Kieran O'Quick

2 young girls smoking outside the art college shouted "NICE CAR" at me the other day when I was stopped at lights. Felt really chuffed. I might be 40+ but with a hat and a good car - still got it... Gave them a wave. Then I realised I was wearing Sparco driving gloves. Probably about as uncool as it gets. Lights couldn't go green quick enough...

I'm going to say it.. about 10 years ago there was a really hot couple of days - the trucks cut some shocking tramlines into the inside lane of the M62. The inside lane is crap. If it's an empty road ie early morning, middle of the night, I'll sit in the middle lane for a smoother drive. I've done this and had people steam up from behind at silly speeds flashing and gesticulating. Gah - P*ss off! Just go round - there's loads of room. You're speeding ffs.. But yeah, if the chap was doing 55 or so it's worth a tug..

You've got to get up to Harewood this year - they've got a new 2wd, +2 litre class. No more Scoobys or Evos. Just the Porsches, Astons and M cars to beat... got to fancy that?

MPSS x 4 from Costco - there was a deal for £75 quid off or something, can't remember but it was about £140 each. Though the rears were "star" marked (for BMWs apparently, all they had in stock) so got stung for an extra £20 as was in a rush....

I'm not sure you have to physically return it. But you do have to stop using it. When I rejected a car I kept possession of it until the court case was over - it was in my garage for about 18 months. Probably should have charged storage. That was a private sale though.

That's a humongous effort. Inspirational stuff.

I'd just say be really careful of hidden rot. They do rot. There are clean ones out there but a lot of them that look clean aren't. I bought one once that was supposedly rock solid, undersealed, no expense spared by a genuine owner etc... Get under it with a hammer if you're still going for it.

The modern rollers can allow for LSD, 4WD etc now. Best to mention it and sit and watch them do it though.

Got to be worth fighting if you have a bit of spare time.

The fact that it has been under-sealed would put me off. You've no way of knowing it's condition - it's all painted over in black tar. It could be genuine but unless you know the guy and trust him it's a gamble.

£45 Got it when I was 13 from a police auction. Had a track laid out on a local bit of waste ground and just nailed it round again and again against the stopwatch. All winter long - time of my life, on reflection. P1070573 by Kjwob, on Flickr The track dried out in the spring, I hit a rut at 50 - rolled it and killed it.

Nice writing. There's not enough good writing about cars around. Nor telly. I've driven an MX5 for half a dozen years or so as a track car. We turboed it up to about 250bhp and it is effing fabulous. Proper Porsche worrier. But I keep looking back nostalgically at a pre turbo video on Youtube where I was trying to catch a Civic R. My best memories on a track by far. Keeping the momentum was so important. Gear changes, braking points - every beat had to be nailed. (I was going to develop that in to a musical/motoring narritave just there but couldn't manage it - tricky stuff this scribbling)

Interesting read. Thanks. The PM was asked in parliament a few years ago why we were funding ISIL, these "throat slitting, barbaric fundamentalists". He didn't answer, just slagged off the questioner. His point was that it was the 'vicious dictator' that we absolutely had to go after. So it seems this is the PM's third go at Assad. We're going in to his territory uninvited to form an alliance with a group who is fighting against him. What happens though when Russia bombs one of our 70,000 moderates? We'll have to stand by them and defend them presumably? Square up to Russia, demand a partition of Syria? What's the plan?

The Prime Minister is obviously trying to change the government of Syria. His last attempt to justify this was based around chemical weapons scares but it got voted down by parliament. Two years later he's trying a new angle. ISIL need to be destroyed he says. Even though he supported them previously. According to the Prime Minister it's worth bombing because we can then coordinate the 70,000 strong local army to finish the job. Presumably this army will then be backed to fight against the Syrian government and Russia. Somebody please tell me why the change of government in Syria is so important to our government? What's the angle? I don't believe the altruistic, saving people from barrel-bombing line they're all on message with. If that was true we'd have a peace keeping force in Yemen.

The odd time someone will undervalue. I went to look at one which I thought was a great price. £5750 for a nice Black '04 on 80k. So did lots of other people though. He ended up re-advertising it for more.

I entered a couple of rounds of the competition in September. It's a hell of a thrill. Just the smells and the sounds are so much better than sitting at home watching the F1. Wish I'd done it years ago. There were some great cars there - I'd have an Alpine if forced to choose. CIMG0269 by Kjwob, on Flickr They give you 6 split times so you know exactly what each slide costs or gains.. helps those who aren't instinctive drivers I suppose Did some respectable times but will now inevitably spend money chasing a few tenths just to stay ahead of certain folk. CIMG0289 by Kjwob, on Flickr CIMG0289 by Kjwob, on Flickr <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jQ7tYXjf4dU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I kept standard cats (needed for Hill-climb regs) but got a new Y-pipe to back-box fabricated up. Went to a chap called Andy Ward in Barnsley. He has a great reputation for custom manifolds and such. He fired it together in a morning. We messed about a bit till it sounded ok. Highly recommend it as the way to go. Got a nice rumble and bark - more than standard but not too loud. IMAG3320 by Kjwob, on Flickr IMAG3306 by Kjwob, on Flickr

It was heartbreaking to see what happened. Sobering. It will be great to see you push through after that. Hope to see you at Harewood next year, giving the 4WD boys some pressure.

Flipping hell. I hope you can get it going again. One way to remove the airbags I suppose. Yikes.

Wow, imagine how messy that could have been? Very lucky.

Throw up your vids. Got my stopwatch ready

Had some great days round Blyton. It's as safe as an airfield but looks like a track - white lines and tarmac for definition. Basically you can push and push till you find your limit... Enjoy yourself. Hope to see a good spin compilation video.

Inspired by this thread I've entered for two days in September at Harewood Hill in Yorkshire. Any chance of you jumping on it too? Purely for important NA v FI data gathering reasons obviously. Not as if it was just for fun or anything...

Thanks guys. I've seen some of your vids Andy - great stuff. I'm guessing you're in the modified road going class? I'm going to enter some of these but the classes confuse me. It seems that un-modified production cars tend to stick to two litres. I'll have to make some inquiries..

My trackday plans for this year have been scuppered so I tried a bit of hillclimbing. The old Zed isn't really a hill climb car but what the hell - when else do you get to give it some hammer? Had an absolutely brilliant day, loved it. It was a Harewood Academy day. I'd recommend it to anyone from these parts. Loads of in depth instruction and had over a dozen goes at the hill.. This was one of my slower but more entertaining runs. Longest hillclimb in England apparently... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube....ed/IEqrFXKr2QI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>