83C

The tax is an odd one with the A8 3.0 TDIs, this one was pre-StupidTax so no problem. A friend of mine has a near-identical car on a 56 plate, his also avoids paying the £600-odd a year. However, if you’re unlucky enough to find an 06-plate registered between 23/03/2006 and 21/05/2006 then they’re all liable for the full whack before VAG did something to bring the emissions down.

Ex- @paulplom, @Kiltox, me, and a few others I think. It’s becoming a bit of an Autoshite bike. I think @Schaefft reckoned he’d be either the 5/6th AS owner.

Thanks to @Schaefft for an easy, hassle free sale. The A8 tried to throw a spanner in the works by the MMI screen pinging a bit of trim off from the air vent surround as it motored closed, and the handbrake warning (having not been a problem for a couple of months) reared it’s head again. Why car? Why must you only be difficult when it’s time to go? Anyway, it was good having the A8, glad I got to experience one.

Well bought, Shads are good cars. And as for the inevitable, I don’t need another Crewe product. I have no space. Colour me very interested…

Quite a few. Walking to/from the train, when changing ends, walking to next bit of the job etc, we see plenty of passengers. It’s also because we work with the Guard so a sense of good customer service is needed.

Depends which TOC it is, and whether they’re being allowed to recruit. Drop me a PM if you want more info.

Small and light is the way forward in the RME. MX5 engine and box as suggested, or for slightly more complexity a K-series in 160bhp VVC flavour.

No Solids Crew is the way forward with smaller camper vans anyway. Just find somewhere to park with a toilet & shower nearby. Should be nice and comfortable with a bed and some basic comforts in there.

Start of the year: Non mover - the Arnage did very little, but required a replacement alternator. Tucked away for winter. Out - the Fabia vRS. Great little machine, went very well. Non mover - the Range Rover. Plods on, had a load of front suspension bits, needs a few small jobs and a lot of cosmetic support really, maybe next year. Can’t see any reason to sell, it’s a dependable machine. In & Out - the ex-HMC Boxster. Loved driving it, completely changed my opinions on Boxsters and Porsche in general. Would really like to try a 3.2S one day. In - Tiger 955. Barely ridden it, need to get out more on it. Out - ZZR 1400. Sold because I’d done 50 miles on it the previous year and I was offered a fair price. In - the ex-HubNut 106. Currently parked out of the way awaiting the myriad issues to be sorted. In & Out - C5. Mrs. 83C’s Mini shat itself, so this was the quick, cheap answer to get her mobile, except it was neither quick, nor cheap. Brake judder traced to knackered rear discs, which led to knackered rear calipers, which led to knackered rear brake pipes and then the need to buy a Citroen Lexia unit to bleed the brakes. Still, it only cost me more than the purchase price to put right. Sold when the Min was fixed, but once sorted was actually a nice old bus to drive. In & Out - MG ZT 1.8T. Acquired from RichardK with a shot turbo, fixed, got running right then sold. Regret selling it to be honest. In - Kia Rio (no picture). Replacement for MiL’s Jazz but I’ve ended up owning it on a shared arrangement with her. Out - Leyland Tiger. The bus was sold to someone who has been after it for a while. Letting go was a bit of a wrench but it’s hopefully in safe hands and should see a quicker return to the road than I’d be able to manage. In (& not Out, yet!) - ex-Kiltox A8. Bought to be the long distance family barge while the Range Rover was having its front suspension replaced. Incredibly competent, reasonably quick, comfortable barge that does 45mpg on the run and apparently also completely unsaleable. In - VXR8. Not a planned purchase but couldn’t say no. Needs a lot of work but is great fun to drive. Can’t see any more acquisitions coming this way before the year end, unless I get offered a p/x for the Audi that fits what I need. At the end of this year I’m up to something like 170 different vehicles owned, with 6 currently in fleet.

Most RMs are an amalgamation of parts anyway, the ID is just a way of identifying it for paperwork purposes.

No idea, wouldn’t surprise me though. I would say that most of the problems on the rail network stem from the DfT. The owners of the TOCs are just doing the DfT’s bidding, no matter how insane it might seem. Covid was the perfect excuse for the DfT/Gov to take complete control of the railway (without the faintest idea of how to actually run it) whilst maintaining the illusion that the private companies are responsible. I can pretty much guarantee any apparently stupid decision such as reducing capacity, redeploying rolling stock, whether enough staff are hired, what trains are used etc can all be traced back to Whitehall and their fundamental misunderstanding of the requirements of the rail network. You might ask (rightly) why the TOCs and their owning groups tolerate this shit state of affairs, and it’s simple. They’re guaranteed an income, in return for taking the blame. That whole business about closing ticket offices was instigated at the behest of the DfT, and despite the TOCs privately all saying it was a stupid idea. But when it got canned ministers were quick to take the credit for stopping the nasty private companies from their plans to close ticket offices. The DfT seem hellbent on running the railways down, despite passenger figures rising and there being a clear shortage of rolling stock.

Thank the Government/DfT for that. They agreed some very very generous terms with Agility Trains (the leasing company) that basically let Hitachi off the hook for pretty much anything. GWR were told ‘sign here or else’.

Different acronym for the Hitachi trains - Super Hitachi Intercity Train.

Notification from the bank earlier that a £210 transaction on my card was stopped as it looked suspicious. Sure enough, someone had managed to log themselves into my PSN account and help themselves to several games courtesy of my account. Top marks to Halifax for spotting and declining the transactions swiftly, and 4/10 needs remedial classes to Sony/PSN for taking nearly two hours to respond to a live chat request (the only way to contact them). Passwords, verifications etc all changed now, and new bank card ordered. What a pain in the ringpiece it’s all been. Whoever managed to get into my account and cause me a load of shit today, I wish you a month of uncontrollable explosive diarrhoea and a very localised acute shortage of bog roll.

Only driven a Titan once, and that was from Winkleigh to Portsmouth for export. The M27 at 42mph was exciting* Other than that it was a nice old motor to drive, steering definitely on the heavy side of things as noted by @Inspector Morose, but it accelerated well and stopped well.

Anyway, first impressions. It sounds mega. This is largely thanks to the Walkinshaw exhaust. However at idle there is a definite rasp from the drivers side rear, so a blow to be investigated. Outside is pretty good, a few different shades of red obviously but it’ll do. Inside is fairly tidy. Suspension and possibly brakes are the problem areas. The front droplinks are shagged, as are some of the bushes. There is some vibration under braking but the discs and pads appear new, so either track rod ends or bushes are the prime suspects for that. The ride is firm, which is expected but there are a good few rattles and clonks from underneath. Electrics: ABS light on. Previous owner reckoned it was the front o/s ABS sensor as that was what his garage had told him. Quick session on the diagnostics reader in live data mode gave the result that the rear o/s ABS sensor has failed, the other three showing identical speeds whilst being driven. The clutch has a bit of vibration, so that might need sorting. To begin with a new ABS sensor and droplinks are on their way from MWP in Chester, and I’ll see what it needs over the next few weeks. I’m quite prepared to put some money into it, my guess is most of the bushes are shot. I’d like to have the alloys refurbished in silver, put some decent tyres on it and then maybe look at a few improvements.

Probably be the most expensive roffle in AS history! I make it around £204 a ticket…

I’m no stranger to the fuel station, and neither is this. Weather was looking distinctly sub-optimal so I filled up and got back home before it got any worserer.

Another day, another collection. Off down the well-trodden path of getting a lift to the railway station and boarding a train with nothing more than my phone, wallet, a drink, the clothes I’m in and a combination of optimism and trepidation. Currently waiting outside Crewe on 1W61 for a path into the station. Change here for…

That is absolutely outstanding. Very definitely a limited number of places that can do this. I know of a couple in the railway world, naturally there is an awful lot of crossover in the skills required. The good thing is that there is a steady flow of younger people interested in learning the skills required, so what were once considered ‘dying arts’ are now generally a little bit more healthy. Of course there are never enough new people, and opportunities to learn the skills as a proper trade rather than as an occasional volunteer aren’t all that easy to come by, but I’d say the capabilities to do this sort of thing are probably in a healthier state now than at any point in the last 40-50 years, especially as ever larger projects are taken on and overcome. These are the things that 40-50 years ago were deemed impossible, and naysayers have been proven wrong multiple times. And that’s a slight to moderate understatement regarding the degree of understatement I’m sure. Very well done to you and the team, and thanks for documenting the build here.

On Sunday I visited a small local motor race: First, a couple of older motors on display: And some of the on track action: Bathurst is incredible. If anyone is thinking about going, JFDI. I could write loads on the whole experience, but the best thing to do is book a ticket and go. The campsite at the top of the mountain is something to behold, it’s a proper temporary village with people clearly so well kitted out they’ve been going for years. There was also this: It looked absolutely mint. Climate obviously helps with holding the tin worm at bay. Meanwhile I’ve been taxied around in this: Its a GWM Ute, or Great Wall Motors. They tried in the U.K. a few years ago with the rather outdated ‘Steed’ which made such an impact that nobody remembers them. This however is clearly a big step forward, it seems (from the passenger seat) to go and stop ok, has an 8speed ZF box, interior is alright, loadspace is decent and the touchscreen with Google is quite neat. Would I have one in the U.K.? Probably not unless I needed something very cheap as a work hack. Would I have one in Australia? At an equivalent £25k for the top-spec model I’d be looking pretty closely at one. There’s a few niggles, the alloys don’t look particularly chunky/durable and the radio volume control locks out if reverse is selected, but otherwise it seemed pretty competent and well screwed together.

Fuggin’ parcels twats. 4 parcels for me left the supplier at the same time. One is in my shed, having arrived at 0900 this morning. One is in Stanford-le-Hope, or at least was a few hours ago. One is in Tamworth. One is ‘in transit’ and hasn’t shown a location since it left Denmark. Helpfully, 10 minutes ago UPS sent me notification that two of them were delayed and would be delivered by the end of the day tomorrow. The third parcel (the one that evaporated on leaving Denmark) is still showing as expected delivery by the end of today. How the fuck do 4 parcels all collected together and going to the same place end up in such a mess?

I very nearly did something really stupid/fucking amazing (delete as appropriate) today, a VXR8 came up for sale at a very reasonable price needing a bit of paint but otherwise good with 12 months MoT. Almost sent the seller a deposit but couldn’t make the timings work out around work for collection as they were the other side of the country. Common sense says I should be glad I have the money to put to other boring shit like home improvements and next year’s possible house move, but I came close last year to buying an ‘R8 before the Bentley hove into view and today I had the chance to have both. Going to be kicking myself for a while I think. In other news I’m considering what is best for the Range Rover. I think next year it’s going to get a few quid spent on the body, new tailgate, at least a partial respray, wheel refurb, rear suspension overhaul, underside protection etc. I could just sell it and buy a newer L322 or just about stretch to an early L405 but I don’t really see the point in going to a later L322 as I know mine well, it does everything I want and despite being the 3.0 M57 diesel goes plenty well enough for what I need in a big 4x4 - it towed a big tri-axle trailer with Mrs. 83C’s Mini Countryman aboard a few months ago and didn’t even notice it was there. I’m not overly struck on the L405’s looks, it doesn’t appeal visually like the 322 does, so I might as well stick with what I know, spend a few quid and make it properly good for another 5 years.

Very nice, there are considerably worse ways to travel.