Greetings

The course is different every time, we have two runs to get to know it. Knowing the track helps, but it's at the chicanes and areas off the track where you win or lose. Those you can't learn by heart, there's a bit of guess work going on. After each run you remember roughly where you can go faster. Also the visibility is a lot better than on the video obviously Perhaps if I used a pro camera it'd be better, but this is a compact Sony. Lots of cars got totalled that night. And during the morning runs too. We kept getting delayed because someone hit a tree / fence or something else. Anyway, after the morning runs I won the whole competition. I was quicker than a chap in a 400bhp Evo on 3 runs, then his centre diff packed up and he had to pull out. I managed to get a 1 minute lead (on a total of 40 minutes of driving) over another M3 driver who usually wins my class. For the first time I was really enjoying myself, something must have unlocked in me because I never drove that car as fast as yesterday. Usually there's 3-5 drivers (including me) fighting for the podium in the same class and we're all neck and neck, this time I was even 10 seconds faster per run than the 2nd in class. Some pics for those interested:

Look great, bags of support and look comfortable too. Night sprint stage over. Course all together took 18 minutes over 4 runs, I'm 2nd overall, 1 second behind the leader in an Evo IX. Over 35 seconds ahead of 2nd in my class. No chance for 1st overall tomorrow, despite some very powerful lamps on that Evo the guy clearly can't see where he's going. In daylight he's going to piss all over me. Although there are rumours that his gearbox is packing up. Finally the speedo is visible! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaJ3S3AF68g I know, health and safety, in the UK this would never be allowed bla bla...

Quality tools are expensive, question is how much are you paying for quality and how much you're paying for a bag with Danny written on it. The allen keys aren't badly priced provided they don't fall apart like most of these foldable ones do.

And occasionally a seat.

I always thought trials originated from motorbike trials The stuff in clean has absolutely nothing to do with the roots of bike trials.

Ha Mine look like this, the cable seems to be a part of the bulb. Actually, here's a pic of a "replacement bulb", it comes with all the cables What are yours like?

Surely if you buy some proper Philips bulbs they'll be ok? Come to think of it, can you actually change Xenon bulbs in these cheap kits? The bulbs come with cables which seem to be an integral part of the kit. Edit: George, the white balance is off. In the flesh the HID's are ever so slightly bluer than the low beam in the 1st pic.

I think I can see what you're talking about. But I don't agree with you that this is better than higher brightness HIDs. Only thing I'm not keen on is the 5000k bulbs, should have gone with 4300k. I have 5000s on my daily driver which are much warmer than the ones I just put on. Then again perhaps that's the kind of inconsistency you get for buying a HID kit for 18 quid.

Prawn how long have you had this QR for? I had an identical one (perhaps of worse quality) and it developed play very quickly. Personally if I were to invest in a QR, I'd go for Sparco or a similar brand. They're about 200 quid but they're used in WRC so that's probably a decent recommendation. Finished the lighting mods, although it's possible to have 2x more light, I don't need any more. White balance is a bit on the blue side, low beam is yellowish, HID's are white. Normal beam, the Osram bulbs Jardo was talking about: Normal + high beam on 5000k HID's for 18 quid per set. Normal, high beam + Wesem spots on 5000k HID's.

1st day working on the M3 lighting. Spotlights are insanely powerful, I've assembled them on some cheap 20 quid HID kits. Still got a kit to install on the long beam.

An xmas present I made myself came in the post today: Wrapped it in gift paper straight away so I'm not tempted to build it before the 24th. Can't wait.

I guess it's preference then. Personally I haven't noticed any downsides to HID's. Would never go back to normal lights. Also can't help giggling at Osram, in Polish it means "I'll shit on something". Although I think I had a pair of those bulbs you mentioned in the Cibies last year, they were pretty expensive but also a lot better than standard bulbs.

Thought about that too but I have little manual skills and no patience. My dad on the other hand is an engraver, he's got pretty sick manual skills. I've ordered him something like this but a Spitfire since he's a huge fan of them, it's the most challenging thing I could find.

Got an epic night and day rallysprint comp coming up on Friday and Saturday, then gf is coming over for christmas which should really liven things up. Christmas eve has really sucked in the past few years, my parents don't get along too well and other family members who used to come over don't any more because their parents (aunt and uncle) who live with us have died. Also I've made myself a present and ordered a Lego Technic model. Can't wait to build it, last set I had was about 10 years ago.

What do you mean by two dimensional? I mean light is light, it's just photons no matter what the source, no? I have HID's on my daily driver, they're bloody brilliant. Only problem I can see is the bulb being longer and therefore the focal point changing.

It's nice to see such varied riding in one video, seemingly similar but yet so different. As much as I found the whole vid impressive, Ali's segment f**ked my mind. Hope he never goes brakeless, it might be the in thing not to use brakes but having them gives you so much more possibilities.

Next comp is a night event. Was supposed to be snowy which is why I bought the Daihatsu but all the snow has disappeared and forecasts say there won't be any for another week. So need to mount these on the M3. Going to install HIDs on the Wesems, thinking about HID's on the Oscars or is it overkill? Probably going to go for HID's on the low beam too so it's going to be bright.

Am I blind or have they disabled filtering search results by view count?

Got my mum a dvd, a massive illustrated travel guide (hope that if she doesn't like it, me and my gf can use it), might also get her some decorations. As for my dad, I really want to get him back into model aeroplanes. He used to build these 50-60 years ago. He would actually design and build them himself and was so good at it that he was offered a job at some aeronautical company in the UK. Sadly he lost all his projects in a fire. From what I've seen, nowadays you can really only buy complete kits to build which probably isn't good enough for him. A bit stuck with this to be honest.

This is f**king brilliant.

Could have been a lot worse, glad you're ok. It was a great car, but still just a car. Can't see form the pics but it looks like the safety features (whatever they are) kept your head in one piece? Came in here to post an update on the Die Hat Soup. Removed interior behind front seats, ordered a steering boss, two 190mm rally lamps with HID bulbs and new front Vredestein tyres. Rear Fuldas seem to have a lot of meat on them so no need yet. Holes bunged up with fiberglass and cards, installed a really pro strut brace. Car caught fire a few times but it's ok. Kind of reminds me of this...

Since I had the trailer for 24 hours, I decided to collect the M3 and bring it back home. Driving up the ramps on semi slicks in the snow - not a good idea Blew 80 quid on a pair of Verdestein (?) winter tyres for the twitmobile, bucket seat and racing harnesses being fitted now. Had another drive in it and it's really odd driving a 4wd car after 4 years of racing RWD but it's fairly intuitive. You just floor it and left foot brake most of the time.