The new news 24 thread

[egg]

Damon Hill on Senna, it's been 30 years.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02crcJo5QZeZLA12L2ptUq8uEv4rSKoUjqJcxQy3WtPYuq5eQ2Fti5KmPXv588TAbDl&id=100057751913156

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It is the San Marino (or Emilia-Romagna, as it now known) Grand Prix weekend. Better known simply as 'Imola'. May 1st has passed, but its roughly close enough 30 years since this photo was taken on what was to be Ayrton's last Sunday morning. We were at a sponsor function and we had lost Roland the day before so the mood was pretty heavy. I think we'd also already done the Driver briefing where Ayrton had asked me and Gerhard to challenge the FIA Race Director on the suitability of the Safety Car. He had a penalty hanging over him so he didn't want to draw fire directly from the FIA by being the lone agitator. But he surely waded in after us to make his point clear. The Safety Car - an Opel Vectra - was sub-standard. The Safety car driver, Max Angelelli, had already complained about it, but they didn't want to change the car for their own opaque reasons. Predictably, the ironically titled Safety Car came into play in the race. Ayrton pulled up along side the car gesticulating angrily for it to speed up. But it couldn't. It was already at its, and its driver's, limit. The rest is history.

 

[Split_Pin]

In contrast to the A8, this thing has been a stellar servant on the fleet.

In no way is it in its first flush of youth but since buying it in November it has needed absolutely nothing doing, other than the belts and an oil change which were discretionary.

So I'll allow it a wheel bearing which has started to drone as of yesterday 😀

[Coprolalia]

13 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I suppose the News 24 thread is the right place to say that I took control of my first BBC Radio 4 programme this week. I started this Studio Director role about six weeks ago and this week I’ve run the 1800 News twice. 

Now- I’ve worked in radio for 22 years now, and the shine wore off after about 18 months. Since then, it’s a job that paid (certainly me) very well and avoided any manual labour.

But, let me tell you. When Big Ben bongs and Chris Aldridge is smiling back through the glass at you - it’s an amazing feeling. 

Me! With the Home Service at his fingertips. Lunacy. 

 

 

Congratulations on the new job and the renewed joy it's bringing. I'll listen out for the "our studio director..."

[agent]

After several years of worrying in the back of my mind it might be rusting to pieces underneath I finally got a chance to take a good look under my corolla to clean up and underseal it all.

This has not gone to plan, because it turns out toyota put a shit load of underseal there at the factory and it's still holding up great. It was starting to go in a couple corners near the rear where the factory stuff hadn't quite covered up to the very edges and even then peeling off the flaky bits around a couple exposed rust spots revealed shiny bare metal after not long, which is better than I could have hoped for with an old japanese car that lives out in the elements. It even survived the classic "smash the handle of the nearest tool into it just in case" test, because I was feeling brave at this point.

An hour or two with a tin of rust converter and underseal later and it's looking good again

Suspension pieces don't look as pretty but that all seems to be the paint coming off where theres some surface rust (or in the case of most of it, just road dirt stuck on top). I'd love to get it all apart and properly cleaned up one day but that's a future me issue.

The high quality exterior repairs have also continued and now the main blob of rust where someone had bashed into it has been sanded and had some hammerite slapped on it courtesy of my dad. No paint on hand at the time but given the state of the rest of the bodywork it fits right in. Now I just need to get it professionally* painted by myself in the driveway and start working my way through all the other tiny rust spots from where things were chipping and bumping and landing on it when it was sitting.

As a bonus I grabbed a rustival ticket as I was kicking myself over missing the last one, only double the distance of any journey I've driven and probably more than the car has seen in decades so what could possibly go wrong.

[stuboy]

How do I convince someone to sell there project they not touched in 30 years?

Bloody FiL.. too many projects ... too decrepid too finish..

[egg]

6 minutes ago, stuboy said:

How do I convince someone to sell there project they not touched in 30 years?

Probably the truth is you can't sadly. It's damn hard to make anyone change their mind about such things....

[vulgalour]

The job interview I had that I thought went well but was fretting about the logistics of getting to and from has relieved me of all stress by delivering a rejection letter.  I may call them to find out why I wasn't successful, they do invited applicants to do so and since it was my first interview in fifteen years it seems sensible to get some feedback if I can.

Waiting on a reply from another interview, won't get that for at least another week, and have applied for another front-of-house role.  Getting the hang of what vacancies to avoid now, and being a bit more keen eyed on locations, the most recent application being literally within walking distance of current home.

I imagine this applying and waiting and interviewing and failing thing will go on for some time until I find a place I fit.  I also got the first bit of money toward the next big job on the Princess today, that being a new windscreen and painting the roof properly, just another few hundred to go on that one.  Next weekend I hope to be doing a bit of a weldathon too, getting through whatever I can without disabling the car totally in the process.

[lesapandre]

"the most recent application being literally within walking distance of current home."

That sounds good - opportunity to check them out too with a little innocent espionage.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

How do I convince someone to sell there project they not touched in 30 years?

Bloody FiL.. too many projects ... too decrepid too finish..

That's a classic X2 over. First a Ford Pop and then a 70's hotrod straight out of Hot Car. 

[Barry Cade]

We're in the middle of our 3 days of summer up here, so it has been warm. Away in the Astro for the weekend so I thought it'd be a good idea to top up the aircon with my adapted blowtorch connector.😄  outside temp showed 25 deg.

 

[stuboy]

2 hours ago, egg said:

Probably the truth is you can't sadly. It's damn hard to make anyone change their mind about such things....

hes a stubborn old git, his dad shortened the axle... hes long passed away

[stuboy]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

That's a classic X2 over. First a Ford Pop and then a 70's hotrod straight out of Hot Car. 

anyone able to id the seats?

[Split_Pin]

Got a call from my mum this afternoon, flat tyre on her 22 plate Corsa. Thankfully she noticed it while at home. I asked her if there was a spare, she checked and said yes. Great, I'll come over and change it.

The tyre was a very flat indeed, a large screw was the culprit:

She hadn't noticed the tyre being soft but the burned sidewall confirms she had been unknowingly driving it with low pressure since yesterday, when the TPMS flagged a warning up.

Unfortunately,  the 'spare' was an ancient wheel from a much older Vauxhall that my dad had transferred from Corsa to Corsa over the years, thinking it would fit -why wouldn't it? But this Corsa is a PSA thing so the spigot on the hub was too large, plus I don't think the bolts would have stayed tight either.

Since the tyre deflated slowly, I gave the gunk stuff they supplied a go and after a short drive it appeared to hold. Hopefully it will stay inflated long enough to let her drive down to the tyre shop tomorrow, it's thankfully less than a mile away.

I think my mum is feeling vulnerable without my dad who would have taken care of all these sorts of things.

[Sigmund Fraud]

2 hours ago, stuboy said:

anyone able to id the seats?

Mid-70s VW Beetle, I reckon :

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

We're in the middle of our 3 days of summer up here, so it has been warm. Away in the Astro for the weekend so I thought it'd be a good idea to top up the aircon with my adapted blowtorch connector.😄  outside temp showed 25 deg.

 

 

I have one of those displays, some LED's on the right have called time though

[Popsicle]

Feeling rather good after recent vehicle fixes and what with the nice weather we're having, I decided to service some of the fleet this weekend.

First up was Mrs P's old Qashqai, I say old as daughter number one seems to be using it all the time at the mo, we got an MG HS thing a couple of months ago and Mrs P seems rather smitten with it. Nothing much to see really, oil, air and fuel filters all replaced and some of Mannols finest 5/30 low saps oil sloshed in.

Before starting I had to nip to Halfords for a 8mm square drive sump plug bit, I'd lent my set to a mate who was away for the weekend, I knew I'd lent it him but thought I must have another in one of the various sets of tools but nope nothing doing, so £13.99 and 30 minutes later than planned and I could make a start. So up on the ramps and get stuck in, its a piece of piss to service this 1.5 dci, everythings nice and accessible.

Next up was daughter numbers two's Suzuki Swift, which just needed an oil and filter change, again like the Qashqai really easy to do, so easy that I won't bore you with any pictures.

Next up was the couriering Caddy, it was due its 350k mile service, air, fuel and oil filters all changed and again Mannol oil sloshed in, this time 507 PD spec as I don't fancy buggering up the camshaft again.

You can see the new alternator in the background I put on a few months ago - just like the Swift & Qashqai the vans an absolute doddle to service, everythings so easy to get at.

Next up was to replace the vans washer jets. Ever since I've had the van one of the jets pointed far to low, the #10 torx screw head for adjusting the height had been worn smooth so a £10 pair of ebay replacements had been ordered.

New one on the left.

Easy to swap over, not a very good/tight fit in the bonnet though, gave it a squirt and it just reached the bottom of the windscreen. Oh well must just need adjusting up a bit. Flat head screw for adjustment, wanged it round and could see the jet section moving up, happy days, gave it another squirt and it still only just reached the bottom of the windscreen. Hmm thats odd, lets have a closer look.

Ah a split down the seem, cheap shite. Never mind must be something I can do with the old one to make it squirt a bit higher up.

One little wood screw wedged in to turn the little wheel for raising the jet up seems to be working, its solidly in there too - moved onto the passenger side to remove any potential future issues - I'll file that in the fixed category 😀.

So the to do list is getting more straight forward, just daughter number ones actual car to sort out, her Beetle cab is also due a service and mot next month. I'll probably have a shufty at that in the week to see if theres anything obvious to my untrained eye that will need doing for the MOT.

[Popsicle]

I also really need to go to the tip, the waste oil is getting a bit much!

[dozeydustman]

Just ordered a clutch for the C2, £70 for an LUK sounded decent enough, and oil & filters for the 205 for around £35. Expensive morning and it’s not even 8am, but these are jobs that need doing.

[dean36014]

Took my bx to a local car show held in a pub carpark. Safe to say at this time of year it's out grown it's location. 

Owned this car for 7 years now and could never consider parting with it.

 

[Split_Pin]

Other than 205s, French cars just don't get a look in at car shows. The Retroshite meet in Dunfermline last year did have a few nice pieces over the months last year, such as an a reg Renault 11, 21 Quadra and a Megane saloon but I haven't seen many elsewhere. 

[Zelandeth]

17 hours ago, stuboy said:

How do I convince someone to sell there project they not touched in 30 years?

Bloody FiL.. too many projects ... too decrepid too finish..

Sadly I suspect if that's not already been registered, it's basically dead.  Registering it now would need to comply with today's IVA rules, which for something built 30+ years ago just isn't going to happen without massive amount of wailing, gnashing of teeth and modification of the design with how prescriptive the regs now are.

Know a couple of folks who picked up 90% complete kit car projects that had sat in a garage for decades cheap and then realised when they'd done the remaining 10% of work that they'd got a lovely car that was essentially a very large paperweight because it was declared to be a "new car" in the eyes of the law.

[danthecapriman]

Went out for a rip in the Volvo earlier, needed some petrol anyway so since it’s nice out today just went for a jolly out in the countryside. 
On the way home on the A3 I spotted what looked like a Maestro van some way ahead so I sped up to get a closer look. Sure enough a really nice condition Maestro van… on a V reg! 
I’ve just had a look online and sure enough Ledbury did vans as well as car Maestro’s. I didn’t realise they made the van version too! 
Very cool thing to see out and about, and it looked well loved too. Only other oldies I spotted were a really nice orange MG Midget and an absolutely immaculate Rolls Royce Silver Shadow series 1.

[wesacosa]

Any fans of 90s Super Touring Cars.

The Super Touring power 2 Event (Brands 29th/30th June)

https://www.brandshatch.co.uk/2024/june/super-touring-power-2

I went last year and it was really good. It looks like if you have a pre 2000 car you can apply for a display pass which gets you free entry to the event and also allows you to park inside the circuit (and do a parade lap on the Sunday afternoon subject to the races not overrunning too much).   Just applied for my passes.  There were about 15 slots left for the Sunday and 40 odd left for the Saturday.  You can apply for one or both days.  Seems like a good deal as the weekend tickets are £42 and the daily tickets £26

 

[Merryck]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Sadly I suspect if that's not already been registered, it's basically dead.  Registering it now would need to comply with today's IVA rules, which for something built 30+ years ago just isn't going to happen without massive amount of wailing, gnashing of teeth and modification of the design with how prescriptive the regs now are.

Know a couple of folks who picked up 90% complete kit car projects that had sat in a garage for decades cheap and then realised when they'd done the remaining 10% of work that they'd got a lovely car that was essentially a very large paperweight because it was declared to be a "new car" in the eyes of the law.

blackpopracing's thread on Retro Rides is a great read. He managed to get his Pop through the IVA.

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Sadly I suspect if that's not already been registered, it's basically dead.  Registering it now would need to comply with today's IVA rules, which for something built 30+ years ago just isn't going to happen without massive amount of wailing, gnashing of teeth and modification of the design with how prescriptive the regs now are.

Know a couple of folks who picked up 90% complete kit car projects that had sat in a garage for decades cheap and then realised when they'd done the remaining 10% of work that they'd got a lovely car that was essentially a very large paperweight because it was declared to be a "new car" in the eyes of the law.

*puts 1980s hot rod builder sunglasses on *

Looks like a totally standard (insert literally any vehicle make and model from the 1940s-1960s who's vin and v5 were at hand) to me, no problem registering it whatsoever 

[richardmorris]

If it's in my space can I keep it?

1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta by Scaglietti | Cliveden House | RM Sotheby's (rmsothebys.com)

 

[Ghosty]

Yaris appears to be burning oil at a significant rate. No smoke, but it's going through a few litres in 4-5k miles. Idle is lumpy and it's struggling for oil pressure.

Having spoken to the PO he only used it for short journeys and before that, it likely was too, with a long term lady owner in Devon.

PCV is clean and functional - think piston rings are heading for an early grave.

FFS.

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, Merryck said:

blackpopracing's thread on Retro Rides is a great read. He managed to get his Pop through the IVA.

That's about the only retro rides thread I ever properly read and used to follow, must revisit it one day. 

I found as and rr at the same to and stuck with the beige and just dipped in and out of rr, usually in the sub £1k for sale section 😂

[Ghosty]

Just had a look at the exhaust.

It's piston rings.

Fuck sake.

[Lankytim]

Got out and about yesterday and collected some fence panels in my old trailer. It was built years ago by a local guy using stainless steel and as a result has worn the decades very well.