Stutopia

Consumable engines on the 996, new one every 20k miles I think It's not been opened up yet, so not sure, just hoping it's nothing too expensive for him.

It's becoming a bit of an annual pilgrimage this, had a few days running around Scotland with a few former Z owners. Here's some pics. Traditional starting point, breakfast by the bridge. Sadly Day 1 saw issues on the 996 in the group, fortunately a proper Porsche was on hand to take the owner and his luggage on the rest of the trip. Some nice metal on show, even let a 2 wheel nutter come along too. Now the proper stuff... And a furry friend.

This is so close now I can smell fresh lacquer. Absolutely stunning build mate, thanks for detailing it on here, been a fascinating follow. I may have missed it (or forgotten), what colour will it be?

Hardcore that bang mate, sorry to see it. Hope the bill isn't too big and you're back out soon enough.

I have a question, why is it impossible to get a quote without a phone call? Every time I need to get new prices, particularly on something modified, I have to do a call - a webform would be sooooooo much more convenient.

Only if you’re buying from Toyota, not trying to get hold of one nearly new, like the Yaris prices.

I’d registered for updates ages ago. Never got a peep out of ‘em. I wouldn’t pay over the odds for one, it’s not gonna be night and day better than the BRZ was, if you spent £12k on one, you’d still have a hell of budget to modify compared to £30k+

I was hitting refresh on my browser all morning, never got close to a potential buy. I’m not that disappointed because there’s plenty of used options for less money, but it was the first time I’ve ever been tempted by a brand new car.

That's the whole point of the article and why the Mail froth over it, it's got nothing practical to it, other than stoking up emotions and generating ad-revenue. Keeps us away from the NHS privatisation, various criminal proceedings, rocketing inflation, the shambles of Brexit, tax statuses, fraud in the "fast track covid contracts", fraud in the furlough scheme, cuts to welfare, housing unaffordability, food and energy poverty and who knows what else. They did similar with the war in Ukraine the other day, which the Mail would have you believe Boris is fighting on his own, despite the best efforts of the BBC / woke people / metro liberal elite / Joe Biden / smashed avocados / trans people or whatever other fabricated "enemy" is hot this week. It would be funny, if it wasn't for the number of voters who get all worked up into a lather about noise and forget about matters of substance.

Ewwww, more culture war distractions

I’ve used Sheffield to retrofit cruise and the recall and Stockport for paint. I’m due a service soon, not decided whether to go back to Porsche or a specialist. PO got the last one done at some specialist down south.

She’s been in twice recently, rear axle carrier recall, which was fine, no difference. Then for front bumper paint after some idiot reversed into my bumper and drove off, despite TWO members of the public trying to stop them driving off. Both times the service has been great.

The last one? Pitch black car park, tripod, 30 second exposure, walk back and forth in front of the car using your phone torch. I wish I’d done a better job painting the roof line.

Funnily enough, I was thinking after I reviewed the photos, that I needed a little bit more ambient light, like we had at this location.

Your dedication to symmetry is commendable!

Went out for a little Good Friday spin around Ladybower to take a few photos. Couple of decent ones, if I do say so myself, in amongst the 200 others I binned

Love this big update, you’ve been a busy boy. Keep going mate and keep us posted

Subscribed on the ‘tube, will work through these vids. Great work mate.

It's so nice when there's good content out there, finding stuff for the cayman is a nightmare, no one does anything that doesn't involve the word 'dealer'. I can't believe EFI is not top of your To Do list!

Wow, that is gorgeous. Congratz!

Clickbait would stop, if people just stopped clicking on it 😭

Gave her a little wash before going into Porsche for a front bumper refresh.

Moved.

I think it might be a pheasant. Either way, its goose is cooked.

The Mazda has had a little love recently. First job was to get it in the air and have a look for rot. Fortunately, nothing serious is wrong, the bad news is that a few braces are on the way out and the rear subframe is starting with surface rust. This is still early, so I'm going to find someone to give the subframe a clean and get some protection on it. I also ordered a nice selection of underbody Hard Race braces from Torqen, which will go on next time it's in and save me the cost of refurbing and treating the OEM bits and feeling a bit like a nice little mod too. She also got treated to new diff and box oil, had a deja vu back to the 350z with a tough shift into 2nd when it's cold, but the new fluid has made a world of difference. A set of “Rodders” (don’t ask, read it on a forum, but they held up magnificently and allowed me to test the ABS a few times) pads and some RBF600 and she was ready. I broke all the rules of car buying and not only test drove the car in the rain, but also purchased it in the rain and I have paid the price! Someone has taken a scouring pad to the passenger door and rear wing. I actually don't even have a photo of the worst of it. The middle of the passenger door was a disaster and the rear driver's side wing has been keyed and touched in by someone with no eyeballs. There's also a number of fairly serious random deep scratches where it would appear hairdressing equipment has been dragged across the roof and the bonnet. It's such a shame as the rest of it is in really good shape. So I got about it with a yellow pad and some blue compound, with my trusty 3" Rupes. Happily this is the traditional soft Jap paint, so it was quite easy to correct. There's still a few bits to do, but it's 80% done now and 100% better for it. It actually has a really nice flake in the blue paint, in the sunshine, that I had not noticed before. I'll dig out a video of the before and after. Anyway, enough tarting it up, I bought this to track and that's exactly what I've done. Not before getting a full set of Michelin PS5s on her though. The PS3s she came with dated back to the dark ages and hard turned to plastic, the new tyres grip like mad. Whether or not that is a good thing on the fun stakes, time will tell. It's certainly dampened my flamboyant exits from T junctions! However, I was out at Blyton Park yesterday, via Trackday Solutions, who put on a great day with no nobheads and not too many cars on track either - I'll certainly be going through them again in future. A couple of paddock photos below are mine but the rest are from them, some great shots of my motor and also some of the motor exotic items too. Body roll? Yes please! This thing was absolute insane, the sheer speed it caught up and then disappeared, what a weapon. If the lottery comes in, a 600 LT is on my shopping list. Gorgeous little Ginetta out too, love to have a blast in one of these lightweight beauties. A few other cracking motors out too. The Manta was not on track, just advertising, as she's up for sale. Formerly of this parish @Paddy78 also made an appearance in his fantastic 996. The sound this thing makes is pure heaven. Nearly as good as my 981! The fact that’s basically a classic now and the engine is in the wrong place makes it all the more impressive to see Paddy peddle the life out of it on track and keep it from a life sat in a garage appreciating. All in all it was a great first day out in the MX5. The first couple of sessions were a bit cautious and I felt bad holding up the faster cars, but once I got used to it, what a fun car! The body roll is just hilarious, as you can see in some of the shots, and you really need to hold on in chicanes where the weight shifts quickly, but the agility and ease with which you can throw it about was amazing. I didn't have the usual sense of fear that I get on track with the Cayman that if I bin it, I'll be financially ruined and also doing the sort of speeds that mean everything will happen very quickly indeed. A few times I outbraked myself and got it all wrong and she just sucked it up and didn't bite back, totally chuckable and a pleasure to squeeze every last bit of speed out of. Considering the number and length of sessions I did, I was pleased to see nothing looked remiss in the engine bay and everything was still where the manufacture placed it, That said, this was a shakedown and there are things that need attention. The body roll needs sorting, maybe just ARBs or maybe some coilovers too. I need to be careful though because I enjoy the ride quality on crap road surfaces and don't want something that loses contact with the road when it gets a bit bumpy. The seats are laughable, I had to cling on to the wheel for grim death (my shoulders are knackered today) so I need to find either an aftermarket solution or the hen's teeth Recaro options for sale. Also, some more power wouldn't hurt... There was one casualty of the day. Motorsport can be dangerous.