Lauren

The Toyota head unit, is really not that good. Fit something decent aftermarket and I think you will find it much better for just about everything. I had an Alpine INE 925R (fitted in April 2013), that has DAB, Satnav and an actual pre-out for an amp, far better sound quality etc. Okay, not cheap at £800 but when you compare to the cost of the sat nav, it really is a no brainer.

Matt, nobody will have one with a stock exhaust as it's part of the package to change it. There isn't anyone with a Cossie SC going to JAE on our list unfortunately. Your better bet would be to come to a sprint (next one is Blyton Park 26th September) and kindly ask Mike P.

Some fun was had running the AE86 in today. https://youtu.be/noByXy12Tt0

Good to see you in action, Sam. Top marks for effort, you certainly looked like you were enjoying yourself, sliding around out there! The spirit of the hachiroku is strong in you.

A big thanks to you, Jeff. Really enjoyed Curborough and loved how it became like a little drift playground in the wet. Great fun and a kind of special AE86 moment was had in spades today by me. I'll always be grateful for that! Thought everyone was really friendly and it was lovely to get all the comments about the AE86, made all the hard work so worthwhile.

Okay, we've done a fair bit of work (nothing crazy) on the AE86 today, so we're going to come in that.

Sam, Kev will have used the stock lapbelt bolt holes, with an eyebolt for the harnesses to clip into.

Kev had Contisport Contacts on his car at Snett I believe, where it was wet as you know.

Okay, well if they can get a new set of dampers for you from Toyota, that's great, hope you get it sorted.

Wow that is an excessive amount of rear camber. Did you have offset poly bushes for the rear lower wishbones? The dampers should be okay though, what kind of mileage have they done? I reckon, you've got no chance on getting them to replace the dampers as nothing they should have done would have had any effect on them. You've asked them to fit lowering springs after all. I don't see why that would shag the dampers though and blow the seals. Even if they are bottoming out (you would hit the bumpstops anyway) I don't see why it would damage the seals. Are you sure the seals are gone? Obviously dropping the car 35mm will rob you of 35mm of what is already a short stroke. Plenty of people have done it though, without issue it would seem. I can see you have a tiny amount of toe out on the rear which is not good really. Toe in is what you want really. The alignment on the front looks fine, just wonder how they've managed to balls up the rear so badly?

Thanks, Jeff, you are a star. We shall be coming on Monday, will aim for the McD's at 8am. Just have to persuade Richard now! Cheers.

The Primacys are okay. I've done a lot of mileage on them. The issue they have is that they lack progressiveness when they let go. Once sliding though they aren't too bad to balance, but it's a case of learning how to do it and tuning into the car. You can still carry a surprising amount of speed in the wet though, but it's all about balancing the car. I competed at Snet in the TSS in torrential rain, it was a huge challenge with the Primacy tyre, but I learnt a lot from it. Took some deft reactions to hang onto it though. I've now fitted Yoko Advan V105's in stock sizes on my 8" rims to see if the far better progressiveness of the Advan's helps the situation. I think it does, there is more grip also, but not too much more. I've yet to really hammer it in the wet, but I know the Advans will be more than a match for the Primacy tyres as I ran a 225 Advan last year. All said and done, I think it does no harm at all to learn the balance of the car on the Primacy tyre and learn how to utilise the grip. The GT is really good at extracting a huge amount of grip from it's tyres, you'll be amazed just how quickly you can go on the Primacy's.

Jeff I was pondering on coming down, possibly with Richard. Am I right in thinking that the spaces have already been allocated so we are too late to park up together? If it's possible, do we still need to be there early? Sorry, I made the mistake of thinking it was a pretty relaxed affair.

You are only allowed to buy Takata harnesses btw.

Definitely don't buy a seat till you've had a good sit in it. It's the only way really.

I may well come down (we'll see), possibly in the AE. Not worried about going on track, just for the social.

Firstly a harness bar, is just a harness bar. Fitting a roll cage for road use is not clever, nor is it cool. You would lose all your airbags if you did that. Also a roll cage could kill you in an accident. Jordan, fitting harnesses with stock seats will make a huge differences. A four point harness is not good because in the event of an impact you can slide forward with your legs, hence the the submarining term. A five or six point stops this completely and is far, far more secure at holding you in place. In my old AW11 SC circa2003: And when I had installed a bucket seat: Given you are going to spend 99% of your time road driving, you may well find that harnesses alone provide enough support to keep you in place during cornering. I too get a sore left knee bracing myself on clockwise circuits, but given the amount of time I actually spend on track, I just don't think it's worth investing in this. I can cope, it's okay. Make sure though if you do buy a bucket seat to get one that is absolutely perfect for you, or it will be torture on long road trips. As Jeff said, a CG lock is a cheap and inexpensive way of securing you a bit better than the stock seat belt does.

So, ever thought about a Euro Trip? This in my mind means driving a very long way and lots of different stopovers. Sure a beach holiday in the Costa Del Sol is easier to book and whilst sometimes I liken it to going on holiday without thinking which might appear to be a tad harsh, I really think that a holiday should incorporate a number of things. Part of this is to see a bit of the world. You only live once right and so it's fitting to ensure that there is plenty going on. Yes, I know there will be some that love just to read a book sat on the beach looking at their recent pedicure in the distance and contrasting it with lapping waves on the shore, but really, when you can do so much more, why wouldn't you? Well, in regard to that, I think it's mainly due to a European tour taking a fair bit of organising and working out. This is not without pain and commitment you must surely understand and it will involve long periods behind the wheel at times. But I would contest, if you like driving, why not spend your holiday doing a bit of it? For me, I love to travel, I know some will think it's boring, but really the travelling is simply part of the holiday, it doesn't all need to be long motorway slogs whether on the peage in France or the Autobahn in Germany for example. It can be so much more than that. A lot of it is the quaint places off the beaten track you see on the way and obviously the people you meet. These things don't happen when you board a plane at Manchester airport and arrive at Almeria or Malaga, having seen mostly just clouds. So where to go? Well there's this place called Europe which has a wide variety of things to look at along the way. It also has this big mountain range called the Alps which is simply spectacular and each side of it offers something different. You could be in France, Switzerland, Austria or Italy and all have their own unique flavour. So why just visit one country when you can visit seven as I have on this trip? All this helps if you're not driving a diesel Vectra of course, so a decent car capable of doing the trip helps. You could even take your friends and have a laugh along the way. But to the crux of the matter and now I'm going to explain why I love it so much, despite sitting on my hotel balcony in the middle of the Swiss Alps after an eight hour drive, not helped by an accident blocking a road but made somewhat more pleasant by being diverted up a famous Swiss Alpine pass. Firstly you start at Calais or whatever port of entry you choose. The sensible option is to subscribe to the Sanef Toll tag so there is no queuing when you hit the peage. Whilst I agree that France has some great points, getting down to the Alps is simply where it is at if you like your driving. This enables you to see if you can beat the 30km/h speed limit approaching the barriers to see if they will lift in time. Experience has confirmed they won't but it saves all the faffing around with change and Euros as you make your progress. I would recommens a stopover in France somewhere as you head south. We chose Strasbourg. Not just for the Tarte Flambee, which is fantastic by the way, but because it offered a break and then we could have a short hop into Germany and the Austrian Alps. So here we are on the Eurotunnel. We opted for this route rather than the ferry since we had our dog, Indy with us and it was better for her: IMG_4540 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Strasbourg is not round the corner so it's a long old drive down the peage. Using the peage will relieve you of £60 to get to Strasbourg, so it's not cheap, but the roads are fast and relatively empty. We encountered no traffic issues in what was a 430 mile drive. This was a case of sticking on the cruise control at a GPS verified 130km/h and letting the miles or kilometres pass by. IMG_4539 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr One note about France is, don't ever speed. It's easy to get carried away after a few hours and think that you can take advantage of empy motorways, but the French have speed cameras and they will have you. Bear in mind that up to 30km/h over the limit the fine is 90 Euro, but over that and it can be 750 Euro or worse! We drove from nine am till five at night and arrived in Strasbourg. No issues, just a long day. We were rewarded with a nice cold beer and the local speciality, Tarte Flambee: IMG_4543 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr After dinner we had a walk around. The cathedral in Strasbourg was stunning in the evening sun: DSC_2256 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Here's a tired Indy on the hotel bed: IMG_4544 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr We were predictably up early and finally felt like we were on holiday. When we booked the hotels, we opted to choose deals with breakfast included. This is a good move as you can eat a whole load for breakfast and not need a lunch as such, which is great when you've got some miles to cover. This hotel even had Epoisse cheese available for breakfast. Only in France! IMG_4548 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr It's almost uncanny that when you drive out of Strasbourg you crosss the border into Germany over a bridge, which is just bonkers as everything changes in the space of a few metres. But worth it to see of course. There happens to be around 300km of most de-restricted autobahn on the way to Austria and chasing high speeds soon becomes utterly addictive and just totally liberating. Getting over 200km/h (120mph) is where it's at and getting a new GPS verified 226km/h (141.25mph) was great fun. Doing it round what became a real bend on two lane autobahn whilst annihilating an A Class was even more satisfying I do admit. But this is what makes road trips so much fun. It's like another world being able to go as fast as you can without fear of being arrested. Those that know me will know I'm no straight line junkie, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't just love cruising at what are normally considered to be silly speeds and not to mention getting every last mile per hour or kilometre per hour out of the car. After all if your can apparently do 140mph, you'd want to test it wouldn't you? On the way through Germany we picked up the necessary vignettes for Austria €8 and the Swiss vignette €35. These are the necessary passes so you can drive on Austrian and Swiss motorways. There is apparently a hefty fine if you don't have one. I opted not to chance it. Here's the Austrian one, valid for ten days: Vignettes by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr And the Swiss vignette valid for a year: Vignettes by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr After the crazy speeds on the autobahn, we crossed the border in to Austria. What came next was something completely different. The hills turned into mountains and soon we were driving through tunnels. The scenery had changed to something decidedly more Alpine.

1. Avoid the cheap metal framed seats, they are not good. I would spend the money on a decent seat for the driver, don't worry about the passenger. But that said you want GRP or GRP/Carbon. Corbeau do some great seats. But don't buy till you've tried them all. Yes get a reclining seat for the passenger, it won't match though if you have a fixed bucket! You may have some insurance complications through losing the airbags. Obviously you'll need to check that out with your insurers. 2. 4 point harnesses are not great. You want a 5 or 6 point, it's just so much more secure and prevents submarining. 3. You can get a harness bar, royal PITA though. But, yes that would work fine. Kev uses harnesses I think with the stock seat. Pretty sure he uses the isofix points. Is it not better to suck it and see before spending ££££'s. Just a thought really.

I can't really answer that, my car is an earlier model, I had all mine installed for me, so I can't answer that, but I'll bet it doesn't. I don't think a windscreen mounted aerial will bother you, though, mine is very discreet. Once you have DAB though, you'll never use FM again.

I can't really help with most of it, but a head unit with DAB has an aerial that in my case is stuck to the front windscreen. It seems to work okay, reception depends upon where you are of course. YMMV. You will need to fit the GPS receiver somewhere too, but in my case it's stuck on the A-pillar next to the DAB aerial. I don't think you'll have any issues with that. I don't think the Android/Apple Play units are really good enough yet, though they are getting there. There are a few on here that have fitted a Chinese unit that does much the same thing.

You can do the same at Oulton Park.

Cheers all. Yes, it may be possible, Tom. That would be very cool! I too agree the Stelvio is over-rated. It is the highest Alpine pass though. I never much enjoyed the 'staircase' of the Stelvio as it's just so tight. We drove it twice two years ago and the first time was like national Stelvio day and was horrible. Then the second time it was deserted and much better. The Grimsel and Susten are my favourite, though the Fluella pass is also very good. I drove these roads extensively two years ago. The Italian passes in the Dolomites, on the lower sections, have some amazing roads, fast flowing, where you can really get the car moving along. We enjoyed them all though and doing the classic Austrian passes was a real treat too.

We may consider another Alpine trip next year. Who's up for it?

Hitting the road on Saturday, to leave Switzerland and drive a bit of Germany and then back to Strasbourg again. We booked the same hotel as we did on the way down as it suited us well. I thought the satnav would take us from Switzerland and into France, but it didn't we crossed into the German border and the delight of yet more de-restricted autobahn. It wasn't quite as good as the run from Strasbourg to Innsbruck, but nonetheless I had a go! IMG_4618 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr I did actually achieve faster on the aforementioned run, but a genuine GPS verified 138.25 mph is none too shabby! We got to Strasbourg in good time and crossed the border again into France over a bridge, which is always very odd, crossing from one country to another over a bridge is just odd. But very cool nonetheless. It was a mere 32C here, but the humidity made up for it! Lunch and a beer beckoned: IMG_4619 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Indy was really struggling at this point and conked out at hotel reception when we awaited to check in: IMG_4620 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr We had more tarte flambee which was fantastic with some very strong Munster cheese. We also looked a bit of the history of Strasbourg as we wondered how it's proximity to the German border affected it in WWII. Well, it turned out that when war was declared the whole city was evacuated for ten months, then only those with Alsatian heritage could return. The men were subscribed to the German army under duress and their wives and family were used as a threat. It's a poignant story because when they returned home after the war they were treated as traitors, but little did the locals realise of their impossible situation. Sunday and last day of the holiday and so we had a long distance to cover to Brugges in Belgium. This actually added another country to the mix as we passed through Luxembourg. This also meant tackling the tricky Brussels ring road. Think of it as a bit like the M25. Tons of junctions, traffic all over the place and easy to make a mistake is how I always remember it. Whilst the run the previous day involved high speed runs, there was no speeding outside of Germany, best just to hit the cruise control where you can and sit there and go as fast as you legally can. IMG_4623 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr I opted for a real bit of luxury for our last night away. This hotel is the hotel Die Swaine right in the historic heart of Brugges. We needed it and it was easily the best hotel we have stayed in for a long time! IMG_4624 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Indy found her spot alright! IMG_4625 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr We were soon holed up in our favourite bar in our known universe, Cambrinus (King of Beer). 300 odd beers are for the taking, so we started with a La Trappe Tripel. Cheers. IMG_4629 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr The food is excellent here and I opted for the 'Brouwers Menu' which meant a three course meal with beer added to everything. Finishing with creme brûlée of course. IMG_4630 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr We had a bit of a walk around, then drunk more beer: IMG_4631 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Poor Indy, she was quite tired by this point! IMG_4632 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr That didn't stop her making me chase her round the market square in Brugges, much to everyone else's amusement! Back on the Chunnel the following day and home to Blighty: IMG_4633 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr In all we covered 2631miles with an average of 38mpg which I think is good going. The car was faultless as always and though as we set off for the trip, I realised the Milltek exhaust had cracked for the fourth time and I had a knocking from the driveshaft, all survived despite all the Alpine passes in three different countries and seven countries in all. All was good and rectified by RRG Macclesfield under warranty upon my return. The car got it's 70,000 mile service and a new set of tyres too!