Last weeks post, this week. Kind of.

This week saw the return of Game of Thrones, and with it winter was no longer coming. It came. It came all over the hills where I live. And then it was gone again. And back. And gone. And back.... you get the picture. You can really tell the British summer is coming when the weather only lasts 10 minutes before changing.

So the first meme was aimed at falling in line with my opening paragraph, but I simply couldn't resist putting the second one in as well. It appealed to my inner geek too much.

It has again been a couple of weeks since  my last post again, not good enough I know, but with these wintery showers and summery blizzards the changing of the seasons hopefully marks a change in my ability to get stuck in to the project!

Speaking of which, I currently have a GTO shaped hole in my garage as she has finally been taken away today, through the blizzards, to have her stage 3 Competition Clutch fitted.

GTO shaped hole... just a said tyre impression left in the dust...

This post in truth was intended to be posted last week, she was supposed to be collected last week and I should really have had her back and running by now... sadly the same thing happened with the recovery vehicle as last time and the first one they sent was unable to tow her. Never mind. Fingers crossed I will get her back by Saturday lunchtime ready for the next e85 car meet at the weekend.

So her getting taken away meant I had to bolt in the Sparco wheel Mrs 3oD got me for xmas, here's what it looks like:

I think it is a big improvement over the ripspeed that was in when I got the car.

Before, ugly old Ripspeed wheel

After with the Sparco wheel,

So what's gonna happen when I get her back? Hopefully I should be posting from the next meet in a couple of days. Then the GTO will need a 500 mile break in for the new clutch. I already have my next mod sat waiting for an install however:

57i awaiting install

So all going well with the clutch, this should be happening in the next couple of weeks. I have the cold air kit, not just the filter, I know it wont change the BHP, I just wonna make it sound good for now! When the 500 miles are up I will do another 0-60 test to see what she she can do without bald tyres and without a slipping clutch, and then who knows from there!

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Clutching at Straws... or rather an invoice for a new clutch (finally)

If you follow my posts regularly you may have realised I missed a week last week. It was one of those weeks where life got in the way of cars sadly... Much to the dismay of Mrs 3ofdiamonds I was having to work down south living out of hotels #firstworldproblems

Sadly this has meant that I have not had much chance to do anything with the GTO, I have however used this time to finally shop for a new clutch which is now ordered and should be here by the end of the month!

I did a bit of research into performance clutches and still probably couldn't explain it very well, so instead here's a handy tutorial I watched on youtube:

From local suppliers I could only find an OEM replacement which meant that from the get-go that option was out of the question. It would have allowed me to get the car on the road faster, however I didn't see the point of buying a clutch now only to buy another in just a couple of months. 

This meant I was going to be shopping online. I found a wealth of OEM replacements available on various sites. When I got the GTO I read on many a forum that parts would be hard to find and really expensive, so was pleasantly surprised at the choice. The more I looked at performance clutches however, the more I was getting messages back saying that I couldn't order them, or that they weren't in stock with no indication they would be restocked.

Just as I was about to resort to importing from the other side of the Atlantic or trying to learn Japanese to order a JDM replacement clutch, I did find a couple of sites which stocked them and ended up torn between a kit on each, the first was h-tune.co.uk and was an Action Clutch kit. Beyond stage 1 however there was no organic option and I had decided against a metallic kit moving forward for trying to preserve the feel of driving under normal driving conditions.

Stage 2 Action Clutch - Kevlar with 70% increased capacity over OEM and looks like a piece of art!

So from my available choices I came to realise that the best option would likely be a stage 2 clutch to give the best balance between drive-ability and potential for increase in performance. Which is why I ultimately opted for a stage 3..... Typical bloke, what I need and then some! This is why I am not allowed to do the weekly shop...

The clutch is a Competition Clutch kit from demon-tweeks.co.uk and will be good for a torque increase of 150%. This will be more than I could ever possibly need and gives plenty of room to grow the power figures over the next couple of years. Luckily its not going in a daily driver otherwise everyday would be leg day! The clutch is ceramic, so although it will lose some drive-ability going for a stage 3, it hopefully wont lose too much. It was described by Competition Clutch on Demon Tweeks as "Ultimate 'Street and Strip' Kit" and as "Ideal for enthusiastic fast road driving". The latter of the two statements shall put that to test on the mountain roads in the summer.

Stage 3 Competition Clutch - Ceramic

Following installation there will be a 500 mile break in period and then it will be back to business as usual. I still have a couple of parts to install from January I have been waiting to get the car rolling again before installing (such as the 57i induction kit) so will hopefully be busy with her again soon!

I have also been trying the new Amino Garage app. First thoughts are that it is a bit like google+ or facebook but just for cars. No random pictures of food. No shots of legs in the bath or on a beach. Just cars! (Well, and the odd bike). Check out the app. You can follow my profile here.

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Mini Entry (and a bit of a rant)

So, I couldn't get my wheel on last weekend because of issues trying to sort the rats nest of wiring left behind the wheel by the previous moron...I mean owner, who decided to insulate the wires with sellotape... but by the by... Having gone to install it on a Sunday afternoon and not being able to get the right lugs etc before the store closed, I ordered them online. When I ordered them, it was done with a large (what I thought was) reputable company who advertise by priding themselves on the fact they mainly supply trades. This left me rather disappointed when my parts arrived in the box pictured below (I cant be the only one that thinks this is disgraceful? surely?):

Worst packing ever?

The box was WAY too big for its contents with nothing to pad the contents out so they were just  able to fly about inside! I swear a rogue band of pygmy marmosets could be trained within an hour to pack tools into a box better.... now picturing that, sounds cute... I'm now calm so rant over...

These are the Pygmy Marmosets I am starting to train to pack boxes...

So as this arrived mid-week I went to fit the wheel on Sunday (yes Valentines day, yes Mrs 3ofdiamonds is awesome!). I cut the old connections from the robot sperm on the back of the steering wheel and crimped on the new ones.

Wheel ready to go on, sort of...

So one wire is ready to feed onto the live wire behind the wheel, and the other is to ground. The previous horn on the car self-ground so I worked out how I would feed the ground wire through the boss kit and use an Allen key bolt to secure it via the crimping copper-lug on the black wire to the back of the boss kit on one of the unused threads from the alternate bolt pattern to the one I needed.

Reverse of the boss kit

 The lug was the perfect size when squared up against the boss kit in a test fitting before putting the boss kit back together, it was the smallest size I could get so that was a bit of a relief. And then I put the plastic casing back on... With the casing on the boss kit it no longer fit. The smallest flipping size and it didn't clear it. It would fit into the inner bolt pattern (albeit snuggly), but this is the pattern that fits the Sparco wheel. The outer pattern just will not take the crimping copper lug....

I'm left with a couple of options:

• Buy a new boss kit
• Get smaller crimping copper lugs and 
• Dremel the ones I have to a shape that will fit

So, as I'm typing this Mrs 3ofdiamonds is at the local shopping centre, so I'm hoping she will be able to pop into the hardware shop and bring me back some lugs.... or a Dremel (as I don't actually have one yet) as I don't really want to have to buy a new boss kit.

So I feel back at square one and probably showing off my lack of knowledge with these things. But it is my first project I expected to learn as I went along. In this instance I have learnt three things.

1. Don't start a new job late on Sunday afternoon, as once the shops shut I'm screwed.
2. Always start with more tools and parts than I can imagine I can possibly need even if the job is supposed to be simple.
3. I am probably going to break the record for longest time taken to replace a steering wheel.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have posted an update either of a picture of the racing wheel victoriously in situ in the Mitsubishi project car, or alternatively a picture of the new boss kit I'll have ordered by then if yet again things don't quite go to plan... wish me luck, I bloody well need it!

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Sparco Steering Wheel Install (well... sort of...)

In my first blog entry I said that once I started wrenching on my Mitsubishi project car it would likely be an example of 'how not to' rather than 'how to'. This weeks entry may be a prime example of that. Not because I balleds anything up... but rather, the reason behind me changing some of the parts that I know are already aftermarket.

The interior of the car wasn't exactly high on the reasons for buying the car. The drivers seat has a slight tear, the gaiters are worn, the gear knob and the steering wheel probably both looked good cruising along to 'Deep Blue Something or other' as they topped the chart way back when, as that is clearly when they were originally installed... now however, they look more old and tired than a 30 something after a night of clubbing.

The Ripspeed steering wheel on the GTO when I got it.

Since Christmas I have had a new Sparco wheel waiting to be installed (courtesy of Mrs 3ofDiamonds) but have been distracted slightly by meets and what not, I hadn't yet found the time to do the install.

Sparco - Racing Attitude!

 I think Mrs 3ofDiamonds will be pleased to see this box gone, I'm just pleased to see it opened!

The Sparco wheel for the Mitsubishi GTO

Inside the box is this rather neat looking racing wheel. I ultimately want a black and red colour scheme (cliche I know, but it's what I want) and this will look so much cleaner than the existing, and oh so tired Ripspeed one, currently on the car.

One of the wheels buttons

 No, this is not some kind of robot sperm. This is one of 4 red buttons for the wheel. The bottom bit unscrews (as below) and then is slid into the gaps on the wheel. Once in place it is screwed back together to attach to the wheel.

Taking apart the robot sperm

 When you are taking apart the button it's best just to unscrew the plastic nut as above, as inside it is spring loaded... TWICE and unscrewing the part the wires attach to will cause the insides to explode out! (the smaller spring is hard to find if this happens, not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...)

The innards of the robot sperm

 If the wrong bit is unscrewed the insides go back together as  shown above to ensure it still functions properly. Best not to get it to this point though as it's a tad fiddly.

The wheel from the back with the 4 buttons attached

 Once the wheel had its buttons installed I headed to the Mitsubishi GTO to start taking off the old wheel.

Old rusted Allen key bolts wouldn't budge in the car

When trying to unbolt the old wheel from the car the old Allen bolts were in tight. They were in that tight that they were almost as tight as that mate who magically disappears to the bog every time you wander into a pub to get out of buying his round. On the car they were just stripping. The short edge of the key meant I was stripping them out, with the long edge they weren't stripping but I couldn't get purchase to turn to them. At this point I decided to take the boss kit off to get the bolts out of the car. My socket wrench wouldn't reach and I don't yet have an extension, luckily I had a tyre iron to hand which fit nicely on the 17mm bolt instead. At this point I forgot to take any pictures as I turned the air blue with obscenities trying to fight the bolt holding the boss kit on. After several minutes of riving eventually it gave and I could take the wheel off. Once the wheel was off the Allen bolts came straight out... typically.

The old Ripspeed off the car

In this pic the old wheel doesn't actually look half as bad as it does in real life. I have a feeling it may yet find a home some day as part of a homemade go-kart or something, but for now it is cast aside and rejected like a Matrix sequel.

Wheel removed

This is where things took a slight turn. Picture shows the wiring which was underneath the old wheel. I don't know if you can make out in that photo, but the guy who installed the wheel had started doing it properly with tubing to contain the wires and had ran out. Where he ran out, he changed to using sellotape.... SELLOTAPE! I need to now make sure this is done properly. The wheel is ready to bolt on but I need to tidy up this mess behind the wheel before I do. To do this I have ordered a couple of parts online which will be delivered later this week. Had I anticipated working with electrics this early I would have made sure I had what I needed, but I thought it would be a nice unbolt old and bolt on new job. 

I am a bit disappointed that I have not been able to finish this install in one day, which I would have done had I been able to unbolt the wheel without taking off the boss kit. On the other hand had I not had to take the boss kit off, I wouldn't have seen it had been bodged underneath so I am pleased I can now correct that. Roll on next week!

The wheel with buttons from the front

Wheel from the back as I left it

I finished by tidying everything away until next week. I made use of some zip lock bags to hold the new Allen bolts and spare wires. I hope to start with good practice like this and maintain it onto larger installs! I ended up opting to remove the wires from the buttons which weren't going to be used for the horn to make it easier to clear the boss kit and keep it the install looking cleaner.

So with that, it is probably my longest post with no real outcome. No outcome, that is, other than to say, if you end up with a car someone has worked on themselves in the past rather than going to a garage, start with a thorough inspection of their work. I intended to get rid of the dated interior parts anyway, but may end up looking a little closer at everything that has been worked on in the service history as well....

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MNECM Part 2

So I posted Part 1 of this blog entry a couple of days back, mentioning that this time last week I was taking my Mitsubishi project car to its first car meet. Before going to the meet I had toyed with the idea of taking the daily again, I even got her detailed so she was all shiny. 

Abarth Supersport Daily - All happy and shiny

But I kept telling myself, 'Whats the point of having a rolling project if I don't drive it?'. So I got her out of the garage and dusted her off. (probably not enough as she was probably the dirtiest thing at the meet)

Mitsubishi GTO Mk1 - Side Shot

I met up with a mate who was taking his project Golf to the meet and we talked over the changes to our cars we'd made over the past couple of weeks. (It obviously goes without saying that as I am not yet in full swing he had more changes than me, a cool GT made mean with lots of black additions, really put my GTO to shame!) When we left our meeting point to head over the to meet I struggled to turn the car to make it out of the car park we were in. I put this down to the car park being steep and tight and stupidly ignored it.... Once moving again the car felt fine so we headed to the meet. All was well for the next few hours as we walked around having a look around the hundred or so cars that had turned out.

Front end with the Abarth hiding behind from before the meet

Upon leaving the meet I started to head home. The golf parted ways at the exit, and just as the meet was out of sight (barely at that). *POP!* my gear-stick kicked into neutral. I dipped my clutch and tried to select a gear. It wouldn't engage. I tried to select another gear. Nothing. I coasted to the side of the road and pulled over. No matter what gear I selected or how hard I tried I simply couldn't engage a gear. I phoned Mrs 3ofdiamonds in a panic and was talking through with her for some time what had happened.

As we were on the phone I got first, and second, and third! I could engage gears again! Whoop! I pulled away and the clutch was biting. The car seemed to be limping a touch but I was going to get home (or so I thought...). I got around 250 yards down the road and had to stop to give way at a roundabout. I went into first to pull away.... nothing... I was able to get the gear stick to the right position this time, but no bite. The pedal gave resistance going down but had no bite to it at all coming back up.

Then the smell hit me... The smell of clutch is rather unique and quite distinctive. Once you've had a clutch give out on you, it's a smell you will always recognise if you smell it again. It hadn't been there when kicked me out of gear, but it was an unmistakable assault on my nostrils now.

There had been a slight incline leading up to roundabout so I was able to start rolling backwards to get the car out of the way. Unfortunately there  were railings on the footpath, so I had quite a distance to roll back before I could get the car off the road. Hazards on, stopping for any cars going past.

The area I had broken down in wasn't exactly the kind of area it's good to break down in, especially at night. Truth be told, it was the kind of area you try not too stop too long at traffic lights for, as your car may end up propped up on bricks.  In this case that helped a touch though. Within a minute, maybe 2, of starting to try to roll backwards to safety there were blue flashing lights behind me. The policeman accosted a couple of passers by and my car was pushed back past the railings and up onto the curb.

Funnily enough at this point my thoughts switched from 'My clutch...' to 'My alloys!' but luckily I think they survived the ordeal (as far I could tell in the darkness). I thanked those that had helped and started making the phone calls to get towed home.

The resting place of the GTO following MNECM

Whilst I was waiting to be picked up, I did have a couple of guys from the meet stop and check I was alright which nicely broke the time up. But I was waiting longer than I would have hoped. To break the time up I also started counting the amount of times I saw blue flashing lights, then I realised I couldn't count that high...

After a couple of hours finally the tow truck pulled up. Sadly to my dismay the operator looked at my car and said 'Is that car AWD' to which I nodded... and stared in dismay with puppy dog eyes as he drove off again into night saying he could only tow 2 wheel drive cars. A voice inside my head was screaming cartoon-ishly 'Noooooooooooo'. I started the wait again, waiting this time for a truck that could put my car onto the back of it, with a tipping bed. Eventually it came, and as we drove home the driver recounted his experiences with project cars, and turns out he had had some awesome projects in the past, made the journey go a lot quicker as my experience of breakdowns in the past was generally one of silence and only speaking for directions.

So I broke down at around 7:45pm and I eventually got home at around 1am, with the car safely tucked up in the garage by 130am. And there she sits. I am not sure how to go about my next steps. Do I get her towed to a garage to get a new clutch, or do I try myself? Is fitting a new clutch too much of a job for someone who is just starting out on their first project? Do I declare her off the road and start on other jobs such as the interior trim replacement pieces I have, and the intake kit etc?

The Mitsubishi project as she sits now...

At least whilst I decide the Mitsubishi project car is reversed into the garage for the first time, giving me more options for working on her until I decide what I'm doing with her clutch-wise....

I had been told 90's Mitsubishi's had glass gearboxes, I'm hoping it's just the clutch!

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MNECM Part 1

If any regular readers have me added on instagram, you may have noticed I have been quiet for the past few days. In this two part blog entry hopefully the reason for that will become apparent.

Whilst many online over the pond seem to be being battered by snowstorms, this week I was able to actually get out and about in the project car.

On Saturday I bid farewell to my old stock GTO alloys. There was something seemingly wrong about trying to squeeze 4 wheels into the back of a Fiat 500. The proportions were almost comical, but I do hope they enjoy living out their days as a spare set for winter tyres for their new Lancer owner.

Squeezing the alloys into the Fiat 500

On Saturday I was also able to pick up my new pod filter. It has more interesting dimensions than I imagined, I'm intrigued to see how it will look when fit into the car. I'm even more intrigued as to how it will sound... It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get to fit this now, and to paraphrase Tim Curry 'I will be left in antici...........pation'.

57i K&N Performance Intake

57i Intake

Sunday saw me hit up my first car meet of the year, and the first time I have ventured to a meet in the GTO. I hit up the Modified North East Car Meet #MNECM first meet of the year. It was advertised on their page as a 'Mini Meet' so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and really didn't expect to see well over 100 cars there for a mini meet. I've often seen groups online comment on great turn outs for 10 cars so was astonished at how many people were there in such a wide variety of cars and stages of modification from bone stock to almost reaching race car status. Highly recommended meet to any in the area. In the awe of it all I barely even took any photos... doh!

#MNECM

I ended up parked next to 2 of the most attention grabbing cars there, a nicely restored Rover Metro and a highly modified TRD Starlett. They kinda brought to my attention how far I still need to go with the project, I know I will look forward to every step along that path.... (well, most steps at least....)

Rover Metro next to my GTO

In this pic my car looks like the smallest, yet in reality it is massive compared to the Metro and the Seat on the other side in terms of space it takes up, it is just that much lower...

It was a great night until it was time to leave AND THEN..... to be continued

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Finally Driving Again

This week I properly returned to driving for the first time since my wrist was strapped up 3 weeks ago. Sadly that incident slowed down the progress I was hoping to make at the start of the year on the GTO. Still strapped up, still taking it easy, but making progress now! Coincidently this weekend also saw the return of snow, so I probably wouldn't have been able to get much done anyway!

So with my lack of driving, I have instead continued car part shopping. The next item I should be receiving now is an induction kit. I was torn between the K&N 57i kit and the HKS 3000gt Twin Induction kit. The K&N kit won over in the end as it offered similar performance but was much cheaper, although something about HKS still appeals to me, I always loved the HKS drag car in Gran Tourismo 2 and think that game is probably one of the main reasons I became a car guy...

This weekend (weather permitting) will see me take the GTO to its first car meet, hopefully of many. Even though its still very rough round the edges as I haven't even really started on it yet, I'm taking it over the SuperSport. What's the point of having a project if you don't take it places whilst its rolling, right?

So I was talking to a mate this week who will be taking his show car to the same meet (and it really will show my car up...) and we were talking about the aesthetics of our cars. I was trying to put into words how I feel about the GTO as it is, in it's current form, and this was what I came up with:

"She is like that girl you see across the club, smoking hot body and a cracking rack. She goes to the bar, so you follow to see if she'd be interested in letting you buy her a drink. Up close and in the better light you begin to realise she is a little older than you thought and 'rough round the edges' to say the least (as she orders a pint). You still strangely  wanna see what the outfit's hiding underneath, and you know you'd still hit that because you have a feeling she'd be a wild ride, just not without at least 4 rubbers...."

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GTR for the GTO

Last night felt like Christmas eve. Last night felt so much like Christmas eve that I barely slept a wink. In fact last night probably more like Christmas eve than Christmas eve did.

I'm going stop saying Christmas now, it's January for crying out loud....


The reason for the excitement may have had something to do with today being the day that I picked up my first big purchase for the GTO. As I mentioned in my entry last week I had been out shopping for a new set of rims and today I was able to pick them up.

The set I opted for were Rota GTR's, and also opted to increase the size over the standard wheels. Increasing from 16x7.5 to 18x8.5. I was slightly worried about this at the time, fearing they may be too big, but I was really happy with the results. I think they now fill the wheel wells better than the stock rims, giving the car an improved stance with enough space left over to play with heights of coil-overs (when I eventually get around to getting them).

Picking the new rims up from Revolution Motorsports

Like this shot, but shame about the rain...

New Rota GTR

I didn't actually mind the original alloys which came with the car, I just felt they were too small for the car, and by changing them it has made a big aesthetic change to the car. In addition to this, when I was trying to do a baseline 0-60 for the car I ended up feeling quite tyre limited, so hopefully new rubber will help bring that down a touch. 

Original wheel drivers rear

Original wheel drivers front

The only problem with getting the new wheels, is now I'm thinking about all the other things I want to do to the car. I had got to the point where I was starting to get a clear picture of what I wanted to do, and when would be best to do each upgrade; whereas now I want it all, and I want it now!!!

I want all the car parts.... I cant afford all the car parts... Maybe I should consider a new career, like lottery winner... 

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Mitsubishi GTO (3000gt) 0-60 Time - Baseline

So, this week.... It's been a long one. It may be a couple of weeks before I get to start properly wrenching on the GTO. I was hoping to start before going back to work after Christmas, but alas, I had a fight with a flight of stairs and unfortunately came off worse.

The Mr Bump mug seems appropriate at the moment

The worst thing was that it was not caused by alcohol or anything fun like that, it was simply carrying decorations back upstairs following the end of the festive season. Luckily before this incident I did manage to set myself a baseline 0-60 acceleration time.

To set the time I used an app on my phone which allowed me to record a (hopefully) more accurate time. I have cut the video rather short, showing literally just the run itself. I did do a talky bit after with my passenger but realised I really hate the sound of my voice on recordings!

Unfortunately as I live in the hills, I can try these runs on a straight road, or on a flat road. Sadly it isn't exactly possible to have both in my area. As a result this was taken going slightly uphill, but to mitigate this in future I will do following runs in the same location to avoid it looking like I've improved more than I actually have.

Baseline 0-60 run in the GTO

The time set for the 0-60 was 6.5 seconds. When I first set this time I wasn't quite sure whether I was happy or disappointed with it. On one hand the car did it in 5 seconds flat when new, but on the other it is still pretty much stock (with the exception of the exhaust) and is now around 25 years old, so it has not lost that much of an edge and will still keep pace with most hot hatches, excluding the new breed of 300bhp hatches such as the new Focus RS, Leon Cupra and Audi RS3 etc.

When  I ran 6.8 a few weeks ago in really bad weather (link here) I was sure the car had more in it, and in a way I still do. I think at the moment the car is limited by bad tyres, they are barely legal and on their way out. Whilst my hand has been strapped up I have been out alloy shopping so when I get my new wheels I will run the test again before making other changes... and whilst my hand heals. 

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GTO Engine Noise

Merry (belated) Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope this entry finds everyone in fine spirits this festive period.

I hope Santa was kind with the car parts this year to help everyone get ready for the 2016 show season!

So Santa may have got me 1 or 2 car parts this year, but I also treated myself to a new camera, a new action cam. Nothing flash mind, my budget didn't exactly stretch to a hero4, but it'll certainly do for what I need and will be much better than using my phone! As such I took advantage of the quiet holiday roads and unseasonably good weather (finally!) to do a bit of hooning in the GTO.

As promised weeks ago here the sound my car makes, currently with a stock in-take and Kakimoto Racing Exhaust. I look forward to hearing how it will sound down the line when I get round to upgrading the intake system as it already sounds pretty mean (even if I do say so myself)

I have been reflecting on 2015 and what it has meant for me automotively (if that's such a word), obviously it has been the year this project started (not so much started, but rather the year the car was bought) but it also had a few highlights building up to that point also. In the run up to New Year I will share my top 5 moments on my Instagram  as I reflect on my 2015 and look forward to what 2016 may hold!

So I will leave you with one final thought, and something I sure a lot of petrol heads are feeling...

WAIT.... I almost forgot to mention, when hooning I may have done a 0-60 video... which may be in next weeks entry... so until then, Happy New Year!

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Winter is coming... Aaaaaaand its here...

I plan to keep my entry rather brief this week for fear of becoming a blog about the weather instead of being about cars....

So in the last 3 weekends we've had a weekend of 90mph winds, a weekend of flooding and to top it off, this weekend was a weekend of snow... Don't get me wrong, snow at this time of year can be nice and give a Christmas-y feel, but I just want to try to redo the 0-60 test! I know the one I did a few weeks ago can be beat and isn't truly representative of the cars' potential, I just have to catch a break in the weather...

On the plus side, snow does make for rather nice photos of the cars. The first pic is to give you an indication of how much snow ended up falling as most of the pics were taken in a slight break in the weather mid way! Living up in the hills makes for great driving roads in summer, but has it's disadvantages at this time of year!

Lots of snow!

Was feeling a bit artsy at first and quite like this pic so thought I'd throw it in here as well!

Careful Abarth, there's a monster in that garage!  

this is actually the first pic I've taken of the Mitsubishi and the Abarth together

The Abarth and the Dacia

Scorpion Popsicle!

The snow was actually that bad it caused a local bus to catch fire trying to get up a hill...

Luckily everyone was safely evacuated, but it goes to show how dangerous it can be driving in these weather conditions. If you're going to be driving in snow, stay safe!

Hopefully I will catch a break in the weather soon, and be able to do my baseline test, but in the mean time I will finish with a pun that bad even the Christmas Cracker companies rejected it...

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