Ekona

Clarkson the journo is intelligent & witty. Clarkson the TV car guy is boorish and predicatable. Hammond the generic TV show man and Wipeout voiceover guy is likeable and funny. Hammond the TV car guy is obvious and a sap. May the serious TV science man is down to earth and charming. May the TV car guy is dull and an apparent fall guy for old 'n' slow jokes. That's not to say they were always like that, indeed the first half dozen series of TG they really weren't like that at all. Before the stereotypes set in, they had far more personality on TG and it was superb. I think that might have been my biggest issue with TG: All the jokes were the same, because they played on the exact same typecasting of the TG characters. The setups and locations weren't a terrible idea (indeed, the amount of work to keep them new must've been a huge challenge), but being able to see the joke coming long before it was even said just isn't the kind of TV I enjoy. Millions do, I get that, and if I'd been in their shoes I'd have carried on the same as well. Now, if they can shift those personas a bit then TGT will be excellent and right up my street. If TG manages to stereotype Evans, LeBlanc, Harris etc then I'll be as bored of that as I was before Clarkson got hangry. Looking at it from an optimistic view though, I reckon I'm on to go from zero car TV shows of interest to two superb ones.

If only you'd read one of the numerous threads on the subject, you'd have known about that before you started Glad it's all up and running What unit did you go for? Any pics of the install?

You'll get a significantly better result, yes. By which I mean you'd be there forever trying to get a result using the Scholl stuff by hand.

Oh god no, not mudflaps please. You'll be fine, the front end is going to get far more abuse from stone chips than anywhere else on the car, even arches post-spacer install.

Unless it's in your agreement that the garage is kept suitable for car storage, then it's on you I'm afraid mate. If the repair work is that easy, can you not just bodge it yourself in the mean time?

Roads are okay but don't ever try to take a bite out of the bit used for bikes, they're a cyclepath!

Either you've got used to it, or it wasn't fitted properly and the gap has now closed itself up Could well just be where's it's coked up and changed tone.

200/ton is nippy, 250/ton just right, 300/ton hanging on. My own personal view.

I used to run an open webcam on my main PC many years ago, and it was an always on one. I don't think it caught anything too exciting, although apparently my painting skills weren't up to scratch when I was decorating the spare room the PC was in at the time.

I know, you're truly blessed

Yup, I'm on many forums. TOP, IMOC, SELOC, 911UK, PH, VG247, lots of places although I mainly post here now.

It was horrendously irritating, wasn't it! I have yet to find anyone who actually called it up though.

Leave it until you're sure you're clear mate, not worth the risk.

You'll still be hung over tonight

Don't worry about it. It'll either flag up on their system and they won't do it, or they will and you'll never notice the difference. Despite the technical fears over an LSD car exploding after an MOT test, I've yet to see or hear first hand about one. That either means they're never tested on the rollers and MOT guys are doing their job, or it's of no consequence if they do.

Barristers and lawyers have been doing that for years, technology or not. That's their job. Tbh, if anyone thinks that their entire internet history isn't already being tracked and monitored by some agency somewhere in the world, you're a bit naive. As AliveBoy said, if they're looking at mine then I hope they're either hyped up on coffee or really like cat pictures

Not sure if anyone will give be at all bothered with this post, but I really needed a rant! So, same as in the UK, here in Luxembourg there is an annual MOT check they do referred to locally as the "Controle Technique" (Technical control). All cars must pass this test on a yearly basis in order to be deemed road legal. The problem - there is a strikingly German approach to the way this works if you want to do absolutely ANYTHING to your car that did not come out of the factory! I already have an Invidia Gemini cat-back exhaust system which is acceptable for them ONLY because it comes with a TUV certificate to indicate it has undergone testing in Germany and is a “safe†and “high quality†part for the car. I can assure you that my choices for exhaust were drastically limited due to the need for this bloody ceritificate! I had the choice between either Milltek or Invidia. Once I had made my choice, they had to have 3 metal plaques welded to each part of the exhaust indicating it’s part number corresponding with the certificate! So, last year I decided I wanted to run some spacers (20mm front / 25mm rear). I bought the front spacers from Tarmac Sportz which are great, and the rears Adrian was kind enough to give me as he no longer needed them. Last year’s “MOT†the car went through with these spacers fitted with absolutely no problem at all. So this brings us all the way up to last week. I took the car through, and it was rejected because I had the spacers on the car. After arguing due to the fact that it had passed last year without any comment from the inspectors, I got absolutely nowhere and was informed that I needed to go to get the parts certified. They actually wanted me to provide documentation to PROVE that the spacers were intended to fit on a 350Z…. this baffles me because if they are already fitted on the wheel, then clearly they were intended to fit the 350Z! So this morning I have spent 1h30 at the technical control yet again with someone inspecting the wheel spacers. Conclusion: I’ve been told to go to a 3rd party place to pay “a couple of hundred Euros more†to have the spacers tested in order for them to maybe accept them and let me run them on the car. After which I need to go back yet again to the MOT station to have the car passed! Instead of going through all of this s**t, I told the guy that I am taking them off because it’s not worth it! I’m just going to take the spacers off, go to the control again, get it passed, and then put them on again the next day! Moral of the story – if you want to do anything at all to your car customization wise, DO NOT register it in Luxembourg! If I had one wish, it would be to have it registered in the UK! You can’t even put custom wheels on the car… my father once had his Audi A4 failed because he was running wheels from an Audi A8 on it (and that’s “not okay†with them). ************************************* Slightly more legible version

Finished Doom last night. What. A Game. So much action, such perfectly balanced difficulty levels, the weapons and back story and music and all the jumping, just everything is perfect. I had serious reservations over this when it was in beta as it looked more Halo than Doom, but now it's here I have to say that it's probably the peak of the series.

If people took a bit more care about the MPs they voted for, we'd be able to trust their decisions more. Again though, people are like sheep and just vote for the colour or the soundbite.

So what you're saying is, it's all your fault?

I hope you didn't really ask her, I was only kidding!

16 year olds should never be allowed to vote, they're far too stupid and easily influenced. I'm not saying all adults are sensible, but as a general percentage we're safer with over 18s. I'd actually rather see an IQ test being a prerequisite to being allowed to vote, but that's a different story.

It's getting back that might be the issue... I'll be okay, if I drop to 60mph on the motorways I'll get 500miles plus out of a full tank so that'll get me from Calais to LM and back, but it'll still be a bit tight. My mate with the Gallardo is going, we're thinking of hiring a fuel tanker for him