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Pete G, I am having to limit my activities to Wiscombe this year as we have a lot of other commitments. Although Dunkeswell is on again, i really did not enjoy the new course - far too tight - OK for Karts or RWD Escorts! Did a Wiscombe a couple of weekends ago - the Saturday was on list 1a...

But for competition these move you into the 400 bhp plus 4WD class and would not get a look in. Interestinlgy enough at Wiscombe a 190 hp Mk 1 Golf, which probably weights under 850 kg is the nearest to them - the Power to weight ratio is about 220 bhp/tonne - to match it the Tophy needs 245...

Space Monkey. I have contacted Iain Litchfield who will have a demo some time in June. I don't need the practicality as we have family barges to deal with luggage, old limbs and dogs! However for competitive hill-climbing I have paused for considerable thought because of the weight and size...

I was very excited to read about the new Japanese Civic type R. Apart from a boring 4 door saloon body, the prospect of 225 PS, 8,400 rev limit, reasonable torque, Brembo 4 pot callipers, 18" lightweight rims, gear type LSD, proper independent rear suspension etc was very tempting. Still not a...

Alfa have dropped the biggest goolie ever with the 159/Brera platform. According to Autocar even the 2.2 Spyder actually weighs 1,670 kg (at least 100 kg more than Alfa will admit). Their test of the 3.2 Brera came in at 1,745, so the 3.2 Spyder is probably over 1,800. Alfa have stated that...

I'll avoid expressing any personal opinion as tyres are such a subjective thing - go onto the US site tirerack .com or eurotuner/tech where quite often they do detailed comparative tests - in general the F1 does well because they find it so good in the wet. Of course they do not state how wet...

It is typical of a FWD car with a low percentage of its wieght on the rear wheels and a handling biased set-up, in that the reason that it lifts a rear wheel is that it has very little droop travel on the rear dampers. For racing I would reduce this to even less, but then the ride would become...

Hate to say that in £/bhp exhausts are very poor value - even with a decat there do not seem to be any proper before and after figures. Certainly inlet manifold matching and re-map are best value - but the chances of seeing a genuibne 200 bhp are very slim. Without getting very ambitious on...

Having used mine for commuting for th first time in 6 months: Engine noise up to about 90 is surprisingly tolerable (and I am quite fussy) revs circa 4,300. Wind noise typical of its kind, road noise very surface related. Ride is hard enough to tell you how bad the state of British roads is -...

See AutoExpress - apparently not for production - they quoted a price of £64,000!!

Add a drop of dish washer rinse aid to a bucket of clean water, and use this to rinse off detergent, avoids most of the water marks without drying!! We have spring water at home so I just spray it and leave to dry - no marks.

Throttle bodies have individual butterflies for each cylinder and do not have a plenum chamber, thus do not suffer from pulse interference between cylinders, which happens in the plenum chamber - hence they can run what is known as a tuned length to improve the amount of air that can be...

What concerns me is that the group N seems to introduce hairtrigger responses - one of the ways in which the Trophy is so quick in the wet (when hillclimbing) is that I can turn off the TC and gain seconds - all because the soft responses make it so easy to modulate the throttle. Cue; in the...

Phil. Keep me posted - where are you based - I live in SE Devon, but work near Newbury. Good luck with the search.

Phil Pearce - this is exactly what happened to me - we think that the adjustment won't change - so wait until you can get a rebuild as it will be a lot cheaper- consult racecardoctor who is in contact with Sachs - see one of his earlier postings. He is very busy with pre-season work. If you...

Just recommend great caution - again on the driver's side, the grub screw was glued in and no amount of scraping etc helped - then, and I am ashamed ot admit it, brute force resulted in serious damage - broken adjuster shaft - what a moron. I have discussed with David (as in racecardoctor)...

Just to add to the interest Ben is scheduled to do the inlet manifold and re-map for me in June (delayed from end of 06 for all sorts of reasons) plus his latest cams which are 100% compatible with the standard ECU in terms of idle stability and should further enhance torque throughout the...

Steeve, Not meant to be patronising I assure - just a reflection of my own reality - the first racing Mini with which I was involved was in the mid 60's!

Steve - the problems at the rear can arise from different production tolerances or the beam mountings being out of line - you may be too young to remember how Minis used to crab when the rear subframe was misaligned. Certainly this applies more to cars with adjustable rear suspension - Imprezzas...

Great to see that Donkey uses the same the settings as I use - particularly the front toe-out and as he has obviously doen far more trsting. More than the secretiveness, what iIfind frustrating is that people advocate other settings and do not reveal or understand that they have been...

Agreed, I have found it as stiff as I would want for the road and spot-on for hill climbing, wet or dry

Donkey welcome ot the aging process - the lanes of Devon are certainly no better - theholes atfer the recent rain are bigger than pots. However as commented before I would think that for circuit work and smooth surface sprints the high coG does need something stiffer than sandard.

Do you know how much stiffer these springs are, and if the same % f & r?

I think that the trouble with the Civic's styling, which certainly looks very modern and was very brave/bold/foolhardy of Honda, is that it is actually very quirky and as a result will date equally quickly - then no one will want them. I know people rave about the V-Tec kick, but that really is...

Gareth - is that to presuade female drivers that the Trophy is a good idea or that you are safe in it (driving of course)? Have to be careful about lcomments on ady drivers - one of the most competitve at Wiscombe is a genuinely charming lady in an Elan. BTW it is a whole separate topic, but...

The rear is not heavily laden, so the only object of rear camber is to compensate for roll rather than sidewall distortion. If anything I would tend to run less camber so as to encourage the back end to move out more readily - not that I am that brave or skilfull when driving between trees and...

Matt It will depend as much as anything on drivers, tyres and geometry. You will also find that very stiff set-ups suit smooth tracks, whereas for hill climbing and to some extent the road it is essentail to run a much softer set-up. I would estimate from my own experience that the Trophy is a...

Donkey, I don't have any problem with your recommendations - for hill climbing in production classs it is hard to reduce weight short of removing a/c and sound proofing which woud destroy it as a road car - power really does help up steep hills!!

Track tyres will give the single biggest improvement in performance - just don't go too soft if you intend to do lots of laps. Kumho V70A are the only ones that fit 16" Cheapest mod is camber (2 degrees) and carefiu alignment. The toe setting varies for different cambers and ET. If yuo are...

Probably as an oap in Devon, but NUD £300 including £50 loading for planned engine mods.