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Or the Westfield Speed Series

I suspect some of it was down to the car they were on as well Ian. The way the ford racing ecu dumped all the torque in way down low in the Rev range didn’t help. I also found the ford fbw pedal tricky to modulate. I remember one such drive when I was out up near Oban and the heavens opened, to say the drive home was an experience to say the least, the sideways action off the roundabouts was fun but exhausting .

Or 1500 miles from home on an Austrian autobahn with 3” of standing water to drive through! 🤣

He is a very good driver. No questions asked here. And he is been really good since... forever: an example: istambul 2006. (If you have never seen this race... take a brew, send it to the tv, have some paper roll on hand, you are likely to need it and enjoy...) The older he gets the more mature he becomes. Excellent driving skills and nowadays very smart in the cockpit. That simply can't be argued. BUT.. he is also a media star, and this is what most Hamilton's haters will use as supporting evidence. He is a driver. His life outside the track should be fairly irrelevant, and should not be judged for this. I personally hate him. Can't help... since all the McLaren-Alonso thing happened... but you will never hear me say a bad word about him... he is a proper driver.

Managed a quick blast before sunset... Moody skies over Bristol last Friday

I’m not expecting the PS3s to be as good in the dry as the R1Rs but for general road use and damp/wet track I think they are a good option. Fortunately I also have a set of R888Rs which I think are very good for dry conditions.

I have recently bought a set of pilot sport 3s 195/50 15” and found them to be excellent in the wet and damp at a recent track day and better than my previous sets of R1Rs in similar conditions. Not sure how good in the dry yet as it’s been a bit wet lately!

Yeah, cheer me up on a rainy Friday 👍

Assuming my daughter in law can hold off giving birth, I'll be able to make the Sunday.... It'll be touch an go though! Cue the grandad jokes! 😂 Need to start a new tech thread I think.... How to fit baby seat in a 4 point harness!

I think with 888s, AO48s etc it depends a lot on the age of the tyre. When new they are very very good in the wet, just not much kop with huge puddles. After a few years, they seem to get a sort of 'crust' on them and the compound really does not like adhering to wet tarmac. If used on track reasonably often they tend to wear out before this happens. Another example of why road tyres are best for a road car (And they're still surprisingly good on track too)

Yeah go on then. Fingers crossed for at least 1 dry day!

I think he will be far more appreciated years after he’s retired, which is a shame as we should embrace the success now. Same happened with schuey, most at the time thought he was a complete knob, but afterwards when his sheer ruthlessness subsided his more human and likeable side came out and more people endeared to him (granted some will still think he’s a knob, maybe less so after his sad skiing accident) i would however like to see Lewis up against a real world class opponent in the same car before his retirement, ok he was with alonso briefly, button actually had the edge in points over the 3 years at McLaren, rosberg was lucky with reliability and I don’t consider bottas to be a threat. Imagine max vs Lewis in the same team, or even Lewis vs leclerc At Ferrari, it would be epic to watch, a complete nightmare for the team, but great for the viewer. Will never happen though, Merc have the perfect setup, top driver to win the drivers and a yes man wingman to back him up for the constructors and no real drama between the drivers.

I think it’s rare in any field for the top performers to be likeable people. Just doesn’t fit. Absolutely no denying their ability as drivers/sports persons,/whatever applies, just don’t expect them to be ‘nice’ or even decent human beings. Schumacher for example was an entirely calculating and blatant cheat - worked for him on many an occasion.

Thats a shame my forecast was showing dry with small chance of rain early doors. Fingers crossed for next weekend.

It's this fella, I met him last weekend. Nice chap: https://www.facebook.com/lee.bennett.528

Ooops sorry guys not been on for a while so just picked this up....I've a feeling I know the car as the previous owner lives in the same area as I do.

I remember going to watch the British GP in 2006. Lewis was in GP2 (therefore all drivers had the same car) and he overtook 2 cars in one move into Beckett's... It was an epic overtake and the best move of the whole weekend! Some of his drives that season were a delight to watch as he ran rings around some quality young peddlers. If you go on YouTube (I'll have to find the link) there's a kart race he did in the wet where he made everyone else look daft! I agree it's difficult to compare drivers from different era's (my own favourite was Gilles Villeneuve) but he has never had it easy. His team mates have always been world class (Alonso, Button, Rosberg, Bottas) with almost no team orders and parity in the car which makes his achievements all the more impressive.

If you have deep pockets go for it! My mate spent 5k on servicing/repairs in just under 2 years doing less than 5k miles a year. Air suspension is a known issue (we swapped his for normal springs/shocks after it dropped on its ass). Auxiliary water pump/heating gave no end of electrical issues and kept draining the battery, a faulty bit in the sunroof mech was 400 quid from a specialist. Over a grand from bmw. Had to be done as well to prevent the roof leaking. The dash LCD went pixellated and it ate tyres for fun. It made a lovely noise and went like stink for the size of the car, and handled surprisingly well but be prepared for bills. If a bmw is on the want list I'd go for the 5 series estate over an x5. They just seem more robust and reliable and cheaper to fix.

The Prisoner(s). Behind bars! Well, big gates, at least.

He is a natural driver. As others have said, it's impossible to compare with others of the past with any authenticity because so much has changed, but Jim Clark will always be my No.1 for natural ability is everything he drove. Fangio was before my time, and Schumacher was a cheat in at least one of his championships and several races, and certainly did not command the respect his ability deserved for that reason. Bottas seems a decent sort with few signs of tantrum, but Verstappen's behaviour this past weekend lost all respect from me, sorry. There was a rather mean-spirited interview with Jackie Stewart on 'Today' this morning. He could hardly bring himself to praise Lewis's success without implying it was mainly the cars that were responsible. Poor show 'Sir' Jackie, and very well done Lewis!

Further spells of rain and drizzle is forecast so this is cancelled and I will try again next weekend, thank you to all that responded