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The manufacturers are all such fibbers / weasely that I've never understood why the media don't automatically put them on the scales when reviewing / testing - people are interested. I've never understood how Meaden's Fireblade got down to that fabled 369kgs either. Mine is just shy of 400kgs and there's no way I can find another 25kgs.

Sorry to be off topic, but are there any hard and fast rules to damper settings? I've got Quantum's and from day one had them set at "0" - the "softest" on a scale of 0-24. I've recently set them to "12" to see if it makes a difference, but am not really putting enough miles on them to appreciate it - maybe a bit more nuggety, but that's it. Without wanting to get into "Confirmation Bias" what should I expect? e.g. "dial the rears up to 24 and you'll get xx"

I've a carbon fibre rear panel on my car and today noticed cloudy/milky marks around the filler cap, where fuel has splashed. I tried the beeswax furniture polish, but whilst it works wonders on water stains on the arches, it doesn't do anything for the fuel stains. The panel isn't that super thin, hardly lacquered, bendy cf but quite thick, heavily lacquered sheet. Any ideas how to get rid of the milky patches? Thanks.

Thanks Ivaan, there is some adjustment so I'll have a twiddle. I replaced the original non-repackable James Whiting exhaust with an Andy Bates (AB Performance) one last winter because it was struggling with Brands' noise levels. I'm yet to find out how much quieter it is but I notice that Brands' levels have reduced again in the meantime... Hi Simon - I don't think I'm serious enough for a closed loop system, nice as they are! Jonathan - it does have a rev limiter, but it's somewhere north of 12,000rpm I believe. I'm curious why you want to know now! Okay next q - why does the rev counter needle drop momentarily to zero during the shift? I'm thinking it's not good for the longevity of the counter. Does the counter read the spark for it's information?

Laughs. Now you've told me, SM25T... What is the potential damage? All the wadding burnt or blown out of the back? Or more serious?

There's a pressure switch on the gear lever. When you start to pull the lever it senses you're about to change up and kills the spark momentarily, allowing the engine to decelerate enough to comfortably slot the next gear in. All without using the clutch or needing my right foot to relax any pressure. Have I answered my own question? Carbs wide open, fuel and air going in, but no ignition until it gets to a hot exhaust? :-)

As above really. I'm used to the occasional burble / pop when decelerating but yesterday there were a couple of proper 'old-style' BANGS when accelerating hard and changing up - scared the bejesus out of me! Should I be concerned? Will my inside rear arch explode? Has my engine gone out of tune (carb'd Fireblade)? I've recently had a Flatshifter fitted if that's a possible culprit... Any ideas? Ta'.

I might be interested also, Simon. What sort of cost for all the components, and can I still use my shiny QRS dampers? And possibly more importantly, what does it realistically do for the car, apart from sate my upgrade-itus for a few months?

Just curious, but does anyone know what happened to Julian Thompson's car? I remember following the build; all carbon fibre this, lightweight that, a bike engine that got damaged during development, and then up for sale iirc. Is it still on the forum? I'd like to know it's still strutting its stuff.

Just swapped from dry to wet sump on my fireblade. Weight off 6kg, weight on approx 1.4kg. I wonder if the wet sump carries less oil, so maybe there's a little bit more of a saving that I don't know about. Definitely a sub 400kg car now :-)

Is the individual cars' weight not relevant here? Am I right in thinking a car weighing 1200kgs, at, say, 17psi would be more likely to damage the tyre sidewalls than a car of 500kgs? Same goes for affecting the handling characteristics of the tyre? Mine are 17psi and seem fine (up from the 13-14psi of the old A048's) on a car weighing 475kgs with driver.

Gary Numan? He likes cars.

I do enjoy mine, and in reading your ad I've been chatting to AB about going back to a wet-sump. It's now booked in for August for that and a new exhaust, and I'm thinking of "while you're there's...". So if you don't mind again... - Flatshifter - what do you think? I've read good reports and not-so-good reports. Is it only really suitable when you're on a track day, or does it cope well with on-the-road normal / brisk-ish driving too? Will my standard box survive? Does it require constant fettling once set up? - LSD. James Whiting suggested it wasn't needed as the Blade isn't that powerful and was more about speed around the corner rather than mash-the-pedal grunt on the exit (if I understood him correctly). There have been a few times I've been had the lighter side spinning away, and if I'm honest it's probably more about the donut potential, but I'd be interested to know your view. Once again, many thanks and good luck with the sale.

I'm more attracted by fozzybears' http://www.lotus7.club/forum/sale/rare-james-whiting-fireblade-sale-2001-14000m-two-owners - it's got some nice mods.

I did. I spent £60 on a baffle and reduced it from 105 to 103.5... Will have to look into it a bit more I think.

I chatted to the father and son with the green car, at the end. There was a 'Time Attack' car (Nissan?) leaving the pits as the son was going by and I think he just lost it. He said he might have it on video so it might end up on youtube. Mine was the matte black, gold wheels Fireblade Tom. Brilliant fun evening out!

Great evening, thanks for organising it Andy W! A real shame about the green car - lad was a bit shaken and I'm sure he'll feel it tomorrow, but both he and his Dad seemed okay about it and they do have track day insurance (phew!). Some very track day oriented cars there tonight - Like SM25T says, the Caterhams did do well against them and nice to see faces there from last year. That 430 was nippy!

Nice car, nice upgrades! If i didn't already have one etc etc... Sorry to crowd your sale thread but if you don't mind me asking, why did you switch from the dry to the AB wet sump? Did you notice any difference? How much closer is the sump to the tarmac? Also, why change the gears - for top end or acceleration? Or just strength? Thanks. I might be interested in a spare 919 engine so please keep me in mind / PM me if the buyer doesn't want one / them.

I just tried the PTFE tape fix. Putting the steering wheel on the first time is stiff and it's not so obvious it's located properly, but it does appear to work - play is removed. Removing the steering wheel reveals it to be all bunched up at the end, with nothing on the splines. Cheap too!

Thanks SM25T. JK messaged me the same info (naturally he also gave me its Latin name) :-). Cheers chaps!

Hi all, I took part in the group buy for red/clear rear lights last year, and am wondering what glue will stick the 3 parts (red, clear and reflector) together without making the lenses milky and bodged like an old airfix kit. Thx in anticipation.

Thanks Julian; bit lighter on the rears then, but not as much a difference as I thought there'd be.

Cards on the table J, I probably bought ZZR's because they looked "racecar!" as much as anything else, and wonder if I'd notice if they were each a kg lighter, such is my ability. Whatever you choose, they're consumables so you'll get another go at some point.

Thanks Julian. My brand new 2015 ZZR 215 13's weighed 9.35kg and the 185's weighed 7.65kg.

Hi Julian, sorry to be off topic but if you're getting ZZS's and have the opportunity to weigh them before fitting I'd be interested to know the result. My recent ZZR's were heavier than I thought (I'm led to believe the design was beefed up last year) so I'm curious about the ZZS's. Thanks.