Dad's new toy

Here's a couple a picture's of Dad's Corvette LT4.... (FINALLY)

Despite this car being mint (to the human eye at least) Dad thinks he could still spend money on it. I'm hoping the first investment will be on some free flowing exhaust pipes with smaller silencers and a de-cat pipe if I had my way. We'll be visiting Hayward & Scott where I got my exhaust from for the 22B, on the 25th of this month to discuss the options. It sounds lovely and smooth and 'waffley' although there is potential for a more full-on V8 rumble.

It's fitted with the ZR1 slightly deep dished 5 spoke alloys. The 5.7 litre small block chevy engine produces 330bhp and this much torque.....

^ I think about torque quite a lot - but this best represents the vette's torque better than ^ any articulate and carefully worded description

It's absolutely insane, it has 6 gears and the famous quote is that it'll cruise at 50 mph in the top 5 gears. It'll do 0-60 in 4.7 seconds - which is exactly the same as the 22B. Because of the capacity of the engine it really doesn't need to rev that high to really perform. As a consequence of this I found myself shifting up way too early at about 4 of 5k rpm - as the gears are so long that it feels unnatural not to shift for such a long period of time - so you do just out of habbit..... and guess what? It just keeps on pulling, and really pulling.

The First time we test drove it, Dad changed down at about 60mph, floored it and the rear snaked all of the road as it broke traction (with the traction control on!). Since then I've sat in the passenger seat (on the wrong side of the car - LHD) on demos by Dad as he controllably snaked up the road at high speed - in 3rd gear!

Ok now for the handling: This is where everyone expects me to say how bad it is. But it really doesn't deserve it's bad reputation. Neither of us are aware of what it's like near the limit, but it's got really good road holding and stability through the bends and the round abouts we've been round so far - I'll have to report back with more on this when I get to play more on dry roads.

Elise got waxed....

My friend Alex (the hero!)

The article says it all......

javascript:ol('http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/news/mercury/royston_mercury/2006/01/27/escape from mt olympus.lpf');

Nizlopi

So we did the usual hire-a-car and drive to London to see Nizlopi playing at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. We had a bite to eat before hand at a local restaurant, where they took sooo long to bring our food out they actually gave us another round of drinks on the house!

In the car on the way down, we stopped at a garage that just happened to sell genuine JCB plastic toys. I decided that spending a fiver on this piece of 'official JCB merchandise' would be a good investment - even it was destined to be used as a projectile at the gig!

The Music was good - some found the continuous beat-boxing by matey on the left with the big violin, a tad repetitive and somewhat unnecessary. Maybe people would have appreciated this talent if he'd have rationed it a bit more. That said, his solo was awesome.

We listened to a good half-a-dozen songs before the JCB song came on and even then it was some strange edited version that was difficult to sing/shout along to. We were about ten metres from the stage and it was suggested to me that launching the JCB from that distance may prove hazardous. So I decided to wade through the crowd to the front near the stage - where I could show matey. He looked quite impressed, so I threw it at him.

His accomplice picked it up at the end of song and read the note out loud that we scrawled on the back....

Chants of "SAM! SAM! SAM!" were greatly appreciated - thank you people.

At the end of the evening, I overheard a couple 'upper-class' grebo wenches 'avin a go' about us, well mainly me. They strongly objected to the the fact that we were talking through the performance. Then they started slating me for MY appearance. I felt it necessary to point out that she was on somewhat dodgey ground when criticising the way other people look and dress - considering she hardly looked like she'd made the effort. She actually looked as if she was going to a fancy dress party as a cross between the ginger bloke from brave heart and Uncle Bulgeria from the Wombles! She thought that somehow because she went to school with Nizlopi, she deserved to be there and I didn't. At one point she actually screamed trinity in my face - which I think was the name of their school. Thank you to Sarah and John for supervising me throughout our 'discussion'.

To be fair, I thought that these were the last people to object to our presence. I thought it far more likely that the following people would have been far higher up the list:

1) The poor girl in front of me I dropped my pint over before the music had started

2) The numerous people who I trod on and lied to - to get to the stage during the JCB song

3) And the strange looking fat guy with a mole on his nose, who I kept accidently dancing on and who overheard me commenting on how I wondered what his girlfriend was doing with him.....

Cheers Guys and Girls - a thoroughly good night!

Envelope I designed for Enterprise

I recently identified estate agents as potentially excellent referal sources for van rentals on a retail basis. We needed to find an inncentive for the estate agents helping us advertise our brand and services to their own established client base. Originally I thought about just distributing leaflets to them that they could include in their mailshots to prospective buyers, however there would be little incentive for them to do this as essentially it's just another piece of paper they have to stuff into their envelopes. So why not provide them with the envelopes themselves..... for free. That way we are taking away a cost to them by providing them with free envelopes to send out their mail. What's in it for Enterprise? It has our advertising on the back of it.

^ The reverse of the Envelope I designed - I've had 2000 made for a pilot scheme ^

The main idea is to get people who are moving house to rent their own vans to transport their belongings instead of using removal companies. Renting a van from us can be more convenient and a lot cheaper for the customer. I think this is definately a market Enterprise should tap into.

BMW E46 M3 CSL - @ Castle TVR

Even the greatest of BMW cynics (Colin) have got to appreciate the purity that is the E46 M3 CSL. This example was a minter, and the quality of the finish alone made the surrounding TVRs and dare I say it the odd Lotus, want to slink into the shadows in shame.


When I got back I thought this might make a pretty picture - sadly it is completely wrecked by the semi-industrial scum-pit, that is Harlow in the foreground.

Latest Pics of Mr Binks

Binks is kind of hyper-active still, so Laura has begun to experiment with Hypnosis......

Because unfortunately he's not always as sedate as this....

^ He's having IT lessons, but it does tire him out ^

^ sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep....^

^ .....and as I click my fingers - eyes open wide awake! ^

Check back for more pics as he progresses or leave a comment if you see fit.

Lotus Elise Series 1

So, I finally got my rear wheel drive toy. It was an example too good to turn down. I found it on a forecourt in essex, negotiated a fair price (3 grand below asking price) and the rest is history.

As you can see it's a 1998 S Reg in Norfolk Mustard Yellow. Absolutely standard and in immaculate condition. Has had 2 previous owners covering a grand total of 9700 miles, has full lotus service history and by the look of it - dry weather use only. It only has 118bhp but manages to pull it to 60 in 5.5secs. The power delivery is nice and torquey and pulls right from idle, with good pick up in all gears, without relying on any vvt-i stuff. Up top it is fairly typical of any 16v engine, coming well up on cam around 5500rpm, and builds up to an aggressive roar just before the rev limiter.

^ An artistic photo for Butch ^

^ The rear wheels are actually wider than the front ^

^ Ferrari F50-like swoops ^

^ A moody inside night shot ^

^ unmarked 16" alloys, calipers with Lotus engraved on them ^

I'm unable to report on the handling as yet, as it has rained every flippin day since I've had it. As soon as I get a dry day to 'play' on the lanes, I'll pop a little post on about it.

Young Mr Butcher's Paintings

These are a few paintings hanging in Butch's gallery that is his house. Most of his paintings aren't exactly instantly recognisable as to what they are - to me at least. So I stare and stare desparately trying not to do him the injustice of asking "but what is it?". Because I know that once he has told me what it is, I will not only instantly see what it is but also be overwhelmed by a sense of guilt and stupidity for not recognising it n the first place.

The picture below is a prime example of what I mean. See if you can see what it is - I'll tell you after the fourth picture (that Laura finds scary). It's not a great photo to be honest.



The yellowy picture is of someone playing the drums - the black shape is a silouhette of the drummer's head. Genius.

Focus ST

This Focus ST is parked outside the Gates Ford garage pretty much opposite my work. Looks really cool, even in ORANGE. Pardon? What me? A test drive, surely not. Well if you'll excuse the cliche, it really would be rude not to.....

It'd be good to put it head-to-head against my cousin's Focus RS, although encorporating that into the test drive may prove challenging.

Topless Ultima

One of my customers at work mentioned that he owned an Ultima. I kindly offered to give him a ride home - which was over 20 miles away from the branch, just so I could look at the beast.

When I arrived at his home, having talked cars virtually all the way, he asked me if I had time to have a quick look - as if I was the one doing him the favour. He opened the garage and it sat there all wrapped up....

^ errr, it's quite wide ^

^ over 400bhp of 5.7 litre small block chevy ^

^ ....and I thought the 22B was a tight fit in my garage ^

^....and it's quite low, 120mm off the road - without carbon splitter ^

This specific car was factory built and has recently benefitted from a complete three thousand pound respray by Hilton Coachworks - needless to say the car is mint! It does 0-60 in 3.9seconds and the owner tells stories of cruising past Ferrari 360s at over 145mph. He should bring the car down to the Goat at Hertford Heath on the first Sundays of every month - but was actually going to conduct a "recky" first to make sure he'll be able to get to the event without going over the evil speed bumps.

Elbow

On 06/09/05 Butch invited me to an Elbow gig at a venue in London. At first I declined the invitation, because it's not really my thing. A few minutes later, I called Butch back and accepted the invitation as I thought I ought to broaden my horizons.

I rented a car from work to drive down in, as we were all reluctant to leave our beloved automobiles parked in London, more specifically Camden. I picked Butch and his workmate Lee up from Hertford at around 18:30 and we began our journey.

Butch called shotgun (as always), and Lee sat nervously in the back. Lee isn't the best passenger. Not being the best passenger myself, I empathised with Lee and drove calmly.... for a few minutes at least. Butch is pretty much immune to the typically swift nature of my driving and declared his boredom after a few miles down the road. At this point I speed up a tad, and listen to Lee squeal as he endures a combination of late braking and lateral G, oh and the sound of the rev limiter with overtones of Butch giggling the whole time.

We find this particularly amusing when we consider that Lee drives a comparitively rapid EVO 5 and we were in a 1.25 litre Ford Fiesta! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my first gig, and look forward to the Nizlopi one, coming soon.....

^ A dwarf-like-guitar-playing version of Butcher ^

Mr Binks

This is our new addition to the family. He was 10weeks old on the 30/12/05. His pedigree is Ragdoll and he is a colourpoint which is quite rare and means that although he is mainly white, he has chocolatey brown/black feet, tail nose and ears. He has the nicest temprament, although he can be slightly overactive at times - similar to my good self after a few beverages!

My Cars

Those of you who know me may be aware that I have an active interest in virtually anything automotive. I own a couple of cars myself, a Saxo VTS and a Subaru 22B. This section is devoted to those cars, enjoy.....

^ it's not a spoiler - it's a shit photo ^