MDifficult’s E82 1M Coupe & Ariel Atom 3
Discussion
I did come over on the track evening Mdifficult, but was in a rush - fist bumped then I shot off to try sort the noise issues - it was an awful track day for myself and one of the guys I was with!
Noise tester was an absolute dick - Dave from Opentrack was really cool about it though and done everything he could to get us on. My car failed noise test (along with 6 or 7 others), and the tester really pissed me off when he firstly tested at the wrong RPM, and then refused to retest, also got quite aggressive with me in the pits at one point but it was a hot evening and i'm sure everyone was getting a little irate.
Another mate with the grey 370z was black flagged for throwing up a shower of sparks at the bottom of paddock, aluminium undertray so I raised the Coilovers quickly in the pits working around the worlds hottest brakes, and he enjoyed the rest of his evening. the photos at the bottom of paddock for him were incredible though!
Apologies for the loss of track time when the poor sod that dumped all of his oil spun, his sandwich plate for the oil cooler came off due to the thread extension thing snapping, forged 1.8t in the bin - I came back and towed it home the next day, engine is currently sat in my garage.
The noise thing was very peculiar however, because I have done a "quiet" evening at Brands before with the 98dB limit and the car went through no problem. I've rebooked for a full day Wednesday 30th with a friend's 335i - hoping for a smoother day.
Somehow still enjoyed myself though - I was 2 cars behind the mini when it flipped as passenger in a 335i, they gave the thumbs up once they had landed so presumably were both ok, i'd imagine a little sore.
you and Mr Touring were going well though - my personal favourite of the evening was the Berlingo van piloted by an Aussie fella, very peculiar sight.
Noise tester was an absolute dick - Dave from Opentrack was really cool about it though and done everything he could to get us on. My car failed noise test (along with 6 or 7 others), and the tester really pissed me off when he firstly tested at the wrong RPM, and then refused to retest, also got quite aggressive with me in the pits at one point but it was a hot evening and i'm sure everyone was getting a little irate.
Another mate with the grey 370z was black flagged for throwing up a shower of sparks at the bottom of paddock, aluminium undertray so I raised the Coilovers quickly in the pits working around the worlds hottest brakes, and he enjoyed the rest of his evening. the photos at the bottom of paddock for him were incredible though!
Apologies for the loss of track time when the poor sod that dumped all of his oil spun, his sandwich plate for the oil cooler came off due to the thread extension thing snapping, forged 1.8t in the bin - I came back and towed it home the next day, engine is currently sat in my garage.
The noise thing was very peculiar however, because I have done a "quiet" evening at Brands before with the 98dB limit and the car went through no problem. I've rebooked for a full day Wednesday 30th with a friend's 335i - hoping for a smoother day.
Somehow still enjoyed myself though - I was 2 cars behind the mini when it flipped as passenger in a 335i, they gave the thumbs up once they had landed so presumably were both ok, i'd imagine a little sore.
you and Mr Touring were going well though - my personal favourite of the evening was the Berlingo van piloted by an Aussie fella, very peculiar sight.
Ryan_E81 said:
I did come over on the track evening Mdifficult, but was in a rush - fist bumped then I shot off to try sort the noise issues - it was an awful track day for myself and one of the guys I was with!
Hey yeah - I figured that was you but you clearly had a LOT on your mind at the time. Sorry to hear it was so bad!Ryan_E81 said:
Noise tester was an absolute dick - Dave from Opentrack was really cool about it though and done everything he could to get us on. My car failed noise test (along with 6 or 7 others), and the tester really pissed me off when he firstly tested at the wrong RPM, and then refused to retest, also got quite aggressive with me in the pits at one point but it was a hot evening and i'm sure everyone was getting a little irate.
Another mate with the grey 370z was black flagged for throwing up a shower of sparks at the bottom of paddock, aluminium undertray so I raised the Coilovers quickly in the pits working around the worlds hottest brakes, and he enjoyed the rest of his evening. the photos at the bottom of paddock for him were incredible though!
I saw those pics - looked amazing! But didn't realise you guys got black flagged for it - good work on doing the ride height in the pits. It was bloody hot enough ambient, without needing hot brakes etc around you too. Another mate with the grey 370z was black flagged for throwing up a shower of sparks at the bottom of paddock, aluminium undertray so I raised the Coilovers quickly in the pits working around the worlds hottest brakes, and he enjoyed the rest of his evening. the photos at the bottom of paddock for him were incredible though!
Ryan_E81 said:
Apologies for the loss of track time when the poor sod that dumped all of his oil spun, his sandwich plate for the oil cooler came off due to the thread extension thing snapping, forged 1.8t in the bin - I came back and towed it home the next day, engine is currently sat in my garage.
To be fair, I think we mainly felt bad for the guy. As soon as we were back on track and could see all the cement dust, it was pretty obvious that something unexpected and catastrophic had happened - wouldn't wish that on anyone. Ryan_E81 said:
The noise thing was very peculiar however, because I have done a "quiet" evening at Brands before with the 98dB limit and the car went through no problem. I've rebooked for a full day Wednesday 30th with a friend's 335i - hoping for a smoother day.
Somehow still enjoyed myself though - I was 2 cars behind the mini when it flipped as passenger in a 335i, they gave the thumbs up once they had landed so presumably were both ok, i'd imagine a little sore.
I've actually got a video of the MINI roll, captured by a guy who was following... proper sh@t-your-pants stuff. Especially as MrTouring and I had JUST been discussing that very risk. Pleased all were okay. They'd had a couple of spins already so I'm guessing maybe cold/cr@p tyres on the rear? There's a definite 'dab' halfway around the bend which I bet didn't help - but I'm no expert. Somehow still enjoyed myself though - I was 2 cars behind the mini when it flipped as passenger in a 335i, they gave the thumbs up once they had landed so presumably were both ok, i'd imagine a little sore.
Ryan_E81 said:
You and Mr Touring were going well though - my personal favourite of the evening was the Berlingo van piloted by an Aussie fella, very peculiar sight.
Cheers - we had a great time! Yeah, the Berlingo was a proper sight 
Good luck with the next one - I guess it can't get any worse!
MDifficult, hats off to you for this thread. I've read it from start to finish over the last few days and really, really enjoyed it. You've got a clear talent for "long term test" style writing. I'm looking forward to continuing to read your posts.
I just have one burning question that seemed to go unanswered in your recent report on the R53 at Brands Hatch on a hot day...........did you remember to remove the home-made intercooler cover???
I just have one burning question that seemed to go unanswered in your recent report on the R53 at Brands Hatch on a hot day...........did you remember to remove the home-made intercooler cover???
Tom4398cc said:
MDifficult, hats off to you for this thread. I've read it from start to finish over the last few days and really, really enjoyed it. You've got a clear talent for "long term test" style writing. I'm looking forward to continuing to read your posts
Hey man, thank you - that’s really kind of you to say so. I love writing it - as you can probably tell cars are a bit of an obsession in one way or another. It’s good for me to get it ‘out’ here I think - saves me boring the family Tom4398cc said:
I just have one burning question that seemed to go unanswered in your recent report on the R53 at Brands Hatch on a hot day...........did you remember to remove the home-made intercooler cover???
Ah! Good point! I actually removed it at Bedford about lunchtime as it started to get really warm and haven’t felt the need to put it back. These summer days, even a run on a rainy motorway it gets to an easy 80 which is fine considering it’s hardly doing any road miles. When we get to the end of autumn and the chilly weather returns, I’ll put it back on. A bit like a Taxi and their bits of tinfoil Small update and some gratuitous pictures!
Last year I had the passenger doorcard off the 1M while I was hunting and fixing a couple of rattles. One of the things I noticed at the time was that the vapour barrier was a bit damaged and poorly fitted in the bottom right corner. Checking through the car's extensive history file, I found that early in its life it'd had the window motor replaced under warranty. Clearly the tech at the time decided to just pull and rip the barrier rather than replace it. F@cking typical.
I decided it was something worth sorting because the E82 shape is notorious for letting water in through the vapour barrier, especially when parking nose down. So, I dropped by BMW and picked up a replacement barrier (figuring it would be easier to replace than bodge a repair), some loom tape (in case I came across any issues at the same time), and some of the butyl tape to secure and waterproof the new barrier:
With the doorcard caaaaarefully removed I could inspect the damage and it's clearly about as waterproof as a doily so definitely needed doing. I'd originally planned to use fishing wire to slice around the butyl tape to remove the old one but I couldn't find it so went for the brute force approach:
With most of it removed, it was then a case of trying to remove the last of the butyl tape. Dimly remembering my school lessons about non-newtonian fluids, I went with a technique of yanking hard and fast. If you pull slowly it's stringy like chewing gum - but pull it fast and hard and it comes straight off like hard plastic. Amazing. I used a quick spray of isopropyl alchohol to clean the last remnants off.
Couldn't resist the chance to clean the whole door properly, and then lubricate and protect the window mechanism.
With that done, it was time to put the new butyl tape onto the new vapour barrier. I was expecting it to be proper fiddly but a few rips in the paper backing and it went on perfectly:
I removed the backing tape from the top and got the barrier in the right place, then removed the rest and thankfully it all lined up perfectly. Took plenty of time going around and around pressing it down to make sure it was fully waterproof. Looking good.
Put the doorcard back on and... job jobbed. Time for a nice long test drive!
Couldn't resist the temptation to take a few pics
Next task is to replace the bonnet release cable as it has stretched. I've done a very quick fix with cable-ties to make sure it doesn't stretch further and leave me with the bonnet stuck shut - but have already bought the replacement parts. Saving that little task for another day...
Last year I had the passenger doorcard off the 1M while I was hunting and fixing a couple of rattles. One of the things I noticed at the time was that the vapour barrier was a bit damaged and poorly fitted in the bottom right corner. Checking through the car's extensive history file, I found that early in its life it'd had the window motor replaced under warranty. Clearly the tech at the time decided to just pull and rip the barrier rather than replace it. F@cking typical.
I decided it was something worth sorting because the E82 shape is notorious for letting water in through the vapour barrier, especially when parking nose down. So, I dropped by BMW and picked up a replacement barrier (figuring it would be easier to replace than bodge a repair), some loom tape (in case I came across any issues at the same time), and some of the butyl tape to secure and waterproof the new barrier:
With the doorcard caaaaarefully removed I could inspect the damage and it's clearly about as waterproof as a doily so definitely needed doing. I'd originally planned to use fishing wire to slice around the butyl tape to remove the old one but I couldn't find it so went for the brute force approach:
With most of it removed, it was then a case of trying to remove the last of the butyl tape. Dimly remembering my school lessons about non-newtonian fluids, I went with a technique of yanking hard and fast. If you pull slowly it's stringy like chewing gum - but pull it fast and hard and it comes straight off like hard plastic. Amazing. I used a quick spray of isopropyl alchohol to clean the last remnants off.
Couldn't resist the chance to clean the whole door properly, and then lubricate and protect the window mechanism.
With that done, it was time to put the new butyl tape onto the new vapour barrier. I was expecting it to be proper fiddly but a few rips in the paper backing and it went on perfectly:
I removed the backing tape from the top and got the barrier in the right place, then removed the rest and thankfully it all lined up perfectly. Took plenty of time going around and around pressing it down to make sure it was fully waterproof. Looking good.
Put the doorcard back on and... job jobbed. Time for a nice long test drive!
Couldn't resist the temptation to take a few pics
Next task is to replace the bonnet release cable as it has stretched. I've done a very quick fix with cable-ties to make sure it doesn't stretch further and leave me with the bonnet stuck shut - but have already bought the replacement parts. Saving that little task for another day...
Court_S said:
Some cracking photos as always.
Be been rattle hunting in her 125. I’m getting there but it’s a pain in the arse.
Oh mate, don’t get me started! I’m down to one left and can I find it?? Be been rattle hunting in her 125. I’m getting there but it’s a pain in the arse.
Sometimes it sounds like it’s in the dash behind the vents. Other times it sounds like it’s in the passenger a-pillar. Other times it sounds like its deep under the passenger airbag. It’s like a washer on nut that isn’t tight and just ‘jingles’ over certain types of bumps.
Thing is, it ONLY happens over those certain types of bumps. I’ve tried banging, thumping, flicking and tapping everything I can get my hands on in, around and inside the dash and can’t recreate it standing still. I’ve had the vents out. The AC controls out. The a-pillar off. The idrive controls out. The idrive screen off.
It’s definitely NOT in the suspension. It’s too ‘close’ if that makes sense. Three options from here really:
1. Ignore it
2. Stereo on
3. Take the entire dash out
MDifficult said:
Oh mate, don’t get me started! I’m down to one left and can I find it??
Sometimes it sounds like it’s in the dash behind the vents. Other times it sounds like it’s in the passenger a-pillar. Other times it sounds like its deep under the passenger airbag. It’s like a washer on nut that isn’t tight and just ‘jingles’ over certain types of bumps.
Thing is, it ONLY happens over those certain types of bumps. I’ve tried banging, thumping, flicking and tapping everything I can get my hands on in, around and inside the dash and can’t recreate it standing still. I’ve had the vents out. The AC controls out. The a-pillar off. The idrive controls out. The idrive screen off.
It’s definitely NOT in the suspension. It’s too ‘close’ if that makes sense. Three options from here really:
1. Ignore it
2. Stereo on
3. Take the entire dash out
That sounds familiar!Sometimes it sounds like it’s in the dash behind the vents. Other times it sounds like it’s in the passenger a-pillar. Other times it sounds like its deep under the passenger airbag. It’s like a washer on nut that isn’t tight and just ‘jingles’ over certain types of bumps.
Thing is, it ONLY happens over those certain types of bumps. I’ve tried banging, thumping, flicking and tapping everything I can get my hands on in, around and inside the dash and can’t recreate it standing still. I’ve had the vents out. The AC controls out. The a-pillar off. The idrive controls out. The idrive screen off.
It’s definitely NOT in the suspension. It’s too ‘close’ if that makes sense. Three options from here really:
1. Ignore it
2. Stereo on
3. Take the entire dash out
The passenger side A pillar on her 125 creaked / rattled particularly when warm. Sounded like it was at the bottom where it met the dash. Took it out, applied some tape. Then it sounded like it was the air vent that side. Same. Still did it. Now it looks like the annoying creak has moved to the top the A pillar.
The joys of older cars.
So, remember the guy who barrel-rolled his MINI during my most recent trackday? Turns out he had a camera in the car and has just put the footage up…
Apparently first ever trackday and was being coached by the chap in the passenger seat. Word is, it’s put him off trackdays for a bit. Goes to show how strong the R53 chassis is though! Didn’t even deform enough to crack the screen…
(Pic kindly ‘borrowed’ from Fbook)
Apparently first ever trackday and was being coached by the chap in the passenger seat. Word is, it’s put him off trackdays for a bit. Goes to show how strong the R53 chassis is though! Didn’t even deform enough to crack the screen…
(Pic kindly ‘borrowed’ from Fbook)
MDifficult,
Enjoyed reading your car history even if several of your cars don't come to the States. As for the Mini mishap at the track, my one mishap came because I took my De Tomaso Pantera to northern California to Sonoma Raceway and was stupid enough to drive it on a wet track. Panteras prodigious torque on the back wheels are a very bad match with wet pavement, and I spun in twice on the first lap. Fortunately I was on the only part of the track that doesn't have a concrete wall adjacent to the lanes and there was no harm done (except to my psyche!) I vowed to never put the old cat on wet pavement ever again. Now when I go, my 5.0L Jaguar XKR gets the nod (pulleyed and tuned to about 600hp). It's quicker, has power steering unlike the Pantera, and I can run the A/C all day long without worrying about overheating. But, there is something special about letting the Pantera rip, the torque, the ground just inches below your seat, 500hp of animalistic noise 8" behind your head (My car could never pass the decibel noise test, that's for sure), and the very mechanical ZF 5 speed manual clicking into the gated slots. The XKR has now logged over 185,000 miles, still looks new, and drives as well as it did when I bought over 8 years ago. It's the best, MOST RELIABLE car I have ever owned of more than three dozen, and can now be bought for next to nothing. Outstanding GT that is still quite fun on the road and track.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/3xHDyJpa.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/zLTRAvFo" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/zLTRAvFo.jpg)
Enjoyed reading your car history even if several of your cars don't come to the States. As for the Mini mishap at the track, my one mishap came because I took my De Tomaso Pantera to northern California to Sonoma Raceway and was stupid enough to drive it on a wet track. Panteras prodigious torque on the back wheels are a very bad match with wet pavement, and I spun in twice on the first lap. Fortunately I was on the only part of the track that doesn't have a concrete wall adjacent to the lanes and there was no harm done (except to my psyche!) I vowed to never put the old cat on wet pavement ever again. Now when I go, my 5.0L Jaguar XKR gets the nod (pulleyed and tuned to about 600hp). It's quicker, has power steering unlike the Pantera, and I can run the A/C all day long without worrying about overheating. But, there is something special about letting the Pantera rip, the torque, the ground just inches below your seat, 500hp of animalistic noise 8" behind your head (My car could never pass the decibel noise test, that's for sure), and the very mechanical ZF 5 speed manual clicking into the gated slots. The XKR has now logged over 185,000 miles, still looks new, and drives as well as it did when I bought over 8 years ago. It's the best, MOST RELIABLE car I have ever owned of more than three dozen, and can now be bought for next to nothing. Outstanding GT that is still quite fun on the road and track.
MDifficult said:
So, remember the guy who barrel-rolled his MINI during my most recent trackday? Turns out he had a camera in the car and has just put the footage up…
Apparently first ever trackday and was being coached by the chap in the passenger seat. Word is, it’s put him off trackdays for a bit. Goes to show how strong the R53 chassis is though! Didn’t even deform enough to crack the screen…
(Pic kindly ‘borrowed’ from Fbook)
The Mini bodyshell is legendarily stiff/tough. The torsional stiffness numbers were similar to a Pagani Zonda (which has a carbon monocoque!).Apparently first ever trackday and was being coached by the chap in the passenger seat. Word is, it’s put him off trackdays for a bit. Goes to show how strong the R53 chassis is though! Didn’t even deform enough to crack the screen…
(Pic kindly ‘borrowed’ from Fbook)
Impressive stuff.
tberg said:
MDifficult,
Enjoyed reading your car history even if several of your cars don't come to the States...
Thanks so much - and thanks for the long and interesting post. I think I’ve read your thread about the Pantera - what a car! But the idea of tracking one blows my mind Enjoyed reading your car history even if several of your cars don't come to the States...
Never thought of an XKR as a track car, but must be fantastic for the noise alone!
C70R said:
The Mini bodyshell is legendarily stiff/tough. The torsional stiffness numbers were similar to a Pagani Zonda (which has a carbon monocoque!).
Impressive stuff.
Pretty reassuring really - still glad I’ve got the half cage though Impressive stuff.
My wife often accuses me of 'Forrest Gump-ing my way through life'. Personally, I like to think of it as always having my eye open for an opportunity but on this occasion she may very-well have a point
Rewind a bit...
One of the things that has slightly irritated me about the R53 is that the previous owner (unfortunately due to ill health) had had to replace the rather delicious Sparco Evo II with a much-less-than-delicious OMP TRS-E. Even more annoyingly he decided to sell the Sparco. Net result.. the MINI has miss-matching seats.
I could live with it, but the OMP was pretty large for me so I started hunting to see if I could find a replacement Sparco to match the passenger seat. Sadly, Sparco had discontinued this yellow-accented design and nowhere in Europe had any old stock. I know, because I emailed everyone. I thought about replacing them both with the latest version of the seat, but that seemed like £1,000 I absolutely didn't want to spend.
So the only option was to keep my eye on the second hand market and wait. And wait. And wait..
Then, just the other month one came up for sale locally. A bit tatty but it'd do. Rang the seller and... he'd just sold it. Balls.
Fast-forward to this Monday and I decided to Google the seat model again and 'boom' - one popped up on F@ckbook Marketplace. Helpfully the seller had put a photo of the product sticker on the side of the seat. Checking it, and checking the one in the MINI (to make sure was a definite match) I realised that the serial numbers were sequential.
i.e. not only was this exactly the seat that I needed but.... it was the ACTUAL seat that had been removed and sold about 2 years ago!
I got in touch with the seller and immediately agreed a price. Turns out he'd bought it intending to fit in his 205 GTI, stuck it in his spare room and never used it - only putting up for sale about 24 hours earlier. It was mint apart from some light marks where the mounts go.
With the sale agreed, there was just the small matter of collecting. The seller was very happy to hold it for a bit but wanted it sold and due to our differing work patterns, the only option was for me to get to him one morning before 7am and pick it up. Shame he was 110 miles away in South Wales ROAD TRIP!
(29MPG from an F10 M5 - practically frugal and I think a personal record)
....and it was mine!!
Back home, it was out with the new...
...and in with the old. Even moving the mounts to match was easy because the original builder of the car had left helpful chalk marks so it was easy to position right first time.
So the big question is... was it worth it? the 4:30AM start? the 235 miles and 3.5hrs in the car?
Damn right it was! I'm absolutely f@cking delighted!!
Footnote
Anyone want to buy a barely-used OMP TRS-E? Valid until 2022...
Rewind a bit...
One of the things that has slightly irritated me about the R53 is that the previous owner (unfortunately due to ill health) had had to replace the rather delicious Sparco Evo II with a much-less-than-delicious OMP TRS-E. Even more annoyingly he decided to sell the Sparco. Net result.. the MINI has miss-matching seats.
I could live with it, but the OMP was pretty large for me so I started hunting to see if I could find a replacement Sparco to match the passenger seat. Sadly, Sparco had discontinued this yellow-accented design and nowhere in Europe had any old stock. I know, because I emailed everyone. I thought about replacing them both with the latest version of the seat, but that seemed like £1,000 I absolutely didn't want to spend.
So the only option was to keep my eye on the second hand market and wait. And wait. And wait..
Then, just the other month one came up for sale locally. A bit tatty but it'd do. Rang the seller and... he'd just sold it. Balls.
Fast-forward to this Monday and I decided to Google the seat model again and 'boom' - one popped up on F@ckbook Marketplace. Helpfully the seller had put a photo of the product sticker on the side of the seat. Checking it, and checking the one in the MINI (to make sure was a definite match) I realised that the serial numbers were sequential.
i.e. not only was this exactly the seat that I needed but.... it was the ACTUAL seat that had been removed and sold about 2 years ago!
I got in touch with the seller and immediately agreed a price. Turns out he'd bought it intending to fit in his 205 GTI, stuck it in his spare room and never used it - only putting up for sale about 24 hours earlier. It was mint apart from some light marks where the mounts go.
With the sale agreed, there was just the small matter of collecting. The seller was very happy to hold it for a bit but wanted it sold and due to our differing work patterns, the only option was for me to get to him one morning before 7am and pick it up. Shame he was 110 miles away in South Wales
ROAD TRIP!(29MPG from an F10 M5 - practically frugal and I think a personal record)
....and it was mine!!
Back home, it was out with the new...
...and in with the old. Even moving the mounts to match was easy because the original builder of the car had left helpful chalk marks so it was easy to position right first time.
So the big question is... was it worth it? the 4:30AM start? the 235 miles and 3.5hrs in the car?
Damn right it was! I'm absolutely f@cking delighted!!
Footnote
Anyone want to buy a barely-used OMP TRS-E? Valid until 2022...
Court_S said:
Nice work.
I think the mismatching seats would have made my teeth itch. I’d say it was definitely worth the trip.
Cheers mate - me too - itchy teeth. I'm absolutely chuffed to bits and still can't believe it's the same seat - what are the odds? I think the mismatching seats would have made my teeth itch. I’d say it was definitely worth the trip.
If I can sell the OMP for a couple of quid then all it's cost me is half a tank of super-unleaded
I do love that little mini and it is in the best colour too .
When i was looking at seats the OMP TRS-E came up a lot but they are a steel frame seat and not very comfy .
The Sparco is a fiberglass shell i think so will be much more comfy and will save a bit of weight to so it sounds like a win win .
[quote=MDifficult]My wife often accuses me of 'Forrest Gump-ing my way through life'. Personally, I like to think of it as always having my eye open for an opportunity but on this occasion she may very-well have a point
Rewind a bit...
One of the things that has slightly irritated me about the R53 is that the previous owner (unfortunately due to ill health) had had to replace the rather delicious Sparco Evo II with a much-less-than-delicious OMP TRS-E. Even more annoyingly he decided to sell the Sparco. Net result.. the MINI has miss-matching seats.
When i was looking at seats the OMP TRS-E came up a lot but they are a steel frame seat and not very comfy .
The Sparco is a fiberglass shell i think so will be much more comfy and will save a bit of weight to so it sounds like a win win .
[quote=MDifficult]My wife often accuses me of 'Forrest Gump-ing my way through life'. Personally, I like to think of it as always having my eye open for an opportunity but on this occasion she may very-well have a point
Rewind a bit...
One of the things that has slightly irritated me about the R53 is that the previous owner (unfortunately due to ill health) had had to replace the rather delicious Sparco Evo II with a much-less-than-delicious OMP TRS-E. Even more annoyingly he decided to sell the Sparco. Net result.. the MINI has miss-matching seats.
Kaveney said:
I do love that little mini and it is in the best colour too .
When i was looking at seats the OMP TRS-E came up a lot but they are a steel frame seat and not very comfy .
The Sparco is a fiberglass shell i think so will be much more comfy and will save a bit of weight to so it sounds like a win win.
Cheers mate - yup - the Sparco is a much better seat all-around. I sat in the passenger side a bunch of times to try it out, and nearly just swapped it and the OMP around so that at least I had the Sparco as a driver's seat - but now I'm all good!When i was looking at seats the OMP TRS-E came up a lot but they are a steel frame seat and not very comfy .
The Sparco is a fiberglass shell i think so will be much more comfy and will save a bit of weight to so it sounds like a win win.
Despite all the crappy weather forecasts, Sunday morning suddenly looked to be promising for an early-morning run. Perfect opportunity to help a mate christen his new-to-him and wonderfully-modified M2C.
Yes there was fog. And yes, there were more than one suicidal pigeon - but the roads were dry and the weather was truly glorious for a couple of minutes at least
Some details on the M2C... somewhere around 550Bhp (certainly feels at least as much power as my M5), carbon bonnet, carbon bootlid, carbon everything, everywhere. Clubsport suspension, the optional big brake kit, CS wheels, Cup2s and best of all.... it's a manual. What a thing!
What comparison can I make to the 1M? Virtually none. Its much faster, much firmer, much noisier, much better built, and the interior difference looks like 1,000 years rather than 10. It's also much scarier
Couldn't help but take a few pics:
Once home - it was time to clean all three cars. The MINI's been sat in the garage absolutely filthy, and I was worried that someone soon was going to report the M5 as an abandoned vehicle with all the crud all over it. So here's some gratuitous post-clean pics of those too...
Not to shabby for 86k miles and 125k miles respectively
Yes there was fog. And yes, there were more than one suicidal pigeon - but the roads were dry and the weather was truly glorious for a couple of minutes at least
Some details on the M2C... somewhere around 550Bhp (certainly feels at least as much power as my M5), carbon bonnet, carbon bootlid, carbon everything, everywhere. Clubsport suspension, the optional big brake kit, CS wheels, Cup2s and best of all.... it's a manual. What a thing!
What comparison can I make to the 1M? Virtually none. Its much faster, much firmer, much noisier, much better built, and the interior difference looks like 1,000 years rather than 10. It's also much scarier
Couldn't help but take a few pics:
Once home - it was time to clean all three cars. The MINI's been sat in the garage absolutely filthy, and I was worried that someone soon was going to report the M5 as an abandoned vehicle with all the crud all over it. So here's some gratuitous post-clean pics of those too...
Not to shabby for 86k miles and 125k miles respectively
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