Captain Duff

Fifth Gear vs Top Gear? No contest in my mind, I mean who would you rather see on the screen, the ever lovely VBH or one of 'The Blokes'? VBH every time in my house!

Ok, here's the thing. I swapped over to my winter tyres last November. Since then I think I have thought that they were useful for one, maybe two days. There has been no snow and no ice anywhere I have driven (mainly around Lancashire), and temperatures rarely below 6 or 7 degrees. I think my winters are very nice tyres mind you (Yoko w-drives), but my question is this. Should I stop expecting a 'turn' in the weather when it comes to cold/snow/ice and change back to my summers this weekend, or should I give it a another week or two?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-independent-bath-literature-festival-top-gear-makes-saudis-look-liberal-kirsty-wark-tells-book-festival-9179082.html Overstated for ticket selling effect for the event she was at I am guessing - although perhaps next time the TG 'blokes' go on one of their foreign road trips they could try Saudi and attempt a reverse booze cruise. As a TG hater I'd love to see who would win that one!

Finally got the time to swap back to my summers this afternoon - just out of interest, and given the car has been up and down using the trolley jack a few times now, has anyone else noticed that the front centre jack point looks a bit more dented each time? I'm pretty sure I'm using the correct point so far as the picture in the manual shows it (photo's would have been so much better than diagrams!)...

can you take your own sponge

Had a chat with my local scooby specialist garage today and he mentioned that they are expecting details next month of a cosworth remap. I've had a look around t'internet and found this: http://semashow.com/press/2013/11/05/cosworth-powers-ahead-with-brz-and-fr-s-multi-stage-power-package-launches-stage-1- Odd that there seem to be more details in the US than UK given where their HQ is (and there is nothing I can find on their own website either). Another article implied that the remap was actually by Ecutek rather than being in-house for cosworth. I'm already using (and liking) their panel filter (and nice to see they think the stock intake is the best), but does anyone know more about the remap and exhaust?

For those of you that have fitted reversing cameras or were at the fitting session at RRG last year, I could do with a bit of advice. My camera failed a couple of weeks after it was fitted at the RRG session (the 'waterproof' camera somehow got water in it and has been constantly foggy since). The initial promised replacement never materialised, so now I need to buy another one myself that will just swap out with the existing wiring that was fitted (and hole that was put in the boot lid). Trouble is I don't know what camera's are available, which ones are best (I assume there may be a number of options) and the best places to order them from. Anyone who is a bit more technical on the electrical front or who fitted their own able to offer any advice?!

Quite a few around now, although not all are particularly cheap when factoring in postage and import duties from Japan and US. So of the ones available in the UK (Cusco, Summit etc.) does anyone have any recommendations in terms of combining doing the job and value for money?

Still not made up my mind, but this Grimmspeed bar has made a late entry into my shortlist, and is very near the top of it: http://www.grimmspeed.com/strut-tower-brace-brz-fr-s/ It's available from other US retailers (or US ebay) for $139 plus $59 USPS international postage to the UK, so around £120 all in if it escapes a customs check and the extra VAT/duty. Good value in other words, and I like that they have some actual stability graphs for it, that it is a rigid single piece made out of steel and with no bolted joints, and that it comes in red. Call me old fashioned, but I also like the fact that it is made in the US rather than China. Seems to have got a decent reception on the US forums too. In the way it fits it doesn't look too different to the TRD one, but is very much cheaper. Any views, particularly as regards how being a flat design it is much lower when compared to most of the others?

Tried to vote but then found out you need to have feckbook - never have, never will, sorry

That bear needs more than a lap belt Faith, I'm surprised it wasn't puking out stuffing after seeing how it got thrown around in the vid

Can't say I've ever liked it, plus even 'new' episodes always feel like years old repeats on Dave - oh look, a daft trip to somewhere in 3 different types of transport to see who 'wins', oh, there's some banger getting trashed, wow, a bunch of gurning muppets stood in the background laughing out load at everything Clarkson says, oh no, another tired joke about caravans...

Cheers for the ebay link Mark, I ordered 2 of them (in order to have a spare given the low cost) which arrived last week. I'll try and find time this weekend to swap one of them over with the existing faulty one.

Have noticed that Lidl have some cheap car related offers on this week (until the 22nd), inc a fire extinguisher for £8.99 and a very decent looking 'intelligent' battery charger with an LCD display and a diagnostics programme for a bargain £13.99 for anyone who hasn't already got one

Yes, definitely on the inside, you can see the droplets on the inside of it from the outside. The fact that it worked fine for around 2 weeks means I know what it should look like on the screen (all I get now is greyish fog with just a little picture detail of surroundings, even with the outside lens carefully cleaned). And yes, there is a long list of mails on 'the other site' since last October. I don't want to expand further (dirty washing and all that), but I'll never be part of another group buy that isn't from a proper retailer as lessons learned etc. Tbh I'm at the stage where I just want a new one, but I am technically pretty dense hence the plea for some recommendations - I don't mind paying a bit extra for a better quality one so long as I can be sure it'll just plug and play into the existing wiring loop and fit into the existing drilled hole etc.

...does anyone else use driving gloves? Got myself some of these beauties (in tan) for xmas - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MENS-DRIVING-GLOVES-CLASSIC-SLIM-FIT-GENUINE-LEATHER-CHAUFFEUR-FASHION-MOTORBIKE-/121188814780?pt=UK_Gloves&var=&hash=item1c376a8fbc - never had any before, and I have to say they are one of the best performance upgrades I have made for so little money with loads better grip, feel and confidence (I've never felt the GT86 leather steering wheel was soft or 'sticky' enough for my liking). So while I realise that the image isn't great (although Partridge favoured a string-back version for 'extra purchase' when driving his Vitesse fastback), I don't care

Oh, and these also make interesting viewing

Personally I wouldn't touch an oiled filter (i.e., K&N) given the potential MAF problems they can cause. I had a Pipercross (dry version) in my old Octy vRS (it was basically what VW Racing sold in a re-badged form and used themselves so it had some pedigree), but was never particularly confident about the level of filtration. I've got a Cosworth currently. Well made (rubber seal, tight fit), looks like it will filter well, no oil so safe and a decent price. Does it give better performance to a OEM paper? Tbh I have my doubts, but for the sake of £35 I wasn't going to make them big ones - although as it is a yearly/service throw away and new filter (unlike the 'lifetime' ones from the others) I may not bother again, but we'll see...

I remember being in a small German town and in a small backstreet bar (which are always the best wherever you are in the world) and it being rammed with friendly locals avidly watching one of his F1 races in the early 90s. Quite a lovely experience and I never did quite understand the UK tabloid media hostility to the man as he always seemed perfectly ok to me (and of course a fantastic driver). Really hope he's ok...

Teg - the carbon fibre stuff is great if you crack the top colour coded part, however you cannot get a complete mirror housing in carbon fibre and so if you crack the bottom or side main plastic housing, and assuming there are no breaker parts available (and the car is too new for there to be unless you are very lucky at someone else's expense) then it is a repair job or a big cheque for Toyota. Why they can't sell the plastic parts separately is beyond me, particularly as a few of us have now had similar problems with the plastic housings...

Actually the list is around £550-odd with VAT, a nice friendly dealer (*cough* RRG Macc) could get it down to nearer £500 and not charge fitting but it is still a massive price as the central problem is you can't get the housing separately, you have to get the whole mirror unit even when you have just damaged the plastic. Absolute madness, and made worse by the almost complete lack of breaker parts....

I smashed my mirror housing into 5 pieces going into a gate post in the dark. The glass and mechanism was fine but unfortunately Toyota in their wisdom only sell complete units (over £500 which is eye vwatering). Thankfully my favourite local indy body shop bloke managed to glue everything back together and re-spray it perfectly for a fraction of the price and now even I struggle to spot that it was ever broken in the first place!

Cheers Mike, IE is a real pain, I'm currently using Opera for this site and it's loads better...

Is it just me - just recently I've noticed I can't cut and paste an email link on a post, or anything else for that matter (text from a word doc for example), but have to manually type everything. For the email link I've tried the link icon but the box just seems to freeze and not apply the web link I've put in. Incidentally, this is a works laptop so there are all sorts of weird and wonderful firewall/network things on it so it could be related to that, but I'm sure I didn't used to have this problem, and indeed don't for other sites. Any ideas?

I love the carbon Cusco version, and that is a very good price direct from Japan with the brake stopper...