Snoopy

I used a torch to do the light painting. I tried a flash but kept on hitting the retroreflective license plate too much, the torch allowed me to control where the beam fell more accurately.

Beautiful shot, incredible detail! Well done. My photos of the night sky have considerably less magnification! This one I took in January but processed over the weekend just made Flickr Explore:

Isn't that the idea? Vancouver, BC:

Birch Bay State Park, WA:

Thanks It's a multiple-exposure (HDR) photo. But nothing has been added.

Steering wheel's on the wrong side, too!

My wheels: Re-engage lurk mode.

Nobody knows... And, for the record, I don't even have access to the mods forum any more. lovely persons...

No, oddly it rubs at the front if you go through a very big suspension compression but so far not at the back. It is pretty stiff though!

This is what happens when you give a complete child a decentish salary: (Sorry for the photos, the downside of driving is that you can't be the one taking them!)

Yeah, my only car. Didn't really have to take it out (could have worked from home) but my commute is short. Doesn't seem to steam up anywhere near as badly as the old one either. Still jolly cold though, my poor toes!

Teehee. VX beats S2k even in snow No unintentional issues on the drive in (apart from huawge braking distances). Some awesome 0.2mph slides on the roads on site though!

For what it's worth, I have one of these in my car (obviously not a Lupo!). The amount of power it lets you put down through the corners is simply outstanding. I've no idea how well they work on a front-wheel drive car, but if it's anything like as effective as on mine I'd highly recommend it.

If you're in busyish traffic then chances are there's a car about 2 feet behind you that you're blinding! Rear fogs ought to be fitted only if the car has a rear proximity sensor to automatically switch them off when another car is behind. Plus, as said, the visibility needs to be absolutely horrific for them to be useful. Heavy rain (of the sort we get in this country anyway) is not even close to needing rear foglights - even taillights will penetrate several hundred metres in that weather, let alone brake lights.

I must admit I don't get why people complain so much about them. I drive an extremely low car and I'd say I get dazzled by 1 in 10 cars at night due to incorrectly aligned main beam headlights, and don't even get me started on if I have a 4x4 behind me, it's like having a searchlight through my back window. Despite this, in 60,000 miles I've been inconvenienced by front fogs maybe 5 times, of which over half I believe were aftermarket units incorrectly fitted. I just don't get why people complain about the light output. One car with foglights still puts out less light than, say, two cars, and if you can't drive towards two cars without not being able to see where you're going, please, for the love of God, get a bus pass. Having said all that, if you do drive around with them you look a complete and utter tit (even more so if you haven't realised that one of them has blown) and risk getting pulled over by the police. It doesn't look cool, even if your Mum says it does. But of all the transgressions the British motorist regularly makes (*rear* foglights, especially in traffic jams, not signalling, not looking, not giving way, staying in the middle lane, the list goes on and on), front fogs would come virtually at the bottom of the list for me in terms of annoyance or danger.

Quick one from this evening: In its usual state (i.e filthy )

Genius.

IT'S A WING, NOT A SPOILER! I was worried it would feel 'too fast' to be usable (in terms of grip level and the like) but it really doesn't (although you have to treat it with a lot of respect). It obviously is very quick, and most noticeably compared to my 2.2 is that it stays very quick up to very dangerous speeds, unlike the 2.2 which would start to struggle to feel 'fast' at motorway speeds. You can very easily get to extremely illegal speeds on motorway sliproads before you know it. (Not helped by a dash that barely bothers to show your speed) Out of all the mods it has the one I'm most impressed with is the limited-slip diff, the sheer amount of power you can put down both through the corners and in a straight line is phenomenal. If I buy another (or an Elise) then it'll be the first thing I fit. Having said that, I can see why Lotus insist on you having TC fitted at the same time as an LSD on the Exige, as you really need to know what you're doing. I looked at the 111R and Exige when I was buying this one (I had an Elise S when my blue VX was in the garage after someone hit it, and loved the relative civilisation compared to the VX) but they just didn't seem fast at all to me. Obviously the Exige is phenomenal through the bends (although a lot of that is I think due to the tyres) but it just felt like it wasn't a huge step up from the 2.2 VX in a straight line (which also confirmed my experiences with them when in the 2.2 VX, they'd obviously pull away but I was expecting to be destroyed whereas I was only mildly thrashed). The VX though, with the turbo power delivery and of course the much higher power output does feel seriously rapid. Having said that if I could have afforded a supercharged Exige then I'd almost certainly have bought one as (although I never test-drove one) from reports and from the stats it should be a truly superb car. Oh, and for anyone thinking I'm dissing the Elise, I'm not. The Elise S was a simply superb car that would be number one on my list of recommended cars for anyone wanting their first intro into a mid-engined sports car, having simply sublime handling and an engine that just begs you to drive it (whilst not being powerful enough to get you into too much trouble). Had I been able to afford an Exige that would have given me the performance I wanted I would have bought one. Edit: Oh, and for what it's worth the wing looks a *lot* better in person, I've yet to find an angle that works very well in photos (although the front view makes it look pretty good, and people don't see the back of it for very long )

Damn right, and I have no desire to become used to it, either! Must say I'm very surprised how many people would do 30+ hours of a crappy job rather than pay a few quid though. Can understand it for those on 9 points, but I'd much rather pay my way out of trouble

Points every day.

It's supposed to be 300bhp but due to unknown reasons it's 'only' ~275bhp (I get told off for using the word only quite often...) Still works out to roughly 300bhp/tonne though £17,500.

From passengers: 'How do I get in?' 'How do I get out?' (Arse-first is the answer you give to people you don't like) 'What does that button in the centre of the dash do?' 'Oh dear, was this bit supposed to come off?' From others: 'Nice car, mate' (about 3 times per journey and it's just plain embarrasing at petrol stations) "Wow, a Ferrari!' 'Look Mum, look!' 'Is that a lambo?' 'Is that a lotus?' 'Is that a kit car?' 'Is that your Mum's car?' (?!) 'I'll swap you?' (Never heard that before...) 'Do you know how fast you were going, Sir?' (88mph down the M3, went back in time to avoid the points) 'Is that the turbo?' (Fifteen million times when it wasn't, not once since I actually got a turbo) 'Is that the diesel one?' (??!!)

They come up on eBay quite often (second hand) for around 4-600 quid and I still haven't been able to justify it! £800 would go on camera equipment or vacations long before it went on the car (except for roadworthiness of course), which is why I wanted to buy a pre-modded VX rather than do it myself. Plus I'm pretty sure a knock on a roundabout would only cost me my insurance excess (plus increased premiums of course, but still...) Think they ripped you off, they claimed it had been superceded by a new part when I bought mine but still only charged me 5p. And as I didn't have any cash on me I paid with Switch (which must have cost them way more than 5p to process!) Vauxhall 281, Snoop 1. Not tonight! Was barely breathing on the throttle but it was still dancing round roundabouts and out of junctions

Z4 doesn't have an LSD though, does it? Spinning up one wheel is easy I've considered it but not sure I'd ever use it, bit of a pain to fit in mine as well (need to send wiring to the front for the ABS and the back for the engine, and the standard Racelogic loom isn't long enough so needs extending). Plus it's quite expensive, even in group buys. VXs don't have leccy windows. Mine does have central locking though (no more frozen locks, yay!)

The splitter is lower at the edges than in the middle so I'd have to lower the plate a long way to make it hit first, probably to the point where the top of the plate mounting point was visible above it. No CF clams available nor do I think there will be to be honest, not enough VXs out there to justify it. There are now some sellers on eBay who have moulds of the standard clams and will sell you smaller sections (i.e. the lower front section, which can be bonded onto the rest of a clam if you've just damaged a bit of it). A nutter in Europe has fitted Exige GT3 carbon fibre clams to his 400bhp VX, though: I'm not quite that stupid, swapped them for KU31s in early November. R888s were actually great in the damp -- very little grip indeed but extremely predictable and great fun round roundabouts sideways at 10mph while everyone else behind you wondered why you were going so slow! They were a bit suicidal in standing water though and extreme cold, and as I drive the car every day (and it doesn't have TC, one of the few mods it's missing) it didn't really seem entirely wise. Still can manage to light up the rears in third gear in a straight line if it's really cold and wet.