Trip to London

So I've been meaning to take a trip with some friends into London to get some shots of our cars. Following the installation of a splitter and spacer onto my Z4, I gave it through polish and a few good coats of wax.

Following that, I ended up taking a few pictures around London.

Was pretty happy with the results so ended up arranging to do the same with some friend's cars too. The only issue was that rather than in the day, we ended up going in the evening/night. Having not done a lot of night photography in a while, it was always going to be a little interesting...

Ended up cleaning the car first, a tidy facelift S55 AMG. Truly is a wonderful piece of engineering, especially considering the number of toys that the car came with!

Following the wash, and prior to heading to the city, we got a local country-ish shot with plenty of foliage. 

Then hit the A40 and met up along the way, perfect excuse to hang out the side of a car and get some rolling shots! The A class was only a day old!

Headed to Holborn as a meeting point so while waiting around, more pictures were taken.

Following that, it was a drive over east towards the Gherkin. Unfortunately we didn't stop around there due to heavy road works and a lot of road closures.

Instead, we headed back to a side road I discovered a few years back. Still has that old city charm about it whilst having a pretty good contrasting view of the Shard in the background.

Whilst there, it was a perfect opportunity to get a good look at the interior of the new A class. Sure enough, Mercedes have really improved the A class now. Certainly is a lovely place to be indeed.

The main issue however with an S55 is that it's hardly what one would consider frugal. Even with active cylinder control, it's quite a thirsty car so the quest to find a petrol station late on a Friday night in the City began. After passing a closed Shell we managed to find one.

There are a few more pictures to come, and a link will be uploaded when they are up. Until then, the next update will be a small coverage on Players 8.0.

Car update

No doubt there is a strong automotive theme on this blog so it should be very fitting I update my daily on here too.

For starters those that don't know, it's a 2008 BMW Z4 coupe with a BMW Individual two tone interior (black and red). Personally I think it's absolutely gorgeous and importantly, it doesn't have the built in nav!

Anyways, procrastination leads to browsing ebay. Browsing leads to purchasing and then came a (pretty large) parcel on my doorstep.

Finished my exams, ripped the front bumper off and did some drilling and bolting.

Fitted the bumper back on once it was all good and it looked great. Really transforms the front end of the car in my opinion.

Later on, I then ended up treating the car to a full detail. Washed with the 2 bucket method, later clayed and finally finished off with 2 coats of AutoGlym Dark Polish, a coat of Meguiars #16 wax finished with another coat of Meguiars liquid wax.

Then ended up taking the 10mm spacers from my track build and fitted it to the rear. Took the car then for a few pictures, will leave them below for your enjoyment! 

The next update will probably be from Players, but till next time!

BMW Festival 2014

BMW Car Club of Great Britain host an annual BMW Festival at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, and after over a year of BMW ownership, I've finally made my first show.

Battling the rain and an ETA from the satnav, it was good to arrive just as the sun had come out, and straight onto the Custom Cars stand, which was obviously the stand to be on!

Managed to get a good spot and began the wipe down before exploring what was on offer at the show.

There was a variety of different cars on show, from British assembled FraserNash roadsters through e30 drivetrain swapped AJP's and even an M4 made an appearance.

There was even a truly special e9 CSL complete with the infamous wing that has earnt it the nickname Batmobile.

For the majority of cars on show, many were modified quite conservatively, relative to that seen by other shows, but that didn't mean there weren't a few beauties sat amongst those OEM+ cars.

All in all, I had a fantastic time, certainly a strong contender for my favourite show of the year, especially given the disappointment of DC this year.

The rest of the pictures can be found here. The next big show will be Players, but until then, I've an exam to revise for!

Quick update 16/8/14

Just a quick update, been busy studying for exams so have somewhat neglected updates and all that good stuff.

HOWEVER, BMW Festival is tomorrow at Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon and I'll be there. Suffice to say, there's plenty of BMW content due for the next post!

In the meantime, I'll leave a shot of my car mid wash, being cleaned for tomorrow!

Driving perfection?

Not really had much of an update due to being busy working on my track car (build can be followed here).

It's no real secret to finding driving pleasure. A car you know well, which has enough power, handles well, an empty country road, and great weather.

Well after over 5 years of driving (somehow doesn't feel that long ago!), multiple cars driven, and plenty of miles covered, I reckon I've had my first true experience of driving perfection.

The best bit? The road is literally on my doorstep.

Quite a short stint at 4 miles, no traffic, warm summer's evening as well as national speedlimt along the road (you can probably guess, this is a good combo so far), but that isn't even the best bit...no pot holes!

As you can see, it really has the makings of a perfect drive. I guess the next opportunity to hit this road would be early in the morning along with a clean car for some pictures!

The reason I found this perfection? Well I've had new shocks and springs (KW V2) fitted for about a year now and for the most part left it as it was since fitting them.

So the difference in how the car drove on its oem setup to KW's recommended setup was night and day different. Better turn in, flatter through turns and the loss of arch gap visually looks much better. But even then, there was no real wow factor, however recently, I opted to lower it a little more and soften the damping all around.

Here's a shot last year after the car was lowered. (Yes the stance is completely off, but it was a work in progress then!

And for now, it seems that has made all the difference to really enjoy the car! All in all, it's made me want to finish the track car off and get it on the road. Mainly due to being purpose built for just eating tarmac.

Seems somewhat illogical to not use my Z4 for that, but it honestly doesn't need the risk of being wrapped around a tree!

I guess BMW can't be sued for advertising their motto "Sheer Driving Pleasure".

Till next time!

Hoon and Scrub

Not really much in the way of an update but as you can see from the pic below, the car is no garage queen. Being on the outskirts of London means I really don't have to travel far to find some lovely country roads.

The height is functional. Lowered enough to drastically improve the car yet no rubbing issues to contend with.

At least she does scrub up well. Really do like the black grills. Just need to hit the foglights with some film and maybe even shorten the plate a little. Either way, really happy with how the car is at the moment.

And then took the car out for a nice late night drive. Saw plenty of people rubber necking and well, who could blame them with 6 cars looking this good?!