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I've mentioned my other cars in different places so thought id show them of a little. First up is the 1969 mk1 capri its an auto 1600gt xlr all original with 44k miles on the clock, currently mid way through a full restoration so she isnt looking pretty at the moment but here is a before image (still looking not to bad) Next up is a rear engined GTM Rossa this was a bit of an impulse buy of ebay, a good price but so much had been bodged it became my nightmare car, currently gets parked up over the winter and without fail she needs a new brake and clutch master cylinder each summer, no matter what I do, where I park her or how I cover her they always jam up solid, if there was room in the car I'd go with a pedal box but at 6ft2 its tight as it is, She runs on a mix of mini/ metro gear, mostly mini with metro turbo brakes up front, She has a 1380 med built bottom end, omega pistons, heavily worked head, mild cam, lcb with a custom exhaust (lovely sound) and a dellorto 45 dhla. never been on the rollers so I couldnt say what she is making, tuning was done by the old seat of the pants method, I dare say more could be had with a proper rr session.

always like reading your updates. even tho you never have any pics of how your car looks etc.... haha i think if i ever get shut of the polo i will be getting an arosa tdi. remap it and gearbox swap for mpg kicks lol

Some good photos through this post, figured Id share. I tend to shoot mostly macro, with some landscape and wildlife stuff, this little guy was around 3mm.

Modern day tuning isn't what it once was but modern day engineering is also way more advanced which usually means the gains to be had are smaller or limited by the fact that heads for example have less excess in them or more exotic materials meaning they are harder to open. I agree it would be interesting to see what could be done, but that's something for someone with money to throw away and time to spare as there would be trial and error involved in finding the best shapes and smoothing. Silver, you may be a fan of my mini based gtm rossa, 1380 med built block, omega pistons, mild cam road/rally head and a 45 dhla.

This is turning into a big debate to which there is no right answer of course... Rubbish fuel can be dealt with using knock sensors and lambda, although I don't think there's much you can do with Brazillian diesel- it's awful. African fuel aint that bad. Russian fuel is full of sulphur. Aussie & NZ fuel only had additives mixed in starting just a few years ago. British premium fuel is very good, as is most of middle eastern fuel. One of the senior BP fuel additive chaps that works down the road in the Castrol development centre from me swears by his blend of unleaded that is available nationally when you fill at BP. Vdubs aren't boring. Well ok the new ones are (but I do like the look of the new scirocco though)- but I still think the mk2 golf is the best car ever made. Ever. (I'm going to get flamed for saying that!). I guess the trouble is that when you're billion dollar car company, and you make cars to make money (since the primary purpose of making stuff to sell is to make money), you need to make the cars appeal to a very wide age group- from 17 to 70. And when it comes to power, it's all about air flow and emissions. Later this year (september I think) the MOT will be testing for Nox to get into line with the rest of the EU where they already do as far as I know (norwegian and swedish posters is this true?). Not sure of the details as to which year models it applies to, but I read somewhere that they are trying to stop diesel engine cars from entering London. Then they'll roll out that policy across the UK to get rid of badly polluting cars. And right now those 'badly polluting' cars, I personally think are just fine (like my SDI). Mmmm. In the US, the fuel has such a low octane rating that the only way to meet emissions is by lowering the compression ratio. High CR give rise to more Nox. It's part the reason why the FSI fuel system was developed, to squirt after TDC, to give more push later in the cycle avoiding the high pressures and high burn temps. Didn't work though as we all know....

The tyres from my BBS RZ wheels are for sale, they are Bridgestone Potenza tyres 165 50 15 with 6mm of tread left so basically brand new £140 contact me on here or 07809222683 if interested Ben