brillomaster

that's does seem incredibly annoying - given how much computing power cars have these days and that pretty much every car has an on board computer, I don't see any reason why all cars don't have a manual mode, where all the settings can be individually set up by the driver. by all means have a few presets as well, but forcing you to have rev matching when sport mode is on is just retarded. its often confused me why auto gearboxes don't allow you to set upper and lower rev limits, when i'd thought it quite an easy thing to do. for example, when doing spirited driving, and I brake hard for a corner, the gearbox will hold 4th as I brake, then only downshift when I exit the corner and put my foot down. would be really beneficial if it had a minimum rev of 2500rpm, say, so it would automatically start downshifting as i'm braking so i'm in the right gear when I exit the corner. even more stupidly, is that I know autos prevent engine damage by not downshifting if it would overrev the engine, but it really irks me that if I need a bit more power to make an overtake when the car is cold it'll happily take the engine to the redline when the engine is cold, when it seems such a simple thing to limit the revs until the engine is up to temperature. Theres only one car I can think of that has a redline that increases as the engine warms up (BMW E46 M3), would have thought on performance motors it should be more commonplace.

if you're Leicester way get in touch with Mitz at Cougar Store (trader on here) - he'll be able to recommend a kit based on your needs, supply and fit at a very reasonable price.

though actually I think ekona is right, Halfords stuff has to pass the same regulations as all other motor oils, 5w/30 fully synth will be fine if its just a top up. but if you're only halfway down the dipstick, as long as you're not drastically burning oil, it'll be fine for a couple of weeks.

at least the person who posted this chose a reasonably humorous joke this time.

what tyres have you got on the rear at the moment? dan will be along shortly to inform you of the perils of running different grip levels front and rear (I personally think you'll be fine)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603101844465?postcode=NG1%206FX&searchcontext=default&make=bmw&price-to=30000&search-target=usedcars&radius=1501&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&sort=pricedesc&model=m6&page=1&logcode=p plenty of change from £25k as well. Plus if you're feeling brave theres a supercharger kit for it!

where as you based? most trackdays I know will be happy to test a car for you, just a case of popping along to your local track when there is a trackday on.

oh come on, this is getting zilly.

do you not have the rotating knob to vary the intermittent wipe speed? my old 53 plate had about 6 clicks of adjustment, from once every 30 seconds to once every 2 seconds?

my side project is buying running bmws, breaking them in some way then selling them on for half what I paid for them, does that count? Have got pretty good at it recently, I can halve the value of an £800 beemer in about 6 months.

a new battery would certainly solve those problems, however I wouldn't say it needed replacing just yet. with regular use in the warmer months i'm sure it'll last till the end of the year, then i'd perhaps think about a replacement.

Webber certainly seems to be very happy he made the move to Porsche. talking of which, have you seen the new LMP1 cars for this season? gonna be a stonker when the WEC kicks off in 2 weeks time.

I literally just did that!

well they put a gtr engine in a Juke, why not a Leaf? although it would probably be more like putting a Leaf body on a GTR chassis, since there would be very little Leaf left underneath.

unfortunately entertaining racing doesn't pay as much as boring winning does... maybe Alonso was on to something when he switched to McLaren - he'll be getting paid as much if not more than when he was at Ferrari, but now he has the challenge/enjoyment of nursing a crap car through the field and trying to get results when the odds are heavily stacked against him. if I was previous world champ and was getting on a bit, that's how i'd want to go out, making a bad car look good. conversely Raikkonen is making a good car look bad

Says this guy...

nice. you got me!

nah, its all about the race for me, a qualifying report from Lee is all I need. I think Bahrain is going to be key for the rest of the season, if Ferrari can beat either Mercedes then there might be a decent title fight, even if they lead for a while then get overtaken later on there will be hope. as long as its not Mercedes front row, lead for the entire race and Mercedes 1-2 on the podium. Do you think Hamilton was getting bored of winning all the time? whenever I play F1 games on the xbox, I always come in for a pit stop at the end of lap one which lets everybody past, then see how far up the order I can get. so much more interesting than doing a lights to flag victory and simply trying to focus on beating my own lap times.

gonna skip quali as usual (regardless of format) but looking forward to the race, come on ferrari!

nice work! hope to see this on track again this year!

its all very well and good until someone blacks out and veers upwards and out of the wall, and flies through the air 20ft up at 90mph... but its certainly one for the daredevils! there are probably a few buildings already in existence that might support a record attempt if someone was ballsy enough to try it. you never know, Guy Martin might even give it another go and try for 100mph at a more reasonable 4g - by my calculations that's a 100m diameter wall.

nah, its not a sanctioned competition, its a world record attempt... if someone wants to build a circular wall around a football stadium and ride around it at 130mph, I say have at it!

good tv watching. not quite sure why it had to be live and have steve jones presenting it, unfortunately I don't think Guy is particularly good live because he's just so calm, theres no drama! 78mph is pretty good going, don't think his record will be beaten any time soon, that wall was already huge and building one twice the size to go faster without pulling as many Gs will take some doing. Im a little surprised that they didn't need to do something to the bike... they aren't normally designed to withstand 6G, like having 6 guy martins on top and the weight of 6 bikes - would have thought suspension, tyres and chassis would have at least been mentioned. Also can you imagine if he'd have come off? its not just coming off a bike at 70mph, he'd be thrown into the wall at 6G, then dragged across it at reducing G force until he slowed down

and that's at Silverstone, arguably one of the more dull races as they use a track that's only got 4 corners! if you can get along to Rockingham that's a great place to watch - you're high in the stands and can see the entire track as its all contained in the oval. went there for the races a couple of years back and it was great. plus you're guaranteed to see overtakes into the hairpin coming off the banked oval, and the tight tarzan hairpin just behind the pits. And you can easily get on top of the pits and watch from there - admittedly there are no pitstops in BTCC races but gives a different perspective.

I love Plato - yes most of the time he's a bit of a dick and he's getting on a bit, but he's always near the front and the way he scythes through a field is great to watch. he does occasionally employ the 'push to pass' tactic, but he rarely punts people of the track, just edges them out of the way. Then again Matt Neal is even better, equally good at scything through a field, but with no contact whatsoever! Mat Jackson is a good shout - very likeable chap who os very fast given a decent car - would like to see him on more podiums this year, he was doing great at the end of 2015.