corozin

For those of you who missed it on the other thread:

I'm just worried that if Hamilton & MacLaren do actually go on to win their respective title that Ferrari will spend the whole winter dragging them both through the courts. On a seperate note, did anyone else notice Alonso's chicanery in the first lap? Presumably if that had been Hamilton he would have been given at least a drive through penalty based on the recent FIA interpretations of the rules. Considering Hamilton was docked 25 seconds at Spa for something similar and 10 grid places at Magny-Cours for a less severe 'cut-across' is it asking too much to expect a little consistency from the FIA? p.s. I'm not begrudging Alonso his win - that was a magnificent drive - but consistency in the decision making would be nice.

I was once told that there were in 28 original RHD "nuggets" sold in the UK but I'm sure that Andy665 can probably clarify that. There are certainly more than 10. I've seen more than that number at shows over the years. I also know of one for sale (in Dumfries, Scotland) if anyone is feeling the urge I can put you in contact John

They keep on coming :

Considering I had to be recovered home from Cirencester to Bournemouth on Saturday night that's not very funny! (broken throttle cable this time)

Here's another. I like this thread

Fortunately your information is amiss. As someone who works for one of the (currently surviving) American Banks I can assure you there are more that two big banks left. It's not quite as bad as that. I'm sure finance will still be available on Jeep Cherokees when the 4x4 market recovers :)

You really should use proper ratchet straps to tie the thing down with. They're not hugely expensive (around £7-£10 each from recollection) and I think you can even get them in Halfords if your desperate. Failing that if you're on friendly terms with a garage they may lend you a pair of straps for a weekend in exchange for a beer. Good point about the relevant licence endorsements made above - be careful of that.

Not wishing to start a flame war, but do you really think the media started the collapse of Northern Rock? If so then I do hope you aren't giving financial advice to anyone. In fact if you want to look for the cause of the credit crunch, you could make a good start with the kinds of Financial Advisors who spent the last 5-8 years advising home buyers that 6x salary mortgages were a good investment over 25 years.

Bentley Conti's have always had awful residuals, even when they were new. I think the 9mpg aspect of the ownership might have had a lot to do with that...

The AA use specialist wheel straps but even without those they will always strap over the wheels, rather than the wishbones or axles as it speads the load across the much larger area provided by the tyre surface. The tyre also provides a bit of "give" & helps the tension. By all means loop the straps through the axle but don't put any heavy tension through them. Wishbones are not that strong.

You need to check that the trailer is rated correctly to carry the weight of the car. The trailer should have a manufactuer's stamp on it somewhere showing the total weight you can put on it. There are also rules relating to what the total combined weight of towing car + loaded trailer can be. This is done to ensure you're not trying to tow (and particularly brake) a large trailer with a small car. If you're trailering within the UK you are less likely to fall foul of the Police as regards these rules, but if you are going into Europe you need to be very confident that you are in line with the rules, and have all the necessary paperwork for both vehicles. As for securing it on the trailer, ideally strap the towing eye down, strap all four wheels (front axle & rear axle one strap each, & looped through the trailer eyes in front of each wheel), use the handbrake and leave it in gear as well. Also because trailered vehicles can "settle" a bit it's a good idea to pull over after 10-15 miles and recheck the tensions on all the straps quickly. Good luck.

They'd sell a lot more straight into the German & Dutch markets if they fitted 20" wheels with air-ride as standard and de-handled them, hahaha

Well to pick up on the Golf R32 point, the R32 is amongst those cars most noticeably affected by the new VED tax bands, as it's one of the smallest/cheapest cars you can buy that's in the top band for CO2 emissions. The £1k purchase tax for band G cars is almost inisignificant if you're buying a £70k Mercedes, but it's far more of an issue when you're looking at a £23k Golf. And if you think things are bad now, wait until the £400 VED bills actually start landing on people's doormats next year. The second-hand market is also completley on it's knees. At the same time as I was told about the Mercedes in the OP, I was also told that medium exec cars were being left unsold at Poole Vehicle Auctions a few weeks ago at £8k under book price. That is simply ridiculous. But in a climate where unemployment is increasing, prices for most things are rocketing, there is little easy credit about and the Government continues to dither without a clue, this is only going to get a lot worse still before it gets better. Me? I'm holding out for the prices on cheap R32 engines next year :) might as well use them for something LOL

We all know we're in a credit crunch, and that 4x4 sales are on thier knees, but this story still shocked me. Recently in my area a chap enquired about the deal available to chop in his 3 year old Mercedes ML 450 against a new one at the local Mercedes Main Dealership. They could only offer him £1,000 in p/x. That was a £48,000 car new less than 3 years ago. Apparently the trade can't even give them away. It's all rather depressing... Has anyone else got any similar stories they'd like to share?

Interesting as around the time of the IROC show car concept there was definately talk in the press of a VR6 version with Haldex. There were conflicting reports at the time about the use of the R36 lump, R32 lump, and (I recall) a 350bhp R32 turbo version too. If the history of VW model releases is any guide, we should expect a V6 model of some kind in around 2-3 years once the honeymoon period has quietened down. VW have historically kept back the sports versions of just about every small/medium car since the 1980s.

Here's another question Jim. Who won when Wendy raced you? There is no point in denying that she would have raced you... LOL

My question about the Scirocco for you is : - Did you manage to get a spare day to pull the suspension off and see if those exotic 3-way electronically controlled dampers will fit onto a 14 year old Corrado? What a nice mod that would be... Welcome back Jim :)

Don't be so quick to discount that way of thinking. I've been following motorsport for over 25 years now and history is littered with the use of such tactics. For example: BTCC (1994) Steve Soper blocked John Clelland and both cars went off, leaving Soper's champion from Clelland - the only guy who could beat him. BTCC (1996) Rickard Rydell punted John Clelland off circuit at Brands from behind, leaving Rydell the championship winner F1GP (1989) Alain Prost turned into the path of the overtaking Ayrton Senna at Suzuka, putting both cars out on the spot and leaving Prost World Champion. F1GP (1990) Ayrton Senna returned the favour on Prost from the previous season at exactly the same Suzuka Chicane, punting Prost off the track at 180mph and leaving Senna World Champion F1GP (1994) Michael Schumacher, who needed to finish ahead of the overtaking Damon Hill to take the F1 crown in Adelaide, lost control and "accidentally" cut across the overtaking Hill, putting Schumacher out on the spot but also wrecking Hill's front suspension and forcing him to retire. Unfortunately Hill's retirement had the side effect of crowning Schumacher world champion on the spot. F1GP (1997) Schumacher again, last race of the season again, leading again, driving into Jacques Villeneuve this time. Unfortunately on this occasion the German came off worse and Villeneuve won enough points to pass the retired Ferrari driver. So far from being a figment of the imagination, taking out your championship opponents to gain or retain an advantage either for yourself or the team is not a figment of the imagination. In fact in the sport it's known as a bit of a no-brainer. Now I'm not saying that Raikonnen deliberately set out to crunch Hamilton on this occasion, but at the same time he would have been very well aware of the impact on the driver's positions were Hamilton to DNF and Massa score points.

- Actually looks like Kimi just decided to drive on the grass there - ditching his race in the attempt of overtaking the back markers... :shrug: The gutsy fool. :brickwall: Of course another way one could interpret it was that Raikonnen, resigned to the fact that Hamilton was clearly going to pass him, made a decision to give Hamilton nowhere to go at the chicane, safe in the knowledge that if the two cars collided, that Massa would automatically inherit the 10 points. And that viewpoint shouldn't be discarded as a mere conspiracy theory. Nobody should be under any illusions that no tactic is out of bounds when it comes to Ferrari's quest to retain the title at absolutely any cost. There really is nothing they won't do, as thier historical readiness to use team orders, protests & lawyers illustrates. Raikonnen's championship hopes were already realistically toast before Spa, he's made noises about retiring and Ferrari are trying to replace him with Alonso for 2009 - what would he have to lose by helping his team mate except a bit of dignity and possibly a fine from the FIA? Remember also that Michael Schumacher was also a master of the "nerfing off to protect a lead" technique (back in the day) and now he sits on the Ferrari pitwall helping with strategy...

Well according to the updated reports on PlanetF1 the stewards have clarified that the penalty imposed was nothing to do with Hamilton's corner cutting, but was imposed because Hamilton gained momentum down the following straight to La Source. Which considering the data shows Kimi was going 6kph faster across the start/finish line makes you wonder what planet they are on.

The respected motorsport journalist Maurice Hamilton (no relation) was saying on Chequered Flag F1 last night that Formula One is in danger of reaching the levels of sporting credibility previously reserved for American Wrestling and I have to say I agree with him. But don't take my word for it, many agree including ex-Ferrari Legend Niki Lauda (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/se ... ishamilton), who has today described it as "the worst judgment in the history of formula one". Of course MacLaren have appealed to the FIA World Council today, and one can only hope that this is overturned very quickly, and hopefully with sanction against these stewards. Note that the Stewards produced not a shred of telemetry, video evidence or even an argument to support the rationale behind thier decision. One can only hope that some common sense is brought to bear on this ridiculous situation, in which a 6kph speed differential between Raikonnen and Hamilton is magically interpreted as 'Hamilton gaining a speed advantage' by stewards, two of which represent minority countries who supported Max Moseley at his WMC hearing in June... Until then, I hope that Lewis decides to wear a clown suit when he takes the helm at Monza. I mean, if it's going to be a pantomime you might as well go dressed for it. [/RANTOVER]

Sorry I got creative and couldn't stop myself

A few themes spring to mind

An interesting story (http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=18596 Obviously VW aren't exactly been a small company but this is more an indication of how far the mighty Ford have lost market share - particularly in the USA but also in Europe.