Before I depress myself, some pics of the Blackbushe meet last weekend - I thought it was a general meet for lots of cars but no, just Porsches:
The eagle-eyed will notice my son's car at the end - as I said, I thought it was a general car meet, so invited him along - whoops. Another 10 or so cars did turn up after this pic, so it was not as empty as it looks. The weather was average (spitting rain, so roofs up) and not the most exciting drive but I'm still in the honeymoon period, so any trip out is awesome!
My son's car impressed/annoyed (I can't be sure which) other members as he started up and then smoked tyres out of the car park - I still love it but I'm guessing not everyone in the group agrees...
Sadly for him, he had a minor disaster down the road - he lost his brakes completely. Luckily, he noticed they were going (pedal went very soft) and he slowed down and just managed to get into a petrol station. After filling up, the car wouldn't let him drive off because it detected the complete absence of brake fluid - clever. I used my breakdown service to get him recovered home. It looks to be the link pipe on one of the calipers that has split. We tried to unscrew it ourselves but in too tight - booked in for a fix next week.
So I took my car to Paul Lewis (Torque Boxsters, link on the right) for the new/2nd-hand driveshaft to be fitted. I'd also bought gear mounts for him to fit because Parrs Porsche told me mine were 'split' - however, Paul couldn't see that being the case, so he didn't change them in the end. However, he had a nightmare with corroded bits to get the driveshaft in - he had to cut one of the control arms out completely and so I had to get both replaced - total bill of £925 !!!! Ouch...
Embarrassingly, he also told me my tyre pressures were very low (22 psi, should be 32) - man, how did I not check simple stuff like that? In my meagre defence, 19" wheels have so little rubber, it's difficult to tell just by looking at them...but, still, pathetic.
So now, the car feels VERY different and I'm not sure it's a 'good' different...before, the car was lovely and smooth over most road surfaces but floaty round corners and at speed, with a lot of tramlining. Now, on normal roads, it is hard - very hard, almost uncomfortably so. I haven't driven too much so I'm assuming it will also be better at speed and in the twisties - I'll have to see how it goes. I know this is what it should feel like and it is better/safer etc....but 50% of my driving is going to be in 'chill' mode - it's difficult to 'chill' if your teeth are being rattled.
I've created a 'Costs' page (link up at the top) to keep track of how much money I'm spending - definitely not for the wife to see and I may give up on it as well if it becomes too painful.
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