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Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, thanks Geoffrey for the offer - I will most definitely join you folks (after my holidays the next two weeks!) Please see attached picture 😉

I'm not adverse to the idea, but made sense to check the lie of the land first. Only fools jump in and all that. 🙂 Who could I have an informal chat with about what's involved? Would that be you @Julie Hall - AO Representative, Peak District AO?

They are the M5 button heads , thanks for replying, got three from Westfield for a couple of quid so I have spares Cheers

Have a look at my Wunoff silencer on my Pinto engined car. It just about scrapes through 100dB(A) at MSE trackdays with a reading of c.98dB

I'm definitely in, but will be flying solo 😉😊

Great to see this event getting the support. It took Terry a lot of persuading to get a full weekend entry instead of the one day as in previous years. Hopefully we can get the invite to do the same next season.

I've recently discovered the live location feature in Whatsapp and tested it last weekend on a blat into the peaks led by @Julie Hall - AO Representative, Peak District AO (as she'd whimped out and chose a Mazda for the drive, I had time to play). I was second place in the convoy and @Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary was towards the rear in his 'Hill Billy Monster Truck'. Dave and I started a Whatsapp chat before the run and both enable share live location with each other (you can chose a time period to suit from 15 mins to 8 Hours (you can cancel it later, if you don't what to be followed home!). The screen shots below are from an Iphone though I'm sure an Android phone would be similar: Then select 'Share live location' Any of the people in the chat (can be two people or higher), can then click on the live location link they will receive and a map will show their location and the others in the chat. Here's a typical screen shot showing Me and Dave a few hundred metres behind. The map will scroll as you drive based on which ever circle you clicked on. Here's a video of us driving through a couple of roundabouts in Ashbourne Here's anothe video where Dave's car is in focus and the map scrolls to keep him in view. Have a play with it (obviously safely and with the phone fixed to the car)! I think it will really help the lead car see where are the others are and also allow any that get lost/seperated to catch up. It doesn't use lots of data but does need a phone signal to work, which isn't guaranteeed UK wide and a in lot of the Peaks!

You knew this was coming.

Huge thank you John for the work that you have done over the years.

Any day now 🙄

I'm coming, really looking forward to the show. Never been, exciting times.

a definite maybe ! ha ha, will try my very best, need to pull my finger out and get on some runs.

Fully supported John and huge thanks for doing this for so long particularly when you've not been well too! I encourage anyone who wants to have a go to get in touch, as with a lot of big ticket things we do as a club, most of what needs to be done is written down, can be refined and as John suggests, shadowing and handover will be given. It's also a huge opportunity to get involved in the heart of competitive motorsports with the best club in the world. Well done Panda, roll up folks...

Hi, Again, The 0.5 metre test is a very repeatable test because, as long as you have 3m clear around you, reflection from objects is ruled out. I once tested a Metro 6R4 in a garage courtyard before a rally.Once at the venue, the 0.5 metre test was repeated and yielded identical results. You are also testing to a level way above the ambient noise level (typically 50-70dB(A)) so that also has a negligible effect when testing to 100dB(A). The ground surface can introduce more variables, however. I assisted at a rally last weekend and we were testing on wartime, tamped concrete. The Senior Official (who has carried out tests there at many events said that we were to test to a limit of 102dB(A) as, from his experience of that venue, he has to make that adjustment. The testing on the day found that to work with a good few of the front running cars reading between 100-102, rather than the usual 98-100. We sent four cars (from 67) away to check over their exhausts befre resubmitting. My feeling is that it may be due to the corrugations, Mike thinks it may be something to do with vibrations in the slabs of concrete. Though an Environmental Scrutineer will have a calibrated meter, and will perform calibration checks during the period of a test, local variations will not be ignored and if I were to start a test and the first few cars were all to fail, I would very much be looking at my equipment / procedures rather than send every competitor away. If the odd cars fail, I tell the drivers that "Exhausts are not like dogs, they are just for Christmas" that can, and do, wear out, or become damaged - or even show the signs of a badly adjusted / about to fail engine. I am old enough to have suffered the large radius tests, and was threatened with exclusion when my standard (engine and exhaust) BMW 2002Tii recorded a higher reading than the MG Metro 6R4 in the queue before me! There were gusty winds pushing sound towards the meter and guess who was tested during a gust? Particularly with rear engined cars, I see various techniques employed by drivers to quieten down their cars at sound tests. Some hold the clutch down, some will hold the car on the handbrake and bring the clutch up almost to biting point. These are all possible if people have found them to work. One technique we don't like is people who have switches to alter the reading of their rev counters. Once you have done a few tests on a morning, you get used to the amount of mechanical mayhem for 4,500 rpm and can soon spot a cheating tacho. For those without rev counters, I normally take a Snap-On timing light to events and clipping that onto a plug lead gives me a number to work with. I'm with Archibald Meatpants in that a standardish Zetec should not be problemattical. One last point - it is possible to over pack a re-packable silencer. Follow your manufacturer's instructions and don't be tempted to use up the rest of the roll (or whatever) just because there appears to be room for it in the can! Simon