brillomaster

hope you've got a spare £1500 kicking around!

ha my car isn't going anywhere if it snows, thankfully I have a back up car that is very good in the snow. auto boxes aren't without their foibles though - for example, once you get the hang of a clutch you can pull away smoother than you can in an auto - mine can be a little lurchy from a standstill. And also kickdown can be a bit brutal - in a manual you change down (with a little blip of the throttle) and then apply throttle. In an auto you have to start applying throttle in the wrong gear, then at some point which is often hard to predict, it'll drop one or two gears and you'll be off like a scalded cat - cos inevitably the amount of throttle you had to apply to get it to kick down a gear is way more than the amount of throttle you'd be applying if you were in the gear you wanted to start off with. Admittedly a lot of that will be down to gearbox software, but it means that normally I drive in manual mode the majority of the time and change gears when I want with the paddles - only go into full auto mode when I enter a town and there is stop start traffic to deal with.

yeah my beeemer is a 6speed slusher with a manual mode... but speed is dictated by engine size and power, an auto in gear is pretty much the same as a manual in gear, especially a modern auto that can lock the torque convertor. and even early paddleshifts can change gear faster than I can anyways! two other reasons to make the switch - firstly, auto gearboxes and flappy paddles are the future, so might as well get used to it. and secondly, all the really interesting stuff these days is flappy paddle only - any big, luxury fast car will be a auto or DCT - very few manufacturers offer a manual gearbox any more (a couple of porsches and F-Types being the exceptions)

ditch the ditchfinders, get decent tyres. Or if you're going for style over substance, a new set of rims and lowering springs, carbon roof and b pillars wrap, V1 spoiler on the back.

I did exactly that... switched to a high powered flappy paddle jobby. crawling motorway traffic is now a breeze rather than a serious leg workout, hill starts are unnecessary. Sure I miss the zed's manual box when on a nice country drive, but 90% of the time i'm commuting. and anyways, the flappy paddles work well and are quite good fun, feels very F1!

yeah make sure they can clip the alignment tools onto the wheels ok! if the rims are tucked up in the arches it may be a bit difficult. once the alignment tools are fitted, first step is finding out what settings you currently have on there. I suspect adjusting back to standard settings will cure the problem, most manufacturers aim for stable, slightly understeering handling, and maximise tyre life. Most enthusiasts then tune away from there for better lateral grip, at the expense of tyre life.

I don't think a warped disc would come through the steering, but it would certainly judder under braking. How old are the discs? might be worth replacing them if they're getting on a bit and developing a lip.

if the wear isn't even, you have tracking issues. Get the wheels aligned

fixed that for you fair point - forgive my ignorance!

oh definitely stick them up on here once they're off - they'll have to be priced accordingly (maybe £30 a tyre or so) but I suspect a drifty type will have them off you.

trackdays are a little different... certainly the tyres don't need to have the minimum amount of tread on for water dispersal if you know its going to be a bone dry track. However i'd still suggest they need to be in reasonable condition - not down to canvas and no nicks or tears. but then again, we've ran ancient old tyres which had seen better days... only stopped using them when they unpeeled themselves. alternatively, sell them to a drifter - drifters don't care about condition of tyres as long as they hold air! i'm guessing, that the middle and outside of the tyres are absolutely fine, but the inside edge is balder than Bruce Willis?

£636 is most reasonable, especially mods declared and no NCB. just make sure you don't prang it! PS. Seems Deano94 is closest!

oh didn't see it was Essex... in that case, a couple of Bacardi breezers and a night in the sack with the call centre operator's sister?

have to say, we have indeed changed the diff in our track car from a 2.93 to a 3.38, and the difference is very noticeable - really rips through 2nd and 3rd gear now, great for a track car, only downsides reported is the cruising rpm on a motorway has risen by 500rpm, but as said a while back we don't care about cruising speed. Great mod for a track car with an 5 speed gearbox - which we'd have done it sooner considering a secondhand diff was only £50.

£1200, with admiral.

ahh saw that this was uploaded last night, but didn't have time to watch it and not going to be able to until sunday night now! looking forward to it then though!

Move to somewhere warmer?

talking of calendars... is there a club one again this year? Sure theres normally something on it by now, unless I've missed something???

put them on the rear for more dorifto!

haha huzzah for being a cheap drunk! been on a car meet early the next day after my stag do - except my stag do consisted of a bottle of magners at 4pm, a bottle of sol at 5pm, a pint with a curry at 7pm, another bottle of sol at 8pm, then threw up at 10:30pm and in bed by 11. Was feeling right as rain by 7am the following morning!

oh for sure any track with any kind of straight you'll leave our lowly 190bhp for dead. but I would be interested to see if we can at least hold onto your coattails in the corners! when we've been on track with M3s in the past they've normally been full interior road cars, so we can keep in touch mainly through braking later and cornering faster, but you've got both those areas sorted, as well as having nearly twice the power!

Yeah, in the same way Maclaren also make brilliant baby strollers...

Technically its a Porsche Reimagined by Singer. And its probably just me, but i'd rather have a new Porsche and £300k in the bank rather than a Singer one...

sounds like a good day! Any videos of any sessions? We're still yet to do Silverstone, might aim to book it in for sometime next year. my goal is to drive all the current BTCC tracks - have done 5 (Donington, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Rockingham, Croft) still got 4 to do (Brands Hatch, Thruxton, Knockhill, Silverstone) would be good to try and go on the same day sometime, I know your M3 will be way faster than our 328i, but interested to see just how much faster!

just check the clearance under the rear strut brace, and make sure whatever you buy is small enough to slide under it. Plenty of bikes out there! http://bicycles4u.com/collections/folding-bikes