The Best ///M/Barge/General Rant/Look at this/O/T (Vol XVI)
Discussion
richtea78 said:
olly22n said:
Summer tyres are back on the mini.
f
k me bridgestone runflats are st. Horrid pieces of st.
They are. On my Z4 the car was terrible on Bridgestones. I changed to Michelin ZPs and they were much better. f
k me bridgestone runflats are st. Horrid pieces of st.Thanks chaps. Must admit, it kinda blew my mind!
We qualified 23rd out of 37 cars, for which my co-driver is responsible - I went out first in quali and although I was managing to cut several seconds per lap from my times from the test day, I didn't really manage to find the space for a clear lap. Laurie did, and managed to knock a couple of seconds off my time in traffic.
The races have rolling starts, the idea being you form up on the grid in your slot, then follow a pace car around for a lap. It comes into the pits and as soon as the red lights on the startline gantry go off, you're racing. The only nerves I had over the weekend were around not messing up the start (you can see where this is going...).
As we came round to the start finish straight I had no hope of seeing the front of the grid, but the green flags were being waved and the lights were off - we were racing! Got through the first corner fine, then tip-toed round the hairpin, took a couple of cars on the following straight, held off the approaching cars from behind - this was all too easy! In fact, that's exactly what it was. Turns out the officials had never switched on the red lights, so couldn't turn them out. The front of the grid understood what had happened because they could see the pace car in front of them, but those of us further back had no way of knowing. Anyway, everyone filed back into their correct starting positions, and off we went again.
This time the race started properly, and we really were off. Over the next few laps I managed to get us up to 16th, and what felt like seconds since the start the pit board was out calling me in - 20 minutes went in a blink. I handed over to Laurie and he had the benefit of a pretty event-free session in the car. The remaining places we made up were due to cars ahead dropping out, getting drive-through penalties or spending an eternity over their pit stops. We had my iPad on the pit wall connected to TSL Timing's website, so we had live timing and positions - we were up to third in class!
After the race there was a brief presentation, but before that started the Clerk of the Course came in to apologise for the race start cock-up. A car had stopped on track on the formation lap and the instructions from race control to the marshalls were mixed, so no-one knew what was happening.
The car went well all weekend. I'd just had a Unichip fitted and live mapped, so it had a little more poke but also was no longer running rich. Where we were using a litre per minute before, it was around two-thirds that now.
It looks like there are three "tiers" of performance across the classes, and we're towards the top of the middle tier. The race-winning Ferrari 308 actually came into the pits to serve a stop-go penalty that wasn't meant for them, but still went on to win by 7 seconds!
Next up is Silverstone, then Brands. Somewhere along the way the M30 under the bonnet will be replaced by an M88, and we'll see if that helps get us up nearer the top. I suspect that won't be until June at the earliest.
So, all in great fun. Great result for a first attempt, and most importantly the car has emerged unscathed.
Highly recommended
We qualified 23rd out of 37 cars, for which my co-driver is responsible - I went out first in quali and although I was managing to cut several seconds per lap from my times from the test day, I didn't really manage to find the space for a clear lap. Laurie did, and managed to knock a couple of seconds off my time in traffic.
The races have rolling starts, the idea being you form up on the grid in your slot, then follow a pace car around for a lap. It comes into the pits and as soon as the red lights on the startline gantry go off, you're racing. The only nerves I had over the weekend were around not messing up the start (you can see where this is going...).
As we came round to the start finish straight I had no hope of seeing the front of the grid, but the green flags were being waved and the lights were off - we were racing! Got through the first corner fine, then tip-toed round the hairpin, took a couple of cars on the following straight, held off the approaching cars from behind - this was all too easy! In fact, that's exactly what it was. Turns out the officials had never switched on the red lights, so couldn't turn them out. The front of the grid understood what had happened because they could see the pace car in front of them, but those of us further back had no way of knowing. Anyway, everyone filed back into their correct starting positions, and off we went again.
This time the race started properly, and we really were off. Over the next few laps I managed to get us up to 16th, and what felt like seconds since the start the pit board was out calling me in - 20 minutes went in a blink. I handed over to Laurie and he had the benefit of a pretty event-free session in the car. The remaining places we made up were due to cars ahead dropping out, getting drive-through penalties or spending an eternity over their pit stops. We had my iPad on the pit wall connected to TSL Timing's website, so we had live timing and positions - we were up to third in class!
After the race there was a brief presentation, but before that started the Clerk of the Course came in to apologise for the race start cock-up. A car had stopped on track on the formation lap and the instructions from race control to the marshalls were mixed, so no-one knew what was happening.
The car went well all weekend. I'd just had a Unichip fitted and live mapped, so it had a little more poke but also was no longer running rich. Where we were using a litre per minute before, it was around two-thirds that now.
It looks like there are three "tiers" of performance across the classes, and we're towards the top of the middle tier. The race-winning Ferrari 308 actually came into the pits to serve a stop-go penalty that wasn't meant for them, but still went on to win by 7 seconds!
Next up is Silverstone, then Brands. Somewhere along the way the M30 under the bonnet will be replaced by an M88, and we'll see if that helps get us up nearer the top. I suspect that won't be until June at the earliest.
So, all in great fun. Great result for a first attempt, and most importantly the car has emerged unscathed.
Highly recommended
!!!
This appeals.
http://www.birdsgarage.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
A Birds fettled 335i with a bit more poke, proper tyres, a slipper, and some thought into solving the known ride/handling issues that blights the stock car can only be A Good Thing, surely? Strikes me as a cut price, slightly more grown up M3, priced correctly to slot in somewhere in the middle. You certainly couldn't build one for that price. Works for me.
Also quite like fact that, paradoxically, the ordinary Joe now spots an //M sport kitted Beemer and automatically assumes it's a 320 diesel
http://www.birdsgarage.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
A Birds fettled 335i with a bit more poke, proper tyres, a slipper, and some thought into solving the known ride/handling issues that blights the stock car can only be A Good Thing, surely? Strikes me as a cut price, slightly more grown up M3, priced correctly to slot in somewhere in the middle. You certainly couldn't build one for that price. Works for me.
Also quite like fact that, paradoxically, the ordinary Joe now spots an //M sport kitted Beemer and automatically assumes it's a 320 diesel
olly755 said:
This appeals.
http://www.birdsgarage.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
A Birds fettled 335i with a bit more poke, proper tyres, a slipper, and some thought into solving the known ride/handling issues that blights the stock car can only be A Good Thing, surely? Strikes me as a cut price, slightly more grown up M3, priced correctly to slot in somewhere in the middle. You certainly couldn't build one for that price. Works for me.
Also quite like fact that, paradoxically, the ordinary Joe now spots an //M sport kitted Beemer and automatically assumes it's a 320 diesel
Given some of the work, that is not too unrealistically priced. Gosh, what a tool.http://www.birdsgarage.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
A Birds fettled 335i with a bit more poke, proper tyres, a slipper, and some thought into solving the known ride/handling issues that blights the stock car can only be A Good Thing, surely? Strikes me as a cut price, slightly more grown up M3, priced correctly to slot in somewhere in the middle. You certainly couldn't build one for that price. Works for me.
Also quite like fact that, paradoxically, the ordinary Joe now spots an //M sport kitted Beemer and automatically assumes it's a 320 diesel
I'm sure they won't.
Hopefully there's more Freelander replacement in the concept than the Discovery proper. Asymmetric tailgate panel but not window is as silly as the Range Rover's fake vents. Reminds me a bit of this from the '90s:
Some good technology though - being able to drive it through a gate whilst you wait to close it is pretty cool.
In other Land Rover news, I drove past a roof-down convertible P38 in Marylebone earlier.
Hopefully there's more Freelander replacement in the concept than the Discovery proper. Asymmetric tailgate panel but not window is as silly as the Range Rover's fake vents. Reminds me a bit of this from the '90s:
Some good technology though - being able to drive it through a gate whilst you wait to close it is pretty cool.
In other Land Rover news, I drove past a roof-down convertible P38 in Marylebone earlier.
NomduJour said:
I'm sure they won't.
Hopefully there's more Freelander replacement in the concept than the Discovery proper. Asymmetric tailgate panel but not window is as silly as the Range Rover's fake vents. Reminds me a bit of this from the '90s:
Some good technology though - being able to drive it through a gate whilst you wait to close it is pretty cool.
In other Land Rover news, I drove past a roof-down convertible P38 in Marylebone earlier.
That would make a better 'update' to the current Disco's styling than the Vision concept.Hopefully there's more Freelander replacement in the concept than the Discovery proper. Asymmetric tailgate panel but not window is as silly as the Range Rover's fake vents. Reminds me a bit of this from the '90s:
Some good technology though - being able to drive it through a gate whilst you wait to close it is pretty cool.
In other Land Rover news, I drove past a roof-down convertible P38 in Marylebone earlier.
Why does every f
king new car in the world have to have overwrought 'sporty' styling and pretensions, with st outward visibility and claustrophobic interiors (compared to exterior dimensions)?The current Discovery is all the better for being resolutely practical and unsporty. The tonka-style 3 will be a design classic in years to come.
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