Neal H

I have a new motorbike arriving next week, a Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS which is in a very boring matt silver colour. Over the winter I plan to have it resprayed in something more interesting. My Elise was Motorsport Green which was a fantastic colour and I’d like to get the bike painted in the same. Does anyone know whether there is an official paint code for it? I know it had an internal code of B Something, but I’m guessing that won’t help in getting the colour made up. I looked on the original invoice but it just says Exclusive Motorsport.

To be fair at the post race press conference Lewis did say that Alonso was hard but very fair, and he would have done exactly the same for his team if the positions had been reversed. Either way, it’s great to have Alonso back and seemingly still at his best. You only have to look at how quickly Hamilton despatched Sainz’s Ferrari to see what a fantastic job Alonso did.

I think the European Commission’s approach to the whole trade negotiation post Brexit has been about scaring existing EU states into not considering their own exit referendums, rather than trying to achieve a fair and equitable agreement with the U.K. and they have used the Northern Ireland ‘problem’ as a political ploy as they know how sensitive it is for the U.K. I think this sums up the European Commission - they can’t sell the benefits of staying so resort to trying to scare other member states into not leaving. If the EU had been just about free trade and freedom of movement, I would never have voted leave, but it isn’t, it’s about political union and becoming a federal state, a project that I genuinely believe is doomed due to the many varied languages and cultural differences in Europe. If the EU was genuinely reformed, I would vote to rejoin.

If you can afford to stay in a nice hotel why would you stay in a tent? I just don’t get it.

The benefits so far are that the economic chaos and catastrophe promised by the Remain supporting politicians and business leaders has not materialised. It appears that we can survive, prosper and decide our own future after all.

The stewards said they “noted with some concern certain allegations” made by Red Bull. I wonder precisely what Red Bull alleged?

I think Hamilton decided to lay down a marker that he’s not always going to back down when Max turns in on him. About time! Max has built a reputation on being uncompromising - you win some, you lose some. Brush yourself down and move onto the next one.

I’ve always been a supporter of Bottas. I think he’s genuinely quick on single lap pace and has been the perfect team player in helping Merc win multiple championships. He’s also finished second in the last two drivers championships and Merc can’t ask more than that. However, I do think it’s now time for Russell to replace him for 2022. Hamilton is in the twilight of his career and Merc will need a new number one driver in a couple of years and that clearly isn’t Bottas. They need to test Russell alongside Hamilton for a couple of seasons to see if he’s really up to the task or not. It’s one thing making a good impression with a mid-grid team but quite another to become a regular winner for a top team. Bottas was brilliant at Williams before he got the Merc drive in 2017. As for Max, well he’s just superb and is going to be hard to beat in a competitive car, even for Hamilton.

The government is forcing us to buy electric vehicles by banning ICE vehicles. This is all the proof you need that the tech isn’t there yet. New tech should be able to sell itself, we should WANT to buy it because it gives us something better than we already have. Hopefully in 10 years time it will have evolved enough to make us want it. What we are being offered now is inferior to what we have already at approximately double the price.

Fantastic looking car. Best in class to drive. Evora was both of these in spades. Almost nobody bought one though. Why is Emira going to succeed when Evora failed? Is it a case that if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same result? I’ve owned more Lotus than I can shake a stick at (including two Evora’s). I love them. I get them. Friends who have been out in them think they’re great, but then buy the Porsche anyway (because they’re also great). I think Lotus Marketing strategy is going to have to be more revolutionary than their car design if they want to sell in the numbers they’re suggesting. They have to somehow change the perception of Lotus to the non-enthusiast. Porsche - High quality German precision engineering. Lotus - One step up from a kit car. I know it’s not fair, but it is reality.

The racer instinct took over. See the gap, go for it… He’d have pulled it off if it wasn’t for that inadvertent switch press while swerving around Perez.

Monaco qualifying is fun to watch though! Perhaps they should leave it at that.

Will it be your first Lotus?

Hamilton is doing to Red Bull what he did to Ferrari in 2017 & 2018. I’m not convinced the Merc is a quicker race car than the Red Bull, Bottas can’t get close to Verstappen and while he may not be in Hamilton’s league (or Verstappen’s) he is a very quick driver by any other measure. The difference is Hamilton, and I still don’t think he gets all the credit he deserves. If he has the best car, he just runs away with it. If he doesn’t have the best car he stays in the fight. It’s his ability to manage his tyres better than everyone else, whilst lapping more quickly than everyone else that sets him apart.

In England, why do we even care?

He’s already said he plans to be around next season. 100 wins is the next target. Extraordinary driver.

What’s the point of sending a gun boat if it’s not going to shoot things?

If the French have a dispute with the U.K, why pick on Jersey? It’s not even part of the U.K. It’s a self governing parliamentary democracy.

When I got pulled a few years ago for having an illegally small front plate on an Elise, the copper said he wasn’t going to let me drive it until it was rectified. Fortunately I had a full size plate in the boot so swapped them over. He waited while I did this and then let me leave without issuing the ticket.

Did he let you continue your journey with your illegal number plates? If so he wasn’t a total cock.

I could live with dct My Evora 400 was auto and I thought it was epic, I didn’t miss the manual at all. An Emira at less than £60k would be mighty tempting.

Paint osmosis on a 2014 Evora. I didn't realise this also afflicted the Evora, especially such a late one. Is it evidence of a previous repair as I've not seen this on an Evora before?

The car would have had the soft top as standard and the hard top would have been a cost option, so if a hard top was ordered it would have been in addition to the soft top. It’s always possible though that a previous owner sold the soft top as they’re always in demand from Exige owners wanting to do a soft top conversion.

Yep, credit where it’s due to Perez, fantastic performance particularly given that qualifying isn’t his strong point - just shows that Red Bull still have the fastest car. Max clearly made a mistake on his fastest lap which would have seen him on pole. No excuses from him afterwards 👍 Should be a good race. Hamilton vs the faster Red Bulls. I’m sure Hamilton is genuinely relishing the prospect. Hopefully RB will let Perez race for the win rather than just try and use him to disrupt Hamilton’s race.