Motors What do you drive? - The Photo Gallery

My current car:

05 plate Mondeo 2.0 TDCI Zetec estate



Not the best photo of it. Drives lovely

 

Noticed the other night reversing back out of a friends drive how hard it is to see the reverse lights on my car, well for me at least rear tints making everything rather dark. I know I cant get brighter standard bulbs but has anyone tried LED ones? Hoping they may be a little brighter

 

This should help light the rears up...



Rebuilt M86 LSD diff with 4.11 gears.

1st will be a waste of time but second should be brutal combined with the blower! Cant wait!

 

Not sure about starting a new thread for this, but I've the itch to change! (re: car's decided it'd lose another heatshield bolt, and I'm fairly certain one of the rear discs needs replacing... again)

So, coming from a Celica (7th gen), I'm tempted by a newer RX-8 to hopefully avoid the compression loss issues if I keep up with the oil consumption. I could get one this year, but...

I'm also wondering whether to keep saving and get a 370Z or a Cayman sometime next year. Thoughts?

 

The final round of the season. I entered the final round in 3rd place in the championship.

The weekend started for us on Thursday with a half-day test at Combe. Gary (of Gary Feakins Racing fame) helped run the car and gave some advice, meaning we go my laptime down to a 1:22.501 (just 2 tenths off the previous lap record for a PBMW!). All was going well, until at around 3pm, the car stalled out on track and wouldn't fire up. It was dragged back to the paddock and we spent an hour going over the car trying to work out what was wrong. It had fuel, but no spark. After a bit of diagnosis, we found that the ECU had blown. Very weird. Luckily Gary had a spare which was promptly fitted, but for some reason the car felt sluggish and slow with this - the best lap time I could do with the new ECU was a 1:23.7. Ouch. The car seemed alright to drive, but had very little power on the straights - my end of straight speed was down by almost 10mph compared to the earlier laps. Still, it was better to have a running car for the upcoming weekend than a broken one, so we left it as it was.

Race day arrived, and unsurprisingly I didn't find any more speed. I managed only a 1:23.5 in the traffic-filled qualifying session, whilst having to avoid spinning back-markers and packs of cars battling for track space. This slow time meant I was a paltry 10th on the grid for race 1.

Race 1 was a disaster. I made a good start, but then the power problem rose its head, and I found myself unable to push through the back of the top ten before the chicane - followed by a small error which put me on the marbles and I had to catch a slide, putting me even further down. I then battled with Tom Ibrahim until he got sideways out of a corner and I was unable to avoid his bumper turning him into a full on spin. Sorry mate! The rest of the race was fairly dull and I finished in 9th spot after a couple of cars further ahead fell off.

Race 2 was more fun, but the results didn't come in this one either. I battled with Rob Manger and Sam Strong for the whole race, but only managed to finish 10th.

And with that, the 2015 race season for Production BMW was over. Because of my rubbish results and the fact the series runs a dropped-score points system, I had been shuffled down to 7th in the championship standings. It was made worse because of two competitors who were, for some unknown reason, allowed to gain their 30-point bonus for a day's marshalling while also racing with us on the day. Without that, I would still have been 5th.

One small highlight for me is that without dropped scores and marshalling, I was the 3rd highest scoring driver this year, beaten in points only by our championship winner Gary Feakins and ever speedy Mark Palmer. I finished every race in the top ten, and got my first ever podium. Not a bad year!

Now the season is over, I can look back and see what I've learnt, what I've done wrong and what I want to change for next time.
I'm a much calmer and faster driver than I was in 2014. Mistakes are at a minimum, and the frantic behaviour in the car has been replaced with slow thoughtful movements, meaning faster more consistent laptimes. My racecraft has a left a lot to be desired - since my knock at Silverstone, and the subsequent bollocking, I'd been pretty nervous about trying to do overtakes and I've never tried to block anyone for fear of contact. I need to shake that.
Overall I am pretty happy with my results and am already looking forward to the next race meeting I can book myself into - though I am not sure what that will be in yet.

I want to say a huge thank you to my fantastic wifey Nicky who supports me even when I find it tough. She is like my own sports psychologist.
I also need to thank the guys from Gary Feakins Racing who have been there whenever I have needed them in the paddock and at the workshop, helping keep the car running smoothly. Then there are the good friends who have come to watch, such as Ric, Rich, Neil, Phil, Susanne, and of course my sister Mads.

Also, a huge congratulations to Gary, who managed to absolutely obliterate this year’s championship winning it by a mile - getting pole at every event, and winning all but two race (one of which he didn’t even enter!). Amazing effort. Being behind the scenes really showed how bloody hard it is to do. Well done mate!

It's time to start looking to 2016, and planning what to do. It's likely that it will be a bits-and-bobs year while we plan an attack on 2017.

Thanks all!











Race 1:


Race 2:

 

Nice! I'd love to do something like that, but I neither have the time nor the money. Good on you though!

 

Really tempted by a Mk1 MR2. There's a dealer selling a nice example about 20mins away, although the pric is way too high.

Anyone got any buying advice?

 

Me likes, I was looking at these 5 years ago but ended up buying a VX220, part of me still wants an MR2 mk1 or mk2.

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Haha, went beyond really tempted then? Lovely looking car in possibly the best colour.

 

Strangely enough this isn't the one I was going to look at, rather one I had seen before I went away.

She seems like a really nice example, though i haven't had a chance to drive her myself since my insurance doesn't start until tomorrow. Slightly worried since there's a lot of leaves on the ground atm and the roads around here are really tight (and everything's on a gradient).

 

Yes be very careful, I found myself in a spin at 20mph and ended up sideways across a duel carriage way one damp morning

 

Mid-engined, rear-wheel drive, short wheelbase. What could possibly go wrong?

 

You're not the only one Except I think I ended up pointing the correct way rather than sideways.

 

A friend of mine managed to spin their MR2 into a barrier going round a roundabout at 15mph

 

Another thing is the lack of power steering and assisted brakes. It stops and turns fine, you just have to be a bit more alert.

 

As of this weekend?

My RS again. Stupid rusty sills being expensive.

 

The reliable steed.

2013 V60

 

Just got a Honda Civic Sport 2004, completely different world to my fiesta ^nice Volvo!

 

Still driving my bmw ZM Coupe.