Darren Langeveldt is involved in Coventry Motofest 2015.

 Here is the M3 - they wanted shots with all the cars with Helmets on top?

 

He was doing some promotional work and needed some track cars for a shoot with the BBC, Sky and others. So I jumped in the M3 and went up to Coventry.

We got some coverage in the January edition of Octane. We also got coverage on the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/.../uk-england-coventry-warwickshire... and ITV but I could not find anything on this.


The BBC footage came from the cameraman standing on my passenger seat, but hanging out the sunroof. The other camera crew put some GoPro's on my car and I followed them in a Merc SLK - but cannot find the footage which is a shame as it would have been quite good.

Cover in the Coventry Telegraph

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/.../look-coventry...



Some of the cars there - the yellow one was quite noisy! However, it was not as noisy as the original D-Type which had just done the Mille Milgia.

Ben Broke-Smith was there in his 996 Twin Turbo ( I do want one of these). Bryn turned up in his Volvo - Epic.

Move on a few weeks and another Cadwell opportunity arises - shall I go for it? Will there be fog? Oh! lets give it a shot....................

Hotel booked - Trackday Booked - new diff in M3 - let's prepare the M3 for the day.

Putting in the CL race brake pads and I notice that the inner edge of both front tyres is way on the illegal side - two new tyres! OK that is fine - the old tyres had served their purpose and been cost effective. Packed the car up and all ready for the trip up to Cadwell.

Come out on the Saturday morning and one of the rears is looking low - slow leak? also have a look at both rears! Yikes they are illegal as well so another two new tyres needed. So whip off the two rear wheels and take them to the Tyre Barn to have the new tyres fitted.

However, I had fitted one of the Wet tyred wheels temporarily and noticed a lot of movement on the wheel - wheel bearing! So organised to go to a garage after I had sorted the tyres. 

Very helpful garage - my son recommended them - Motech in Ampere Rd - Phew wheel bearing had come loose with the vibration of the old broken diff. A quick tighten and all OK. Off to Lincoln.

started the day on wets - great fun

lunchtime the sun came out and blue skies so went back to the road tyres - didn't want to "burn" out the Wets

 Replica T16 - looked fabulous and went even better

Great day - even the wet weather and changeable conditions couldn't put a damper on the day.

There were a couple of people not following the overtaking rules - one young guy in a Turbo Jap thing - almost stopping on all the corners - but then blast down the straights! Couldn't use his mirrors to see he had a queue behind him all the time!

Eventually got by him on the pit straight - only just - and then joined the queue behind him again. shows how slow he was in the corners - at this point I pulled off and spoke to the organisers.




Some pics of the day by Extreme - good shots Nick

very wet through Hall bends

Add caption

looks like I am on the grass - I'm not :-)

Cadwell Park 1/2 day track day - went up the night before - got there early - all looking good cold but sun beginning to shine :-)

Amazon Rally car

 Unfortunately - during the briefing the fog came down. So we sat for an hour and a half until it lifted and then we did the sighting laps.

I came in for a call of nature and when I came out it had come down again................................... :-(

It never lifted and at 1pm we called it a day and packed up!

We all got a credit for next year so roll on 2015.

Fabulous E30 M3

MKII Escort

This was unbelievable - carbon fibre bonnet and boot and loads inside

Mission Motorsport were having a day at Goodwood, but this time they were full so no giving pax laps for me. so I just went along to see the cars and people and say hello to friends. Could only do the moring as I had to pick my sister up from the airport in the afternoon.

What a selection of cars - here are some pics

An original DB4 GT Zagato - my dream car.

 Lightweight Streamlined E Type Jag

 Very rare Bizzarrini - virtually mid engined - sounded glorious

Cobra Daytona

I recognise that car - Jim :-)

It was great of these guys to bring these invaluable cars along to help out the soldiers.

Well I've had another long string of bad luck with cars...................again

OK next part - is the A8 - small silencer under the front seats is blowing. The stainless steel unit of the black one (through a communication breakdown did not get delivered to Donnington) so on a business trip to Scotland I swung by West Yorkshire on the way back and picked it up from Baz & Stan's place. Stan helped me put the exhaust on the roof bars on the A8.

I stayed the night at a Monastery - for a reasonable rate and it was around the corner from Stan's place. So Stan and I went for a few beers and a bite to eat. I got back to the Monastery about 1130pm to find the gates closed and locked and no one answering the phone! I had to climb over the gate to get to the building and to my room.................I am not known for my climbing prowess :-(

Next morning  I went to Longlife Exhausts in Leeds and the fitted the exhaust to the A8 for £80 which I thought was very reasonable.

Sorry no pics of this escapade

Now I mentioned Donnington in the last part. this was a Northloop trackday and I trailered the M3 there and the weather was good to us - cold but sunny and dry.


However, it was not so good for the front disks - both cracked in the late morning session. stupid EBC grooved and drilled replacements for the ones that went at the Ring.............rubbish. Fortunately I had brought the old solid disks with me as a precaution - phew. So I fitted these over the lunchtime and also fitted the alloys with the slicks as the weather was still good.

Here are some pics of the day - On the 888's struggling to get heat into them in the morning.

At the bottom of the Craner Curves with Phil of Drifworks in his fabulous GT3 coming up fast behind. :-)

Fantastic afternoon - some sessions with another M3 - Phil of Driftworks Business Partner - really good. A session with James in his 969 - picture to the right.








However, the diff was getting noisier and noisier..............something had to be done.

So I booked it into Gareth's and he took it apart and this is what he found - the other parts to the "strays" are welded to the scrap metal that was my diff - you can just see the remains in the cardboard box in the back of the picture!

Another friend came up with a replacement Diff at a good price and I picked it up from Shrewsbury on the way back from Scotland after having the exhaust fitted .....................

All good now.