Jacques

Cheers Filip, I certainly did. It has been a dry but fantastic Summer here. Many trips in the car at a fair speed. Now, it's time to try to finish that tailgate story and hopefully get it painted and installed and lighten the burden for Little Red Riding Hood. I do have many other hobbies, and try to give some time for those as well. For example I am building my own highly sophisticated cd-player, or so it will be in the end. Cheers, Jacques

Yep. Okay, I'll do that. Cheers, Jacques

coming very nice along the plan and well executed. Kind regards, Jacques

Hmm Erik, I am not sure I understand what you are asking about: 1: a tailgate, or 2: an engine cover? If it's the later, I can ask around for one more, as I want one too (in carbon fiber - see below). So, mine is a tailgate in carbon fiber entirely. Seriously bad executed by it's British maker, and was 1 of a batch of 4 (or was it 3? I can't remember). I was told they would no longer make them, as it was too hard to make them well. It's split in places, twisted so it cannot be installed and close, and two halves are stuck together with some rubber glue of some sort and have a very bad finish. I spoke to a few companies, who all said the same: very very bad made and not fit for a street car, as it could either split in halves during driving, or fly off because of too little material in many important places, or wobble and make noise at high speed because of no structural integrity. Cannot recommend it at all, unless you are willing to make it finished yourself. But in all honesty, the two big multi ribbed vents are really nice made, apart from having holes drilled in them that shouldn't be there, argh... These will be mended too. But they look really good! So, the job is to take it apart and make it structurally sound, strong enough and very good finish. Oh, and that will double the original price. Since I am already working some 50 hours per week, I don't have time for another jab. It will just have to take the time it needs. Then, as it's a S4/S4s/SP300/GT3/V8 model, you also need the appropriate engine cover underneath this tailgate. I found an original one to renovate and make new finish on for now, but this will not be the final engine cover, but temporarily. All this is needed to adopt the Sport300 engine braces and bridge. And for this to work, I will have to lift off the whole body complete. Oh well, some day when I find a place to take the car completely apart and reassemble. It's super light, and will still be super light, once mended to work well and look well, which was the idea in the first place. I am not a sucker for carbon fiber as such, but would like it to lighten the car more. And more. And then add lightness. While not altering the car's look and function fundamentally. I have asked around for a few years for a SP300 engine cover in carbon fiber, to no avail. Some day... I am really looking forward to this maybe coming true this year or start of next year. Then off the the painter and voila, new lighter car. As they say in the movie: I feel the need, the need for speed I'll post pics as it progresses. No, it's definitely not just a mental impression or thought. It's very real. Drives really well. It's like the car knows and rewards you, the owner/driver, for having taken good care of it By the way, I just became the owner of a nice Tyrell P34 six wheeler today. Came with the mail. I waited exactly 43 years for that, so hey, what's another year, as they once sang... Kind regards, Jacques

Hmm, long time no see, hear or anything. But I am still alive and kicking. So, after having been nearly eaten by a BIG brown bear in the Carpathians two weeks ago, I am back in the mancave (my now tiny cold garage), and this Summer brought a complete belt change and all the usual service jobs. Runs soooo smooth and also pretty fast if need be. Thanks to Sparky as usual! Even the brake pads are now beginning tow work better, so only some 3 years to bed them in. So, wanting to lighten the burden for Little Red Riding Hood, I have now been the the company with whom I left my V8 rear hatch and the carbon tailgate from the UK which was made some ... I think around 4 years ago. Since time flies and it's seriously hard to find someone who can undertake the job of finishing them, I have been in contact with these two guys over the last few years. Now it's about time in their long que, to do both tailgates. Yeah. Let's see how it turns out. Watch this space. Sshhh, don't tell Little Red Riding Hood - it's a secret. Meanwhile, I am still looking for a US made gear kit, instead of my slightly higher geared UK made kit. Cheers, Jacques

Looking forward to that Steve As I wrote some 1,5 or so years ago, I need a red carpetset with magnolia details. Lets' talk when you have the time. Kind regards, Jacques

Update per 00:53 am local time, from the police briefing: - 17:35: the police was called. - 17:48: the killer was apprehended with at least one rifle, and sharp ammo, plus potentially one more gun, not confirmed and not specified. - 3 people killed, one man in his 40'ies and two younger people; 3 critically wounded and more wounded. - Know by the police and not for serious crimes. - Seemed to have been working alone so far. - More info will be given by the Danish police at 8:00 am local time Monday morning. Kind regards, Jacques

Update per 00:35 am local time: The criminal is now confirmed; he is a multiple gun owner or have access to some, and have uploaded videos on flutube posing with the weapons and talking about an anti-psychotic medicine now working. Not punished in court earlier on. Videos now removed, it is told. New police briefing soon. The used weapon seems to be a shooting track rifle. No motive so far. A thunder rainstorm just hit Copenhagen btw, and makes it a bit harder to retrieve tracks etc. outdoors. Kind regards, Jacques

Update at 23:30pm local time. Police have now moved the blocade closer to the shopping center, so local residents can possibly get home, if they came from elsewhere, and has been held back by the police blocade earlier set up. Kind regards, Jacques

Update 23:25 pm local time: Danish military has been inserted in guarding certain places and objects to relieve police, so they can work intensely on securing leads and anything else. Military personel are also assisting police in letting people get back to their cars parked inside the shopping center. Kind regards, Jacques

To those in the UK or elsewhere who wonder what happened around 5:30 pm today, there's been a mass shooting in the big shopping center Fields on Amager (an island) in Copenhagen. A single 22 y.o. white ethnical Danish male went into the shopping center and began shooting here and there with what looks like a hunting rifle. He managed to kill at least 3, and wound at least 4 or more, before he ran away, out of the center and got caught by Danish police. A huge manhunt in taking place in both Copenhagen, Sjælland (the whole island) and potentially all of Denmark, right now. There's been special anti terror squad at more placed in or around Copenhagen, knocking down doors and into apartment(-s). Police helis are swarming over Copenhagen as well. Very little is open information right now, so expect corrections. No confirmation if he was alone or acting together with more shooters so far. But it looks to be a single individual. More than 20 ambulances, the huge surgery truck which can unfold to become a mobile surgery center for up to 40 people at a time, and lots of special personel to counteract further incidents etc. Area was locked down in a 2 km circle and now more than 10.000 people from Royal Arena which should have housed a Harry Styles concert are being moved by police with locked down metro trains to the other end of Copenhagen, to receive help and transport home. There is a further location on Amager, where people can give witness explanations and receive psychological help. This will go on for several days, Copenhagen Police says. Much police has been called to Copenhagen right after the first call about the shooting. No rumors about why, nor any explanations so far. Albeit the police arrived really quickly and caught whom they believe to be the murderer, many people ran out from the center, including minors bathed in blood, simply just standing stil at a nearby street, totally shocked not able to speak for a while. They are all cared for immediately. From what we know, there were really many people in the center today, because of Tour de France, newly educated high school students and the concert, but all shop owners shouted to customers to enter their shops, then rolled down security gates and kept everyone safe, until police could escort them to further safety. This has been trained. That is what we know so far. My condolences to those who lost their loved ones, the injured and all else affected. Kind regards, Jacques

Ha ha! I think you have a lot of technic? Cheers.

Duplo?

Cheers! Little Red Riding Hood runs perfectly and thanks for a jolly good day Mind the gap! Jacques

Yes I did, and they replied, that it is essentially the same oil, renamed. There is no longer two kinds in that particular segment. Do I believe it? Hmm... Kind regards, Jacques

Nice solid one. Is it audible? Kind regards, jacques

In my country, it's the same and still available. I heard that on some markets, it's rebranded, bust same oil. Kind regards, jacques

Hi alan, Oh yes, they do that as well. I installed that on my car years ago, and it's fine. Contrary to the rusting original item, which will leak and send rust into the cooling system - great... Kind regards, Jacques

Alan, Yes they do. I bought mine there, incl. plug and everything. It is very far from all ther Lotus parts that show up on their webpage, which is slowly expanding. So, if need be, just give them a call and have a kit. I am still using my kit many years alter and it works perfectly. Kind regards, Jacques

Yes, but no, as this number would apply to cars just a few years younger, but no, not mine apparently. So I drove the crap out of it - ehrm, took a nice little slow tour around the island. I was being told yesterday by an authority on the subject, that there will be new rules passed this Summer, to more precisely specify these subjects. Can't be more specific as of now. We'll see. Cheers.

All right, so to be a little on the precautious side, I've been to a MOT tester, and had the Esprit measured for noise according to present day laws, setup for testing etc. It was 81,6 db including an Alunox exhaust manifold, modern cat and the Quicksilver exhaust system. So under the limit of my car with 84db plus 3db as it's a used car. Phew. As I've heard today, there has been a little exaggeration on both sides, the law enforcement as well as the owners, so for now, it's a stand still. More later as I find out. Kind regards, Jacques

Nope, it's a mufler from Quicksilver Systems, the version with a silencer, not the straight through. And since I also have an Alunox exhaust manifold and a sportscat, it is a bit on the loud side. It sound very potent, not extremely loud. New rule says 74 db and since my car is older 1990, it is allowed a little bitmore noise, +3db as it'sa used car, not factory new. Hopefully I'll pass the test next week, or I may have to open up that one small silencer, and modify it internally. I just spoke to Quicksilver, and they don't have any db measuring for my car and system. Anyway, they told me straight to modify my mufler if need be, instead of the original back silencer. I'll get back with more when I know more. Kind regards, Jacques

I'm afraid it is. The law was passed a few years ago as mentioned, but came into effect now. Yes, pure madness. Kind regards, Jacques ps: if anyone have a standard very silenced left hand driven cars exhaust mufler for a Esprit Turbo SE, please give me a pm. Or an idea thereof. Or if someone knows how to cut open my mufler and make it far more silent.

I'll try to answer to the best of my ability as of now. The thing about reckless driving is a whole other ballgame and is outside this news/debate. Yes, it's true that there is very little about it right now, but I can for example refer to some video postings on flutube made by "High on cars" (in Danish). They discuss that problems there. One of the central points now is the limits for smog and noise have been lowered so that the cars and mc's which were legal before because of higher limits being old before such and such a date, cannot pass them. For example there are a lot of US old cars in Denmark, which is being driven only during Summer and on good shiny days. Apart from many of them having other bigger more powerful engines etc. the have a very hard time passing the new rules when being measured by the inspection and police in road side razzias, which are the ones we now see. There are some expectations as to the police and inspectors relaxing down again, but this is not certain. Another way is to take it to court. There are now money collections to help funding court cases against the state as a matter of principle. In general it can be said that these "new" laws are not new as such, but went into effect by 1'st of March 2022. They were passed some years ago as a compromise to the EC demanding annual or bi-annual inspection to motorcycles in Denmark (al of EC), and in which Denmark said "no, that is not needed, as drivers take very good care of their bikes". Then there came a debate of noise and smog, and Denmark wanted to get lower limits than the rest of the EC, and at a time Germany told Denmark to "just leave the EC". Germany later that day gave an apology to Denmark. The compromise was that we could have stricter laws on smog and noise and loose the inspection of bikes, but by 1'st of March 2022, start doing severe road side inspections as explained. For example, the police fill a whole big parking lot with their people and equipment, and stop every single car and mc getting near the area. Inspect them and confiscate if anything is wrong/illegal etc. even on suspicion. Before 1'st of March 2022, you would get an order of driving home and repair or correct anything they found, and eventually show up at an inspection MOT facility to have it passed. Not so now. There are a number of problems in this case. For example there is no official number printed on the message of choice you will receive. That is probably illegal, so the police and inspectors handing these out, are probably doing something illegal, therefore leaving it up to a court to decide later on. This will take a lot of time to look into, as courts have many hundreds of cases waiting because of the last two years of covid, thereby dragging this into the future. As soon as I hear about any decision on this, I'll post it here. Denmark does not have any single special approval of a vehicle such as for example Sweden does. We are too small a nation, and does not have a national inspection/tech institute, so we refer to EC and German TUV papers etc. Therefore for example the Nitron suspension kit that we all know by now, is illegal in Denmark, despite Nitron making an official paper stating this was made special for this car and so on. Not a problem in the EC, except in Denmark. Matters can be done to some extent, but as I wrote here, it's not a practical approach in reality. I read the test procedures, and it's pretty extreme. Some years ago, there was even a Danish demand of a test example of a car with such parts on it, demanding to make a crash test, thereby crushing the car. If it passed, then you could drive with the surviving 2'nd example. But you also have to pay a new registration tax - 180% of the cars price. As you may know, the extreme 180% tax in Denmark on cars and mc's are lifted a bit for electric cars and small new mini cars. But not for old cars such as for example a Lotus Esprit. So I paid nearly the same in registration tax, as I paid for my whole Esprit, thereby doubling it's cost. If you then want to say install a Nitron kit, there is a new reg. tax again. That will be an evaluation of the car itself as well as other sister or brother models, such as for example the Sport300 or V8, which was more expensive than mine, making the potential tax higher, as well as combined with a Danish evaluation of what the car is worth in sale here and now, on the national market and the international market (without tax). Btw, I spent several hours a few days ago reading the newest laws imposed, directly from "retsinformation" which is the publication of laws to the public, with regards to tuning, smog, rebuilding, noise, changes etc. They are very strict and even though there are ways to do some, it's mostly contradicted by other laws, in effect making it very hard to pass anything, even original cars and mc's. My own Laverda is an example, which was made being somewhat loud. It can easily be driven being damped and not noisy, which I do, but now, the old limits for noise also rules over this mc, so despite being original, I cannot any more pass inspection and thereby also road side razzias. As you know, there are very specific designs to parts and their function and for example using or making up parts that does limit noise on this bike, is unfortunately illegal, as they do not contain a relatively newly decided EC conformity number. By then, you will have to have the bike towed to the other end of Denmark, and paying an inspection company a (large) sum of money to perform tests (in Germany), as well as engineers to test the design and strength of said parts. And by the time this may succeed, you will have paid more than it is worth and choked the engine completely, making it not able to drive. In reality, it is not realistic. I am still looking into ways of having my car legalized to the new rules. It may take a few years to complete. I'll be back asap with more info as I find out. Kind regards, Jacques

Cheers guys, I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge right now. So, it is for all cars ad mc's, including classic and oldtimer. It is also for all because the old rules of more noise allowed is moved down to lower limits. Likewise for exhaust smog. It is not only modified classic cars. All cars and mc's. So far I've heard that a few cars from Sweden was confiscated because of this. It has not been confirmed so far. It might have been a case of "madness driving" which also is a new law, passed last Summer 2021. If a policeman tracks you speeding 100% above on freeway, bye-bye car. Likewise with a lower limit inside towns or on countryside highways. Yes, it's very dictatorial. And yes, it's a very clear case for a bright lawyer. Today was the first shiny blue sky for a long time, Sun was out smiling and it was 12-15 degrees cel. Normally, there would have been a swarm of classic cars etc. out on the roads. Today: near none. I'll get back as I retrieve more info. Meanwhile: my Esprit is sleeping again. Cheers, Jacques