone!

It was really great to have the Nordschlief to

ourselves. No Tourists, No buses, No D**kheads.

Just everyone enjoying themselves with virtually no stoppages.

Most of the photos are from my good friend Jochen of Frozenspeed - he really is a fantastic photographer - his pictures are always excellent.

I am suffering my winter blues and withdrawal symptoms from not driving the Ring for months!

I had a track day with the BMW car club at Silverstone on the Stowe circuit - the forecast for the previous two weeks was dry sunny but cold....................................... It was actually wet grey damp and cold. I had put my track tyres on in the vain hope that the forecast would be right!

so I spent most of the day slipping and sliding with no traction whatsoever - still we had a laugh and I met up with some old friends.

2009-09-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

A good friend James needed to go out to the Ring to pick up his Porsche GT3 Manthey410 and asked if I was up for a road trip - do the bears proverbially shit in the wood - I said yes straight away.

I checked all the fluids, tyres, brakes, paperwork and packed some spares. I was going to take the Lotus Elan to the Ring to christen it with a few laps. I had a couple of Ring cards and a free lap courtesy of Redline.

I would also get some pax laps with James in the GT3

On the Monday afternoon I drove over to Guildford to pick James up and head down to catch the train/tunnel. Traffic was busy but moving and we arrived with plenty of time to grab sandwiches and coffees. We got straight back in the car and drove round to the boarding area only to be stopped by security for an explosive search/test. This failed on the first pass and they had to do it again - there were about 8 cars singled out for this "attention". When they had finally finished (15 minutes later) we were allowed to proceed to loading, only they had shut the gates and we couldn't get on our scheduled train. Doh!!!! there was still about 12 minutes to go :-( We had to wait 50 minutes for the next one...........................not happy

This meant we would be even later arriving at Jochen's where we were staying!!! Nothing to do but eat our Sandwiches and drink our coffees. One bit of good news was that my Insurer added James to my Policy for three days for no charge!

The Elan has a slight problem with it's heater control valve and I am awaiting a new one so the cabin can get "cosy" especially with two people in it. So we decided as it was a nice afternoon we would put the hood down.

We got the next train and it was actually a few minutes early arriving in France, great. We set off with the hood still down blasting through France and into Belgium. We decided as it was a warm night to leave the hood down.........

So there we were in the dark blasting through Belgium with the hood down in the pitch dark. The Belgians must have been thinking crazy Brits :-)

We left the Motorway to cut across country towards Germany. Travelling along forest roads - when a huge wild boar (tusks and all black spiky fur) weighing about 300lbs lumbered out of the trees and crossed the road in front of us! Yippes - there was no danger of a collision but we were both thinking the same thing - if that had been a few seconds later we would have hit it at speed!
We got to Jochen's without further incident, although the sat nav took us a route neither of us had ever travelled before :-) got to love those sat navs..

Next day stared beautifully with blue skies and no clouds and the promise of it being 26 degrees - lovely perfect for a few laps of the Ring.

Jochen had to do a favour for a Norwegian friend and pick up his M5 from Storage/Tyre place. I gave him a lift to collect it in the Elan and Sofia gave James a lift up to collect the Porsche.

I went up to the Ring at 5pm to convert my Redline voucher into a Lap and to see how many laps I had on my cards from Easter. I had 12 in total so that was perfect. I found this picture through the Northloop website. I hope the photographer does not mind me using it here - free advertising for him :-)

I did one lap and did not enjoy it at all - nothing felt right. All of my 750 or so laps have been done in RWD and mainly in my E30 M3. So FWD was a learning curve even though I have driven it on various UK tracks.

I borrowed James' tyre gauge and discovered that the tyres were up to 2.2 and 2.3 on the rear!!! it was hot. So I let out some air bringing them down to 1.8 hot and went out for another lap - this was much better and I was getting the hang of it :-)

I was having to adapt my usual lines, choice of gear and braking a lot more than I would have thought. Importantly, I was now having fun.

Went for two pax laps with James in the GT3 - what a car so much torque. I am getting used to the Manthey "jigglyness" of the suspension, but I do not think I could get used to it on a permanent basis. No idea of the times but James is quick and has done a lot more laps than I have and takes some interesting lines.

I cannot do more than a couple of laps as a pax as I then start to feel nauseous.....

I went out for another couple of laps and they were starting to flow until a biker overtook me in the middle of Weirsiefen - WTF - just as I was turning in tight - so I had to take a wide line out which spoiled the run down to Briedsheid. Obviously has a death wish.

Called it a day after this lap and headed back to Jochen and Sofias to freshen up and have a bite to eat with James and Sofia - Jochen was meeting up with the Norwegians. After dinner James and I went up to the Pistenklaus for a couple of drinks and to catch up with Jochen. We had an early night as both James and I wanted to get to the Ring by 8am to get some quiet laps in.

James and I got to the entrance for 750am and as soon as it opened we were out lapping. It was very quiet and it felt like you were the only car on the track at times.

Met up with Chilled, Dan, Nick, Mr Rooney and some other Northloopers - sorry didn't catch your names.

Jochen attaching one of his Frozenspeed stickers to a Norwegian GT2. Nice looking Silver Lotus next to it with a Frozenspeed sticker as well!

Some more laps and really getting into the feel of the Elan now - lapping quicker and quicker. Track still quite empty, but not for long. Scuderia Hanseat was on that week and all the Exotica started arriving - I have never seen so many Porsche GT2's in one place - there must have been more than a dozen of them. There was also a white Xbow, various Ferraris, two Gumbert Apollos, 4 or 5 R8's and some race prepped Seats.

The Ferrari's arrived in force with much revving of engines and all calling out to each other across the car park - all a bit "look at me". They do sound fabulous though.

But they are big and wide especially parked next to a little Elan

The Xbow was on Italian plates! usually a sign of some hot blood! and sure enough on one of my laps he came storming up behind me weaving all over the road behind me so I was unsure where he was going to go and he then overtook on the right - plonker.

Did another couple of laps with James in the GT3 - just love the noise it makes - getting more confidence in it's handling.

Some of the Ferrari's went out for a lap so it would be churlish not to go out an overtake them :-) Nick GT3 jumped in for a pax lap and I promised to take Dan out for a pax when we got back in. So off we stormed after the Ferrari's along with a posse of other cars. We eventually caught one going down into Breidshied bridge (being a mobile chicane) so I dived down the left side to get past. I then had the most monumental brake fade! and all I could think of for 2 seconds was "CONCRETE WALL" then gathered it up and carried on round and up Ex Mule, but with no brakes. Did a gentle lap back to the Grone Holle and had a look at the pads. Sorry Nick if it gave you palpitations!

I had checked them the afternoon before and there was two thirds of the meat on them so thought they would be ok. They didn't seem OK now but the outside ones still had meat on them but the insides sounded like they were down to the metal!!!! and I was leaving to go to Calais in 35 mins with James. Sorry Dan will give you a pax next time we meet up. Also at that point the track was shut for an accident.

At that point I got a message from James - he was over at Manthey Racing a back tyre had started de-laminating!!! so he needed a new tyre and upon checking the other rear he needed two.........and they are enormous tyres. Turns out he had to get four.......

I was able to go up to Hershbrioch and get my spare pads fitted - so by the time I got back to Jochens for a wash and brush up and finish packing the car James arrived. We had a bite to eat and hit the road.

I followed James on a route I had never driven before with new pads and James on new tyres! I asked if we could take it easy for the first few miles..........................ha ha James take it easy that will be the day. I did keep the roof down until it started to rain when we stopped for petrol in Belgium though.

Missed the train we were aiming for but got on the next one and all was plain sailing. Stopped at James' place to pick up some bits and then home to Newbury. About 1000 yards from home a huge deer jumped into the road in front of me and I had to do an emergency stop - we missed each other but my heart was trying to come through my ribs! I had to have a cup of tea and sit down when I got home.

Great trip but I was knackered having done a whole day at the Ring and then 8 hours driving to get home.

Finally got the Elan back

2009-08-04T11:16:00.001-07:00

Finally got the Elan back and it does look good :-) It has had a few upgrades as you can see in the photo it has new wheels, roll hoops and a new registration.

Under the covers it has new front brakes with 4 pot Wilwoods, new rear disks, hubs and bearings and a new brake master cylinder. So it now stops really really well!!! Also took the doors to bits and replaced the external seals on the top of the doors, new triangular corner pieces and new carpet on the doors.

However, a group of us were helping a friend with a charity day for Help for Heroes down at Bovington Tank training facility. The elan disgraced itself - when after lunch and the first lap of the afternoon it dropped all it's PAS fluid in the carpark! So no more laps............ A friend had a big jack and took off the PAS pump belt so I could drive it home. When I got it home I noticed that one of the new rear shocks was leaking! I got a replacement from Avo (free of charge) and fitted it myself. The shaft in the leaking one had "corrosion" and marks on it - which caused it to puncture it's seals. Then I noticed I had an oil leak at the front and upon investigation it turns out to be slightly weeping Dowty seals on the oil cooler..............................I am waiting for new ones which I will fit when they arrive.

I am afraid the Dowty seals did not cure the problem and a new oil cooler was required, had to drive down to Castle Coombe to pick one up. Now fitted and running well - fitted a replacement drop link I got off the LEC forum, I have kept the old one to send to Steve at SJSportscars.

Elan rebuild May 09

2009-08-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Carrying on from where I left off in the last post. The Elan is coming together bit by bit and is now ready to be masked up ready for the first coat.

Here it is - still with the old registration and the roll hoops not fitted.

Masking a car for painting in a booth is a laborious pain in the butt job. I think you would need to have the patience of Job to do this on a regular basis.

Here it is fully masked and being painted by Kieth who is originally from Louth - near Cadwell Park - one of my favourite tracks.

Next thing is for all those awkward items to be sprayed hanging up in the booth - Spoiler, bumper and bonnet.

This is a frustrating time for me as the car comes together slowly.

Update August 2009

2009-08-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

Have not posted in quite a while as life has not been very good - cancer in the family :-( deaths, suicides, acid accident near blindness, more motoring woes and the Belgium accident is still ongoing.

On the Audi front the young lad has now changed his story saying I hit him trying to avoid the "phantom" car!!!!!! So that is 10 months this has been going on for.

Bashed the Elan into a roundabout after hitting some diesel on a roundabout the day after my birthday in January.

Other motoring woes - my son borrowed my "daily" and a big Audi pulled out and side swiped the car. To cut a long story short - it got repaired - lovely but the repairers damaged the other side!!!! WTF. After much gnashing of teeth and complaining to the Insurance company they repaired that also.

Finally found out what the "rattling" noise in the Audi was - some internal brake caliper part was fractured and this was causing the noise. You cannot buy this part separately from a whole caliper! So new caliper fitted and noise cured.

The green Excel has had a few issues - the new exhaust has been banging on the bodywork over deep potholes. Lots of adjusting and tensioning has sorted the problem, but while under the car I noticed both shockers on the back were leaking! Someone had removed them at some point using Mole grips and left marks on the shafts which punctured the seals.

Sent them back to Avo with the assistance of Lotusbits - thanks Mike for lending me the temporary ones while Avo refurbished the damaged ones. New shafts and seals and as good as new.

I got a pair of 4pot Wilwood calipers at a good price and thought I will fit them to one of the Excels. However, costs were mounting and so was the complication and time involved so I was going to shelf the idea until a friend (Uwe) who is a CAD/CAM engineer stepped in.

I went over to his place and he measured and measured and mocked up a bracket to fit the Wilwoods.

He then found a chap at Brands Hatch who could manufacture them in Aircraft Aluminium at a good price, excellent news.

Audi Repair and next disaster - The Elan

2009-04-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

The Audi repair estimate came out at £3,600 and as the car is only worth about £4,000 I was sure they would write it off and at one point this is what they said they would do. However, they decided to repair it - the headlight units alone cost almost £700 without bulbs!!!!

The trailer needed one new light unit and some Aluminium welding - of course it could not be that simple :-( The unit was out of production and the one supplied as the replacement was completely different to the existing one and dramatically at a different height. This meant replacing both therefore increasing the cost of the repair. Which is when I found out that my trailer insurance did not cover accidental damage.....................

Still not to worry the ULR Insurance I have will recover that from the Belgian's Insurance. 8 months later I am still waiting for the repayment of my excess and the trailer repairs.

The next disaster I am referring to in the title is that on a gloriously sunny day in January 2009 I took the Lotus Elan out for a spin with the top down. I had a wonderful drive and drove down the Sandleford Link dual carriage way to the roundabout at the bottom, two lanes of traffic, quite busy, queued to get on the roundabout - stop start.

Then my turn in tandem with a red car we took off, not quickly, into 2nd gear, turn around the roundabout. Front wheels skid out, correct skid lift off throttle slightly, back end slams around, front wheels get grip car launches itself into roundabout - there was nothing I could do!

Here are some of the pictures of the damage - does not look too much......bumper cracked in two places bonnet and lights slightly damaged.

I managed to open the bonnet and take some more photos to send to a number of body shops. Everyone agreed it did not look too bad. I could see that the front had been pushed in by about three quarters of an inch.

The various bodyshop estimates ranged in cost from £3,500 to £5,600! Their engineer came to assess the damage and in his view it was an uneconomic repair and he recommended writing it off.

My Insurer called me to say they were writing it off and did I want to buy the salvage? I said I did even at £2,200 plus my excess of £175 and as it was on an agreed value I would get almost £6,000 payment. Excellent news I thought as I knew a chap with a good front clam.

I called him up and we agreed a price. A few days later I hired a van and drove up to near Peterborough to pick it up. However, on the way back I had a call from the Insurer to say they had made a mistake and would not be writing it off!!!!

Here is the new clam prepped and undercoated ready to be fitted to the car.

The good news is that the Insurer will pay for all my costs...

The Elan went to a local bodyshop - Woodlands, in Newbury. They seem good people and have done work for other people I know - a very good job on an early Porsche 356a.

As the Elan was dismantled more damage came to light - the front top subframe was damaged beyond repair and the fiberglass crash box was slightly damaged. A new top subframe was ordered from SJSportscars, but would take 4/5 weeks to get manufactured.

It is very interesting to see the Clam construction being dismantled. This was the forerunner to the clam technology that is in the Elise. You can see the dismantled headlights on the ground. These are the early "Opera" headlights and some of the parts are no longer available. I had been given a couple of the parts as spares when I bought the car and in the Lotus sale a couple of the other parts were up for sale. So the headlight mechanisms were rebuilt.

I had purchased Roll Hoops and these were going to be fitted to the car while it was up on the ramps in bits....

Another job I thought I might as well do while it was up on the ramp for a number of weeks was to clean and rub down the underside. I also scraped and rubbed down the suspension components . Then I painted them with rust inhibitor and black hammerite. A long and boring process but worth it in the end with the knowledge that they were all secure and now free from surface rust.

This is some after shots of the painted wishbones and chassis.

The car looks very strange with the whole front clam and bumper missing - it seems a lot

smaller for some reason.

This photo is prior to the new brakes being fitted - I will finish the rebuild off in a new thread.....................to be continued :-)

Sh*t Happens or "If it wasnt for bad luck I would have no luck at all...."

2009-04-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not updated the Blog in a long while but a catalogue of motoring "issues" have not made my car experience one of joy................

In Sept 08 on the way back from an excellent Ring trip I was involved in an accident on the link motorway to the Brussels Ringroad. I was in the Audi A8 towing the car trailer with the BMW E30 M3 on it.

It was wet, grey and greasy and I was not going very fast (about 45mph) in the inside lane. I caught an odd movement to my left and looked up to see a young lad in a large E class Merc sliding sideways beside me. It was immediately obvious he was a passenger and had lost control :-(

He hit me on the nearside corner smashing the indicator and bounced away. I hit the brakes hard and the trailer fishtailed smacking the armco which is very close to the road at this point.

He came back and hit me in the middle of the bumper and bounced away - I was still braking hard, very hard. I almost managed to keep the whole rig in my lane, but bringing over 3300 kilos to a halt quickly is a challenge!!!!

He then hit the armco and came to a complete halt - there was nothing I could do but plough into him T-boning his car's doors.

We got out to inspect the damage and it was not a pretty site, I cleared the debris from the road and we called the police. In Belgium they have to attend every accident and take statements. I put up the warning triangle and the traffic flowed around us.

I was not a happy "ted" as I could foresee months of aggravation sorting this one out :-(

He spoke very little English and my Flemish and Arabic is none existent.............

The headlights of the Audi had been pushed into the cavities behind and the bumper was severely broken in places. Here is my masterful repairs with gaffer tape............they still worked but just didn't quite point in the right directions.
The indicators also still worked but were now silver instead of orange.

Miraculously the mechanicals had not been damaged - so there were no oil or water leaks and the air con still worked.

His car had a fair bit of damage to the doors, bonnet front off side wheel and front lights as can be seen in the photos below.
He called his "Uncle" a friend of the family who asked me if I had seen the car the car which Clipped him?

I said I had been too busy trying to avoid the Mercedes and to control my car and trailer.

There was no damage to the rear end of the Merc and if you look at the wheel in this picture it has a different alloy and different profile tyre to the other three - 35 profile as opposed to 55 profile! I believe this was the cause of his skid!!!!

The police arrived and took statements and said that the liability rested with him and his insurers. He could not give any details of the "phantom" car.

The trailer had lost one whole light cluster at the back as it had been mashed against the armco and the number plate was broken.

Rear Lettering on the Excel SA

2008-06-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Just got around to posting this - I got the letters from Halfords as I am a cheapskate and would not pay the £20 to Lotus to get the right font :-)

I think it looks good and sets the rear of the car off nicely - previously there was nothing on the rear to say it was a Lotus

A couple of different shots

spammers who post comments on blogs

2008-04-27T12:45:00.001-07:00

why cant these prats go and loose themselves in the woods somewhere lonely where they cannot bother anyone - rather than waste everyone's time with their shite sites :-(

Lotus Excel SA part 3

2008-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

In January I went up to Lotus bits to pick up the car and to give it a shakedown now that everything was back in place. It also gave me a chance to look at it up on the ramp and see all the new components.

This is the new rear shock absorbers, brake disks and calipers. Unfortunately you cannot see the new polybushes from this angle.

This is a view of one of the refurbished wheels
with the new center caps - looking good :-)

view of the new paintwork - it really is a lovely colour............

Closeup of the new bumper with all new fixings

view of the rear prior to the badges being stuck on in place - I will post another picture showing

what I did with the badges. I was fortunate enough to get an original Excel badge off of eBay.

Interior looking resplendent in it's new livery

Lotus Excel SA Part 2

2008-02-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

Lotusbits stripped the car ready for the paint shop in Birmingham to paint it. This involved taking off both bumpers, headlights, spats, door mirrors and also provide a "roof" from a scrapped Excel to repair the sunroof hole. Both the sunroof hole and the new panel were stepped so that there was some integral strength build into the repair.

These pictures were taken in the body shop after the respray.

It is weird to see the car without all the components fitted - headlamp pods, mirrors and bumpers. The front bumper is a mix of plastic and fibreglass - the original bumper had a damaged plastic part which is virtually impossible to repair. It was therefore decided to buy a new bumper from SJSportscars using the original as a mold.

The wheels were also restored by being sandblasted and repainted with a final coat of lacquer.

All the bits and pieces and the car were then taken back to Lotusbits for refitting. There were some faults in the paint from the respray, but it was decided to rectify these after the car was all back together.

The interior started to come together - here is the new underlay and carpets being fitted. Interesting to see the roll over bar "naked".

You have to be careful with the spray on glue as it will give you a nasty headache.

The missing dash with all the electrics exposed makes it look a daunting task to put it all back together. I think the manual would be an absolute must when you take a car apart to this level or really know your Excels from the experience of having done this before.

As you can see the windscreen was removed for the repaint - a brand new one was fitted shortly after this photo was taken.

New carpets fitted and looking good - SJSportscars have found a new supplier.

I have also purchased a set of overmats to protect the new carpets - I will fit these when I pick the car up.

The headlining beginning to come together - it is best to recover all the roof components on a bench off the car and refit them once the adhesive has gone off.

New carpet fitted to the parcel shelf as well.

The wiring hanging down is for the rear seats interior light which someone told me was off a VW Sirocco, but not sure if that is true.

Here is a picture of the newly reconnolised interior prior to fitting.

One of the other jobs was to fit new rear seat belt mounts as the old ones had disappeared. MOT failure if you don't.

Side panels with rear speakers refitted with center console.

The dash and center console refitted.

"New" rear seats fitted - the perforated leather ones - which I think look a lot better than the originals.

Front seats fitted and all center console components.

The car was taken back to the paint shop in Birmingham for all the blemishes to be sorted out. A week later I meet Mike and Dave in Birmingham to check the car over to make sure the blemishes had all been rectified. We checked them all and Dave put the car on the trailer to go back to Lotusbits - however

and we know one brake light not working :-) minor fault

I happened to run my hand down one of the door shuts - the edge of the drivers door - and there was a nasty rough bit of paint. There was also a "new" blemish on the nose cone. The paintshop manager came out and confirmed that the door blemish/rough paint could not be "mopped" out (whatever that is?) and the car would have to be taken back into the paintshop...... Dave was very patient I would have been screaming blue murder if I had just put the car on the trailer. Another week was need but at least the paint shop would deliver it back to Lotusbits.

Lotus Excel SA Part 1

2008-02-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

Latest Project in the Houston Petrolhead world is the creation of a new daily driver - one with character but practability and reliability - a Lotus.........no honestly :-)

I sold the Uber Merc 320SL and went on the hunt for a Lotus Excel SA - Lotus made 36 of these - they came with a 4 speed auto box as fitted to Jag XJ6's and BMW's. However, Lotus added a cruise control unit to it.

I looked at a few cars and then found one on eBay in a fetching Petrol Blue colour with white leather interior. I won the bid but the chap had lost the V5 document and had to apply for a fresh one from the DVLA. Here is what it looked like when I picked it up

Looks OK on first inspection but looks can be deceiving - it had one of those tilt glass sunroofs cut into the roof. This had been fitted badly and had leaked for years it looked like all the headlining was damp and rotten - yeuch :-(

In addition when driving the car water would leak through and run down your head - lovely....................... the car had been parked under a tree and the heater vent had filled up with leaves and tree debris so the passenger footwell was full of water and the carpets were ruined. Not a good start but I was undaunted - fool and his money.

I eventually (weeks later - thanks DVLA) picked it up and took the car up to Lotusbits in Marton near Rugby - this is Mike Taylor and his guys - and what they don't know about Excels is probably not worth knowing.

The plan was to "gently" restore it - here are a couple of shots of it outside Lotusbits

Still looks OK but as I said before looks can be deceiving........... we got it on the ramp to create the job sheet for the work to be done. This took a few hours.......Argggghhhh I should have known better.

It is quite sad to see all the "dead" Excels at Lotusbits, but it does mean they have a vast stock of every part for any model of Excel. I counted about 20 on the tops of the containers with another 6/8 whole cars parked alongside :-(

I want the car to be my daily driver so I want a number of things to be top notch and "reliable". Here is the job sheet list from the session on the ramps - hydraulic engine mount, new brake disks, pads and calipers with braided hoses. Replace rear silencers and one pipe to the Y piece, new ignition leads, take out sunroof and reglass roof and paint. Replace door beam on drivers side, fix electric windows and mirrors, sort cruise control, refit airbox and get rid of K&N's. Sort engine oil leaks, replace all shocks with adjustables poly bush the rear end. Fit new carpets, regas aircon, renew headlining, new front bumper, refurbish all alloy wheels, fix horn/wiper stalk replace wiper/wiper motor/washers etc and some more jobs I've forgotten. I will update the list over time as things come to light!

It then went into a container for a few weeks as Mike and the guys had to finish some existing Customer's cars - which was fine by me. Timescale was it would be ready in about three months - GLOL.

I then went to look for a "cheap" daily driver until the Excel SA was ready - that is another story I will post at a future date.

Once the Excel came out of its container and work started more surprises emerged - it was agreed there were too many oil leaks on the engine and problems with the starter so it was agreed it had to come out. This meant it the engine and engine bay could be steam cleaned and all the relevant oil seals could be replace much easier.

A number of other jobs then emerged...... like replacing the belts and fitting a new timing belt.

Here is a picture of it all clean and shiny - doesn't it look better. At some point in the future I will have the cam covers repainted in crinkle red, but that can wait.

First Job was to remove the drivers door and replace the door beam with a shiny new one - this means dismantling the door completely. Here is the new door beam, hinge etc fitted to the car - there are quite a number of adjustments on these doors. Mike explained to me the processes required to achieve the perfect close, but after about 15 minutes I lost the will to live :-( sorry Mike. He is the expert and if you really want to know ask him - I would suggest that it is a banging head against wall job for someone of my diy capabilities.

Fitting the carpets involved taking out the interior - OMG!!! what has happened to the car. The dash came out because I got a call from Mike with a suggestion - LOL - kerrching

A 1992 Excel with the new style perforated leather had just arrived with a badly "broken" body, but the interior was in good condition. Mike's suggestion was to buy this and fit it into my car. He sent me some pictures to think about the suggestion.

Here are the original pictures - a bit grubby but in good condition....

A deal was struck and it was also decided to clean and reconnilise (spelling?) the interior with the results shown below:-

Part 2 to follow shortly...................

E30 M3 Group Ring Trip

2007-09-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

The weekend started with a trip to Camberley to meet up with a mate who was towing his M3 out for the weekend - I had left mine at the ring three weeks previous.

we were taking out a replacement diff 3.64 ratio to be fitted to my M3 - Olli was also fitting a new prop shaft and two drive shafts - Oh and a new starter motor & spark plugs ........

Olli fitted the Diff and I picked the car up at 330pm drove (gently) to Adenau to book into the hotel and then drove back straight to Olli as there was a strange noise coming from the back :-(

We got in the car for a run so he could listen to the noise - but we could not go anywhere as one of the new shafts had snapped!!!! Olli took them off and put the old ones back on :-( - so I did not get on the Ring until 540pm so lost 20/25 minutes - did 4/5 laps - going well. Last lap and parked up to have a coffee - went back to the car and the battery was flat again.......?

Down Pistenklaus for dinner with the crew - no beers no wine as driving to Adenau - at the end of the night went out to the car - flat battery again - jump start and off to Adenau - pulled into the Aral garage and bought and fitted a new battery.

Up in the morning and out to the car - guess what - flat battery..........................

Lex at the enroadcafe jumped me and I was off down to the track few good laps and then up to Olli's to put the R888's on - noticed the cooling fan was staying on a long time mmmmmm Olli checked it out and found a loose wire - he sorted this and problem solved. However, all the jump starting had effected the ABS - i.e. it no longer worked - tried cleaning the sensors to no avail - so no ABS

Did some fast laps and really getting into the groove - funny thing though all our cars started running rich? nobody could work it out? Front nearside tyre was very worn (even driving on three wheels wasn't helping) by now so I went down to Olli's to change it but I missed him....damm - he had said he would be in Sunday so I thought OK go down in the morning but sadly no Olli - he eventually turned up at lunch time with his Mum and Dad going to the DTM race but it meant I only got passenger laps in the morning. He fitted my spare R888 and I was off for some more laps

I was being chased by a GT3 for most of a lap but the extra power of the GT3 on the straights meant I let him by :-) He came up in the car park later to say I was on good lines but the car was doing a good impersonation of a flame thrower. LOL

My brakes started to rumble badly again with pad transfer - I thought I had cured this with the new pads ....

One of the guys who was in a 540 saloon (he is rebuilding his M3) had a video cam in the car and followed me for most of a lap when I get it from him I will post it on Youtube - decided against this since a guy I know got a one day ban for doing this.

We were going out for a lap about 5pm with all the M3's in convoy I was behind Kevin at the front of the convoy and we were going strong but going down to Briedshied bridge the gear lever detached from the box and I had no gears - fortunately it had come out of gear and I was able to brake, put on the hazards and steer thro the gate into the car park at Adenau..

Phoned ADAC and they came and picked me up ( eventually - about 1 3/4 later) and took me to Munch where some of the damaged cars from the day were stored - the red Swedish 911 RS 964 was particularly sad - I believe he came together with an Mitsibitsi Evo in Wipperman which spun him backwards into the Armco

ADAC then delivered the car to Olli's in the morning and I went down to Mullenbach and they had a gear lever which Olli adapted and fitted to the car - works fine but it has changed the throw which feels odd because I have been driving it with the previous throw for 7 years.

Then while having a coffee and a piece of cake - a German asked me a question and I turned to answer and then took a bite of cake - something buzzed and stung the inside of my mouth - a f*****g wasp - I did kill it with my chewing :-(at this point I did think of flying home and leaving the car there :-(

Drive home in convoy with a couple of mates - delays on the Brussels RO meant we missed the 2000 and had to wait for the 2200 - got home at 0200 knackered. Good news the pads/disks seemed to have cleared.

BMW E30 M3 Ring trip in June

2007-07-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Quite a few E30 M3 owners decided to have a long weekend at the Ring so we all made our arrangements to get out there for the weekend of the 15th June.

I was catching the 8am ferry from Dover to Dunkirk - I packed the car up the night before after the garage had checked it all over and given it a clean bill of health.

Therefore, I was less than pleased to go out at 5am in the morning to a flat battery :-( the neighbours must have loved me (not) I had to start the Audi A8 in order to jump start the M3 - so both cars rumbling away on the driveway......

I then drove down to Dover with no other incidents and boarded the ferry with no further issues - apart from a strange resonance from the exhaust.

Drove through France and up into Belguim where the road through Eupen was closed and had to take a detour through some backroads. I met up with some fellow Northloopers at a service station in Belguim - I had a bit of confusion trying to fill the car with petrol. The pumps I was trying to use are specifically for Belgians with Belgian credit cards!!!! with no signs to inform you of this oddity.

Arrived in the Eifel area and stopped of at Marc Ludemann's place TTE- Technics to check out the exhaust noise and put on the other wheels with the R888's. As usual Marc and his guys were very helpful. It looks and sounds as if the baffles inside the central silencer are adrift/loose so I will need to get it changed when I get back to the UK.

Went down to the Ring for a few laps before checking into the hotel - it felt good to be back.

We then all meet up at the Pistenklause for dinner and drinks and a laugh. as usual we all had the steak on a stone - we are so predictable - but it is a great way to eat a steak especially with a good glass of Multipulciano.

The next day was a full open day at the Ring but the weather was looking a bit dodgy. The rain came and went and we managed to get lots of laps in - here is a typical picture as you can see this was a dry period. there were a few stoppages but nothing major.

Spotted Sabine in a Maclaren Mercedes SLR 722 queing to get onto the Ring for some practice, but did not have my camera so could not get a picture. Here is one of her - one of the photographers took of her on the Ring in the SLR 722 - this is the number Stirling Moss had when he won the Mille Milgia in the original SLR in '56 I believe.

Aparently on the Monday morning she was going to race a plane along the Dotting Hohe straight. I had to pack and get on the road to the ferry at this time so I was going to miss this event

Steve from Scotland had come along on his newly repaired and repainted M3 CSL - in White - in paint unlike another Northerner who had his wrapped in vynal.

He had some problems with the car on the way over and not far from the Ring - Alternater, battery and water pump. The car had to be recovered to BMW "Dawn" a very good BMW garage and dealership that has helped me out in the past. It was warranty work and they said they would do their best to get it back to Steve for midday the next day.....

However, true to their word the car was ready and Steve went and picked it up.

There were quite a few exotica there and one of them was a Lamborghini Murcielago and it was been driven by a guy who knew the Ring and could drive. Perfect positioning in the Karrousel :-)

I met up with Thor an Icelandic chap who has a white M3 with a supercharged six cylinder BMW engine putting out 470bhp - that's correct 470bhp! He has traction control fitted.

I went out with Thor in the car and I think it is too much power and there were a couple of instances where I thought we were not going to make it round some of the corners! Thor really tortured those R888's.

You can see he has a very appropriate number plate

Since then Thor has discovered his rear subframe was broken in two! :-( no wonder it felt loose at the rear.

I spotted this E36 M3 in the car park with a very interesting paint job of the Ring with a lot of the corners named.

It was a very well executed paint job - I was impresssed

Another interesting car brought along by "big Dave" was an Audi RS6 with Nos injection - over 700bhp, Movit big brakes and I think 20" wheels.........

The next day was gorgeous dry and sunny with high temperatures - excellent for lapping the Ring. Unfortunately this meant lots of incidents and stoppages - more than in the wet/dry changeable conditions of the previous day :-(

People obviously pushing themselves in the dry conditions beyond thier (and thier machines) capabilities.

It was Kevin's special birthday and wife Gill had got some special stickers for his car for the day - LOL. This meant we would all gather at the Pistenklause again that evening to celebrate the special occassion.

At one point myself, Kevin and Uwe were in convoy in our Black E30 M3's doing a lap of the Ring - all with Carbon fibre airboxes and engines at full chat - it must have been quite a sight and noise from outside.... Here is myself and Kevin and another with Uwe catching up behind.

At one point all three of us blasted by James in his 968CS like an express train (his words).

Some more exotic cars on the day - I must admit the Ferrari 308GT4 is one of my all time favourites - this one has been fully rebuilt by a Scot and good play to him he takes it round the Ring and he does not hang about.

The Ultima driver knew what was what as well and the car went beautifully.

My power steering belt came off when I was parking so a trip down to Ring Racing to have it sorted was neccessary - but it happened the next day as well. Kevin had a new one which he lent me and Olli who has set up premises opposite the Zur Burg fitted it for me. He spotted what the problem was the Alternator bracket was chaffing the belt on full load - something to get sorted when I get home.

It was time to pack up and head for Dunkirk and catch the ferry home - time was a bit tight what with Olli having to fit the new belt. I set off and made the ferry with 15 mins to spare having had no hold ups on the road.

Next trip is 3rd August but prior to that there are a few mods to do and a trip to North Yorkshire to Croft to fit in .................................

Lotus on Track trip to Folembray and Abbeville

2007-06-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly my wife, Jane, agreed to come with me on this trip but not to attend the track days!

We were staying at a nice hotel in Albert which is mid way between Folembray and Abbeville but close to Amiens and Arras.

We had an uneventful trip down, but a problem emerged whereby the expansion bottle would overheat and water would escape out of the cap :-( just keep an eye on the temperature and kept topping up the water at petrol stops. also carried a couple of big bottles of water in the boot, just in case.

The car is a Lotus Elan SE Turbo - which is a fantastic little sports car. It is easy to get in and out through conventional doors, the seats are very comfortable (but being leather are very slippy in hard cornering), the windscreen is a long way away giving the impression of more cabin space and the boot is a decent size (two peoples bags for the weekend, some tools, the water bottles, helmet, racing boots/gloves, spare wheel, oil, camera, wind break) this is because it is FWD! the only one Lotus ever made.

On the Saturday Jane and I went to visit the Medieval walled city of Laon which is on the top of a very large hill. The views on a clear day must be fabulous but when we were there it was a bit misty but very hot about 26 degrees.

Had to put on sunscreen and a hat - fair skinned and burn and end up like "roast beef" as the French affectionately refer to us. Also gave me a chance to wear my Lotus on Track cap - which my wife loves - NOT!

Took loads of photos of the views and the medieval streets which I wont post on here, but the cathedral is breathtaking and I will post a couple of those. It is worth visiting Laon just to see the Cathedral.

Now my previous impressions of France had been that lunch was a long drawn out affair which coould last into the late afternoon? However, in Laon everything is over by two and all you can get is a snack! albeit in a very friendly bar with some other "roast beefs". Every other establishment gave you the mad British look - you want to eat lunch now? You sometimes get this look in the UK too :-)

Here are some pictures of the outside of the cathedral which was equally as fascinating.

and yes !that is a hippopotamus on the building - there were lots of strange creatures on the walls of the cathedral.

Next day I went off to Folembray to the trackday and Jane went off by train to Amiens for a tourist day and some shopping.

Folembray is a lovely little circuit hidden away in the middle of a forest at the back of the town. It is short but quite challenging and loads of fun. There were obviously a lot of Loti there but only two Elans; mine and Monty's (from the Forum - Lotus Elan Central). The Folembray sign and entrance gate can be seen in the background.

There was a contingent of fellow Scots who had come down in a few Porsches and a couple of Loti - one of them a Honda VTEC powered Exige - Wow.

It was a lovely sunny day with temperatures in the high twenties again - so time for the suncream and hat :-)

Monty's car is a bit special, lowered, adjustable suspension and a very "bling" engine bay - looks and goes really well. Dico his friend was there, but was a bit off colour from the night before - enough said!

Here are some of the other cars there on the day

The first one had come over from Belguim for the day.

There were even two BMW's and one of them an E30 M3 like mine and in Shwartzmetallic - also like mine.

Unfortunately, the expansion bottle problem got worse and a blown head gasket was the general consensus of opinion :-( and in addition the Hall Sensor was giving problems along with the fact that the two coils are underneath the expansion tank and were being soaked. Boo Hoo as children say - needless to say this put an end to my track day and I cancelled going to Abbeville the next day opting to spent the time with my wife sightseeing on the way home.

Unfortuantely it rained all day and after looking around Arras for a short while and having a marvelloous lunch just off the main square - we headed off to Dunkirk to see if we could catch an earlier ferry.

Unfortunately the ferries were full so we had to wait around Dunkirk for hours - not the best place to spent 3 to 4 hours in my opinion, but I did get a new battey fitted to my watch.

Apart from the car problems it had been an enjoyable weekend - good food and wine and very good hotel.

Easter at the Ring

2007-04-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

Winter is over and it is time for the first trip of the year to the "Ring" excitment is growing day by day - like Xmas when you were a kid :-)

Wake earlier than planned - car all prepared and packed the night before - head off to catch the ferry. No problems with traffic but got a front wheel wobble so when I arrive in Dover early I call into a tyre place and they balance one of the front wheels.

Board the ferry and go to the quiet room for a nap. All good so far, but off the ferry at Dunkirk and the wheel wobble is worse :-( Nothing for it but drive to Germany at slightly higher speeds than planned - makes for a smoother ride the faser the wheels turn around.....

However, after two hours of this I have had enough and RSI is developing in my hands so I stop and switch the front wheels to the back and vice versa - it is a bit better.

Arrive at the hotel at 730pm park the car and wander down to the Pistenklause to see who is around - the place was heaving and I joined a table with Steve, Jochen, Rich, Dave, Dutch Bob and Rich's mate Mark. Had Steak and Chianti and then off to bed for an early start in the morning.

In the Ring car park for 8am only to find it was not open due to fog at Adenau.........

Spent the time looking at cars and talking to people. Rich's Honda conversion had been done really sweet it looked like it had always been there and the noise it made was even sweeter.

A stag party arrived in convoy - one of them with an MDF spoiler on the back and a Colonel Boogey horn :-) you had to laugh as they were all dressed in Tux's.

Took an age for the Ring to open but then got out for my first slow lap - new wheels and tyres , brakes and carbon fiber air box......steady as she goes. No issues, everything performing ok so about to set off for a second lap when Rich's mate Mark asks if he can have a pax lap. Sure no problem was the reply but you need to wear a helmet - I had a spare in the boot and it fitted so off we went.

After a few laps I drove over to Ring Racing to drop off the road wheels for balancing and to see if they could get a better spacer for the journey home - also to say hello to Manu and Uwe the brothers who run it.

Then it was back to the Ring and more lapping now that the tyres had heated up - the carbon fiber airbox sounds fabulous and the extra power is just intoxicating .......... boys and their toys.

The car park got busier and busier until you could hardly move - very few incidents and almost no closurers - excellent. Went for a pax lap with a few friends in thier cars and other friends came out with me - some just to hear the airbox :-)

I had met some young Irishmen in the carpark of the hotel and offered to take them out to show them the lines - they turned up in a monster 500+bhp Skyline. One by one I took them out and in usual Irish terms they enjoyed the "crack" and could not believe the grip and poise through the corners of the M3.

The weather was fantastic - blue skies, virtually no clouds, but a cold wind. Everyone was in good form and there were no incidents - could life get any better...

Next I noticed a real exotic in the car park a Porsche Carrera GT in silver with an appropriate UK number plate - they only made them in LHD which confused a number of people - the same happens with the E30 M3 - they were only made in LHD also.

It is a lovely supercar as you can see from the photo - the rear tyres are massive 335 breadth - I would not want to be the one paying for their replacement!

The owner turned out to be a guy I know through another friend - James who has a Porsche also - a 968CS. Steve agreed to give me a passenger lap in the Carrera GT - Wow was I pleased - never been round the Ring in such an expensive supercar before. He said he would be back later in the day when it was quieter.

James and I had both done the BMW Car Club Faher Training at the Ring - back when James had a similar E30 M3 but his was a rare Sport Evo. He now has the 968CS in a very attractive shade of Racing Blue. We agreed to go out in my M3 with James as a passenger and then he would follow me in the 968 and then I would have a passenger lap in the 968. All in the cause of science you understand - the science of the petrolhead that is :-)

Well later Steve came back with the Carrera GT and gave me a passenger lap. with a car like this you could not be a "shrinking violet" everyone crowds round and wants to take a photo and ask questions. I had my camera on me and took some shoots from inside the car my favourite is this one - out the passenger window capturing the rear view door mirror with the rear haunches of the car extending backwards and some blurred images of the cars trying to follow!

Steve was being very circumspect around the corners and giving the car and it's vast power a lot of respect, but on the straights the acceleration and power was mind bendingly fast.

However, I am not a great lover of the engine noise - it is very mechanical - chains, gears, pulleys etc all wirring and clattering just behind your head. A BMW V10 sings when you rev it but this is very different - you do get a sense of great power and strength but it is not an aurally captivating noise. Indeed, Steve said when he gave his Dad a lift in it for the first time - he asked was it broken :-) LOL

Later that afternoon I had a problem manifest itself with the new brakes - lots of juddering under heavy braking. so off I went to Ring Racing to see if there was anything they could do? We had a look and the disks when hot were just touching the calipers - yeuch!!!!

Without the right shims there was nothing they could do :-( so I had to put up with it. Unfortunately, this eventually warped the disks and the problem got worse. I eventually ended up using the brakes less and less and adjusting my driving style to cope with this by doing cadedance (is that the right spelling?) braking. This somewhat took some of the fun out of driving.

John from Munich agreed to take my car out and we would do some tuning of the Alpha N now that the Carbon Fibre airbox was fitted. After 2 hours of going up and down the same hill he had completed the remapping. By the way Jake was going up and down the same hill as he had to have two large washers welded into his exhaust to bring his noise level down from 104dbs! in order for him to get back on the Ring.

After this the M3 was running even sweeter so the brake problem was even more of an issue I took it to another garage on the Sunday afternoon, one that Eric (an American Air Force guy) who lived in the area knew of. We were able to fit shims in the Calipers so this meant the disks were no longer touching them, but the warping was still there at high temperatures. There is always something isn't there.

The Ring is a road which demands great respect and things can go wrong very quickly even with modern super cars with all the latest electronic "gizmos" on board. For example this BMW M6 is having a bit of a problem in probably one of only a few areas where there is runoff. The driver "collected" the car adroitly and did not touch a barrier - Phew!!!!!

However, some people were not so lucky - there were about four Golfs which had terminal contact with armco - fortunately all the drivers were OK.

A more expensive contact with the Armco in Briedshied Bridge was had by a driver of a Porsche 911 GT3 - the driver was OK but the car was dead.

One of the Golf's belonged to a friend who has been very philosphical about it and is already planning the build of his next Ring car.....

You get lots of exotic cars turning up at the Ring including about five Ferrari 430's arriving together - all red of course. A 360 turned up during the day as well but unfortunately he contacted something on the way round and smashed the nose and one of the front radiators - ouch!

On the Sunday night the Nothloop forum (http://www.northloop.co.uk/) had organise a massive dinner event in Adneau and about 50 - 60 people turned up. I had paid my deposit to join the festivities but after a long day on the Ring - it competely slipped my mind and I wandered aimlessly down to the Pistenklause where I bumped into Steve and James and joined them for dinner and Italian wine fest. So I paid for two dinners that night but only ate one of them :-(

I spotted a car I had never seen before - a new Opel convertible - it looked pretty good from the front and the rear as can be seen from the pictures.

I particularly like the rear view with the flying buttresses behind the driver and passenger roll hoops.

On the Monday - everyone seemed to go mad - and there were stoppages all the time - but no one was seriously hurt. At one point going round the Ring I counted 6 seperate incidents with all the recovery vehicles on the Ring at the same time...... There was even a stoppage for a BBQ which had gotten out of hand at the side of the track :-)

The day ended with a ride in another Steve's BMW CSL and the final lap was in Jake's BMW 320is which he had rebuilt in a mamouth effort shortly before coming out. We got round to Briedshied Bridge when the petrol light came on (you do not want to run out of fuel on the Ring!) so we came off filled up with fuel and then rejoined to finish the lap....

A final meal and drinks with some buddies down the Pistenklause and early to bed for a very early start in the morning ----- 630am yawn......................

Uneventful drive to Dunkirk - well that was apart from the freak accident in Belgium! A white van had crashed into the central concrete barrier - entirely demolishing a whole section of concrete. A Volvo estate with three bikes on the back which had been following the white van spun around while trying to avoid the carnage. It then went backwards into the hole in the concrete and landed up off all four wheels on top of the hedge in the middle of the two rows of concrete blocks! The white van had jumped the concrete and was in the fast lane of the other side off the motorway facing the oncoming traffic. Nobody seemed to be seriously hurt, but what a bizzarre accident.

I arrived at Dunkirk on time for the 1200 ferry only to be told I was not due to be on the ferry until 1000pm that night? I got on though and had an uneventful drive home through England.

Now all I have to due is get the car ready for it's next outing next week at Pro Drive, but that is another story.

M3 Upgrades

2007-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

M3 Upgrades February/March 2007

Well the Carbon Fibre Airbox arrived and has been fitted as you can see from the picture.

The picture is of the car on a rolling road so that we could tune the car's engine to take advantage of the new bhp and torque.

The CF Kit comes with a new brake master reservoir which needs to be mounted on the strut tower - that is the white bottle with the black top in the photo. the power steering reservoir needed to be moved as well.

The rolling road is registering 201bhp! :-( which is disappointing and I cannot believe it - I am not in denial it is just that the car keeps up with similar powered cars on the track. I will check it out over the coming months.

The performance is better than before and it makes a glorious noise - off to the Nurburgring over Easter so will post on how it performed after that trip.

The other upgrade that I have just completed is the bigger brakes - 6 pot calipers and 13" disks. This was not straight forward either as it involved people from Montreal, California, Kent and Berkshire in the UK! It also involved buying two sets of new wheels to fit over the new brakes - he ho....... here is a picture of the new brakes fitted to the front

Awesome don't you think - the stopping capability is unbelievable.

Here is an example of one of the sets of wheels I bought to fit arount the Big Brake Kit - as you can see there is not much room around the caliper.......

And here are the other wheels Team Dynamics Pro Tech 1.2's with R888's fitted and in the car ready for the Ring trip - don't they look the Dog's Dangleys :-)

With the other two in the boot.

Excels at Donnington

2007-01-28T01:52:00.000-08:00

Have a look on Google via the link below - a group of Excel owners off the Excel site below decided to meet up - as the numbers of these cars is diminishing and there are even fewer left on the road. someone posted on one of the forums recently that they had got the information from the DVLA that there were only 50 road registered in the UK! :-(

Google link

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4872620939630019590&hl=en-GB

Lotus Excel web site

http://www.lotusexcel.net

Fame in the land of the ether

2006-12-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

On one of my trips to the Ring back in the summer I was interviewed by a video crew working for BMW USA. They wanted to get info on the Ring and why people come there and what do they get out of it!

They did about 20/30 minutes of an interview and we talked about the ring my cars and my passion spilled over. I was on two months gardening leave from one job before I started my new one so I was in a daft T shirt with "Dolce & Banana" on it with a large banana. I hadn't shaved for about two weeks and as I had been on and off the Ring all morning wearing my helmet - I had what my daughter calls helmet hair :-) Needless to say I was looking my best.....

Yesterday I received some emails from buddies saying the video has been posted on the BMW USA website, but it is 270Mb - Wow. I downloaded it straight away and was "gobsmacked" by how much of the interview that they had used in the video.

Today in the post I got a copy of the video on a dvd from Karen Jacobs of GSD&M www.gsdm.com the Executive Producer of the video. I have to say Karen I think you and your team have produced an excellent video which is virtually accurate in all it portrays of the Ring.

If you would like to view the video it can be got on the following link

http://www.nurburgring.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3655

but remember it is 270Mb.......so be patient when downloading :-)

I was in my Lotus Excel on that trip which Karen and her team did video but as the video was for BMW it did not appear :-( so here is a picture of it coming through Brunchen one of the fast sweeping corners of the ring. This is the biggest spectator area on the Ring and crowds gather here during the day and this is where a lot of the mistakes are made. I made one here for the first time in over five years - I came in toooooo fast and drifted over the rumble strip onto the grass got very very close to the armco but kept it under control and got back on the black stuff - a buttock clenching moment :-O

I've had my 5 minutes of fame with the BMW video so I need to get back to the Ring next year to practise what I preach - when you are driving the ring it feels like all your nerves are jangling and buzzing - you feel 100% alive. There really is no substitute and as I said in the video and I really meant it. The Ring is unique there is no other place like it in the World. But and it is a big but you need to treat it with the utmost respect or it will bite you like it did to one of the guys in the video and he got off lightly !!!!

Brands Hatch BMW day with Performance BMW

2006-12-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

Meet up with my buddy Grant at 6am at the petrol station to head down to Brands Hatch for a day on track. Weather forecast was good and it looked like it would stay dry.

Arrived at track in plenty of time, lots of E30 M3's already there. We found an empty garage and dumped all the gear out of the cars.

Then we went to sign on and get a cup of tea and say hello to a number of friends. Track briefing was next and then the sighting laps to get to know the racing line and the circuit features for those who had never driven there before.

The weather was holding and the track was drying quickly. I decided therefore to put on my R888 Toyo's (stickys) which just give you so much more grip it is unbelievable.

Track dried out nicely and with the car, tyres and brakes warmed up it was time to do some quick laps. Came in to check the tyre presures and put some more air in the tyres. With the E30 M3 you need to check the oil and make sure it is just above the top mark as the engine can suffer from oil starvation when pressing on round some bends.

Most of the guys and girls there were from the BMW Car Club www.bmwcarclubgb.co.uk and the S14 board www.board.s14power.com and the Bavarian Board www.bavarian-board.co.uk

Some of the guys have fitted carbon fibre airboxes and Uwe had dynoed his car before and after to prove that the addition of the airbox gave 20 bhp more at the wheels!!!!! This convinced me I had to get one of these as a Xmas present - spoke to John in Munich and put my order in :-)

John tells me it will be here in 2 to 3 weeks - could be just in time for Xmas?

Only had one moment on track when at the bottom of Hill bend I went wide as I could see another car coming up my inside fast and thought I might have to take evasive action if he tried to overtake me mid corner - in the end.... I went on the painted white strip at the edge and of course it was still wet and slippy. Front and then rear wheels slipped causing a buttock clenching moment but then I had it under control and back on line. I could see John's face in his M3 behind me and I could see him thinking don't go on the grass....

Chased a new M3 CSL and after a few corners he let me through - sheer horse power is not a benefit at BH as demonstrated by me following a new M5 for a couple of laps until he let me through ( he was on road tyres).

An excellent day was had by all and only 2 stoppages for off's - one was Mark in his newly acquired E30 M3 not pretty the whole side was scraped and dented - he took it bravely :-(

Performance BMW did a photo shoot so you can see some pictures of the 50 or so BMW's that turned up for the day, it should be in their January 07 edition.

As the light was fading another E30 M3 went off Paddock backwards into the kitty litter and that was the end of the day. Time to change the wheels and tyres to the road wheels pack the cars and head home - only 2 hours round the M25/M3....yawn.........

Snetterton

2006-12-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

Snetterton

A fellow Lotus Club member offered his place at a track day on a sunday at Snetterton for a big discount - was I interested? do bears relieve themselves in wooded areas?

I was off like a shot in the M3 - 2 and half hours drive up to the track at 6am sunday morning :-( not so good that bit). The Weather looked good and the forecast was good but because of all the rain the track was waterlogged.

The event was organised by BAT http://bookatrack.com/-pX?3142 and you can see some pics of the car on this link.

The rain came and went for most of the day so the track remained slippy and greasy all day, which meant very careful and controlled driving was the order of the day. Some people never got the hang of this and one Cosworth with a big turbo came up behind me on the pit straight so I pulled over and let him by in the proper trackday manner - indicate right, move off the racing line, lift off the throttle, when the car has passed move back on line and back on throttle. Well he got round the corner but then "nailed" his throttle and pirouetted off onto the grass......

Later on I was behind him on his tail for every corner for a couple of laps....if this is the case and the car behind you has less power then the car/driver combo behind you is the quicker car on the track. The correct procedure is to do as I did in the last paragraph, unfortunately the driver of the Cossie was having none of it and on every straight bit he floored his throttle and pulled away and every corner I caught up with him! :-( Bored with this silly game I peeled off into the pits and had a coffee and then went out when he was not on track.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day and made my way home.

Sadly the journey home was 5 and half hours in the dark and rain and not very pleasant. In addition to this when I stopped at South Mimms on the M25 for a coffee and danish a Volvo coupe when parking scrapped the rear bumper and wing - while I was sitting in it :-( he has admitted liability and I am getting quotes for the repair which I will email to him..........

Paul (the Volvo Coupe driver) has decided to put it through his insurers......so hopefully we will get it sorted before too long :-( It is looking like a £500 repair for some small scrapes a bit of broken bumper - the bulk of the cost is labour.

Paul has changed his mind about putting it through his Insurers and has transferred the money to my account - what a nice man he is :-) Now all I need to do is book it in to get it fixed! On the last Nurburgring trip I scraped the front splitter on the trailer so I will probably get that repainted at the same time....

Intro & Background

2006-11-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hi I am an extreme petrolhead (ask my wife) my obsession is my BMW E30 M3 which I have had for 8 years.

The M3 is in diamonschwartz metallic which is blue black in BMW speak.

I have taken most of the interior out to save weight, upgrade and lowered the suspension, new anti roll bars and upgraded the brake disks.

The engine has had a few mods as well Maxx Alpha N with wide band Lamda sensor, bigger injectors, removed the air flow meter and put in a 3" "trunk" - the exhaust was replaced by a tuned stainless steel item - it is now putting out over 230bhp. The car weighs 1100 kilos so with the increased power and refined suspension it is a fantastic car.

It is actually my second one, my first M3, was a company car back in 1991 and it was so much fun I promised I would get one as a "toy" one day.

I even have a personalised number plate MUI 2382 - Martin's Ultimate Interest - cost me a fortune - £80 :-)

Four or Five times a year I and a group of buddies head out to Germany to the infamous Nurburgring - where we drive our cars around the 13 mile toll road. It has over 140 corners and the difference in altitude from the lowest point to the highest point is over 300 meters!

In addition to the BMW I have two Lotus - an Excel and an Elan Turbo. My everday car is a Merc SL. As my collection has grown I started to wonder what to do with it and the idea grew to start my own business - classic car hire - you can visit the company at www.iconicmotorcars.co.uk