History & Context

So since selling up my last 300zx in 2016, I've been out 'sowing my wild oats' with other, more modern sports cars in the mistaken assumption that newer (and more expensive) cars were obviously better! I had owned my last 300zx for 10yrs and during that time my friends had overtaken me in the prestige of their machinery and I was sold on the idea that the grass would be greener on the other side. However after a few years of driving and owning a range of other cars I came to the conclusion about 2yrs ago that it wasn't flat out speed, modern tech or price tag that really excited me but the analogue driving experience and quirks that I'd come to love about my old 300zx. And so my search for a replacement manual LWB TT began in earnest!

The Search

Over the past 2yrs I have been scouring ebay, FB, Autotrader, Pistonheads and this forum to find 'the one' that I would keep forever. The search was slow and I wasn’t holding out much hope. Unfortunately the examples that did come up didn’t quite fit the bill or would involve a little too much remedial work for my appetite considering I’m not single and at the start of my career this time around but married with two kids and a mature career which demands much of my time. About 6mths into my search, I was recommended Josh at Gorilla Imports by Jimmer and Joel as a possible alternative option for sourcing a clean example. A quick phone call with Josh later, I was setup on Gorilla Import’s auctions portal.

Over the next 12mths, I was checking the auction sites religiously, on a daily basis. There were a (comparatively) huge number of 300zx in a range of conditions and coming up with some frequency that I was convinced that my next 300zx would almost certainly come directly from Japan! Having never experienced importing a car before I was quite apprehensive, especially with how casual it all felt at the beginning. The idea of buying a car without being able to 'kick the tyres' and handing over all the money to someone I'd never met was pretty unnerving so it took me a while to pay over the deposit to demonstrate my commitment and get access to the auction sheet translation service. Things escalated pretty quickly from here and before long, I had bid (and lost!!) on two lovely examples in the space of a week! Lucky I did though as I learned a lot about myself through the experience and my tolerance for risk…and so my starting budget went up by about 50%, just in time for ‘the one’ to show up!

The first I lost

The second I lost...

 

The Import Journey

As soon as I saw the auction listing I knew this was it. A 1999 version 300zx, something I hadn't even realised existed before seeing this one. I'd seen lots of Version R / S come and go but never one like this and how lucky I was as I'm not a fan of the Recaro seats the others had and was planning for a tan re-trim whichever car I ended up with. I got the auction sheet translated and an on-site visit by Josh’s ‘man on the ground’ who was able to share several photos and videos both inside and out. It looks to be in respectable condition but was listed as a Grade 3 (out of a max 5). The auction sheet and on-site visit didn’t suggest any major issues except for some hesitation from the engine. Josh assured me that all cars must get in/out of the auction house under their own steam which gave me some level of confidence and so after a short deliberation, I went in for a max budget bid….and then went to bed and tried to sleep which was a near impossible ask with the amount of butterflies that were flying around in my stomach!! Due to the time difference, the auctions happen during the early hrs of the UK morning so when I awoke, it was the best surprise to find that I had actually won! The date was Thursday 8 Sept, 2021.

The realisation that I had just won a car having never seen it in person and now had to stump up the full amount, knowing it could take weeks til I got my hands on it meant my excitement very quickly turned to apprehension once again and questions of “what have I done??” and “what if the car’s a dud?!” were flying around in my mind. A few days passed during which I made the full payment to Josh and he was able to confirm the car was cleared for transport. From the auction house it made it’s way to the port and I received a few more photos. This helped ease my mind massively as at least I knew it had driven there and was a real car (i.e. not a scam!) and the additional photos showed it looking pretty damn good! Unfortunately, this was when the waiting game really started. The date was Friday 17 Sep, 2021 (auction + 9days).

For some reason, despite the shipping delays due to the blocking of the Suez Canal earlier in the year and Covid of course, I was still expecting that the car would make it onto a ship pretty quickly. This was not to be and with each passing day I was again wondering whether I’d made the right decision. A problem exacerbated by seeing a few tidy examples of UK cars come and go on the sales sites here…and usually for less that I had paid. The car did finally make it onto a ship called the Sanderling Ace on Tuesday 26 Oct, 2021 (auction + 40days) and was scheduled to land in the UK on 16 Nov.

The neat thing about the internet is that you can find pretty much anything these days, including daily tracking of international freight shipping! So as you could expect, I had the browser page open and refreshed it multiple times a day, pretty much every day. You could likely also imagine my frustration when the 16th of November came and went and the ship was still on the other side of the world to the UK. In fact, freight tracking had its next stop as Jeddah at that time. Cue a flurry of messages to Josh to ask ‘wtf’ but at the end of the day, there was not much he could do about it either other than to assure me the car was real and it was on the ship and the ship was indeed on its way! It felt like a very slow end to the year, where the clock seemed to stand still on the import journey. On Sunday 19 Dec, 2021 the Sanderling Ace landed in Zeebrugge where the car was taken off and would await transhipping to the UK. 

The New Year brought with it new adventure and on Tuesday 18 Jan, 2022 (auction + 132days) the car finally landed in Newcastle. I had assumed that from here on, the car would be in my hands within a few short weeks but it took almost a week for it to clear customs before Josh could collect it. From there, it made its way to Gorilla Imports where it would undergo a MOT and registration with the DVLA. And no surprise, this too was to be a rather lengthy process, largely driven by covid and a combination of understaffing and I suspect working from home at the DVLA. In the meantime, Josh was good enough to give the car a clean and take some photos and videos for me. In doing so, he also diagnosed that engine hesitation/vibration as a loose injector which once seated correctly, was fully resolved. I was finally able to let out a massive sigh of relief!

The following days and weeks were rather eventful with no real news or updates forthcoming. I was however grateful that the car was still with Gorilla Imports, tucked up inside as the weather had been atrocious with one storm after another! On Friday 18 Mar, 2022 the car passed its MOT and finally, on Tue 3 May, 2022 (auction + 237days) Josh confirmed it was registered with the DVLA and ready for me to collect!! Ironically, my schedule was manic in May and I had zero free weekends to travel all the way up from London to Saltburn to collect it but with some brainstorming between Josh and I, we managed to find a mutually convenient date and time for collection. After almost 8mths, I was finally able to see, touch and drive my new Fairlady and it lived up to all my expectations (despite being a stock engined auto!). The 5+ hr drive home was amazing, the sun was out, the car drove perfectly and the traffic around me seemed to part as I approached.

Fun & Games

Unfortunately due to the time of my arrival home following collection, my wife and kids were not able to come out and see the car so I parked it up on the drive for the night. The following morning I took them out to see it. The girls (aged 1 and 4) had a hoot sitting in the rear bucket seats and I couldn’t wait to start it up so they could feel the exhaust burble underneath them. My memories of my last 300zx are fond though I probably spend as much time having to tinker and fix things as I’d spent driving it and so it seemed this car would continue that tradition, at least initially. On turning the ignition, the car turned over but refused to fire. I could see my 10yrs of previous 300zx ownership flash before my eyes, as well as images of my wife telling me not to repeat my past mistakes by buying another! The show and tell ended fairly abruptly and we went back inside where I’m sure I played with the kids amongst other things but really my mind was just going over all the possible things that might have gone wrong between my parking it up the night before and the morning. It was a pretty short list! I checked a few things but nothing stood out as being broken / out of place but upon turning over the engine once more (and for a little longer) it was my 4yrs old who asked me whether the car wasn’t working because it was leaking….? I jumped out pretty quickly to see a trail of fuel streaming down the drive. Fortunately AndrewG lives just around the corner and with his help a few days later we identified the exact source of the fuel leak and were able to sort it relatively easily.

 

Future Plans

Since then the car has been cleaned and driven about fairly locally but due to a busy schedule and terrible weather, I’ve not been on any longer drives just yet but hopefully that will improve over the summer months. In terms of plans for the car, aside from a full service asap, I’m planning for a manual conversion and a PowerZed rebuild sometime down the line but am in no particular rush for either. My focus is to keep the car OEM+, akin to a few others in the Club like AndrewG and JoelyP. Most of all is to share my love of the car and motoring in general with my kids so hoping for a much better ratio of driving:maintenance with this one!

Edited June 4, 20223 yr by sumshiftyguy

Now that the car had somewhere safe to park, I figured it was about time to get it properly detailed and paint corrected. It certainly needed it with all of the carcoon damage! We have a couple of detailers as partners in my other car club so after some back and forth with them, I took my car over to Car Detailing and Protection based in Feltham. Nav is a lovely guy and really loved having some old JDM to work on to break up the 'monotony' of super and hyper cars!

The difference is astounding! I feel like the gold wheels suit the car much better now it's not covered in swirls!! However this will be the last paint correction I'm able to do as the paint is now too thin in a lot of places to take another correction. I may need to bring forward me wrap / paint plans. Nav was also able to pull out about 7 small dings - I was only aware of 3!

Something else that Nav was able to do for me was to validate the feedback I'd received from others about some damage to the car - confirming that a previous detailer has burned through the lacquer on my rear bumper and due to not taping anything off, has burned into my window trims. Neither error can be reversed or corrected and is a detailing 101 mistake to make. Unfortunately too much time has passed since I had that detail done for any recourse but my lesson learned is to never take a recommendation at face value, even if it comes from someone otherwise highly reputable.. I won't mention any names but I'm extremely p*ssed about it. The window trims alone will set me back a substantial amount to replace.

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Edited August 12, 2024Aug 12 by sumshiftyguy

Chalked up another trackday this past week with an open pit lane at Thruxton, the UK's fastest circuit. I have driven Thruxton before but not in my own car. After the success at the Nurburgring, I was excited for the day. Even more so as I had new tyres fitted and was eager to see how they would perform - Continental Sport Contact 7s. I was also a tad apprehensive as it would mark the first test of the gold LMs which I had personally rebuilt....it was hard work putting images of self-destructing wheels out of my mind!!

Thankfully the day remained dry throughout and was quite warm from mid morning. The Zed wasn't the fastest on track but I received an awful lot of comments from spectators about how good it looked out on the tarmac! The trackday photographer also seemed to be taken with it as the online photo album of the day showed (some of his photos below).

I'm happy to report that I'm still not hungry for more power or speed - the stock engine with boost jets feels wonderful. The car is ever nimble. Still has more body roll than I'd like on track but I'm not planning to do anything about that just yet. Thruxton is very easy on the brakes with only 2 braking zones so no concerns there with the judder I experienced at the Ring - which is good as I totally forgot about my plan to slip in some track pads for the next track day!

I definitely do need to decat the car though. It was far too refined!

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Edited September 16, 2024Sep 16 by sumshiftyguy

Nice one Vig - and those gold LM's look awesome mate!!

1 hour ago, RichardS said:

Nice one Vig - and those gold LM's look awesome mate!!

Thanks Richard! I must admit when I first put them on, they felt a bit Jimmy Saville...but they have definitely grown on me! (no pun intended!)

5 minutes ago, sumshiftyguy said:

Thanks Richard! I must admit when I first put them on, they felt a bit Jimmy Saville...

I was thinking more Liberace myself, but great choice!

I

1 hour ago, sumshiftyguy said:

Thanks Richard! I must admit when I first put them on, they felt a bit Jimmy Saville...but they have definitely grown on me! (no pun 

Hmmm, all you really need is a bonnet decal and CB radio

New tyres run in! ✅ 

13 hours ago, Joely P said:

New tyres run in! ✅ 

Just on one corner too! 

Almost 2.5yrs after taking possession of the car, I've FINALLY gotten around to testing and restoring my altia sills! With a lot of guidance from @Kleon I found the motivation to take them off the car and bench test them to find that one of the panels worked, although the light was patchy across the panel and the other was non-functional. I purchased new inverters and EL strips off ebay and though the colour is not an exact match, it's close enough for me to be properly chuffed with them!

Taking them apart wasn't very difficult and getting them back together was only a little more complicated as my new EL panels were wired in a different spot to the originals which meant I had to get creative with my modelling knife to adapt the original housing plates to fit. Purists may hate me for it but they're back together, they work and you wouldn't be any the wiser!

When re-installing I had hoped that my original inverter would still work but unfortunately not so I replaced that as well. Not a big deal but just a bit more effort.

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Edited September 29, 2024Sep 29 by sumshiftyguy

A part that I've always lusted after is the light up rear centre panel. I'd LOVE to have an original Altia panel but a modified one was a close second best in my eyes, provided it had been done properly. I don't recall them ever coming up for sale when I owned my last 300zx but I saw one come up for sale here around the same time that I was bidding on cars at auction. Fortunately for me, it was still available when I finally won my car so the very first purchase I made once I had a confirmed buy was a modified rear centre panel!

Unfortunately what was described as a fully working panel was not plug and play as it had been removed from the previous car by Edward Scissorhands. It's spent almost 2yrs in a box under my desk waiting for me to find the motivation to try and figure out where all the different wires and components connect. Fortunately I had the pleasure of seeing @Kleon's DIY panel in person which gave me the push I needed to sort it out. The previous panel had been built to flash on braking, work with LEDs, etc, etc ,etc....I decided to keep it simple and just wire it into my side lights which made away with all of the extra guff it came with. I'm slightly annoyed at myself for not doing this sooner!

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When I had my last 300zx, one of the last jobs I attempted was to replicate @AndrewG's audio build - custom sub enclosure + tweeter pods which I bought off Andrew as he was replacing his setup. Unfortunately when I sold my last 300zx, I sold all of this kit with it. I hadn't thought back then that I'd ever get back into another 300zx! So slightly annoying that I have to spend any time or money again but Andrew's tweeter setup is by far the best I've seen for these cars so I wasn't prepared to compromise. Despite much pleading with Andrew, it was looking like I would have to have a go at fabricating the housings myself but @Raja93 came to the rescue! He was also looking to do the same and managed to find an audio shop that felt up to the task. After a very brief discussion, I went with the same approach in having them do it. It's taken a LONG time to get my hands on these and they're not perfect - tiny cracks and some pitting in places - but they're good enough for the price paid. Maybe one day I will have a go at making them myself but for now, they're in, they work and they sound bloody fantastic! And with that, the car audio setup is complete!

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I had my local car audio shop install both the rear panel and the tweeters. Mainly because the rear panel needed my reverse camera to be switched over but I also figured they'd do a much better job at installing the tweeters cleanly, which they did! I was present when they started the job and managed to get a look at my front door speakers, which I had expected to be stock but they weren't. I'm not sure what make / model they are but they sound good and look pretty good! If anyone knows anything about these, I'd love to hear from you!

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The last, very tiny job this month, was to fit some plastic door striker covers. I saw these on @AndrewG's car and they looked ever so smart. He kindly shared the part number with me and Amayama did the rest!

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Edited November 9, 2024Nov 9 by sumshiftyguy

I almost forgot to mention that I attended JapShow Finale at Santa Pod again this year with the JDM Dragons. A great turnout with very many 300zx's which is always a great sight to see. Since visiting last year and achieving 273HP on a completely stock engine, I decided to dyno it again to see just how much of a difference my boost jets made and was very happy to see 312HP on the readout. I'm perfectly happy with the power and its delivery so I'm not thinking about any mods to bring this number higher, for the time being. The car remains a joy to drive on the road and it's certainly not lacking on track, which is where I intend to use it more and more in future. I even have a full day at Goodwood scheduled for late November! ☺️

Pics of my two readouts and a couple of rollers from the visit to Santa Pod - check out my reel on IG too which does a good job of catching the vibe!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA3KrkUNFee/

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Edited November 10, 2024Nov 10 by sumshiftyguy

Nice numbers. For a minute I thought the top picture of the black Z was yours...

Edited November 10, 2024Nov 10 by AndrewG

14 minutes ago, AndrewG said:

Nice numbers. For a minute I thought the top picture of the black Z was yours...

The black Z on the dyno is mine...unless you mean the one with the underglow - that's Midnight Purple and belongs to @Kleon

A little late for this update but I had the pleasure of a full day driving around the historic Goodwood Motor Circuit in mid-November. I've been there so many times for various car shows for almost 20yrs and but had only ever once driven around it on one occasion in my old E91 335i M Sport on an exclusive Harwoods trackday. On that occasion I also had the opportunity to take round the new Bentley GT and the Aston Vanquish which were fantastic cars but I honestly prefer something with less power as I get so much more out of experience by being closer to the limits (mine and the car's!).

Anyway, this time around I was unfortunately enough that as I was signing on in the morning, it began to snow! It started coming down heavily during the briefing which lead to the track being closed in the morning. They opened it after lunch so I managed to get a half day of driving. It was very well managed with only 10 cars on track at a time so there was plenty of space to have a play with the car and the track.

As expected now, the car performed brilliantly. The only recurring issue is the vibration through the steering wheel at speeds over 80/90mph. This needs further investigation and a resolution asap as I plan to visit Spa in March and would love to not have to deal with this particular issue. It hasn't affected the drive yet but it would be much nicer without it! The only 'new' issue that has cropped up is a rubbing from the brakes - I believe this is because the pad overhang the discs slightly so where it's worn down unevenly, the edge of the pad is now catching the disc. No performance issues noted, just a little noise which can be annoying at times. I'm hoping with time it will wear down to a point where the noise disappears. Failing that, I plan to fit trackpads before the next trackday so will use that as an opportunity to try and shave / cut back the road pads to eliminate the lip.

I probably wouldn't do Goodwood again as time is short and there are so many other tracks I want to experience. Photos for show...

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My last 'event' of 2024 was a late night drive and photoshoot into London City with my car club on 29th Dec (so the London Eye was in rehearsal mode). The 'official' photos aren't available yet but once that was over, I decided to make the most of the ulez charge to do some photography of my own...I think they came out pretty good!

I really like how the rear panel has come out. I have in mind a few more styling changes for this year so this was a nice way to capture how the car looks at the moment.

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Car looks awesome!

What exhaust does it have on it pal?

On 11/04/2025 at 07:22, jimbob442 said:

Car looks awesome!

What exhaust does it have on it pal?

Thanks buddy! It has a AbFlub Power Superior on it now but came with an oval tipped Tommy Kaira setup. Th AbFlug sounds much better!

A few weeks ago I took a short trip with my club over to Europe for a double header -an evening session at The Ring followed by a full open pitlane trackday at Spa. It was quite an eventful few days but an absolute blast from start to finish!

We caught the shuttle early doors on a Weds and drove straight to the Ring with a brief lunch stop somewhere in Belgium. The tourist session at The Ring was only from 5.30pm-6.15pm as the track was closed for testing all day. Fortunately the weather was dry and because of the late / short nature of the session, it was very quiet. This played to my advantage as I’ll describe later on!

Driving as the sun was setting was immense as you get to experience a totally different side to the Ring. The views are spectacular and it feels very special. Fortunately the Ring-side photographers were still there so I managed to get some awesome photos of the car going around.

With a lap taking somewhere between 11-12mins followed by a brief stop in the DEvil's Diner carpark to let both myself and the car cool down, it was s squeeze but I managed a total of 3 laps within the 45min session. As the saying goes, "quit while you're ahead" and I really should have. The first two laps were very comfortable but I pushed to get in a 3rd with one of the other guys in his Ferrari 360. Usually the two to push each other the most, we went out together and I even carried a passenger with me. Ironically joking about the need for a helmet (it's not mandatory on the Ring...we chose not to) and pushing the car and myself harder than I ever have on any of my 25+ previous laps of the Ring, the inevitable happened....

Going into the corner which I've never had a problem with before, I realised I was carrying too much speed and lifted off slightly. A BIG mistake which caused liftoff oversteer at around 90-95mph. It didn't feel like there was a lot I could do once it started going as the rear end was light as a feather but I did automatically start trying to counter with the steering and intermittent braking. Not sure if any of that was the right thing to do but as you can see, I managed to complete a full 720 spin with the car back on the tarmac, facing the right way and able to simply keep driving. Someone was definitely looking down/over me that day!! Having gone over 2 kerbs and 2 sets of grass, the only damage to the car was my brand new front splitter getting ripped clean off - if you look closely you see it waving goodbye to me as it flies off into the distance 😭 The car had a vibration as I finished the lap but this cleared once I hosed the car down later that evening so most likely just debris caught up in the wheels and brakes.

One of the guys shared the below video with me a few days ago which is of an AMG GTR doing the exact same thing in the exact same spot but with quite a different result. It's not lost on me just how lucky I was and certainly a lesson in humility learned.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIXoagYphMo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The following day the group spent the day touring the back roads around the Ring and the Black Forest. Unsurprisingly I stayed at the back of the group and often got left behind! There was no way I was going to be pushing the car so soon after what happened! We headed to Spa that evening and stayed at Hotel Le Source, with direct bedroom views of the track..all very exciting!

The following day we headed to the pits where we had 2 garages reserved for our group and a dedicated instructor. I was feeling very nervous but the sun was out, the track was wide and I promised myself I would take it slow and build up through the day. It ended up being one of the most perfect days of driving I've ever experienced! This was the first F1 track I've driven and the difference in quality is insane! The tarmac was like silk, the marshalling was perfect, track time was maximised, the pit lanes where the F1 cars hangout felt like being on a movie set...

Although a bucket list day, I would 100% go back again for a trackday at Spa. It's easily driveable for a day (+1 overnight) away. For anyone considering it, my advice would be to just do it. You won't regret it!

I've been back home for a few weeks now and after washing and cleaning the car, I've not taken it out. There are a few jobs I need to get going on with it:

• source and fit a new front lip ☹️

• remove and refit my new PowerTrix side skirts as they were fitted as a bit of a rush job before the trip and not done quite correctly

• get the engine checked out as there was a little blue smoke at times under load from the left bank..possibly turbo seal on the way out?

• using a dial test indicator on my hubs to check for runout. The discs are true as are the wheels but I still have the vibration. I want to check the hubs and change the tyres (was waiting til after this trip to get new rubber) and failing that, I think it might be time to start renewing the suspension components

Before the trip, I fitted a front lip sourced from Luke at ZCentre and I replaced my factory 99spec side skirts with some new PowerTrix side skirts. I never really liked the 99specs as they looked a little dated and 'fruity'. Hard to explain but I much prefer this new look.

As always, I've posted a few recap reels on my IG which you can checkout if interested:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHpBCFbC-XE/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHrirh_iG9j/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHzHs3LN1QY/

Edited April 19Apr 19 by sumshiftyguy

2 hours ago, sumshiftyguy said:

Thanks buddy! It has a AbFlub Power Superior on it now but came with an oval tipped Tommy Kaira setup. Th AbFlug sounds much better!

You're welcome pal, your car is a credit to you! Do you still have the old exhaust, or do you know where I could source an Abflug one? Just researched and they look and aound great!

Looking great Vig but no more scary slides mate.

3 hours ago, jimbob442 said:

You're welcome pal, your car is a credit to you! Do you still have the old exhaust, or do you know where I could source an Abflug one? Just researched and they look and aound great!

I don't I'm afraid. I sold it on via FB a little after I fitted the AbFlug. There is a Veilside Evolution up for sale in the US but it's received quite a bit of attention and after shipping, may not be worth it for you...the two sound very similar though the Veilside is a twin pipe vs the AbFlug quad pipe. They're both pretty rare, though do come up from time to time. Good luck!

3 hours ago, sumshiftyguy said:

I don't I'm afraid. I sold it on via FB a little after I fitted the AbFlug. There is a Veilside Evolution up for sale in the US but it's received quite a bit of attention and after shipping, may not be worth it for you...the two sound very similar though the Veilside is a twin pipe vs the AbFlug quad pipe. They're both pretty rare, though do come up from time to time. Good luck!

Thabks very much pal, appreciated 👍🏻👍🏻

Wow amazing trip and can’t believe how lucky you were, someone was looking out for you, beautiful car you have.

On 19/04/2025 at 10:52, sumshiftyguy said:

A few weeks ago I took a short trip with my club over to Europe for a double header -an evening session at The Ring followed by a full open pitlane trackday at Spa. It was quite an eventful few days but an absolute blast from start to finish!

We caught the shuttle early doors on a Weds and drove straight to the Ring with a brief lunch stop somewhere in Belgium. The tourist session at The Ring was only from 5.30pm-6.15pm as the track was closed for testing all day. Fortunately the weather was dry and because of the late / short nature of the session, it was very quiet. This played to my advantage as I’ll describe later on!

Driving as the sun was setting was immense as you get to experience a totally different side to the Ring. The views are spectacular and it feels very special. Fortunately the Ring-side photographers were still there so I managed to get some awesome photos of the car going around.

With a lap taking somewhere between 11-12mins followed by a brief stop in the DEvil's Diner carpark to let both myself and the car cool down, it was s squeeze but I managed a total of 3 laps within the 45min session. As the saying goes, "quit while you're ahead" and I really should have. The first two laps were very comfortable but I pushed to get in a 3rd with one of the other guys in his Ferrari 360. Usually the two to push each other the most, we went out together and I even carried a passenger with me. Ironically joking about the need for a helmet (it's not mandatory on the Ring...we chose not to) and pushing the car and myself harder than I ever have on any of my 25+ previous laps of the Ring, the inevitable happened....

Going into the corner which I've never had a problem with before, I realised I was carrying too much speed and lifted off slightly. A BIG mistake which caused liftoff oversteer at around 90-95mph. It didn't feel like there was a lot I could do once it started going as the rear end was light as a feather but I did automatically start trying to counter with the steering and intermittent braking. Not sure if any of that was the right thing to do but as you can see, I managed to complete a full 720 spin with the car back on the tarmac, facing the right way and able to simply keep driving. Someone was definitely looking down/over me that day!! Having gone over 2 kerbs and 2 sets of grass, the only damage to the car was my brand new front splitter getting ripped clean off - if you look closely you see it waving goodbye to me as it flies off into the distance 😭 The car had a vibration as I finished the lap but this cleared once I hosed the car down later that evening so most likely just debris caught up in the wheels and brakes.

One of the guys shared the below video with me a few days ago which is of an AMG GTR doing the exact same thing in the exact same spot but with quite a different result. It's not lost on me just how lucky I was and certainly a lesson in humility learned.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIXoagYphMo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The following day the group spent the day touring the back roads around the Ring and the Black Forest. Unsurprisingly I stayed at the back of the group and often got left behind! There was no way I was going to be pushing the car so soon after what happened! We headed to Spa that evening and stayed at Hotel Le Source, with direct bedroom views of the track..all very exciting!

The following day we headed to the pits where we had 2 garages reserved for our group and a dedicated instructor. I was feeling very nervous but the sun was out, the track was wide and I promised myself I would take it slow and build up through the day. It ended up being one of the most perfect days of driving I've ever experienced! This was the first F1 track I've driven and the difference in quality is insane! The tarmac was like silk, the marshalling was perfect, track time was maximised, the pit lanes where the F1 cars hangout felt like being on a movie set...

Although a bucket list day, I would 100% go back again for a trackday at Spa. It's easily driveable for a day (+1 overnight) away. For anyone considering it, my advice would be to just do it. You won't regret it!

I've been back home for a few weeks now and after washing and cleaning the car, I've not taken it out. There are a few jobs I need to get going on with it:

• source and fit a new front lip ☹️

• remove and refit my new PowerTrix side skirts as they were fitted as a bit of a rush job before the trip and not done quite correctly

• get the engine checked out as there was a little blue smoke at times under load from the left bank..possibly turbo seal on the way out?

• using a dial test indicator on my hubs to check for runout. The discs are true as are the wheels but I still have the vibration. I want to check the hubs and change the tyres (was waiting til after this trip to get new rubber) and failing that, I think it might be time to start renewing the suspension components

Before the trip, I fitted a front lip sourced from Luke at ZCentre and I replaced my factory 99spec side skirts with some new PowerTrix side skirts. I never really liked the 99specs as they looked a little dated and 'fruity'. Hard to explain but I much prefer this new look.

As always, I've posted a few recap reels on my IG which you can checkout if interested:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHpBCFbC-XE/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHrirh_iG9j/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHzHs3LN1QY/

Wow! I've just watched your clip now, you really had someone looking over you that day! That could've been so much different!

Glad you're ok buddy! 🙏🏻😎