JetSet

Although I've never owned one I've thought about it from time to time. Wouldn't mind one of my old plates KDM 2K or YLG 2W. These still show on the DVLA site despite neither of them being taxed for over 20 years, I guess the log books were never returned . I also had a look for my initials but as I don't have a middle name the old style reg numbers (pre 1963) are very limited and very expensive Pete

Not made up my mind yet, but I don't think our routes would overlap anyway. Pete

If the bonnet is no longer with the car the easiest way to tell an HR is by the twin intakes Darn it, beat me to it Pete

Could be... http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/74914 ... lastic-Car Pete

Times from this mornings session..... 1 Raikkonen Lotus 1m19.670s 2 Di Resta Force India 1m19.772s +0.102 3 Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.219s +0.549 4 Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m20.694s +1.024 5 Kobayashi Sauber 1m21.353s +1.683 6 Webber Red Bull 1m21.474s +1.804 7 Button McLaren 1m22.366s +2.696 8 Massa Ferrari 1m22.815s +3.145 9 Kovalainen Caterham 1m23.178s +3.508 10 Maldonado Williams 1m23.371s +3.701 11 De la Rosa HRT 1m24.209s +4.539 Pete

Looks like they're fully booked for the 11th Pete

Amazing This is a trick that you can use with failed hard drives in certain circumstances. Sometimes the heads will stick and a good heat soaking (or a tap with a hammer) will free them up long enough to get any data off. Pete

I've only ever missed one day through bad weather, that was in December 1981 when a blizzard struck at midday on a Sunday and I was due at work at 3.00. Even guys on The Wirral which rarely gets snow were stuck as the drifts were up to 3 feet deep. In all, some 25 employees out of a workforce of 250 never made it to work the next day (including The general manager and the HR manager). It was decided as a one off not to penalise anyone as we had all used our holiday allowance for the year. However, we were told that if it happened again we would have to give up a days holiday even if it meant deducting a holiday from next years entitlement. Several of my friends who worked at British Steel couldn't get home and had to sleep over in work that day as just about every road was closed for several hours Pete

What time does this start? Thanks, Pete

Tein do make springs for the roadster horrendously expensive though Here's the price list from Tein U.K http://www.tein.co.uk/price/make/nissan.html Pete

Do you mean this one... Pete

I thought the handbrake was operated by a small drum at the rear? Pete

No, but I did seriously consider doing it in the early 70's. This was in the days before V.A.T so you could save yourself a considerable amount of money as you didn't have to pay the purchase tax which was in force at the time. The car I wanted to build was a Lotus Europa, from the top of my head the purchase price was about £1500 and the self build price £1300. I went as far as visiting the Lotus dealer in Chester, at that time a company called Mangoletsi, getting a brochure and contacting a few mates but in the end just bought a second hand one . However, I do know 3 people who tried this with varying degrees of success. One guy I knew built a Lotus Elite from a kit back in the mid 60's. He managed to get it on the road but sadly the Coventry Climax engine blew big time and he was unable to get it back on the road again. He only sold what remained quite recently. My best mate also attempted to build a replica MG using a Triumph Herald engine....he started this in the mid 80's and has yet to finish it . Finally, another guy built a Mini Marcos back in the 70's but managed to set it on fire with a welding torch while assembling it . Pete

All new tyres sold by reputable dealers in the U.K have to meet a BS-ISO standard, I'm pretty certain that while the grip level and braking distance of some tyres isn't as good as others none of them are actually dangerous. The only case I can recall where tyres were actually dangerous was in The U.S involving Firestone/Bridgestone tyres fitted to SUV's and Light trucks 3 or 4 years ago I think. Pete

Hmm, The Tein springs which are pretty popular around here do this the other way around, ie 17mm front and 14mm rear. Pete

Welcome to the forum If I was on the lookout for a Zed today then I'd either go for a Midnight Blue or a Pearl White . TBH though the Zed looks good in any colour Pete

Think about your route before you set off, are there any hills that can be avoided? give those short cuts down narrow lanes a miss. Listening to the weather forecast can avoid a lot of grief, despite all of the warnings yesterday there were still loads of people who went out and got stuck . If you must go out, always take a shovel, a heavy blanket and something to eat and drink. Leave a bigger gap to the vehicle in front than normal, remember, its highly likely that the roads will have been gritted and grit can spell disaster for the front end of your car. Make sure you have plenty of water in the washer bottle and add some washer anti-freeze while you're at it. If snow is falling, use dipped headlights and your rear fog lights. Finally, if you manage to get home in one piece, give the car a clean as soon as the weather allows and never park a grit and snow covered car in a closed garage. One other tip for extremely cold weather, leave it parked up in gear with the handbrake just lightly pulled up. I found this out the hard way and a friend of mine actually snapped his cable trying to get the handbrake off. Pete

Heading into Wales this afternoon on a private plate L9 XXX. Pete

As above, it's 5 years to the day since I picked my pre registered Zed. As some of you will know I was lucky enough to pick up a 12 month old dealer registered car with just the delivery mileage on it. Car had been sitting in a showroom for 13 months, reason unknown, but I got a pretty big discount as it was the pre facelift version. Car has been ultra reliable, other than a couple of services the only thing I've spent money on have been wiper blades, tyres and a battery (plus of course several mods ) The mileage on my Zed is very low, just 12.5k but I haven't deliberately kept the mileage down its just that being retired means I don't really need to use it that much. Probably keep it for a couple more years at least Pete

Not a single flake here Pete

Welcome along I believe it's 5 degrees . If the roof hasn't been used for some time it'll be more like 8-12 degrees before it'll open properly. Pete

Ferrari have had to cancel their official Friday launch due to heavy snowfall in the area. They will though make some pictures of their latest challenger available together with driver interviews that day. Pete

By the time the frost came out 350 Zeds were much easier to get hold of brand new than they had been from 2003-2006 when waiting lists were huge. It was possible to walk into the dealers in 07 and actually see one that you could buy. So, I'm guessing that its rarity is down to a combination of customer choice and car availabilty. Although I like the frost I'm pretty certain that if I had walked into a showroom and had the option of (a) picking up a non frost at the weekend or ( waiting 2-3 months for a frost to come in on order I know which one I'd choose Pete

These are actually made by a company called Giacuzzo, there's a few photos of them here http://www.giacuzzo.com/shop/index.php? ... 0891dd4250 another photo here http://blog.autoboerse.ch/archive/2007/ ... -350z.html They are also a lot cheaper on this site at 255 Euros plus 19% tax. Pete

I don't quite understand that . The situation here is that to be able to tax your car, you need both an MOT and Insurance. You can get your tax online as the DVLA which issues your tax has a database of your details as it is a requirement that both the garage that does your MOT and your Insurance company to enter all the information online. The only exception or caveat to this is that your MOT must not expire the same month as you apply for your tax. For example if your MOT expires on the 20th February you cannot tax your car on the 1st February. However you can have your car MOT'd early, so if you had it done on the 31st January you can tax it and the MOT would not expire until the 20th February the next year. That also applies to insurance I think. This rule has applied for a few years now, at one time you could go to The Post Office and tax your car even if the insurance and MOT expired the next day. No records were kept by the Post Office staff, they simply glanced at the relevant certificates and if they were current they just issued a tax disc. It was fairly common for people to go long periods without an MOT as back then it was a fairly minor offence. Pete