Lauren

Beer should always be in the correct glass. They seem to be able to do it quite well in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Italy I find. Why is it so hard here?

Maybe it's just understanding how it works. I wonder. It will blast out cold if you have it at say 20C and you get in the car and it's hot. Just leave it on Auto. When it gets the cabin to the temperature then the fan speed will reduce. Using Auto is the key.

That's interesting, because with climate control you have it at a temperature and you don't have to touch it. For example I have mine at 19C. I don't alter it, or change it around, I just get in and it will maintain that temperature. Much less fiddling than having to constantly adjust fan speeds and temperature. I think with climate control you need to get used to just leaving it at a set temperature and letting it do the rest.

Tyres don't get that worn on a sprint. You do far less miles than a trackday. I compete on Primacy tyres (slightly stretched on wider rims), they last forever no matter how much abuse you give them I find.

The carbon effect surround is a MY2015 thing. They all have it. Sounds like you're enjoying the car Mr Biscuit. Get those 1000 miles done!

For the TSS I would say budget £250 for the weekend. This includes the Premier Inn where all the social stuff happens. Plenty of beer and a meal together in the evening. Fuel costs on the track are fairly minimal. You won't use much more than a quarter of a tank. Entry for TSS is £139 or so, Premier Inn varies, but got Croft at £54 for August, then it's just fuel costs for getting there and obviously food and beer. It's a great weekend away and we have a right good social with lots of banter included.

Looks good, but I'll bet you'll want to lower it a little now. Always seems to be the way. Nice wheels.

My local dealer (RRG Macclesfield) has fitted all my aftermarket parts. In fact I bought the car with a Milltek exhaust and induction kit as my dealer offered it as an option! Since then a number of other parts have gone on including suspension etc. The only thing I've really had an issue with is the Milltek cracking which my dealer sorted for me, no problem. To give you an idea of this forward thinking, the next demo car at RRG is going to have a remap! I've also had a coilpack and a heated seat switch replaced under warranty in the last 64K miles.

They say that because people are inherently stupid. I've done 64K in my car, it uses no oil and makes good power. Whilst I did limit the rpm to a point, I made sure that even when it only had a few miles on it, that I gave it full throttle in second and lifted off to seal the rings properly. I'd typically go up to 4500rpm or so then lift off and let it slow down under engine braking. I also varied the revs a lot and built up the rpms until 1000miles. You need to load the engine, but never, ever labour it.

It may be worth noting, that a number of us have modified our cars and kept our warranty. The cars are reliable anyway, not a lot seems go wrong. Enjoy.

They are standard on the low spec 86's such as the GT Limited in Japan as our hire car had these.

But bike engines don't have the same emission requirements and don't even run a cat.

The detail of changing the diff oil is pretty clear in the service manual. It is a requirement every 20K miles. Changing gearbox oil is not.

Cool. I have the Injen induction kit and have tried the stock airbox on (for various reasons). It's just a lot quieter, but you get the horrible noise generator sound, which is just awful.

Sorry Joe, I'm sure Alec referred to you as Rob, but probably my mistake. I blame your username.

I would say that lowering springs are just for show, but that you can seriously sharpen the handling of your car (and improve the ride too) with decent coilovers. Not a cheap option though.

Yes, that's it, Rob, Out to Bosely via Macc, up the A54 and down the Cat back to Macc. An old training route of mine when I was racing and living in Macc. I've still never managed four up as there's no legroom behind my seat despite me being a mere 5ft 5". Of course I refuse to compromise my driving position. Prefer how it drives just with me in the car. Now you've just got to get those first 1000 miles done. Enjoy.

You don't need a remap. Actually removing the 2nd cat does give a 5% gain of about 10bhp or so and I found 17lb/ft when on the rollers, though I do have a system as well. It will make it noisier but if the rest of the exhaust is stock I'd expect it to be very quiet still.

Congrats, enjoy! Straight a few laps of the 'Lauren Triangle' is in order I think.

I think it's simply different folks, different strokes and all that. I do too many miles not to have all the comforts and ticked nearly £5K's worth of options then got a sound install which added a whole lot more plus active suspension as well. But it's your car, have it how you want it. The Primo will be lighter, but only very slightly. Re-sale time may be a killer though unless you plan on keeping it a long time?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33158464 Signed a three year contract. Whilst I have my reservations about Chris Evans (though he slightly redeemed himself with the TFI anniversary last weekend), I sincerely hope he moves it forward as the current format was getting very tired. I look forward to see who the co-presenters are.

The chances are incredibly small, but if you don't enter you can't win, so I might just do that.

They are asking for a 30 second vid of you talking about your car experience and what you can bring to the show. Simple and straightforward.

I'm seriously considering having a go, nothing to lose.

So here is the MY2015 GT86 Aero which is RRG Macclesfield's demonstrator. This car features the 'Aero' kit comprising of front splitter, side skirts, rear valence and of course that huge rear wing! The Aero also comes with 18x7" OZ Utraleggera wheels shod with Yokohama Advan V105 225/40/18 tyres. Ultraleggera is Italian for ultralight. I must say it sets the car off well. In addition, Richard has added a Blitz Advance Induction kit along with the Blitz Suction Kit. An AVO Turbo World 2.5" exhaust with a straight through pipe replacing the secondary catalyzer completes the effects in the sound department. For a bit of extra looks Richard has added a diffuser too. Here is the Blitz Advance Induction Kit: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr AVO Turbo World Exhaust tips: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Diffuser: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr For the road test we took in some of our local favourites roads, namely the infamous A537 Cat and Fiddle road which runs from Macclesfield to Buxton and also some of the A54 which runs down towards Bosley. Both are excellent roads with good elevation and a number of yumps and bumps and well cambered bends. This is most definitely a driver's dream were it not for the average speed cameras. I remember the days well before these and it's still a spot full of suicidal bikers, so you need to keep your wits about you. We headed up the Cat and Fiddle and though it was dry it was just covered in salt which made it very slippery indeed. Not ideal conditions you might think, but on the other hand it allowed to play with the malleable chassis at much lower speeds and so kept it all reasonably sensible. My fiancee following in my car was not happy on winter tyres and didn't look like he was having half as much fun as I was! I also noted a lower 40 profile compared to when I ran these tyres on my car in 225/45/17 took out the sidewall flex that I didn't like so much with mine. For the MY 2015 car, there is one very important change and that is the use of Sachs dampers. Now, I'd love to compare my thoughts to the old standard suspension, but my car no longer has it, so really all I can do is compare the new car's suspension characteristics to my car which has Tein Streetflex coilovers with EDFC Active Pro. What immediately struck me is that the ride of the Aero GT86 is a bit more comfortable than mine, especially so over sunken manhole covers and the like. I think the lower spring rate compared to my car also helps here. The good news is that this car is just great out of the box. You could easily jump in this car, drive an hour and a half to Donington, hoon about all day on track then cruise back on the way home. Of course all GT86's can do this, but driving this car reminded just how well sorted the standard GT86 is in that respect. I drove the car in 'VSC Sport' mode as after all I wasn't going to be a hooligan on the Queen's highway and well, it's not my car of course. However Sport mode does allow a little slip and really it was child's play to just push the rear wide on the exit of corners. I did notice some understeer whilst carrying speed into a number of corners, but I could ebb that away by slightly lifting the throttle and once the car was turning in, I could then get on the throttle and be a little naughty on the exit. This holds true for the experience I had in my car when it had standard suspension, but I've dialled out the understeer with more aggressive geommetry settings, so my car is that bit sharper. But this is to be expected after all. What I really liked was how good the damping was. It coped well with crests, didn't bottom out and never seemed to crash over bigger bumps. This is a well controlled chassis and it's ripe for exploitation, which I admit, I did and with a lot of enjoyment too. This car has a great balance and I have to be honest, I'd be comfortable just turning all the stability aids off and having a right little play in the low grip conditions, but I did manage to behave myself and keep them on, just! There is good feel from the steering, the driving position couldn't be better really and all the main controls have a nice weight to them. I particularly liked the Blitz induction kit as it just sounds amazing from 5500-7400rpm. So much so in fact that I just wanted to keep revving it out to the redline! It just seems to roar at the top end of the rev range. Brilliant! Also the AVO Turbo World exhaust really does sound the part. It's not quite as deep as my Milltek, but nor is it raspy at all. So it never annoys, but plays a nice tune I think. Richard has come up with a good combination with the exhaust and induction kit. I really think these two items are essential as it just goes with the looks and also there's that feeling of being a bit more involved in the whole driving process when you can hear a bit more about what is going on! So exhausts and induction kits are very important! For the sake of comparison I'll talk a little about how my car feels in comparison. Really it's sharper on turn in and when loaded up the dampers stiffen with g-force so you feel the car hunker down as cornering speeds build up. My car has less understeer and tends to oversteer more easily, which is how I like it, but perhaps not my fiancee so much! I do feel though the standard car is doubtless improved by the Sachs dampers giving it a more controlled ride and less of the bobbing around at lower speeds that my car used to do on the older OEM non Sachs suspension. But a less pointy setup in OEM guise is probably what most would prefer and it's easy to feel what the car is doing and adjust throttle and steering inputs to suit your chosen line. Up on the 'Cat': Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr OZ Ultra light wheels: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Richard, Mark and Indy, the other part of the road test crew! Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr That huge spoiler: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr On the A54: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Interior shot of the new carbon look dash panel which does look better than the previous more plastic looking fascia (It's still plastic of course): Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr The Tyre Pressure Monitoring system, which is mandatory but not loved by many as apparently it's a pain if you swop your wheels! Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Optional leather interior with heated seats: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr No changes for the instrument panel: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Nice embroidered 86 logo which comes with the leather seat option: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr It's got rear seats, though you might not use them that often! Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr There is a video we shot that I will add shortly which will add a bit more visual detail.