Sport 160

For gaffer-tape-enabled DIY mechanics; Lots Of Taped Up Shit. I've got several more based around the word "organ" which are more disturbing than funny...

I've got a set of winter tyres for my sensible winter commuter. I'll keep the Elise on it's summer tyres and just take it out for an occasional run over winter (I hate not driving it and get really twitchy if I go without if for a few days). My sensible winter commuter is a turbo MX5 with a roll cage. Winter tyres for it are £40, wheels were £50 for a set and it is amazing in the snow. Never gets stuck and I don't care much if something happens to it. Also it means I can run silly track day tyres on it all summer. There is a huge difference in grip with the winter tyres on, but on the other hand I did 20 years of commuting without them and didn't die or crash once, not even the decade I spent driving MR2s.

Nissan missed a trick by not fitting yellow plastic windows.

When reading motoring stuff on the internet nothing makes me angry faster than "RPMs", except maybe "RPM's". It makes me want to kill. When I was working in the US it annoyed me even more than dropping the "h" or "herb". Now I'm back in the UK and work with a woman who punctuates everything with the word "like". As though someone once told her about similies and she only remembered one word of the explanation. She is like standing there and like speaking drivel from like her massive stupid face, right, yeah and like belming. Hateful.

How do these carbon taxes affect the soft drinks industy? I can hear the CO2 emissions every time I open a can of coke...

So who is forth in the current constructors championship then? They used to be in F1...

I think in 100 years people will either be so plugged in to the matrix that they won't have a clue what was real 100 years ago, or they will be recovering from the petroleum wars and will have no idea what our life was like. Which one it is pretty much depends on whether non-Einsteinian technology can suddenly give us energy from total conversion of mass (or something else magic) before the oil runs out. >awaits ridicule after 100 year thread bump in 2111<

I think published specifications have to be correct to avoid angry litigeous customers. There are laws about it and everything. I lost 500g just from typing that. Fact* * internet facts do not represent actual facts, no real weight loss implied from this typing exercise regime. Value of weight can go up as well as down. Consult your doctor before commiting to any typing exercise program.

You'd have to be insane to expect changing the density of the fibres to change the density of the resin. Anyone with realistic expectations wouldn't expect a dramatic weight difference from the finished part. However, the fibres are lighter, so the parts will be lighter. They will also be more sparkly/bling, which I suspect is what sells a lot of carbon products.

Density of carbon fibres = 2.0g/cc Density of glass fibres (E-glass) = 2.55g/cc Density of glass fibres (S-glass) = 2.49g/cc http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=764

Aren't test tracks one way? So moving "out of your lane" means going on to the grass - it's the same for everyone. What an odd complaint. If you regularly see "Porsche, Lambo, Ferrari are all over the centerline" when driving on roads then maybe the drivers are drunk, rather than it being an inherent and undiscovered flaw with all thier cars which only Lotus have solved. From driving my Landrover this morning it seems that even vague steering 4x4s on off road tyres can stick to their own lane. Porsche, Lambo and Ferrari clearly have a lot to learn.

Update: It turns out on of the pins inside the connector to the back of the light had failed. New connector and all is well again.

Nuts, you beat me to it, I just found that very link and came back here to post it. It's cheating to post up a picture of the plane with the engines and wings removed Edit to add: Uglier with the engine and wings though....

What is that? I must know.

I freed off a seized clutch in an old 3-series by wedging the pedal down and leaving it for a day or two, after which is worked as normal. No idea how long it actually took though. I did the same thing in half an hour on another 3-series by wedging the clutch pedal down and running the engine to warm everything up - the clutch released but not until after the pile of dry leaves under the car had caught fire. So the wedge it and wait method is definitely my favourite.

Twice now I've been on my way to buy one of these because they are such amazing things, but not managed to get within 20 feet of it before realising I'd look like an idiot in it: Also I badly want one of these but couldn't live with the council/barge shame: And while I'd have one of these in my dream garage I'd have to fill it up at home from jerry cans because I couldn't bear talking to people at petrol stations about it. Yes it's a bit ugly. Yes it's just an old 75 in expensive clothes. Yes it's a bit ugly. Did I mention the ugly? Still love it though: At the weekend I agreed to go halves on a 2-door classic Impreza Typre R with a friend, but we both agreed to tell everyone it wasn't our's but belonged to the other one. While they are great to drive and we love the noise neither of us owns a backwards hat. I even said I'd only drive it wearing greasy overalls so I look like I'm fixing it for the real owner. A friend has access to an E-type, but only drives it wearing a tweed hat and big sunglasses so no one knows it's him.

After the restart was one of the best F1 races i've ever seen. Button coming from 21st and 6 pit stops to win was amazing, but Shumi's long stint in 2nd place before finally dropping to 4th also had me on the edge of my seat. So much tension after such a dull two hour break. I feel sorry for Shumi, I'm not a huge fan, but that would have been a fairytale result for him. I was at Silverstone for MotoGP, which was a bit dull. And also wet. Watching F1 on the BBC was the highlight of my weekend.

Cheers for that, I'll have a good rummage around at the weekend.

Hello, I've just had the first issue with my Elise that I haven't been able to fix with no effort on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The rear left indicator doesn't work. No flashing when indicating or with the hazards on, but the bulb is fine, as is the bulb holder (lots of swapping good bulbs from other cars yesterday). So it's a wiring problem. Unfortunately electricity is like magic to me and I haven't a clue what to check next. In any other car I'd jump a wire from the front indicators under the interior carpet, but thats a massive bodge, and besides, it's an Elise, so a bit short on carpet. So, S1 Elise rear indicator wiring suggestions - please? Don't make me go to a dealer with such a pathetic problem...

USAndretti42 - Both Elans were front engined. I thinks that's what bffd meant by "front engined".

You're forgetting Mclaren (production car manufacturer), Wiliams (co-developing the new Jag/Williams hybrid), Caterham (part of the same empire as Team Lotus) and another car company with F1 involvement whose name escapes me.

No Fitz, just before we left people in Micras and stuff confused our line up of Lotuseses/Loti for a car park, drove over the criket pitch to park up then wandered off. I was expecting this sort of response from the school

I hate it too, but it depends why they are advertising. If it's a wife-inspired sale he might want the advert to be deliberately off-putting so they can keep it, yet with plausible deniability when he shows her the ad.

It was nice meeting you guys, some ace cars there too. While you lot were downing coffee I was trying to decide which one I'd most like to drive home in. I gave up in the end, too close to call. I had an amazing drive home too, one of those drives where there is no traffic except for slow moving cars at the start of long, empty well-sighted straights. Thanks to Bibs for organising it, and to the school for not minding that lesser cars started parking all over their field too...

I'll see if I can sneak off work a little early. No crumble for me though. I know Matt well, his school things are excellent fun, and I did a "Nurburgring for pennies" trip with him for the 911 magazine he wrote for. How do you know him?