Eric

Wow, what a good guess! You are, of course, spot on 👍 (but don't tell the others yet - ha). Back on the subject of Emira though, I had a quick go on the configurator, and came up with this exterior and interior combo which (if I was in the market for one of these little beauties, which I'm not by the way), would be me preferred choices 😍... Mmmm, lovely!

Well, we arrived a bit later than planned at 11:00 on the Thursday, but it turned out really well with one of the best spots in the "supercar" car park, no rain, and more stuff to look at than ever. We were kind of surprised by just how busy it was given that it was a Thursday, but I guess that this illustrates just how much pent-up demand there is for awesome events like FOS, especially given that last year's event was cancelled. The very first target on the list of "must see" exhibits was....... yes, you've guessed it...... the Lotus stand, and the Evija and Emira. Both a

And look what's parked outside the Wellesbourne Advanced Technology Centre.....

On the subject of 3-pots, my new daily driver is a Ford Puma ST with that naughty little turbocharged 1.5 litre 3-pot motor first used in the latest Fiesta ST. As a quick reminder, this pumps out 197 bhp and 236 lb ft (thanks to a torque increase over the Fiesta ST's unit). Now that's pretty impressive, and really does demonstrate the massive steps forward in engine design and engineering that have taken place in recent years. My previous daily was a Polo GTi with VW's ubiquitous EA888 motor in 1.8 litre form, but this had identical power and torque outputs (and I mean exactly the same) as

Wow, that's fantastic news. Can't wait for July 8th - should be a cracking day out 👍.

Ha ha, yes, me too. I've just replaced my daily with a Ford Puma ST (only available with manual gearbox 😀), but this really does show what's possible with a recently designed but still mass produced car (albeit a crossover), both in terms of technology and engineering. The ST variant has been developed by Ford Performance who know a thing or two about what it takes to develop world-class drivers' cars. For example, the tyres - Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (as fitted to latest Evoras as standard, but co-developed by Ford and Michelin for the Puma), the dampers - trick Hitachi twin tube items,

Semi-interesting article in this month's evo magazine (Issue 286 - June) which discusses some details about the Emira, and of particular interest here - engine supplier(s). They say that the super-charged 3.5 V6 from Toyota will continue to be used (presumably for the top-end variants, given that an easy 430 bhp is available), and a new inline four cylinder engine from a "world-renowned engine builder" - oooooooh, err. Now "world-renowned" really does raise expectations, and I can only think of two possible candidates; Ricardo and Cosworth. Ricardo designed, builds and supplies all

Not my fault, but back in 2016, and just a week after taking delivery of a gorgeous (red, what else - ha) brand new Polo GTI, a bloody great stone hit the windscreen on the M40, and the impact was so great, it immediately caused a foot long crack. Result - total misery. Only solution - replace windscreen - doh!

Yes, yes, yes! Very interested! Can't wait for the public reveal on 6th July, closely followed by it's first public appearance at Goodwood FOS on the 8th. We've bagged tickets for the 8th already, along with a parking spot in the West "Supercar" car park (far better than the dodgy East). Camera battery fully charged and ready to go - yehaaa (and I've even invested in a spare camera battery - now that's dedication 😍).

....for my garage. At last, I've resurfaced the entire garage floor with dedicated interlocking garage tiles. Made by a company called Ecotile, they're pretty much the best in the business and worth every penny (whatever a penny is 🤔).....

Yeah - we're looking forward to that too. Matt Windle sounds like a very interesting guy (there's an excellent article about Matt and Lotus in this month's car magazine), so getting the latest info direct from the horse's mouth (so to speak) should be riveting.

Oooh, interesting. Those road markings are trying to tell us something - hmmmmmmm. How's the Evora Phil? I'm still loving mine, which was six years old in March - definitely a keeper 👍.

We were there at the reveal of the Evija too. I say reveal very loosly because of the format of the showing - shepherded into the viewing booth in complete darkness with the car behind glass, then some very load background music, lots of flashing lights with tiny glimpses of the car, culminating in all lights on for less a second, then complete darkness again. End of reveal!! Ahhh well, at least it was "entertaining", and seeing even a fully disguised 131 might just be worth it 😍.

Hey all I've just booked tickets for Goodwood FOS on Thursday 8th - yes - and if the rumours are correct, we'll be in for a very special surprise on that very day - can't wait! Also got a spot in the Supercar West car park, so am a very smiley boy just at the mo 😀😀😀😀😀. Anyone else going on Thursday?

Hey, that was me! Perfecting that lumbar support was made easier by having access to some Recaros (aka finest car seats on the planet), and precisely modelling the ProBax lumbar area on Recaro's. The end result was startlingly good. Full days of driving (literally hundreds of miles) and not a single back ache at all. With the ProBax in their unmodified state, I'd get hideous sciatica after every short trip!! In fact, I've done the same mod on every Elise / Exige variant I've owned over the last 14 years - all 7 of 'em.