Club Racing in a Barge and other Stupid Decisions
Discussion
Edited to cut out boring drivel- full story below for those with enough time on their hands!
Evening all, and apologies for the immense data dump that is going to follow. I figured that I would start this thread as I now have three project cars on the go, each of which has it's own breed of following on PH and is probably deserving of a 'Readers Cars' entry, but updating various threads at once would probably grow tiring and be an atrocious waste of webspace (as I'm absolutely not competent and most things I write about will probably be trivial). I also realised that in truth (nearly) every car I've owned has had some interesting history or story behind it, so I may as well bring those stories forward. The finishing touch to a Readers Cars entry to me is context; it's well and good knowing that something exists, and that someone cherishes it in a certain way, but it's not quite complete without knowing why.
So, some context. Well, my name is Mike, I'm 22, and I love cars. As a kid I dreamt about owning a Dodge Viper, Lotus Esprit or TVR Cerbera; I also thought that the Ford Scorpio was the coolest looking thing on four wheels (true story). I was absolutely convinced that I was going to be a Formula One driver, and took up karting as soon as I could reach the pedals- it started at my local karting track, in an old hangar in Wroughton airfield. I went a few times to practice and then started the junior championship. I finished 5th in my first year before missing out on the title by a point the next year, and I was absolutely hooked. I started doing the junior championship at Castle Combe, which was bigger and better attended- meetings usually comprised of 30+ drivers, sometimes in excess of 40. I campaigned in that for several years, gradually climbing the order until I won the title in my last year of eligibility at the age of 15.
Yes, as a teenager I actually thought that hairstyle was cool. Of course these junior series' were meant as stepping stones onto bigger and better things, and as time went on couldn't help but notice disappearances from the grid who were moving on to race cars or 'big boy' karting. Inevitably it was those who had rich or committed parents who moved on, and I was never in a situation to do so. I was given a free ARKS test by Drivetech for winning the junior championship, and I managed to beg, borrow and steal occasional drives in Rotax or TKM karts whenever the opportunity presented itself, but it went no further. I was a kid, and my parents didn't have the time or money for me to do a season of full racing.
Once I was too old to carry on with the Junior series', I left motorsport entirely. I'd seen too many people move on who had little talent but a lot of money, and truthfully I was embittered. Some of the drivers who I raced with in the Juniors are still racing today at a very competitive level, and it always brings a wry smile to turn on MotorsTV and see a name that I recognise as somebody who couldn't keep up with me if I had three wheels and a misfire, back in the day of course. But such is the way in motorsport, and I imagine it always will be. I still keep in touch with a lot of guys from karting, and some of them genuinely are the most talented drivers I'll ever have the good fortune to meet; capable of beating me, you, or pretty much anyone else round any circuit behind the wheel of just about anything. Now they're shop assistants, delivery drivers- one is an accountant. We still meet up occasionally and pay a pittance to rag some ropey four strokes around, and that's probably my greatest legacy from trying to 'make it' in motorsport; a great circle of very close friends. As for the rest of my 'legacy', that went in the loft ne'er to be seen again.
Once I'd realised that I wasn't actually going to be a Formula One driver, it was back to normality. I actually made a late start to driving, due to moving away when I was 17 to do an apprenticeship with Network Rail. I spent 9 months training in Portsmouth where I had no need to learn to drive, despite fervently wanting to. Doing the apprenticeship was the best decision of my life; I went from a demotivated immature kid doodling pictures of cars in the back of notebooks, to a fully qualified Overhead Line engineer, with no shortage of hard work in between. Once I'd returned home from the apprenticeship, I took a crash course of driving lessons and passed my test first time, 2 minors. This is when we get on to the real subject of this thread; cars...
The start- Peugeot 206, October 2013 - May 2014
My first car was shared between me and my sister, and it was a truly god-awful 1.1 Pug 206. The car had belonged to my grandparents and been passed through the family, given no shortage of hard time. It had close to 90k miles when I started driving it, none of them easy. The interior trim was falling off, it was consuming a coil pack every few months, and was generally a hateful POS. But of course I adored it, it was characterful, plucky, *insert s
tty first car stereotype here*. My commute was 70 miles of A road and motorway, and my best mate lived in North Walsham in deepest darkest Norfolk, so I regularly was taking it well out of it's depth. Like a lot of old small cars it seemed to be driven by some mystical force well beyond fuel and combustion, and if I show half the fighting spirit during the course of my life as that car I'll be a hero. On one eventful trip up into Norfolk it managed to consume an entire bottle of coolant within an hour before overheating spectacularly in Northampton. I ran into the services and bought a few bottles of water, in they went and off we shot again. Did it make it? Of course! I was put on training in Walsall for a couple of weeks and covered 400 miles, and on the way home I had just about got it into the drive when- *CLANG* - the entire exhaust assembly fell off, from downpipe to backbox. 10 yards from my front door. I'm sure many more misadventures would have been had, but unfortunately in May 2014 I was subject to my first- and so far only- car accident, when I was rear-ended on the way home from work. The poor Pug was twisted up like a pretzel, RIP. Below it's at it's most useful, as a leaning post for a faster, more valuable and more comfortable alternative.
Brand new! - Ford Fiesta, June 2014 - December 2016
Okay, 206 and Fiesta, so far it's not exactly a thrill ride, but bear with. I was only 18 when I'd had my accident, and a combination of the shock factor, the increased insurance (no it wasn't my fault, but insurance companies are bds) and my annual mileage, caused my parents to bring down the tirade of sensibleness. Knowing that I wasn't to be trusted with free reign to buy a car, they decreed that I must have something new, safe, and reliable (boring, boring, boring)- else I would be banished from the family with immediate effect. I was very fortunate in that they said they would cover half the costs for a newer car, on the condition that the car would belong to them if and when I bought something else. Collectively we'd all been really impressed with the new Fiesta that the insurance company had given me as a hire car and decided that it was pretty much perfect. As a penniless apprentice I couldn't stretch to half the cost of a new one, but I was able to find enough to get into this- up for sale for £7k, being a 2012 it was the last of the pre-facelift models, and with 12k miles on it, for me it really was brand new.
What followed was 40,000 miles of dull, boring efficiency and reliability. Not that I'm knocking the Fiesta, it was a truly superb car and saw me through some of the most memorable years of my life, and I really did develop a strong affinity for it. But being such a good car, also means that it's provided little in the way of anecdotes or PH-worthy memories. What I can say for it is that the hype around the chassis on Ford's small cars is absolutely justified- it was eminently chuckable, with grip for days, little in the way of body roll, and proper genuine steering feedback. It was comfortable, fun to drive, but sadly with a little 1.25 litre engine it was really found wanting for power on big open A roads. Looked wikked wit dem alloys wot I put on it doe innit.
The shortage of horsepower was to be remedied though....
Enter the beast- TVR Chimaera, August 2016 - present
I always knew I'd own a TVR. It was a fact, like saying that the sky is blue, or that Porsches are for girls and balding middle aged men. I've been totally in love with the brand ever since I was a kid and Jeremy Clarkson proved, absolutely without question, that even a standard 4.2 Cerbera was faster than anything else on four wheels. *ahem*, without question.... What I didn't know was that I would be buying into the brand at the age of 20 with absolutely no specific knowledge, and very little general knowledge, to go on. I'd set out to buy a sports car with a largely open mind; it had to be RWD, light and fun. I didn't know if I was going to buy it as a second car or drive it daily, that largely depended on what I bought. I hadn't even considered a TVR- I'd always kept an eye on the market, but that was for later in life, when I was older and had more money. At the time the standard fare to buy a Chimaera and drive it away without having a lot of work to do was upwards of £10k, approaching £15k. I ended up landing mine for £6500. Was I an opportunist? A keen-eyed bargain hunter with an ear to the ground and a finger on the beating pulse of the market? No, I was a fking idiot. The car came up for sale close by, and I went to have a look purely for the sake of it. It would be a reference point for later in life when I was buying for real, I told myself. The reference it gave me was that any other car in the country would be in a better state than this. The interior was in pieces, the chassis rotten, it had a stonking great carburettor on it for some reason. But once that big V8 grumbled into life my blood went cold. I had to have it. And I did. I've written plenty on here about the TVR, including a thread I started a year ago covering most of the work it's needed- that's linked to in my profile if you want to read further about it, I won't waste the bandwidth here as there is a lot of material...
One thing I can say is that it's been a learning experience. I pledged to myself that as far as reasonably possible, I would work on the car myself and so far that's rung true. It's been slow, painful going, but I can happily look at the car now and say that it's a far better machine than it was 18 months ago. I'm still cack-handed and clueless as far as spannering goes, but I can confidently say that I will size up jobs that I would previously have said 'no chance' to, and throw myself into them. As it turned out the experience wouldn't just be valuable for the TVR..! The most positive thing about buying a rubbish Chimaera though, was that I was able to take it on track.
Apart from the odd race in the old four stroke karts back at Castle Combe or Swindon Karting, I'd left motorsport well alone for years. I had maybe half an hours worth of experience driving cars on circuits, and the idea of taking the TVR on track really reignited that fire that I'd had when I was younger; it got me excited again. However, I made a big mistake in booking my first track day at Castle Combe. I hadn't reached the edge of the envelope driving the car before, and with no idea of how it handled on the limit (and it's fearsome reputation for being a bit murdery) in my mind it was still the 'big bad TVR', and quite frankly around Combe, which is definitely big and bad, I was stting bricks! The imposing barriers and question marks over the handling of the car meant that I never got outside of my comfort zone. I had a fantastic day, but ultimately learnt very little about how to really push on a circuit. I also met some great people, which as it turn out would come in handy for mid-session when the water pump belt let go.. An unceremonious moment captured on camera.
That's one of the best things about TVR, the sense of community. I've met some fantastic people and made some good friends since owning my car, kudos to each and every one of you.
Last month, I had another go at a track day in the TVR, and this time I got it right- I went to Abingdon, a nice open airfield track, and the lack of solid objects to crash into felt like absolute freedom. I pushed the car as hard as it would go, and I learnt how docile the car is on the limit. It's a big pussycat! It handled superbly, and has really inspired me to do more track days and become a better driver. First step is track tyres, which will be coming soon. Then it's more airfield days, Abingdon and Lyneham, until it becomes second nature and I can face up to bona fide circuits with confidence to push hard. If I can get on top of the car, the idea of taking the TVR around Combe, which is an immense track, at ten tenths is pure ecstasy.
In terms of long term plans for the car, I'd love to eventually do a body-off restoration. Retrim the interior, replace all the electrics, rebuild the engine, apply a long and extensive mod list, and turn it into a proper road car. I see a lot of potential for the car to be a glorious grand tourer, something to tackle all roads and all journeys with a massive grin factor. Currently all work I do to it is outside in the elements, with no lift, a small amount of tools, and little in the way of time to take on larger tasks. One day I hope to have a garage large enough to turn into a workshop within which I can complete such a restoration in my own time and with proper tools. For now, it's difficult to make much progress, and where the car is at it's better suited to being a track car. This isn't exactly an interior to cross Europe in...
That's part of the long-term plan, to turn this tired old beast into a TVR to be proud of, with a cosy garage to call home. But why would I want to stop taking the TVR on track days? Well, because that plan involves buying a race car of course... But hopefully you'll be hearing more about that further into this thread!
This is where real credit goes to the humble Fiesta, because amongst all the tumultuous ups and downs of TVR ownership my daily driver was a sedate and sensible steed which I could always rely on not to put a foot wrong. That all changed the day my workmate came blasting into the office and declared, 'My st old car is broken, does anyone want to buy it?'
Bangernomics- Volkswagen Golf GTI, December 2016 - December 2017
'You tt, you've stuck a GTI badge on it'
'It is a GTI!'
'By what measure of mankind is that a GTI?'
'Got a tartan interior'
'Has it? Are the windows meant to be opaque?'
'Oh yeah, umm, it's got a small leak'
A small leak that I discovered on the way home when I hit the brakes and a torrent of fetid water poured from the sunroof panel down the back of my shirt. I'd just left my mate's house £50 lighter having jump started the long-dead Golf into life, and I was already wondering what the hell I was doing. Selecting gears was a two-man operation, the level of steering input required to keep the car straight was varying wildly from 45 through 90 degrees clockwise, and the whole car pitched wildly if I had the audacity to attempt a braking or steering input.
So this was my new daily driver. Despite it's faults, I was feeling rather pleased with myself. Here I was, in a working driving car, for £50 and a jump start. My smugness lasted all of a day, when I set out the next morning with the intention of driving it to work and it was completely dead. I figured that the battery must be knackered, so I jump started it again and let it run for a while to clear the plentiful condensation, then headed off. I must have made it all of 100 yards before the entire car died and I coasted to an embarrassing stop- no juice even to put the hazards on as I pushed it back home. It turned out that the alternator was knackered, which should have been a simple enough job- order part from breakers, lovely and cheap, fit it, 20 minute job. It wasn't. The auxiliary belt tensioner was locked completely solid and it took a spanner, breaker bar and two grown men jumping up and down until they were red in the face before we were able to release the belt. Once we got the job done the car was finally able to sustain itself for more than 20 minutes- but it did beg the question, of how the hell did I manage to get it the 35 miles home the day I bought it? I can only assume that the car had run out of electricity after a few miles and was running on only that very same mystical banger force that my old Peugeot was blessed with. Once the car was running I handed the Fiesta over to my sister who was car-less after having an accident, and the below picture (taken when she came home to pick it up, by this point the Fiesta hadn't moved for 3 months) is quite poignant to me- one of the bangiest bangers ever to exist giving the kiss of life to the car which had been integral to my life for so long.
I have to confess to growing very fond of the Golf, as were my shift team who I gave lifts into work. It had a hilarious combination of faults; a broken glovebox latch which meant it could only be opened or closed by reaching into the aperture and fumbling around for the remains of the lever in much the same manner as a man usually fumbles around blindly whilst attempting to please a ladyfriend, an interior dome light which would work perfectly one day and then the next would refuse to show any signs of life until the left indicator was turned on, or the offside rear window was fully lowered, at which point it would burst into brilliance and refuse to be turned off. Probably the most noticeable defect was the exhaust which had been battered into the floorpan of the car, causing an intolerable amount of noise and vibration. From within the car, cold starts were significantly louder than the TVR. Once running, the car would revert to be being refined and normal, until a speed of precisely 66mph was reached, at which point the entire centre console would start to vibrate and the radio head unit would gradually disappear into the dashboard- not that it mattered, as any music was drowned out by the most incredible droning noise which I estimate to have been in excess of 200 decibels. It was a hilarious and infectious car, capable of reducing even the most stony faced passengers to stitches, and it earned the moniker 'The Battlebox'.
Somehow this car just kept on going. I gave it a minute amount of attention and mechanical sympathy (although I did go to the lengths of servicing it with Halfords finest collection of oils and lubricants), and in effect I was just waiting for it to die so that I could move onto a proper car and turn the whole saga into something I could look back on and laugh, but it stubbornly refused. It became king of the local tip run, the capacity of the trailer second to the amount of st that I managed to fit in the cabin, it proved itself capable of performing handbrake turns that would make Russ Swift weep, and most importantly it was team transport and my home for 24 hours (due to an airbed that didn't hold air..) during the Daytona Milton Keynes 24 hour karting event.
In truth, although I should have enjoyed and gone to efforts to prolong my £50 motoring experience, I never stopped shopping around for cars. Owning this car was purely a matter of circumstance, an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I didn't want it. The fuel consumption was grating on my commute, and when due to a change in location it became mostly motorway miles, the novelty of the daily deafening soon wore thin. I could have bought some parts and spent some time fixing the faults, but I would be left with a car that I didn't want to be driving anyway, except now the endearing factors would all be gone- it just wasn't worth it. I was waiting for an excuse, and the car gave me one on a rainy day in Swansea. My girlfriend had moved there for university, and the Battlebox had done a decent job of carting me up and down the M4, when one day whilst pottering around the Gower the low coolant light came on. I was pretty well used to this as the Golf had mystery disappearing coolant syndrome, so I figured I would just pull over at some point and fill it up. It was when we saw the first wisps of steam that we knew it was a bit worse than that... One of the coolant union joints had sprung a leak, right at the back of the engine bay by the firewall- in the least accessible place. When I attempted to get the hose clips off, to get the joint out so that I could attempt a temporary fix and get a part number, the entire assembly shattered. Train home for me then.
I managed to arrange to get to Swansea and get the car home a couple of days later, and it almost brought a tear to my eye to see it sat in the car park forlornly, untouched and abandoned in the same spot. I managed to get hold of the right part for it, and fitted it in situ, which whilst awkward was rewarded with an uneventful journey home. I couldn't shake the memory of how easily that coolant joint had shattered though, and it struck me with paranoia- for all I knew, all of the auxiliary components in the car were the same age and feeling just as brittle. Did I really want to be spending the time doing this for the sake of keeping such a st car going? It wasn't for me. I started going to look at cars for sale with a genuine intent on buying, and last month I won an ebay auction which rung the death knell for my Battlebox experience. I spent some time cleaning the car up, really lavished some proper attention on it, before putting it on a facebook 'for sale' page to get shot quickly. I got a message from someone who said they could be round in 10 minutes, and they did a bank transfer there and then for £350, insured and taxed the car on their phone and drove it away. I didn't anticipate how upset I would be to see the car go, and when I surveyed it for the last time in all it's magnificence, positively beaming having had it's first TLC for years, it looked a million quid.
That was my first experience of selling a car, and it went remarkably smoothly. The bloke turned up straight away, paid the full price and it was gone.
Premium shedding- Alfa Romeo GT, December 2017 - present
I knew I had to own something at least moderately interesting. There are so many cars that as a kid I thought were awesome, that are available for absolute pennies- just look at the price you pay now for a mk1 Audi TT, Mazda RX-8, or Mitsubishi GTO. Cars that wouldn't have looked out of place on my bedroom wall fifteen years ago, all available for less money than my first insurance premium. There was really no excuse for me not to buy something cool. In fact I was dangerously close to taking home a mk2 MR-2 at one point when I realised- I've got a TVR for having fun with and whatever I buy now is going to have to soak up hundreds of miles a week, and be my main transporter of people and luggage. It was really no place for a mid-engined 2-seater. I was looking at Alfa GTVs when I discovered that the 1.9 diesel lump had found it's place in the GT, and it seemed to be a compelling prospect.
I went to look at a few GTs at dealers, and the condition and price varied hugely. Depending what I found I was either going to go full shed mode for ~£1k or if something more expensive jumped out at me I was open to the car being a keeper. They all had a few things in common though- gorgeous interiors, room for 5 and a capacious boot. It was ticking all the practicality boxes but with just enough lovely styling and Italian flair to qualify for the 'want' factor. The GT actually never jumped out at me when they were new, I didn't even find them particularly good looking, but the design has aged really well and they look better now than ever IMO. I was browsing eBay when I noticed one, with a massive pile of history and receipts, 109k miles, and a good spec, in an auction which hadn't even surpassed £1000- and a day to go! I didn't have time to go and see it, and that should have told me not to bother, but with blind optimism and blissful stupidity I decided to throw my hat in the ring for this absolute unknown quantity.
The next day was a myriad of frantic phone calls and no small anxiety. I don't actually have an eBay account, and barely understand how the system works, so I'd placed my faith in a mate who was bidding on my behalf. Come the end of the auction, the car sold for £1550- to someone. I could almost hear the guilt in my mate's voice when he rang me and declared, 'It's yours. And the seller wants it picked up within 48 hours. From Loughborough.' fk. I was working solidly that week, the car was located nowhere near any bus or train station, and Loughborough suddenly seemed so very far away. A short grovel later and I managed to arrange a lift from a very cynical stepfather, and the next day I conveniently woke up with a terrible illness. Once we got there, the 'dealer' delighted in taking me for a short blast up and down the road where he attempted to prove to me how fast the Alfa was, changing gear with more speed than any sequential gearbox ever dreamt of, and buzzing the redline in every gear. He was a nice enough bloke though, and to his credit he'd kept together an impeccable history file, with recent receipts for new turbo, master cylinder, wishbones and various other things. Bar a broken door handle the car was also absolutely pristine, and inside and out it was as clean as the day it left the factory. I'd like to think that I would have snapped his hand off for £1550, regardless of the fact that technically I'd already bought it the previous day.
I'm now a month in with my eBay mystery buy, and to be honest I'm waiting for the fall as it has exceeded my expectations in absolutely every way. Within it's 900 miles covered so far it's undertaken a trip to Swansea and also to Birmingham and back for the Autosport show, and it's been brilliant. Sink into the leather, set the cruise control, and arrive at your destination no worse for wear. I have to confess that it feels so tight and drives and behaves so well that I've not yet even got underneath it to fully inspect it- I know, shame on me. Everything on the car works as it should, which of course isn't right, so I decided to have a go at breaking something.
Unfortunately the Alfa fell short of my requirements in only one department- music. I have a huge collection of music on my phone which is a mandatory requirement to making mundane driving that bit more tolerable, and although the Alfa stereo had a half-decent radio and accepted CDs, this was not enough. So it was time for the Sony USB/Bluetooth head unit that has found it's place in every car I've ever owned, bar the Fiesta which already had a USB input and the TVR which makes its own music. This head unit with adapter has been a plug-and-play job for every car before, so lazily I pulled out the standard Blaupunkt unit and plugged in the Sony, expecting to be met by the sweet tones of The Fratellis, Pink Floyd and an embarrassingly large amount of Slade. It was not so. Closer inspection revealed that- shock horror- the head unit wiring for the GT was completely different from the usual ISO harness, and I'd have to cut, splice and crimp if I wanted Noddy Holder to appear through my speakers. Apparently I'm qualified as a sparky, but my single biggest fear in life is electronics on cars. They terrify me- I don't know why, but something about tearing open a dashboard and unleashing wire cutters underneath turns me into a gibbering mess. Tentatively I drew up a wiring diagram and forced myself to make the first cut into the Alfa's harness, the point of no return after which the job would have to be completed. I delicately stole a 12V feed from the cigarette lighter, and modified the harness in such a way that it would also accommodate inputs from the steering wheel controls, and miraculously it all worked!
The look was completed with a single-DIN fascia adapter to suit the console, and now the Sony head unit looks quite at home in there- I wouldn't be without it. So far that's about the only bodgery I've done on the GT, although I'm sure that will all change so watch this space to see more gormless moron struggling to complete simple tasks. All in all, I'm delighted with the GT and I think I chose the perfect car for my requirements. It'll do 60mpg on a cruise, is supremely comfortable and surprisingly spacious, and the handling is really rather sharp. My only complaint so far is a heavy clutch, but I do so little town driving that it hasn't particularly bothered me. Updates to come I'm sure!
Other stuff- 1976 VW bay window camper, June 2017 - present
My stepdad had a funny turn last year and decided that the thing we all needed in our lives was a T2 VW Camper. I'd recently moved into an annexe next to my parents after renting my house out, and he bought it with a view to us completing a restoration together- for the benefit largely of my little brother, who at the age of 16 is a better spanner monkey than I'll ever be. None of us knew much about T2s, other than we'd buy a bay window one as split screens were commanding big money. The van we ended up with came from Newport, and from the most genuine seller you could ever hope to meet. It had been in his family since the 80s but he was parting ways with it because he wasn't able to use it much and wanted it to be enjoyed rather than sat in his lockup. When he invited us into his house to sort the paperwork we were greeted with a VW camper doormat and pictures lining the walls of him on holiday in the van- it really was heart-wrenching. We bought the van on the promise that we'd keep in touch, and entered a different world of motoring than we'd ever experienced before.
The engine is the 1600cc single-carb variant, and although they're accused of being slow, once we'd set to and replaced the carb, dizzy, leads, plugs, filters and fluids, it was easily capable of a heady 55mph. We had intended to carry out a coolant flush, but we couldn't find the filler cap.. The driving experience on this old thing is something else. Getting it into gear has been described in a variety of ways ranging from 'fishing with a 100ft rod' to 'throwing a dart through the eye of a needle'. One thing it does better than anything else though is fun- something about it, when you're bouncing along on the oh-so-70s brown leather seats, makes you smile. I've never understood the hype around them, to be honest I still don't, but in a short space of time 'Bessie' has firmly entrenched herself into the family. Even the dog found her favourite spot.
We decided to enjoy the van for a while before setting to on any serious or structural work, and the first adventure I enjoyed was a small festival in Oxfordshire called Truck festival which I went to with the missus. The interior of the van can be reassembled into a crude rock-and-roll bed which turned out to be huge and comfy (there are also two hammocks in the pop-top roof but they're rather the opposite), although there isn't a leisure battery there is a 240V circuit which powers lights and sockets, a sink with working tap, and a gas hob with the bottle in the engine bay, although we may need to relocate this! With these features we were rather well set and enjoying ourselves, especially when the rain came and we were tucked up inside watching the tent-goers drown. That is, until... drip... drip... drip... Yep, we had a leak! Tactical deployment of plastic cups would see us through the worst of it.
Or so we thought... The SUMMER festival turned out to be a complete washout! The rain hardly relinquished all weekend and I spent a large majority of my time making trips backwards and forwards from the site to the camper to empty out what water had accumulated. What a grim weekend! But the festival was fantastic, I'd highly recommend it. And for the 5 minutes that the weather played ball, the van was stellar as a drying rack!
After the festival we headed straight off to Pembroke for a few days, where we got luckier with the weather. And regardless of any races I've won, any lap records I've set, no matter how many trophies I might accumulate from racing, I will always maintain until the day I die that my single greatest motoring achievement was only having to drop to 3rd once to climb the hills in Wales.
We concluded from the leakiness that the roof probably needed re-guttering, so that was added to a long job list which will keep us busy for many years to come. We took advantage of the summer to build a carport as storage and a bit of shelter when working on the cars... As god knows I'll never be short of work to do with these two around!
The next adventure planned for the camper is in May, when the Wisemen will be heading to the Daytona 24 hours for the second time. This year Bessie is going to be the official Wisemen-wagon, and by god it's going to be a lot more comfortable than last year- I can't wait! I know that a few on here are serious about karting, and I've seen Daytona mentioned before. If anybody is going along this year keep an eye out for us! Last year we went as the 8 Wisemen, and failed spectacularly at being competitive. It was a shame as 3 drivers amongst us were putting in mid-1:09s in the Sodis, which anyone who's been there may interpret as not being too shabby- but we hadn't assembled the team with a view to being fast, it was just a group of mates. This year we're going to make more of it, with two teams of Wisemen- it's still all mates, but split down the middle with the fastest drivers in one team and rearing to go! We'll still be competing in the Sodis though, because DMAX is taken a little too seriously- last year we all got pissed and then pounded round a track for 24 hours straight, meanwhile in DMAX world there were strategy meetings, penalties, breakdowns, even genuine tears! It's not for us, we're all a bunch of clowns. But fast ones! See you there.
Other stuff- ???
On a recent mission to acquire a car trailer, I was put in touch with an old family friend who apparently had one sitting around. It turns out that he used to race a Peugeot 306 in saloons championships across the country, though he'd never mentioned it and you wouldn't suspect it to look at him. I took to him remarkably quickly! The car trailer in question was hidden at the bottom of his garden under 3 years worth of undergrowth and nasty brambles and was rather lengthy to extricate. Once the foliage was partly cleared though, I could make out a familiar shape underneath a tarpaulin behind the trailer. The car was bought by him for his son to pass his driving test, and after a few years use had been taken apart to be modified. Like many of these projects, though, it hadn't seen completion and had been sat underneath this tarpaulin for nearly 6 years. He suggested to me that I should have a go at putting it all back together and getting it working again. Only the shell sits under the tarp with some components in the garage, though I'm not sure how much there is- or isn't. Personally I think it would make a great basis for a race car, if all the missing parts were replaced with better ones. I am spectacularly inept though, and I've got enough going on to keep me busy as it is, so I'm not sure whether to take it on. If and when I do, I'll be sure to post updates in this thread.
Watch this space...
Sorry for such a long post, updates I add will be far more succinct. Inevitably a TL;DR will be handy for some (most)-
TL;DR- short bloke does some stuff in mostly st cars
Evening all, and apologies for the immense data dump that is going to follow. I figured that I would start this thread as I now have three project cars on the go, each of which has it's own breed of following on PH and is probably deserving of a 'Readers Cars' entry, but updating various threads at once would probably grow tiring and be an atrocious waste of webspace (as I'm absolutely not competent and most things I write about will probably be trivial). I also realised that in truth (nearly) every car I've owned has had some interesting history or story behind it, so I may as well bring those stories forward. The finishing touch to a Readers Cars entry to me is context; it's well and good knowing that something exists, and that someone cherishes it in a certain way, but it's not quite complete without knowing why.
So, some context. Well, my name is Mike, I'm 22, and I love cars. As a kid I dreamt about owning a Dodge Viper, Lotus Esprit or TVR Cerbera; I also thought that the Ford Scorpio was the coolest looking thing on four wheels (true story). I was absolutely convinced that I was going to be a Formula One driver, and took up karting as soon as I could reach the pedals- it started at my local karting track, in an old hangar in Wroughton airfield. I went a few times to practice and then started the junior championship. I finished 5th in my first year before missing out on the title by a point the next year, and I was absolutely hooked. I started doing the junior championship at Castle Combe, which was bigger and better attended- meetings usually comprised of 30+ drivers, sometimes in excess of 40. I campaigned in that for several years, gradually climbing the order until I won the title in my last year of eligibility at the age of 15.
Yes, as a teenager I actually thought that hairstyle was cool. Of course these junior series' were meant as stepping stones onto bigger and better things, and as time went on couldn't help but notice disappearances from the grid who were moving on to race cars or 'big boy' karting. Inevitably it was those who had rich or committed parents who moved on, and I was never in a situation to do so. I was given a free ARKS test by Drivetech for winning the junior championship, and I managed to beg, borrow and steal occasional drives in Rotax or TKM karts whenever the opportunity presented itself, but it went no further. I was a kid, and my parents didn't have the time or money for me to do a season of full racing.
Once I was too old to carry on with the Junior series', I left motorsport entirely. I'd seen too many people move on who had little talent but a lot of money, and truthfully I was embittered. Some of the drivers who I raced with in the Juniors are still racing today at a very competitive level, and it always brings a wry smile to turn on MotorsTV and see a name that I recognise as somebody who couldn't keep up with me if I had three wheels and a misfire, back in the day of course. But such is the way in motorsport, and I imagine it always will be. I still keep in touch with a lot of guys from karting, and some of them genuinely are the most talented drivers I'll ever have the good fortune to meet; capable of beating me, you, or pretty much anyone else round any circuit behind the wheel of just about anything. Now they're shop assistants, delivery drivers- one is an accountant. We still meet up occasionally and pay a pittance to rag some ropey four strokes around, and that's probably my greatest legacy from trying to 'make it' in motorsport; a great circle of very close friends. As for the rest of my 'legacy', that went in the loft ne'er to be seen again.
Once I'd realised that I wasn't actually going to be a Formula One driver, it was back to normality. I actually made a late start to driving, due to moving away when I was 17 to do an apprenticeship with Network Rail. I spent 9 months training in Portsmouth where I had no need to learn to drive, despite fervently wanting to. Doing the apprenticeship was the best decision of my life; I went from a demotivated immature kid doodling pictures of cars in the back of notebooks, to a fully qualified Overhead Line engineer, with no shortage of hard work in between. Once I'd returned home from the apprenticeship, I took a crash course of driving lessons and passed my test first time, 2 minors. This is when we get on to the real subject of this thread; cars...
The start- Peugeot 206, October 2013 - May 2014
My first car was shared between me and my sister, and it was a truly god-awful 1.1 Pug 206. The car had belonged to my grandparents and been passed through the family, given no shortage of hard time. It had close to 90k miles when I started driving it, none of them easy. The interior trim was falling off, it was consuming a coil pack every few months, and was generally a hateful POS. But of course I adored it, it was characterful, plucky, *insert s
tty first car stereotype here*. My commute was 70 miles of A road and motorway, and my best mate lived in North Walsham in deepest darkest Norfolk, so I regularly was taking it well out of it's depth. Like a lot of old small cars it seemed to be driven by some mystical force well beyond fuel and combustion, and if I show half the fighting spirit during the course of my life as that car I'll be a hero. On one eventful trip up into Norfolk it managed to consume an entire bottle of coolant within an hour before overheating spectacularly in Northampton. I ran into the services and bought a few bottles of water, in they went and off we shot again. Did it make it? Of course! I was put on training in Walsall for a couple of weeks and covered 400 miles, and on the way home I had just about got it into the drive when- *CLANG* - the entire exhaust assembly fell off, from downpipe to backbox. 10 yards from my front door. I'm sure many more misadventures would have been had, but unfortunately in May 2014 I was subject to my first- and so far only- car accident, when I was rear-ended on the way home from work. The poor Pug was twisted up like a pretzel, RIP. Below it's at it's most useful, as a leaning post for a faster, more valuable and more comfortable alternative.Brand new! - Ford Fiesta, June 2014 - December 2016
Okay, 206 and Fiesta, so far it's not exactly a thrill ride, but bear with. I was only 18 when I'd had my accident, and a combination of the shock factor, the increased insurance (no it wasn't my fault, but insurance companies are b
ds) and my annual mileage, caused my parents to bring down the tirade of sensibleness. Knowing that I wasn't to be trusted with free reign to buy a car, they decreed that I must have something new, safe, and reliable (boring, boring, boring)- else I would be banished from the family with immediate effect. I was very fortunate in that they said they would cover half the costs for a newer car, on the condition that the car would belong to them if and when I bought something else. Collectively we'd all been really impressed with the new Fiesta that the insurance company had given me as a hire car and decided that it was pretty much perfect. As a penniless apprentice I couldn't stretch to half the cost of a new one, but I was able to find enough to get into this- up for sale for £7k, being a 2012 it was the last of the pre-facelift models, and with 12k miles on it, for me it really was brand new.What followed was 40,000 miles of dull, boring efficiency and reliability. Not that I'm knocking the Fiesta, it was a truly superb car and saw me through some of the most memorable years of my life, and I really did develop a strong affinity for it. But being such a good car, also means that it's provided little in the way of anecdotes or PH-worthy memories. What I can say for it is that the hype around the chassis on Ford's small cars is absolutely justified- it was eminently chuckable, with grip for days, little in the way of body roll, and proper genuine steering feedback. It was comfortable, fun to drive, but sadly with a little 1.25 litre engine it was really found wanting for power on big open A roads. Looked wikked wit dem alloys wot I put on it doe innit.
The shortage of horsepower was to be remedied though....
Enter the beast- TVR Chimaera, August 2016 - present
I always knew I'd own a TVR. It was a fact, like saying that the sky is blue, or that Porsches are for girls and balding middle aged men. I've been totally in love with the brand ever since I was a kid and Jeremy Clarkson proved, absolutely without question, that even a standard 4.2 Cerbera was faster than anything else on four wheels. *ahem*, without question.... What I didn't know was that I would be buying into the brand at the age of 20 with absolutely no specific knowledge, and very little general knowledge, to go on. I'd set out to buy a sports car with a largely open mind; it had to be RWD, light and fun. I didn't know if I was going to buy it as a second car or drive it daily, that largely depended on what I bought. I hadn't even considered a TVR- I'd always kept an eye on the market, but that was for later in life, when I was older and had more money. At the time the standard fare to buy a Chimaera and drive it away without having a lot of work to do was upwards of £10k, approaching £15k. I ended up landing mine for £6500. Was I an opportunist? A keen-eyed bargain hunter with an ear to the ground and a finger on the beating pulse of the market? No, I was a f
king idiot. The car came up for sale close by, and I went to have a look purely for the sake of it. It would be a reference point for later in life when I was buying for real, I told myself. The reference it gave me was that any other car in the country would be in a better state than this. The interior was in pieces, the chassis rotten, it had a stonking great carburettor on it for some reason. But once that big V8 grumbled into life my blood went cold. I had to have it. And I did. I've written plenty on here about the TVR, including a thread I started a year ago covering most of the work it's needed- that's linked to in my profile if you want to read further about it, I won't waste the bandwidth here as there is a lot of material...One thing I can say is that it's been a learning experience. I pledged to myself that as far as reasonably possible, I would work on the car myself and so far that's rung true. It's been slow, painful going, but I can happily look at the car now and say that it's a far better machine than it was 18 months ago. I'm still cack-handed and clueless as far as spannering goes, but I can confidently say that I will size up jobs that I would previously have said 'no chance' to, and throw myself into them. As it turned out the experience wouldn't just be valuable for the TVR..! The most positive thing about buying a rubbish Chimaera though, was that I was able to take it on track.
Apart from the odd race in the old four stroke karts back at Castle Combe or Swindon Karting, I'd left motorsport well alone for years. I had maybe half an hours worth of experience driving cars on circuits, and the idea of taking the TVR on track really reignited that fire that I'd had when I was younger; it got me excited again. However, I made a big mistake in booking my first track day at Castle Combe. I hadn't reached the edge of the envelope driving the car before, and with no idea of how it handled on the limit (and it's fearsome reputation for being a bit murdery) in my mind it was still the 'big bad TVR', and quite frankly around Combe, which is definitely big and bad, I was s
tting bricks! The imposing barriers and question marks over the handling of the car meant that I never got outside of my comfort zone. I had a fantastic day, but ultimately learnt very little about how to really push on a circuit. I also met some great people, which as it turn out would come in handy for mid-session when the water pump belt let go.. An unceremonious moment captured on camera.That's one of the best things about TVR, the sense of community. I've met some fantastic people and made some good friends since owning my car, kudos to each and every one of you.
Last month, I had another go at a track day in the TVR, and this time I got it right- I went to Abingdon, a nice open airfield track, and the lack of solid objects to crash into felt like absolute freedom. I pushed the car as hard as it would go, and I learnt how docile the car is on the limit. It's a big pussycat! It handled superbly, and has really inspired me to do more track days and become a better driver. First step is track tyres, which will be coming soon. Then it's more airfield days, Abingdon and Lyneham, until it becomes second nature and I can face up to bona fide circuits with confidence to push hard. If I can get on top of the car, the idea of taking the TVR around Combe, which is an immense track, at ten tenths is pure ecstasy.
In terms of long term plans for the car, I'd love to eventually do a body-off restoration. Retrim the interior, replace all the electrics, rebuild the engine, apply a long and extensive mod list, and turn it into a proper road car. I see a lot of potential for the car to be a glorious grand tourer, something to tackle all roads and all journeys with a massive grin factor. Currently all work I do to it is outside in the elements, with no lift, a small amount of tools, and little in the way of time to take on larger tasks. One day I hope to have a garage large enough to turn into a workshop within which I can complete such a restoration in my own time and with proper tools. For now, it's difficult to make much progress, and where the car is at it's better suited to being a track car. This isn't exactly an interior to cross Europe in...
That's part of the long-term plan, to turn this tired old beast into a TVR to be proud of, with a cosy garage to call home. But why would I want to stop taking the TVR on track days? Well, because that plan involves buying a race car of course... But hopefully you'll be hearing more about that further into this thread!
This is where real credit goes to the humble Fiesta, because amongst all the tumultuous ups and downs of TVR ownership my daily driver was a sedate and sensible steed which I could always rely on not to put a foot wrong. That all changed the day my workmate came blasting into the office and declared, 'My s
t old car is broken, does anyone want to buy it?'Bangernomics- Volkswagen Golf GTI, December 2016 - December 2017
'You t
t, you've stuck a GTI badge on it''It is a GTI!'
'By what measure of mankind is that a GTI?'
'Got a tartan interior'
'Has it? Are the windows meant to be opaque?'
'Oh yeah, umm, it's got a small leak'
A small leak that I discovered on the way home when I hit the brakes and a torrent of fetid water poured from the sunroof panel down the back of my shirt. I'd just left my mate's house £50 lighter having jump started the long-dead Golf into life, and I was already wondering what the hell I was doing. Selecting gears was a two-man operation, the level of steering input required to keep the car straight was varying wildly from 45 through 90 degrees clockwise, and the whole car pitched wildly if I had the audacity to attempt a braking or steering input.
So this was my new daily driver. Despite it's faults, I was feeling rather pleased with myself. Here I was, in a working driving car, for £50 and a jump start. My smugness lasted all of a day, when I set out the next morning with the intention of driving it to work and it was completely dead. I figured that the battery must be knackered, so I jump started it again and let it run for a while to clear the plentiful condensation, then headed off. I must have made it all of 100 yards before the entire car died and I coasted to an embarrassing stop- no juice even to put the hazards on as I pushed it back home. It turned out that the alternator was knackered, which should have been a simple enough job- order part from breakers, lovely and cheap, fit it, 20 minute job. It wasn't. The auxiliary belt tensioner was locked completely solid and it took a spanner, breaker bar and two grown men jumping up and down until they were red in the face before we were able to release the belt. Once we got the job done the car was finally able to sustain itself for more than 20 minutes- but it did beg the question, of how the hell did I manage to get it the 35 miles home the day I bought it? I can only assume that the car had run out of electricity after a few miles and was running on only that very same mystical banger force that my old Peugeot was blessed with. Once the car was running I handed the Fiesta over to my sister who was car-less after having an accident, and the below picture (taken when she came home to pick it up, by this point the Fiesta hadn't moved for 3 months) is quite poignant to me- one of the bangiest bangers ever to exist giving the kiss of life to the car which had been integral to my life for so long.
I have to confess to growing very fond of the Golf, as were my shift team who I gave lifts into work. It had a hilarious combination of faults; a broken glovebox latch which meant it could only be opened or closed by reaching into the aperture and fumbling around for the remains of the lever in much the same manner as a man usually fumbles around blindly whilst attempting to please a ladyfriend, an interior dome light which would work perfectly one day and then the next would refuse to show any signs of life until the left indicator was turned on, or the offside rear window was fully lowered, at which point it would burst into brilliance and refuse to be turned off. Probably the most noticeable defect was the exhaust which had been battered into the floorpan of the car, causing an intolerable amount of noise and vibration. From within the car, cold starts were significantly louder than the TVR. Once running, the car would revert to be being refined and normal, until a speed of precisely 66mph was reached, at which point the entire centre console would start to vibrate and the radio head unit would gradually disappear into the dashboard- not that it mattered, as any music was drowned out by the most incredible droning noise which I estimate to have been in excess of 200 decibels. It was a hilarious and infectious car, capable of reducing even the most stony faced passengers to stitches, and it earned the moniker 'The Battlebox'.
Somehow this car just kept on going. I gave it a minute amount of attention and mechanical sympathy (although I did go to the lengths of servicing it with Halfords finest collection of oils and lubricants), and in effect I was just waiting for it to die so that I could move onto a proper car and turn the whole saga into something I could look back on and laugh, but it stubbornly refused. It became king of the local tip run, the capacity of the trailer second to the amount of s
t that I managed to fit in the cabin, it proved itself capable of performing handbrake turns that would make Russ Swift weep, and most importantly it was team transport and my home for 24 hours (due to an airbed that didn't hold air..) during the Daytona Milton Keynes 24 hour karting event.In truth, although I should have enjoyed and gone to efforts to prolong my £50 motoring experience, I never stopped shopping around for cars. Owning this car was purely a matter of circumstance, an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I didn't want it. The fuel consumption was grating on my commute, and when due to a change in location it became mostly motorway miles, the novelty of the daily deafening soon wore thin. I could have bought some parts and spent some time fixing the faults, but I would be left with a car that I didn't want to be driving anyway, except now the endearing factors would all be gone- it just wasn't worth it. I was waiting for an excuse, and the car gave me one on a rainy day in Swansea. My girlfriend had moved there for university, and the Battlebox had done a decent job of carting me up and down the M4, when one day whilst pottering around the Gower the low coolant light came on. I was pretty well used to this as the Golf had mystery disappearing coolant syndrome, so I figured I would just pull over at some point and fill it up. It was when we saw the first wisps of steam that we knew it was a bit worse than that... One of the coolant union joints had sprung a leak, right at the back of the engine bay by the firewall- in the least accessible place. When I attempted to get the hose clips off, to get the joint out so that I could attempt a temporary fix and get a part number, the entire assembly shattered. Train home for me then.
I managed to arrange to get to Swansea and get the car home a couple of days later, and it almost brought a tear to my eye to see it sat in the car park forlornly, untouched and abandoned in the same spot. I managed to get hold of the right part for it, and fitted it in situ, which whilst awkward was rewarded with an uneventful journey home. I couldn't shake the memory of how easily that coolant joint had shattered though, and it struck me with paranoia- for all I knew, all of the auxiliary components in the car were the same age and feeling just as brittle. Did I really want to be spending the time doing this for the sake of keeping such a s
t car going? It wasn't for me. I started going to look at cars for sale with a genuine intent on buying, and last month I won an ebay auction which rung the death knell for my Battlebox experience. I spent some time cleaning the car up, really lavished some proper attention on it, before putting it on a facebook 'for sale' page to get shot quickly. I got a message from someone who said they could be round in 10 minutes, and they did a bank transfer there and then for £350, insured and taxed the car on their phone and drove it away. I didn't anticipate how upset I would be to see the car go, and when I surveyed it for the last time in all it's magnificence, positively beaming having had it's first TLC for years, it looked a million quid.That was my first experience of selling a car, and it went remarkably smoothly. The bloke turned up straight away, paid the full price and it was gone.
Premium shedding- Alfa Romeo GT, December 2017 - present
I knew I had to own something at least moderately interesting. There are so many cars that as a kid I thought were awesome, that are available for absolute pennies- just look at the price you pay now for a mk1 Audi TT, Mazda RX-8, or Mitsubishi GTO. Cars that wouldn't have looked out of place on my bedroom wall fifteen years ago, all available for less money than my first insurance premium. There was really no excuse for me not to buy something cool. In fact I was dangerously close to taking home a mk2 MR-2 at one point when I realised- I've got a TVR for having fun with and whatever I buy now is going to have to soak up hundreds of miles a week, and be my main transporter of people and luggage. It was really no place for a mid-engined 2-seater. I was looking at Alfa GTVs when I discovered that the 1.9 diesel lump had found it's place in the GT, and it seemed to be a compelling prospect.
I went to look at a few GTs at dealers, and the condition and price varied hugely. Depending what I found I was either going to go full shed mode for ~£1k or if something more expensive jumped out at me I was open to the car being a keeper. They all had a few things in common though- gorgeous interiors, room for 5 and a capacious boot. It was ticking all the practicality boxes but with just enough lovely styling and Italian flair to qualify for the 'want' factor. The GT actually never jumped out at me when they were new, I didn't even find them particularly good looking, but the design has aged really well and they look better now than ever IMO. I was browsing eBay when I noticed one, with a massive pile of history and receipts, 109k miles, and a good spec, in an auction which hadn't even surpassed £1000- and a day to go! I didn't have time to go and see it, and that should have told me not to bother, but with blind optimism and blissful stupidity I decided to throw my hat in the ring for this absolute unknown quantity.
The next day was a myriad of frantic phone calls and no small anxiety. I don't actually have an eBay account, and barely understand how the system works, so I'd placed my faith in a mate who was bidding on my behalf. Come the end of the auction, the car sold for £1550- to someone. I could almost hear the guilt in my mate's voice when he rang me and declared, 'It's yours. And the seller wants it picked up within 48 hours. From Loughborough.' f
k. I was working solidly that week, the car was located nowhere near any bus or train station, and Loughborough suddenly seemed so very far away. A short grovel later and I managed to arrange a lift from a very cynical stepfather, and the next day I conveniently woke up with a terrible illness. Once we got there, the 'dealer' delighted in taking me for a short blast up and down the road where he attempted to prove to me how fast the Alfa was, changing gear with more speed than any sequential gearbox ever dreamt of, and buzzing the redline in every gear. He was a nice enough bloke though, and to his credit he'd kept together an impeccable history file, with recent receipts for new turbo, master cylinder, wishbones and various other things. Bar a broken door handle the car was also absolutely pristine, and inside and out it was as clean as the day it left the factory. I'd like to think that I would have snapped his hand off for £1550, regardless of the fact that technically I'd already bought it the previous day.I'm now a month in with my eBay mystery buy, and to be honest I'm waiting for the fall as it has exceeded my expectations in absolutely every way. Within it's 900 miles covered so far it's undertaken a trip to Swansea and also to Birmingham and back for the Autosport show, and it's been brilliant. Sink into the leather, set the cruise control, and arrive at your destination no worse for wear. I have to confess that it feels so tight and drives and behaves so well that I've not yet even got underneath it to fully inspect it- I know, shame on me. Everything on the car works as it should, which of course isn't right, so I decided to have a go at breaking something.
Unfortunately the Alfa fell short of my requirements in only one department- music. I have a huge collection of music on my phone which is a mandatory requirement to making mundane driving that bit more tolerable, and although the Alfa stereo had a half-decent radio and accepted CDs, this was not enough. So it was time for the Sony USB/Bluetooth head unit that has found it's place in every car I've ever owned, bar the Fiesta which already had a USB input and the TVR which makes its own music. This head unit with adapter has been a plug-and-play job for every car before, so lazily I pulled out the standard Blaupunkt unit and plugged in the Sony, expecting to be met by the sweet tones of The Fratellis, Pink Floyd and an embarrassingly large amount of Slade. It was not so. Closer inspection revealed that- shock horror- the head unit wiring for the GT was completely different from the usual ISO harness, and I'd have to cut, splice and crimp if I wanted Noddy Holder to appear through my speakers. Apparently I'm qualified as a sparky, but my single biggest fear in life is electronics on cars. They terrify me- I don't know why, but something about tearing open a dashboard and unleashing wire cutters underneath turns me into a gibbering mess. Tentatively I drew up a wiring diagram and forced myself to make the first cut into the Alfa's harness, the point of no return after which the job would have to be completed. I delicately stole a 12V feed from the cigarette lighter, and modified the harness in such a way that it would also accommodate inputs from the steering wheel controls, and miraculously it all worked!
The look was completed with a single-DIN fascia adapter to suit the console, and now the Sony head unit looks quite at home in there- I wouldn't be without it. So far that's about the only bodgery I've done on the GT, although I'm sure that will all change so watch this space to see more gormless moron struggling to complete simple tasks. All in all, I'm delighted with the GT and I think I chose the perfect car for my requirements. It'll do 60mpg on a cruise, is supremely comfortable and surprisingly spacious, and the handling is really rather sharp. My only complaint so far is a heavy clutch, but I do so little town driving that it hasn't particularly bothered me. Updates to come I'm sure!
Other stuff- 1976 VW bay window camper, June 2017 - present
My stepdad had a funny turn last year and decided that the thing we all needed in our lives was a T2 VW Camper. I'd recently moved into an annexe next to my parents after renting my house out, and he bought it with a view to us completing a restoration together- for the benefit largely of my little brother, who at the age of 16 is a better spanner monkey than I'll ever be. None of us knew much about T2s, other than we'd buy a bay window one as split screens were commanding big money. The van we ended up with came from Newport, and from the most genuine seller you could ever hope to meet. It had been in his family since the 80s but he was parting ways with it because he wasn't able to use it much and wanted it to be enjoyed rather than sat in his lockup. When he invited us into his house to sort the paperwork we were greeted with a VW camper doormat and pictures lining the walls of him on holiday in the van- it really was heart-wrenching. We bought the van on the promise that we'd keep in touch, and entered a different world of motoring than we'd ever experienced before.
The engine is the 1600cc single-carb variant, and although they're accused of being slow, once we'd set to and replaced the carb, dizzy, leads, plugs, filters and fluids, it was easily capable of a heady 55mph. We had intended to carry out a coolant flush, but we couldn't find the filler cap.. The driving experience on this old thing is something else. Getting it into gear has been described in a variety of ways ranging from 'fishing with a 100ft rod' to 'throwing a dart through the eye of a needle'. One thing it does better than anything else though is fun- something about it, when you're bouncing along on the oh-so-70s brown leather seats, makes you smile. I've never understood the hype around them, to be honest I still don't, but in a short space of time 'Bessie' has firmly entrenched herself into the family. Even the dog found her favourite spot.
We decided to enjoy the van for a while before setting to on any serious or structural work, and the first adventure I enjoyed was a small festival in Oxfordshire called Truck festival which I went to with the missus. The interior of the van can be reassembled into a crude rock-and-roll bed which turned out to be huge and comfy (there are also two hammocks in the pop-top roof but they're rather the opposite), although there isn't a leisure battery there is a 240V circuit which powers lights and sockets, a sink with working tap, and a gas hob with the bottle in the engine bay, although we may need to relocate this! With these features we were rather well set and enjoying ourselves, especially when the rain came and we were tucked up inside watching the tent-goers drown. That is, until... drip... drip... drip... Yep, we had a leak! Tactical deployment of plastic cups would see us through the worst of it.
Or so we thought... The SUMMER festival turned out to be a complete washout! The rain hardly relinquished all weekend and I spent a large majority of my time making trips backwards and forwards from the site to the camper to empty out what water had accumulated. What a grim weekend! But the festival was fantastic, I'd highly recommend it. And for the 5 minutes that the weather played ball, the van was stellar as a drying rack!
After the festival we headed straight off to Pembroke for a few days, where we got luckier with the weather. And regardless of any races I've won, any lap records I've set, no matter how many trophies I might accumulate from racing, I will always maintain until the day I die that my single greatest motoring achievement was only having to drop to 3rd once to climb the hills in Wales.
We concluded from the leakiness that the roof probably needed re-guttering, so that was added to a long job list which will keep us busy for many years to come. We took advantage of the summer to build a carport as storage and a bit of shelter when working on the cars... As god knows I'll never be short of work to do with these two around!
The next adventure planned for the camper is in May, when the Wisemen will be heading to the Daytona 24 hours for the second time. This year Bessie is going to be the official Wisemen-wagon, and by god it's going to be a lot more comfortable than last year- I can't wait! I know that a few on here are serious about karting, and I've seen Daytona mentioned before. If anybody is going along this year keep an eye out for us! Last year we went as the 8 Wisemen, and failed spectacularly at being competitive. It was a shame as 3 drivers amongst us were putting in mid-1:09s in the Sodis, which anyone who's been there may interpret as not being too shabby- but we hadn't assembled the team with a view to being fast, it was just a group of mates. This year we're going to make more of it, with two teams of Wisemen- it's still all mates, but split down the middle with the fastest drivers in one team and rearing to go! We'll still be competing in the Sodis though, because DMAX is taken a little too seriously- last year we all got pissed and then pounded round a track for 24 hours straight, meanwhile in DMAX world there were strategy meetings, penalties, breakdowns, even genuine tears! It's not for us, we're all a bunch of clowns. But fast ones! See you there.
Other stuff- ???
On a recent mission to acquire a car trailer, I was put in touch with an old family friend who apparently had one sitting around. It turns out that he used to race a Peugeot 306 in saloons championships across the country, though he'd never mentioned it and you wouldn't suspect it to look at him. I took to him remarkably quickly! The car trailer in question was hidden at the bottom of his garden under 3 years worth of undergrowth and nasty brambles and was rather lengthy to extricate. Once the foliage was partly cleared though, I could make out a familiar shape underneath a tarpaulin behind the trailer. The car was bought by him for his son to pass his driving test, and after a few years use had been taken apart to be modified. Like many of these projects, though, it hadn't seen completion and had been sat underneath this tarpaulin for nearly 6 years. He suggested to me that I should have a go at putting it all back together and getting it working again. Only the shell sits under the tarp with some components in the garage, though I'm not sure how much there is- or isn't. Personally I think it would make a great basis for a race car, if all the missing parts were replaced with better ones. I am spectacularly inept though, and I've got enough going on to keep me busy as it is, so I'm not sure whether to take it on. If and when I do, I'll be sure to post updates in this thread.
Watch this space...
Sorry for such a long post, updates I add will be far more succinct. Inevitably a TL;DR will be handy for some (most)-
TL;DR- short bloke does some stuff in mostly s
t carsEdited by CanoeSniffer on Saturday 6th October 09:37
Edited by andy.mod on Saturday 18th May 20:17
Edited by CanoeSniffer on Tuesday 21st May 20:52
Small update- took the TVR to Central in Birmingham yesterday to get some work done. Clue is in the picture as to what’s getting done!
Decided to enjoy a roof down run up there, considering that the car has been sat under a cover and only moved a couple of times in the last few weeks it fired right up, ran superbly and was a real event to drive as always. Constantly checking the mirrors to see if there is a Spitfire following me, my favourite thing about having the roof off
Took away a courtesy car to get home, this is the 1.8t vector sport thingy and is quite nice by all accounts, but at 35mpg anything more than a run down the road and I’ll still drive the Alfa.
Speaking of which, I ordered a new hinge to sort out the door handle which is bugging me. It’s a door card, window, latches off job and is apparently a bit of a grim one to do so I’ve got that to look forward to! For a tenner off eBay though it’s well worth it.
Camper is still in winter hibernation and I have no updates to bring on the tarpaulin mystery car unfortunately, that’ll probably wait until me and the stepdad have some concurrent time off work. Cheers for reading!
Decided to enjoy a roof down run up there, considering that the car has been sat under a cover and only moved a couple of times in the last few weeks it fired right up, ran superbly and was a real event to drive as always. Constantly checking the mirrors to see if there is a Spitfire following me, my favourite thing about having the roof off
Took away a courtesy car to get home, this is the 1.8t vector sport thingy and is quite nice by all accounts, but at 35mpg anything more than a run down the road and I’ll still drive the Alfa.
Speaking of which, I ordered a new hinge to sort out the door handle which is bugging me. It’s a door card, window, latches off job and is apparently a bit of a grim one to do so I’ve got that to look forward to! For a tenner off eBay though it’s well worth it.
Camper is still in winter hibernation and I have no updates to bring on the tarpaulin mystery car unfortunately, that’ll probably wait until me and the stepdad have some concurrent time off work. Cheers for reading!
Edited by CanoeSniffer on Saturday 20th January 15:41
Butter Face said:
Some interesting choices there for sure?!
a result of being irresponsible, enthusiastic and compulsive!Prinny said:
I agree on the claim to fame of only dropping to 3rd once in the Welsh hills. 
Best of luck at the 24h.
It was a choice between that or the one time I managed to nail the double declutch from 3rd to 2nd and avoid the signature crunch, or completed an entire journey without missing 1st once.. Basically every gear change is a minor achievement!Best of luck at the 24h.
Thank you
Mr Tidy said:
I had a V8 at 20, but it was in a P6 Rover, which isn't quite the same! 
Ooh I'd love a P6! Might miss the performance of the TVR though... But that lovely RV8 burble 
CountZero23 said:
Especially the brave/foolhardy purchase of the 6.5k Chim. Bottled getting one a few years back and still rather regret it.
If you're ever in a position to do so again, it really is an experience not to be missed. Mine has been surprisingly reliable despite being a complete dog in so many ways!DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.
Cheaper than the Alfa, work that one out 
To be fair it was only classic insurance that made it possible, through Admiral though rather than a specialist insurer, who all rejected me for some reason! Had a very entertaining phone call with one of the specialists-
'well yes we do classic policies for young drivers! It's important to us to make classic motoring accessible..'
'sorry, on what car?'
- beep*
If he gets the bug then there's no way he can be discouraged
The Alfa actually feels very well screwed together, as though it could have been built yesterday, dead impressed. Although it's not exactly peak Alfa, that would be something older with the Busso V6
Discovered today that daily driving an old Alfa has definitely made me paranoid. It was another weekend, another trip to Swansea, another faultless 70mph/60mpg run from the GT. I was taking advantage of the cruise control to emanate Dave Grohl’s footwork on the chorus of Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’ and managed to send all of the dust I’d left in the carpet from last weeks worksite airborne, mistaking it for electrical smoke I was halfway onto the hard shoulder before I realised it was only the result of being overzealous with my imaginary kickdrum. D’oh!
The door handle hinge has arrived, but I’ve not had a chance to fit it yet due to annoying stuff like life commitments and work, and probably won’t get the time before this weekend when I’m off to Pembroke with the other half.
Considering I live in Swindon, why do I seem to spend all my time in Wales?
The door handle hinge has arrived, but I’ve not had a chance to fit it yet due to annoying stuff like life commitments and work, and probably won’t get the time before this weekend when I’m off to Pembroke with the other half.
Considering I live in Swindon, why do I seem to spend all my time in Wales?
Sorry this update has been a little while coming.
So the TVR got a new roof which was long overdue, the old roof was tired ever since I bought it and I’ve been driving around for 8 months with a big hole in the rear window which had gotten brittle over time and eventually screamed enough (very common on Chims/Griffs). The roof was done at Central TVR up in Brummie land and the worksmanship is superb, my car now has a lid that it doesn’t deserve
It was completed just in time, as Dan who runs the Queens Square Breakfast Club in Bristol got in touch- he’d been lent an Aston Martin V8 Vantage AMR for the day and wanted to juxtapose it against some old school muscle cars. It gave us all a warm fuzzy feeling to know that in this day and age you can still get hold of a thumping great V8, RWD manual transmission supercar and the Chim was a good fit for this criteria.
For those who don’t know about it, the Queens Square Breakfast Club is probably the most exotic and eclectic informally organised car meet in the South West, I couldn’t possibly list all the incredible cars and owners I’ve met there but to give you an idea Ferraris and Lamborghinis are often there in numbers, along with assorted awesomeness such as Cobras, Chargers and recently a Bristol Fighter!!! Dan is the man who puts it together these days, and has dedicated his spare time between meets to driving and reviewing some of the most exciting new cars- that he was lent an Aston for the day in order to do a feature is testament to his hard work and enthusiasm, he’s a proper petrolhead and it was a privilege to spend the day with him. We were joined by the lovely Jay with his lovely Tuscan (producing a genuine 400bhp!), and the wonderfully charismatic Mark with his even more charismatic ‘70 Camaro.
We drove in convoy to the Old Down Country Park for a coffee and photoshoot- you don’t often feel like a shrinking violet driving a TVR, but this was some company! I was in awe of all three cars, but I have to say that the Camaro was absolutely magnificent. Dan’s write up of the Aston and his summary of the days events can be found on the Queens Square Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BristolBreakfastClub/
There you can find the pictures from the shoot, and also under the ‘videos’ tab a live video where we start the cars. I promise it’s not to be missed! The Camaro was on hand to provide the comic relief, deciding not to play ball initially before rudely inturrepting Dan’s coverage of the Aston- obviously the old Chevy had different ideas as to which car was the star of the feature!
I’d barely got home from Bristol when it was off to Pembroke for a short break with the missus. The Alfa was superb yet again, swallowing luggage for 2 for a week with ease and escorting us to deepest darkest Wales with effortless comfort. In fact it’d proved such a utilitarian and practical thing that I hadn’t even given the fantastic twisty roads of Pembrokeshire a second thought, but it really came alive- if I was to choose any car with which to take on the undulating B roads of Wales, a FWD tintop with a big heavy diesel lump up front would have been bottom of my list, but the Alfa was a real pleasure to drive, handling beautifully and making for some great fun. I may be working my way towards breaking the first rule of shedding- falling in love with the shed....
So the TVR got a new roof which was long overdue, the old roof was tired ever since I bought it and I’ve been driving around for 8 months with a big hole in the rear window which had gotten brittle over time and eventually screamed enough (very common on Chims/Griffs). The roof was done at Central TVR up in Brummie land and the worksmanship is superb, my car now has a lid that it doesn’t deserve
It was completed just in time, as Dan who runs the Queens Square Breakfast Club in Bristol got in touch- he’d been lent an Aston Martin V8 Vantage AMR for the day and wanted to juxtapose it against some old school muscle cars. It gave us all a warm fuzzy feeling to know that in this day and age you can still get hold of a thumping great V8, RWD manual transmission supercar and the Chim was a good fit for this criteria.
For those who don’t know about it, the Queens Square Breakfast Club is probably the most exotic and eclectic informally organised car meet in the South West, I couldn’t possibly list all the incredible cars and owners I’ve met there but to give you an idea Ferraris and Lamborghinis are often there in numbers, along with assorted awesomeness such as Cobras, Chargers and recently a Bristol Fighter!!! Dan is the man who puts it together these days, and has dedicated his spare time between meets to driving and reviewing some of the most exciting new cars- that he was lent an Aston for the day in order to do a feature is testament to his hard work and enthusiasm, he’s a proper petrolhead and it was a privilege to spend the day with him. We were joined by the lovely Jay with his lovely Tuscan (producing a genuine 400bhp!), and the wonderfully charismatic Mark with his even more charismatic ‘70 Camaro.
We drove in convoy to the Old Down Country Park for a coffee and photoshoot- you don’t often feel like a shrinking violet driving a TVR, but this was some company! I was in awe of all three cars, but I have to say that the Camaro was absolutely magnificent. Dan’s write up of the Aston and his summary of the days events can be found on the Queens Square Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BristolBreakfastClub/
There you can find the pictures from the shoot, and also under the ‘videos’ tab a live video where we start the cars. I promise it’s not to be missed! The Camaro was on hand to provide the comic relief, deciding not to play ball initially before rudely inturrepting Dan’s coverage of the Aston- obviously the old Chevy had different ideas as to which car was the star of the feature!
I’d barely got home from Bristol when it was off to Pembroke for a short break with the missus. The Alfa was superb yet again, swallowing luggage for 2 for a week with ease and escorting us to deepest darkest Wales with effortless comfort. In fact it’d proved such a utilitarian and practical thing that I hadn’t even given the fantastic twisty roads of Pembrokeshire a second thought, but it really came alive- if I was to choose any car with which to take on the undulating B roads of Wales, a FWD tintop with a big heavy diesel lump up front would have been bottom of my list, but the Alfa was a real pleasure to drive, handling beautifully and making for some great fun. I may be working my way towards breaking the first rule of shedding- falling in love with the shed....
Paul S4 said:
Well done on the Alfa GT, especially with the JTD 1.9.
I am on my second Alfa 156, first was a 1.8 pre-facelift with a nice stainless exhaust...then my current 156 1.9 JTDM 150 ( in same colour as yours I think translates as moonbeam metallic blue IIRC), bought with 65,000 on it, had it remapped to 180BHP at about 90,000 and it now has 152,000. I am sure that you know the GT is the same as the 156 underneath, so it needs a 4 wheel alignment to get it to handle as Alfa intended ! I thought I knew 156s, but I was caught out with the rear damper seating cups ( can't remember the correct term !) that corrode because the drain holes get blocked up, then the damper breaks off and shreds the rear tyre...So best have a look on yours !
I may be tempted by a GT, with the practicality etc, but I just love the 156 design, especially the facelift front. I have just put some LED low beam bulbs in mine...I am sure you have discovered that the headlights on these cars ( 156 anyway) are poor.
I also have an aftermarket head unit but not yet sorted out the extra wiring for the wheel controls, although I have the patch leads etc.
I like your TVR... a mate had a 2.9 S that I borrowed for a while to get all the 'issues' sorted out at the TVR specialist in Hexham: after a few visits to them the bill totalled about £4K !!! But the car was great after that! I cannot imagine what yours is like to drive : I was getting wheelspin in 3rd in the wet and that was only the 2.9 Ford engine !!
Thank you, and cheers for the suspension advice, I'll be sure to have a look. Encouragingly the GT I took home is the only one of several I've driven not to suffer from 'that' rear suspension knock. Alignment is on the to do list.I am on my second Alfa 156, first was a 1.8 pre-facelift with a nice stainless exhaust...then my current 156 1.9 JTDM 150 ( in same colour as yours I think translates as moonbeam metallic blue IIRC), bought with 65,000 on it, had it remapped to 180BHP at about 90,000 and it now has 152,000. I am sure that you know the GT is the same as the 156 underneath, so it needs a 4 wheel alignment to get it to handle as Alfa intended ! I thought I knew 156s, but I was caught out with the rear damper seating cups ( can't remember the correct term !) that corrode because the drain holes get blocked up, then the damper breaks off and shreds the rear tyre...So best have a look on yours !
I may be tempted by a GT, with the practicality etc, but I just love the 156 design, especially the facelift front. I have just put some LED low beam bulbs in mine...I am sure you have discovered that the headlights on these cars ( 156 anyway) are poor.
I also have an aftermarket head unit but not yet sorted out the extra wiring for the wheel controls, although I have the patch leads etc.
I like your TVR... a mate had a 2.9 S that I borrowed for a while to get all the 'issues' sorted out at the TVR specialist in Hexham: after a few visits to them the bill totalled about £4K !!! But the car was great after that! I cannot imagine what yours is like to drive : I was getting wheelspin in 3rd in the wet and that was only the 2.9 Ford engine !!
Mmm 156s... If I needed the extra doors then I think the only thing that would tempt me away from a 156 would be the 159, both beautiful cars in design. I imagine yours looks fantastic in the blue, it's a lovely colour. My steering wheel controls have started playing silly buggers recently so it's back to the drawing board for me. Headlights were my first fix, my experience was that dipped beam was akin to navigating by candlelight but the full beam illuminated all it witnessed with the power of a thousand suns- in any case I changed the bulbs for some brighter jobbies which has improved things. Bloody pig of a job though, it's easier changing bulbs in the TVR and that involves lying on the ground reaching up through the grille!
TVR ownership can be a baptism of fire sometimes, but I find that it is what you make of it- if you can live with imperfections and your own handiwork then they can actually cost a reasonable amount to run, but specialists can and do charge a hefty premium which many see as being well worth it for a properly sorted one. I'm not sure what the tyre sizes are for the S series but I'm sure it will have played a part- most older TVRs seem to have relatively skinny tyres relative to power output (or more appropriately torque). Mine is on 225 section rears which is space saver width compared to modern cars- but of course it's all part of the appeal! Wheelspin pretty much on tap, though of course only ever provoked on private disused runways officer
Edited by CanoeSniffer on Tuesday 6th February 04:07
Slooooow progress, as usual, but I can report that I managed to sort the door handle on the Alfa without removing the window or breaking a single interior trim popper 
Judging by what I discovered underneath the door card I wasn't the only person to have had a go...
It was bloody awkward, entirely due to access (or lack of it). Made possible only by the cheaty flicking of the door latch to raise the window that crucial extra few mm. Anyone who has had to do this on a GT or 147 before will sympathise I'm sure! But I'm so glad I've got it done because the car is mint now, and so much faster now the door opens properly
Also been discussing interior options for the TVR with a local detailer... Torn between going for a more aesthetically pleasing green-and-cream scheme or tidying up and making presentable the current scheme, purely for the uniqueness of it rather than as a matter of taste
Judging by what I discovered underneath the door card I wasn't the only person to have had a go...
It was bloody awkward, entirely due to access (or lack of it). Made possible only by the cheaty flicking of the door latch to raise the window that crucial extra few mm. Anyone who has had to do this on a GT or 147 before will sympathise I'm sure! But I'm so glad I've got it done because the car is mint now, and so much faster now the door opens properly
Also been discussing interior options for the TVR with a local detailer... Torn between going for a more aesthetically pleasing green-and-cream scheme or tidying up and making presentable the current scheme, purely for the uniqueness of it rather than as a matter of taste
Long time, no update- probably about time!
Alfa-
Has continued plugging away, recently ticked over 10k miles since I brought it home, all lapped up with ease. Fixes have included new brake light switch (luckily ordered a few days before complete failure of the old one and total lack of brake lights!), new head unit due to old one going on the blink and wiring fixes to sort steering wheel controls and intermittent 12V cut out due to a badly applied crimp (dunno what muppet did that...).
Also had new fluids and filters, if anything was going to convince me that I need a lift then it's the Alfa's air filter location... I also couldn't find a way to get axle stands comfortably underneath so like any home cowboy improvisation was called upon!
I may start a new photo series titled 'inappropriate loads for a 2 door Italian coupe', here's the first few entries-
His and hers bicycles
Half of IKEA
I was so impressed by the practicality that I attempted to convert it to a 7 seater.. Failed
The current mission is the pursuit of working air conditioning- diagnosis is that the compressor spins up and disengages very quickly probably due to lack of gas despite recent refill, suggesting a leak. I may swallow my pride and give it to someone who fettles A/C for a living to sort, it would make it the first job on the Alfa that I've failed to carry out personally- but I think I can live with it because it's the only thing left to make the car faultless!
Plus it's too fking hot right now not to have air con!
TVR-
Has continued to provide reliable and hilarious road and track duties. All the preparation is in place for an interior restoration but I've been putting it off due to having far too much fun! We've had some new toys-
I cannot speak enough for the new Federal tyres, they've totally transformed the TVR as a track car and have proved to be competent as road and (light) wet weather tyres too. Truthfully and without meaning to sound arrogant the car as a package now is a total weapon on track, dispatching much more modern machinery on a regular basis
We've had plenty of spirited drives and a few more trackdays which have all been great fun-
My commitment has been tested only by the devil of horsepower planting seeds in my brain that the TVR just wasn't fast enough for me anymore, and I've been to-ing and fro-ing for months contemplating major modification or replacement for the venerable RV8, but a miracle struck me last week which cured me of such sinful thoughts- I let someone else drive it on track. A friend joined me on Friday for an Abingdon MSE day and being a passenger in my car I was totally dumbstruck- it goes, stops, turns in and grips with an incredible savagery that I just wasn't able to feel from the driving seat. I suppose when you're driving you're able to better anticipate the forces that are coming, it was a totally different animal being someone else'spassenger victim!
I now have renewed respect for the old girl apart from a few minor tweaks and servicing not much has changed in TVR land, there are plans underfoot for the future but not just yet...
So far, so good- all is well with my little fleet. However come August, come the dreaded double MOT time.. So that may well change
Cheers for reading. Mike
Alfa-
Has continued plugging away, recently ticked over 10k miles since I brought it home, all lapped up with ease. Fixes have included new brake light switch (luckily ordered a few days before complete failure of the old one and total lack of brake lights!), new head unit due to old one going on the blink and wiring fixes to sort steering wheel controls and intermittent 12V cut out due to a badly applied crimp (dunno what muppet did that...
).Also had new fluids and filters, if anything was going to convince me that I need a lift then it's the Alfa's air filter location... I also couldn't find a way to get axle stands comfortably underneath so like any home cowboy improvisation was called upon!
I may start a new photo series titled 'inappropriate loads for a 2 door Italian coupe', here's the first few entries-
His and hers bicycles
Half of IKEA
I was so impressed by the practicality that I attempted to convert it to a 7 seater.. Failed
The current mission is the pursuit of working air conditioning- diagnosis is that the compressor spins up and disengages very quickly probably due to lack of gas despite recent refill, suggesting a leak. I may swallow my pride and give it to someone who fettles A/C for a living to sort, it would make it the first job on the Alfa that I've failed to carry out personally- but I think I can live with it because it's the only thing left to make the car faultless!
Plus it's too f
king hot right now not to have air con!TVR-
Has continued to provide reliable and hilarious road and track duties. All the preparation is in place for an interior restoration but I've been putting it off due to having far too much fun! We've had some new toys-
I cannot speak enough for the new Federal tyres, they've totally transformed the TVR as a track car and have proved to be competent as road and (light) wet weather tyres too. Truthfully and without meaning to sound arrogant the car as a package now is a total weapon on track, dispatching much more modern machinery on a regular basis
We've had plenty of spirited drives and a few more trackdays which have all been great fun-
My commitment has been tested only by the devil of horsepower planting seeds in my brain that the TVR just wasn't fast enough for me anymore, and I've been to-ing and fro-ing for months contemplating major modification or replacement for the venerable RV8, but a miracle struck me last week which cured me of such sinful thoughts- I let someone else drive it on track. A friend joined me on Friday for an Abingdon MSE day and being a passenger in my car I was totally dumbstruck- it goes, stops, turns in and grips with an incredible savagery that I just wasn't able to feel from the driving seat. I suppose when you're driving you're able to better anticipate the forces that are coming, it was a totally different animal being someone else's
I now have renewed respect for the old girl
apart from a few minor tweaks and servicing not much has changed in TVR land, there are plans underfoot for the future but not just yet...So far, so good- all is well with my little fleet. However come August, come the dreaded double MOT time.. So that may well change
Cheers for reading. Mike
99Chimaera said:
I really enjoyed your thread, a great read. I love the TVR, did you ever get the chassis sorted out.?
Looking forward to the updates.
Thank you! Yeah I've had the inevitable chassis work, just outriggers and lower wishbones so far as the original black coated chassis is standing up pretty well- replacement parts are powdercoated white though so I've got a chequerboard chassis Looking forward to the updates.
at least if I ever roll it over it'll make for a good game of chess! Squirrelofwoe said:
Are you swapping out your retro seats then mate?!
You just want more comfort don't you, don't worry it happens to all of us as we get older...
Not just yet, you know I rather like my little bucket seat jobbies! Just planning for the future if I bias it more towards the road- at £150 for the pair what's not to like You just want more comfort don't you, don't worry it happens to all of us as we get older...
'Inappropriate loads for a 2 door Italian coupe' continues to be inextricably linked to the acquiring of original parts to make the Chim more saleable (if the event ever comes).
These aren't going on the TVR anytime soon, in fact I've no idea if the 15 inch fronts will even fit over my 300mm front brake upgrade, but at £275 they were a bit too tempting to turn down. I'll trial fit them when I get a bit of time and consider 16" all round if they won't fit.
Next mission is rocker covers! The TVR is fitted with some odd-looking Edelbrock rocker covers currently (no pictures to hand unfortunately), which have been fine so far and I've been planning to clean up and paint to be more palatable, but recently the filler cap has started pissing oil. It's a pushfit cap on an American 1 1/4" fitting, and the seal seems fine but for some reason it's just peeing out which is a new one on me- I've mulled over a new pushfit filler cap but I think the best solution is to find some original rocker covers- RV8 covers are easy to find and cheap, but TVR RV8 covers are very much the opposite and the numbers touted for a couple of lumps of tin make me feel slightly faint so I'll probably buy some generic Rover ones and adorn them with some paint and badges
Hopefully new rubber gaskets will also solve the slight oil loss, the left rocker cover tends to drop oil straight into the exhaust manifold creating smoke and smell and the right rocker cover is pooling oil nicely into the valley where it settles on the intake manifold. It's not losing a dramatic amount but it can be quite disconcerting which has contributed to me stopping the track day lark until I can give the car a thorough going over- any oil from the rockers tends to blow back down the underside of the car and with oil dripping from the sump and 'box after a hard run it's difficult to rule out any other leaks until they're sorted, hopefully they're not hiding anything else worth worrying about. The car leaks very little during the course of normal road driving so at least it's still in regular use
To make myself feel better about it here's some gratuitous pictures from my last track day at Thruxton (which was AWESOME!)
Alfa continues to munch miles, require little maintenance and be extremely comfy and plush. Plus there's always good music on now I've sorted the radio
Sadly no progress on the T2 camper for a while due to my stepdad having an op, but we'll continue in earnest once he's back on his feet.. Got some cool stuff planned for it
These aren't going on the TVR anytime soon, in fact I've no idea if the 15 inch fronts will even fit over my 300mm front brake upgrade, but at £275 they were a bit too tempting to turn down. I'll trial fit them when I get a bit of time and consider 16" all round if they won't fit.
Next mission is rocker covers! The TVR is fitted with some odd-looking Edelbrock rocker covers currently (no pictures to hand unfortunately), which have been fine so far and I've been planning to clean up and paint to be more palatable, but recently the filler cap has started pissing oil. It's a pushfit cap on an American 1 1/4" fitting, and the seal seems fine but for some reason it's just peeing out which is a new one on me- I've mulled over a new pushfit filler cap but I think the best solution is to find some original rocker covers- RV8 covers are easy to find and cheap, but TVR RV8 covers are very much the opposite and the numbers touted for a couple of lumps of tin make me feel slightly faint so I'll probably buy some generic Rover ones and adorn them with some paint and badges
Hopefully new rubber gaskets will also solve the slight oil loss, the left rocker cover tends to drop oil straight into the exhaust manifold creating smoke and smell and the right rocker cover is pooling oil nicely into the valley where it settles on the intake manifold. It's not losing a dramatic amount but it can be quite disconcerting which has contributed to me stopping the track day lark until I can give the car a thorough going over- any oil from the rockers tends to blow back down the underside of the car and with oil dripping from the sump and 'box after a hard run it's difficult to rule out any other leaks until they're sorted, hopefully they're not hiding anything else worth worrying about. The car leaks very little during the course of normal road driving so at least it's still in regular use
To make myself feel better about it here's some gratuitous pictures from my last track day at Thruxton (which was AWESOME!)
Alfa continues to munch miles, require little maintenance and be extremely comfy and plush. Plus there's always good music on now I've sorted the radio
Sadly no progress on the T2 camper for a while due to my stepdad having an op, but we'll continue in earnest once he's back on his feet.. Got some cool stuff planned for it
Update: I've bought this. I don't really know why.
It's a '92 Eunos 1.6, imported from the land of the rising sun in 2001 and incredibly rust-free, pretty clean throughout and a rather lovely little car. I'm just not exactly sure what I've bought it for
I've also suffered from and subsequently cured some TVR lament with minor clutch and gearbox issues, and crankcase breathing system- after much head scratching I've ended up with new (old) rocker covers, some fancy silicone hoses and no more oil leaks from the nasty gasket sealed adapter plates the old covers were on
I'm waiting on a few more parts and I'll colour-code the lot, add some bling and make it all look prettier. IF I can hold off the trackday itch for long enough... belated MOT is on Tuesday, put off whilst I cured all the ills, once that's sorted I'll get some more miles done and work out which track I want to go round next what the next plans are
Alfa.. Still comfortable, reliable, lovely, awesome, 123k and going strong! All rather boring really.
What do I do with this Mazda?!
It's a '92 Eunos 1.6, imported from the land of the rising sun in 2001 and incredibly rust-free, pretty clean throughout and a rather lovely little car. I'm just not exactly sure what I've bought it for
I've also suffered from and subsequently cured some TVR lament with minor clutch and gearbox issues, and crankcase breathing system- after much head scratching I've ended up with new (old) rocker covers, some fancy silicone hoses and no more oil leaks from the nasty gasket sealed adapter plates the old covers were on
I'm waiting on a few more parts and I'll colour-code the lot, add some bling and make it all look prettier. IF I can hold off the trackday itch for long enough...
belated MOT is on Tuesday, put off whilst I cured all the ills, once that's sorted I'll get some more miles done and work out Alfa.. Still comfortable, reliable, lovely, awesome, 123k and going strong! All rather boring really.
What do I do with this Mazda?!
The Mazda is a keeper
I'd feared it would be a waste of money for the amount of use I'd give it, but the mother and sister have had a go driving it and both loved it, so it's going to be shared. I think I'm too entertained by the pop up headlights to move it on anyway!
Never really fancied an MX5, but ooh it is a rather fun little thing actually...
... Needs more power though
I'd feared it would be a waste of money for the amount of use I'd give it, but the mother and sister have had a go driving it and both loved it, so it's going to be shared. I think I'm too entertained by the pop up headlights to move it on anyway!
Never really fancied an MX5, but ooh it is a rather fun little thing actually...
... Needs more power though
BornRageFree said:
Oh, if I could have afforded a TVR at 20... excellent writing, the inappropriate loads for a 2 door italian coupe had me laughing out loud!
Watching for the next installment.... you know you can fit a V6 under the bonnet of the mx5 don't you
Thank you Watching for the next installment.... you know you can fit a V6 under the bonnet of the mx5 don't you
I don't need tempting
the MX5 is already nicknamed 'Phil' after the near identical CarThrottle car which had the V6 conversion done, but I actually quite like the fizzy 1.6.. Having jumped straight from econoboxes into a TVR via diesel Alfa, 7000rpm is a land that was totally lost on me until now! It's good fun if not very fast Latest comedy failing.. The TVR very nearly sailed through its MOT except for number plate backlighting which hopefully some LEDs will sort, and the reverse light which doesn't work and apparently is now an MOT failure!
I was under the car with PHer mate Dave changing the gearbox fluid a while back when I found the bullet connectors disconnected, I plugged them back in to get them out of the way and when I jumped up and moved the car the reverse light started working for the first time since I'd owned the car! Result- except that I was in first
New switch ordered, hopefully shouldn't be too arduous to fit
Squirrelofwoe said:
I was going to say- we proved that the reverse light does 'technically' work! Getting under the car to plug it in everytime you need to reverse would soon become a pain though
To be fair it'd only need doing once a year for the MOT.. The disadvantage being that last week I drove around for 50 miles 'in reverse' after forgetting to undo the bodge I’ve been hit with an all out charm offensive and- I can’t believe I’m saying it- I’m actually getting fond of the little MX5. So much so that I feel the need to introduce it a bit more properly.
As I posted before, it’s a 1992 Eunos Roadster imported to Blighty in 2001. It’s got 159,000km and it’s wearing them really well. There’s one tiny little danger sign of tin worm on the offside rear wheel arch but it’s very minor and should be easy enough to deal with- other than that it’s clean as a clean thing that’s just been cleaned, which is why I found it strangely attractive. The exterior is pretty self-explanatory so I haven’t taken any more pictures (show of hands who doesn’t know what an MX5 looks like?), but here’s an interior snap-
I find it a really nice place to be, I think just due to its simplicity and tactility. The aftermarket steering wheel is one of the few bugbears I have, the wheel itself is quite nice but it’s got a stupid centre badge with ‘MX5’ written on it in some comic sans ste and looks tacky as hell. True to form I also managed to break something straight away, which was the centre storage lid which clumsy bks here managed to bang his elbow on hard enough to crack 
It’s also got a bloody good stereo, a Pioneer Bluetooth/handsfree/DAB jobbie which is a cracking bit of kit.
The PO installed speakers in the seats which, odd though it may be, have great clarity and make for a really cool atmospheric soundtrack. The handsfree is also better than most factory setups I’ve encountered, crystal clear on both ends even at 70mph on the M4. I found this out during one of my pilgrimages to Swansea to visit the other half, where I also found out that the MX5 has the shortest gear ratios known to mankind and 4000rpm with a rorty stainless exhaust for two hours is only slightly less comfortable than the music you turn up to drown it out being played about 2cm from your eardrum from the seat speakers. Pushing the balance forwards was an easy fix for that.
Everything on the car works as it should except the rear screen heater on the aftermarket roof which I’m going to investigate. To be honest I think the roof is quite ugly, but it’s such a brilliant design that I can live with it. I can raise and lower it in microseconds from the drivers seat and I don’t know what more you can ask than that- it’s a revelation compared to the TVR
It’s been good to be able to compare the TVR to the Mazda and it’s made it very obvious why the MX5 is so popular. It makes all the right sports car noises with its driving position and lovely gearbox, but everything is so light and easy. Jump in, turn the key, it’s up to temperature and warming you up/cooling you down as you please within minutes, the clutch and steering are effortless and there’s no real trial or tribulation involved as there is with the TVR. Of course you miss the speed, but with the roof down, a bit of noise from the aftermarket exhaust and endless fun to be had from going through the gears and enjoying the sharp turn in, it’s won half the battle already. Driving the TVR immediately afterwards felt like a real fight in comparison, but make no mistake that as soon as I put my foot down I knew very definitely who had won the war
In terms of future plans, well everything is up in the air as usual. The TVR is still badly in need of some extended TLC which I haven’t got the space for just yet, and the Mazda has turned out to be lovely, so for the foreseeable future my rare and brittle British GT is going to continue to do the track duties whilst the cheap & common dispensable sports car gets the most road use. I know, me too
I’m hoping to be buying a house with garage/workshop facilities soon which, whilst it opens up a world of possibilities for all the cars, could necessitate selling if the right place turns up and I need to find more cash- who knows! What I do know is that there’s no point having all these ambitious plans for all these cars when I’ve no hope of properly maintaining them as it stands.
Exhibit A:
As I posted before, it’s a 1992 Eunos Roadster imported to Blighty in 2001. It’s got 159,000km and it’s wearing them really well. There’s one tiny little danger sign of tin worm on the offside rear wheel arch but it’s very minor and should be easy enough to deal with- other than that it’s clean as a clean thing that’s just been cleaned, which is why I found it strangely attractive. The exterior is pretty self-explanatory so I haven’t taken any more pictures (show of hands who doesn’t know what an MX5 looks like?), but here’s an interior snap-
I find it a really nice place to be, I think just due to its simplicity and tactility. The aftermarket steering wheel is one of the few bugbears I have, the wheel itself is quite nice but it’s got a stupid centre badge with ‘MX5’ written on it in some comic sans s
te and looks tacky as hell. True to form I also managed to break something straight away, which was the centre storage lid which clumsy bks here managed to bang his elbow on hard enough to crack It’s also got a bloody good stereo, a Pioneer Bluetooth/handsfree/DAB jobbie which is a cracking bit of kit.
The PO installed speakers in the seats which, odd though it may be, have great clarity and make for a really cool atmospheric soundtrack. The handsfree is also better than most factory setups I’ve encountered, crystal clear on both ends even at 70mph on the M4. I found this out during one of my pilgrimages to Swansea to visit the other half, where I also found out that the MX5 has the shortest gear ratios known to mankind and 4000rpm with a rorty stainless exhaust for two hours is only slightly less comfortable than the music you turn up to drown it out being played about 2cm from your eardrum from the seat speakers. Pushing the balance forwards was an easy fix for that.
Everything on the car works as it should except the rear screen heater on the aftermarket roof which I’m going to investigate. To be honest I think the roof is quite ugly, but it’s such a brilliant design that I can live with it. I can raise and lower it in microseconds from the drivers seat and I don’t know what more you can ask than that- it’s a revelation compared to the TVR
It’s been good to be able to compare the TVR to the Mazda and it’s made it very obvious why the MX5 is so popular. It makes all the right sports car noises with its driving position and lovely gearbox, but everything is so light and easy. Jump in, turn the key, it’s up to temperature and warming you up/cooling you down as you please within minutes, the clutch and steering are effortless and there’s no real trial or tribulation involved as there is with the TVR. Of course you miss the speed, but with the roof down, a bit of noise from the aftermarket exhaust and endless fun to be had from going through the gears and enjoying the sharp turn in, it’s won half the battle already. Driving the TVR immediately afterwards felt like a real fight in comparison, but make no mistake that as soon as I put my foot down I knew very definitely who had won the war
In terms of future plans, well everything is up in the air as usual. The TVR is still badly in need of some extended TLC which I haven’t got the space for just yet, and the Mazda has turned out to be lovely, so for the foreseeable future my rare and brittle British GT is going to continue to do the track duties whilst the cheap & common dispensable sports car gets the most road use. I know, me too
I’m hoping to be buying a house with garage/workshop facilities soon which, whilst it opens up a world of possibilities for all the cars, could necessitate selling if the right place turns up and I need to find more cash- who knows! What I do know is that there’s no point having all these ambitious plans for all these cars when I’ve no hope of properly maintaining them as it stands.
Exhibit A:
GR_TVR said:
CanoeSniffer said:
I was under the car with PHer mate Dave changing the gearbox fluid
Ah you went for it - what oil did you end up going for?Hopefully not too much metal came out with the old stuff
An update not wholly about the cars-
Firstly, the Mazda is fun in the cold and wet. Definitely going to get me in more trouble than the TVR, all the RWD fun and none of the fear is a deadly combination!
Secondly, I'm buzzing about karting at the moment! I scooped the CCKC on countback after a dead heat on points, I was trailing all year but a strong final round made the championship a distant possibility, all to play for in the final. Fastest lap put me on pole, with my championship rival starting 5th and needing 3rd to guarantee himself the victory. I made myself a comfortable gap and nearly gave myself whiplash trying to find out what was happening behind! He made his way up to 4th and that's how it stayed, and I was number-crunching all the way to the paddock trying to work out what the result was when it was announced that we were even on points after 6 rounds and 300+ points scored. An agonising wait followed whilst a finals result countback was done, and finally the result came in- I did it! We got an open-top parade lap of the circuit, and anybody who was attending the Combe Action Day will have heard my waffle over the tannoy
For the championship to finish dead level shows how competitive it is, its only lawnmower engine karting but it really is proper racing!
Victory in the CCKC granted me free entry to the British Rental Kart Championship, which looks like an awesome event. Anyone on PH competing? Give me a shout! I've never been to Formula Fast before so I went down last week for some practice.. Acquitted myself fairly well!
I shan't get too smug because it's going to be an entirely different kettle of fish once 27kg of ballast goes on the kart...
I'm also hitting the endurances hard this year.. The Wisemen are of course making their annual pilgrimage to the Daytona MK 24hr, this year running one Sodi and one DMAX team. I'm in the DMAX, and we're in it to win it boys!
In addition to that I'll be racing a Prokart in both the Teesside 24hrs and the 24hrs of Le Mans (not that one, the karting one!). Both new experiences for me so it's all looking very exciting.
Strategy planning already well underway....
Also, keep your eyes peeled for a smelly green TVR taking part in either the Javelin Sprint Series or TVRCC Speed Championship in 2019.. I'm not fully decided yet! If you're familiar with either please do feel free to let me know what you think-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
- here ^^^
Ta for reading! Mike
Firstly, the Mazda is fun in the cold and wet. Definitely going to get me in more trouble than the TVR, all the RWD fun and none of the fear is a deadly combination!
Secondly, I'm buzzing about karting at the moment! I scooped the CCKC on countback after a dead heat on points, I was trailing all year but a strong final round made the championship a distant possibility, all to play for in the final. Fastest lap put me on pole, with my championship rival starting 5th and needing 3rd to guarantee himself the victory. I made myself a comfortable gap and nearly gave myself whiplash trying to find out what was happening behind! He made his way up to 4th and that's how it stayed, and I was number-crunching all the way to the paddock trying to work out what the result was when it was announced that we were even on points after 6 rounds and 300+ points scored. An agonising wait followed whilst a finals result countback was done, and finally the result came in- I did it! We got an open-top parade lap of the circuit, and anybody who was attending the Combe Action Day will have heard my waffle over the tannoy
For the championship to finish dead level shows how competitive it is, its only lawnmower engine karting but it really is proper racing!
Victory in the CCKC granted me free entry to the British Rental Kart Championship, which looks like an awesome event. Anyone on PH competing? Give me a shout! I've never been to Formula Fast before so I went down last week for some practice.. Acquitted myself fairly well!
I shan't get too smug because it's going to be an entirely different kettle of fish once 27kg of ballast goes on the kart...
I'm also hitting the endurances hard this year.. The Wisemen are of course making their annual pilgrimage to the Daytona MK 24hr, this year running one Sodi and one DMAX team. I'm in the DMAX, and we're in it to win it boys!
In addition to that I'll be racing a Prokart in both the Teesside 24hrs and the 24hrs of Le Mans (not that one, the karting one!). Both new experiences for me so it's all looking very exciting.
Strategy planning already well underway....
Also, keep your eyes peeled for a smelly green TVR taking part in either the Javelin Sprint Series or TVRCC Speed Championship in 2019.. I'm not fully decided yet! If you're familiar with either please do feel free to let me know what you think-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
- here ^^^
Ta for reading! Mike
Quick update to this thread for anyone still reading-
TVR has been laid up for a few weeks whilst I strip down the interior. I need to replace the heater blower which is a pig of a job on its own, but the tear down has revealed lots of problems which need sorting. This is going to be a long process, but it should go back together in much better shape and with much more attractive colours (that's the plan).
The little Mazda snapped a rear spring the day before its MOT
New springs and dampers on and a bit of fettling later, we had a clean bill of health (no rust!)
We've had THE SNOW since my last post, I tried to go out for a sensible serious journey in the Mazda but I just wasn't able to stop it from going round in circles over and over and in this yard and in that car park and that retail park and....
Work and life means that the wheels don't stop turning for me during the snow. Both the Mazda and the Alfa plowed on regardless amongst the empty streets and 4x4s (when traction fails... RWD wins!)
The Alfa Romeo has been and continues to be bloody brilliant, I've had to make a fix to the reverse light which had a corroded connector that wasn't commercially available and had to be pilfered from a car being broken for parts.. Other than that, nothing to report bar another service and some glow plugs (not required, just peace of mind). 131k down, 22k of which are mine.
I've done a few myriad karting events, made a good start to another season of CCKC, currently leading. Had a st time at BRKC, sick as a dog all weekend.. Less said about that the better. Winding up now for another Daytona 24hrs, two Wisemen teams again- one Sodi, one DMAX. Twice the fuel calculations to do
With any luck this will be my last year of rental karting. ARDS is booked for May and I'm planning to go play with the big boys. I'll keep the thread posted with how it plays out.
Also got some camper news! It's had new guttering, roof seals, roof gas struts, interior lighting, sound system and we're currently installing a leisure battery and making decisions on all the circuitry depending on what will be fed by leisure/running battery/240V. I'm afraid I've got no pictures which is surprising really given how many bloody hours I've put into the thing! Hopefully it should be back on the road within a couple of weeks- I can't wait! It must be over a year since I last drove it.
Lots to do, no time to do it in, no skills to get it done with... As per.
Mike
Edit: WHY ARE MY PICTURES SIDEWAYS
TVR has been laid up for a few weeks whilst I strip down the interior. I need to replace the heater blower which is a pig of a job on its own, but the tear down has revealed lots of problems which need sorting. This is going to be a long process, but it should go back together in much better shape and with much more attractive colours (that's the plan).
The little Mazda snapped a rear spring the day before its MOT
New springs and dampers on and a bit of fettling later, we had a clean bill of health (no rust!)
We've had THE SNOW since my last post, I tried to go out for a sensible serious journey in the Mazda but I just wasn't able to stop it from going round in circles over and over and in this yard and in that car park and that retail park and....
Work and life means that the wheels don't stop turning for me during the snow. Both the Mazda and the Alfa plowed on regardless amongst the empty streets and 4x4s (when traction fails... RWD wins!)
The Alfa Romeo has been and continues to be bloody brilliant, I've had to make a fix to the reverse light which had a corroded connector that wasn't commercially available and had to be pilfered from a car being broken for parts.. Other than that, nothing to report bar another service and some glow plugs (not required, just peace of mind). 131k down, 22k of which are mine.
I've done a few myriad karting events, made a good start to another season of CCKC, currently leading. Had a s
t time at BRKC, sick as a dog all weekend.. Less said about that the better. Winding up now for another Daytona 24hrs, two Wisemen teams again- one Sodi, one DMAX. Twice the fuel calculations to do With any luck this will be my last year of rental karting. ARDS is booked for May and I'm planning to go play with the big boys. I'll keep the thread posted with how it plays out.
Also got some camper news! It's had new guttering, roof seals, roof gas struts, interior lighting, sound system and we're currently installing a leisure battery and making decisions on all the circuitry depending on what will be fed by leisure/running battery/240V. I'm afraid I've got no pictures which is surprising really given how many bloody hours I've put into the thing! Hopefully it should be back on the road within a couple of weeks- I can't wait! It must be over a year since I last drove it.
Lots to do, no time to do it in, no skills to get it done with... As per.
Mike
Edit: WHY ARE MY PICTURES SIDEWAYS
Edited by CanoeSniffer on Monday 15th April 10:54
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