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hms

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Everything posted by hms

  1. Don't foprget the tuning market around the MX5. Once they are out of warranty there will be options on additional power I'm sure. (Depending on the engine, the original Mk1 engine came from a car that was turbo'd, so all the internals could take a turbo/supercharger for easy upgrades.)
  2. The original MX5 was designed low powered, (not underpowered), so that insurance would not be a hindrance to ownership, enabling more people to buy one. Nearly a million sales later, can't say they were wrong! H
  3. I recently acquired an 03 Elise, well if there is an itch, you have to scratch it! One shock was misting, and apparently to the previous owner it had gone through the last 3 MOT's like that. Bit crashy on bumps. Went to WIM, where else, and started the alignment. Pete had trouble getting the locking nut off, the locking tool rounded off in the process, so one wheel off. Looking at the bolts that held the camber shims inplace, they were solid also. At that point, Pete decided to cancel, as we couldn't get anymore wheels off and if the camber bolts were damaged we had nothing to replace them with so the car would be undriveable. So, new locking key, 'Do you know the number sir?' Cue £25 + VAT for an archive search at Lotus to tell me the key required. New key £36 + VAT. Sometime later... Get all the bits in and go back to WIM this morning. Thought I had booked time in to get the wheels off, then if that was OK I would book in at a later date, I didn't want to blow out another alignment booking. WIM were expecting to do everything today. It was decided that we would try and get the wheels off, Joe would look at the suspension and we would take a view to changing shocks and then doing the alignment. Anyway, back to those blasted wheels. The new lock key span in all of the locknuts, all of the locknuts had been rounded so the key was useless. There's not enough room around the bolt head to get a traditional remover on, so scratching head, what to do, thinking would we have to cut the wheels off? Arrggh! Another member of staff walked over (sorry didn't get his name) and seeing the problem walked off and fetched a VAG service kit, which included various sizes of socket with a ribbed portion on the end. Gently tap one into the rounded bolt and hey presto. In less than a minute all three lock bolts were off. (To be replaced by the standard non locking bolt.) Heave a HUGE sigh of relief! Standard bolts came out easy peasy. Joe decided that he could replace the shocks and get the geo done by 2pm, as I needed to be away by then. Now here's the clever bit, whilst he was fitting the new suspension, he looked at the previous Geo sheet, and shimmed up the relevant parts to get the geo figures 'about right' for Pete. Suspension on, wheels back, and on the ramp there was very little to adjust! So, Am I relieved, you bet. Am I surprised, yes, the skill, care and knowledge of the WIM staff was exemplary and sets a very high standard to all other businesses. Am I surprised, no, having been a user of WIM, since before WIM existed, no I'm not surprised. Tony has selected staff who can maintain his high level of skills and service even when he is not there. Bravo team WIM. H P.S. Halfway through the afternoon, I found a piece of paper in the toolkit with the number of the locking tool on it. Bugger, bugger, bugger!
  4. Engaged? Congrats Sean. H
  5. Ooooh Tony, I didn't realise it was open, otherwise I would have stayed! MX5, supercharged, now where have I seen one of them! H
  6. Go for it Tony. You know how good the Hornet is, Cost of car £750 Roll bar. Gaz suspension Two items above not necessary from the get go but will improve the experience. Get rid of as much interior as you feel comfortable with. Poss add race seats + harness ...and away you go. Athsmatic 85 hp, slowest thing on a Lotus on Track day, but it's good enough to worry an Elise through corners. Wonderful fun! h
  7. Were the horses OK Oi, I'm not that old! h
  8. There is a lovely speed bump in Cardington Street alongside Euston Station. It's so high you need crampons. Top of the bump is full of big gouges where lorries have grounded out with their underbody. I've had a coach ground out on it. Wrote to council months ago, no reply! H
  9. Nowhere does it say the factory is in the uk. My suppostion is that Liftmaster is the UK agent for the chinese factory. h
  10. Lazza took the Hornet to Abingdon, his write up is as follows: Had a great day at Abingdon in Hornet yesterday. Weather was pretty much perfect and Hornet performed brilliantly. It started cold and a little slippery on the road tyres but it was a good chance to get reacquainted with the car. Justin arrived before I went out again with the track wheels so I it then on first. First session on these tyres was... Interesting. Loads of understeer which slowly improved a the tyres wore in and warmed up a bit. They didn't feel quite right though and the under steer remained and braking was a bit iffy. I had a bit of a moment coming into the first cone chicane after the main straight where one front wheel locked up then as I came off the brake the other front wheel locked and I went straight on through their cones. The yellows were out while the cones were removed from under the car. I was waved on and, as I hadn't spun, I continued lapping. The next time through there ithe Marshall was waving a blue flag. There was a faster car behind me so I let that past when we got to the straight. Next time around he was waving the flag at me again. Again I let a faster car pass me. Next time around he was flagging me again but this time there was nothing behind me. This time I realised that what I thought was a blue flag wax actually black! It just looked blue with the low sun shining through it! Doh! I came into the paddock where I was duly chastised and I apologised profusely. After Justin had a turn we were pulled over again and it was pointed out that the track tryes were now slicks and had to be taken off so the road wheels had to go back on. That was actually a great move as although they had less outright grip, the balance on the road tyres was much better and it was possible to lap a fair bit quicker! I overtook a number of cars including 3 other 5s, a couple of Elises and 7 type kits, and a few others (including a new Toyota GT). So apart from the few niggles, the tyres, the cones and the drivers side window breaking, it was a very good day with a good bunch of people in a wide variety of cars from an old original mini to an Ultima and even a 330bhp Mk1 Escort. There was also a McLaren but that didn't go out on track.
  11. iirc, the elise is the same as a smart car, front and rears are different sizes! h
  12. Chicanes are the only way I can keep up. An athsmatic 87bhp MX5 is no for most things on the straight! Chicanes and bends! h
  13. Well worth going to especially if it's so close! H
  14. Well the day started off wet, but dried in the afternoon. Hornet was flawless, as usual, day spent on road tyres, Sean and I couldn't be arsed to change them! (The 888's are not roadworthy but OK for track!) Video of a couple of laps of me chasing an Elise can be found here: Notice the engine bay louvre separate in the first chicane! Second lap here Great fun chasing the Elise, not the fastest laps of the day as you can see traffic at a couple of points. Day was run by MSE, well organised and considerate drivers All video and datalogging from Harrys Lap Timer on iphone. Tony, noticed the WIM signage is either faded or peeling, have you got replacements? H
  15. Howard, you could also help Tony by spraying the adjusters with WD40 over several days ahead of going to WIM. Makes Tonys life easier. Tony iirc carries spare adjusters for the MX5's so you should have no problem if an adjuster requires replacement. Lucky you going to the 'ring. Enjoy, I know I did. h
  16. Also for those that have Harrys Lap Timer. Shortly to be released with v17 iirc is the ability to use a GoPro Hero camera (And/or additional iphones as an additional camera, controlled by bluetooth from HLT). This will then allow PiP from 2nd camera within the overlaid video. Awaiting approval by Apple for release to app store. You will need to ensure you get the right version of HLT to ensure you get all of the functionality. See here: http://www.gps-laptimer-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1159 This piece of software just gets better and better! h
  17. I've seen a promo video that Go Pro use for the New Hero camera, some brilliant photography, with som in car as well. Here you can choose the category of vid (Tabs at the top of page) http://gopro.com/videos/video-of-the-day/#2013/3/5/ h
  18. Russia, you pay for your petrol before dispensing, and once you value is up the ump cuts off. h
  19. |iirc, when this came out it was only available LHD in the UK. Later momdels were RHD. h
  20. Last time I saw something like this it was caused by a tanks tracks the the hinge pin between each section of track. The hinge pin is proud of the track so acts as a can opener. h
  21. http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26861 h
  22. How much of this is down to marketing? You must use this tyre on this car as it's made specificaly for it, and it allows me to charge you more for the privilege? Sorry, but if it's round, black has the relevant speed and weight rating and is not a ditchfinder, then how is your tyre different? It's trading on FUD, fear, uncertainty and doubt! h
  23. http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26496 Enjoy. h
  24. Sorry to hear that Tony, but done for the right reasons, so well done. h
  25. I have one of these. http://www.amazon.com/Sainspeed-Launch-Creader-scanner-diagnostics/dp/B007VIOWIU/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1345735015&sr=1-1&keywords=obdii+creader+v Can be bought cheaper as a clone, but they cannot be updated. Also can also used to show live data. Like most readers cannot be used to reset things like airbags or abs, as they tend to be manufacturer specific. h
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