corozin

Well I've just done some sums and without pouring into details during 2001-2003 I've averaged £2,900 per year on modifying the car and fixing the bits that have gone wrong. This figure also includes tyres, but does not include my insurance (which averages around £900 per year) and fuel (I average around 3,500 miles to events alone each year) It's only July and I've gone through £735 of parts already this year... Grand Total for 3½ years? £9,500... :roll:

Yeah I remember that article. I recall PVW commenting in the article that the wheels rubbed like mad, which isn't surprising. There was also some 16 year old last year who'd put 19's on a MkII Golf. He didn't yet have a licence and hadn't been able to drive the car. Bet he gets a surprise when he fiinally tries it ! John

Jeroen's car looked excellent on 18" BBS. I think 19's could be a bit "moon buggy" for a Corrado. Plus you will very likely have to cut away inside arches to get 19's to fit (indeed it's a liklihood with 18's but a couple of guys say they've got away with it. Just think - If even 18's were a reasonably practical possibility then a lot of guys would have them, but mostly the biggest size you see on these cars is 17's John

I hate the fact that my car isn't invisible to Speed Cameras, Talivans, Unmarked Police Cars and Max Power Muppets in Saxos/Novas/Escorts who always seem to wanna "have a go" Apart from that... bliss :)

I'm sure Spencer will clarify if I'm wrong, but if I recall correctly I think the GM motors are the "mouse" engines and the Chevy ones are the "rats". Those pictures are fantastic BTW. John

That would depend on what make of block it's running...

Nice action Spencer ! Are you still ok to be on the CCGB club stand at GTi Festival in a few week's time? John

It's because UPS sponsored the Porsche GT3 racing car in Germany about 5 years ago.

I have to keep telling myself that when something goes wrong it's 9-year old / 127,000 mile car stuff... John (nursing the pain of a failed fuel pump from yesterday)

In the final analysis the Corrado is a pretty high performance piece of kit, and although it has a VW badge on the front, the quality of parts required to keep a 150mph car tip-top are going to be expensive regardless of whether the car has a VW, Porsche or TVR badge on it. If you think a Corrado is expensive to keep on the road, then buy a Porsche or a Jaguar. Indeed we have levels of running costs & reliability that owners of a lot of Japanese performance cars would kill for. My experience (of a 1995 VR6) over the past 5 years is the same as Roddy's - granite build quality with no rattles anywhere, and still going as well as it ever did even though it now has almost 127,000 miles on the clock. Sure some parts need replacing but all cars need that. If your dash (or almost anything else) is rattling on the car, then it's almost certain that at some point that part has been taken off the car and NOT been refitted correctly. No exceptions. John

I think the circuit just suit's Ken from a driving perspective. If you get a long enough straight the Corrado's aerodynamics do give it a straight line advantage over the other models, but historically Ken hasn't had that much success at Donnington which is also a very quick circuit. I think VW (to an extent) should be applauded for what they achieve with theVW Racing Cup. They could so easily have rigged it to exclude older models, or gave the new cars an advantage and yet instead by using the power/weight formula they've allowed a really successful series to develop where various Golfs, Ventos Sciroccos, Corrados, Lupos and even a Caddy are often racing each other bumper to bumper. I think VW realise the importance of thier heritage in this respect, and I'm just glad they do. Most manufacturers just set up a one-make series for thier current model

Agreed. James has built a car which has pushed the Corrado in a couple of new directions. I've seen first hand how much dedication & work he's put into that car over the last 2 years and it's more than most of us would be prepared to put into it believe me. The quality of the finished product reflects all that hard work IMHO. John p.s. Guy's Storm is featured in "The Golf" next month I believe.

Hay - no problem. It's better to find out here than argue at the roadside with Officer Dibble :)

No, but the MOT station can charge you anything up to the full MOT fee for the inspection which is required, as they have to certificate the car etc. I've seen this discussed on other forums (not VW ones) where people have had to get this done. Like you say, there are quite a lot of guys who seem to use them permenantly but you have to be aware of the possible pitfalls eh? John

Did anyone read the article on tuned Impreza's in last month's EVO? The Roger Clark Motorsport car was running 437bhp reliably! Downside = £15k price tag :(

Not true. Almost everything about a German style plate contravenes the current numberplate regulations; size, colour, material, reflectiveness, lack of BS-approval, missing manufacturere postcode. The regs (for anyone interested) are here : http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2001/20010561.htm#6 If you don't get stopped with them fitted to your car it's because they feds just can't be arsed to stop you for that, but if you are stopped for any other reason you can expect a vehicle defect notice (which means you effectively have to re-MOT the car) + a £30 fine to be added on top of anything else they hit you with. HTH, John

Hmm that's Interesting... The "new" Corrado racing car in snett7.jpg was driven by Michael Neuhoff, who won the series only three seasons ago, and has raced successfully in the Porsche Cup and also for Bentley at Le Mans. In other words a really good driver. Perhaps he's spotted the potential of the Corrado as well? Nice pics - shame you missed the racing. Ken Lark usually goes well at Snetterton - he won there last season too & was doing well in the Willhire 6hrs before the car broke an hour before the end. John

Daz King's Storm was in a group test feature in Revs about 3 years ago (vs a Calibra, Fiat Coupe & a Ricer). No prizes for guessing who won :cheers:

I understand, but if you've driven it and got grit & water into the coils then it makes no difference if the car is being used, or if it's sitting in a garage - it will still seize up over time. I agree that it seems a bit quick for them to seemingly lock up altogether, but your only option to free them up now is to take them off the car. Aside from anything else if they are on the car you just can't get the leverage onto the collars in the same way as if they are locked into a vice / workmate. Plus you reduce the risk that you'll slip and dent the wheel arches with your spanner (something I have done in the past while using a breaker bar to get suspension bolts off) John

The guy who lives across the road from me had one 2-3 years ago. Subaru said it had 300bhp but in reality it was nearer 350bhp. He swapped it for a TVR less than a year later, as the ride was really too harsh for UK roads, and it was a complete handfull in the wet. Looked fantastic though - really low & wide, unlike the "tractor boy" suspensions that most Subarus have. John

What have you done to try and free them up? Have you taken them off and had a go? If you can get them onto a bench and clean them with a wire brush you might be able to "persuade" them with some WD40 and some patience. When I got my Koni set they supplied me with some lubricant (oeer missus!) to coat the coils but even with that they needed some of the above persuasion after a couple of years of use. HTH John

Does anyone know the whereabouts of the car that started this thread off? Tony sold it about 3 years ago to someone from the Stoke area, but has never seen / heard of it since. I remember Tony telling me the terrifying tale of the test drive the bloke took him for ! John

If you have a file sharer like Kazaa or Emule, search for "Course de Pike Peak" and you should find it ok.

The driver in that clip is Ari Vatenen. I believe that run set the Pikes Peak record which stood for 7-8 years until Bobby Unser broke it in a 900bhp Toyota pickup. Of course being at Pikes Peak just illustrates how good these top level drivers are because of the sheer drops either side. The WRC cars race every year on the mountains of the Monte Carlo rally (with ice patches on the bends) and few people one seem to notice that. John

I filled up at 87.9p last Thursday, as I did it I was struck by the fact that the "£££" section of the pump display was almost keeping up with the "litre" section.... :(