AlanR Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Well it was to be a late birthday present but in the end it turned out to be a slightly early Christmas present. I ordered an ST3, LHD and European homologated, at the end of July after falling out with Caterham who had promised specifications and prices at time of order that they couldn't/wouldn't deliver when the build was about to start. I'm UK resident (Thames Valley) but spend an increasing amount of time in France, which is where I ultimately want to live and register the car - hence the need for LHD and a EU certificate of conformity. Simon Westwood was really helpful in fine tuning the spec and budget - the car was due to be delivered in mid-October - but, hey ho, timeframes slipped a bit. However, the wonderful French president has decided to change the rules on 'luxury' cars. To the end of 2012 the CO2 'fine' on first registration for an ST3 was 700€ (plus registration fees of 500€). For 2013 Holland raised it to €2000 (+ reg fee) and made the rules applicable to be those on first registration in France, not first registration in the EU as previously. From 1/1/2014 the fine is €3000 with promises of more rises in the years to come (basically to price non-French cars out of the market). All this is by way of saying that I decided to take the plunge and make the first registration in France, took the new plates over to Westfield on 3rd December and collected the car last Monday 16 Dec. My first drive was ~280 kms from Kingswingford to Poole in pi88ing rain. The following day it was 26 hours on the Poole-Santander ferry and then on Wednesday 1hr 30 to Bilbao. This was where we encountered the first problem. With only 65 mm ground clearance under the sump guard empty (so around 50 mm loaded) the car got stuck on the threshold leading to the hotel car park and had to be lifted off by passers-by! Next morning it was 550 kms in the even pi88inger rain and intermittent fog patches to Quillan in the south of France where our other house is. A break light switch failure left us feeling more than a bit vulnerable. We got back around 16:30 in the last of the daylight - 952 kms (+ 1200 on the ferry) from Kingswingford on the cars first journey! We managed to find a suitable bottle to celebrate. Yesterday Simon and Mark sorted out how to solve the teething niggles by despatching some spare parts to our local garage for them to fit. Really excellent service and far removed from the utter arrogance I experienced at Caterham and their local French dealer. So today the car was washed and I went for a 100km blast - under clear blue skies and - for the first time - with no hood (but a new woolly hat). What a fantastic experience. I now feel I am really one of you! I have a few pics if someone can tell me how to upload them Cheers Alan Redhouse 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTR2Turbo Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Well done. That's got to go down as one of the longest first drives. Enjoy. David Oh and the brake pressure switches are well known for failing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkS2 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Nice writeup, pretty shocking from Caterham, looking forward to some pics, easiest way I find is to open a photobucket or similar account then you can just paste the image tags the site gives you in your posts, or you can use the gallery in here to host some pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Well done Alan, quite an adventure. Welcome to Westfield ownership Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggy the Spyder Man Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Well they was a challenge but one that you won't forget Enjoy the car :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickmaster Andy Lowe Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 What a first trip (adventure) it's had a good shake down, so have you There's an introduction to loading photos on here somewhere that's easy to follow, get photo bucket account load photos then copy and pasting the IMO code onto your posting here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanR Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 Thanks for the pointers for the photos. I've created a gallery here with a few commented photos. I didn't take as many as intended as the weather was so awful, and in any event with all the luggage and stuff every cc in the cabin was used up making getting in and out a major time consuming exercise. Comments welcome, particularly on the ground clearance issue. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanR Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 Got the brake lights working - the switch was not quite seated properly. Now the world can see me stopping as well as going. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Excellent news, an and epic first trip. Well done! Always amazes me just how much "extra" there is in the Sport Turbo and how much more "developed" it is compared to a typical ZK/FW SEi, an interesting car in the scheme of all things Westfield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Everall Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 And apparently Alan worked for British Rail in 1974 when I was in the bridge office!!!! What a very small world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sRWild Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Welcome Alan, quite the adventure. Now the enjoyment of owning a seven begins. Blat on!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanR Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 Excellent news, an and epic first trip. Well done! Always amazes me just how much "extra" there is in the Sport Turbo and how much more "developed" it is compared to a typical ZK/FW SEi, an interesting car in the scheme of all things Westfield. The lifesaver was the excellent heater which kept the screen clear and the wife defrosted (physically and, largely, emotionally) during the journey ... All these extras really add value .. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Alan, if you ever go via St Malo you can pop in here and stay overnight (subject to a gite being free). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanR Posted December 25, 2013 Author Share Posted December 25, 2013 Thanks Norman, I'll ring you if the opportunity arises.... and likewise if you ever want to buy a property here in the south of France...... Happy Christmas and a very blatty New Year to everybody, and thaks again for the welcome. * Cheers Alan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Alan, thanks, but why would I want to buy a property in the south for. After 2 years of renovating this place I have another 30 meter barn and an old house which pre-dates Napoleon to renovate. I'll be busy until I'm at least 130 years old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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