Greetings

That's the one!

You know what, it could be. I'll d.... it and see.

Hah, the car was pretty for a short while Also need to replace the windscreen and fix the bonnet. Thankfully no time was lost, the impact shattered the bumper and it flew off very quickly. Going to see if I can fix it, need lots of zipties and fibreglass. Could be quite a challenge.

Competition tomorrow. Very hot weather so all the turbocharged cars will be properly down on power making life just a little bit easier for us. Only downside is I need to get up at 5 am but at least I'll be driven there

There's an Evo 2 up for grabs somewhere in Hungary I think. It was on ebay a while ago.

D2's are still in one piece, the rear springs died, the front ones were KW so those are still ok. The problem is that each shock absorber had to have it's damping set up separately. One might have been on maximum, the other on click 5 of 16 and that would correspond to similar damping on both of them. So just really difficult to get right. They're not that bad to be honest, they took a lot of absue in the past 2 years and during my last comp, they were still going strong and made the car handle really well. But they're just not good enough for this level of driving.

Nice to see you riding (again?) Andrew. Really like your style. Not sure about the pink frame but hey, each of their own

It arrived. Finally. And they got the rear shocks wrong, because I wanted coilovers front and rear. Forced the dealer to replace them in a few weeks time FOC despite them going on the car straight away. Either way I'm pretty happy, it definitely feels like a 2 grand kit. Going to test their performance on Saturday. Edit: front and rear on the car. First impressions were negative since this set has absolutely no give in it whatsoever. It's as firm as concrete. However, after testing it on a very bumpy road I was amazed. The car was stuck to the ground both at 60 and 120mph and we're talking about a really bad road here. On an extremely bad bit I could feel the car getting more air than I'd expect so still need to play with the damping. Getting the rear damping right might be a bit challenging but it's so much better than the modified D2 kit I've been using. Whatever the setting, it's still an absolute winner and money brilliantly spent. I so hope this is all I need to beat that smug Megane RS driver. Not sure about that but I'll soon find out. Incidentally, the two next to each other

Been faking most of my feelings towards the missus for the past 2-3 weeks now. It's never been this bad and has never lasted for so long. There are many things in my life now that are giving me a strong sense of accomplishment and are absorbing most of my time, thoughts and emotions. Perhaps there's none left for women? It's not just her, I'd probably pass the opportunity of banging a hot casual acquaintance. At the end of the day I'm still f**king happy with my life and I cannot imagine it without her in the long run. It's just that in the short run, she's not in it. I wish she'd impress me somehow. There's nothing she's done in the past few months that made me go "wow". Also one of my bearded dragons died today She was 8 years old, got really fat around 2 years ago and the vet couldn't figure out what was wrong. Still have one dragon in the terrarium, contemplating getting another one to keep it company. It must feel lonely, poor thing.

There's no shame in that! Haven't heard that track for ages.

I thought this weeks' episode was rather brilliant. Yes most of the hovercraft stuff was staged but for one I'm glad they didn't go around ruining random peoples days. And they pointed out the uselessness of such a solution out with a lot of humour.

My E38 is nearing 300k now but it did require some major work a few years ago. Pretty amazing if a car can reach 330 and still be spot on without having to refurbish it.

Learned to play most of The Entertainer by Scott Joplin with only the assistance of a mobile phone playing a Synthesia rendering of this piece. Really proud of myself, it's currently the only thing I can play on a musical instrument but it's so much fun. I might learn something else now. It's funny how my mom always said I'd regret not learning to play the piano but clearly it isn't necessary with modern technology.

Drunk a few beers last night, went under the shower and fell down a step landing on the side of my foot. Threw up from the pain (and the booze probably also) and now I can't walk, drive or do pretty much anything, including work. I don't have a walking stick so I'm jumping everywhere and getting extremely sweaty as a result, also forgot to pay my health insurance. Good times

Presumably you know this because you ride trials on that bike? Urban forks had a single steerer tube and those were weak, now there's a double one in the crown area.

I think a few people are forgetting that this is TRIALS. Parts break and that's normal. How many people ride like Damon or Neil? Not that many. Secondly, the problem is in the riders themselves. I know for a fact that most people are looking for the lightest parts possible yet they don't want to see the correlation between weight and strength when choosing parts. This in term is causing what JD mentioned - sales of light parts being high, and heavy ones being poor. The result of that is that heavy and often strong parts are being discontinued. Obviously there should be something out there for the extreme TGS rider but I bet you that most would choose something different anyway. A strong frame would be met with "oh I don't like that colour/design" or "oh this is too heavy" comments. If you're looking for strong components, choose Trialtech. But if instead you chose a superlight Bonz or TryAll hub, SL forks, Neon rims and pedals which weigh less than a sausage - blame yourself. edit: sorry if some of this doesn't make sense. I'm drunk.

Great summary from the past weekend, really sums up the competition. So many great people, such a friendly atmosphere and an amazing special stage. And no health and safety!

Started looking through pictures and videos from a short holiday I just came back from and came across the highlight - getting stoned, going for a walk and finding a seagull sitting on the edge of a dustbin and grabbing whatever was inside, then throwing it over the edge. The area around the bin looked like a pit, the gull spent at least 15 minutes doing so and wasn't bothered by us standing no more than a few feet away from it, giggling in a shameful manner.

Faking camera flashes is a massive fail. It seems like they're not even trying to stage things anymore.

2 vids from a comp last Saturday. I ended up installing a HANS device onto an OMP Star helmet due to the possible danger. Stage was bloody scary but also extremely fun and I'm surprised I managed to memorize it after one slow run. Definitely the most challenging one I've been on yet. The people who set it up did a great job slowing us down in some places which could well have saved a few drivers from smashing their cars and getting hurt. Nobody crashed. Result: 1st place OPEN class (BMW chassis, BMW engine) 1st place overall BMW Challenge 2nd place overall AB Cup (includes other cars in different classes, not just BMW) Still can't beat the driver in the Megane RS Cup but managed beat all the Evos and STI's, including a pro in A-Group spec Evo 9. Fastest run + GoPro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YC-31pfqgs 2nd fastest run + RaceChrono telemetry with a 5hz GPS module: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LurzRAAnf4A This telemetry is bloody accurate, the indicated time was 4.12.9, and the actual time measured by cells was 4:13 dead. Unfortunately it gets a bit lost in the woods.

Bugger

Got a question to the racers out here. Are HANS clips compatible with all helmets? I have an OMP Star helmet and a friend is willing to lend me his HANS device for the upcoming comp. I really don't want to take part without a HANS device since the stage is f**king scary and I don't want to get a new helmet just yet since I'm saving up for a Simpson Diamondback. So only option is to buy the clips and install them if possible. Found no info in google about this.

If you're crying out of your eyes, that's fine.