Supercharged Nomad, Ram SRT-10, modded P1
Discussion
I'd let my old thread slip for a bit as I hadn't done a lot with the feature car so thought I would start a new one to cover the new kids.
See old thread here for more detail on the P1 and all the other junk I've had up to this point.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
So what have I been upto since? Well grab a cuppa or 3 this is going to be a big old update!
So the new 17" wheels for the P1, the track tyres that were on them had a bit of tread left but were a fair few years old and looking a bit dry, probably would have been ok but I didn't want to risk a blowout at 130+mph, so I binned them and got some new ones. Wanted something that could be reasonable in the wet or dry to save taking both sets of wheels to tracks. Settled on Advan AD08s. This was at the point where they were switching the AD08R over to the RS. I got the RS thinking that being the newer tyre would be the better one, wrong!
Another trackday at Combe. The tyres did achieve one thing I hoped and wore properly, not scrubbing the edges, unfortunately the new compound seems to be made of granite. Tried playing with pressures but just had understeer on understeer all day long. I was hoping they would be a little better and give me some better more stable lap times than the fully road going Michelin SS that I'd used previously but I was about 2 seconds a lap down.
Managed to pop a hose off the turbo meaning boost spiked to about 2.5 bar instead of 1.9 felt great lol. Came in and fixed it straight away, seemingly no harm done.
Finished the day and drove home so result.
You can hear all the lovely squealy understeer in the video
Still, with the car running well the next trackday was booked. Cadwell Park, never been before but fancied it for a while. Had a lads trip up there. I took the P1 and friends brought along M3 track car, Astra VXR, Clio 182 track car and S2000. Stayed overnight in a place next to a stream that we had (well didn't really have to but sat nav sheep
) to drive through. Wasn't too deep, I came out doing a stream train impression with a cloud chuffing out my bonnet vent, mate towing his M3 lost the numberplate off his trailer and had to go paddling Place was alright though.
Cadwell Park, what a circuit! My ideal place, so narrow, so much elevation. It is basically like a good one way country road with a bit of run off.
My God was it hot though. Even worse than the day at the Ring that killed the Corolla. About 35C, the organisers actually let us go round in shorts and t shirts to save passing out.
Due to the heat I kept the P1 on low boost all day, shame as it would have been mad around there in big boy mode!
Even on low boost it was almost lifting the nose over The Mountain, tyres chirping away
Still wearing my Lego tyres so performance could have been better. My mates in the VXR and S2000 on their Nankangs were making me look silly all day never mind the M3! I'm normally 2-5 sec a lap quicker than them at Combe. Thankfully I was still quicker than the Clio
You can see me struggling again in this vid chasing a modded Focus RS. No problem with it on the straights and higher speed corners but through the slower sections even though he is off line I still can't get near him
Almost made it to the end of the day drama free. Went out for my last session, all well, session got red flagged after 2 laps (quite a few cars shat themselves in the heat over the day), came in sat in the pits to go out again, 5 mins later went out and straight away had a problem. Could get power but every time I let off or held a constant throttle above 3-4k rpm it would have a fit and cut out then bump itself back into life. Called it a day straight off before anything went bang. The 200 mile limp home was not fun but it made it.
Decided to retire it from track duties at this point to just be a fast road car.
Unfortunately that has been it for the P1 it hasn't left the driveway since 2019. Spoken to a few specialists who have a best guess it may be a bad earth somewhere. I've tried a few things in my limited skill set but none have worked and I've just not gotten around to getting it picked up and taken somewhere suitable. I really need to hurry up and get it sorted, I'm missing it and it fills a gap in the fleet now. Do give it a bath from time to time.
My wee reached boiling level in Sept 2019. Went to do the weekly shop. As you do, parked in the end space and left plenty of room for normies to balls up their parking next door.
Came back out 20 mins later to find some absolute s
tlord had crashed into my front wing and done a runner 
No witnesses hanging around and I went in and checked but was told the car park CCTV only focusses on the entry / exit so they can fine people who have stayed too long.
Quoted repair was about £750, new wing and blending into bonnet, bumper and door so went through insurance. What the insurer did not tell me at the time is that because the stbag drove off and they can't claim the costs back from them this counts as a me at fault claim! I only found this out come insurance renewal time when the price was hoiked up. If I had know the impact it would have on all my policies I would have just paid it out of my own bloody pocket.
With the P1 being off the road and my lazy ass not getting it fixed I was getting a bit bored of Walter being my only transport.
Don't get me wrong, was a brilliant place to be, drove lovely, super practical in all weathers, great stereo, but was just a bit dull. When pressing on it wasn't slow with about 250bhp but lack of noise and chassis drama just wasn't fun.
So I started looking for a replacement that would do daily dog walking duties but still be fun at the weekends or if I found myself on a good road somewhere by accident and could still do the odd trackday.
Started looking at the same shaped RS4s. Thinking it would be all the things I loved about Walt with the added entertainment I needed. Had a test drive and it just didn't grab me. I was very impressed with how the gearbox worked but unfortunately the gears were reeeeaaly long and with the 8k rpm engine it meant that you mostly only ever used 2nd gear. Being a high revving NA thing in a lumpy car it also barely felt any quicker than Walt 99% of the time, a decent exhaust to liberate the noise was about £4k too so in the end I just couldn't justify spending double Walt's value on one.
It was about this time that details started coming through about the GR Yaris. Sounded like it would fit the bill, got excited, spent a lot of time on the PH thread about it.
Was thinking a new car would also be good and less likely to break on track unlike the P1 so a few stress free trackdays would be ideal. In the thread it emerged, and was confirmed by Toyota, that the warranty would be invalidated by track use, so I held out putting a deposit down anywhere. It also came to light in the thread that a couple of the GR's major rivals did offer a trackday safe warranty. Civic Type R and the Hyundai i30N.
Excellent as it is, and despite living within sight of the Honda factory (RIP), I'm not a particular fan of the look of it and the boot shape wouldn't be ideal for doggo.
So i30N, I had no real experience or knowledge of them, all I know was one of my trackday friends had tried one for a day assessing it for possible police use and highly recommended it, as a fun car not for police use, though a few forces are using them unmarked so watch out!
Arranged a test drive in one at a dealer in a nearby town, loved it, everything I wanted, exciting, noisy, fun, had all the toys. Ready to slap down a deposit and order a new one right there and then. Asked the dealer about the warranty covering track use and he said hell no! Not something Hyundai have ever offered. Balls!
I was sure he was wrong from what I'd read on here and other places but he was adamant. I stopped in at my local Hyundai dealer on the way home to see what they said. Yep, absolutely covered. FFS. Went away to try and confirm things. Found you can download the warranty Ts & Cs off the Hyundai website and yes confirms trackdays are covered in the i30N, brill!
Local dealer wouldn't offer me a good deal on a new one so found a dealer about 50 miles away who were offering new ones about £3k cheaper, ordered, picked it up about 2 weeks later. At which point the GR Yaris was just coming out and Toyota reversed their initial decision and decided trackdays would be covered on warranty!!
But it was too late now, one because I had the I30N and two, now all the rave reviews were out and the waiting list was a year long. So sticking to the i30N it was.
Say hello to Norbert everyone. (Named after the Hyundai factory driver that had just won the championship in one)
Had about 10 miles on it when I picked it up, dealer told me to enjoy it and not worry about running in, so beat the hell out of it straight away it was. Drive home was great
Dealer called me a few days later to ask if I'd been enjoying the car and if I'd tried N mode yet, I'd left the forecourt in it
After a couple of weeks of getting used to it and hammering it round the local roads I had my friend give it a proper wash and ceramic coat, oooo beading
Further protection for daily duties. Got the rear fully covered with a Hatchbag boot liner.
Then a few warranty safe mods. Pipercross drop in filter. Basically does bugger all but does give you a little bit of turbo flutter and suck noise. It is also approved by Hyundai.
I'd heard good things about the brakes on these as standard on track but thought I would do this little brake duct mod just in case it helped, it was only about £30. Rest of the braking system, pads, discs, fluid all standard.
These are Audi RS3 brake ducts and they just clip directly onto the lower wishbones.
And the biggest mod was a set of track wheels and tyres. Speedline Turini wheels with MRF ZTR tyres. I'd told myself after having the wheels on the P1 in white for a bit that I'd never do it again but this car just looks so right on them, probably helped by the race cars having the same colour scheme.
Few hundred miles on the clock now, time for his first trackday. Booked on at Castle Combe, home track and where I know what laptimes are reasonable.
Brilliant day! I'd been impressed with the brakes and chassis in fast road use but really over the moon with it on track, especially with the MRFs on. It certainly held it's own. Nearly hit a pheasant crossing the track! Thankfully missed it this time so it idnt have to wear it home like my E30 did years ago.
i30 was quite a bit slower than the P1 in a straight line but way better through the corners, guess that is 15 years of evolving chassis tech and good tyres. Should get a set of these on the P1 and try ag..... no bad Will leave it.
No idea of the accuracy of the onboard G display but seems decent.
Think I came home with more rubber than I started with!
Ah the joys of white wheels.
No need for expensive cleaning stuff, this is the result from the AA wheel cleaner, bought at Home Bargains for about 1/3 the price of any "good" stuff for a bigger bottle and it does a cracking job.
Then I did something stupid I thought I should add to my collection of highly strung things and bit the bullet on the car I had been lusting after for about 20 years! I became a true PHer and bought a TVR!
Lusting over TVRs in my teens was the reason I joined PH all those years ago. I used to drive out to my local dealer on my lunch breaks at college just to see and listen to them.
Been looking for one in the right spec for years and hit the jackpot with this one.
Trev (named for obvious reason) a Cerbera 4.5 V8 Red Rose "Lightweight" (yeah I know, don't start). Essentially the holy grail of Cerbs. It was apparently the London Motorshow car for TVR, hence the unicorn spec.
I really love the side profile of these
And one of the big reasons for going for this one was the unique interior, Normally they are all leather and wood in interesting colours but this one is leather/alcantara and metal trim.
And the important bit
Childhood dream realised it looked, sounded and drove great.
Since Trev was too loud for any upcoming trackdays, Norbert was pressed back into service for another day at Combe with friends.
Brilliant and faultless all day again.
Showing the standard chassis stiffness hoiking the inside wheels up. Got some positive comments from other drivers there, surprised the car was basically standard.
Met Tiff Needell, had a quick chat, he was there coaching and working on the Caterham Academy cars you can see in the vid.
They say the Cerb was built with Peter Wheeler in mind so suitable for the larger gent. I'm 6'2 and struggled, head was nearly in the roof. I took my slightly taller mate out for a ride, snug
50 shades of blue
Finally all the years with me have rubbed off on Mrs Will and she joined the multicar club! She had been missing her old Cooper S, seen these around and loved the colour. Managed to luck into getting one locally with a great spec so snapped it up.
Welcome to the family Bonny (name is about as convoluted as her old Mini's was. Colour is Caribbean Aqua, its girly, a famous female pirate that operated in the Caribbean was Anne Bonny)
I have to admit this car is a big guilty pleasure of mine (paper bag emoji). I really like convertibles in general and this is just such a hoot to drive. It is the Cooper S so 2.0 turbo, about 200bhp. In sport mode the turbo comes on fast and hard, it is quick enough to be fun and has a good induction, turbo chatter and exhaust noise, It is a bit of a troll / sleeper as nobody expects it to move like it does. Male friends refuse to come for rides with the roof down
I do particularly like driving through the countryside, roof down at night, never had a car with ambient lighting before.
And I suppose most importantly, Mrs Will is over the moon with it.
Had one sensor failure that put the EML on but nothing dramatic and sorted quickly under warranty, otherwise been fine.
Unfortunately for me, the TVR dream was turning into a nightmare. Multiple problems with it and trips back to the dealer for it only not to be fixed (all detailed on here if you want to seek it out) was getting to me and I just didn't trust it. Never took it out to places or events as I just wasn't confident it would come home. Any drives were just a quick blast around local roads, when it was working it was glorious though.
In the midst of all this we had a bit of a shock. Casually driving home from a nice sunny walk with the doggo in the countryside and two idiots conspired to ruin my day.
We were following (at a safe distance) a Vauxhall Childtransporter, the woman driving it suddenly decided, with no warning to anyone to turn right at a T junction. No problem for me I was far enough back. Unfortunately she hadn't paid any attention to the lad in a Polo coming towards us, who shat himself and decided that swerving onto the wrong side of the road and having a head on with me was somehow preferable! I did what I could to avoid him and got mostly out of his way but still ended up going offside to offside. Nobody was hurt.
Tara took it like a champ with no critical damage, and kept the dog cool while we took pics and exchanged details and I shouted at the other two. Particularly the woman who caused it all and got away with no damage.
Apparently she was out with her two daughters, 5-10 years old, and they were looking for the house that their uncle had murdered someone in! Just the normal weekend activity with the kids!
Managed to drive home slowly with no drama.
Still at least we had all their details this time and it didn't go down as my fault, though having to declare these two accidents this close together is keeping my premiums nice and high
Unfortunately the Insurer's approved bodyshop were garbage. Got the car back quick enough and the actual painting was decent but they did a crap job of everything else. New headlight was misaligned, hadn't bothered fitting trim bits on new bumper which also wasn't fitted properly, wheel alignment was miles off and worst of all the new alloy they fitted is different to the other 3!
Many complaints from me and lies from them later and we got everything resolved apart from the incorrect alloy. Them insisting that is the one to fit and as supplied by Suzuki so don't care if it doesn't match the 3 originals.
Took this all the way through their complaints procedure and independent arbitration, evidenced the wheel that should be on there but even the arbitrator wont make them do it or cough up for a new wheel that I can source. Insurer wouldn't get involved either. So just grumpily living with it for now.
The Vitara continues to amaze with its robustness, reliability and frugality, I really don't know how this thing drinks so little fuel! We used it for a week long trip up to the Lake District and it averaged nearly 60MPG. This is a 5 speed manual, non turbo, petrol "suv".
Mrs Will was missing the big round ball gearknob from her old R53 Mini, so I bought a plain white one from Amazon and painted it myself with the can of touch up paint we were given when we bought the car, so it matches the rest of the interior.
Good news! it was a lovely sunny day. More good news! Trev decided he would like to start!!
Had an absolutely cracking drive Man I love this thing!
Unfortunately they joy did not last Heading back towards home on this drive the clutch pedal started going longer and longer. I noticed, so started limiting my gear changes and avoiding stopping where possible. About 1/2 mile from home it went completely and I was just stuck in 2nd. Luckily I didn't have to stop before my driveway so at least I made it home.
This was the final straw for me, I'd had enough and wanted my money back so started the process of rejecting it back to the dealer. Fair bit of back n forth later (again documented on here) with the dealer being a silly arse, apparently a car that hardly starts and breaks down regularly is fit for purpose we came to an agreement. I wasn't entirely happy with it but took the hit just to get it over and done with.
So childhood dream ruined for now. I'm not completely put off TVR ownership. I was expecting some issues but this was an expensive one from a "reputable" dealer that was supposed to be about the best example going. If I'd paid £7-10k less for it I'd have fixed it and still have it now. I do seem to have been rather unlucky as although Cerbs are known to be a bit troublesome every owner I've spoken to has agreed it has been a bit problematic even for a TVR. I'll possibly revisit the idea in the future.
It has taken the dealer 7 months to resell it and they don't seemed to have changed their ways. I have spoken to the new owner and they have already been lying to him before taking delivery. I hope for his sake that they have sorted out everything they knew was wrong with it and mega jealous as I will be if it goes well for him I hope his ownership of it is less problematic than mine.
So what next. Well the other thing that I have been looking for for a few years is a good example of another thing I have wanted since I was about 20. If you read my previous thread you might remember Billy, my 5.7 hemi Dodge Ram. I got that one at the time because I couldn't afford the version I really wanted, the 8.3l Viper engined SRT-10. Well now I can.
I've wanted one of these since I was working at a Dodge dealership all those years ago and we had a couple of customers with them.
It has taken me so long to find the one I wanted as I've been after one as near to standard as possible. Most of them seem to get Barried up with nasty wheels, stuck on chrome stuff, loads of speakers inside, random viper bits stuck on etc.
Actually having some luck for once just as I was getting rid of the Cerb the SRT-10 I'd been waiting for came up. It wasn't very local though being in Chester.
Discussed it with the dealer, sounded good so put a holding deposit on it booked a day off work and planned a route that wasn't just boring motorway there and back.
It was going to be a looong day for Norbert.
Started bright and early and was having a good time, going steady all the way up to Wrexham then had a bit of a heart attack. I'd been stuck behind an artic, behind a slow camper for a while. We got onto an uphill stretch that had an overtaking lane. I pulled out and started getting past, the artic put his indicator on so I started to get past a bit quicker, then I was watching the camper that I was now overtaking as it was dropping its chemical toilet everywhere. With both of them passed I looked a little bit farther up the road than my immediate problems at which point I saw the scamera van on a bridge over the road pointing at me. fk!
I must have been doing 70-80 in a 60 when I saw it. I hit the brakes ASAP and awaited my fate.
Despite arranging to see and test drive the Ram the dealer decided they wanted to fix a power steering leak on it thst morning instead so I got to start it and look over it but not drive it. Bit annoying having driven all that way.
So happy with the originality. Only non original bits on it were that the exhaust has had the silencers removed, dear lord it is loud and it has the solid, lockable bed cover on there, which means it doesn't have the rear spoiler. Both of which I can live with or sort.
Condition isn't perfect but good enough. Bodywork is all straight although there are a few scrapes on it and inside is all good and everything seems to work, only 45k miles on it.
Dealer ensured me it would go through their checks and an MOT and anything found wanting would be dealt with, it would be detailed and they could deliver it down to me to save the ballache of picking it up so bought it.
So all excited began my long old journey home.
First stop Snowdon. The initial plan, if it was a nice day was to do a quick run up to the peak before carrying on but to my amazement when I got there, despite covid and it being a working weekday it was packed. Never seen it so busy. I couldn't even get a parking space. So gave up on that plan.
Had a quick blat up the LLanberis Pass then on to Betws for fuel and some food. Then to Evo triangle, which annoyingly now has average speed cameras all along it Then down to the Mach Loop, not driven this before but was great and it was like real life Forza Horizon Showcase as while I was bombing down the valley I had a low flying plane coming up it at me and straight over my head.
Then a few fun roads later hit the Elan Valley
Norb tripoding
Then carried on down to the Black Mountain Pass
Was starting to get a bit late by this point so just took the most direct route back onto the M4 and then home from there.
Long old day, surprisingly good MPG but given the drive up there was very casual and a lot of the trip back was stuck being people doing 40-50mph is understandable.
The i30N was brilliant all day and I was amazed how comfortable it was. Only other car I've driven for that long before and not felt utterly broken or knackered was my Dad's Legacy R but that was a 800 mile motorway cruise so a bit less taxing anyway.
Because Norb hadn't done enough that week I gave him one day resting then the next it was off to another trackday.
Thruxton this time.
I've not done Thruxton before. My Subarus had always been too loud.
Unpacking all the essential trackday kit, fuel, torque wrench, pressure gauge, tennis ball thrower shows I do use him for the dog day to day.
Had another great faultless day. Pace of the car got a fair bit of attention again and had quite a few chats in the paddock with surprised people. One guy went away to go and sort out a test drive in one.
I don't think it was quite as fast as my GoPro thought it was
Quite enjoyed Thruxton and wish I'd done it sooner seeing as it is the next nearest track after Castle Combe. I will go back.
Couple of days after my birthday my present turned up
From Will to Will
Welcome to the family Hector.
One talent this truck has is that it is all big numbers and big things but makes them all look normal by being large. 8.3l V10 with plenty of room for activities all around it.
As ever, the dealer wasn't quite brilliant in their prep. Their "detailer" must be Stevie Wonder in a hurry. Then on my first drive the EML comes on, I notice it pulls hard left and the aux belt is squealing, though only when cold.
Contacted the dealer who at least said get bits sorted and send us the bill but it is still annoying having to sort all this myself now.
So first things first off for an alignment.
It was miles out, took the poor buggers ages to straighten it out. But they have worked their magic and was sorted. Bill sent off to dealer and paid, just everything else to go.
But still, this one may have some foibles, but at least it runs and drives everytime, which means that unlike the TVR I can still get out and enjoy it. And what a thing it is. Exactly what I'd hoped. Entertaining at any speed, great noise, looks great (to my eyes at least). It is hard work to drive, not just from the relatively heavy controls but managing the size of it and its waywardness and healthy power. Very much comfortable and at home cruising along a DC or motorway, country roads a bit more of a challenge but so much fun.
With the interior being 100% original, just as I wanted, I've had to dig out my CD collection from the loft.
Following a decent bit of rain I jumped in Hector for a drive and noticed I had water dripping from the mounting bolt hole of the drivers grab handle inside the cab. Bit of internet research and found this is a relatively common thing. Where the truck flexes a bit it works the weather strips at the top of the door loose and lets water in.
So set about stripping them down and cleaning them up and resealing.
So much for the "detailer"!
Job jobbed
Next day was another trip out for Norbert. The long drive up to Cadwell Park with a couple of mates, S2000 and Astra VXR, for a trackday the next day.
Very nearly didn't make it. About half an hour from Cadwell I was leading the group, following a car infront of me and I see a bit of a kerfuffle in the oncoming lane. See a white van offroading next to the queuing traffic, thought it was a brewing road rage thing at first but turns out the van had missed the traffic queue infront of him and thrown it off the road trying to avoid people, he took the back off a BM, went offroading then bounced back onto the road via another car and hedge, as he came back onto the road it completely broke off his front drivers side wheel assembly which went flying into the front of the car in front of me! Completely destroyed the front end of it.
One of our group is a policeman so we stopped, let him deal with the initial scene and waited for the on duty police to turn up and take details.
Feel sorry for the people in front of me but so bloody grateful it didn't muller our weekend and give me yet another claim to deal with.
The day at Cadwell was great. Car hung in there all day again and was well suited to the track, being more about corners than straight lines.
Last session of the day the brakes did finally feel a little soft but still worked.
I paid for the whole track, I will use it
Didn't have any excitement over the Mountain unlike the P1
Do love the way this thing looks in track setup
Had good fun chasing my mates around rather than being left for dead by them this time. The right tyres really do make such a difference!!
One funny thing I noticed, every lap approaching the Mountain my car bonged up with a warning telling me I was going the wrong way and should turn around, must be a transponder or something by the startline that poked my satnav?
So going back to the slightly squishy brakes. Before going to Cadwell I'd had Hyundai give the car it's first service, I'd looked at the pads before then, and after 4 trackdays and hard road abuse thought they looked a bit low. I asked them to change the front pads while doing the service. What I thought was very good of them at the time, they called me during to say they have measured the pads and they are still 6mm (only 40% worn) so we agreed to leave them for now.
My pads after Cadwell, all 1-2mm of them.
So replaced them myself.
Slightly terrifying thinking the thing on the right will do 0-60 in 5 and 150mph. Would be hilarious if the Vitara did too
Gave Hector a good bath, not a small job. I'm 6'2 and even I can't reach the roof or middle of the windscreen / rear window, have to open the door and stand in it to wipe the roof.
Then off out for a nice sunset drive
Enjoy the noise
Next up, a load of tyre changing. Found I had a nail in one of the tyres on Hector, repairable thankfully, 2 on Tara needed changing and all 4 of Norbert's track tyres were shot after 4 hard days. Save on Tyres (same people who do the alignment) mobile fitting to the rescue to do them in the peeing down rain.
Hector being practical with 8 wheels / tyres in the back with room to spare
Thought I'd have a bit of a shuffle and see if I could fit Hector in the garage.
And found after all that effort that the garage, like my manhood, is about 2 inches too short
So put Norbert in there instead.
Gave Hector another bath, in the dark, by headtorch light. NEVER DO THIS!!! bloody hell it shows every little mark and swirl in your paint and makes you realise it needs a proper polish if not a full respray. Was washing him to be ready for a cars and coffee meet at a local specialist with a few friends. Unfortunately it rained overnight and the countryside location made all my efforts and trauma of the previous night pointless
A friend that loves my truck, the guy with the white Challenger that came to Santa Pod with me in my previous thread, wanted a pic of his daily driver MX-5 with the truck
Norbert had basically been the perfect car, good looking, fun, practical and 100% reliable, that might actually be a first for me! So what does any sensible person do with a car like this, yup sell, sell, sell. FML
It had dawned on me that with Mrs Will now having the two cars, there would always be the Vitara around for me to use or take the dog out even if Mrs Will was out in the Mini. So since I was earning a bit and didn't need the practicality, spurred on by friends buying silly cars I decided you only live once and started to look for something a bit more silly.
Great as they are I'm not really the Porsche / Lambo / Ferrari sort of guy so they were out. Since I'm a big AMG fan and really love the Hell Green paint I went to see about an AMG GTR, hard to find a bad review of these and they are the fastest RWD things at the Ring so pretty competent on track.
The dealer was great and very accommodating (same group I used to work for). Let me have a really good test drive and even brought it to my house to check if it would be able to get on my stupidly angled driveway. Unlike other cars in this category the AMG doesn't have a nose lift. We very very slowly drove it onto my drive, me crouched down at the front then middle for the breakover point, the dealer inching forward. It made it but by Christ it was close, talking about 2-3mm clearance. So that was my first concern. One stone out of place on the drive, lower tyre pressure or tread depth and it probably wouldn't make it without scraping.
Then onto the rest of the drive. The car is actually very wide, nearly Ram width! And given you sit right low down in it you basically have no idea where the front left of the car is. Given I'd mostly be hoofing it round narrower country roads this was not ideal either. No complaints about the speed of the thing, it shifts, strong engine great gearbox. Unfortunately this means that you end up at very silly speeds very quickly. This is a problem I'd encountered with the P1. The difference though is the P1 feels alive and special and challenging at any speed, the AMG being more competent doesn't feel exhilarating until into triple digits. With it having basically the same engine and an auto gearbox like my Dad's E63 AMG if you had blindfolded me I could have thought I was just in a mapped E63 it didn't seem special enough doing sensible speeds.
I thought long and hard about it but just couldn't convince myself to drop the considerable monies on it.
So what else. The big AMG had made me think of characteristics I hadn't before like size, sound and feeling special at all speeds. So what was all of those and also fun on road and competent on track?
While I was thinking I was still enjoying what I had. On a very gentle run I managed to set what must be a new world economy record in Hector.
That is US mpg too so over 20 in our terms. Normal driving is about 9-11mpg and if you have a bit of a fun drive like in the video from earlier you get this
The 100l fuel tank gets me just over 200 miles, so I'm really loving the fuel prices right now!
Still loving getting out and about in it though. You can't visit a petrol station without a conversation or comments from randomers.
Don't have much room for error on these local roads.
Since I had put new tyres on the track wheels thought I had better at least get some use out of them before trying to sell them so booked on another day at the local, Castle Combe.
I'd been looking forward to having a play with a GR Yaris ever since I had the i30N having missed the boat on buying one. Every time I'd come across one (about 6 so far) on track it hasn't had the best driver so been hard to judge. Finally had one give me a challenge! I think it would have been pretty close if not slightly in my favour if I were on the standard Pirellis but with me on the MRFs in the wet I was getting battered on corner exit. Quite happy to see one going well at last. Once it dried up it was a different story but still shows the GR is a good all rounder.
Finally! My box of goodies arrived from Americaland
New genuine aux belt, oil filter, bonnet struts, petrol cap and K & N induction kit. Because what what Hector really needed was to be even more noisy
Start with the easy stuff, petrol cap and bonnet struts. Pleasingly straightforward. Bonnet now wont try and come down on me like a giant mousetrap while I do the induction kit and belt.
Ram size filter compared to the one in Mrs Will's Mini
I know there is endless debate about if upgraded filters make any difference to performance. I've never known one to come with a performance guarantee. Pretty decent gain to be fair but utterly un noticeable in this big boy.
Of course, this being me, installation had to have a couple of slight problems. Instructions said you will need to drop the wheel arch liner to remove the old air box and extra battery tray, to make this easy you should take off the wheel. Simple enough, err no. Whoever had last fitted the wheels has done the nuts up with many ugga duggas! Try as I might with all my appropriate, and some inappropriate tools I couldn't budge them so do things the hard way it was.
Started undoing the arch liner bolts, snapped the first one, good start! all went pretty smoothly from there. Induction kit in and aux belt swapped swapped mid install while everything was out of the way. New one was a bit tighter than the old one and a bugger to get on but all done.
Noise levels up slightly but sounding good.
So what to swap the i30N out for? I'd got to the point where I wanted to prioritise characteristics like fun, nimble, trackworthy, fun noise, excitingly quick to get up and go but top speed not a priority, good fun on tight country roads.
I'd boiled myself down to two choices.
Option 1, Lotus Exige, one of the latter ones with the supercharged V6. I'd driven a few and nearly bought an S1 previously and a mate has had an S2 and loved it. I really like the look of the Exige and should fit the bill.
Option 2, Supercharged Ariel Nomad top end about 120, 0-60 in about 3secs, should take potholes in it's stride, bit of an occasion to drive. Mixed ability yet utterly impractical in every way.
There was only one choice
Thankfully it wouldn't be coming with that plate, bit too cheesy. One of Ariel's own demo's so probably had the st beaten out of it but well cared for.
Deposit placed, now just to rehome Norbert
This took a while. The dealer with the Nomad made me a decent offer but I'd recently had a couple £1500 higher from WBAC so told him I'd look into other options. WBAC instantly dropped their offer to £1000 less than the dealer, fk. Tried a few local dealers who have signs up "we want your car for cash" "best price paid" apparently not, none of em got back to me, local Hyundai dealer didn't want it so tried Motorway again after they had been so good with selling Walt.
Seems they have gone downhill, much harder to deal with. Said they estimate I'd get what WBAC had initially offered me so gave it a go, nothing to lose. They did not follow through. They tried a couple of times but couldn't even get me what the Nomad selling dealer had offered me let alone near WBACs figure. Didn't want to waste the dealer's time anymore so took his offer.
Deal done, now just for the financials to go through and get it prepped.
So time for one last good drive in Norbert. Nice Sunday morning, group of mates and local country roads, did about 100 miles. Great send off for him. Had one slight incident, thankfully no harm, well to me and Norb anyway. A big ass bird of prey swooped down over me as I was travelling at speed, thought that was close but pretty cool. At the pub at the end got out and realised I'd probably given the poor thing a hear attack. It had done a massive poo on my front wing and dropped whatever animal it must have had in its claws which left bloody skid marks along my roof and then got exploded by the rear wing.
While waiting for the Nomad to be ready I did a couple more bits with Hector. Tidied up the rusty bolts around the filler and had the wheels refurbed. Partly a tactical move to get someone else to get the wheel nuts undone
Much umming and ahhing over how to refurb the wheels. Keep the standard polished ally, go plain silver or go for a light anthracite. My conflict was I wanted to keep it looking original but not a mega fan of the shiny almost chrome look. Worried the plain silver would look a bit boring and cheap and worried the anthracite would look too dark. I'm not a fan of the "murdered out" black on black look.
Plumped for a light anthracite in the end, BMW Ferric Grey. Really happy with how they came out.
Showing the size of his bits again, ooo er That is one of Norbert's 18" wheels next to it. 22" on Hector.
Of course, being my life something had to go wrong. I didn't notice when I picked him up but later in the day having a closer look at the wheels realised they hadn't done the centrecaps, which I had asked them to do. Quick phone call and they said if I got the caps to them then they would do them FOC, fair enough.
This generated a new problem. Tried a few ways of pulling the caps without taking the wheels off but no luck, they were in tight! So taking wheels off it was. Which became a biblical ball ache, as in trying, I found out my trusty jack couldn't lift Hector high enough. I had to do it one corner at a time using the scissor jack that comes with the truck, not overly speedy and a bit nerve wracking.
Job jobbed though and all sorted, at least I didn't have to take the wheels off again to refit the caps!
Having to resort to playing with my nomad on Forza while I wait to get it
Had a fun little drive out in Hector to get some footage as friends were asking what he sound like with the induction kit on. This is part of what makes me love this thing, just so unwieldy and keeps you on your toes all the time. Especially on cold or damp roads.
Collection day for the Nomad had fallen through a couple of times thanks to the financial side of things, so the dealer said he would get it down to me ASAP rather than me having to go to him to collect. So it got dropped off at my work on a nice cold day, just to ease me in nicely
Really sad to be saying bye to Norbert He really was a cracking car that I had originally seen myself keeping for a long time. Made a lot of good memories in the short time with him and would definitely consider going back to another one, possibly the facelift, at sometime in the future when I have to get more sensible again.
I mean who couldn't live without great features like "Sounds of Nature"
Having christened the Nomad "Scrumpy" because he is from the west country, a bit of a country boy and likely to give me a headache. Couldn't wait to the end of the day to go have a play as it would be dark and miserable so popped out for a quick play in the afternoon.
The two dealers I'd spoken to about the Nomads hadn't let me test drive them, I now understand why! These things are lively!! Turned off the main road onto the first country lane and poked the throttle in 2nd gear and out comes the back end, surprisingly comfortably caught, the off road tyres making sliding rather progressive. Stopped for a couple of pics.
They say boys don't grow up, their toys just get bigger
The RC car I've had for years, got it as a prize for winning a karting event.
Then onwards. Pulled onto the road and properly gave it some in 1st and 2nd, dear lord this thing gets up and goes. Wild ride too, squats back on the soft suspension when it grips, supercharger whining behind your head, no lag, just goes. Giggling like a mad man.
Wind and cold ok up to about 40-50mph anything over that was COLD and hard work in just a bobble hat! Will wear helmet for future trips.
Back to work. On going home for the day had the amusement of the wife trying to get in it for the trip home (yeah we work together, people think I'm mad ) had been driving quite casually, then just near home had an empty road to myself and so with no warning to Mrs Will booted it in 2nd. I've never seen her so scared in a car, she went into full on panic
Weekend came and we went out for a little drive, had one unintended, though undramatic, armful of oppo moment
See old thread here for more detail on the P1 and all the other junk I've had up to this point.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
So what have I been upto since? Well grab a cuppa or 3 this is going to be a big old update!
So the new 17" wheels for the P1, the track tyres that were on them had a bit of tread left but were a fair few years old and looking a bit dry, probably would have been ok but I didn't want to risk a blowout at 130+mph, so I binned them and got some new ones. Wanted something that could be reasonable in the wet or dry to save taking both sets of wheels to tracks. Settled on Advan AD08s. This was at the point where they were switching the AD08R over to the RS. I got the RS thinking that being the newer tyre would be the better one, wrong!
Another trackday at Combe. The tyres did achieve one thing I hoped and wore properly, not scrubbing the edges, unfortunately the new compound seems to be made of granite. Tried playing with pressures but just had understeer on understeer all day long. I was hoping they would be a little better and give me some better more stable lap times than the fully road going Michelin SS that I'd used previously but I was about 2 seconds a lap down.
Managed to pop a hose off the turbo meaning boost spiked to about 2.5 bar instead of 1.9 felt great lol. Came in and fixed it straight away, seemingly no harm done.
Finished the day and drove home so result.
You can hear all the lovely squealy understeer in the video
Still, with the car running well the next trackday was booked. Cadwell Park, never been before but fancied it for a while. Had a lads trip up there. I took the P1 and friends brought along M3 track car, Astra VXR, Clio 182 track car and S2000. Stayed overnight in a place next to a stream that we had (well didn't really have to but sat nav sheep
) to drive through. Wasn't too deep, I came out doing a stream train impression with a cloud chuffing out my bonnet vent, mate towing his M3 lost the numberplate off his trailer and had to go paddling Place was alright though.Cadwell Park, what a circuit! My ideal place, so narrow, so much elevation. It is basically like a good one way country road with a bit of run off.
My God was it hot though. Even worse than the day at the Ring that killed the Corolla. About 35C, the organisers actually let us go round in shorts and t shirts to save passing out.
Due to the heat I kept the P1 on low boost all day, shame as it would have been mad around there in big boy mode!
Even on low boost it was almost lifting the nose over The Mountain, tyres chirping away
Still wearing my Lego tyres so performance could have been better. My mates in the VXR and S2000 on their Nankangs were making me look silly all day never mind the M3! I'm normally 2-5 sec a lap quicker than them at Combe. Thankfully I was still quicker than the Clio
You can see me struggling again in this vid chasing a modded Focus RS. No problem with it on the straights and higher speed corners but through the slower sections even though he is off line I still can't get near him
Almost made it to the end of the day drama free. Went out for my last session, all well, session got red flagged after 2 laps (quite a few cars shat themselves in the heat over the day), came in sat in the pits to go out again, 5 mins later went out and straight away had a problem. Could get power but every time I let off or held a constant throttle above 3-4k rpm it would have a fit and cut out then bump itself back into life. Called it a day straight off before anything went bang. The 200 mile limp home was not fun but it made it.
Decided to retire it from track duties at this point to just be a fast road car.
Unfortunately that has been it for the P1
it hasn't left the driveway since 2019. Spoken to a few specialists who have a best guess it may be a bad earth somewhere. I've tried a few things in my limited skill set but none have worked and I've just not gotten around to getting it picked up and taken somewhere suitable. I really need to hurry up and get it sorted, I'm missing it and it fills a gap in the fleet now. Do give it a bath from time to time.My wee reached boiling level in Sept 2019. Went to do the weekly shop. As you do, parked in the end space and left plenty of room for normies to balls up their parking next door.
Came back out 20 mins later to find some absolute s
tlord had crashed into my front wing and done a runner No witnesses hanging around and I went in and checked but was told the car park CCTV only focusses on the entry / exit so they can fine people who have stayed too long.
Quoted repair was about £750, new wing and blending into bonnet, bumper and door so went through insurance. What the insurer did not tell me at the time is that because the s
tbag drove off and they can't claim the costs back from them this counts as a me at fault claim! I only found this out come insurance renewal time when the price was hoiked up. If I had know the impact it would have on all my policies I would have just paid it out of my own bloody pocket.With the P1 being off the road and my lazy ass not getting it fixed I was getting a bit bored of Walter being my only transport.
Don't get me wrong, was a brilliant place to be, drove lovely, super practical in all weathers, great stereo, but was just a bit dull. When pressing on it wasn't slow with about 250bhp but lack of noise and chassis drama just wasn't fun.
So I started looking for a replacement that would do daily dog walking duties but still be fun at the weekends or if I found myself on a good road somewhere by accident and could still do the odd trackday.
Started looking at the same shaped RS4s. Thinking it would be all the things I loved about Walt with the added entertainment I needed. Had a test drive and it just didn't grab me. I was very impressed with how the gearbox worked but unfortunately the gears were reeeeaaly long and with the 8k rpm engine it meant that you mostly only ever used 2nd gear. Being a high revving NA thing in a lumpy car it also barely felt any quicker than Walt 99% of the time, a decent exhaust to liberate the noise was about £4k too so in the end I just couldn't justify spending double Walt's value on one.
It was about this time that details started coming through about the GR Yaris. Sounded like it would fit the bill, got excited, spent a lot of time on the PH thread about it.
Was thinking a new car would also be good and less likely to break on track unlike the P1 so a few stress free trackdays would be ideal. In the thread it emerged, and was confirmed by Toyota, that the warranty would be invalidated by track use, so I held out putting a deposit down anywhere. It also came to light in the thread that a couple of the GR's major rivals did offer a trackday safe warranty. Civic Type R and the Hyundai i30N.
Excellent as it is, and despite living within sight of the Honda factory (RIP), I'm not a particular fan of the look of it and the boot shape wouldn't be ideal for doggo.
So i30N, I had no real experience or knowledge of them, all I know was one of my trackday friends had tried one for a day assessing it for possible police use and highly recommended it, as a fun car not for police use, though a few forces are using them unmarked so watch out!
Arranged a test drive in one at a dealer in a nearby town, loved it, everything I wanted, exciting, noisy, fun, had all the toys. Ready to slap down a deposit and order a new one right there and then. Asked the dealer about the warranty covering track use and he said hell no! Not something Hyundai have ever offered. Balls!
I was sure he was wrong from what I'd read on here and other places but he was adamant. I stopped in at my local Hyundai dealer on the way home to see what they said. Yep, absolutely covered. FFS. Went away to try and confirm things. Found you can download the warranty Ts & Cs off the Hyundai website and yes confirms trackdays are covered in the i30N, brill!
Local dealer wouldn't offer me a good deal on a new one so found a dealer about 50 miles away who were offering new ones about £3k cheaper, ordered, picked it up about 2 weeks later. At which point the GR Yaris was just coming out and Toyota reversed their initial decision and decided trackdays would be covered on warranty!!
But it was too late now, one because I had the I30N and two, now all the rave reviews were out and the waiting list was a year long. So sticking to the i30N it was.
Say hello to Norbert everyone. (Named after the Hyundai factory driver that had just won the championship in one)
Had about 10 miles on it when I picked it up, dealer told me to enjoy it and not worry about running in, so beat the hell out of it straight away it was. Drive home was great
Dealer called me a few days later to ask if I'd been enjoying the car and if I'd tried N mode yet, I'd left the forecourt in it
After a couple of weeks of getting used to it and hammering it round the local roads I had my friend give it a proper wash and ceramic coat, oooo beading
Further protection for daily duties. Got the rear fully covered with a Hatchbag boot liner.
Then a few warranty safe mods. Pipercross drop in filter. Basically does bugger all but does give you a little bit of turbo flutter and suck noise. It is also approved by Hyundai.
I'd heard good things about the brakes on these as standard on track but thought I would do this little brake duct mod just in case it helped, it was only about £30. Rest of the braking system, pads, discs, fluid all standard.
These are Audi RS3 brake ducts and they just clip directly onto the lower wishbones.
And the biggest mod was a set of track wheels and tyres. Speedline Turini wheels with MRF ZTR tyres. I'd told myself after having the wheels on the P1 in white for a bit that I'd never do it again but this car just looks so right on them, probably helped by the race cars having the same colour scheme.
Few hundred miles on the clock now, time for his first trackday. Booked on at Castle Combe, home track and where I know what laptimes are reasonable.
Brilliant day! I'd been impressed with the brakes and chassis in fast road use but really over the moon with it on track, especially with the MRFs on. It certainly held it's own. Nearly hit a pheasant crossing the track! Thankfully missed it this time so it idnt have to wear it home like my E30 did years ago.
i30 was quite a bit slower than the P1 in a straight line but way better through the corners, guess that is 15 years of evolving chassis tech and good tyres. Should get a set of these on the P1 and try ag..... no bad Will leave it.
No idea of the accuracy of the onboard G display but seems decent.
Think I came home with more rubber than I started with!
Ah the joys of white wheels.
No need for expensive cleaning stuff, this is the result from the AA wheel cleaner, bought at Home Bargains for about 1/3 the price of any "good" stuff for a bigger bottle and it does a cracking job.
Then I did something stupid
I thought I should add to my collection of highly strung things and bit the bullet on the car I had been lusting after for about 20 years! I became a true PHer and bought a TVR! Lusting over TVRs in my teens was the reason I joined PH all those years ago. I used to drive out to my local dealer on my lunch breaks at college just to see and listen to them.
Been looking for one in the right spec for years and hit the jackpot with this one.
Trev (named for obvious reason) a Cerbera 4.5 V8 Red Rose "Lightweight" (yeah I know, don't start). Essentially the holy grail of Cerbs. It was apparently the London Motorshow car for TVR, hence the unicorn spec.
I really love the side profile of these
And one of the big reasons for going for this one was the unique interior, Normally they are all leather and wood in interesting colours but this one is leather/alcantara and metal trim.
And the important bit
Childhood dream realised
it looked, sounded and drove great.Since Trev was too loud for any upcoming trackdays, Norbert was pressed back into service for another day at Combe with friends.
Brilliant and faultless all day again.
Showing the standard chassis stiffness hoiking the inside wheels up. Got some positive comments from other drivers there, surprised the car was basically standard.
Met Tiff Needell, had a quick chat, he was there coaching and working on the Caterham Academy cars you can see in the vid.
They say the Cerb was built with Peter Wheeler in mind so suitable for the larger gent. I'm 6'2 and struggled, head was nearly in the roof. I took my slightly taller mate out for a ride, snug
50 shades of blue
Finally all the years with me have rubbed off on Mrs Will and she joined the multicar club! She had been missing her old Cooper S, seen these around and loved the colour. Managed to luck into getting one locally with a great spec so snapped it up.
Welcome to the family Bonny (name is about as convoluted as her old Mini's was. Colour is Caribbean Aqua, its girly, a famous female pirate that operated in the Caribbean was Anne Bonny)
I have to admit this car is a big guilty pleasure of mine (paper bag emoji). I really like convertibles in general and this is just such a hoot to drive. It is the Cooper S so 2.0 turbo, about 200bhp. In sport mode the turbo comes on fast and hard, it is quick enough to be fun and has a good induction, turbo chatter and exhaust noise, It is a bit of a troll / sleeper as nobody expects it to move like it does. Male friends refuse to come for rides with the roof down
I do particularly like driving through the countryside, roof down at night, never had a car with ambient lighting before.
And I suppose most importantly, Mrs Will is over the moon with it.
Had one sensor failure that put the EML on but nothing dramatic and sorted quickly under warranty, otherwise been fine.
Unfortunately for me, the TVR dream was turning into a nightmare. Multiple problems with it and trips back to the dealer for it only not to be fixed (all detailed on here if you want to seek it out) was getting to me and I just didn't trust it. Never took it out to places or events as I just wasn't confident it would come home. Any drives were just a quick blast around local roads, when it was working it was glorious though.
In the midst of all this we had a bit of a shock. Casually driving home from a nice sunny walk with the doggo in the countryside and two idiots conspired to ruin my day.
We were following (at a safe distance) a Vauxhall Childtransporter, the woman driving it suddenly decided, with no warning to anyone to turn right at a T junction. No problem for me I was far enough back. Unfortunately she hadn't paid any attention to the lad in a Polo coming towards us, who shat himself and decided that swerving onto the wrong side of the road and having a head on with me was somehow preferable! I did what I could to avoid him and got mostly out of his way but still ended up going offside to offside. Nobody was hurt.
Tara took it like a champ with no critical damage, and kept the dog cool while we took pics and exchanged details and I shouted at the other two. Particularly the woman who caused it all and got away with no damage.
Apparently she was out with her two daughters, 5-10 years old, and they were looking for the house that their uncle had murdered someone in! Just the normal weekend activity with the kids!
Managed to drive home slowly with no drama.
Still at least we had all their details this time and it didn't go down as my fault, though having to declare these two accidents this close together is keeping my premiums nice and high
Unfortunately the Insurer's approved bodyshop were garbage. Got the car back quick enough and the actual painting was decent but they did a crap job of everything else. New headlight was misaligned, hadn't bothered fitting trim bits on new bumper which also wasn't fitted properly, wheel alignment was miles off and worst of all the new alloy they fitted is different to the other 3!
Many complaints from me and lies from them later and we got everything resolved apart from the incorrect alloy. Them insisting that is the one to fit and as supplied by Suzuki so don't care if it doesn't match the 3 originals.
Took this all the way through their complaints procedure and independent arbitration, evidenced the wheel that should be on there but even the arbitrator wont make them do it or cough up for a new wheel that I can source. Insurer wouldn't get involved either. So just grumpily living with it for now.
The Vitara continues to amaze with its robustness, reliability and frugality, I really don't know how this thing drinks so little fuel! We used it for a week long trip up to the Lake District and it averaged nearly 60MPG. This is a 5 speed manual, non turbo, petrol "suv".
Mrs Will was missing the big round ball gearknob from her old R53 Mini, so I bought a plain white one from Amazon and painted it myself with the can of touch up paint we were given when we bought the car, so it matches the rest of the interior.
Good news! it was a lovely sunny day. More good news! Trev decided he would like to start!!
Had an absolutely cracking drive
Man I love this thing!Unfortunately they joy did not last
Heading back towards home on this drive the clutch pedal started going longer and longer. I noticed, so started limiting my gear changes and avoiding stopping where possible. About 1/2 mile from home it went completely and I was just stuck in 2nd. Luckily I didn't have to stop before my driveway so at least I made it home.This was the final straw for me, I'd had enough and wanted my money back so started the process of rejecting it back to the dealer. Fair bit of back n forth later (again documented on here) with the dealer being a silly arse, apparently a car that hardly starts and breaks down regularly is fit for purpose
we came to an agreement. I wasn't entirely happy with it but took the hit just to get it over and done with.So childhood dream ruined for now. I'm not completely put off TVR ownership. I was expecting some issues but this was an expensive one from a "reputable" dealer that was supposed to be about the best example going. If I'd paid £7-10k less for it I'd have fixed it and still have it now. I do seem to have been rather unlucky as although Cerbs are known to be a bit troublesome every owner I've spoken to has agreed it has been a bit problematic even for a TVR. I'll possibly revisit the idea in the future.
It has taken the dealer 7 months to resell it and they don't seemed to have changed their ways. I have spoken to the new owner and they have already been lying to him before taking delivery. I hope for his sake that they have sorted out everything they knew was wrong with it and mega jealous as I will be if it goes well for him I hope his ownership of it is less problematic than mine.
So what next. Well the other thing that I have been looking for for a few years is a good example of another thing I have wanted since I was about 20. If you read my previous thread you might remember Billy, my 5.7 hemi Dodge Ram. I got that one at the time because I couldn't afford the version I really wanted, the 8.3l Viper engined SRT-10. Well now I can.
I've wanted one of these since I was working at a Dodge dealership all those years ago and we had a couple of customers with them.
It has taken me so long to find the one I wanted as I've been after one as near to standard as possible. Most of them seem to get Barried up with nasty wheels, stuck on chrome stuff, loads of speakers inside, random viper bits stuck on etc.
Actually having some luck for once just as I was getting rid of the Cerb the SRT-10 I'd been waiting for came up. It wasn't very local though being in Chester.
Discussed it with the dealer, sounded good so put a holding deposit on it booked a day off work and planned a route that wasn't just boring motorway there and back.
It was going to be a looong day for Norbert.
Started bright and early and was having a good time, going steady all the way up to Wrexham then had a bit of a heart attack. I'd been stuck behind an artic, behind a slow camper for a while. We got onto an uphill stretch that had an overtaking lane. I pulled out and started getting past, the artic put his indicator on so I started to get past a bit quicker, then I was watching the camper that I was now overtaking as it was dropping its chemical toilet everywhere. With both of them passed I looked a little bit farther up the road than my immediate problems at which point I saw the scamera van on a bridge over the road pointing at me. f
k! I must have been doing 70-80 in a 60 when I saw it. I hit the brakes ASAP and awaited my fate.
Despite arranging to see and test drive the Ram the dealer decided they wanted to fix a power steering leak on it thst morning instead so I got to start it and look over it but not drive it. Bit annoying having driven all that way.
So happy with the originality. Only non original bits on it were that the exhaust has had the silencers removed, dear lord it is loud
and it has the solid, lockable bed cover on there, which means it doesn't have the rear spoiler. Both of which I can live with or sort.Condition isn't perfect but good enough. Bodywork is all straight although there are a few scrapes on it and inside is all good and everything seems to work, only 45k miles on it.
Dealer ensured me it would go through their checks and an MOT and anything found wanting would be dealt with, it would be detailed and they could deliver it down to me to save the ballache of picking it up so bought it.
So all excited began my long old journey home.
First stop Snowdon. The initial plan, if it was a nice day was to do a quick run up to the peak before carrying on but to my amazement when I got there, despite covid and it being a working weekday it was packed. Never seen it so busy. I couldn't even get a parking space. So gave up on that plan.
Had a quick blat up the LLanberis Pass then on to Betws for fuel and some food. Then to Evo triangle, which annoyingly now has average speed cameras all along it
Then down to the Mach Loop, not driven this before but was great and it was like real life Forza Horizon Showcase as while I was bombing down the valley I had a low flying plane coming up it at me and straight over my head.Then a few fun roads later hit the Elan Valley
Norb tripoding
Then carried on down to the Black Mountain Pass
Was starting to get a bit late by this point so just took the most direct route back onto the M4 and then home from there.
Long old day, surprisingly good MPG but given the drive up there was very casual and a lot of the trip back was stuck being people doing 40-50mph is understandable.
The i30N was brilliant all day and I was amazed how comfortable it was. Only other car I've driven for that long before and not felt utterly broken or knackered was my Dad's Legacy R but that was a 800 mile motorway cruise so a bit less taxing anyway.
Because Norb hadn't done enough that week I gave him one day resting then the next it was off to another trackday.
Thruxton this time.
I've not done Thruxton before. My Subarus had always been too loud.
Unpacking all the essential trackday kit, fuel, torque wrench, pressure gauge, tennis ball thrower
shows I do use him for the dog day to day.Had another great faultless day. Pace of the car got a fair bit of attention again and had quite a few chats in the paddock with surprised people. One guy went away to go and sort out a test drive in one.
I don't think it was quite as fast as my GoPro thought it was
Quite enjoyed Thruxton and wish I'd done it sooner seeing as it is the next nearest track after Castle Combe. I will go back.
Couple of days after my birthday my present turned up
From Will to Will
Welcome to the family Hector.
One talent this truck has is that it is all big numbers and big things but makes them all look normal by being large. 8.3l V10 with plenty of room for activities all around it.
As ever, the dealer wasn't quite brilliant in their prep. Their "detailer" must be Stevie Wonder in a hurry. Then on my first drive the EML comes on, I notice it pulls hard left and the aux belt is squealing, though only when cold.
Contacted the dealer who at least said get bits sorted and send us the bill but it is still annoying having to sort all this myself now.
So first things first off for an alignment.
It was miles out, took the poor buggers ages to straighten it out. But they have worked their magic and was sorted. Bill sent off to dealer and paid, just everything else to go.
But still, this one may have some foibles, but at least it runs and drives everytime, which means that unlike the TVR I can still get out and enjoy it. And what a thing it is. Exactly what I'd hoped. Entertaining at any speed, great noise, looks great (to my eyes at least). It is hard work to drive, not just from the relatively heavy controls but managing the size of it and its waywardness and healthy power. Very much comfortable and at home cruising along a DC or motorway, country roads a bit more of a challenge but so much fun.
With the interior being 100% original, just as I wanted, I've had to dig out my CD collection from the loft.
Following a decent bit of rain I jumped in Hector for a drive and noticed I had water dripping from the mounting bolt hole of the drivers grab handle inside the cab. Bit of internet research and found this is a relatively common thing. Where the truck flexes a bit it works the weather strips at the top of the door loose and lets water in.
So set about stripping them down and cleaning them up and resealing.
So much for the "detailer"!
Job jobbed
Next day was another trip out for Norbert. The long drive up to Cadwell Park with a couple of mates, S2000 and Astra VXR, for a trackday the next day.
Very nearly didn't make it. About half an hour from Cadwell I was leading the group, following a car infront of me and I see a bit of a kerfuffle in the oncoming lane. See a white van offroading next to the queuing traffic, thought it was a brewing road rage thing at first but turns out the van had missed the traffic queue infront of him and thrown it off the road trying to avoid people, he took the back off a BM, went offroading then bounced back onto the road via another car and hedge, as he came back onto the road it completely broke off his front drivers side wheel assembly which went flying into the front of the car in front of me! Completely destroyed the front end of it.
One of our group is a policeman so we stopped, let him deal with the initial scene and waited for the on duty police to turn up and take details.
Feel sorry for the people in front of me but so bloody grateful it didn't muller our weekend and give me yet another claim to deal with.
The day at Cadwell was great. Car hung in there all day again and was well suited to the track, being more about corners than straight lines.
Last session of the day the brakes did finally feel a little soft but still worked.
I paid for the whole track, I will use it
Didn't have any excitement over the Mountain unlike the P1
Do love the way this thing looks in track setup
Had good fun chasing my mates around rather than being left for dead by them this time. The right tyres really do make such a difference!!
One funny thing I noticed, every lap approaching the Mountain my car bonged up with a warning telling me I was going the wrong way and should turn around, must be a transponder or something by the startline that poked my satnav?
So going back to the slightly squishy brakes. Before going to Cadwell I'd had Hyundai give the car it's first service, I'd looked at the pads before then, and after 4 trackdays and hard road abuse thought they looked a bit low. I asked them to change the front pads while doing the service. What I thought was very good of them at the time, they called me during to say they have measured the pads and they are still 6mm (only 40% worn) so we agreed to leave them for now.
My pads after Cadwell, all 1-2mm of them.
So replaced them myself.
Slightly terrifying thinking the thing on the right will do 0-60 in 5 and 150mph. Would be hilarious if the Vitara did too
Gave Hector a good bath, not a small job. I'm 6'2 and even I can't reach the roof or middle of the windscreen / rear window, have to open the door and stand in it to wipe the roof.
Then off out for a nice sunset drive
Enjoy the noise
Next up, a load of tyre changing. Found I had a nail in one of the tyres on Hector, repairable thankfully, 2 on Tara needed changing and all 4 of Norbert's track tyres were shot after 4 hard days. Save on Tyres (same people who do the alignment) mobile fitting to the rescue to do them in the peeing down rain.
Hector being practical with 8 wheels / tyres in the back with room to spare
Thought I'd have a bit of a shuffle and see if I could fit Hector in the garage.
And found after all that effort that the garage, like my manhood, is about 2 inches too short
So put Norbert in there instead.
Gave Hector another bath, in the dark, by headtorch light. NEVER DO THIS!!! bloody hell it shows every little mark and swirl in your paint and makes you realise it needs a proper polish if not a full respray. Was washing him to be ready for a cars and coffee meet at a local specialist with a few friends. Unfortunately it rained overnight and the countryside location made all my efforts and trauma of the previous night pointless
A friend that loves my truck, the guy with the white Challenger that came to Santa Pod with me in my previous thread, wanted a pic of his daily driver MX-5 with the truck
Norbert had basically been the perfect car, good looking, fun, practical and 100% reliable, that might actually be a first for me! So what does any sensible person do with a car like this, yup sell, sell, sell. FML
It had dawned on me that with Mrs Will now having the two cars, there would always be the Vitara around for me to use or take the dog out even if Mrs Will was out in the Mini. So since I was earning a bit and didn't need the practicality, spurred on by friends buying silly cars I decided you only live once and started to look for something a bit more silly.
Great as they are I'm not really the Porsche / Lambo / Ferrari sort of guy so they were out. Since I'm a big AMG fan and really love the Hell Green paint I went to see about an AMG GTR, hard to find a bad review of these and they are the fastest RWD things at the Ring so pretty competent on track.
The dealer was great and very accommodating (same group I used to work for). Let me have a really good test drive and even brought it to my house to check if it would be able to get on my stupidly angled driveway. Unlike other cars in this category the AMG doesn't have a nose lift. We very very slowly drove it onto my drive, me crouched down at the front then middle for the breakover point, the dealer inching forward. It made it but by Christ it was close, talking about 2-3mm clearance. So that was my first concern. One stone out of place on the drive, lower tyre pressure or tread depth and it probably wouldn't make it without scraping.
Then onto the rest of the drive. The car is actually very wide, nearly Ram width! And given you sit right low down in it you basically have no idea where the front left of the car is. Given I'd mostly be hoofing it round narrower country roads this was not ideal either. No complaints about the speed of the thing, it shifts, strong engine great gearbox. Unfortunately this means that you end up at very silly speeds very quickly. This is a problem I'd encountered with the P1. The difference though is the P1 feels alive and special and challenging at any speed, the AMG being more competent doesn't feel exhilarating until into triple digits. With it having basically the same engine and an auto gearbox like my Dad's E63 AMG if you had blindfolded me I could have thought I was just in a mapped E63 it didn't seem special enough doing sensible speeds.
I thought long and hard about it but just couldn't convince myself to drop the considerable monies on it.
So what else. The big AMG had made me think of characteristics I hadn't before like size, sound and feeling special at all speeds. So what was all of those and also fun on road and competent on track?
While I was thinking I was still enjoying what I had. On a very gentle run I managed to set what must be a new world economy record in Hector.
That is US mpg too so over 20 in our terms. Normal driving is about 9-11mpg and if you have a bit of a fun drive like in the video from earlier you get this
The 100l fuel tank gets me just over 200 miles, so I'm really loving the fuel prices right now!
Still loving getting out and about in it though. You can't visit a petrol station without a conversation or comments from randomers.
Don't have much room for error on these local roads.
Since I had put new tyres on the track wheels thought I had better at least get some use out of them before trying to sell them so booked on another day at the local, Castle Combe.
I'd been looking forward to having a play with a GR Yaris ever since I had the i30N having missed the boat on buying one. Every time I'd come across one (about 6 so far) on track it hasn't had the best driver so been hard to judge. Finally had one give me a challenge! I think it would have been pretty close if not slightly in my favour if I were on the standard Pirellis but with me on the MRFs in the wet I was getting battered on corner exit. Quite happy to see one going well at last. Once it dried up it was a different story but still shows the GR is a good all rounder.
Finally! My box of goodies arrived from Americaland
New genuine aux belt, oil filter, bonnet struts, petrol cap and K & N induction kit. Because what what Hector really needed was to be even more noisy
Start with the easy stuff, petrol cap and bonnet struts. Pleasingly straightforward. Bonnet now wont try and come down on me like a giant mousetrap while I do the induction kit and belt.
Ram size filter compared to the one in Mrs Will's Mini
I know there is endless debate about if upgraded filters make any difference to performance. I've never known one to come with a performance guarantee. Pretty decent gain to be fair but utterly un noticeable in this big boy.
Of course, this being me, installation had to have a couple of slight problems. Instructions said you will need to drop the wheel arch liner to remove the old air box and extra battery tray, to make this easy you should take off the wheel. Simple enough, err no. Whoever had last fitted the wheels has done the nuts up with many ugga duggas! Try as I might with all my appropriate, and some inappropriate tools I couldn't budge them so do things the hard way it was.
Started undoing the arch liner bolts, snapped the first one, good start! all went pretty smoothly from there. Induction kit in and aux belt swapped swapped mid install while everything was out of the way. New one was a bit tighter than the old one and a bugger to get on but all done.
Noise levels up slightly but sounding good.
So what to swap the i30N out for? I'd got to the point where I wanted to prioritise characteristics like fun, nimble, trackworthy, fun noise, excitingly quick to get up and go but top speed not a priority, good fun on tight country roads.
I'd boiled myself down to two choices.
Option 1, Lotus Exige, one of the latter ones with the supercharged V6. I'd driven a few and nearly bought an S1 previously and a mate has had an S2 and loved it. I really like the look of the Exige and should fit the bill.
Option 2, Supercharged Ariel Nomad
top end about 120, 0-60 in about 3secs, should take potholes in it's stride, bit of an occasion to drive. Mixed ability yet utterly impractical in every way.There was only one choice
Thankfully it wouldn't be coming with that plate, bit too cheesy. One of Ariel's own demo's so probably had the s
t beaten out of it but well cared for. Deposit placed, now just to rehome Norbert
This took a while. The dealer with the Nomad made me a decent offer but I'd recently had a couple £1500 higher from WBAC so told him I'd look into other options. WBAC instantly dropped their offer to £1000 less than the dealer, f
k. Tried a few local dealers who have signs up "we want your car for cash" "best price paid" apparently not, none of em got back to me, local Hyundai dealer didn't want it so tried Motorway again after they had been so good with selling Walt. Seems they have gone downhill, much harder to deal with. Said they estimate I'd get what WBAC had initially offered me so gave it a go, nothing to lose. They did not follow through. They tried a couple of times but couldn't even get me what the Nomad selling dealer had offered me let alone near WBACs figure. Didn't want to waste the dealer's time anymore so took his offer.
Deal done, now just for the financials to go through and get it prepped.
So time for one last good drive in Norbert. Nice Sunday morning, group of mates and local country roads, did about 100 miles. Great send off for him. Had one slight incident, thankfully no harm, well to me and Norb anyway. A big ass bird of prey swooped down over me as I was travelling at speed, thought that was close but pretty cool. At the pub at the end got out and realised I'd probably given the poor thing a hear attack. It had done a massive poo on my front wing and dropped whatever animal it must have had in its claws which left bloody skid marks along my roof and then got exploded by the rear wing.
While waiting for the Nomad to be ready I did a couple more bits with Hector. Tidied up the rusty bolts around the filler and had the wheels refurbed. Partly a tactical move to get someone else to get the wheel nuts undone
Much umming and ahhing over how to refurb the wheels. Keep the standard polished ally, go plain silver or go for a light anthracite. My conflict was I wanted to keep it looking original but not a mega fan of the shiny almost chrome look. Worried the plain silver would look a bit boring and cheap and worried the anthracite would look too dark. I'm not a fan of the "murdered out" black on black look.
Plumped for a light anthracite in the end, BMW Ferric Grey. Really happy with how they came out.
Showing the size of his bits again, ooo er
That is one of Norbert's 18" wheels next to it. 22" on Hector.Of course, being my life something had to go wrong. I didn't notice when I picked him up but later in the day having a closer look at the wheels realised they hadn't done the centrecaps, which I had asked them to do. Quick phone call and they said if I got the caps to them then they would do them FOC, fair enough.
This generated a new problem. Tried a few ways of pulling the caps without taking the wheels off but no luck, they were in tight! So taking wheels off it was. Which became a biblical ball ache, as in trying, I found out my trusty jack couldn't lift Hector high enough. I had to do it one corner at a time using the scissor jack that comes with the truck, not overly speedy and a bit nerve wracking.
Job jobbed though and all sorted, at least I didn't have to take the wheels off again to refit the caps!
Having to resort to playing with my nomad on Forza while I wait to get it
Had a fun little drive out in Hector to get some footage as friends were asking what he sound like with the induction kit on. This is part of what makes me love this thing, just so unwieldy and keeps you on your toes all the time. Especially on cold or damp roads.
Collection day for the Nomad had fallen through a couple of times thanks to the financial side of things, so the dealer said he would get it down to me ASAP rather than me having to go to him to collect. So it got dropped off at my work on a nice cold day, just to ease me in nicely
Really sad to be saying bye to Norbert
He really was a cracking car that I had originally seen myself keeping for a long time. Made a lot of good memories in the short time with him and would definitely consider going back to another one, possibly the facelift, at sometime in the future when I have to get more sensible again.I mean who couldn't live without great features like "Sounds of Nature"
Having christened the Nomad "Scrumpy" because he is from the west country, a bit of a country boy and likely to give me a headache. Couldn't wait to the end of the day to go have a play as it would be dark and miserable so popped out for a quick play in the afternoon.
The two dealers I'd spoken to about the Nomads hadn't let me test drive them, I now understand why! These things are lively!! Turned off the main road onto the first country lane and poked the throttle in 2nd gear and out comes the back end, surprisingly comfortably caught, the off road tyres making sliding rather progressive. Stopped for a couple of pics.
They say boys don't grow up, their toys just get bigger
The RC car I've had for years, got it as a prize for winning a karting event.
Then onwards. Pulled onto the road and properly gave it some in 1st and 2nd, dear lord this thing gets up and goes. Wild ride too, squats back on the soft suspension when it grips, supercharger whining behind your head, no lag, just goes. Giggling like a mad man.
Wind and cold ok up to about 40-50mph anything over that was COLD and hard work in just a bobble hat! Will wear helmet for future trips.
Back to work. On going home for the day had the amusement of the wife trying to get in it for the trip home (yeah we work together, people think I'm mad
) had been driving quite casually, then just near home had an empty road to myself and so with no warning to Mrs Will booted it in 2nd. I've never seen her so scared in a car, she went into full on panic Weekend came and we went out for a little drive, had one unintended, though undramatic, armful of oppo moment
so Mrs Will's fear is now cemented. The all terrain tyres really don't have much grip on cold, damp roads.
Spent the evening reading the owners manual. Ariel are my kind of people.
Mate of mine runs a car club and started up the monthly social meets again at new venue, the newly refurbed Pewsham pub. Took Hector along to the first meet. Good turnout. More importantly, great bacon sarnies!
Then back home for a much needed bath.
First couple of mods for the Nomad. Firstly, because I'm an idiot, I have labelled the unmarked buttons / switches because it takes me too long trying to remember the right one in a hurry while battling the elements.
And then having had a couple of brown trouser moments thanks to my big feet, hit brakes coming up to a corner and mash brake and throttle, keep firing at corner! I have realigned the throttle pedal plate so my foot doesn't catch both on braking, can still heel toe though.
So basics sorted it was ready for the first proper play. Quick lap of my favourite local roads, popular PH and Top Gear test route. First bit of off roading was into the gravel car park at the Uffington White Horse, start gently and all that Had a family come up and ask if it was ok to look it over as their lad was really excited by it.
Then on from there to try a bit more green laning on allowed tracks where I often walk the dog.
Got up the clay hill no problem.
Getting in and out for pictures is a bit of a ballache
Then the first proper puddle experience. Thanks to a fairly stiff crosswind the puddle just ended up inside and all over me
Dirty now may as well carry on. Bit more playing about. This thing is hilarious off road, can cruise at moderate road speed quite comfortably and just has oversteer on demand. All done sensibly away from any walkers or wildlife, slow and respectful around them, got many thumbs up and pics taken.
One thing I find particularly fun about this thing compared to previous off roading experience. Previously in a big 4x4 you plod along the dirt then get back onto a road and trundle off. With this you can plod along the dirt but then hit the road and fire off down it at sportscar speed.
Clean and filthy together, the state of the passenger seat will give you some idea of how I looked.
Next day I had been asked to bring the Nomad along to a drive out in memorial of a friend of a few of my friends and local car lad. Hell of a turn out for him, this many people wouldn't care about me Nomad didn't stand out at all. This was only about 1/3 of the convoy.
With my best mates Perf, two very different very orange ways of going fast.
Family weekend gathering was at our house this time. My nephew (8) was super excited to see the Nomad, been telling his school mates about it because they race them on the Xbox. So this turned into everyone in the family trying to get in and out of it. Few interesting methods, much hilarity. Everyone but Grandma got in eventually.
Next weekend another little mixed on and offroad session. Some lads in a jacked up range rover were excited to see it.
Been wondering how good the spotlights were so went out for a night session.
Spotlight effectiveness confirmed!
The spots are great offroad. On road they were a bit of a bugger as being mounted as far back as they are they shine light down onto the top of the dash which then reflects in the windscreen, took me a while to figure out that was what it was as it was lighting up mud splats. I tried cleaning the windscreen a couple of times but they wouldn't go, then it twigged
Took Scrumpy to the monthly breakfast meet this time. Even upstaged my mates Lambo a bit with people saying the Nomad was their favourite
Lambo is definitely faster on the road though. I took one of my mates with me, he was desperate to go home in someone else's car not quite hardy enough in this cold weather.
Had to do my first attempt at giving Scrumpy a wash as I'd bought some shock socks to help keep the mud and grit out of them so needed to clean the crap that was there first.
Hmm
Never snow foamed or jet washed the inside of a car before
and part way through fitting socks.
P1 thankfully avoided becoming a victim of the massive power surge here during the storm. It blew up my Xbox, boiler, Nest, house alarm, doorbell, garage door motor and the trickle charger for the P1, thankfully not transferring it into the car which seems to have all electrics working fine, phew!
Ordered some key tags as I was definitely going to lose the Nomad immobiliser otherwise, yes it doesn't even have a key!
And no the PANIC button on the Ram fob isn't for when I'm driving like a knob. You can just set the alarm off remotely for attention.
Took Mrs Will out for a proper trip in Scrumpy. Was nice and sunny but still a bit chilly. She enjoyed herself this time, even though she lost feeling in her toes
You know you see those vans where they have written in the dirt "I wish my wife was this dirty" Well mine is she took the brunt of the puddles this time.
Shock socks doing their job
Job for this weekend was putting a bit of PPF over the top bars to save me scratching it when I'm climbing in and out of the roof.
Bit harder than anticipated, never wrapped anything before or applied big stickers but doing round a slightly bent tube was a git.
And we are now all up to date. If you made it this far then well done, thanks for reading
TLDR
P1 broke
Daily drivers crashed into
Cerbera does TVR things
Strangely enjoy driving the least manly car possible
Big angry truck tries to bankrupt me via drinking problem
Nomad makes people cold.
Spent the evening reading the owners manual. Ariel are my kind of people.
Mate of mine runs a car club and started up the monthly social meets again at new venue, the newly refurbed Pewsham pub. Took Hector along to the first meet. Good turnout. More importantly, great bacon sarnies!
Then back home for a much needed bath.
First couple of mods for the Nomad. Firstly, because I'm an idiot, I have labelled the unmarked buttons / switches because it takes me too long trying to remember the right one in a hurry while battling the elements.
And then having had a couple of brown trouser moments thanks to my big feet, hit brakes coming up to a corner and mash brake and throttle, keep firing at corner! I have realigned the throttle pedal plate so my foot doesn't catch both on braking, can still heel toe though.
So basics sorted it was ready for the first proper play. Quick lap of my favourite local roads, popular PH and Top Gear test route. First bit of off roading was into the gravel car park at the Uffington White Horse, start gently and all that
Had a family come up and ask if it was ok to look it over as their lad was really excited by it.Then on from there to try a bit more green laning on allowed tracks where I often walk the dog.
Got up the clay hill no problem.
Getting in and out for pictures is a bit of a ballache
Then the first proper puddle experience. Thanks to a fairly stiff crosswind the puddle just ended up inside and all over me
Dirty now may as well carry on. Bit more playing about. This thing is hilarious off road, can cruise at moderate road speed quite comfortably and just has oversteer on demand. All done sensibly away from any walkers or wildlife, slow and respectful around them, got many thumbs up and pics taken.
One thing I find particularly fun about this thing compared to previous off roading experience. Previously in a big 4x4 you plod along the dirt then get back onto a road and trundle off. With this you can plod along the dirt but then hit the road and fire off down it at sportscar speed.
Clean and filthy together, the state of the passenger seat will give you some idea of how I looked.
Next day I had been asked to bring the Nomad along to a drive out in memorial of a friend of a few of my friends and local car lad. Hell of a turn out for him, this many people wouldn't care about me
Nomad didn't stand out at all. This was only about 1/3 of the convoy.With my best mates Perf, two very different very orange ways of going fast.
Family weekend gathering was at our house this time. My nephew (8) was super excited to see the Nomad, been telling his school mates about it because they race them on the Xbox. So this turned into everyone in the family trying to get in and out of it. Few interesting methods, much hilarity. Everyone but Grandma got in eventually.
Next weekend another little mixed on and offroad session. Some lads in a jacked up range rover were excited to see it.
Been wondering how good the spotlights were so went out for a night session.
Spotlight effectiveness confirmed!
The spots are great offroad. On road they were a bit of a bugger as being mounted as far back as they are they shine light down onto the top of the dash which then reflects in the windscreen, took me a while to figure out that was what it was as it was lighting up mud splats. I tried cleaning the windscreen a couple of times but they wouldn't go, then it twigged
Took Scrumpy to the monthly breakfast meet this time. Even upstaged my mates Lambo a bit with people saying the Nomad was their favourite
Lambo is definitely faster on the road though. I took one of my mates with me, he was desperate to go home in someone else's car not quite hardy enough in this cold weather.Had to do my first attempt at giving Scrumpy a wash as I'd bought some shock socks to help keep the mud and grit out of them so needed to clean the crap that was there first.
Hmm
Never snow foamed or jet washed the inside of a car before
and part way through fitting socks.
P1 thankfully avoided becoming a victim of the massive power surge here during the storm. It blew up my Xbox, boiler, Nest, house alarm, doorbell, garage door motor and the trickle charger for the P1, thankfully not transferring it into the car which seems to have all electrics working fine, phew!
Ordered some key tags as I was definitely going to lose the Nomad immobiliser otherwise, yes it doesn't even have a key!
And no the PANIC button on the Ram fob isn't for when I'm driving like a knob. You can just set the alarm off remotely for attention.
Took Mrs Will out for a proper trip in Scrumpy. Was nice and sunny but still a bit chilly. She enjoyed herself this time, even though she lost feeling in her toes
You know you see those vans where they have written in the dirt "I wish my wife was this dirty" Well mine is
she took the brunt of the puddles this time.Shock socks doing their job
Job for this weekend was putting a bit of PPF over the top bars to save me scratching it when I'm climbing in and out of the roof.
Bit harder than anticipated, never wrapped anything before or applied big stickers but doing round a slightly bent tube was a git.
And we are now all up to date. If you made it this far then well done, thanks for reading
TLDR
P1 broke
Daily drivers crashed into
Cerbera does TVR things
Strangely enjoy driving the least manly car possible
Big angry truck tries to bankrupt me via drinking problem
Nomad makes people cold.
Great fleet and write-ups 
My pal had a Cerbera... At 6ft 4 and around 21 stone, there was no way in hell I'd fit in it... My shoulders/back were wider than the seat and I couldn't lift my head up straight
Like you he rejected it after 6 weeks; non-stop electrical issues and a clutch that failed, twice...!
My pal had a Cerbera... At 6ft 4 and around 21 stone, there was no way in hell I'd fit in it... My shoulders/back were wider than the seat and I couldn't lift my head up straight
Like you he rejected it after 6 weeks; non-stop electrical issues and a clutch that failed, twice...!
Thanks for the kind comments guys. I'll try and keep this thread updated a bit more regularly.
but that is what makes it fun. I'm ok on an open road but having to fit into one lane for oncoming traffic is bad as the truck follows cambers really strongly and any big bumps or puddles near the verge really unsettle it. You can be just driving at 40mph down a straight road and it is like wrestling a bear.
It is actually better in the situations like in the video when pressing on a bit as it smooths out a lot. Probably just slightly terrifying for any other traffic.
I was pretty much touching the roof in it. If I'd ever gotten around to taking it on a trackday as I'd hoped I'd have had to sit crouched or head tilted to fit in with a helmet on.
SturdyHSV said:
You had me at P1, so that just got better and better
Are you looking to adopt?
It depends, are you fluffy and have a tail and bark? Are you house trained? Or do you own a petrol station? Are you looking to adopt?
snotrag said:
Brilliant. The SRT down a B road looks like getting power oversteer driving my garage. I love it!
Honestly, the thing is an absolute nightmare on country roads but that is what makes it fun. I'm ok on an open road but having to fit into one lane for oncoming traffic is bad as the truck follows cambers really strongly and any big bumps or puddles near the verge really unsettle it. You can be just driving at 40mph down a straight road and it is like wrestling a bear.It is actually better in the situations like in the video when pressing on a bit as it smooths out a lot. Probably just slightly terrifying for any other traffic.
d_a_n1979 said:
Great fleet and write-ups
My pal had a Cerbera... At 6ft 4 and around 21 stone, there was no way in hell I'd fit in it... My shoulders/back were wider than the seat and I couldn't lift my head up straight
Like you he rejected it after 6 weeks; non-stop electrical issues and a clutch that failed, twice...!
You are about the same size as my mate in mine. It was an effort to get him in and get the door closed My pal had a Cerbera... At 6ft 4 and around 21 stone, there was no way in hell I'd fit in it... My shoulders/back were wider than the seat and I couldn't lift my head up straight
Like you he rejected it after 6 weeks; non-stop electrical issues and a clutch that failed, twice...!
I was pretty much touching the roof in it. If I'd ever gotten around to taking it on a trackday as I'd hoped I'd have had to sit crouched or head tilted to fit in with a helmet on.
RB Will said:
You are about the same size as my mate in mine. It was an effort to get him in and get the door closed I was pretty much touching the roof in it. If I'd ever gotten around to taking it on a trackday as I'd hoped I'd have had to sit crouched or head tilted to fit in with a helmet on.
Haha there was no chance of me shutting the door unfortunately; competitive powerlifter and a keen lifter of bloody heavy rocks etc I was pretty much touching the roof in it. If I'd ever gotten around to taking it on a trackday as I'd hoped I'd have had to sit crouched or head tilted to fit in with a helmet on. I was properly wedged!It did sound amazing though; just a shame it was so unreliable in such a short period...
He's got an S2 now that he's having the bodywork sorted (fibreglass I think and it needs some work doing to it by someone who knows what they're doing). The straight 6 in it sounds amazing though (Ford lump Im think); it is straight piped! So that does help...
A most engaging read, thanks for taking the tim to share it, you certainly nailed the variety in the title…great to see the Nomad doing Nomad things
Speaks volumes you have kept the P1, hopefully you get to the bottom of its issues before too much longer
What on earth are you going to get next?
Speaks volumes you have kept the P1, hopefully you get to the bottom of its issues before too much longer
What on earth are you going to get next?
trails said:
Speaks volumes you have kept the P1, hopefully you get to the bottom of its issues before too much longer
What on earth are you going to get next?
The P1 is effectively a family member now, it isn’t going anywhere if I can help it. What on earth are you going to get next?
I’ve had it since 2005 and it has been such a big part of my life, mad experiences, road trips, track time, friends, first date with Mrs Will and our wedding car, even got me a PH feature.
I’ll hopefully get it back on the road soon, watching the vids in my main post have got me yearning for it again.
As for what is next, well, since I promised Mrs Will that I was done for a while when I achieved the dream and got the Cerbera, I think if I’d like to keep my testicles attached and ever have her play with them again, the next thing better be a new kitchen
Maybe I’ll finally snap and buy the Nissan Cube I’ve always fancied
RB Will said:
The P1 is effectively a family member now, it isn’t going anywhere if I can help it.
I’ve had it since 2005 and it has been such a big part of my life, mad experiences, road trips, track time, friends, first date with Mrs Will and our wedding car, even got me a PH feature.
I’ll hopefully get it back on the road soon, watching the vids in my main post have got me yearning for it again.
As for what is next, well, since I promised Mrs Will that I was done for a while when I achieved the dream and got the Cerbera, I think if I’d like to keep my testicles attached and ever have her play with them again, the next thing better be a new kitchen
Maybe I’ll finally snap and buy the Nissan Cube I’ve always fancied
I’ve had my wagon since 2004, so empathy here I’ve had it since 2005 and it has been such a big part of my life, mad experiences, road trips, track time, friends, first date with Mrs Will and our wedding car, even got me a PH feature.
I’ll hopefully get it back on the road soon, watching the vids in my main post have got me yearning for it again.
As for what is next, well, since I promised Mrs Will that I was done for a while when I achieved the dream and got the Cerbera, I think if I’d like to keep my testicles attached and ever have her play with them again, the next thing better be a new kitchen
Maybe I’ll finally snap and buy the Nissan Cube I’ve always fancied
There is something oddly attractive about the Cubes…I have a similar issue with early Multipla
Glenn63 said:
shame about the tvr experience, I still want one though!
Nomad looks hilarious fun
Go for it. Better to regret what you have done rather than wonder what might have been. Nomad looks hilarious fun
The TVR was brilliant when it worked, I might revisit it in the future. If all the problems with it had happened 6-8 months down the line I’d have forgiven it and carried on, doing it all so soon meant I just couldn’t trust it at all.
The Nomad is 70% epic fun, 20% utterly terrifying and 10% extreme survival
I did manage to take it out without my arctic spec thermal undies on last weekend though Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff