Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Reminded me of a Pink Floyd song - 'Ive got wild staring eyes, and I've got a strong urge to fly'.

Insightful!

Looking gawjus as ever. #readerswives

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Ha no worries! Haven’t checked today but everything was fine yesterday... Possible culprit was interior light being left on by Mrs Hammer.

Good stuff. How was Paddock? Full gas at the apex?

Not quite, two cars went off there on the sighting lap - within 9 minutes of the track opening.

For the entire rest of the session their course through the gravel was right in front of you as you accelerated from the apex, reproachfully reminding you of the price of failure.

That said, it was close when I went out with the instructor - he told me to turn in later, get on the gas harder, and allow the car to run out further toward the rumble strip.

I triggered the ABS briefly coming into Druids a couple of times - I think when I didn't get my throttle blip quite right, and the rear tyres struggled. Druids was also quite a lot of fun when got right.

The corner I found hardest (bearing in mind I'm rubbish at this) was Clearways.

Majority of the track was third, fourth on the Brabham straight, second for Druids and Graham Hill.

Jesus. On the sighting lap??

The rest sounds about standard for Brands Hatch Indy, Clearways looks like an easy corner yet is quite hard to get it right.

What sort of things was the instructor telling you?

Yes, the organisers had never seen such a thing before. Much shaking of heads and "I don't believe it" going on.

Paddock was the most fun, through the apex and on the gas, car squats hard as you go through the dip then fire up the hill.

Instructor was just telling me when to turn in, and to let the car (I don't know the terminology here) run out as it wanted, when leaving a corner, rather than trying to hold it into the corner, if that makes sense? I do it on right hand corners, whereas on left hand corners I allow the car to run out, interestingly.

On a left hander you're sitting on the right of the car so you can see track limit on your side, so you're letting the car run wide confident that you know you've got the right line, but on a right hander you're not trusting yourself to know how wide the car is and how wide it's going to run.

Is my hypothesis.

I think @danstuff said it before too but one of my fave things about Druids is how late you can brake because the hill is surprisingly steep and helps you slow down.

I think what you're saying is buy a McLaren F1?

I think @danstuff said it before too but one of my fave things about Druids is how late you can brake because the hill is surprisingly steep and helps you slow down.

What was interesting (to me!) was that brake late for Druids whilst getting the downchange right, turn in and through the apex and on the gas whilst the car runs wide as it wants = you run out of revs in 2nd, and have to momentarily grab third before down to second whilst on the brakes for the next corner.

Get Druids wrong and you're still well below rev-limit in 2nd when you arrive at the next corner.

Seems like the obvious choice.

The most important question is, did you enjoy yourself?

Yes, lot of fun. Instructor told me that if I enjoyed it I should "buy a car you don't mind leaving in a gravel trap and taking a taxi home"

Yes, that's a classic noobie (for want of a better word) issue, as you get quicker you can take Druids in 3rd and then quicker still you can take Graham Hill in 3rd too.

Anyone got any dent repair experience / recommendations?

I just picked this up this morning. It's confined to the door panel, and I think there's no paint missing. Would a dent repairer be able to sort it do you think?

In West London in case anyone knows anyone..

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@croft Hot!

I've watched a few years' worth of 24 Hours of Lemons race recaps on YouTube over the last week.

Shame it hasn't crossed the pond since there have been Lemons races in Oz and NZ. UK banger racing falls in between US demolition derby and Lemons, but I prefer the creativity and the artful bodging that goes on in Lemons, and how they handle excessive on-track aggression.

There are mobile ones that will usually give an estimate if you send pictures. Can't recommend one tho I'm afraid.

I should "buy a car you don't mind leaving in a gravel trap and taking a taxi home"

What about a really cheap ratty 996?

(only half joking)

Lovely. Is this yours? Whats the story behind it?

CaR idiot question. Re-gassing aircon. Pay local garage £60 or buy cannister and DIY? Can open bonnet and am capable of following basic instructions. Ta.

Pay the local garage. If you want it done properly the whole system should be purged and refilled.

Tried a few over the course of the day. Opinions vary between impossible/ difficult to doable and prices by a factor of two between cheapest and most expensive...

Booked it in to the local place down the road on monday - hopefully they'll just disappear the problem.

Check for rust, rust, rust, rust, rust, dodgy electrics and rust.

This is my 3.9 V8 Vogue SE. 203,000 miles on the clock and most things still work most of the time.

Parts are cheap and plentiful. Mechanically they are not all that far removed from a Defender.

Avoid the diesels. The V8 makes the car.

As noted by others, prices are on the up. A well maintained high miler may still be obtainable for sensible money if you shop around. Feel free to chuck any more specific questions you may have my way.