Tempest

2 more pics: Tempest

This weekend just gone the Coventry Festival of Motoring took place again, after one year abscense last year. New location, new event in as far as that it took place over the full 2 days of the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Since I had some very good friends from Germany staying with me for this event, they, too, took their Mk2 Storm Rocco (some eagle-eyed Rocco-spotters will no doubt identify the Storm indeed) over from Germany across to Stoneleigh Park, where the event took place. We went on Saturday to have a good look at the vehicles already on display, before we returned in greater numbers with CCGB folk to take part in the Coventry Run, a very nice 60-mile long route through Warwickshire. The amount of money present at this event and taking to the roads is phenomenal. I definitely did not take enough pictures, so here goes with the ones I did take: Tempest

Although I am amazed at why and how countries like France and Spain have interpreted the EU directives as stating "no modifications on cars", I can't see that Germany would interpret this directive with their strict TÜV rules and associated paperwork for modding parts. Germany has just successfully resisted the directive of introducing annual MOTs across the EU (like we have, and we have in turn rejected the bi-annual MOTs that Germany has been pushing for), resulting in different MOTs still across the entire EU. I am hoping that something similar may happen with this directive. I am hoping that the UK will see some sense, that some automotive aftermarket industry bodies that this country still has, will be providing essential feedback to the relevant powers that be in Whitehall, and I am also hoping that it's another EU directive, which every membership state can interpret to a certain degree prior to establishing national law. Having spoken to the UK's 928-guru yesterday, he also thinks this will be difficult to get into the UK, as it would kill too many national companies. The UK has too many companies and associated revenue streams and taxes for the government as to kill all that off. Tempest

Poundstretcher have some. That's where I got mine from just about a month ago, when doing the intake manifold refresh job on my 928, and scared to death about engine fires when starting the engine first time, because I had to take out and refit all the injectors. Tempest

Ah, sounds like BMW haven't designed that properly :lol: 928 S4 and onwards use a flappy-valve (yes, that's the technical term), does the same thing, opens up second valve to let in more air from 4000 revs upwards. Problem there can be vac leaks hence valve not opening fully or not at all. Hey, German cars :lol: Tempest

Could sounds like a plan, Wendy :) Tempest

Understand the feeling, because I, too, since owning the 928 have had thoughts about whether the C still has a place in my fleet. The Mk1 Rocco is a keeper, that's for sure, nothing beats it in terms of stupid grin factor, each time I drive it. I decided for one to just let my C sit in its garage (which, yes, I am fortunate enough to have within very close reach of where I live), till the fire ignites again within me, and that somehow happened this Saturday just gone, when I took my C for a spin in beautiful sunny weather, love restored! :) Tinkering? Ask! There'll always be time to get something sorted on yours. Thought you quite enjoyed the pre-MOT preps the other day, mind you, we didn't need to do what we had originally planned. I understand the situation with not having the car closer to home. That would drive me bonkers. Tempest

Yes, that would be a good idea. Tempest

That is with boost set to minimum IIRC :lol: Tempest

Back again and processed piccies from a good National Day by the Scirocco Register. There were IIRC 50 cars or so, didn´t quite manage the magic number of 53, and certainly not all cars attending were type 53s :laugh: Only 1 Mk1, belonged to a chap known within the SR community as Mr Brown, who sold most if not all his cars to other SR members prior to emigrating to the US, only to announce his return some 6 months ago, followed by him re-acquiring his entire fleet just in time for his arrival on these shores. That´s why he appeared in now his very own Mk1 Rocco. Loads of Mk2 in all sorts of varieties, and a good turn-out of us little lot with our Rados. B) Had fun and games with mine this morning: 4 weeks not being driven after the MOT, which my Rado sailed through without even any advisories, whilst in the meantime I had read an interesting thread on a German Corradoforum about the crappiness of the Mk02 ABS system used on all LHD Corrados (which does not use a vac-driven booster rather than running everything through the ABS pump - a design flaw if you will, because this pump needs to be activ ated at regular intervals to keep the brake pressure up, which normally the vac-driven brake booster would do, a technology that VW returned to when they ditched the Mk02 ABS system by introducing the Mk20 system with brake booster and all, but requiring a new ECU, loom, sensors, and hence not an easy conversion, but still a popular one amongst the German Rado crowds) and how an upgrade to the Mk20 system is recommended. I just thought that all wouldn´t apply to me, because my Rado´s ABS system still happily works. That must have jinxed my Corrado :laugh: . It probably knew I was reading those very pages on the German forum! :laugh: This morning when turning the ignition key I was greeted by an unusual priming sound from the ABS pump, running at much lower speed, then dying, Christmas lighting (brake and ABS light) shining on my dash, no intention of going out. Oh dear! Drove off to Cosford followed by Jim in his VR, first few brake attempts were as usual, but then at a set of traffic lights I felt how hard the brake pedal had become - no more power assisted brakes. OK, back to the 70s this is folks, stamp on that pedal to not hit the person in front of me!!! :laugh: You get used to it :laugh: Once home again, read out the error codes from the ABS unit, no errors found, but as soon as the engine is started the ABS and brake light would stay on. Checked the brake fluid levels, all OK, had changed the fluid prior to my MOT, so all fresh. Checked the fuses and relays, lo´ and behold, the pump fuse had blown. OK, replace, carefully turn iginition key, yay, pump works again, but still at a much lower speed than usual, struggling. Did this a few times, each time for no more than 5 seconds as to not overheat the pump (even the Bentley states not to keep the pump running for more than 30 seconds!). No fluid was drawn from the reservoir into the system. Hmm ... Shook the reservoir a bit, dipped a screwdriver into the reservoir to check the bottom layer for any gunk, none found, turned the key again, and hey presto, usual high-pitched enthusiastic priming of the pump, and best of all, fluid being drawn in by the system :woohoo: Cleaned the reservoir cap with level sensor, because that was all gluey and sticky, and beginning to wonder whether it´s that stuff that somehow has managed to get stuck somewhere, no idea. Spent quite some time shifting the gluey residue from the level feeler inside the reservoir cap, but now each time I turn the ignition key I am greeted again by proper ABS system priming sounds and the pump cutting when the prescribed pressure is reached. Might just do another bleed on the front wheels tomorrow. Anyway, long story, excellent day, great weather, pics: Tempest

League table does exist, only on German Spiegel, shown everyday, Britain has climbed up to 3rd place, only behind the Chinese (as mentioned earlier: No wonder they are higher with that many people to choose from, and a not-exactly-free-political-system, they should actually be ahsamed of themselves! Look, for example where Russia has slipped now that they are no longer a totalitarian system), and the US: http://www.spiegel.de/ Scroll down till on the right hand you see the word ¨Medaillenspiegel¨ Tempest

Spotted L912EKL in Siddeley Avenue in Coventry today, was dark already, so couldn´t make out exact colour, looked like Blackberry to me. Tempest

Ah well done then, Judith, to actually coming first after all :) Indeed it is, and listening to some of the comments from punters walking past: "I so want that!" made it for me :) With the last pic I should have more carefully set up my shot, just took the pic when Judith had moved her head behind the Rado, unaware of me trying to compose a shot :lol: Tempest

In the end after a good tinkering session on Jim´s VR yesterday, and the fact that certain jobs we had planned on doing on closer inspection didn´t need doing, I had time left on my hands last night, so decided to keep butterfly company at BV, and took the Mk1 Rocco packed with a tent. It was quiet, very queit in terms of numbers of people and cars. Today turned out to be a gorgeous day, first day of summer 2012 as far as I can tell, so off to the Concourse Butterfly went, and I thought might as well stick the Mk1 in, too, after I had been informed that the Concourse/ Show&Shine was to be held on a section of hardstanding bewtween two halls, not in the usual fields, which were still quite muddy. I Butterfly entered superclass, with one more contestant, none of the usual suspects turned up :( Butterfly came 2nd, enough to be given a nice rosette. I entered the only class that´s available for modded non-Goof/non airhead (erm, aircooled), non campervans cqatehpry, which is Class 6, where they just bung in anything that´s not a Goof, Beech Buggy, Beetle or campervan. It did say modded, and sure enough I soon was joined by 2 what I viewed as hilarious airride cars, that duly gave everyone who wanted to see this a demo of the car bouncing backwards and forwards like it was having sex or something :lol: I just don´t get it :lol: I was even more surprised when an admittedly mint Mk1 Jetta entered the same class, and won in our class! Have I misunderstood something? Class 6, modded, the plaque they gave me says modified ... hmm. Oh well, it gave my Mk1 superb exposure and that´s one dandy fine aspect. Some pics: Tempest

Petition started in Germany to save the Ring: http://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/petition-zur-rettung-des-nuerburgrings Tempest

According to a letter from the BVF organsiers on Tuesday this week, the grounds of the 3 Counties Showground are dry. According to the list of people attending the CCGB clubstand, this show may indeed have died for the CCGB. Hardly any takers :( Various reasons, not necessarily the date change, more likely things like lack of traders that offer stuff of interest to water-cooled Dubbers, let alone for Rado-owners. Instead you get all sorts of traders offering dubious wares for the aircooled campervan brigade, need I go into detail? :lol: Complaints about the concourse and judging. Excessive cost for the whole weekend. Plus maybe a general tiredness amongst certain Rado-folk of general VW shows ;) Always the same: More Goofs, rusty campervans, yoof in Goofs. TBF: BVF has always had a slightly different audience, not so much suffering from the usual Goof-creatures that make shows like UD, Ed38, DC, Westside and a whole range of recent new shows. Tempest

Still deciding what to do the weekend, now that an originally planned event has fallen through. Paying £30 for just a night followed by a day at BVF strikes me as too much compared to just turning up on Sunday for a tenner. Tempest

Get both a Rado and a Mk1 Rocco, both much better looking than the utilitarian Mk1 Golf (well, it was always sold as a practical family car, never as a sports coupe in the first place). I love both for what they are, the Mk1 Rocco for its simplicity down-to-earth capability of getting a huge childish grin on my face each time I get into mine, the C for more relaxed cruising. Neither will be "classic", although it is always dubious as how and by who a car is given the "classic" status, just like with listed buildings (anyone familiar with Coventry will know what I mean ;) ). The 928 is another matter, that is a classic/cult car, it was voted car of the year in 1978, was almost too advanced for its time (in many ways, both visible and in terms of its under the skin technology), iconic. What helps is either brand (Porsche, other big sports car names) or just simply sheer numbers of people having owned one (that's what made cars like CV2, Beetle, Mini etc. the cult cars that they are today). Neither the Rocco nor the Rado fit either of those criteria. Anyway, it's all about personal taste, and I love my Rado and my Rocco :) Tempest

Indeed as Jim mentioned, this Kurt Beck's pet project was in actual fact back in 2007 to convert the Ring into the sort of Disney World style theme park that it is today, costing way more than planned (another no-surprise with government procured projects, they all go overbudget, see our own HS1 train connection London to Folkestone to name one of many). To be fair back in 2007 the Ring was starting to suffer financially due to car manufacturers, who were the main customers, starting to use the Ring less and less for testing cars, because they could do all that on computers instead, and the rest would be tested (like MS do with software) by the punter themselves, which certainly has proven to be true for cheap and mass-produced bread-and-butter cars. We now know that the decision to convert the Ring into a theme park was not the solution to this problem. Tempest

Nothing specifically mentioned in the article I read regarding the public car runs. I assume that these should be safe-guarded, too, like all events this year. Tempest ---------- Post added at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 PM ---------- Just read a bit more on some German news sites: The state of Rheinland-Pfalz, 90% owner of the Ring, reckon the Ring could go into liquidation end of this month. The prime minister of Rheinland-Pfalz, Kurt Beck (Labour), is under fire by the opposition, who, as to be expected within the Kindergarten-spectacle commonly referred to as politics, and requested to resign. Kurt in turn blames the EU/Brussels for giving billions to banks but not a few million to him. Mudfest :lol: F1 in 2013 may be under threat, but the actual managing company, owned by 2 Düsseldorf investors (one owner of a big German hotel chain), have more or less agreed in talks with the F1-money-shark himself, Ecclestone, to let Ecclestone run the F1 show in 2013, but that also means that Mr Money-Shark gets all the proceeds, leaving nothing for the Ring and/or the owners of the Ring. Part of the reason why the Rin g is bust is that the previous private company running the Ring didn´t keep up with paying their lease fees to the state of Rheinland-Pfalz and hence were kicked out. The state is still waiting for these payments. Tax payer overjoyed of course! See, even the infallable Germans make all the same mistakes that we´re used to in our British politics. So, no idea whether the ¨Touristenfahrten¨ (open access runs for private cars) will still be available end of August. Tempest

Just appeared in the German press: A request by the Nürburgring for 13 million Euros financial aid from the EU has been rejected by Brussels. The Nürburgring needs to soon pay back interest on a 330 million Euro debt they have with the state banks. Brussels now also invstigating all the state aid that the Ring has already received (524 million Euro) because it perceives this state aid as illegal. Looks like the liquidator will have to step in, all races and events for this season are safe-guarded, but next season is a different story. Might put in an offer with the liquidator myself, £2 for the Ring, just like ING took over bearings Bank for £1 many years ago. ;) Tempest

Yup :) Just some more info: No Clubstand Pass, No Entry Have Exact money Follow Road Signs to 'Traders & Display' gate on Mereheath Lane, see back of your pass. Admission Charges to Tatton Park is £5.00 per vehicle. Entrance to the show is £7.50 for Adults. Children free Show opens at 9am. Tempest

¨Largest VW enthusiast gathering in the North of England¨ is what this annual show promises each year, and to find out a 10-car club stand has been booked for the Corrado Club B) Here´s more info: http://www.vwnw.co.uk Club stand passes have arrived and will be sent out next week to all whose names are listed on the relevant entry for this event on the Corrado Club website events calendar. Tempest

Update: There is now a Show&Shine taking place on Saturday 25 August 2012, sponsored by Footman James. Here´s more info on this Concours: http://www.festival-of-motoring.co.uk/news/arti...tion__entry_now_open I have a few entry forms for the Show & Shine Competition, so contact me if you want to enter The other event the organisers are pushing is WheelSkills, read all about it here: http://www.festival-of-motoring.co.uk/news/arti...tion__entry_now_open Again, entry forms are currently with me, so contact me if you want to enter this competition. Tempest

Oh, joining in with the trip starting Thursday 30/8, as mentioned in relevant thread on CCGB forum? :) Tempest