MPx

As above - any one of many show plate companies just google show plates. If you basically want legal plates but just less hassle in getting them, then make sure you tick the boxes for standard size, standard font, and have the BS code shown. You can legally do quite a bit with borders and badgesif you want, but fonts character size and spacing can get you pulled. IMO always look nicer stuck on with pads rather than screwed.

First part of your sentence gives you your own answer. i3 is a brill car as part of "a fleet". For us, vast majority of journeys are <10 miles round trip (there and back to each of the three nearest village/towns - so ideal for that. Also ideal for anything shorter where petrol/diesel never warms up and gets into all kinds of trouble if you do it often. Anything over 30 mins is nicer in the Rangey anyway - so right car for the job. Max journey it does is 45 miles each way to F's sister's. Therefore we never public charge - we have a few times just to try it and its pants. Also the i3 in particular has clever battery management software so you don't need to worry about only charging to 80% and don't worry about degredation. We use a 3 pin plug (new one put in specifically for it) and it charges from ~50% to 100% overnight without any trouble - cheap if you're on economy 7 or similar, but not too bad on full price. I would caution against a REX though. If you need the range you need a different car. And the REX is the bit that seems to cause any poor reliability that some, particularly early ones, pick up. The car is lighter and faster without it.

Just booked my test drive for 10/10. Exeter are doing three days a week and seems to be reasonable availability at the mo.

Shell v-power household.... Works for me.

Some, like Mark, go for the full 3 days every year. I usually do just one. I'd say this one was less well supported by the clubs than in the past and it was missing the top end. A few years back, Porkers filled 4 fields - they had abut 40 cars there this time, I've previously seen a whole field of Mc'ers but only one car this year - and that on Sporting Bears. No Lambos that I noticed. Fezzas down to about 30 cars. No TVR club but a handful around other places. On the upside, Maserati were better than normal and Lotus excellent - maybe the 75th influence. The classic racing on track was as good s ever. And access to the pits was, as always, better even than Goodwood. Interesting that the Auction was "Iconic Auctions" and not Silverstone Auctions this year - some of the cars not up to the best standard, not seen that before. I agree that three days would be hard work, but the guys that do it seem to go for the ambience/evening music entertainment as much as the car stuff and find it good value.

Yeah was there today (Sat) and had a good time other than during the odd downpour. Didn't see you Filip, but managed to shake hands and catch up with a few others including Ady (GT3), Ray (Elise), Kathryn(Elan), Matt(EspritS1), Nick(between Evora and Emira i4), Chris(M100). The Lotus pitch was the stand out grouping of the club stands as confirmed by on pitch media interviews by Ant Anstead, then Brewer and MarcP, and finally even Jodie Kidd! The turnout was helped by combining Club Lotus and Lotus Drivers Club on one pitch, but they counted over 180 at one point which is more than I've seen in any previous years. Most of us made it to the "parade". A bizarre event where you queue chaotically for over an hour then finally get waved onto the track for nearly a whole lap before queuing to come off the circuit. Regardless it was great to see so many Lotus and to be part of the best display. The pitch I was lucky enough to be introduced to Ed who was part of the event team contributing footage for the Silverstone media and he came round the circuit with me filming so hopefully something from the Lotus parade will appear on their event media soon. This is my tiny part of the track queue (Kathryn's fella's Elan is behind). And then there were those I missed, but saw their cars, incl: Rambo Pete (NM) ...and just like at Goodwood ... no24 was there, but no Paul Also interesting to see the winning Pikes Peak Radford. Bizarrely Brewer tried to claim some sort of kudos from it through his Anstead link as part of his nonsense on the club stand, but I dont think anyone fell for it. And it was stood next to a normal 62 in the paddock with which it didn't compare well in the looks department!

Yep, that certainly one of the reasons to do it. Bigger for me was a lack of viable options - LPG/Oil/Biomass or stupid expensive to run leccy solutions. If you can't have gas it makes the choice is less daft. And biggest plus for me is the way it heats the space. It is soooo much nicer having low temp flow underfloor heating giving the room a lovely even warmth with nowhere "hot" rather than piping hot radiators in incovenient positions giving rooms hot and cold spots. Have to admit it wasn't worth the money though!

a) yes in spades - if you want it to work well then you need a properly designed and integrated system... Ground Source HPs are considerably more expensive to install (total) than air source, but do have some advantages. b) yes - you dont go to a heatpump system on financial grounds, you do it for other reasons.

Yes that's true. In fact I only use mine to heat the water to 45 degrees as that's MUCH more efficient and once you're used to it is perfectly good for all normal stuff like long hot showers and washing up. The downside is that once a week you have to do a "Thermal Disinfection" which basically means running the immersion (or flange) heaters to heat the water to 65 degrees for a couple of hours to kill off any traces of legionaires (or anything else). Its programmed in (a specific program in my heat pump and I'd imagine similar in all the others) and happens automatically on Friday night at 2am - costs me about 8 units of overnight rate leccy.

Yes Keith, been several times - I've a mate who used to trial a bike, now a home made special car. The public parking is in a field starting at the top of the hill, but its quite steep going down towards the entry (left side) so more likely to get stuck the further down the hill you need to go. Back in the LEF days before TLF, Ian organised a meet there and at least half a doz of us were there in Esprits. I've been in both Esprit and Elan without issue, but not when its been deluge wet - just the odd shower/drizzle.

Thanks @pete that last post from Gerry1 is exactly what I'd hoped from the exchanges I had.

Currently under discussion ... would suit me best on the Sat but I may be required for chauffuer duty, in which case Sunday, but i wont go both days. Weather will also be relevant!

Well, as I said, I was told different after some questioning where the story kept changing (mainly about when exactly my off peak hours are - which is obvs not relevant here). Here's an extract from their original email which appears to confirm what you say Hi Mike, We need to exchange your meters with the latest smart meters. This is because your meters use the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS). The RTS switches your meters between peak and off-peak times and controls your heating and hot water. Then after a further exchange and in response to my direct question vis: It is not clear from your text if my dual rate metering (only) will continue to operate post March 2024 - can you confirm please? In regards to your query about the dual rate as your meters are for export they will remain as economy 7 set up where you will have the on and off peak times throughout the day. …and later Thanks for getting back to me, your off peak hours will not be effected by the clocks going forward or back and will be charged accurately to your current time zone via the eco 7 timer situated in the meter. …and then finally after another exchange after a different support person had spouted some obvious drivel Hi Mike, Thank you for your email and apologies for any confusion caused. I'll do my best to answer your questions. 1. The off-peak hours for Economy 7 have not changed from midnight - 7:00. It is still the same as it was when you joined Octopus. I apologise for any confusion caused by my previous response. 2. The off-peak hours for Economy 7 are set by the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in your area. Octopus Energy does not have control over the off-peak hours. 3. Your meter is updated automatically to reflect the off-peak hours set by the DNO. There is no need for anyone to come to your site to alter anything. The meter is programmed to switch between peak and off-peak rates at the appropriate times. I hope this helps to clarify things for you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let me know. So their story is that my metering will all still work post the RTS switch off – but any controls will not. Of course I have absolutely no confidence that the support staff actually have any idea what will happen and I could have got them to admit electricity grows on trees if I’d argued that way. But it will be interesting to see what happens. If it does stop switching post March ’24 I’ll obviously have to get a new meter to continue with economy 7 which by law will have to be “smart”, but they may have produced one that works most of the time by then so I’ll continue to hold out as long as poss.

Yes...I got that (RTS) explanation from Octopus about my economy 7 meter needing to be changed @Pete. But I asked questions about what would really stop happening. There will in fact be no impact on my economy seven metering. I'm told that the switches were used in some installations to trigger when eg Hot Water or Heating or similar would come on, so once RTS is switched off those functions would cease. In practice I've never heard of a domestic set up using RTS for controlling appliances - they've always been set using programmers/timers/thermostats - so there will actually be no change to function of my installation at all once RTS goes and I do not need to have a smart meter replacement. Your set up may be different of course, but I just saw it as another misinformation attempt to get as many more smart meters installed as possible with no benefit to the individual - much along the lines as the "it will save you money" bollocks.

Thanks for posting the pics @Sport220 . Cant believe I missed that blue Evija although I do remember walking down that row and seeing the pondlife coloured Roller in the next bay, so it was presumably out of its pit while I was there. Also distracted by a couple of the cars opposite (that weird logo in your pic) - some make I'd never heard of and now can't remember. Oh the joys of age!

TheToyota thing is a solid state (instead of liquid) battery tech that they've built successfully in their labs but not yet scaled and no details available about eg: degredation over time; degredation over charge cycles; degredation if left at high charge....or low charge...or indeed any of the many other gotchas that are constantly trotted out about the current lithium stuff.

No...but Scott told me today that many are about to be delivered to dealers all over the place so one will be availabe for a test drive near you within a few weeks.

Yes, hugely impressive stand - but, to me, disappointing that it only housed 3 Eletras and 1 Emira ... and a lot of empty floorspace. Also despite visiting everywhere ... I never saw an Evija or even a pit tent with an Evija label but no car - did they not take one this year? As ever, the quantity and quality of the cars available to gawp at from all makes was just incredible. Sadly for me though the event is now so popular that even the Thursday has become rammed with crowds and I'll not be going again until they introduce another (5th) and hopefully initially unpopular day for the anti social bar stewards like me. Having said that, great to catch up with Scott, good to see Clive with the Classic Team and half a dozen fantastic cars, and a pity I missed Paul if not his car

Filip, I booked using the Club Lotus code and the email I got linked to this page which mentions Lotus 75th anniversary parade for the Lotus Drivers Club and Club Lotus on the Saturday. Here I don't know if we actually have to apply for a spot, but from memory of doing it on a previous anniversary (2016?) we didn't, we just all queued up and waited before driving around slowly for a couple of laps. Q time considerably longer than track time!

I've been e-mailed about a 75th aniversary lunchtime parade lap at the Silverstone Classic....but that's nothing to do with Lotus' own celebrations.

Well that's almost exactly the same as my SVAD Rangie so a bit disappointing really, but with a few more horses will still be fun no doubt...

1,2,3 and 6 from that list for me....but also one of my nephew's has had a Taycan for a year or so and has sufferd loads of ag. (eg Several times hasn't even been able to unlock it to get in and use it - which I'm sure was annoying). In fact I still like the car but why suffer Porker ag when you can stick with Lotus?

Looked in really good shape Shaun - a credit to you. And mine was the only M100 - down from LEC's whole pitch last time. A shame there were so much fewer Lotus this year than last. There were probably more Mustangs than Lotus - very impressive turnout by them - and a huge number of colour coded ST/RS at various pitches. Good to catch up with Ian and Keith Loving that Eletra on the Hendy stand in green - Elliot gave me a good tour - locked in as my colour in my head/configurator if not the order book. Lots of other eye candy around and a rare first for me - never seen a Contera MD1 before, like the idea of the three seat config a la Maca F1...

Probably Keith, but I live in hope that the Esprit will be fixed and returned to me one day. Pete will be at LeMans this w/e so no point in calling, but he did say I should try him again sometime next week. I've booked the Esprit...but I did that last year and obvs had to take the M100 in the end! Not heard of many from LEC going this time, but I guess some are likely to.

I'll be picking up my friend Gary in Marston Magna on the way, very close to Haynes. What time are you boys planning to be there? I may be able to join in....