Bobberoo’s Ford Fetish Thread (Warning: Contains Peanut)
Discussion
Ok then, who remembers the couple of boxes of bits I recently bought????
No one????
Ok then I'll remind you!!!
^^^THAT LOT!!!^^^
Remember now?!?!
Well today's the daythe teddy bears have their picnic it was all fitted to/poured into/used on/wasted on Rio!! 
The nice chap who mapped him spent 3 of his precious hours fitting the braided lines and doing a complete brake fluid change, and I must say it's made a big difference, much better pedal feel and no more spongyness!!!
Of course it's completely wasted on Rio for where he's going Saturday, however it will hopefully help me on July the 7th at Abingdon!!!
No one????
Ok then I'll remind you!!!
^^^THAT LOT!!!^^^
Remember now?!?!
Well today's the day
The nice chap who mapped him spent 3 of his precious hours fitting the braided lines and doing a complete brake fluid change, and I must say it's made a big difference, much better pedal feel and no more spongyness!!!
Of course it's completely wasted on Rio for where he's going Saturday, however it will hopefully help me on July the 7th at Abingdon!!!
Well, well, well...
Another update for all you diehard Rio fans......
Oh!!!!
Oh well sod you, I'm posting a nupdate just to spite you!!!
Well it has been quite a week for us and for Rio, starting last Saturday he ferried 4 of us and our luggage to that there London, well Greenwich to be precise, where we were spending 3 days and nights exploring many interesting places, the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime museum, Queens house, the Royal Observatory and a whole day at the Tower of London!!!
We left our friends in London,
no, we didn't just abandon them, they had asked us to bring their luggage back as they stayed on to visit the RA, they is all edumacateded and stuff!!! 
And so we returned from London to Dahn Sarf on Tuesday, and as you already know Rio went and had "stuff" fitted on Wednesday........
whadda you mean you didn't know that??? Do you not read nuffink!!!???
It's all up there!!!^^^^^^^^
So then, on Thursday he carried 4 of us to Ascot for ladies day, no, a different other 2 people and us!!!
It was ok, far too crowded, far too many drunk idiots, loud music, and many, many scantily clad young ladies!!!!
Then on Friday, Rio ferried us and my mum to Bournemouth airport as she was booked on one of those big metal birds to take her back home to Spain, where she lives!!
And now to today, Santa Pod.........
Yes, you did read that right, Rio went to Santa Pod today, where I will be honest and say that he really did acquit himself very well for being just a 1.8TDCi diesel Focus, for a start he wasn't the slowest car there!!!
Secondly, I said from the outset that I'd be really happy with anything under 20 seconds........ first pass........17.49!!!
Over the 6 runs I did he averaged 17.88, with a max terminal speed of 79.1mph, I managed to keep up with a lovely Datsun 240Z, and beat both a 1.2 Fiesta and a 1.4 Corsa!!!
A total of 727.5 miles covered this week, I won't say about fuel economy due to the 6 runs today, and today alone was nearly 300 miles, cleaned him yesterday as I wanted him looking his best, but this is what his nose looks like tonight!!!
Zoom in and behold the utter carnage, "manyBothans flies died to bring you this post!!"
And next........well.... Abingdon, on the 7th of July...........
Another update for all you diehard Rio fans......
Oh!!!!
Oh well sod you, I'm posting a nupdate just to spite you!!!
Well it has been quite a week for us and for Rio, starting last Saturday he ferried 4 of us and our luggage to that there London, well Greenwich to be precise, where we were spending 3 days and nights exploring many interesting places, the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime museum, Queens house, the Royal Observatory and a whole day at the Tower of London!!!
We left our friends in London,
no, we didn't just abandon them, they had asked us to bring their luggage back as they stayed on to visit the RA, they is all edumacateded and stuff!!! And so we returned from London to Dahn Sarf on Tuesday, and as you already know Rio went and had "stuff" fitted on Wednesday........
whadda you mean you didn't know that??? Do you not read nuffink!!!???It's all up there!!!
^^^^^^^^So then, on Thursday he carried 4 of us to Ascot for ladies day, no, a different other 2 people and us!!!
It was ok, far too crowded, far too many drunk idiots, loud music, and many, many scantily clad young ladies!!!!
Then on Friday, Rio ferried us and my mum to Bournemouth airport as she was booked on one of those big metal birds to take her back home to Spain, where she lives!!
And now to today, Santa Pod.........
Yes, you did read that right, Rio went to Santa Pod today, where I will be honest and say that he really did acquit himself very well for being just a 1.8TDCi diesel Focus, for a start he wasn't the slowest car there!!!
Secondly, I said from the outset that I'd be really happy with anything under 20 seconds........ first pass........17.49!!!
Over the 6 runs I did he averaged 17.88, with a max terminal speed of 79.1mph, I managed to keep up with a lovely Datsun 240Z, and beat both a 1.2 Fiesta and a 1.4 Corsa!!!
A total of 727.5 miles covered this week, I won't say about fuel economy due to the 6 runs today, and today alone was nearly 300 miles, cleaned him yesterday as I wanted him looking his best, but this is what his nose looks like tonight!!!
Zoom in and behold the utter carnage, "many
And next........well.... Abingdon, on the 7th of July...........
Bobberoo said:
Well, well, well...
Another update for all you diehard Rio fans......
Oh!!!!
Oh well sod you, I'm posting a nupdate just to spite you!!!
Well it has been quite a week for us and for Rio, starting last Saturday he ferried 4 of us and our luggage to that there London, well Greenwich to be precise, where we were spending 3 days and nights exploring many interesting places, the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime museum, Queens house, the Royal Observatory and a whole day at the Tower of London!!!
We left our friends in London, no, we didn't just abandon them, they had asked us to bring their luggage back as they stayed on to visit the RA, they is all edumacateded and stuff!!!
And so we returned from London to Dahn Sarf on Tuesday, and as you already know Rio went and had "stuff" fitted on Wednesday........ whadda you mean you didn't know that??? Do you not read nuffink!!!???
It's all up there!!!^^^^^^^^
So then, on Thursday he carried 4 of us to Ascot for ladies day, no, a different other 2 people and us!!!
It was ok, far too crowded, far too many drunk idiots, loud music, and many, many scantily clad young ladies!!!!
Then on Friday, Rio ferried us and my mum to Bournemouth airport as she was booked on one of those big metal birds to take her back home to Spain, where she lives!!
And now to today, Santa Pod.........
Yes, you did read that right, Rio went to Santa Pod today, where I will be honest and say that he really did acquit himself very well for being just a 1.8TDCi diesel Focus, for a start he wasn't the slowest car there!!!
Secondly, I said from the outset that I'd be really happy with anything under 20 seconds........ first pass........17.49!!!
Over the 6 runs I did he averaged 17.88, with a max terminal speed of 79.1mph, I managed to keep up with a lovely Datsun 240Z, and beat both a 1.2 Fiesta and a 1.4 Corsa!!!
A total of 727.5 miles covered this week, I won't say about fuel economy due to the 6 runs today, and today alone was nearly 300 miles, cleaned him yesterday as I wanted him looking his best, but this is what his nose looks like tonight!!!
Zoom in and behold the utter carnage, "manyBothans flies died to bring you this post!!"
And next........well.... Abingdon, on the 7th of July...........
Oh dear !! Those poor unfortunate flies Another update for all you diehard Rio fans......
Oh!!!!
Oh well sod you, I'm posting a nupdate just to spite you!!!
Well it has been quite a week for us and for Rio, starting last Saturday he ferried 4 of us and our luggage to that there London, well Greenwich to be precise, where we were spending 3 days and nights exploring many interesting places, the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime museum, Queens house, the Royal Observatory and a whole day at the Tower of London!!!
We left our friends in London,
no, we didn't just abandon them, they had asked us to bring their luggage back as they stayed on to visit the RA, they is all edumacateded and stuff!!! And so we returned from London to Dahn Sarf on Tuesday, and as you already know Rio went and had "stuff" fitted on Wednesday........
whadda you mean you didn't know that??? Do you not read nuffink!!!???It's all up there!!!
^^^^^^^^So then, on Thursday he carried 4 of us to Ascot for ladies day, no, a different other 2 people and us!!!
It was ok, far too crowded, far too many drunk idiots, loud music, and many, many scantily clad young ladies!!!!
Then on Friday, Rio ferried us and my mum to Bournemouth airport as she was booked on one of those big metal birds to take her back home to Spain, where she lives!!
And now to today, Santa Pod.........
Yes, you did read that right, Rio went to Santa Pod today, where I will be honest and say that he really did acquit himself very well for being just a 1.8TDCi diesel Focus, for a start he wasn't the slowest car there!!!
Secondly, I said from the outset that I'd be really happy with anything under 20 seconds........ first pass........17.49!!!
Over the 6 runs I did he averaged 17.88, with a max terminal speed of 79.1mph, I managed to keep up with a lovely Datsun 240Z, and beat both a 1.2 Fiesta and a 1.4 Corsa!!!
A total of 727.5 miles covered this week, I won't say about fuel economy due to the 6 runs today, and today alone was nearly 300 miles, cleaned him yesterday as I wanted him looking his best, but this is what his nose looks like tonight!!!
Zoom in and behold the utter carnage, "many
And next........well.... Abingdon, on the 7th of July...........
Great thread BTW
A small nupdate regarding both Peanut and Rio, Mrs Bobbers got fed up with me continuously taking the Mick about just how dirty Peanut was, so she relented and took her to the nice Eastern European chaps and had her cleaned today!!!
Sadly upon returning home we realised that the black mark I managed to put on her rear bumper when we had to have a valve replaced on one of her wheels a couple of months ago hadn't come off, do out with the polish to try and resolve that and hey presto gone!!!
I then got a bit carried away with the polish and did all the chrome bits on both Peanut and Rio!!!
Not very clear, but before
And after
I also replaced the windscreen wipers on both cars, my preference being Bosch aero wipers.
Tomorrow I will be at BMW UK for the Pistonheads Sunday service with Rio, if anyone is still reading this and you haven't nodded off, please say hello if you're there tomorrow!!!
Sadly upon returning home we realised that the black mark I managed to put on her rear bumper when we had to have a valve replaced on one of her wheels a couple of months ago hadn't come off, do out with the polish to try and resolve that and hey presto gone!!!
I then got a bit carried away with the polish and did all the chrome bits on both Peanut and Rio!!!
Not very clear, but before
And after
I also replaced the windscreen wipers on both cars, my preference being Bosch aero wipers.
Tomorrow I will be at BMW UK for the Pistonheads Sunday service with Rio, if anyone is still reading this and you haven't nodded off, please say hello if you're there tomorrow!!!
I have returned from deepest darkest Farnborough, where I was a Ford Focus shaped thorn in a sea of BMW shaped roses!!!
At the start it was nice, we were turned away from BMW UK HQ and told in no uncertain terms that it wasn't open until 0900, this was at 0845, we were directed to a nearby Morrisons where I discovered a car park half full of BMW'S and just the one, beautiful 66 Mustang owned by Jeremyc!!!
At precisely 0900 hrs all the BMW owners literally ran to their cars and took off popping and banging like a swarm of demented race cars, leaving Jeremyc and I to potter along behind them, where upon we joined the queue..........
Once inside it was a case of being directed by the Gestapo staff to the upper levels of the multi storey car park out of sight of the beautiful people's shiny BMW'S to park up!!
Rio in exulted company, definitely lowering the standards!!!
And a couple more pics of interesting stuff....
At the start it was nice, we were turned away from BMW UK HQ and told in no uncertain terms that it wasn't open until 0900, this was at 0845, we were directed to a nearby Morrisons where I discovered a car park half full of BMW'S and just the one, beautiful 66 Mustang owned by Jeremyc!!!
At precisely 0900 hrs all the BMW owners literally ran to their cars and took off popping and banging like a swarm of demented race cars, leaving Jeremyc and I to potter along behind them, where upon we joined the queue..........
Once inside it was a case of being directed by the
Rio in exulted company, definitely lowering the standards!!!
And a couple more pics of interesting stuff....
Glad this old focus is getting some love still, in a sea of f
king awful SUVs they the clean ones are starting to stand out.
I have my late dads 1.8 TDCi Mk 4 Mondeo on the drive, needs some love to get it looking as nice as your focus. Maybe spur me on to getting it upto scratch.
Enojy the updates.
king awful SUVs they the clean ones are starting to stand out.I have my late dads 1.8 TDCi Mk 4 Mondeo on the drive, needs some love to get it looking as nice as your focus. Maybe spur me on to getting it upto scratch.
Enojy the updates.
Well then, where do i begin.........
Are you sitting comfortably children???
Yesterday i took Rio the Rioja blue racing slug to Abingdon aerodrome for my first, and i'm guessing, his first ever track day!!!
It was a lovely blue sky, 20+ degree day with a light breeze and lots of sun!!!
I arrived feeling a bit nervous but also excited to be doing it, despite ending up at the guard gate for the army side of the airfield, and being calmly and politely redirected to the correct side of the airfield by an armed guard!!!! 
So i finally found my way to the correct place, i knew it was the correct place cos there were loads to track ready cars loitering about!!!
I pulled in next to a couple of Caterhams, more on the owners and cars shortly, where i proceeded to unload all thecompletely useless junk i'd taken really highly important equipment and set up my little home from home for the day!!!
I then set about readying Rio for the event, this involved the highly complex task of..............screwing in a tow eye!!
I briefly chatted to the guys next to me, then wandered nonchalantly down the pits to sign on........ok, ok, i waddled down there sweating slightly and ogling the track toys!!!
Once signed on, allotted to the third sighting session, and confirmed that a very nice chap called Antony was to be my tutor for the track day tuition i'd booked, inonchalantly walked waddled my way back to Rio, stopping along the way to chat to a work colleague (Dave) and his son (Miles) who are fairly regular visitors to Abingbon with Miles's rather nice Ginetta G40, more on this later!!!
And so upon being called forth to the track for our sighting session, i donned my helmet, and climbed into my track ready race car rally slag............or, if you prefer the truth, Rio the Rioja blue racing slug!!!
We were third to last, being followed by three Caterhams, the two guys next to us and another from a bit further back, we all headed out onto track at a slowish pace, did three laps behind the support van, and were then let go to have some fun for a few laps, which is where i very quickly learnt that i was being far, far, far too aggressive with my brakes!!!
This happened when i approached the hairpin at the end of the straight, and stood on the brakes at speed, the car slowed quickly, then a bit less quickly, then the pedal was getting soft, and there was the smell of hot brakes!!!!
So i slowed my roll and did another lap much slower to let it all cool down, returned to the pits and berated myself, apologised profusely to Rio, prostrated myself at his bumper and begged God to not let his brakes be fooked!!!!
Meanwhile the guys next to me introduced themselves and had a chat about their cars, Rio, life, the universe and exponential existence, some of that may or may not be true......
Anywho, it turned out that there were three guys who were all friends for around 30 years and had met through being pilots!!! One of them had his son with him, a really pleasant lad, and that the pair of them had built their Caterham during lockdown!!!
The three guys and the son were all sharing the two cars, one of which is an ex Caterham race series car, and it's owner had competed in a couple of seasons in it!!!
They were all really friendly, and offered some really good advice, told me to get up off the ground and stop talking to my car, wipe my nose, and stop being such a plonker!!!
Around this time a fellow PHer, Byker28i, arrived to see how i was doing and capture some pics, he also very kindly gifted me a GoPro style camera and a shed load of holders, and it was now 1100 and time for my tuition, so i donned my helmet and introduced myself and Rio to Antony, who proceeded to absolutely tear my driving style apart and assemble it back into some semblance of what is the correct way to drive a Ford Focus estate on track!!!
Thanks again to Byker28i for the pics and for giving up his time to come and support me!!!
So after the tuition and having a couple more goes, i started to notice that i was indeed stringing together some half decent laps, yes pretty much everything was passing me, but some of them were struggling to get around Rio on the straights, OI!!! Who said it's because he's got a fat arse?!?!?!
So i was being followed at this point by Miles and Dave in his Ginetta, along the back straight i pulled over to let him pass but kept on the gas as i was confident he'd out accelerate me.........er, nope, i had to back off as we were running out of space!!!
Upon returning to the pits to have a cool down, and as it was now lunchtime, i took the opportunity to waddle down the pits and chat to a few people, and was very pleasantly surprised to be asked about Rio and his mods and be told by a number of people with much more track focused cars, Miles included, that they were surprised by the speed and acceleration he could muster, and just how committed i was in the bends!!!
After some lunch Rio and i invited Dave out for a few laps, he didn't scream once, and then it was my turn to be taken out in Miles Ginetta.........OH MY FUKIN GOD it was epic!!!!
I have been out in a few track focused cars, but the level of grip, the force of the braking and the sheer experience is unforgettable!!!
I managed another two stints out by myself, and was really starting to enjoy myself, the feeling of getting it right, the feeling of Rio moving about and yet feeling controlled, yes i was having to scrub off a lot of speed to get him through certain corners, but other corners were now being taken flat out and hard on the accelerator, i was really enjoying it............until i clipped a cone on the hardest part of the track for me, which flipped up and wiped out Rio's passenger side mirror!!!
Fear not though, he's not beyond saving, and a replacement has already been sourced!!!
I immediately pulled into the pits and declared what had happened, and decided as it was now 4pm that it was probably time i packed up and called it a day anyway.
As i was packing up the support van pulled up behind me and one of the staff gently handed me Rio's broken bits, asking me if i'd like to take them home with me!!
And so all thecompletely useless junk i'd taken really highly important equipment i'd bought with was loaded back into Rio, i removed the tow eye, put my helmet back in it's bag, stop sniggering, and gently removed us from Abingdon airfield, the journey home was boring and traffic heavy, but i was feeling pretty good.
I grabbed a couple of pics of the state of the tyres after a day hooning around the track, and was both surprised and delighted to see signs of scrubbing but mostly intact tyres!!!
Congratulations if you're still awake at this point, and as a sign of my commitment to bore you to sleep, have a video wot i createded all by my self and managed to lodge on that there YouTube!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KhIBFORU8
Are you sitting comfortably children???
Yesterday i took Rio the Rioja blue racing slug to Abingdon aerodrome for my first, and i'm guessing, his first ever track day!!!
It was a lovely blue sky, 20+ degree day with a light breeze and lots of sun!!!
I arrived feeling a bit nervous but also excited to be doing it, despite ending up at the guard gate for the army side of the airfield, and being calmly and politely redirected to the correct side of the airfield
by an armed guard!!!! So i finally found my way to the correct place, i knew it was the correct place cos there were loads to track ready cars loitering about!!!
I pulled in next to a couple of Caterhams, more on the owners and cars shortly, where i proceeded to unload all the
I then set about readying Rio for the event, this involved the highly complex task of..............screwing in a tow eye!!
I briefly chatted to the guys next to me, then wandered nonchalantly down the pits to sign on........ok, ok, i waddled down there sweating slightly and ogling the track toys!!!
Once signed on, allotted to the third sighting session, and confirmed that a very nice chap called Antony was to be my tutor for the track day tuition i'd booked, i
And so upon being called forth to the track for our sighting session, i donned my helmet, and climbed into my track ready race car rally slag............or, if you prefer the truth, Rio the Rioja blue racing slug!!!
We were third to last, being followed by three Caterhams, the two guys next to us and another from a bit further back, we all headed out onto track at a slowish pace, did three laps behind the support van, and were then let go to have some fun for a few laps, which is where i very quickly learnt that i was being far, far, far too aggressive with my brakes!!!
This happened when i approached the hairpin at the end of the straight, and stood on the brakes at speed, the car slowed quickly, then a bit less quickly, then the pedal was getting soft, and there was the smell of hot brakes!!!!
So i slowed my roll and did another lap much slower to let it all cool down, returned to the pits and berated myself, apologised profusely to Rio, prostrated myself at his bumper and begged God to not let his brakes be fooked!!!!
Meanwhile the guys next to me introduced themselves and had a chat about their cars, Rio, life, the universe and exponential existence, some of that may or may not be true......
Anywho, it turned out that there were three guys who were all friends for around 30 years and had met through being pilots!!! One of them had his son with him, a really pleasant lad, and that the pair of them had built their Caterham during lockdown!!!
The three guys and the son were all sharing the two cars, one of which is an ex Caterham race series car, and it's owner had competed in a couple of seasons in it!!!
They were all really friendly, and offered some really good advice, told me to get up off the ground and stop talking to my car, wipe my nose, and stop being such a plonker!!!
Around this time a fellow PHer, Byker28i, arrived to see how i was doing and capture some pics, he also very kindly gifted me a GoPro style camera and a shed load of holders, and it was now 1100 and time for my tuition, so i donned my helmet and introduced myself and Rio to Antony, who proceeded to absolutely tear my driving style apart and assemble it back into some semblance of what is the correct way to drive a Ford Focus estate on track!!!
Thanks again to Byker28i for the pics and for giving up his time to come and support me!!!
So after the tuition and having a couple more goes, i started to notice that i was indeed stringing together some half decent laps, yes pretty much everything was passing me, but some of them were struggling to get around Rio on the straights, OI!!! Who said it's because he's got a fat arse?!?!?!
So i was being followed at this point by Miles and Dave in his Ginetta, along the back straight i pulled over to let him pass but kept on the gas as i was confident he'd out accelerate me.........er, nope, i had to back off as we were running out of space!!!
Upon returning to the pits to have a cool down, and as it was now lunchtime, i took the opportunity to waddle down the pits and chat to a few people, and was very pleasantly surprised to be asked about Rio and his mods and be told by a number of people with much more track focused cars, Miles included, that they were surprised by the speed and acceleration he could muster, and just how committed i was in the bends!!!
After some lunch Rio and i invited Dave out for a few laps, he didn't scream once, and then it was my turn to be taken out in Miles Ginetta.........OH MY FUKIN GOD it was epic!!!!
I have been out in a few track focused cars, but the level of grip, the force of the braking and the sheer experience is unforgettable!!!
I managed another two stints out by myself, and was really starting to enjoy myself, the feeling of getting it right, the feeling of Rio moving about and yet feeling controlled, yes i was having to scrub off a lot of speed to get him through certain corners, but other corners were now being taken flat out and hard on the accelerator, i was really enjoying it............until i clipped a cone on the hardest part of the track for me, which flipped up and wiped out Rio's passenger side mirror!!!
Fear not though, he's not beyond saving, and a replacement has already been sourced!!!
I immediately pulled into the pits and declared what had happened, and decided as it was now 4pm that it was probably time i packed up and called it a day anyway.
As i was packing up the support van pulled up behind me and one of the staff gently handed me Rio's broken bits, asking me if i'd like to take them home with me!!
And so all the
I grabbed a couple of pics of the state of the tyres after a day hooning around the track, and was both surprised and delighted to see signs of scrubbing but mostly intact tyres!!!
Congratulations if you're still awake at this point, and as a sign of my commitment to bore you to sleep, have a video wot i createded all by my self and managed to lodge on that there YouTube!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KhIBFORU8
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