MOT time

 ...and it didn't go well; a fail on that most difficult of issues to fix, emissions. Barry only failed on the HC level, so I took him to an exhaust specialist, assuming that I had an exhaust leak and now might be the time to splash out on that new front exhaust section. But no, all was leak-free, which was a surprising result.

Not sure what else to do, I blindly left it with a specialist, 911Excellence in Horley. They diagnosed a dodgy O2 sensor and they changed the MAF sensor - a rather unexpected £440 bill but at least I've got my MOT, although they said it was still close. However, I didn't get a printout of the emissions results, which, if I was being cynical, I'm might question if those changes had actually done anything and had they just frigged the test? But I might be being a bit TOO cynical...

I'm also beginning to wonder if the Kumho tyres I fitted to the rear recently are the source of Barry's blancmange ride at speed; someone on a forum says the Michelins I had on before are known for a stiff firewall and maybe these Kumhos aren't? Anyway, considering cutting my losses and buying new Michelins instead...we shall see.

A note to point out that I've just had my 2 year, 15k mile anniversary with Barry and if you look at my costs page, I've spent just under £6,000 (not far of what he cost to buy!), which really is more than I'd hoped. Has it been worth it? Yes, I think so, although I hope the bills don't continue at that level...

Been on holidays, so no interesting runs out recently, soz!

The Krauts are invading!

 Today was German Car day at Brooklands. Sadly, the apathy of the Porksters group continues and I could only persuade one other person from the group to come along. I padded it out with another from the Boxa forum and another from the PPCC club for a grand total of 4 - oh well...

I suppose one advantage of this small group was the superb location we were allocated, right outside the famous clubhouse, opposite the beautiful Napier Railton barn:

 

The Napier is in that green building in the background but my camera wasn't good enough to sort out the contrast.

The rest of the meet was very good, although surprisingly few Porsches - I counted only about 5 other Boxsters and a similar number of 911s; quite strange. There were a huge number of beemers, Audis and Mercs, as expected (apologies for the lack of pictures), including the huge group of C63s my son is a member of - or should I say, was!

Yup, after 18 months of ownership (a record for him), the thunderous C63 is sold and it all happened within 12 hours; my son told me on Saturday morning that he had decided to sell, partly because of the cost of the thing but also because the Nurburgring has given him a taste for the track and the C63 can't get on any tracks because of the noise. So, he spent Saturday searching, found what he wanted, drove to Bournemouth (2 hours away) and did the deal! He doesn't hang about, my son...

So what's he got, I hear you say? A sensible-sounding BMW M4, completely stock, 425bhp. I thought, "OK, that's better than the mental, C63", right? Nope...

The C63 has a rep as an animal because of its headline 6.3 litre engine and it is - but it's NA, so all the power comes in high up the rev range - 0-60 is 4.3s which is obviously quick BUT the M4 is 3.8s. It has 2 turbos, a small one for low revs, a bigger one at higher revs, no turbo lag at all and has more torque and less weight than the C63. Because of those turbos, all that torque is available at 1k revs - the thing spins it's wheels in the first 3 gears in the dry! It is absolutely nuts and scary as hell as a passenger as it crabs sideways up the road - far worse than the C63 ever was. I now understand all those YT videos of people crashing in a straight line. My son, however, seems to have it under perfect control after less than a day with the thing and is ecstatic...hopefully, he won't wrap it round a tree.

It has occurred to me that my recent wobbles with Barry is because of the new brake pads because thats when it started - are the fronts now much better than the rear (although same EBC pads) and the weight transfer is unsettling the car? Because it's worst as I brake hard for corners....hmm...maybe in combination with the new rear tyres?

American Iron

 New tyres fitted - made no difference at all. On a run at the weekend, my traction control light came on far more than normal and the waywardness remains. Now, the roads were wet and the tyres are new, so maybe not scrubbed in? I turned off the traction control and didn't have any issues ie. driving into a hedge, so not really sure what is going on. I'd say maybe the shocks are losing it but then I'd expect the ride to soften, which is not happening. Maybe it is just the colder, damper weather?

The run I mentioned was a short country route to Pine Ridge golf course in Bagley (I think?), which holds a monthly classic car and hotrod meet. It was pretty small and seemed to consist mostly of 60s-80s American muscle cars, with only 1 or 2 hot rods but it was a fun run and, as always, a great bacon and egg roll:

The nicest wooden wheel I've ever seen (they are normally too spindly for me - this was pretty chunky):

A Morris Minor with supercharger - probably upped power to 60bhp?

This was the star of the show - the guy bought it like this and it was last painted 25 years ago in California, which is an amazing job:

A mere 7L engine:

Haynes Meanz Cars

 I had a choice of a long (250 mile round trip) journey to the Haynes museum for a special car meet they were having or save it and do a long weekend in Wales next week. Deciding it was unfair to leave my wife a week before my daughter leaves us to go to university, Somerset it was...

The Haynes Museum is a very nice car museum - I last went over 5 years ago, so it was due another visit and they were having a big meet this Sunday. The weather was great when I left home at 8am and my TomTom satnav gave me a really good route to the museum, using the A30 which I much prefer over the soulless A303.

About half way there, the weather turned and the heavens opened - fortunately, it stopped just before I arrived at the museum and stayed dry for the rest of the day, although the car park was a muddy hell and Barry badly needs a clean now.

The actual meet was very good - all the usual suspects (Astons, Ferraris, Porsches, 80s Fords, old Brits etc), with some extra weirdness as well - my highlight was this 1924 Rolls, which spent most of it's life in Africa, hence the ivory tusk on the bonnet and the rifles on the passenger wing:

It's still used regularly, driving 5k miles last year and has never been restored - amazing.

Quite a few other interesting things - a 90s MG ZRX (or something), with a 4L V8. I remember when these came and they were generally laughed at but they've aged well, I think:

Dunno what this was but looked mean:

Beautifully built Volvo Amazon Estate:

Nice Dino:

A slammed Jaaag:

A Fiat 130 (I think?) - you can see the Ferrari heritage from the Mondial etc:

A HUGE Buick:

One of those classics I'd love to own if I could afford it:

Inside, the museum had changed a bit since I last saw it - the Red Room (my name, not sure if they call it that) was awesome, with a 986 Boxster in the middle:

This is an Alfa Romeo - stunning:

Curves and angles - which is better? It's a tricky one:

The V16 engine from a 1930s Cadillac:

An absolutely stunning 30s Duesenberg:

An immaculately restored '65 Mustang:

If I ever repaint Barry, this might be the scheme I'd use:

And finally, a very rare (1 of only 3 in the UK) Scirocco Cabriolet - damn ugly but pretty special:

All in all, a good, if not rather long, day out and I had a fun hoon on the way home. 

Barry is feeling a bit 'loose' sometimes - I'm not sure if this just me finally getting used to his intricacies, the shocks due replacement or the almost bald rear tyres. Tyres are due to be replaced this week - see if that changes anything...

BTW, forgot to mention that Barry broke the big 100K mile barrier on day 1 of our Alps trip and has now just ticked over 103k miles - a few more years left in the old guy yet...

Long way for a cream tea

 My mum and sister live right down in the heel of Cornwall, 270 miles and a 5 hour drive from my house, so I only go down once or twice a year. It can, however, be a fun trip if the traffic is OK, which it was this weekend.

However, on the run down, I started getting some vibration in the steering wheel and through my seat above 75 mph (I'm not going to lie to you, I don't really follow speed limits and I tend to cruise at 90 or so, with various forays into 3 figures when I get too bored - sue me).

With dire thoughts of expensive suspension work needed, I decided to do the cheap stuff first and took Barry to a tyre place to get the wheels balanced. Lucky I did - all 4 tyres were out, the front left the worst. After that, normal smoothness was restored.

It seems that Boxsters are very sensitive to tyre wear...I also discovered that my rears are only just legal, which hopefully explains the waywardness I felt on the way back. The Alps and the ring took more out of them than I thought...

Garage Time

 My brake pad warning light lit up and although I knew the pads had a decent life left in them, I'd already bought the new ones a few months ago when I got the rears, so no reason not to do them. I thought it was also time I sorted out the mesh behind the front grilles, to stop the leaves getting in.

My jack is just too small (it was designed for my very low kit car) to lift the Boxster, so I had to borrow one from Cearth. Once the car was up on axle stands, I thought I'd just whip out the pads - all the YT videos showed it being very quick. But no, oh no...not for me.

The main pin holding the spring and pads in just would not shift, no matter how hard I whacked it - and on both sides!! Unbelievable...

After an hour or so of trying, I thought I'd make a start on taking the bumper off instead and that went much better:

Took the radiator shrouds off and found a fair amount of crap in there:

Cleaned all out and then used the mesh I still had from when I did the nose cone on my kit car, just cable tied inside the bumper:

I didn't make it quite the right size but not many people are going to look that closely and it will stop all the usual crud getting in there:

I left the brakes overnight and had another go - lots of WD40 and really hammering the shit out of the rods FINALLY got them out - Holy cow! I can only assume they haven't been done for years and there was a bit of rust I sandpapered off.

Once the pins were out, it took no time to put the pads in, using a new brake piston spreader tool I bought. However, I couldn't re-use the brake wear indicators as I'd bought non-OEM pads and the EBC yellows did not have the right size of hole to fit the wear sensors in.

I made sure to use copper slip on the pin to hopefully make this less of a nightmare if/when I have to do it again. I also cleaned the calipers off a little, so it looks a bit better and cable-tied the wear sensors out the way:

Went out for a short run and all feels OK, although there was a little squeal just as I got back and there is some dust on the wheels - hopefully, this will go away with a few more miles.

Wings and Wheels

 A beautiful month of weather (this global warming is awesome) has meant some great runs and a nice holiday. Last weekend was a short run to Tulleys farm with 4 of us and today, a slightly longer run out to Headcorn aerodrome with pretty much the same people:

We had a great drive with some traffic but enough clear roads to make it enjoyable. Tim is a local biker, knows all the roads and drives at the same level of nuttiness that I do, so great fun.

The aerodrome was very busy as there are loads of people doing parachute jumps and a wing-walker company:

An enjoyable bacon and egg bap, coffee, natter and then an almost reverse run home - made for a great half day out.

Our Porkster group is slowly melting away, with at least 6 or 7 regulars who have recently sold their Boxsters, hence the small numbers we get on these runs. Even Dave (the blue 718 today) is considering an upgrade to a 911. Might just be me and Tim in a few more weeks 😀

I'm trying to wring as much as possible out of this glorious summer, so I'm going down to Cornwall to visit my mum in 2 weeks, then a big meet at the Haynes museum in Somerset the week after that. I'm also playing with the idea of a long weekend to Wales in September but only 50/50 on that - see how it goes.