phil flash

I got two emails in last few days... One to do with UK Price Cap reducing from £2,500 to £2,074 for "typical house using 2,900 kWh p.a. & paying by DD". (I'm about twice those units!). The other was from EDF re a property I own in south of France, but am restricted in using since Brexshit. EDF states Monthly Fixed Charge is 11.93€ and kWh 0.18€. So that's 143.16€ p.a Fixed Charge, 522€ for 2,900 kWh, total annual cost 665.16€. At today's exchange rate that's about £647. So the French pay £647 for what we've paid £2,500, now reducing to £2,074 and we are supposed to be pleased about it! Why are UK customers being ripped off, WTF is Ofgem doing?

I was on my way to Hethel cross-country, new speed-limit introduced during lockdown but 'SatNav guidance' was based on old limit .... 🤬

I got sent one from a photographer hiding in a hedge .. didn't think they were supposed to do that.

In 2015, I had reason to shift a lot of funds from my UK Bank to my French (Credit Agricole) Bank account after I'd opened it with a nominal amount. I took a lot of 500 euro notes and found the French petrol stations don't take them either. Paying them into my CA Bank, each one was inspected very carefully.. I was told that the best forgers usually go for copies of the 500€ and very few Europeans have ever seen them .. very strange ..

Hope it's 1000Mb (megabits) .. 1000mb (millibits) isn't worth having, it's only 1 bit 😜

I hope you mean "in parallel" ! In series the voltages summate and 24V will ZAP a lot of the electronic components ...

Don't wort about IHT, you can't pay it as you have to be dead for it to be due - it's on your estate. Just make sure you spend everything above £375,000 before you kick the bucket. If a house is involved that limit rises to £500,000. IHT is 40% so just start spending to ensure none is due, just think "it's only costing 60% and the Taxman is paying the other 40%" 🤪

Get one! Stops all the grills filling with snow and can be quickly removed to go play in the snow to find out how the Yoko' Winter Tyres and traction control behave. (Answer - Very Good but not really suited to deep snow because of ground clearance. That's a Mini All4 alongside in front of a Subaru Forester 2.5XTN - now that's 'the real deal' for deep snow in the Alps.)

It will probably achieve that in summer ... 😜 .. Watch out for "marketing men's bullshit"! 25°C may be acceptable for space heating but water at 25°C feels far from "hot" for a shower or bath! We've all got heat pumps in fridges and freezers that transfer heat from inside and discharge it into the room, it's not new technology but from a Thermo-dynamics viewpoint can only be called "low grade energy". Ground source heat pumps transfer heat from ground (obviously!) and discharge it into the dwelling but during prolonged use in extreme conditions, such as the winter of 1962/63*, it can create a "perma-frost" in the ground surrounding the heat collectors, severely reducing it's efficiency when most needed. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is a useful moto. * In Hertfordshire, where I lived, it snowed (a couple of ft) on Boxing Day night into 27th, and remained below 0°C till early March '63 whilst dumping several ft of more snow in Jan & Feb. The bad new is 'global warming' is predicted to cause more extreme weather at both ends of the scale...

3 sets is enough for me and an Evora is not the best vehicle to go nicking Evora wheels in - I've only managed to fit 2 in when moving winter wheels to summer storage ...

I've been silent on attending this as I'm out this evening at the Club Lotus (Suffolk) Christmas Meal, so wasn't sure about an early start for breakfast tomorrow. Having just looked outside at the frost on my Evora and the ice on the road through the village at the time I'd be leaving tomorrow all I can say is "Have a good breakfast, have a good Christmas, see you next time, and Happy New Year"

Me too!

I had a message from another owner which I replied to, so being a lazy git, I'll copy and paste my reply to him here : They quoted me £3,375 (copy attached) but it came out at £3,893 because I & they added some extras. Mine had never had the heat insulation wrap around clutch hydraulic pipe that was supposed to be done by dealers as a FOC mod so asked them to do that; 1 belt idler pulley had a "dry hiss & grumble" to it so got replaced; my sail panel was cracked so I took it away to repair it but Hanger111 mentioned later models had a foamstrip giving it support and plastic film for better water sealing so those got added; and my old rear brake pads had grooves in them from the grooves formed on the old discs (due to the disc holes!) and were putting stripes on the new discs I'd fitted so asked them to supply & fit new Feredo rear pads and I'll skim the old pads and keep them as spares. If you can, time it for when you need new engine and gearbox oil, as they get drained. Rob, their mechanic, has a technique for removing the aircon compressor and hanging it out the way so no disconnecting pipes & recharging is involved. (Lotus schedule involves disconnect & costs of recharging). Upgrading to 400 flywheel, clutch & pressure plate costs quite a bit more than just renewing LE clutch plate but have no intention to ever sell mine so thought the extra cost, and hopefully, longevity was worthwhile. Labour cost with VAT is £2160 so a bit extra to delay incurring that again seems a good idea. Phil 1668624646536_e104634.pdf

Why? It has a Bosch Electronic LSD called "Traction Control". Have you switched yours off? Try driving in this stuff and you'll find it's pretty good.

Update on this topic ... My LE #14's OE clutch got to just over 50k miles before it started slipping but by careful throttle use and avoidance of the Sport button I got to 53,800 before it went to Hanger111 a few weeks ago. (It's interesting to find out just what corner speed you can carry when 'booting it' at the exit isn't available, very impressive, and does wonders for mpg too.) Hanger111 did me an upgrade to 400 flywheel, friction and pressure plate as well as renewing anything in that vicinity that would need another another engine out procedure .. clutch release bearing and adapter sleeve, & crankshaft rear oil seal. Engine seems to rev more freely when using 'heel & toe' too - is the 400 assembly significantly lighter? I'd got used to 'minimal contact' on clutch pedal to release it and had a few 'L driver' type stalls early on when I didn't expect the bite point to be in the carpet but I'm now expecting it.