Created by Petrolheads, for Petrolheads

Need I say more, could this be my next motor…

Meet my new BBC work colleague. Next stop Silverstone.

Saturday 30th July saw a 192 mile shakedown of the Minister Power engine upgrade on the airfield circuit at Bedford Autodrome. The first pitstop of the trip however was on a slip road just off of the M25 on the way to the circuit to re-seat the detachable steering wheel which had started to wobble alarmingly. The day on-track also started with a surprise as SPR just sneaked under the static noise test level of 101db by a mere 0.5db – surprising because the upgrade didn’t sound that much louder than the car that has previously sailed under a 98db limit and worrying given Bedford’s one-strike-and-you’re-out rule with the council imposed 87db drive by limit.

The ‘opposition’ on the day was a diverse collection of metal covering a Peugeot 205, a Saab saloon(!), other Lotuses, BMWs, Porsches, TVRs, an 8 litre Corvette, Radical SR3, the obligatory Nissan GTR and what seemed like every Aerial Atom ever sold in the UK. A couple of sighting laps then saw us set about seeing just how much quicker the enhancements have made the car and I’m happy to report we were able to mix it with everything upto and including the Porsche 911s – a pleasant surprise after the mugging we took at Spa. The morning session was ended by a plume of smoke from the far side of the track as the hot exhaust on a Honda S2000 that had left the road set fire to the patch of grass it had come to rest on.

At lunchtime we met the extended family of the ‘next Lewis Hamilton’ (who’d been in the 205) and then the sun came out for the afternoon session and the track got hotter and hotter, so we dropped the tyre pressures and went faster and faster. Checks later in the afternoon showed SPR running at less than 80db past the drive-by noise monitors so we can only assume the static test in the morning had been faulty, and the chequered flag finally fell at 5pm after 192 rapid miles.

Next up is Donington Park in September after a trip to Back On Track to see whether we have any brake pads left!

Another warm and sunny day greeted us for our first trip to Donington Park. No drama’s, just lots of lovely grip on a very fast and flowing circuit. SPR had been fitted with new Pagid RS-14 brake pads all round to cope with the recent power upgrade (following the demolition of our Mintex ones at Bedford last month), these worked a treat with no brake fade throughout the day.

Goodwood FOS celebrates 60 years of Lotus with a spectacular display of F1 cars past and present!

Some of the best road cars on display included the NEW Lotus Exige and Evora GTE. The best of the rest included the NOBLE M600 and CLK AMG Black.

The clock is counting down to the first trackday of the year at Cadwell Park for SPR, just a week to go until the 7th July when a black ribbon of hell beckons!

Our Tyresure tyre pressure monitoring system has failed. It has come to light that after around 12 months use via thermal heat transfer within the tyre the transmitter valve units crack and stops working (it has become a known manufacturing fault). Image attached for reference. We are trying to get a replacement set under warranty, but unfortunately for us our system is 18 months old. Be warned all those considering, enquire first to see if they have upgraded the product to overcome this issue! Having said all this the product does work well, when its not overheating 🙂

The challenge was not Cadwell Park the race track, but actually getting the cars to the track. Here we are all broken down in a ‘Park & Ride’ car park near Hatfield. SPR’s exhaust had come apart and she sounded like a Typhoon Fighter Jet (brill on one level), the AA came and fixed, and it feel apart again after 7 miles down the A1(M). So I wore my crash helmet for 120 miles acting as an ear defender kind of thing – sort of worked. Managed to scare quite a few commuters, particualrly at roundabouts under heavy acceleration. Awesome noise!

We finally managed to arrive at our hotel having endured a journey of over 7 hours – ouch – numb bum! The following day was just glorious, sun up, track dry, loads of young lads in Vauxhall Nova’s and 205GTi’s to go car baiting against. First time to Cadwell, what a lovely fast circuit which is a cross between Nurburgring and Spa. Just fab.

Interestingly there were a number of Abarth 500’s on track, all quick (though some had been tuned), I think its time I stripped mine, popped a role cage in, bigger brakes and off we go 🙂