Other What currently makes your life awesome?

I imagine a car like that in a rough area has an air of "do not touch this car" to it

 

Meant with affection

 

My research has led me to the conclusion that while the 12C gave modern McLarens the reputation of a catastrophe waiting to happen, the rest are comparable to any other car in the class. However, presumably to combat the reputation issues, McLaren will extend the factory warranty out to 15 years - which I don't believe any other manufacturer will do. Sure its £2900/yr but well worth it for peace of mind on something like this.

I'm pretty sure this is solid reasoning vs mental gymnastics to justify the purchase, because given it back now, and I don't actually think I want to keep it. After the first brief jaunt I figured it was basically a done deal, but having it for longer granted a lot more clarity.

Its a glorious machine in every way, but (on the rare occasion) when the road opens up and traffic clears, to actually feel like you're flowing with the car you need to be travelling at speeds incompatible with keeping a license long-term. A country road at 60 (or 70, or 80, hypothetically) still has the car saying "is that all?". And whilst its more civilised than I expected pottering generally around I'm also sitting there thinking, what's the point.

Maybe next year - I have a spare max no-claims bonus that I need to use or lose by the end of 2025, but not feeling it right now.

The truck is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I just love it - it may be unironically the perfect all-rounder (for me anyway): It has a truck bed for when you need to do truck stuff, It has a plush interior with creature comforts comparable to any well-equipped german sedan, Opening the exhaust valves and putting it in sport mode lets you get rowdy on a windy road but never puts you at speeds that will end your license, and putting the suspension into Baja mode allows you to traverse any terrain you can think of at 60mph. Even around villages/towns its okay, since the 8" of sidewall mean kerbs (bollards, knee-high walls, small children) are merely a suggestion so there's always a way out of a tight fit. Not tried a multi-storey yet though, quite intentionally.

 

The Porsche was a bit boring, this is different, it's a supercar, but you've already had the supercar like driveway trinket in the Evora so you know already what the ownership experience is going to be for you, sounds like you won't want to drive it anywhere, me I'd be smashing tracks all over the place, long European drives etc, and really using it.

Maybe a luxurious wafter is what you need? Or perhaps something a bit more modest, an MX5, maybe an Alpine a110? Things that can feel fun due to lightness and short gears at lower speeds.

 

I find the Alpine A110 very appealing, a fine handling, light, sports car, with more useable performance for the public road. Also, less likely to attract jealousy.

 

The 570 is all intents and purposes the same as the Evora - amped up quite a bit on paper of course but practically speaking there's little in it. It looks special, feels special and sounds special. The 911 missed on two of those and made an admirable attempt at the third courtesy of the sport exhaust, but was nowhere near the gold-medal winning performances of the Evora and the 570 - the latter especially due to a combination the Larini exhaust fitted to this one, and the lack of roof when weather permits.

As a road-going sports car, having spent a fair bit of time in various Elise Sport 220s over the years, on and off track, I think they may be perfect in every way - but having considered one time and time again, I never jumped and it think its because it misses the aforementioned trifecta of "exotic". Alpine, MX5 and all sorts of other imminently sensible choices don't make the 11yo in me wide-eyed and excited.

It kind of bums me out that I don't particularly covet the McLaren though... is this was being a grown-up feels like? Its rubbish.

 

What about the Exige v6, you get the engine + lightweight rawness, plus it looks cool.

I know what you mean about growing I up having been test driving all sorts from Porsche, Lotus etc and none of it has blown my away but I think I may have built things up too far in my mind, but then I get in my own cars and they are much better at being fun cars at normal speeds, I don't need to get into triple digits to wake the car up.

 

My mate bought a Mclaren 570s, in the 2 months he’s had it, he’s had 3 weeks of use because it’s just had issues upon issues which is a shame because it looks absolutely gobsmacking and sounds amazing, when it isn’t in the shop of course.

 

It’s just getting older, the alternative is worse…

 

Both.

Awesome you're in a financial position that can accommodate such things...

Ruining in that it'll likely end up being a money pit that taxes that financial position.

 

I'm honestly a bit intimidated by the Exige. I've driven one once, and that told me that it's way to hardcore for the road, and perhaps too hardcore for me full stop... or at least that what I've been carrying with me since. It was a Cup race car, and it was also immediately after stepping out of an Elise 220, and it was also followed up with some hot laps courtesy of Martin Donnelly. Perhaps a road-going one worth a look. But tbh I think I'll push it all from my mind until next year.

That's unfortunate... Did he get a health check before pulling the trigger? My research has led me to believe that a Thorney Motorsport health check should be part of the standard buying procedure. Hopefully in warranty at least?

 

They were fixed under warranty, hopefully meeting him later today so will find out more details.

 

Saw the aurora and perseid shower last nice.

The downside is that now I have to buy a phone with a better night mode (plus I wish eyes could absorb several seconds of light in a batch so what you see would look like what you see in images)

 

During the last aurora appearance down here in Nottingham we drove a few minutes up the road into Strelley Village where there is not much in the way of street lightning and I managed to get this with my phone:



This was taken with a Pixel 8 Pro with everything pretty much set to automatic. I was using a Samsung S20 Ultra before this and despite the camera on that being pretty awesome on paper I would always have so much frustration in getting a decent picture out of it, especially in low light or close up, but this Pixel has been awesome, completely the opposite.


_

Now, as for the reason I came to post here, Just been called into my manager's office for what I thought was going to be a quick catch up on what has been going on over the past couple of weeks, only to find his boss in there too.... Cue me immediately going into overthinking....

So I sit down and am immediately handed a bunch of bottles of beer as a thank you for the past couple of weeks. There should be 3 of us in the derpartment, but one was on holiday for the past 2 weeks and the other went off sick in the first week and is still off now... It has been a long time since I was this busy.

The 3 of us ended up having a bit of a chat about things and how everything is going on, liberally sprinkled with yet more thanks and praise, really not used to this to the point where I got back to my desk and my hands were still a bit wobbly...

 

Thanks @Almightyrastus , I've been thinking a pixel may be the way to go.

I think even the older pixels the cameras have always been decent from what I gather.

 

I had pretty much the same experience in March with my iPhone 14 Pro. Couldn’t see a damn thing with the naked eye, but the phone camera did me proud. Like @Almightyrastus, this was just “point at sky and click” (although it did need to capture for a few seconds).

Mis-spelling or intentional pun?

 

Oh very much intentional....

I had a Pixel 5 pro before the S20 Ultra and I have to say that I much preferred the Pixel. No other manufacturer's GUI over the top, no forced apps to have to include that do the same as those freely available as part of Android. Updates for Android as soon as they are ready so no waiting about for someone else to change things before publishing it a few months later. I think I shall be carrying on along this route unless I absolutely have to change.

 

There are big discounts on Pixel 8 series right now, because Google launch the 9 series at 6pm today.
ie 8 Pro 256GB = £999 £759 @ Amazon

 

This was in Notts back in May on a Pixel 6 Pro. Using the astrophotography mode as well as individual photos it produced a short video clip. Admittedly it looks better on my phone AMOLED screen than the laptop I'm now viewing it on.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CvMezixSSDcr7zArzOfUkHrWolMCDnpS/view?usp=sharing