MPx

Are you still going for a convoy in Ian? If so, what time at the services?

I've used JLR main dealers in the past until I'd worked around the 3 nearest me in the south west. I kept going until I caught them out in a lie. Once the trust has gone there's no second chance. So Matford Exeter; then Yeovil; then Taunton. Being JLR my cars also broke when away from home - a proper try on by Stratstones Solihull who tried to tell me I needed over £4k of work doing on something I'd just paid Matford to do 3 months earlier. Obvs I got Matford involved and that work miraculously was no longer required and the problem solved by replacing a split pipe. Similarly a much more trivial try on on parts from Syntner Coventry meant they are also forever blacked. Fortunately I also found a good indie locally (now sadly ceased trading) an OK one that I used for three years but was never quite comfortable with, and now a wonderful indie about 90 miles away in Gloucestershire. Its transformative when you get to speak to the person doing the work who clearly knows what they're doing and you get to see the bits they're talking about. When Fs Suzuki went end of life Exeter Suzuki who'd looked after it for a decade claimed it would cost over £4k to get it through an MOT so not financially viable - but they'd help us out and take it off our hands for £200 if I bought a new one off them. So I trailered it to a local 4x4 specialist. It did indeed need work for the MoT - cost me £400 and we ran it for another 6 months until the new i3 we ordered turned up. Then sold it through Motorway for £2700. Its a damning indictment on the industry that I not only have to deal with the garages for our cars, but also for most of the single women in the family circle (Mum, sister-in-law, family friend) because they have learnt that they can't trust anything they're told and are very likely to get ripped off. So am I of course, so its not purely mysogynistic but that side just makes it worse. Moral of the story...if you can find a proper engineer/mechanic who loves his cars then treat him well ...

Done but think its very poorly argued - opportunity missed I suspect. Just saying its expensive doesn't necessarily warrant any change. Making a case for keeping the classic car industry in business contributing £nMillion to the economy - or could contribute to basic transport for the beleagered in a cost of living crisis - or something other than just "it seems a bit pricey to me..."

More than welcome Mark - just hope that the cars behave this year so that you get a proper feel. Esprit not run in yet from its rebuild so likely in the M100, but we'll see how it goes.

I've not missed one in over 30 years Mark - always great fun, more so if its sunny than wet but always good anyway. Usually a few hundred Lotus there so loads to gawp at - track places for 100 in groups of 12. So its not crowded and makes for a very gentle intro to track driving as there's a no overtaking in the corners or braking areas rule - passing by consent on the right only. There's always a couple of numpties who break the rules (and get black flagged) and others that think if they don't let you pass they are faster drivers/faster cars - conveniently forgetting the "by consent" rule. But generally a very friendly and considerate crowd and a great way to get the feel of track driving. You don't really need to do much prep to your car - obvs check coolant/oil/fuel/tyre pressures - I just make them spot on Lotus spec for fast road driving - leave any "tuning" for a proper track day. The sessions are less than 15 mins on track typically 7 or 8 laps - that will probably be plenty long enough to work up a bit of a sweat but not long enough to beat up your car. If you do more than the minimum 2 sessions, you will get through a lot of fuel so take the hit on weight and fill up before you get there. The worse bit is queuing for the track - can become very tedious between about 11 and 3. There's proper instructors there happy to help for a charity donation...or if you just want a very basic guide I'd be happy to show you round - you passenger in mine and/or I'll passenger in yours.

Probably best not to mention the girl thing to any of the Chiefs...

I'll be at Castle Combe with Club Lotus that day - a much bigger event for Lotus owners I suspect...

I suspect it will depend on how succesful it is on the day. If they get all the fezzas,macers,lambos etc that they want then Lotus will be at the edge of the car park outside and no one will give a toss if/when we go. If Lotus turn out to be the stars of the show and some are put inside for some reason (not expecting that other than Hendy's!) then I think there will be a committment to the close of the show - but if we're the pinnacle of the turn out then it may well close early anyway. The organisers for the Silverstone Classic always say no car movement on site from public opening until closing time, but in practice cars are coming/going all day and I just p off home when I'm ready. Its a hard thing to stop really.

Yes...and also its the Leaf that has the poorest reputation for battery deg as well as the type 1 connector - the old ones are cheap because no one wants one. But in better news it seems I'm not the only data point on singing the i3's praises. There's at least two of us. This posted on SpeakEV yesterday: Todays date Jan 2024. Am based in Wales United Kingdom. My car BMW i3 is 2014 60Ah Rex. This little Gem has just passed 211,000 miles (339,000 km). Car has been absolutely amazing so far. Still on original battery & a set of original factory brakes. Full BMW service history. In Winter I still get 60 miles + from battery. Use slow granny charger every night.

Just got my ticket, so see ya there.

Funnily enough Mark I went on the Sunday the year before you, so I too missed the main Club Lotus run on the Saturday. Did enjoy seeing many of his cars though and the "dark-side-of-the-moon" helicopter on the front lawn. In fact it was a bit awkward for me in that it is billed as an "open garden" and I went with Fran and friends who are not car people but who like gardens - oops! No noticeable "gardens" on view but lots of exotic machinery parked in various fields and natural spaces. I tried to save the day with an impromptu "good better best" in the style of the Antiques Road Show. Got the other three to have a go at which order for the F40, F1 GTR, 250GTO parked near the helicopter. I looked up recent auctions while they were looking/thinking and came up with £1.2M, £18M, £40M. None of them got the right order even though I gave them the values!! Not sure I'll go again - but may get tempted nearer the time. I'll keep an eye on here.

As I see it, both the UK and US are doomed to ever more divisive leadership until we change our constitutions and get away from the two party system. The history of periods of tenure suggest that the majority of voters are slightly right of centre - so there's a natural (albeit slight) bias to the policies of the Tories and Republicans. Labour and Democrats tend to get in when a) they overtly move their policies a bit to the right and b) the Tories/Republicans get so drunk on power they lurch further to the right and corruption making themselves unelectable. For the voters its a rock and hard place. Vote for sleezebags more likely to implement policies aimed at individual prosperity and enterprise while lining their own pockets and overseeing atrocities, or vote for a more woke regime of big state, huge "welfare", high spend, high tax and little chance or incentive to take responsibility for yourself and "get on". No other choices exist - increasingly no middle ground and no third way. Well not until the Chinese take over anyway.

Yeah...obviously I've read all about the physics too. I'd be interested to know how many i3 batteries have actually failed within 10 years vs how many BMW ICE have failed within the same time frame. My guess is very very few of either although I have no verified stats on that - there's certainly been no press scare mongering on i3 batteries that I'm aware of. Yet there's no end of people saying that "the batteries WILL fail, that's just the physics" whereas no-one is saying your ICE will fail - we all know it might but just accept we're unlucky if it does. And as you know, I'm not arguing about EVs regularly used for 400 mile journeys and regular fast charging I'm arguing about the other end of typical journey length (what most people do in their other car) and slow rate home chargers.

Ok...so my worse case of a valueless i3 in 10 years costs me a same as other non-descript cars would have done. IF (as I suspect given the number of 2014 i3s still on the road and the total lack of scandal headlines of kaput batteries) it actually lasts me longer, then obvs the annual costs decline further.....PCPs go the other way. And while I understand your reasoning Tony - especially as you're in the industry - we all know that PCP is a more expensive way of car ownership than other methods if you have average luck as that's how the companies involved remain profitable.

I know you and many others are - and of course that sets expectations in itself. I'm more open minded. I've seen nothing over the first 6 years that suggests the i3 is aging any quicker than ICE...but maybe it'll fall off a cliff, we'll see. I'll cetainly still have it then to find out.

As I've said before is horses for courses. Many of us have more than one car, including the relatively less well off as can be seen whenever you go around a "modern" housing estate where the planning logic was if we don't allow for any parking spaces people won't have cars ... only they do and are so densely parked its hard actually use the streets. Not all cars in the stable need to have a range of 400 miles or more. It remains the case that the most common journeys for most people are actually under 10 miles and that sort of distance or less is pretty much as bad as it can be for ICE in terms of efficiency/polution/and longevity. An EV, on the other hand, excels at 10mile and less journeys. We've had the i3 coming up 6 years this summer. It replaced a Suzuki Jimny 1.3 petrol - which was a great fun and capable car but not very frugal ~35mpg. It was serviced/mot'd annually at the main stealer which typically came to £3-400. We did about 4k miles in it per year. It depreciated to 30% of what I initially paid for it over 10 years - amzing! The i3 gets a service every 2 years and both so far have been under £300 even at BMW prices - that's basically because they don't do anything other than replace the brake fluid. They do the MOT for £45. We charge up overnight at our rate off peak rate of 15p/kWhr and with our usage (still 4k/yr) we only need to do so once or sometimes twice a week. Looking at values it appears to have depreciated about 50% over the 6 years - but we did buy it new instead of at 1 year old like the Jimny. I keep my cars a long time because I don't like taking the depreciation hit - if this one lasts 10 years (against the odds given all the gloom an doom merchants about battery deg) and then I have to throw it away - then it will have cost me £3k/year. I can live with that and in practice I expect it still to have some value. What does a £250 pcp buy you?

I disagree with the feelings here Mike. I think its all down to luck and how long you're prepared to wait for a sale. I follow quite a few of the DVLA auctions and most stuff gets bid much higher than I expect. My advice to those buying is always to try to find something suitable on the DVLA site (not auction) as they're typically very low price including transfer/vat/etc. The worst place are the big agencies (RegTransfers, Elite, Newplate, etc) who advertise at eyewatering levels and clearly don't sell much as the same plates are advertised for years on end. As Lotus start to move into the volume business I'm sure a reg like yours will appeal to a new convert - so its just a matter of how you're going to find them and how soon they come along. I doubt you'll get anywhere near £1k as the letters are wrong - needs to be a 1 not 2 and a U not V for proper money, but I'd expect £500+ to be achievable.

Its no big deal Tony just do it online - read the guides, do what you think is right inline with the guides and get it to the stage where it works out your tax bill. If the result seems reasonable submit your form. If it doesn't go to an accountant and get more advice (at a cost). I've no idea why some of us get selected, but despite all of my income being on a PAYE basis forever, I've had to fill in a tax return every year for as long as I can remember...as has my wife...as has my Mum who has been on a FIXED pension for many years. I just regard it as a complete waste of everyone's time (particularly mine) but I assume we must fall into some kind of high risk group for some reason. The calc usually works out to within +-£5 of what we've paid so you'd think they'd back off, but it doesn't happen.

Absolutely agree and very conscious of what I do. We've had more than one tragedy in the family through accidents so its not something I'm delusional about at all (in an "it never happen to me" way). I'm also a biker so really pressing my luck...

Guilty as charged, but I'd proffer a different view. We all have a different set of experiences, different personal capabilities and drive machines with different capabilities. I make mistakes at 20 or 30mph let alone faster but have had enough experience and luck over 40 years of driving ca 20k miles a year to have survived and not killed anyone else. That informs what level of risk I'm prepared to take and I can't stand the "if it saves one life" lobby who'd have us all locked up at home wrapped in cotton wool to avoid any potential risk. Nevertheless, I do see risks materialise so its not a complacent position just where I judge is an OK place for me to be. In a similar vein, I'm quite quick on track compared to normal road drivers who have little or no track experience. However against those with both track experience and skill I'm a tortoise and moving road block vs their supreme car control. I don't consider the faster drivers nutters and I can see that they can repeatedly drive around the corners at a speed where I'd be in the tyre wall. We tend to judge on what we feel ourselves - but that is itself different for all of us.

Wording on mine is it needs to be in my garage between 10pm and 6am if within a mile of home. ie Further afield when we're away would be insured as normal.

I gave up F1 after the Masi debacle. Not missed as much as I expected. Enjoy watching the bike racing more...

Two things come to mind. There's a very thin vac pipe top left of the engine when stood at the front - can easily come loose and cause a hesitation. Also the cats on an S2 (particularly the precat) are known to self destruct and block the exhaust flow - similar loss of performance. The guys on LEC will have more and better info/ideas

The Hunter was one of the prettiest of the fighters, but my schoolboy top trumps favourite was the English Electric Lightening - Mach 2+ (Mach 1 vertical climb!) and >60k ft ceiling. Awesome for the period, and the only thing that could catch Concorde in tests.