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Little bit of video here of Finn, one of the Hornets co owners, on an instructional session, with a flying lap with the instructor (Bradley Ellis) afterwards. This is in the Gazmobile. http://www.planetmx5.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4985 h

There is always someone willing and able to let the side down h

And not a 5 to be seen h

The car that went off in the video, is nearly repaired! See: http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=37104 h

The car in the video had a right off, and is has more character as a consequence! The other car, (no video) is a write off. h

Thought lift off oversteer would provide more of a "snap" but the back end seemed to step out quite progressively there? Either way what do I know, was a sad end though........but as above glad it was just a bit of bent metal and nothing worse. It looked as though it would polish out! h

The second off at the esses and went into the tyrewall at some speed. Not sure how he managed that apart from approaching the corner too fast. No kitty litter there, just grass, once you're on the grass become a passenger. Seemed to go in nearside rear corner first, which then turned the car to get the full side into the tyrewall and the bounced out. All of the top panels havd shifted to the opposite side, closing the panel gaps. The panel at the rear of the hood between the boot was rippled. Write off unfortunately. I think the driver got away with being seriously shaken. h

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If you could get to WIM. (Where are you?) Tony has a device that clamps the wheels to the balancer that uses the stud holes and not the hub centre. (I believe it cost him an awful lot of money, which is why you don't see many of them around!) His balancing machine also shows how far into the rim to place the weights, not just the position on the rim. h

Tony, yes great day again, as one has come to expect from WIM! Always nice to meet up with other 5 owners and have a natter and kick tyres. Some very nice cars there. Thanks to Team WIM, the ladies on the food and Gazman. h

Tony, can you define please? I don't understand the definitioins that come up when I google. h

Still learning about this stuff, and how to react when the back end goes. A novice driver might turn into the slide and slam on the anchors, throwing the weight forward off the rear wheels, increasing the slide. Wrong thing to do, but for a novice on a circuit it may be the best thing to do rather than power into a barrier. An experienced driver will turn into the slide and keep the power on, to keep the car balanced and use the steering to drive out of the slide. The reaction for the untrained driver is to slam the brakes on, learing not to do that is very difficult, and not a skill I have achieved! Will keep trying tho'! h

The driver needs to understand the physics of whats happening around him/her, be able to detect it through various inputs, visual, audible, (I nearly put Aural, the passenger screaming!) tactile through the steering wheel and seat of the pants. They also need to know the reactions of the car to their inputs. (Weight shift etc.) Finally they need to be able to decide what is the correct course of action to take and have the speed of response to take that action. (I fail on both counts!) Your average Joe driver never takes their car to the limit, only finding it when they have exceeded it and they become a passenger. Your instructor with his skill and experience is tuned in to the car and can anticipate the response of the car by feeling the inputs the car is feeding him. Time, experience and training will give the majority of people improved handling skills, being able to read the car and respond correctly. A good driver should be able to get the best fron their car regardless of the geometry set up. The better the driver the more they will be able to get from the car, a poorer driver would be losing it all over the place. h

Fuel duty up at midnight by 2p per gallon, VAT going back up in January, they've already started! Morrisons say they are withholding the increase to the 6th. h

Tony, add me to the list please. h

I have noticed that the home page links on the left hand side of the page are not in alphabetic order. This means you have to read each one as opposed to scan to find the correct starting letter, then read from there. (If that makes sense!) h

To be honest Tony, don't know. Was concentrating on hitting the turn-ins and apex's, althought there were a couple of points where it was understeering, usually at the 'B%**^' point where I missed the turn in which in turn screwed the exit, which screwed entry to the next corner! h

I had two coolant leaks, one on one of the heater hoses which was a bodged fit, managed to stop that, the second is, I think, a leak in the rad. Having had one of the heater hoses go on me, I didn't want that to happen again where I could not easily fix it. (I know I could have put the engine input to output and bypass the heater, it's not an easy job on a 5 due to restricted space!) So I took it nice and easy, still melted the tyres though! Ended up with two nice big rubber bands of tyre around the front wheels. Looking now for a nice new rad and hoses now. h

Just back from a short trip to France,went out for a track day at the Circuit de Ecuyers, just south of Rheims. Great new circuit, only one long straight but lots of corners, ideal for a 5. Took me half the morning to learn the course. Was run by Lotus on Track, well organised, relaxed day, great fun. Half of the crowd were French/Dutch and were interested in Lexie as 5's are not common there. Unfortunately I was having problems with Lexie so couldn't give it the beans, but a great day anyway. I wold love to do this in the Hornet. Video here: Rheims also has an old Grand Prix circuit, (Circuit de Gueux) which is on public roads, and the stands and pits still exist, very atmospheric. There are a cuple of roundabouts now that weren't there originally, and the top part of the course is now a major road, but as you turn off that on to the pit straight, (where the video starts, off to the right you can see the old road joining the new straight. Video of the course here: Plus I managed a visit to the Mumm Champagen House, hic! h

Just out of interest what size wheels + offset and tyres do you have on the front? h

Came across this Russian site today. yes it's in Russian but it's still useable. Go to: http://www.japancars.ru/ on the right of the page there is a list of marques, choose from there. You then get three boxes on the left of the page, in the bottom one choose the pulldown menu Регион: and from there select the top of list Ebpona (Sorry, don't have Russian on this PC!) You have just set the system to show the European range of vehicles. The drop down list Модель: allows you to select your model of vehicle. Once done, click the button underneath, you then get presented with a list of vehicles, select the one that matches, this will lead to a page with clickable links (On the left of page) for body, engine etc. Hope somebody finds this useful. h

Ooh goody, hopefully will be able to attend the new date! h

Cross posted to the Planet forum for you Tony. h

Bugger! previous appointment at Ecuyers for a track day! h

Beatiful cars, not sure I would want to own one though! I love the level of engineering in the car, and the use of lockwire! I'm surprised at the colour though, Cobra owners tend to be extrovert I imagine, so to have the car painted motorway mud colour just isn't right! h