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Pick it up Thursday-ish. 9 months old, 4,500 mls 335d M Sport saloon, Mineral Grey with Coral Red leather and brushed aluminium trim. M Sport plus pack = 19" wheels, LED lights, sun protection glass, Harman Kardon speakers, M Sport braking system... Professional media pack, heated front seats and - a rare bonus option - electric sunroof.

Had to take the boy to say goodbye to him and drop off a sorry you are leaving card. A true gent.

Picked this up last night. Whole new world of epic, seriously! I plan to do some good mileage this weekend and will review as soon as I have collated my thoughts ! *sorry for shitty pics not had time to take proper ones.

Squeaky moment 2: https://youtu.be/eH3MdrNJEPg

So, almost one week in, some initial thoughts on the Audi A3 e-tron... It looks great in misano red I think, and it certainly makes a change to see a brightly coloured car on the drive.... My first car was red... A Fiat Uno ☺️. The black leather/alcantara sports seats are very comfortable, and have plenty of adjustment. They're heated as well, which is good

When I got home from the pub last night I found the girlfriend had left a note on the fridge "This isn't working. Gone home to mum's". I opened the door the light came on, beer was cold. I'm mystified

Great handover, BMW genius guy very complimentary of my chosen options. 1200 mile run in but I am sure 500 is enough and with that engine it doesn't really need to be thrashed. I have been out 3 times today to the shops 10 miles away just because lol. That engine must have taken some shoehorning in ! Thanks for all the advice and feedback its been a long but worthwhile wait

She's home.

He was being interviewed by Italian tv on his doorstep when he had finished he beckoned us up. Had a chat and sad we were so grateful and what he achieved was amazing. Told him about my bets and he loved that! Asked if I had treated the wife (who took the photo) and I said of course. He told me to look after her! Great bloke! Fred has made me print the photo and put it in his school bag!

Williams Stockport. I went to them for a very good reason. Back in 2007, we had a nasty armed robbery and my Mk5 R32 and (then) g/f Mini Cooper S Conv got stolen. My insurers only gave a courtesy car for a week or something and didn't pay out for a while. So I was carless. The g/f insurers were faster and we went to Stockport Mini to sort out a replacement. Amazingly, I then got a call from their sister BMW dealers to say they heard what happened and we're sorry for us, and would lend me a 3 series for as long as needed - even though they knew I wasn't going to buy a BM as a replacement when the insurance coughed up. It was an incredibly nice gesture at a difficult time. Hence my (new) wife got her Mini Cooper S from them and I was very happy to buy my (epic!!!) M2 from them.

MrsEldavo's Nissan Leaf Lease ends soon so we've been sniffing out some potential replacements. Criteria was practical, economical hatchback and we'd settled on a Mercdes A-Class 180d AMG-Line with Premium Plus Pack for about £325 a month on a 3+35 lease. Having sold the MX-5 the plan was to replace the garage space that occupied with my Grandad's 1966 Triumph Tiger 90. We'd briefly discussed an early 986 Boxster but felt it wouldn't get used enough to justify the purchase. So, I think I've smashed it on this one - one car to replace an MX-5 and a Nissan Leaf that ticks no boxes whatsoever on the original brief. Pick it up next week: Boxster 987 2.7 (practical - 2 boots, economical - not an S, hatchback - erm, the roof comes off). Submissions for Eldavo's car man maths are welcome, you tell me what you/your Mrs' wants and needs are and I'll provide you with an unsuitable Porsche model variant and a list of excuses!

Quick chance to jot down some thoughts after the day at Thruxton today. First, my main objective of the day was accomplished, I've done about 15 laps around the track and picked out the cues for turning points and apexes, ready for the next race. BMW's objective (of persuading me to buy one of their cars) probably hasn't been. Anyway.... there were 5 activities: First off to the off-road course in X3s, which proved very capable. Unexpectedly so, I had the X3 pegged as a soft-ish-roader but it goes up muddy hills and down crumbly tracks and through rivers without killing you, rolling over, or getting stuck. Next off to the pit lane to try the "BMW range" which today consists of M5 or M4 coupe, M135i and M235i. We're on our own in the cars but in a line behind a pace car (an X5 40d M Sport) with an instructor in it. Top tip - choose the car at the back of the queue... oh, have I fallen behind, oh dear I'd better catch up. Apparently there was a 70mph limit but the instructors have a memory that lasts about as far as the pit exit. Of the M cars, I took the M4, which has a lovely pull but is big and heavy and a little clinical. M135i and M235i are both adorable but difficult to heel & toe in. Then off to... the other end of the pit lane where we go out in M3s or M4s with instructors next to us to rein us in but no pace car. I told the instructor in the M4 that I was racing there in a fortnight, and he told me to get a move on. So I did but the car is still in one piece . I've no idea what the car was like because I was looking at the track, sorry. It moved. Quickly. I didn't notice any foibles. This is bad - cars should have foibles, it makes them interesting. After we'd done that, there were "hot laps" with Andy Priaulx or Rob Collard in their race-prepped M235is. I got in next to Rob, and told him I was racing in a fortnight and not to hold back. He didn't, and it looks like my marker points around the circuit are right... fingers crossed. We got back to the pit lane and while the BMW girl was trying to pull me out of the car, Rob was talking me through the right attitude & approach for Thruxton, very very useful indeed Then lunch... nice. Salad-y stuff. Priaulx and Collard were interviewed. Priaulx got a cheer when he explained why he was starting the next race from the back of the grid. Then off to the skid pan where there were two activities. First off out in a pair of 435is, one RWD & one xDrive, so that we can compare driving around a corner with power but no grip. My drift in the RWD car was perfect of course. The xDrive one was a worse car because it just coped and took all the fun out of it. No wheelspin and much less silly sideways action. I think their intended message was something else, but I had too much opposite lock on to listen. Mrs P's X1 is xDrive so that's good, the last thing I need is her learning to drift better than me. The other activity that started from the skid pan was a road drive in convoy in a long line of i3s. This car is an engineering marvel, a real accomplishment by BMW. It's also hateful and they should crush them all. I wanted the i8 that was on a stage inside the building but they weren't letting that out. It really is beautiful in a way that the i3 just isn't. If it drives similarly to the i3 then that would be irritating but I'll let it off because it's beautiful and has doors that open wrong and no boot to speak of and is beautiful. Did I mention that the i8 looks good? Then off to a huge carpark with some cones and a pair of M135is. I'll just repeat that. A huge carpark with some cones and a pair of M135is It's lucky they slotted that in last for me, otherwise I'd have spent the day getting into trouble trying to change groups so that I could go back and do it again. Just the usual "drive into the cone maze to do an elk test, then drive in a circle around the cone to test the turning circle then do an emergency stop. By now it was pouring with rain - even better. We did the elk test and the instructor's reaction was "have you done that before?" Far too fecking often, mate, have you watched Caterham racing? Oh, and "test the turning circle"?? Yeah. We know what you mean. Serious moment: full-on emergency stop in an M135i in standing water is awe-inspiring, as is its handling through the elk test. Well done BMW, you are going to save people's lives While the other half of the group were doing that, we set off on the same road route as the i3s but in 6-ers, a mix of M6s and 650is. I went in the 650i, a thing that is as lovely as the i3 is hateful. I think that's the car I'd have nicked if I hadn't arrived in a car I liked. Overall, a really well organised day by BMW, in conjunction with the Bedford MSV team. Apparently they had £3M-worth of cars on site, and I can well believe them. I have never seen so many M cars in one day...

Traded in my old A8. Picked up a 62 reg A8. It's the 3.0 TDi in Storm Grey???? with black leather on the Comfort Seats (why are people who order these so conservative in colour choices???) Comfort seats - what are the other ones called then? Eitherway, the other ones look flat as a flat thing on pancake day. I think it was out of my immediate budget range, but yesterday, they dropped it by £2K as it showed up in Autotrader and matey was surprised at the price and had to check! It even has less than 6 digits on the clock - so I am very weary now.... (lol!!!) Anyway, beggars can't be choosers.... Driving home from Whitchurch was a delight, so quiet, so pokey, so smooth, so tight! The display is something else and seems to show a re-gen mode. IT has Stop Start too, so that is good for my commute. On the drive home, it was reporting 44 mpg so that is good. And jeez!!!! how many things on it that can be changed - wow! I am going to have to RTFM! Even loading a CD. However, just one thing wrong - which was my fault, I went spec blind and missed the fact that this one did not have Bose. Grrr!!!! Will see how I get on, but I intend to keep this one for a few years....... at least 3 again! Pictures will be added later, as it sh1t outside at the mo. So far, so good - a happy Cruiser here!

Got back from Korea yesterday 3pm, went straight out in town on lash but still woke up before 6am like a kid on Christmas day to collect this. Had a lovely 2.5 years with the C63 but, as usual, when I started looking things happened quickly. Great deal on an unregistered stock car with things like the M seats, adaptive LED lights etc but also the Competition Pack. Doing my best to keep under 4k RPM but even giving it mild beans you can tell its got a very healthy amount of poke. The tech is great – full Spotify integration is bonza, though not sure if I’ll even need to tweet from the car or why you’d want to use an iPhone app to lock/unlock the car?

Well, it still makes me smile when I start it up. The previous (one of) owner had the engine flaps removed from the intake, as these are a PITA and can break very easily from my research beforehand. He also had it remapped to take that into account. Not sure if it has meant anything else in terms of power though. The difference I have found, and they mentioned this in the ad, is that the engine is very lumpy when starting when cold, for the first 30 seconds or so. Once the secondary air pump stops, then the engine is smooth. Gearbox is smooth, the ride is fantastic on the 20's with the suspension in auto. Hardly any cornering lean and if in Dynamic mode (lowers suspension by 10-20 mm) then it is possibly a wee bit too hard on normal roads unless pressing on on a country lane. . I remember the S6 got slated for not having air suspension and I can understand why. It would be way too hard for many in normal use. Back to the engine.... the sound it makes is intoxicating, even small throttle increases make it sing. It doesn't burble as such, but you can hear something very different in it. Bloody quiet when off throttle and when cruising. However, just the one niggle - the gearing is very low for such a fast car. Just shy of 30 mph per 1000. Not a problem, as the engine is quiet at motorway speeds with just a hint of sound. You lot will laugh at this, but I have not needed to use Sport mode yet, the thing flies if you only half floor it! Adaptive Cruise is damn good with different 'Audi driver tailgating' settings. MPG - on a cruise including motorway, A & B road with traffic and the odd overtake, gave me 22 mpg using the brim to brim technique. I am still playing with the settings as it has the fingerprint recognition start (or I can use the key). And for some reason, the previous owner had turned off the Main Beam in the MMI... which I found out at night down a lane. Any regrets? Only that I am gathering too many Shell points. But I did get a free drink flask thing from Shell after filling with V Power. Would I buy another one? Yes.

Postscript. I've done it. I've finally done it. I've won a pot

Got one. I tried to stop it, but couldn't! 08 plate, with just over 90k miles on it. So far so good... Nothing has broken. Goes very well and sounds awesome. Nothing rattles or shakes. Gear changes are smooth. It is in Daytona Grey, but has the dark wood trim for some reason... adaptive cruise, fingerprint reading bollox, solar roof, power boot blah blah All the ones I looked at needed new rear pads, as the electric handbrake seems to eat the rear pads PDQ, this one was no exception. So did that as I do like working on cars. Getting my hands dirty. Let's not talk about mpg.. As the gauge seemingly moves overnight, so I suspect someone takes it for a spin each night. This will make sure I get a local job. If I still had the diesel, I'd be inclined to pursue jobs miles away again, so this will stop me. . Will take some sideways on photos.

Okay it's no great shakes in the grand scheme of things, but I've lost my first 1/2 stone

OK, been up to York today to see it - it arrived yesterday. It's mint. The passenger and rear seats look like they've never been used. You'd be hard pressed to find a scratch on the body. 2x Brand new rear tyres and fronts are 7mm across them. Pads are showing 60k back and 40k front so plenty there (and visually they looked pretty new to me). Corrosion is starting from the centres on those wheels (common problem) so they will ask BMW for warranty replacements. If so it'll go back in for them as we collect Friday Excited!!

I seem to have been shopping again

From working with my good friend Matteo on the RS I learnt anything is possible. Just signed off the designs for my P1

We have a winner. I'll let you know more details tomorrow once my dosh has cleared! foooking excited!

I can claim no credit for this, apart from the visual gag at 5'18". I usually only do stuff that I've written but when I heard they were making this I begged for a tiny cameo. I hope you enjoy it, I can't tell you how much we laughed making it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=myRT8G30G68

Picking up later this month. Lotus Evora 400 by James Thorburn, on Flickr Lotus Evora 400 by James Thorburn, on Flickr

So, the Mrs and kids have gone to London for a few days, it's Friday night and I have the house to myself. Before I go any further i do know that I shouldn't be expressing my thoughts on an Internet Forum but it's a bit easier getting feedback on sensitive subjects on here as apposed to friends or family. Here's the deal. i love my wife to bits but after 9 years of marriage things have got a bit, well you know, boring. Our lives are great but we seem to have got stuck in a rut and things have become routine. We do the same activities on the same days and we even eat home made pizza EVERY bloody Saturday. It's Friday night and an opportunity has presented itself. The big question is do I take the risk? Do I throw caution to the wind in an act of pure selfishness? Do I eat the Saturday pizza tonight, on a Friday!!!

June 21st of this year, I sold my M135i as though I’d only had it 15 months, I’d always been pissed off that not long after I got it (about a month afterwards) a newer LCI model was being delivered to new owners. Wanted to get rid of it pretty soon because of that, as what I’d paid for it at the time was not far off getting a brand new one. In fact, it has now turned out to be the car I’ve had for the shortest period of time ever. 15 months and driven just over 8k miles in that period. To be honest, it was a nice car to me. Did all I wanted it to do and had more than enough power than I needed but was still the older model. It was also depreciating like a stone so took the decision it had to go. When I sold it, I’d had the intention of moving on to the newer model (the M135i LCI model). I'd actually found one I was ready to close the deal on. It was only 2 months old, had the exact spec I wanted, 1.5k miles on the clock and ticked all the boxes. Private sale. I called the guy selling, we’d agreed on a price, was on my way to see it when I checked the advert one last time and realised the interior was Oyster (white). It wasn’t obvious from the ad as there weren't any internal pics. It was only on closer inspection I saw it through the windscreen shot. I had to pull out of buying it then. I was looking everywhere for one to match what I wanted but couldn’t find any. It was during my search for one I now found out the M135i LCI model was being replaced again by the M140i. With that information to hand, I knew if I’d gotten the new M135i LCI model, I’d be in the exact same position I was again when I bought the pre LCI M135i, so took the decision to go shiny new instead. (My first ever) I ordered on the 27th July. and picked it up yesterday. Christ!! The wait was painful. Here it is. I went a bit over the top on the extras but hey, I have no regrets. M140i Estoril Blue Coral Red Interior with Hexagon Trim.... Superman!!! Pro Nav Enhanced Bluetooth, Wireless Charging With Wi-Fi Hotspot Heated Steering…..Yes I know. Indulgent or what? Driver Comfort Package....Front / Rear PDC With Cruise Control Sport Automatic Transmission Comfort Access Windscreen With Grey Shade Band Sun Protection Glass Lumbar Support….One thing the last one I had didn’t have and I know I missed. Heated Seats Headlight Wash.... I still dont know why I got this Harman Kadon Parking Assist…. Yes I can park, but like the idea of the car doing this itself  Reversing Camera High Beam Assist 5 Year Maintenance Package Runflats. I know what the purists on here have said about this. However, I had them on the previous one and they were perfectly okay to me. Then again, I don’t drive around like a loon. I got the dealer to put about £10k of the price on lease so I could get the finance discount/contribution (£1500) included. This will be paid off in the next week giving me a decent 21% discount in total, so all in all, not bad for what I’m getting. I didn’t go for the adaptive suspension as I didn’t have it on the previous one and it rode fine to me so didn’t think it’d be of that much a benefit to me. Also, all the other extras I didn’t get (3 or 4 of them I think) I don’t think would ever have been of any use to me as I never would’ve had any use for them. Well maybe the sunroof but at close to £1k, I had to draw the line somewhere J I thought I took a risk in going for the red interior but I love it. Its now at the detailer as I'm having it ceramic (Modesta BC-05) coated all over as in wheels, body, brake callipers, exhaust, leather, trim, and windows. A bit pricier than all other options available but apparently the best. Has a 5 year warranty so we’ll see how that pans out. Of the hour or so I've had driving it, geez this car is spectacularly and scarily (for me) quick compared to the previous M135i I had. I'll probably do a review once I've had a proper good go in it. Now waitinng to get back to get it to its break in mileage of 1200 miles which for me will be in about 3-4 month’s time

The only thing that could have made it worse? 'Have you thought about the newer model sir?'

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014 After a great day with the lads at FoS (JHT and Smudge for the TSN long termers!) on Friday I returned with a vengeance on Sunday, armed with big camera gear and a very fortunate last min pavilion ticket from the team at Michelin who have a huge presence at Goodwood sponsoring the Supercar paddock area of the event. Being bazza I had to put my own spin on the day so took the plunge and booked up with Elite Helicopters for their Eashing (near Guildford) to Goodwood transfer - mainly to save time sitting in the car, I seem to remember getting home last year took best part of 3hrs from walking out to the car parks and then struggling through the traffic back home. So the morning starting out looking much like this - which turned into this You get dropped into Goodwood Aerodrome where a nice VIP Merc S class is waiting to take you the 5 mins, dropping you next to the house at the back of the Supercar Paddock where Michelin have collected all manner of mouth watering metal - the photos don't do it justice but standing there, jaw dropped, looking at not one but two LaFerrari's (green was Jaykay's) and the spectacular 'unique' Ferrari F12 TRS leaves you amazed but wondering where all this can go from here? Then you turn around and see a Koenigsegg one:1 and a Martini liveried 918 Spyder, I literally had to calm myself down and breathe a little... The Cartier Style et Luxe was the usual feast of super rare and super condition automotive delights - quite a focus this year on Maserati (they had the stables this year) and Mustang from all generations. Highlights for me - the bonkers TVR Speed 12, Lister Storm, F40, McLaren M12GT (60's, Crazy Mazda Rotary concept, in fact Chris Evans magnificent collection - the whole lot...! Had a good walk around, a few cars really stood out - the ICON landrover defender with roll cage, no body work and 600bhp - the £95k fully carbon'd up Atom 3.5 with sidepods! The bonkers Nissan Nismo concepts and the David Brown thing (love the bench in the boot to use when you're watching polo). There was by far the loudest car I have ever heard - some McLaren racer of old complete with trumpets that, when started, I actually checked to see if my ears were bleeding... Of course, with the good comes the bad...and the ugly. Much fuss was made of the VW chopped concept so when Seat realised they were late and needed a concept for Goodwood they lopped the top off something and created the Seat Cupster - please look it up for a real dogs dinner, I didn't photograph it for fear of cracking a lens element.. Time for the hill - had two great viewing areas. Mercedes had a great position on the manufacturers side facing just left of the house giving a great view up and down the hill - was free to Mercedes keyholders. Audi have done their cafe, not sure what BMW do but note to self for next year - turn up with a pocket full of various keys... Second viewing area was the Gurney Pavilion courtesy of Michelin - almost opposite the Mercedes area but on the house side. Very smart with unspoiled views going up the hill past the house. Was great to see the gang there for a catchup plus others guests including my Le Mans co-pilot Rebecca who herself was driving the hill several times for Ariel, Porsche and some others. Also there was Graham one of the organisers of the Wilton Classic and Supercar event, so hope to have more news about that being held 10th August (day before my birthday). Highlights included a very cool looking Jaykay (who's green LaFerrari was mentioned earlier) rocking lilac trousers instead of Goodwood red... A super sunburnt Chris Evans who I missed the opportunity to offer some factor 50 to. Lunch was a chilled affair with McNish as guest on our table - few classic racing tales and actually support for Hoy after his minor indiscretion up the hill the day before. After a couple of crashes on the hill (including the Spanish Sin supercar which didn't look healthy when it past us!) they were running 2hrs behind schedule, still plenty to drool at.... After wrapping up watching a bit of the Harvey interview with Ben Collins I jumped back in the Merc and headed to the Aerodrome - casually few mins before my flight was due to leave back to Eashing - last surprise of the day was talking to the pilot and turning to see who else was joining us in this little R44 - Nick Mason and his mate, rounded off a great day with just a quick blat up the A3 to get home - Elite Helicopters come highly recommended from this air convert

Driveway this morning: Mitsubishi Outlander GX4 and Jaguar XE 2l Ingenium Black Edition

The Macan has to be the better choice for the disabled driver. Higher driving position so much easier to get in and out. Also the larger boot makes it a winner for storing the wheelchair or other walking aids....

With massive thanks to Shark Performance for being good sports;

Well? I'm 2.5 weeks and tried the scales last night and was 1.5kg lighter. Stepping up the gym shym a little too as I tried a Plank yesterday for 40s before I dropped and then some light-weights for reps (2 x 20) for leg press and pull down. Felt very tired! I confess it also felt good when a PT walked passed me while on the rower and said "you're the hardest working guy in this gym, keep it up"

Well, ive only gone and done it, after four weeks of procrastination. Merry Christmas to me, collection for end of March hopefully. If red on blue is Superman, what's red on red? Bloodbath? The wait begins.

Picked it up with my little boy and its fab. Its quicker, the engine is a good bit smoother and quieter it also seems more refined everywhere and it even rides better by a good margin as well. The Head Up Display is good but weird to see it seemingly floating ahead of the car takes a bit of getting used to I keep looking at the dials but the list of radio stations / phone no.s etc. is listing in the middle of the screen or should I say floating past the end of the bonnet. Oh and its not Carbon Black, its Imperial Blue which is the special Xirillic paint apparently, its lovely and sparkly in the sun it has a real depth do it. MPG on the way back was 39.2 and considering 20 minutes of that was queuing out of Preston in rush hour I'm pretty impressed with that, but then not much opportunity to put my foot down either.

New car purchased. And its .... another 5 GT A Carbon Black 2016 535 GT, Ivory Interior and plenty of toys, MFD, Head up display etc. etc. Perfect for winter.

I thought you might like a quick report on my recent long weekend tour from Essex up to Oban. If not stop reading I left home last Thursday after lunch and went up the M11, A14, A1M to Scotch Corner then up to Newcastle. A wave to the Angle of the North and I headed West of the A69. I soon detoured off and took the A6318. It's mainly straight - strangely like a roman road and follows the Hadrian's Wall and passes many historic sites. It's very barren up there and to my regret i didn't stop for pics. In fact the whole weekend I took very few pics. It was more about the experience than continual stopping to take a pic. Google street view's done that anyway! After following the signs for the scenic route which includes some real rollercoaster rises and dips I was then back onto the A69 for the run in to Carlisle for my overnight stop. Friday morning we departed (I met another rider there) and cracked on for Scotland. It was mixed weather but good progress was made ....until the Scottish Police force decided it was a fraction too good. Nicked for 89mph when 85 would have been ok. Doh! Shame they weren't busy with the Merc that had flown past us just a couple of mins before. Once past Glasgow we headed for McIncroys Point for the ferry across to Dunoon. We met another guy at the ferry who'd come across from Ireland. He'd gotthere 10 mins before us so great timing. For me this is where Scotland really started. The smell of pines, the hills, the coast and lochs and of course the twisty roads. We took a very scenic route via Inverary and down to Lochgilphead before going up the coast to Oban. This road (A816) is a real mix of fast flowing bends and some really tight and technical sections. On arrival at Oban we met with another 18 riders/pillions. The view from the hotel was great. The hotel was just next door to the Cathedral you can see. Some people have apparently complained about the bells chiming (!!) but it added to the atmosphere. Unfortunately the hotel was pretty poor. It was like a time machine back to the 50's or 60's. I had a private bathroom .... but it just happened to be down the corridor! Saturday morning was free so that people could take a breather from the saddle after long trips the day before. I took the opportunity to visit the distillery. The guided tour is highly recommended and great value : £8 ticket = tour + sample + taster + £5 discount + complimentory glass. That's a winner all the way Saturday afternoon was the first ride out. Just over 100 miles but miles seem a lot longer up there! Due to the lochs and hills there's actually not a lot of roads to choose from! Just as well the ones there are all good. We did a loop to the North East of Oban. First stop was at the "The Hollow Mountain" - Cruachan. It's a hydro powerstation with miles of tunnels in the mountains. The tour takes you deep inside via mini-bus and you get to the scale of the construction with huge caverns and a view over the turbines. The actually use more power than they generate! They produce power in the mornings and at peak periods but then pump the water back up ready for next time. Apparently it works and also makes money. The loop went on to Glencoe. Some great scenery and the feeling of wilderness all around After various coffee stops (always some nice goodies on offer such as home made shortbread) we made it back to Oban. A great curry at Spiceworld (also a great view!) and a few bevvies and we were done. Sunday promised great weather and as the clouds burnt off that's what we got. After the daily fry up (I'd now learnt not to ask for a full "English" when in Scotland! Doh!!) we set out on a ride of 150 (long Scottish) miles on a Southeastern loop. We headed into the Trossachs National park with obligatory break at the Green Welly Stop. I decided not to purchase another bottle of whisky here!!!! We rode on down the side of Loch Lomond and the route then joined up with the same roads I'd used on Friday via Inverary and Lochgilphead. No complaints as they're great roads. Inverary (site of my first and last Iron Bru ice cream!) With around 40 miles to go we broke off my favourite road and headed down to the Crinan Canal. Its a canal that cuts across the Kintyre Peninsula but to make the trip by boat means operating 15 locks in 9 miles. Seems like a lot of effort and talking to one of the crew on a sailing boat it was : their skipper had a heart attack half way through and he was waiting for a crew to arrive from the Netherlands. It's a lovely peaceful please to wait!! Sea lock #1 A chinese meal and more local distilled beverages and the sun set on a good Sunday Monday morning meant reality dawned. I had to get home in one long ride : Oban to Glasgow - only 100ish miles (in heavy rain) and it took 2.25 hours due to the twisties, coaches getting stuck facing each other etc. Glasgow to Scotch Corner - 150ish miles and a broken down truck on the single track bit with solid white lines meant a bit more delay ... although not too much on a bike! Scotch Corner to Peterborough - 150ish miles Peterborough to home - 70 miles. I left Oban at 9:15 and was home at 18:30. It's a slog but well worth it for the fun in Scotland! It was a 1,310 mile round trip to collect my bottle of whisky. Just as well it's my favourite single malt! It looks like the group will be going further North in Scotland in 2018. I've time to consider whether it's a one day ride back again. In the mean time there's 2017's trip to Northern Ireland to look forward to.

Finally, after what seems like an interminable wait the slightly re-specc'ed BMW 330e I ordered at the beginning of the year was delivered But I must be getting old... It was delivered Monday morning, and still haven't really had a chance to drive it . Only a few years ago having a new car delivered would have meant driving it as soon aspossible...but an hour after it arrived I was in a taxi to the airport... Back Wednesday night... Work related dinner, so another taxi. Board meeting first thing Thursday so straight to work. But today is Friday... Initital thoughts, based on less than 50 miles driving too an from work are that it has a lovely engine sound, it seems pretty quick, and that its excessively 'shouty' about its pseudo 'M lite' status...which I don't like...dash, wings, boot, brake callipers, steering wheel, cills... It goes on... I did mention in AzureS3s thread, I did change the original spec slightly... It's an M235i convertible, manual, with very few options. Professional Nav and heated seats is the extent of it!

Haha been busy driving 200 miles and counting. On IG if you go to pictures of me, not the ones I have uploaded myself there are some good shots people have taken of it while it's on the move. My pictures are sadly too big to post on here so I'll just keep updating my IG... I have so many pictures. I am off to Austria for detox on Thursday for a week and a half. I will have some time then to get my thoughts together. I keep comparing it to the Speciale, which I think is the right thing to do. After Austria I'm in the US on business for 10 days. There are two last modifications left before the car is complete. One will get done while I'm away, the other will get done once the car is full run in and been used hard on track a couple of times. Keeping under 5k revs is such a pain but it's still pretty quick. I'm not sure I will manage that for 4K km though! Glad you all like it anyway, it's turned out way better than expected. Awesome experience and what a car!

Friday! Car is ready and paid for, being road tested tomorrow!

Is she fit?

Haha, I just went for a drive and did a bit of a Forrest Gump !

Hi all, First of all happy holidays and happy new year, hope you are all having a lovely time, I have been busy lately so not around so much. I thought you might be interested in an update on my RS. In the end I decided that I didn't want to go for any of the Porsche colours and wanted to go my own route entirely. I made friends with a car designer earlier in the year who used to work at Ferrari and now does freelance on lots of special projects for clients. In fact one of his favorate cars he was responsible for was the 599 GTO which of course is probably why we got on so well! Well after a few conversations with both him and Porsche about what was possible I decided I would go down the custom route... To do this I needed to order the car is white. This is basically so it acts like a blank canvas. The car arrived in the UK a week ago at Porsche Special Operations, which is a decision of POrsche GB where I checked it over and just after Xmas work will start. So the car is being totally stripped, engine, gearbox... The lot. All of this with zero miles on the clock, pdi or road registered. It's then being sanded and painted in a colour I developed with Porsche called 'Woppum Orange'! They will then gently put it back together ready for the third week of Jan where I will come to check it over. We will then place a couple of variants of vinal mock up liveries on the car so I can see what they look like. Hopefully one will work well enough for me to sign it off so the car can be stripped a second time and the livery can be painted on. Hopefully the final car will be ready by mid March, it will then be trucked to topaz to be totally covered in protective film. So my plan is by April it's bum in seat. I then have to find enough time to do 1500 gentle miles so it's run in ready for a weekend of trackdays at Spa middle of the month. It's been a really exciting project so far and just hope it all works out as I plan... Hope you like

Probably only of interest for the tradesman on here! Picking this up for my wife. The New Hilux. Haven't had a pick-up here for several years and really miss it, we have a horse and SA revolves around outdoor pursuits so will be used purely as a leisure "Bakkie":

Nearly at 300% of target now. Incredible! Thanks for all the support.

For a moment, I thought no-one was ever going to ask Just waiting for replies from dealers to put ink on paper (etc), but everything is in place to order this: Porsche Cayenne GTS Carmine Red Black Alcantara-trimmed GTS interior incl. Carmine Red trim Piano Black dashboard trim ParkAssist (front and rear) with Surround View Panoramic roof system Heated windscreen Towbar system with electrically deployable towball Roof rails in aluminium with black finish including roof transport system Power steering Plus Air suspension with self-levelling, ride-height control and Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) 20-inch Spyder Design Wheel in Black (satin finish) 19-inch collapsible spare wheel Automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors Comfort lighting package Driver memory package GTS Sports Seats 4-zone climate control Seat heating (front and rear) Loadspace management system BOSE® Surround Sound System Digital Radio (Porsche charge extra for this ffs!) I know, I know, it's a bit more than a used one would have been...

M2 ordered.