New Toys @ Work

^ 1.8 SRi ^

^ ESP off - essential for fun ^

^ Sporty 18"s ^

I drove this today and first impressions are all good. The handling although fairly neutral, is loads of fun, it has a really tight chassis that responds well to lift off oversteer and good turn in under breaking. As with all FWD cars it will understeer on power but not wildly. The powerplant seems adequate and the crisp throttle response in sport mode improves pick-up quite considerably. It could definitely do with some more power, but this SRi model has just enough power to have some fun, without being too wild. It had only done 285 miles, so when it's properly worn in - it'll probably undergo further testing!

Russ' Party

On Saturday 11th March, I set off to Cheltenham via Uxbridge where I picked up John. I had several cars to choose from; the 22B, Laura's Fiesta, Dad's Merc, Numerous brand new cars from work or the Elise. In all my wisdom I decided to renounce from any sort of comfort or luxury and take the Elise. Longest journey yet and the car ate up the miles! John commented on the obvious lack of padding on the seats, oh and the noise! As I described it as an incouragable roar, John just cringed.

We found Cheltenham and began with a brief tour of the town which John described repeatedly as "unbelievably posh". I did seem a really nice place to be, however the reason for John's enthusiasm soon became clear - he was using Shepherd's Bush as a 'yard stick' for comparison. Subsequently we struggled to think of places that John would disapprove of - Russ came up with Iraq and Baghdad!

^ John meeting the locals ^

Russ was kind enough to let me tuck the Elise round the back of his house, and thinking about it I was parked in the garden. Before we started drinking it was time to test out some Data Logging equipment on the Elise. After much pursuasion Russ agreed to accompany me on the test run. The device measured G force under breaking and acceleration, lateral G force while cornering, speed and the geographical movements of the car - all of which was downloadable on to a PC and extremely accurate as it was being tracked by 5 satellites and as such all the data collected was GPS verified. Long story short the Elise managed to pull 0.89G around a round about, just under 0.5 G under acceleration and just over 0.5 under braking - not bad on cold roads with old tyres (and without frightening Russ too much).

Finally, the party; we met loads of Russ' mates who all seemed friendly and even up for a bit of hand crouch experimentation. I made the mistake of demonstrating it to Russ' flat mate who by chance was a Yoga teacher - and showed me how it should be done:

http://media.putfile.com/Yoga-demo

See http://js0754.blogspot.com/2006/03/russells-house-party-cheltenham.html for our own hand crouches - I think we still kick ass!

^ G'day mate ^

The karaoke was very popular - with John. Russ made us all feel very welcome by dressing like a terrorist?? It was a damn good night and almost worth enduring the drive there and back. John barely said two words the whole way back - less than impressed with the Elise's level of luxury. He was so hungover he struggled to opperate the Stereo - and randomly jabbed at the head unit until it made noise. Thanks Russ. And thanks to Butch who cooked me lunch when I got back - I must have been great company (sorry).

Is the 22B still quick?

Yes. Yes it's very quick and very agile. Up until Sunday I hadn't driven the 22B for a whole month - far too long! I'd forgotten just how good it was and decided to drive it to and from work this week. I've been driving the Elise every day now for over a month and the Subaru's cabin feels luxurious in comparison. Although I've been convinced for years that the driving position in the 22B is ergonomically perfect, it felt almost compromised having driven the Elise for so long. I bought the 22B to ease me into the art of rear wheel drive in high performance cars. Although its four wheel drive, it is rear biased and has a 70:30 torque split, meaning it has a lot of the handling characteristics of a rear wheel drive car. Up until I bought the 22B I'd only really driven front wheel drive hot hatches and although many of the new handling traits were intuitive, the lack of drivers aids (i.e. no abs or traction control of any kind) ensured a steep learning curve would be essential if the scooby was to remain crease-free. After a track day, a 1000 round abouts and a few years practice around the lanes, the 22B is living up to its reputation. Before I got the Elise, I was more than capable of putting the 22B through its paces around the lanes, with a dab of opposite lock, on power oversteer and the occasional victory power slide - I was beginning to feel like Colin McRae! - then I bought the Elise. The chassis on the Elise is so responsive that the outcome of every driver input is felt immediately 'through the seat of your pants'. Every drive in an Elise is a learning experience about the dynamics of a sports car. Having only recently made the transition to RWD, my driving style has already defaulted to accommodate the dynamics of a RWD chasis, intuitively unsettling the car to drift it through a corner or two. Although the 22B was supposed to act as an intermediary before letting myself loose on 'proper' RWD sports car, the chassis on the 22B responds really well to being driven as if it was entirely rear wheel drive itself - meaning you can be more committed and use the added grip as a real advantage (or at least have more fun doing it!) Now a quick reminder of just how quick the 22B accelerates in the wet! http://media.putfile.com/22B-acceleration-0-90MPH I know the standard measurement is from 50-70mph but that happens far too quickly in the 22B - lets have a look at how long it takes to get from 50-80mph: http://media.putfile.com/22B-acceleration-50-80MPH

150mph demo in an Ultima

Rob took me for a ride in his Ultima with 400bhp and no windscreen! The only thing I can compare it to is Lemans racer. When you look into the cockpit it is full of gages, lights and buttons. The whole car is perfectly trimmed and finshed with plenty of nice touches that add to the authentic feel of this factory built ex-demonstrator - even the indicators are controlled by stainless steel toggle switches on the dash as opposed to conventional plastic stalks from the steering colomn. More toggle switches control which fuel tank the fuel gage reads from and the various coloured warning lights illuminate according to drops in oil pressure.

^ It's ok mum I was safe - I was wearing four points..... ^

The car itself has essentially the same engine as the Corvette but weighs in at only 900kilos fully fuelled - that's only 200kilos more than the Elise!

We played 9 holes

Showing that us petrolheads can turn our talents to disciplins of a more sporting nature - it was Sunday lunchtime and time for a spot of golf. As a rule I don't generally play golf. Butch had played before but prefers to race about the course in Golf buggies Jackass style. Lee, as far as I could work out, is undergoing lessons and came equipped with all his own sticks and a gay white glove that he refused to share. Finally Colin, generally acknowledged to be a semi-professional of most disciplins, can also wack a golf ball in vaguely the right direction too. To be fair I didn't stand a chance and virtually everytime I hit the ball, Lee roared with laughter - cheers mate. I did triumph on one hole though, on the green in two and in the hole in four! The average number of shots it took the others to 'score' was about 15 on that hole. Despite this, I still came in last, but only by three points.

^ Lee's gay white glove ^

On the final hole (quite near the car park) Butch asked me to demonstrate my Happy Gilmore style of swing. Click on the following link to see a demonstration:

http://media.putfile.com/Happy-Gilmore97

The Goat Hertford Heath

Well the weathermen promised us a good day today and I am pleased to say he delivered! Lovely crisp dry roads (if a bit salty) ensured a good turn out and one of the biggest selection of cars turned up from all genres, old to new. At around 11am Col brought his recently restored Renault 5 turbo to my house, followed by Rob's Ultima - awesome!

^ We all cruised down together making a variety of noises ^

^ New AMV8 ^

^ Looks perfectly proportioned from this perspective ^

^ Cobra... Rob's Ultima lurked behind ^

^ Dad's vette took pride of place in the car park - 22B tucked away to the left ^

^ A severe lack of Jessica Simpson with this example ^

^ My cousin Dan's Focus RS - like new - lots of armourfend - top car ^

^ Moody Black Clio V6 ( or "V8" as Butch Freudianly slipped) ^

^ Bikes - er, I don't understand sorry - ask Butch for details ^

^ Another fine example of the typically immaculate classics that make up this monthly meet ^

^ Colin was less than impressed by "the hideous yellow thing" parked beside him ^

^ K4RRR lives on.... ^

^ New GT350 'stang in the bacground, DB9 foreground, strange blue thing to the left?? ^