JetSet

Yeah, one of the places I visited to test drive a 350Z has also closed. Red Rose Motors in Chester were the main dealers for Nissan but lost the franchise around 2006. Red Rose had been there ever since I can remember (mid 60's) and were well known as they ran their own racing team for many years. When I had my Lotus I used to get parts for it from them as they were the main Renault dealers back in the 70's, my Europa had a 1470 cc Renault engine in it . I think they switched to Suzuki for a while but a quick look on google maps shows their premises to be abandoned now. Pete

Not unless they lose the franchise. The main Honda dealer around here, 2 Mills, lost their franchise a couple of years ago and shortly after closed down. They'd been there for donkeys years (at least 50) and had been selling Hondas since the 1980's. I think its a furniture shop now. http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/local-news/two-mills-honda-stripped-branding-5172668 Pete

Me neither, mainly because it's difficult to see around them if you have to reverse out, the Zed being so low and all that. You also have to keep in mind that the vast majority of owners of these monstrosities are not car nuts like us on here, they are either status symbols (mainly) or work horses (sadly not too many). Pete

Condensation is the number one culprit. I tried scattering silica gell bags around the cockpit but that made little or no difference. I suppose a 2 minute blast from a hair dryer would do the trick (providing you don't melt the CD ) Pete

Funny you should say that. A few years ago I was touring The States in an RV and was staying in a National Park in Utah. Spaces on the RV only camp site were highly sought after, only about 30 pitches, and we had to get there pretty early in the morning to get ours. Later in the day we decided to go and visit another National Park that was nearby. Worried that someone would steal my place I asked the Park Ranger what I should do, he said just put a deck chair on your space to show its reserved. We did that but when we got back the deck chair had been nicked . We told the ranger who was amazed, he said, I doubt if there's an RV on this park worth less than $50k why on earth someone would nick a $10 deck chair is beyond me. Anyway, we had to replace the deck chair (it was rented together with the RV) and it cost us $8 from Wal-Mart . Pete

What mods do you have installed that Nissan got funny about? 6k for a clutch is poor Poor is something of an understatement . Pete

Saw this the other day in ASDA, young child throwing his door open onto the car parked next to them. Mum advised him to be more careful and left it at that. Older people aren't much better, after my Dad died I used to take my Mum to the shops once a month and she put a really nice dent in my door when she threw it open onto the wall in her driveway and I'd left her plenty of room to get out....This was obviously before I had my Zed. Pete

Yes, I've replaced my battery twice and Caroline's once....all three times in the middle of winter . Lack of use in my case as well. Pete

Yes, I know exactly where that spot is, I sometimes see a 911 parked in it . I park near to where the recycling bins used to be, quite a hike up to the entrance though. Pete

Update..... Caroline has her pre-op in the morning. The operation has been scheduled for Thursday morning. I'll update again on Thursday evening. Pete

Good luck, I'm sure she'll make a full recovery. I see her on my way to work most days. Think I saw you in her Z last week or so. Some damage on the lower offside wing? Yes, got hit or should I say tapped by an Arriva Bus. All fixed now. BTW, Roadster doors are impossible to get hold of, luckily ours was repairable Pete

You guys must post a lot of photos! . My limit is 2 GB and I have 472 photos which take up 23% of the available space. Joined PB back in 2010. Pete

Adrian Sutil, he's German, experienced, talented and without a drive. Then there's a number of other drivers, Pierre Gasly, GP2 Champion for example. Pete

I doubt they'll look past Wehrlein, he was Mercedes reserve driver and I'm pretty sure that Mercedes paid in part for his seat at Manor (and he's German). Bottas or The Hulk would have been good choices but both are on contract. Button and Alonso, no chance. Pete

Rosberg has announced his retirement!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38185846 Pete

1958 Mike Hawthorn, won 1 race, Strirling Moss won 4 that year. Won a total of 3 GP's in his career 1982 Keke Rosberg won one race (out of 16). Won a total of 5 GP's in his career. Button won 7 races in his championship year. Pete

I believe he's a worthy champion. He's clearly had a bit of luck on his side and drives what is without doubt the best car but he's won 23 GP's, the same number as 3 times champion Nelson Piquet and just 2 less than another 3 times champion Niki Lauda. Hamilton is a massive talent, IMHO one of the top 5 drivers of all time and I'm certain he'll win at least one more championship, he might even surpass some of Schumi's records ! Pete

1k isn't too bad really, I paid 1.2k back in 1993 for a top of the range Escom 486 66mhz with a 256k graphics card, a 100mb hard drive and a massive 1mb of memory . Mind you, it did come in a massive tower and had two floppy drives. I still have the tower it came in . I believe the Tandon 386 16mhz , my first PC bought in 1991, set me back £1250. My next PC was a Viglen in 1995, I think it was a Pentium 120, the 17" monitor that I specified added another £500+ to the price , came out at around 2 grand. Pete

Just a few really Waiting for the rain - Manfred Mann's Earthband and Younger Days - Spys plus When you're Gone -Avril Lavigne Pete

Just a quick update. We went to see the cancer surgeon today, he confirmed that the tumour is fairly small and according to him, the MRI scan has revealed no further anomalies. It will require some fairly complex surgery and reconstruction and a six week course of radiotheraphy. The surgeon hopes to do the operation within the next 2-3 weeks and estimates that Caroline will need to stay in hospital for no more than 3 days if things go smoothly. Further updates when I have more news and once again thanks for your kind messages. Pete

Thanks for all of your kind words and thoughts, I'll pass them on to Caroline shortly. Pete

What amuses me is that The U.S is really in line for the worst effects of climate change. Rising Sea levels, well Goodbye Florida, Louisiana, more Hurricanes, Tornados', droughts and forest fires, floods and blizzards. Places like Phoenix and Las Vegas will be untenable when Lake Mead and Lake Powell dry up and they are at historically low levels right now, not to mention temperatures as high as 45 degrees for weeks on end. On top of that and nothing to do with Trump they build huge cities right on top of major fault lines or next to the most dangerous fault line in the world The Cascadia subduction zone or in the middle of deserts . http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one Pete

The players you mention came from a very different economic and social era, it was the pit or success at football. This was a time when there was ZERO investment in sport, far less football, so investment is not the cause. These players were from a generation that, if you got a Mitre size 5 for Crimbo, you were everyone's best mate , we would kick that ball about until it disintegrated, then it was back to playing football with a worn out tennis ball and everyone was out in the street playing football, not on social media or playstations, the days when a Wimpey was an exotic, expensive take away Point taken, you would have thought that the vast wealth in the game these days would be attractive but apparently not, the talent is there but it just isn't being exploited. Pete

I find it very sad that Scotland no longer produces players of the class of Souness, Dalglish, Bremner, Lorimar, Jordan, Law plus many, many more and hasn't done so for donkeys years. I don't know what's gone wrong as Scotland has some great Athletes, Swimmers, Golfers and Andy Murray , this at a time when Wales enjoyed great success at Euro 2016. You would expect England to be too strong for Scotland but in a one off game like this you never know. Pete

I have to report to you all that my wife Caroline has recently had an exploratory operation which revealed a malignant tumor attached to the bone of her nose. Today, she has had an MRI scan which should reveal exactly what the doctors are dealing with and the next stage will involve removal of the tumor, some rebuilding of the nose and some minor skin grafts. This will according to the ENT specialist possibly be followed up by a course of radiotherapy. Caroline is obviously very frightened but is bearing up pretty well considering. Many on here will have met Caroline at various times and I'm sure that everyone here will wish her a speedy recovery. I will keep you updated with her progress in this thread. Cheers, Pete