brillomaster

good times - shame to loose jake, but good luck to him if he decides to move on. Suzi will be a decent replacement - one of the hottest 40 year olds and with a wealth of motorsport presenting experience, she'll be at home doing F1. Plus, im missing her since they butchered the gadget show and made it awful!

i've been working on my thumb strength to just lift the boot clear of the catch on the first press - can get it most of the time. and its only on really cold days or if there is ice on the boot lid that the gas struts dont work, so not that worried about it at the moment... do need to sort out my electric window though - when i can afford a new exhaust i will want to be able to get both windows down to fully appreciate the noise!

strange, my instructor taught me not to drop a car bonnet, as it could break the headlights... so i always lower it, and then press it firmly to click it. id be a tad worried about my safety if i was strong enough to dent the bonnet with my fingers. Same principle as with doors - I always wince when someone slams it unnecessarily, thats probably why my electric window no longer works. I'd much rather someone took two attempts to close it than slam it overly hard the first time.

hmmm, was thinking i need to expand the roadtrip... after wales for 3 nights, devon&cornwall for 4 nights and scotland for 6 nights, the natural progression is the continent!

jammy so and so! im hoping for company perks, but not in xmas... not a lot of motorsport goes on at the moment

im happy enough - new job pays two weeks earlier than old job, so feels like a bonus to me! other than that, not a lot - but still beats old job which has been all doom and gloom the last two years.

its a great shame, the impreza was an absolute icon of the late 90s, early 00s. Colin McRae and RIchard Burns did amazing things with them. Admittedly the new versions are a bit porky and humdrum hatchbacks, and the brand has been tarnished by boy racers with loud exhausts, but the basic premise cannot be bettered - good powered turbo motor, reliable and predictable AWD drivetrain, and a lightweight body. Obviously being Japanese they werent exactly a looker and the interiors were pretty woeful, but for circa £22k when they came out, nothing could touch if for cross country pace. It will be sadly missed, and good examples of the special editions will become icons in the future - was talking to bosses at Prodrive and certain special editions (like the RB320 and P1) were still changing hands for north of £15k, 10 years after they originally came out. RIP

if theres an 'inside' and an 'outside', and they're the right way round, i'd say thats fine! You cant have an inside and and outside AND a rotation direction, otherwise you'd need to sell tyres in pairs! They dont look particularly asymetric to me anyways...

will check my calendar... will probably stay over the saturday night, as my dad is close enough to stay there friday and sunday nights.

nice! will look good when the lip is added is that a TVR Tuscan i see in the background?

I had a 328i coupe... but had to sell up when my mate moved oop noorth. this was 2 years ago, been panging to get out on a track again ever since!

good stuff, minus 6 is a tricky temperature, might have been faster on snow tyres! Still looks awesome fun though! Come on Wasso, you know you wanna get Project BrilloWasso racing underway with an old beemer!

bah humbug... i dont bother much with christmas.... first rule with me is, if you dont tell me something i can get you, you arent getting anything. this year i have asked for beer, a pint glass, a calendar and a CD, but as been said before if i want anything i normally just go out and buy it myself. i just wish other people would take the same view, since we still have all of last years unwanted presents sitting in the bag they came home in. if in doubt, consumables. In my house we dont have room for any more stuff, anything we want we already have, so just go for beer for me and chocolates and wine for her and we're both sorted.

Nice photos! Can certainly think of worse things to do with a day, stunning stuff! if the weather is good in three weeks time might try and persuade my dad to go up Pen Y Fan on boxing day.

agreed, hard to get the timings right so zeds arent in hibernation for the winter! If i was going to sorn mine it would have been done by now - but im still keen to get out and meet zeds!

The fact that everything is so weighty and brutish... heavy steering, good crisp gearchange, smooth torquey engine, strong feelsome brakes, purposeful styling and shape. 'Fragile' is not the word to describe it!

or, win the lottery and buy one of these...

that is a little bit strange... most people buy a nice car with all the good intentions of actually driving it, but you've actually said straight out you enjoy walking, and when you do drive, you take the wifes car over yours as its in front... I think what you need nestled away in the garage is a piece of car pornography, which is too nice to drive more than a handful of times a year, more to be savoured as a thing of beauty - some kind of classic sportscar. TVR is a good shout, but possibly not flashy enough... something like maybe an E-type if funds will stretch, or maybe a old benz....

arrrgh lousy tesco filling station apparently having a till malfunction just before i get there this evening, when my fuel light is very on... by which i mean i then went to sainsburys and put 10 litres in, and its still saying '----' on the dte. ah well, will try again at the weekend, wanna get my £35 saving!

hmm, this mid life crisis lark doesnt make much sense to me... i've had 4 rwd cars now - one convertible, 2 coupes and a saloon and i'm only 25. i plan to carry on driving sportscars for as long as i can. if i do accidentally have kids, i'll move on to either an M3, or a hot impreza. my mid life crisis car is also likely to be Saab, but when i buy it it will be a step down, not up

hmm, well at the price that one went for (£77) its gotta be worth a punt! even though its a blatant copy of an Exoticspeed exhaust, which sell for nearly $1000... problem with copy exhausts is the grade of steel is lower so they'll discolour quite quickly, welds arent as good, and it might have fitting issues. it might look good for a while, but a geniune article will stay looking good for the lifetime of the car. But then again, at £77, you could buy a new one every year for 7 years for the same price as one genuine one... tempting!

im gonna go for a slightly more abstract one.... i couldnt live without sunshine! I hate dark nights, and am drawn to sunlight! always makes me feel better when its dry and clear outside - doesnt matter what the temperature is, as long as its a clear fresh day i feel good to be alive

Just wondering if anyone is running the new FK453s yet and if anyone has any feedback? They've been out for a while but cant find much info on them... I know FK452s were a popular choice for many owners replacing the standard bridgestones, but just wondering how the FK453s compare? Falken claim 25% increase in dry grip and 30% increase in wet grip, but would be nice to have some actual feedback. Also interested if anyone (retires to safe distance) is running 452s on the front and 453s on the rear or vice versa?

more pennies needed! or pm the zman for some new springs

well will be watching this with great interest! That exhaust system looks the absolute business - featherweight and very very shiny! give us a vid of the exhaust when you can please, plus vids of the shakedown session!