51x

If you look at a lot of other languages, things are given sexes. Who the heck decides what sex a thing is?! I was talking to my Bulgarian chum here at work and he said: well, you just know! Very useful that. I think generally people consider cars female - something to do with them being lady-like. But even with a name like "Fairlady" (OK, so mine's a UK one), I reckon my car's too butch to have any real lady-like class. Maybe it's a dyke?! I do think it's attractive tho, so it can't be a bloke. Maybe I'm a dyke?! Damn, this is confusing. Where's the "I don't know" button?

Maybe I scan-read this thread, but gotta love them Supras, eh Roy ;) Not that they're still in production (are they?). TVR's sound the nuts, but I dunno if I'd have one. R33... loads of potential, but I can see one sucking more money out of my pocket than my 300 has. No? How 'about some cheap old Ferrari just to say you've got a Ferrari (ya tart ;) ). You could prolly also get quite a bit of porker... but for the money, the interior is as up to date as my old 2.8i Capri (I /loved/ my old 2.8...).

Although I haven't seen it for a while, I don't think my car's any particular sex... it just IS sex! I've had this discussion before and I still don't have a real answer... but it's started with: what sex is your snowboard?... to which I reply: it's obviously male because when I'm bolted onto it, it becomes part of me and I'm a bloke. My snowboard is just a useless plank without me attached to it, but when I am, we become something scary. I s'pose it's different for cars because people can appreciate them while they're standing still. I dunno. Needs more thought. I'm not comfortable with people just saying: she's obviously a girl. If my car was a girl, it'd imply she's taken way too many steroids and wouldn't look good in stockings. I don't wanna think of my car in stockings, dammit! That's just horrible!

Well your download did kinda spread rather fast. You crashed their system (cistern?) because you were downloading too fast... trying to jam too much crap through a low bandwidth connection. It smelt like toxic waste so I wouldn't be surprised if it was full of viruses ;)

OK :D

TLA is a TLA for Three Letter Abbreviation :D

BTW, IIRC (and AFAIK / AFAIR), TLA's are the best ;)

Well you probably were full of sh*t until that day! I knew something was up when I heard you sniggering and the bog being flushed over and over! I have actually mailed them now. I was polite about it. You never know, they'll probably mail back: we remember you - you're the ones that broke our plumbing! We had to call in a decontamination team when you left and shut the hotel down for a couple of weeks! :D

I got another "official" looking Microsoft titled email from Green Park today. Niiiice.

Remind me what a morning is again. That's when it's time to go to bed, right?

OoooooooOOOOOOOoooooooo! I've got me handbag ready for an auto vs manual argument :D Actually, not really... I can't be @rsed.

Hehehe! :D Sorry, couldn't resist. I'm only biased because I've got the same sort (Kahns tho - the proper ones ;) ). What're you thinking now tho... some lary 19's? Have a butchers at SE's (sorry, NISSTEKs) if you're at the open day. They'll probably talk you into a manual conversion while you're there too.

Hey, hold up... I might be getting on a bit, but I'm not poor! :) Seriously tho Smithy, I like that you're crusading for freedom of speech (or something like that) but if it's for my benefit, it's unncessary. I didn't /have/ to post an apology - I wanted to! That's why I said noone was twisting my arm! In fact, I hadn't discussed it with anyone before I posted it. If you're thinking Macca had something to do with it, you're wrong - he was probably just as surprised as everyone. The apology I've made is being watered down by your suggestion that it didn't come from me willingly. That's hardly fair is it? You'll happily believe what I've said in a long rant that I posted because a positive comment made me snap, but when I try to say sorry for presenting my feelings inappropriately, you think there's something wierd going on. Really, it's nice to feel like I have some support (must also say thanks to the people that PM'd / emailed / phoned and txt'd - you know who you are) - I even had a comment that it'd be great if that trader really did mess up again in the near future - but /that's/ NOT what I want! I'm a big fan of theirs and have been for years - I (among others) recommended Stu go there to get his problems sorted! I hear they're trying to make everything better for customers but felt like this wasn't applying to me. With a bit of luck (planning / effort / whatever) there won't be any more forum members / customers getting p*ssed off like me and posting inappropriate comments. I'm also glad the trader didn't make a response in public. It would've been the worst thing they could've done. I don't really get what everyone's debating in this thread. It seems like a number of things... 1. Should posts from anyone on the forum be censored? Well, that's a bit of a tough one, and it's kinda what BigRoy's asking in Private / General. Personally, I'm glad there is some form of censorship because without it this place would be an anarcy - everyone slagging everyone else off and no control at all (worst case). That's not what this forum is about. I kinda hope people are above that here. I admit I did overstep the mark in my posts, not by simply critising a trader, but by blowing a fuse and doing it in a less than rational manner. I'm still unsure exactly what was deemed "inappropriate" - possibly me making certain assumptions about what had happened without really knowing the facts (or implying what I was being told was bullsh*t) - but hey, that doesn't matter. I shouldn't have gone off on one here. I should have sorted it out with them. The censorship (however stong or mild you might consider it) is there for everyones protection - no trader would want to be involved with the forum (/ club) if they're gonna be put in the line of fire of unhinged members that can say what they want, that everyone will read, and without being brought back in line. Similarly, if a trader constantly messes up, they will be brought back in line by the club. 2. Is the trader in question getting some kind of special treatment? It might seem like it if you consider what's happened in the past. But it seems reasonable that with the change to club status and the appointment of Macca to mediate between members and traders, every trader (and member) should now get the same treatment. It's unfortunate I seem to have been first to test the new arrangement. I'm not normally like that, by the way. I'm quiet and reserved and take knocks over and over... but everyone has a limit. 3. Is anyone going to be allowed to criticise anyone without getting censored? Of course they are! FFS, we're not under martial law here! I'm sure traders appreciate constructive critisism. But noone likes to read a rant about them, do they?! If I'd not lost my rag, sorted out my situation privately, then maybe posted some critisism publicly, I'm sure the comments would've been left up. Live and learn. That's what I personally recommend any one else do if they're feeling let down by a trader. Or talk to Macca - he makes a lot of sense. And he does it without using his fists. I'm tired of all this now. Can everyone get back to talking about cars, women, beer and cars like BigRoy suggested?!

Yay! You wanna get some nice Masitaly VT-5R's - they'd look pukka on your mota... maybe even better if you painted them a bit darker. ;)

Wheels!

Hands up, I confess: I unintentionally screwed up Stu's thread by posting a lot of detail about (what I personally consider) some bad times to balance his opinion of his good times. I'm no expert on how this should've be done - on reflection maybe I should've posted it in a seperate thread that could've been deleted / ignored / whatever. And you guys could've carried on talking about what Stu's had done (and could also have done) while his lump's in bits (and whatever else). So sorry to you for being the root cause for the sudden end of conversation. If you want to fire up that discussion again please feel free, and I will totally stay out of it. Although noone's twisting my arm to say it (certainly not Macca, although you might be under the false impression he's got a reputation for it), I also feel I should apologise to the trader in question for expressing my feelings as I did in public. Simply because I failed to communicate my feelings to them directly does not mean I should've used the forum as a vehicle to vent my frustration. It isn't the responsibility of the forum to publish bad feeling between individuals and traders (or whatever combination) and it certainly isn't the responsibility of the forum (/ club) to resolve any difficulties. Saying that, Ian's been good to talk to and I appreciate how fair he's been to me by not just censoring my opinion. You may feel otherwise, but hey, wait til it's your opinion that's about to get censored! I have no problem with the fact that he removed my posts - in fact, if he'd acted sooner (no pressure there Ian) then that trader would not have been exposed to my opinions in such an unsuitable manner. But that's certainly no excuse. Thanks to what I've posted on Stu's thread I'm now feeling pretty horrible (and then some), the trader in question is feeling let down by a trusted customer, Macca's become a Macca sandwich and everyone's stopped talking about Stu's car. It doesn't matter how honest my opinion was, this was the wrong place to express it. I'm truely sorry for any bad feeling I've caused. I wasn't attempting to negatively affect the business of the trader. I just want to get back to being a cheerful, placid 300ZX driver again soon.

Buuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp! What's up homos?

Why aren't the people that're supposed to be running the club answering these questions?! Where's my reply about track day cover?! Oh, man... I'm gonna get such a bad reputation.

Oh man... I never saw that either! Not ignoring you Stu - honest! I don't check my mail anywhere near often enough either.

Your guess is as good as anyone's. Depends on the state of the engine, turbos, etc really. Stick it on a set of rollers to get a good idea... like bringing it to the NissTech / 300ZX.CO.UK rolling road day!

Well it needed sorting out. Try again now.

Yeah, OK. Good point Stuart... if there's a bunch of people that haven't done it before then it'd probably be better to have a go on an airfield. I was a guest at the Bruntingthorpe thing (not driving) but even I got a thirst for doing a proper track day after that. Donny's my first driving (was supposed to be doing a Brands evening first, but seem to have run out of time) - I'm no friggin' expert, but luckily will be getting guidance from people that really know how to drive. They even offered an instructor for 150 quid (for the day) which, split between (say) 10 people is pretty good value. Don't suppose there's any magazines that'd want to do a 300ZX feature at an airfield, is there?

Is it?! Oops.

Who do? The guys that booked Donington ended up taking 21 places... it's supposed to be a Lancer Register day, but looks like there might be more E30 M3s. And one 300ZX. So what I'm saying is you don't have to do this all as a 300 event to try to bag a discout - if you get it together with another bunch of guys you can end up booking the whole track for a day, for cheap. And a good track at that.

I'd say yes, provisionally... kinda need a car to do it in :( As it happens I'm lined up to do a day at Donnington and it cost 159 quid for all day open-pit... so this airfield business may not be as great value as you think. Oh, and you gotta stop saying "race"... there's NO RACING... this is "driver improvement" ;) I've been at a mag feature at Bruntingthorpe - that was pretty cool (paid for by the mag) but being an old airfield, the surface is really blinkin' crappy! Not exactly much of a challenging track either (to be fair, we were on the wide open bit they use for top speed challenges and there is another track around there somewhere). Are you sure it wouldn't be better to get a bunch of people together for a track day? We're kinda running out of weather at the moment anyway.