Rahr85

stuipid track time, or should i say... stupid needing to put money towards house. There are so many things i could do to make the car handle/stop better. I'm fairly content with straight line speed on the track at least until the turbo gives up.. I did notice donington do novice track days for £200 (6x20min sessions) with the option to hire an instructor.

donington was interesting. First time in anything other than a kart on a track. Not sure a few of the cars out with me should have been in the "novice" group but hey ho. I went out with the aim to hit 120 and not do anything silly. Managed to hit something in the mid 120's before chickening out and hitting the anchors. Looking back at the footage i didn't get a single uninterrupted lap as the closest to a flying lap i got i pulled over to let the scorpion golf go by on the way down to turn 1. But i was fairly happy with how the car pulled through the gears when i did get to push on a bit. 100% need to do it again for a proper stint with the requisite insurance sorted, and preferably with some like minded people that don't dive up the right hand side after being told to only pass on the left.

I haven't fitted any springs yet. Still trying to weigh up the options to fill the arch gap without losing too much real world useability (read: dog walk car parks are regularly riddled with potholes)

Stage 1 complete. Absolutely delighted and running at 302bhp/386ft.lbs Probably going to have to go easy on mods until the bank balance recovers.

for an absolute starter you will need to heat it up to try and soften whatever adhesive they used. And have some sort of glue removal product to clean it all up after. Get it warm enough and then if you have anything plastic to pry underneath it'll make a start. Once it starts to go it should come clean off but the hardest part is warming it up evenly.

So back in november 2015 i picked this up brand new from ingram skoda in ayr. The original intention was to get something sensible (compared to my impreza) that was nice and modern, not too slow and it has excelled in just being such a well rounded car for the money. So along comes the end of the PCP term and having looked around i just couldn't find anything to replace it with that wouldn't cost me more money. So over the last month or so i've been plodding along with ideas of what to do with it now that it is properly in my ownership. List of things still to be done in no particular order: Stage 1 remap (+dsg) - booked in for april Wheel Refurb / Wheel Replacement (wife has kerbed both front wheels) New wind deflectors (originals taken off after about 2+1/2 years) H&R Lowering Springs + Spacers Facelift touchscreen. So far i had modded the standard air intake guide thingy by cutting away at the nearside and added a k&n panel filter. But luckily i have access to a ramp at work (i'm not a mechanic) so today i managed to get the mudflaps on, maxton front splitter and side skirts fitted and got some new discs + pads in as the originals were getting a bit close to gone after 40k miles. Feeling much happier with the car as it is but there's more to come although i don't want to turn it into a money pit.

i have green (granted pre-facelift), had it 3+1/2 years and not for once have regretted the colour choice.

only just spotted this, only rumour but i was told that they had recieved noise complaints about their unit and that the owner (dan) had gone to work for someone based in milton keynes. I'm disappointed as i live just a few miles from it and was looking to get stage 1 as a xmas present.

Not sure about linking to other places. but this one. it was much cheaper on ultimate finish than through amazon. Pretty sure it'll pay for itself over time but i was reluctant to spend so much (relative terms) for something i never used to need. reading up it should last 20(ish) washes but shouldn't really get used with a power washer. they recommend having a storage tank for the filtered water. I don't think i have the patience to do a wash cycle with the power washer and then just using the hose to rinse off. Hopefully it works as intended and i don't need to pay someone to wash it for me. the internet as always is full of negative reviews so i figured i would just bite the bullet and hope for the best :/

Finally got around to ditching some of the badges after over 2 years thinking about it. also gave it a wash after getting hold of a water filter. Back up in aberdeen water spots wasn't an issue. I miss proper water :p Still trying to think what else to do to it. I have shark performance about 1 mile away and keep toying with the thought of lowering it and going for 19's but the old man in me feels the ride quality is going to suffer too much.

Got any info on hospitality for donington? Was curious if there would be any packages for a reasonable price. Bit of a mixed weekend but good to see both cars getting a good result over the days racing.

All the best for the season start Going to have to watch the first round on the tv.

Really don't see the point in running a higher octane fuel unless the car has been mapped for it. Just extra cost for no real benefit. I tend to fill up on the monthly costco trip then just nip into morrisons or asda to top up as required. My impreza hatch required 98+ and this was a bit annoying when there wasn't too many petrol stations near anywhere fun to drive Shell was only used as a stop gap.

Looking good guys. Didn't quite make it in time for the pit walk

Looks like i'm going to be free to come along and get some snaps of the new liveries like last year. Hopefully the weather holds out as last year it was FREEZING. Hope to pop past and say hi if i get the chance, but i'll probably just stand nearby awkwardly.

good luck with the BTCC stuff, hope to see you guys at donington. might even be free for the press day if anyone is up there.

Stupid question i know.. but is this per car or per person? I'm sure the wife would love to have a shot too.

Wouldn't have been my choice if i had selling it privately in mind, would have probably gone race blue if that was the case. But it looks much better in direct light (which the photos don't show well). And still need to find somewhere local to fit a sun strip on the windscreen.

gave the old girl a bit of a clean today. i never normally bother going as far as removing the plates but it was due a bit of a polish (i'm no detailer), saves having to photoshop them out later i suppose... almost 18 months and going strong.

in desperate need of a wash!

When i got the car i was looking at the focus ST estate and leon cupra but having come from the impreza 330s was trying to slowly pry myself away from performance that i never get to use. I always prefer an estate for practicality sake. Now that i am in the motor trade after a move south i have access to some cracking deals that if it wasn't for the negative equity i would snap their hands off for. 335d xdrive msport for 360 a month (18 month lease with 1 months deposit). or an E class 220d amg line premium for the same money. Probably go the route of the E class as it would make the 800 mile round trip to visit family a lot more relaxing. It is a little bit depressing to think i put a reasonable amount of money up front and am paying more than i would be for a brand new 335d which lists a good £10k above. Will see what the future holds once i don't have 4 grand of negative equity and if i still have access to good deals. What i would really love is a 4x4 diesel vrs now that my mileage is higher on a daily basis. I get the purpose of the scout but i prefer the looks of what i already have (inside and outside). my key points for a car: Practicality Comfort Heated seats (for the wife) Good traction in the wet Enough poke to make a safe overtake/merge onto motorway. The current car nails everything but the traction issue

Sorry i must have missed that part In that case make sure you leave plenty of time coming in from the a96. Not much to be said coming down from aviemore to aberdeen, until huntly you get a fairly good view and traffic permitting a decent enough drive, but after that you are better off just getting to the end (factoring in whatever day/time you need to make it to the ferry) as traffic around the airport and then the harbour isn't the best.

with all the works on the AWPR i would just avoid aberdeen at the moment. With moving from aberdeen to nottingham recently i've had to make numerous trips up and down. For a bit of fun once you have the majority of the distance done i'd suggest taking the a9 up to pitlochry then heading up to glenshee, tl:dr https://goo.gl/maps/THqvwQTa8jT2 https://youtu.be/V4-7q3QCWyo