Archive for 'Long Termers'
Mazda MX-5: hunting for rust
cj hubbard writes:
Things have been quiet on the Mazda front recently, mostly because I’m freaking out worrying on all the corrosion it might be hiding. Finally, some clear weather over the weekend meant I actually had the chance to take a look…
Finding the red stuff meant removing the wheelarch liners, which aren’t so much liners […]
Posted: February 1st, 2010 under Long Termers.
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Mercedes gets Smart, upgrades ForTwo CDI
cj hubbard writes:
Fair to say I’m not the biggest fan of our Smart ForTwo CDI long termer. This is such a well established fact in the office that Dan even bought me a Lego ‘generic city car’ for my birthday last week, saying this would allow me to smash a Smart up at will… Comes […]
Posted: January 22nd, 2010 under Long Termers.
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More snow adventures
Dan Trent writes:I know, literally the entire the nation has been waiting with bated breath. "When are we going to hear Dan’s latest update about driving a Smart around in the snow?" Fear not, here it is! And the news is the plucky little ForTwo made it through to the office this morning in […]
Posted: January 7th, 2010 under Long Termers.
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See, told you it was useless
Dan Trent writes:Here is the Smart at the bottom of my test hill. And here is the Smart making a promising looking start at tackling it, sans ESP, that swiftly peters out in a flurry of snow and (thankfully out of earshot) foul language. I think I’ll take the main - salted - […]
Posted: January 6th, 2010 under Long Termers.
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ESP experiment ‘inconclusive’
Dan Trent writes:Classic ‘well it seemed like a good idea at the time’ moment ahoy. When the snow was here before Christmas I was proudly boasting of how good Peter’s diesel Smart is in the powder. "All it needs," I subsequently bragged, "is a button to switch off the ESP."
Convinced that the only reason […]
Posted: January 6th, 2010 under Long Termers.
Comments: none
Learn to drive with Lotus - the video
Dan Trent writes:If you’ve seen the story about learning to drive the Lotus way you might be interested to see my video from the same event - see below. I’m really keen to take the Clio on an airfield day to mess about with some of these braking techniques learned here on the Lotus day. […]
Posted: January 5th, 2010 under Long Termers.
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Mazda MX-5: yes, the locks really are frozen
cj hubbard writes:
Oooh, Dan’s a cheeky sod. Charming way to start the new year, that is. I won’t be forgetting this, let me tell you.
First though, a picture of my MX-5 on New Year’s Day.
Yes, the roof is down. I have all manner of silly hats and scarves to cope with chilly drop top motoring. […]
Posted: January 4th, 2010 under Long Termers.
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The pebble-dashed look wasn’t working
Pic by Riad ArianeDan Trent writes:I’d never actually gone into a gravel trap before my little excursion at Oulton (I know, not for the want of trying, etc…), which probably explains my delusion that I could extract myself with the power of wheelspin alone. Wrong as it turned out and time for the little […]
Posted: December 22nd, 2009 under Long Termers.
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The turkey run: the Smart steps up
Dan Trent writes:Having established a 403hp Evo on track tyres is rubbish (if amusing) in the snow yesterday I drove in with the Clio, the intention being to join the throng of French car nuts gathering at the Ace Cafe. But the Clio turns out to be rubbish in the snow too, having so […]
Posted: December 22nd, 2009 under Long Termers.
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Mazda MX-5: Aligned, me hearties! Aligned!
cj hubbard writes:
Well, this is amusing/embarrassing…
Took the Mazda along to Blackboots / Wheels in Motion in Chesham on Friday to get a new pair of rear tyres and a full alignment set-up done.
A nice chap named Joe sorted the tyres and rebalanced the front wheels for me – getting rid of […]
Posted: December 3rd, 2009 under Long Termers.
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