Lauren

After a good night's sleep, breakfast in Valbella, Lenzerheide: Breakfast in Valbella (Lenzerheide). by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr And so onwards on a push to get to Italy and the famous Stelvio Pass. We actually made a navigational error and drove the Stelvio the wrong way which added hours to our journey. Finally, crossing the border into Italy: Border crossing into Italy. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr The beginning of the ascent of the Stelvio Pass. It was very, very busy which meant very slow going. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Still, though it was a bit of a chore to drive it on this occasion, it's still got some spectacular views. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr The view up for all the hairpins to come. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Yes, that is one of the many hairpins built out of the mountainside. Looking up to an exposed hairpin on the Stelvio Pass. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr It was a very long drive down the other side and back on ourselves to Lake Garda. Finally we arrived many hours later. Indy was keen to cool down a bit I think! Indy meets Lake Garda! by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Mark enjoys a much needed litre of beer in the piazza on Sirmione. 1 litre of beer seemed like heaven after our nine hour drive! by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr After a few refreshing beers we watched the sun go down over Lake Garda. Sunset from the pier on Sirmione. What a beautiful place. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr On the way back we had a much better drive up the Stelvio Pass. The hairpins are so tight it's first gear approaching every one and you almost have to give it some throttle to lock the diff and get the back round as it's really difficult to get a tight enough turn. Still, this time it was much quieter and we were rewarded with some spectacular views at the top at 2760m. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr This time we had Alex and Sarah in convoy, so two GT86's on the way back. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr The Alps really are stunning and almost everywhere you look there's a beautiful view. Here Indy stretches her legs. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr View across a lake at an impromptu stop in Italy, near the Swiss border. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr We then got to drive through the Munt La Schera tunnel which is a very narrow tunnel that was built as an access road for a dam to be built. It is now a one way tunnel that alternates direction every fifteen minutes. Here's a video of our drive through it. http://youtu.be/yq5_Ugyolw4 Obviously its a place to appreciate your exhaust! Also a lovely way to cross the Italian/Swiss border. And so out the other side and a few more passes completed, but this was to be a very long drive for one day. You know when your in Switzerland when your sat nav looks like this! You know you're in Switzerland if your sat nav looks like this! by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr We took the main route back as we drove all the way from Lake Garda to Colmar in France in one day. Overall it is an amazing trip and I was fortunate enough to drive the best roads I've ever driven. The Alpine passes are simply spectacular and a must for any keen driver. Interestingly of the other nationalities we saw driving the passes, most were British!

The next day having recovered somewhat we grabbed a nice breakfast at the hotel, then hit the road to meet Chris our Swiss guide and fellow GT86 owner for what was to be the drive of a lifetime! Chris as you can see doesn't mess about, his car was fitted with a full bodykit and also some very wide tyres of the 245 variety in a bid to ensure he didn't fall off the mountain roads. Christian's car. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr And so on to our first pass, the Klausen. This pass seems to be one of the lesser driven and I've heard it is used for events at times. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr As you near the top, the views simply become more and more spectacular. Here's Mark taking some nice pictures. Mark looking out toward the valley on the Klausenpass. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr A pic of my car atop the Klausenpass. My car on the Klausenpass. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr If you think the roads look good, they are. What is incredible is that as you round a corner you are hit with yet more spectacular views and the sounds of the car exhaust echoing off the mountainside is just pure nirvana. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Chris being a local has driven these roads many times and it was soon that we were on to the Susten and Grimselpass which really must rate as the best roads I've ever driven in my life. Chris's local knowledge was invaluable and he could peddle a fair old pace too. This was heaven for me, though Mark suffered vertigo for the first time in his life. Two GT86's together atop the Sustenpass. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Beautiful scenery atop the Sustenpass. Looking back on top of the Sustenpass. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr The road I was about to drive. To say I was excited doesn't even come close! Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr On the final pass of the day and the highest, the Furka pass at 2200 metres. A look down from the top. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Spectacular views again over the Alps in the background. Another pic atop the Furkapass. by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr One thing that you do notice when you get over 1500 metres or so is how the car is affected by the altitude. It's almost like you can feel the engine struggling and overtaking slower cars on steep inclines becomes far more of a challenge than you might expect. That said, the slower cars are just as affected to, but at times it feels almost painfully slow when you are trying to overtake. We had a brilliant day out with Chris and after a final coffee stop we headed off for Lenzerheide. This place is a ski resort in season as it's in the middle of the Alps. It took us till 9.30pm to get there and we did some driving in the dark which is odd in the Alps as the road shrinks around you and the scenery disappears. You have no idea if you're rounding a hairpin with 2000m drop on the side, which to be fair is maybe just as well. We got there late, nothing was open, in the end we raided the kitchen for cheese and cold meats to satiate our appetite. I was exhausted after all that driving.

Looks good, did you get a chance to fit it today?

MMC, so just steel then? But on the upside they'll likely last longer and who cares really for aluminium wheel nuts? Expensive! I guess you'll need to add VAT and shipping to that.

They look alright. Aluminium or steel? What is the cost just out of interest. If it's any help my steel Rays nuts were about £50 plus all the other costs, which made it about £80 in the end.

Got to be honest, Keith, I don't really get detailing. I can never tell the difference. Though it makes sense to get someone else to do it! Was you going to get wrap put on? Noticed you mentioned it on FB.

Probably half a day I reckon. Still got to sort the blowing exhaust out too.

The police got the guy who received the kicking. He was a bit bloodied, but still standing, so probably nothing severe beyond some bruising. Ambulance was called, but minor injuries. As to the other lot and there were more than 8, as another car turned up at one point. Sort of like this guy had seriously upset the locals for whatever reason. Haven't heard from the police yet either, so no idea what happened. Perhaps I'll find out if they call me.

Following being awoken at 2am by some arsehole getting the crap kicked out of him in my driveway/front garden, I noticed this morning that one of the tyres on my GT has been slashed: My next door neighbour suffered two slashed tyres and the roof of her car trampled in as one of the hoodlums ran over the top of it before launching a golf club into a fellow neighbour's back garden. Apparently a few other cars were done over last night two and somebody else suffered a smashed windscreen. I had to 999 it, it was quite terrifying. We're wondering now if the guy who was getting a kicking was getting it over slashing tyres. Who knows eh? But FFS basically. Fortunately I had a couple of spares wheels with tyres on in my shed, so swopped a stock one over. Then got onto RRG Macc' who very helpfully swopped me the tyre over to my TE37. I also got to have a go in the 'Dark Destroyer': It's coming along nicely to be fair, good work there. All fixed now, thank you Richard and all the guys at RRG. Have reported it to the police, await contact.

Erm, on the night I got my car, I read the manual from cover to cover. Doesn't everybody do that?

Thank you. It was a nightmare tbh, it was gone 2am I'd just fallen asleep, I'd drunk loads of gin, trying to deal with it all in that state was not much fun at all as I barely felt with it. It was terrifying to see it all kicking off around our cars, they were right up to our front door and I was watching it from my bedroom window whilst calling 999. Half the neighbours came out. That guy got some beating too, pretty bad to watch, there were around eight on him.

LOL, as if i'd do that! Bearing has gone. Coolant coming out the little hole means game over.

Blimey, top marks to the camera man there. So does this mean I will save a pound or two?

Balls, had a thought, changing the water pump is a bit of a PITA. All the belts, crank pulley, timing covers and cam belt need to come off to get at the pump. could take a punt on changing the front, but that can be just as much trouble trying to clean the mating surface of old gasket. Fun job eh? Put it all back together only to take it apart again!

Exhaust manifold wrap finished finally. Mark had an idea to fit all studs to the head for the exhaust manifold rather than two studs and three bolts: Trouble was we couldn't get the manifold on. So in the end we reverted back to stock. All new Toyota bolts of course. Managed to get a downpipe to cat gasket for free from Kwik Fit. Still leaks though. So will need a thicker gasket. I went to put on the undertray which meant the car was close to being lowered onto it's wheels once more for a celabratory drive around the yard, only to find a drip of coolant. Yep, water pump gone. FFS. That won't be cheap and whilst not quite the hardest job in the world to change is a bit of a PITA. So, not much in the way of progress today.

Nice work!

It's a real shame, particularly so after this car did a bit of a PR campaign in all the mags. I guess they must just be too busy to prioritise selling and fitting kits over the other more lucrative stuff.

May be up for this.

Plenty of stuff going on. Come to BHP in May if you're not already down for it. Also there's the sprint at Blyton Park in a little over a week. We always have a social on the Saturday night at the Premier Inn in Scunthorpe.

You can always get a noisier exhaust. Ian's is particularly quiet. My opinion was based on how it drove rather than what it sounded like. I just think a Stage 1 turbo is very smooth with Adrian's mapping and that it gives a good increase. The Sprintex seems to give more mid-range than top end, but if you like lots of mid-ranage torque as a lot of people do, then it's not at all bad for the money. The Rotrex impressed me the least, I just felt totally underwhelmed by it. Before I'd driven it, I was thinking the Rotrex might be the best solution but I'm now not convinced after driving Maz's HKS setup.

Sorry, I think they all look terrible in those positions. I did put a small Fensport sticker on the bottom of my rear window. I just don't think it works in any of the positions you have tried. What on earth is an 'autobot'?

No, Rotrex is a centrifugal supercharger, think of it like a belt driven turbo. Twin screw Sprintex is a positive displacement supercharger that effectively pumps the air into the intake. They are a completely different design and work very differently in practice. The centrifugal is more about the top end, whilst the Twin screw will give a better mid range spread of torque and power if losing slightly at the top end.

I've driven all the variations, including the HKS vortech setup. Tbh, whilst the Vortech does give an increase in power it's almost like a non-event. There's no noise, no surge of power, the power is simply increased. I admit I was completely underwhelmed by it and this was what I thought the top system on my list of ones to try. I have tried the twin screw and that gives more of a wallop in torque, so it's better. But, the best of all the cars I've tried is the Stage 1 AVO turbo, not much in the way of lag, incredibly smooth and what I thought was a better power curve than either the Sprintex SC or the HKS Rotrex. Easier potential to up power should you so wish in the future too.

May- July I would say for Donny. Could do with a month to recover from costs this month! I've also just changed my G-force settings to the more aggressive map on the G2* and G*2. Will see what it's like in the morning! Having tweaked my speed settings in Arrange mode, I'm quite happy with them now.

I've never seen a GT/BRZ with driving lamps on it. The standard headlamps are pretty good. Where are you going to mount them? I'm guessing somewhere in front of the grill?