JonT

I was up that way in early Dec (not in the 7) - lovely part of the world, but likely to be annoyingly busy in June. Plenty of daylight for dawn or dusk blats though. Friends staying at the Ferry Boat reported it was a bit grim (dirty sheets) - I was staying at the Arch which was very pleasant, and we ate at the Seaforth already mentioned above. Try and fit in a lap of Loch Leven either on the way up or back.

Rats, it does look like Conti have now discontinued the premium contact in 14s :( In which case I'd suggest the Dunlop Sport BluResponse (which I've currently got on my 14s as they were much cheaper than the Contis last time) aren't a bad second. The tread pattern is very similar to the Contis and overall fairly similar I just don't think they quite offer the same ultimate levels of grip. Next time round I'll be keeping these as my "daily" tyres and replacing the RainExperts with NS2Rs that others have suggested above.

I'm not a great fan of the Uniroyals. They work very well in the wet, cope well in cold conditions, but are very squeally and ultimate levels of grip pretty low, and they're particularly unhappy in hot/dry weather. My favourite by far are Continental Premium contacts (available in 185/60/14s), and the current set of Dunlop BluResponse (same size) aren't too far behind.

Further afield I can reccomend both Car Limits (North Weald) and Don Palmer (Bruntingthorpe). Car Limits is as simple as finding a free date on the website and booking. Don't worry about finding other people, they'll fill the day up for you (a 4 person day is fine for the first time). Don is probably best if you call him. Both are more focussed on handling the car around/over the limit of grip rather than reading the circuit, although Don probably has more scope to tailor his training around what you want.

There seemed to be fewer decent options in 185/70/13 than 185/60/14. Jacking the suspension up may have other side effects (like bump steer, bump travel) that have a negative impact on ride/handling. I think I'm resigned that if I go to 185/60/13 I'm going to lose some ride height, but if those become the "track" tyres, hopefully that's less of an issue.

I'm currently running them on mine, having previously used Conti Premium Contacts in the same size. They've done a few thousand road miles, and a couple of track days. They were very impressive in the wet at Folembray, and equally didn't disintegrate in the heat of Clastres (day after the hottest day of the year in July). I don't think they're quite as good as the Conti's, but as an all rounder do pretty well. I don't think they'll provide as much grip overall as the A021s. I also have a set of 13s with Uniroyal rain expert (in 185/70/13). These are definitely overwhelmed by hot weather and very squeally when you press on a bit, but coped better than expected in snow and do very well in heavy rain. However my plan when they next need replacing is keep the Dunlops as the road tyre and get some NS2Rs or similar (in 185/60/13) for track use.

Last week the Stelvio to Bormio link was shut by landslides, but all the other passes are in a good state. Was amaing to compare/contrast the Albula pass between last Monday and Saturday.

I think the UK is doing the same. But isn't this mostly a labelling change? It was suggested elsewhere that SP98 used to be E5 anyway, so this is just a clarification. It's E!0 that we want to avoid. /Went through france the last couple of days and don't think I saw anything that wasn't labelled E5 or E10 (SP95 or 98).

You parked next to me Bit hot out and about today! (my avatar is still showing the old colour scheme)

https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/abs-7801196.html https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/abs-7717078.html /found on here previously, ordered a week or two ago and fitted today, so I know they're the right ones!

Have you mixed coolant types? AIUI that can cause gunk that doesn't look unlike HGF.

I don't think I've even had a static test on the occasions I've been there.