NG5

I remember it well. I actually worked as a bin man in the summer holidays when a student on village rounds near Skipton. It was actually a sought after summer job at the time because unlike most summer jobs that paid reduced rates to students, the bins paid full wage. There was a definite knack to getting the bin on your shoulder, you sort of threw it up rather than lifted. Not difficult when you knew how, but occasionally, rather than the bin flying to your shoulder, your shoulder would fly to an unmoving bin. Fortunately, every round had a man mountain on the team who you would call over, he would then lift if up effortlessly while giving you a look which said "you are so pathetic not being able to pick up such a featherweight bin". A very different time.

I would hardly call it a big change. The paper copy has had no legal standing for a long time and when buying a car the advise has been to check MOT history on line and not to trust the paper copy as it might be forged. The article seems to imply that they will still print the paper version if you ask for it. It also gives you the opportunity to ask for the corner weight print out which are now measured for the brake test, which hardly anyone gives out as standard.

I've never seen this particular one, nor fitted a high torque starter to an esprit. But I have fitted high torque starters to various competition cars. You normally only need to fit a high torque starter when you have increased the compression to such an extent that the standard starter starts to struggle to turn the engine over fast enough. On an unmodified car they are overkill, if the standard starter is working fine. This one also seems particularly expensive.

I have to 100% agree with you. I no longer need the flexibility/space of the daily hack I've been using, an Astra 1.4T and I've been toying with the idea of a Evora as a daily for a while. A couple of weeks ago saw a 400 on line that ticked most boxes, and wondered what the insurance would be. Went to the usual comparison sites, quotes came back almost exactly the same as for the Astra which I only renewed about a month ago! Go figure! Bog standard hatchback worth less than 10k v an Evora 400 worth about 50K. Quotes were on the same basis. Bizarre

Quite a lot I hope as I'm about to hit that number later this year. Still healthy, fit(ish), active, feeling and doing much the same as I did many years ago.

C8RKH, think long and hard before going to bed tonight. Statistically far more people die in bed than anywhere else... It's a very dangerous place.

Came across this list of lotus dealers in 1970 on fleabay (that someone snapped up before I bid) As far as I can make out not one of them still are. Mind you that could probably be said of ford or vauxhall dealers from 1970.

You could try these people, they specialise in historic belts http://fdts-seatbelts.co.uk/Services.htm If looking S/H or ebay I belive they are the same as fitted to Jags of the period.

The biggest part of enforcement is not being able to easily buy them in the 1st place. To get an "E" mark moulded on the tyres they have to conform, if they don't no one sells them. It's illegal to fit non "E" marked tyres so finding a fitter to do so is not easy but like anything if you try hard enough someone would fit them. Interestingly it's not an MOT failure to have non "E" marked tyres. Driving on non "E" marked tyres is a grey area as the law only refers to fitting, but probably would have insurance implications in an accident.

Thartje Thanks for the extensive list but I have to assume you are in the US, sadly the only tyres on that list currently on sale in the UK are the BF Goodrich which are being sold by a US show car tyre specialist. But even they are not "E" marked so not legal to be fitted for road use in the UK. The Ventus and Kumho were on sale a while ago, but unfortunately no longer. I think the EU and UK tyre noise limits are probably to blame. Getting good tyres in small wheel sizes is getting harder and harder over here.

Tell me more. Not aware of any road legal 245/50x16 in the UK or even the EU at any speed rating. A few 245/45x16 but getting less and less. Same goes for the fronts 215/50x15, a few 225/50 and a few 205/50 but almost all of them are VR rated not ZR

And, ACO to Host Hydrogen Demonstration at Le Mans https://sportscar365.com/lemans/lemans24/aco-to-host-hydrogen-demonstration-at-le-mans/ For both fuel cell and ICE hydrogen cars

Hydrogen-fuelled diggers to be allowed onto highways https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2024/03/27/hydrogen-powered-diggers-to-be-allowed-to-use-highways/ The JCBs in question are Hydrogen ICE, not fuel cells btw.

The Dino/Europa body was moulded from an actual Dino, after making his body he sold the mould to someone else who then used it for one of the better Dino kits (although I think that had been arranged in advance). On his now defunct website he had scale drawings of a Dino and Europa Superimposed on each other the similarities in key dimensions were amazing, wheelbase, interior width, distance from front axle to driver etc. The outer shell is Dino, the inner shell modified Europa, the interior, engine, chassis, suspension etc. stock Europa, even the dash fits. He used to take it to both Lotus and Ferrari meets and at one time it had both Ferrari prancing horse and the lotus round badge on the rear, although I see the lotus badge has disappeared from that set of photos. Change of owner perhaps?

You could always combine the 2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/39860650@N02/51934410170/ A twin cam europa with a dino body. Done many years ago by David Mirylees. He used to have a great website explaining how he did it but sadly that no longer seems to exist.