F
FQ 340
Guest
Yes, she's gone and for the first time in over six years, I no longer own a scooby.
It won't be long I'm sure before I'm back, I'm already making plans, just don't tell my wife.
She's gone to a very good home so I'm happy enough, or at least as happy as I could be, she was (is) a great car. Honestly though this lad (who can post up his own name etc. if he chooses) has already booked her in for the full treatment. He is leaving her alone mechanically and is going to do all the external body work, internal trim and wheels instead. All the stuff that for one reason or another I never got around to.
Biggest problem was he bought it just before the trackday on Monday, he bought it on Saturday, just after I had prebooked and paid for the trackday. I was well looking forward to a last hoorah around the track, but such is life. I ended up having a go in the Evo just so as not to waste the money.
The Evo was fun but, to be honest, it was kind of frustrating. I simply could not bring myself to drive it in anyway hard and really, if you're not prepared to let go a little bit, trackdays are a bit pointless. I would always be inclined not to go completely nuts, it's not like you're up against the clock or anything, but usually I'd still go at it at least a little bit.
In the RB5 I found I could have a lot of fun without feeling like I was thrashing the car. The handling was so benign, so manageable it was incredible. You could happily drift from corner to corner effortlessly and apart from the brakes and engine speed, it was like a spin in the country.
Not so in the Evo. The thing is an animal, properly vicious. It pulls so hard in every gear that if you drive it all, you have to work very hard to keep it together.
It is actually completely brilliant but, at over 40 grand, you don't want to bin it, or at least I don't, and that's the problem. It is so clever and so well set up that you can get away with so much until suddenly, you have exceeded yourself, and oh dear, here come your limitations.
That said though my biggest limitation on Monday was three hours sleep combined with the hangover that seems to characterise every bank holiday weekend.
Also, what sold the Evo to me in the first place was how tight it feels and I was not prepared to lose that for the sake of driving the nuts out of it for an hour. In the end I took a half a dozen laps at a fast road pace and was left frustrated but amazed at the car's abilities. Next time I might go a bit harder.
What really did amaze me was the attention Evo got. As soon as I came back in a small crowd gathered around the car. I had no idea why, it wasn't like it was the only 8 out there. However, as the day wore on it gradually became apparent it was down to the noise.
Really, the noise is hilarious. From the inside, as I said in an early post, it sounds like my mother's Ford Focus. However, from the outside, it sounds like an F18.
I had gradually come to realise this myself as a result of driving under bridges with the window down but it really became apparent on Monday. Nobody noticed how slow I was driving, or the fact that I nearly binned it down the start finish straight after my daughter's Halloween wand and two CD's decided to jump out from under my seat to underneath the pedals, but everybody noticed the noise the thing was making.
Even my brother in law who was following me in my in his own Evo could not get over it. As he said himself, he was in his car, driving hard, with the windows up and wearing a full face helmet and he said every time I gave it the beans it was deafening. It is remarkable, it is as quiet as a mouse until the turbo spools up and then it roars like an afterburner, complete madness.
Of course I completly love it, utterly purile but there you go.
Anybody who doesn't believe me should come along to the rolling road day on November 18th, I'd say there might be a new contender for best engine noise if we could invent such a category (and still live with ourselves afterwards). Anybody got a son aged between 8 and 10 who could be the judge?
It won't be long I'm sure before I'm back, I'm already making plans, just don't tell my wife.
She's gone to a very good home so I'm happy enough, or at least as happy as I could be, she was (is) a great car. Honestly though this lad (who can post up his own name etc. if he chooses) has already booked her in for the full treatment. He is leaving her alone mechanically and is going to do all the external body work, internal trim and wheels instead. All the stuff that for one reason or another I never got around to.
Biggest problem was he bought it just before the trackday on Monday, he bought it on Saturday, just after I had prebooked and paid for the trackday. I was well looking forward to a last hoorah around the track, but such is life. I ended up having a go in the Evo just so as not to waste the money.
The Evo was fun but, to be honest, it was kind of frustrating. I simply could not bring myself to drive it in anyway hard and really, if you're not prepared to let go a little bit, trackdays are a bit pointless. I would always be inclined not to go completely nuts, it's not like you're up against the clock or anything, but usually I'd still go at it at least a little bit.
In the RB5 I found I could have a lot of fun without feeling like I was thrashing the car. The handling was so benign, so manageable it was incredible. You could happily drift from corner to corner effortlessly and apart from the brakes and engine speed, it was like a spin in the country.
Not so in the Evo. The thing is an animal, properly vicious. It pulls so hard in every gear that if you drive it all, you have to work very hard to keep it together.
It is actually completely brilliant but, at over 40 grand, you don't want to bin it, or at least I don't, and that's the problem. It is so clever and so well set up that you can get away with so much until suddenly, you have exceeded yourself, and oh dear, here come your limitations.
That said though my biggest limitation on Monday was three hours sleep combined with the hangover that seems to characterise every bank holiday weekend.
Also, what sold the Evo to me in the first place was how tight it feels and I was not prepared to lose that for the sake of driving the nuts out of it for an hour. In the end I took a half a dozen laps at a fast road pace and was left frustrated but amazed at the car's abilities. Next time I might go a bit harder.
What really did amaze me was the attention Evo got. As soon as I came back in a small crowd gathered around the car. I had no idea why, it wasn't like it was the only 8 out there. However, as the day wore on it gradually became apparent it was down to the noise.
Really, the noise is hilarious. From the inside, as I said in an early post, it sounds like my mother's Ford Focus. However, from the outside, it sounds like an F18.
I had gradually come to realise this myself as a result of driving under bridges with the window down but it really became apparent on Monday. Nobody noticed how slow I was driving, or the fact that I nearly binned it down the start finish straight after my daughter's Halloween wand and two CD's decided to jump out from under my seat to underneath the pedals, but everybody noticed the noise the thing was making.
Even my brother in law who was following me in my in his own Evo could not get over it. As he said himself, he was in his car, driving hard, with the windows up and wearing a full face helmet and he said every time I gave it the beans it was deafening. It is remarkable, it is as quiet as a mouse until the turbo spools up and then it roars like an afterburner, complete madness.
Of course I completly love it, utterly purile but there you go.
Anybody who doesn't believe me should come along to the rolling road day on November 18th, I'd say there might be a new contender for best engine noise if we could invent such a category (and still live with ourselves afterwards). Anybody got a son aged between 8 and 10 who could be the judge?
we hope so!