appletonn
New member
Had a run over to the folks house to borrow some leather cleaner from my dad plus give the car a decent run at motorway speeds for the first time since I got it.
The weather was supposed to be 'dry'ish' but needless to say, the M62 was awash with water and spray[
]
Car hummed along and although I didn't exceed 80mph due to the weather (and the new tyres, did i mention those...?!) it felt solid and planted and tracked arrow straight.
On the return trip, I came up behind a old Ferrari Mondial along a dual carriageway section and he was 'making progress' shall we say as the roads had dried up considerably by then. His V8 sounded delicious so I tagged along behind him for a few miles whilst he exercised his car properly (judging from the noise) and it was refreshingly easy to maintain station as he accelerated away from roundabouts, without really pushing the car at all. Just good to see another 80's 'classic' being used in the way for which it was designed.
After a slightly quicker run up the M62 again, I eventually turned off and came to a stop at some traffic lights alongside an Audi convertible. As the lights turned to green and I set off (gently as roads still wet) I quickly changed into second and applied some right foot to hasten my progress. Slightly too much as it turns out (!) as the car broke traction with the arrival of full boost and span up both rear wheels sending me slightly sideways [&:]. With the adrenalin now coursing through my veins, I lifted off slightly, popped it into 3rd and carried on my way. I was very impressed with how benign the car was to control, having broken traction, and it came back into line very quickly - there was a slight camber on the road which may have contributed to the slightly sidewards movement.
I think I scared the whatsit out of the Audi driver though.
I knew that my tyres were still green and that the roads were wet so had consciously been driving especially carefully, metering the power in gently. This still caught me out though - it is slippery out there!
Really love driving the car - even in the wet, its balance in the corners feels superb.
BTW, I cannot yet tell if that KLA strut brace is making any difference (too wet out there!) but in my head it definitely is....[]
The weather was supposed to be 'dry'ish' but needless to say, the M62 was awash with water and spray[
]Car hummed along and although I didn't exceed 80mph due to the weather (and the new tyres, did i mention those...?!) it felt solid and planted and tracked arrow straight.
On the return trip, I came up behind a old Ferrari Mondial along a dual carriageway section and he was 'making progress' shall we say as the roads had dried up considerably by then. His V8 sounded delicious so I tagged along behind him for a few miles whilst he exercised his car properly (judging from the noise) and it was refreshingly easy to maintain station as he accelerated away from roundabouts, without really pushing the car at all. Just good to see another 80's 'classic' being used in the way for which it was designed.
After a slightly quicker run up the M62 again, I eventually turned off and came to a stop at some traffic lights alongside an Audi convertible. As the lights turned to green and I set off (gently as roads still wet) I quickly changed into second and applied some right foot to hasten my progress. Slightly too much as it turns out (!) as the car broke traction with the arrival of full boost and span up both rear wheels sending me slightly sideways [&:]. With the adrenalin now coursing through my veins, I lifted off slightly, popped it into 3rd and carried on my way. I was very impressed with how benign the car was to control, having broken traction, and it came back into line very quickly - there was a slight camber on the road which may have contributed to the slightly sidewards movement.
I think I scared the whatsit out of the Audi driver though.
I knew that my tyres were still green and that the roads were wet so had consciously been driving especially carefully, metering the power in gently. This still caught me out though - it is slippery out there!
Really love driving the car - even in the wet, its balance in the corners feels superb.
BTW, I cannot yet tell if that KLA strut brace is making any difference (too wet out there!) but in my head it definitely is....[
]
