Rich

I took my stock midpipe and backbox to the skip. Don't want to use space storing them and doubt they'll ever be worth much money.

Not sure that's as much as a 60mm drop - 60mm on these is very low; they only have 130 mm clearance stock. The coilovers you have are quoted as: "Lowers Front 20-50mm Lowers Rear 25-55mm" So assuming you're at lowest settings now, you can lift it 30 mm. Should be enough to clear most stuff. Swapping the HKS front pipe for the original catted front pipe is probably good place to to start on noise reduction too. Next step would be looking at getting a resonator welded into the mid-pipe.

Some tracks are allowed a certain number of unlimited noise days per year. For instance Donington gets 20 unlimited race days where they can run anything they like regardless of noise.

F1s are a great road tyre, and quiet. But they're soft as well so they'll wear quickly and melt on track. I'd have them if my car was just for road use.

I use mine as a daily driver, I like it. Just be aware that it's only good for two people on a daily basis. An A5 is not sporty in the least compared to a GT86.

The only power mod I noticed was the remap - the 20-30-odd lb-ft in the torque dip was definitely noticeable. Filter, catback and manifold on their own I couldn't really tell.

Mine's fairly stiff - I have my chair braced against the wall behind and the pedals braced against the wall in front (using various bits of wood). It might be worth you looking at the nixim mod - you get a progressive spring for brake (and clutch) so even without the rubber buffer it's better than standard.

The rubber block in and of itself works well I find - it gives a firm point in the brakes where you're simulating compressing the lines. The problem with Logitech's implementation is it's just too firm.

The plastic caps are in the cylinder that holds the spring - if you look in there you'll see white plastic caps, they can be removed which gives a bit more travel before the rubber block. Picture here:

I have the nixim rubber block, but without the plastic endcaps. It's much better. I reckon just removing the plastic caps with the standard block and spring would be almost as good though.

Yes, but it wasn't the wall that stopped it. Clean through.

Tried that (ok it was a dry stone wall). It didn't work.

Is that £10 per additional adjustment?

I use it to hold a packet of mints. Not much use for anything else.

Am free that weekend, so I'll try to make it.

My phone sort of fits in it, but the volume buttons hit the side of the slot so the volume goes up and down like crazy.

Got myself a new wheel today, Logitech G29. Also did the Nixim brake and clutch spring mods on it. Really liking it, but my lack of a solid frame is showing as hitting the brake full force makes the pedals / chair slide around. Think I will have to rig up some sort of rough mountings from bits of wood...

Unless I'm off the mark (or yours was heavily modded), the vRS is a fair bit slower (178 bhp and 0-60 in 7.3s vs 296 bhp and 0-60 in 4.8s). That said I rarely miss the power; most of the time I prefer the much better chassis of the GT86 and it has sufficient power to overtake pretty much everywhere the S3 did. The only thing I can't do is keep up with C63s off the lights (the launch on that thing was insane).

Too many claims. Seems like I might as well skip CKI for at least another 3-4 years.

Question. Do you quote for people with claims? Feels like I waste a lot of time calling insurers who just won't insure me.

Phoned today. No quote. People don't want to insure me.

Mine: Audi A3 1.6 - first car, solid enough, but not good on fuel for the performance. Audi A3 2.0T - much faster (200 bhp and quattro), even thirstier, but at least it went well. Actually pretty cheap to run as it only lost about 1k a year in depreciation. Audi S3 - bonkers fast (300 bhp and quattro), lovely DSG gearbox, a bit boring dynamically. Put it through a wall. D: Toyota GT86 - best car by far, much more fun than the rest (despite being much slower than the S3). Bought with the gap insurance payout from the last car.

Checked fuel consumption? If it's overfuelling you'd end up with excess steam from the catalytic converter.

Nothing has happened to it, but it's still got the 1320 whistle. I'm thinking I'll try to get new flex pipes welded in. Also, I'm thinking oil cooler.

Not much planned, might try to get my manifold rewelded before Japfest though...