Nice whip @bensales! The facelift M3 looks much better with the chrome delete and I think it also benefits from a heat pump that will help with range. Enjoy, they are absolutely silly fast! I still drive around laughing like a lunatic at the turn of pace on mine, 9 months in. Great cars

Was just about to put my feet up..

Someone summed it up, up there ^^^ perfectly. It really is very sad to watch the country you live in fall apart around you. What an awful bunch of selfish money grabbing crooked backward looking bag of dicks the people in charge of this country really are. The whole lot of them in aggregate haven’t got the intellectual depth to even begin to fathom one single element of the utter shit storm they have created. Lock them up and throw away the key.

I really do worry for future generations of my family and if I could get out now and move somewhere else I would do it in a heartbeat. It is **** ing embarrassing.

Absolutely gutted for Russel. He was homing in on Perez nicely there!

Bloody crofty as well! Led me on right Merry little emotional rollercoaster.. gutted when I thought it was Russell, then relieved when it was Bottas and then gutted all over again.

Mechanic on front left clocked what had happened I think and avoided same happening on Bottas. Interesting dynamic now with the Merc on faster tyres behind!

“Should be plenty of pace on these tyres”

Russell “I **** hope so!”

😂

I was in a similar boat last weekend.. I cut it – doesn’t seem to have killed it and it looks better than it was.

WTF was that Marshall doing running across a live racetrack to the stricken racing point?!

Deary me. Car upside down now! Need to call it a day on this race

I can’t fathom how horrific the environment must have been in the car while he was trying to get out. Bearing in mind he’ll have been winded to **** having had the stuffing knocked out of him, then getting the wheel off, head rest and then clamber out of the wreckage. Horrific

Seems to be some disagreement on the fire. Some saying the fuel collector (2 litres) and others saying full fuel tank has been punctured. Certainly looks like the latter to me!

Commentary reckon 18-20s from impact to egress. He’s done extremely well to get out so quick in what was basically a furnace after a massive impact.

That survival cell earned its money today. Absolute horror crash. I felt sick when I saw it live, it was like a bomb going off.

So glad to hear he is ok – rest up Grosjean, that was a big one.

Aye, it’s hard to get your head around the fact that in a relatively microscopic period of time we’ve absolutely trashed our planet, and I agree it is very scary. I just can’t see a way out of it. I think about the climate emergency almost daily.

On one of the other threads someone said that it was a privilege to be in a position to worry about such threats (or something along those lines) when some people have such immediate and short term worries about the next rent payment or putting food on the table. I hadn’t thought if it in those terms before and it does make me understand that just to be worrying about it, I am in a very fortunate position.

Technology is a wonderful thing and if we look at the advances in medical science it truly is a wonder, and living standards have improved dramatically compared to 150 years ago, but at what cost?

I try and do my bit but it just feels like pissing into the wind. I’ve changed a lot of things in the last 12 months but there is still a ways to go for me personally.

We’ve got a wall mounted extractor hood. We splashed out on a decent one as we had friends and family discount at Siemens at the time. This thing could suck an apple through a hose pipe. However, we have it in re-circ mode as the position of the hob doesn’t allow for external ducting and it was only after about two years that I realised the metal grease filters weren’t a full complement and we needed carbon filters too… I still to this day haven’t bothered and the kitchen has been in 6 years.. I’m surprised there’s not a massive stain on the white ceiling above TBH. It is essentially a very fancy light.

We’re getting the kitchen done next year so will be keeping the hob and hood but moving it to allow for external extraction. I’m hoping I can purchase the kit from Siemens to do this as the original probably went in the bin..

Simply amazing! Well done Lewis. A thoroughly well deserved race win and 7th drivers title. What a drive!

Super smooth and powerful electric drivetrain.

The fact that I effectively have a fuel station on my drive.

Driver profiles that tailor EVERYTHING. Seating position, mirrors, steering wheel reach and rake, regen, driver mode, etc.

Free over the air updates that improve performance. The sort of software update I can get on board with!

Edit. Remote climate control via an app, for those cold winter mornings and barmy summer days when the car has been left in the sun. Game changer.

As above, I’m really surprised that SMETS1 meters were installed this summer, absolute madness. We had the EON SMETS1 meters installed in 2017. They are getting ripped out and put in the bin in a couple of weeks when we’re getting SMETS2 put in to take advantage of Octopus Go and the cheap overnight rate for EV charging. Crazy that a load of kit only installed 3 years ago is now defunct.

I hadn’t realised the Agile tariff was so high at peak times. 30p per kwh is expensive! I’d be hiding the kettle, unplugging the oven and all sorts in our house if that happened!

Overall I think smart meters are a good thing. Some people just don’t have the awareness that simple behaviour changes can save a significant amount of energy and money. One member of my extended family literally brims the kettle to make 1 cup of tea.. can barely lift the thing after they’ve had a go on it it’s that full!

One of my mates is the opposite.. he pours the water into his mug from the cold tap and then into a completely empty kettle. Boils in about 40 seconds!

Aye, cabin heating will absolutely destroy range. Heated seats for the win

Sounds good! A colleague has the e-tron and absolutely loves it. Electric cars are an absolute revelation (in my view anyway). Even my wife’s relatively modern petrol saloon car feels pretty agricultural these days in comparison!

@Kuco That doesn’t sound right to me. If I understand correctly, you’ve brimmed it and when you unplug it the range is anywhere between 233-278 before you set off?

Our model 3 when charging for ‘daily’ (about 85%) rather than ‘trip’ (100%) always shows between 272-274 miles once charged, and has done for 8 months.

Update on my situation in case it is useful/relevant for others.

The DNO’s contractor came out to the house today for the survey. The supply comes in to my house and then feeds the semi we’re joined to, and the next two semis in the other direction too! So 4 houses in total.. Apparently very common in the area I live for this age of house.

To upgrade to an 80 amp main cutout will require excavating a portion of our block paved driveway so they can cut the power to work on the installation inside the house safely (sounds like they will replace the whole thing). No requirement for an upgraded supply cable just somewhere to cut it so they can do they work.

They knocked on all the affected properties to inform them. The main impact on them is the power being off for a time and if they want the 80 amp cutout, the work to upgrade that. One of them has already said it’s inaccessible and they’ll leave it at 63, and another seemed less than keen about the upgrade.

I think the fact that the supply comes in to my property from the street and then across to the other properties is a benefit as it is me requesting the upgrade and my drive that gets dug up.. Next door’s drive is resin so impossible without re-doing the lot and I think it would take a fair bit of convincing to get them to accept a load of work and disruption just because I decided to get an EV. Apparently there is an SLA to get this all done in 4 weeks, but with lockdown 2.0 just around the corner, I can see it being longer than that.

The engineer said they would generally not fit a 100 amp cutout on domestic properties as the incoming supply cable is not up to it and there’s no real need. He also wasn’t concerned in the slightest about the 32 amp charger I have on the current 63 amp main cutout.

Not ideal having an area of the driveway dug up, but I’m comfortable with the plan and the fact the work is not chargeable to me.

@mikesbikes71 Let me know if you want any more details as it sounds like we’re in the same area with similar scenarios.

Cheers Lee. That’s a lot of calibrating! I probably won’t have as much leverage with just the one to do.. so maybe the top end of that scale

It was an Ellsworth Joker in that beautiful anodised blue that brought me to this very forum in the first instance in about 2008 IIRC.. Hence my very unimaginative user name.. I had to very quickly setup a login so I could buy the bike! I drove across the width of the country that evening to pick it up. It was my first full suss bike and I LOVED that thing. Chris King headset, Hope 4 pots, Fox forks, Thomson stem, etc. It was my first proper bike.

My dad had it for a while after me and when I built him up a more suitable bike, sold it to a pal of mine who still rides it. We were up Hamsterley recently when some lads stopped him after shouting “Nee way mate is that an Ellsworth Joker?? I always wanted one of those back in the day”. He’s always getting retro bike comments after coming from an old Marin Pine Mountain (I think) before the the Joker.

What’s the going rate for a calibration? I’ve a teng one but it must be getting on for 10 years old and could probably do with a calibration.
Cheers

Very good point! I hadn’t thought of that, bathroom is directly above downstairs WC with the same foot print so that should work. Thanks

Thank you, that makes sense. My wife will be happy if there’s less mess.. especially as there’s newish carpets in two of the rooms!
Cheers

Thanks Flaperon. I’m waiting for the plumber (who installed the system) to call me back about next steps so I will discuss this with them. I feel like the powerflush is more for sludge/grime build up (of which there should be almost none) rather than a physical blockage and it’ll be a waste of time/money.
Cheers

Update. Having looked into the power flush process I’m not confident it is going to resolve the issue and I’m leaning towards just putting the money/effort of doing that towards ripping up floors and replacing pipework..

As noted earlier in the thread this is not too much of a mission other than the bathroom. Does anyone have experience of ripping up porcelain tiles from a floor without disturbing wall tiles? All walls are tiled and I’m worried ripping up the floor may disturb them.. Any advice on how to do this safely would be most welcome.

The area of flooring is small so the cost of the tiles, adhesive, grout, etc. is low and I’d be doing the tiling (again). It’s just going to be a king size pain in the arse as this is our only bathroom in the house and I’ll have to work at pace!

Good luck with it all. Sounds like you’ve had an absolute nightmare with this! Let us know how it pans out. Cheers

@B.A.Nana. Interesting that you got the 100 amp free of charge. My DNO’s contractor, Clancy Docwra, are coming out on Monday to do the survey so hopefully all will become clear after that. I think the reason they say 100 amp is chargeable is to cover their back in case the incoming supply cable is not up to the task and would need replacing. I already have the charger in but like you say it is worth a punt. I’m hoping the 3 phase supply means it’s up to the task of 100 amps.

@prettygreenparrot We’ve been charging at 32 amps for 7 months now without an issue on a 63 amp main fuse.. (touch wood!). Well.. the little sticker on the board says “63 amps”.. whether or not that’s what’s in there is a different matter! I hope I’m not in for a shock when they come out on monday.. Does your EV charger have this load balancing/protection thing on it? Blowing the main fuse sounds a bit tasty and not something I ever want to experience.

The charger has been in for 7 months on the 63amp fuse.

Upgrading the fuse was just a general thing on my list that I hadn’t got round to. The installer was relaxed about it.. they said no need to upgrade from 63amp just for the EV charger as it had this protection circuit in it.. The charger gets us a steady 27 mile per hour into the battery, although for some reason it seemed to dip to about half that for no reason for a couple of days before resolving itself.

I would have recommended you speak with the company who installed ours but they’re based in the North East so probably not much value in that.

This sounds painful. We’ve a 7kW/32amp pod and our main fuse is only 63amp.. The unit has built in load detection as you say.

Ours wasn’t through pod point direct but a local company. They handled the paperwork and notified the DNO but there was no formal approval that I’m aware of..

Funnily enough I spoke with the DNO yesterday as it was on my list to get the main fuse upped to 80amps. Someone is coming out to look at it tomorrow from the DNO. There’s no charge unless you want 100amps (I think).

I’m pretty sure we’re on some weird 3 phase thing and I know next door has been mentioned in the past.. I hope I’m not in for a shock when the DNO come out and see the setup!

Have you spoken with the DNO on the phone or is it all via email? Has anyone from the DNO actually been out to do a survey? Ours were really good/friendly when I spoke with them on the phone.

You’ll pay more for a local company to fit the pod but they may be more responsive. What area are you in?

Glad to hear they were prosecuted MOAB. You would have thought all of that yellow paint arranged in twin lines indicated it was a bad place to park.. Selfish **** arseholes.

It was an astonishing 1st lap! Thanks for sharing the on-board from Kimi’s car. It looks like a computer game, the way he dusts off half the grid in 1 lap! Brilliant.

How was that one ^^^ resolved MOAB??

Thank you for the responses all. I’m not going to fiddle with the boiler given it’s had a good going over by the pros on more than one occasion (there were laptops involved..).

I think there must be a physical restriction somewhere so I’m going to start lifting carpets and boards tonight in the easier places to access. I know exactly where the CH pipes come upstairs and then start branching off to the various rooms so that will be where I’ll start. Then it’s a case of lifting the carpet where the new rad is and seeing what’s what. Next step after that is to pull the bath panel to see if I can inspect the bathroom radiator without disturbing the tiled floor first.

Thanks

Thanks Bear. The rads were all brand new, don’t really know if they were cheap or not as it was 1 price for the whole install. The Worcester Bosch engineer commented how clean the water was from the system – it looked like it was straight out the tap and the filter was squeaky clean too. Would any sludge show itself in dirty water elsewhere in the system?

As for access, two rooms are okay as they’re carpets and floorboards. The third room is a tiled bathroom.. 😐

Amazing start to a race!
I really hope those dark looking clouds deliver a downpour. Haven’t had some proper wet weather racing for a little while now.

Re. Max’s crash in practice.. the lad is an absolute bell end of the very highest order. I was watching that session and the way I see it, Stroll came past on a fast lap and Max’s ego immediately kicked in and he chased him. You could see it plain as day. As soon as stroll passed him he just booted it straight away.. then it was just a matter of time. Little **** tosspot that he is.