Ekona

An apron? As in what wimmin wear whilst cooking the tea? Good lord man, what's wrong with you?! :wink:

What's the PCD and offset of them?

Very sad news

Riiiiiiiiight. You do realise that brace is still there, albeit hidden in the ragtop? http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/download/media/specialfile/491_1_5.aspx That's Nissan's own press release. 'Sense of purpose' is the paragraph you're after. There's no roof, it's got a bit of extra bracing to try and account for this, but it's still not as stiff as the coupe.

Ummm, yes there is. I upgraded to mine to the Eibach ones, so I know there definitely is an ARB at the rear! If there wasn't, then the car would leap around all over the pace as the two rear wheels tried to go in opposite directions at every bump. Unless you're referring to the strut bar across the suspension tops... No chance the ragtop is a stiffer chassis than the coupe.

The car is made for driving, not looking at. Driving holidays aren't cheap, but if that's your passion then ultimately there's nothing more rewarding than a really long trip.

Roadster is significantly worse handling than the coupe. My fully braced ragtop still felt wobbly compared with a stock coupe back to back at Bedford, and the extra 100kg does make a difference too. If you're after a pure drive, then you need the coupe as a base. That said, the roadster is still a great car to drive, I'm purely talking comparatively here. If you want to put the roof down, then you need the roadster. Obvious yes, but that's really what it boils down to, whether going topless is more important than outright purity of drive.

My plan exactly, very early Eurotunnel after a hotel in Folkestone the night before on the run down, then whatever time Eurotunnel is running from when I leave Bordeaux heading back to Braintree. I've used Google's own timing to plan my routes, as even though I know they're quite pessimistic at least I won't be short of time anywhere. Only thing I'm unsure of is the availability of 98 once I step off the main routes, but I'll play that by ear. Worst case I'll just use 95 and suffer.

No probs mate http://goo.gl/maps/i55mm The idea is to get through France in the one (painful) hit, then alternate between fun days blatting and days where you just need to make progress. I really want to do the Pyrenees AND Barcelona AND the southern tip AND the northern coast, which is why it's so long! It'll be tiring but well worth it I reckon, and the roads I've picked have been 50% what I think looks good and 50% recommended as detours by folks who have been there. The route abrubtly ends at Bordeux as I'm heading straight back to my house from there, and I decided it was better to leave it off if I'm going to publish it on the interweb. @Ian: Sorry, I kinda assumed that you'd be doing some blat drives as well and not just point to point (Stelvio excepted). In that case, I reckon you'll be okay on those mpg guesses.

I think the costs sound very realistic, although is 30mpg not a bit optimistic? Maybe on a run at 70mph, but no-one sticks to that and on the fun runs you'll be looking at half that. Cost it for 25mpg and anything else is a bonus I would say. Aside from that, it looks pretty doable. Do you have any routes down yet? Just wondering as Holland to Italy in a day is a hell of a push, that might be better split into two days. Am happy to look things over if you like, I've spent the last week or so doing my route for a tour of Spain I'm doing next June so am used to juggling Euro roads at this point!

When you say you checked, do you mean by using the lens things that MOT places have, or is there another way of checking that's a bit easier? I got flashed a few times when I first got the 911. Turns out one light was miles above where it should've been, despite looking fine in terms of beam dispersal on the road.

Probably set too high, get them adjusted.

I've spent most of the last two days asleep. WIN.

I took my MX-5 there, very knowledgeable chaps and would use them again. Have also used DMS at Erith too, once again excellent.

Two children and a woman now. I just want to know what happened.

That tyre review site is populated by morons. Read the actual text from the users and it's clear that 95% of them have no clue what a decent tyre should be. All they do is say that their current tyre is great because they spent their hard-earned on it and don't want to lose face by saying they made a mistake. Any tyre will aquaplane, so no-one can say a tyre will never do it. Basically you have three camps: Track stuff like the R888, normal tyres like the MPSS, and winter tyres. There will be margins between those three sets, but basically you're exchanging dry grip for wet grip as you move down the list. You don't need winter tyres, but they are much better in cold conditions. I run 050As all year round and just drive to the conditions, and that's all you need to do really. Eagle F1s are good, 050A are good, MPSS are good. You won't go wrong with any of them, but the extra wear plus extra dry grip means the MPSS stand out for me.

No probs

That's what I'm saying: The Zed came with 040 on from new, and was probably setup with those tyres on from design stage. Nissan then switched to the 050A with the HR car, and it's identical in chassis design. It's all about the money involved, don't get hung up on it. If you want outright wet performance, you need a winter tyre and accept they'll be hugely compromised in the summer. Otherwise the MPSS are as good as you can get. The reviews saying about sticking with OEM tyres are not worth listening to IMHO. Softer sidewall will give a more progressive feel and compliant ride, but you'll lose the immediacy on the turn in. Again, the MPSS are the best in the field here, and if budget is no issue then I wouldn't look any further. A tyre with less natural grip (FK452 or VUS) will have the TCS kicking in more often, but you can drive around that.

MPSS are better in the wet than any other non-winter tyre. They are the best performance tyres you can buy, full stop.

K-series is cheap as chips to work on, loads of room in the engine bay as well. Easier than the Zed to work on, no doubt. They may well get driven hard, but they're also owned by people who appreciate them and look after them more than other cars. You'll find sheddier 6-series than Elises. Try working on a Z32 TT, then tell me mid-engined stuff is hard to work on!

I said Elise, not Exige. :wink: And that's utter guff about Lotuses only ever being driven hard. And the location of the engine bearing any relation to maintenance.

There's no set way of doing it as such, but each car should be adjusted to how the driver wants it to feel which will be inside a particular envelope of settings for a given vehicle. Any place can get the wheels pointing straight, but usually the experts such as Abbey can understand that a Zed might feel better with more camber or toe at a particular point on the car.

I'd have an Elise over a VX if I was doing it again. Nearly bought an S2 Sports Racer before I got the VXR, wish I had really.

Yes, apart from the M6 which is a robotised manual. You can get one for £10K.

This appears to be catching: My letterbox is leaking from one corner this morning. Serves me right for laughing earlier