Car registration time

For the last two days, I’d noticed that the car had started pulling to the left slightly. Very un-usual, given this car drives absolutely perfectly.

Last night, as I came out of Cats (the musical), I noticed that the left rear tyre was almost flat. I stopped in at a BP to fill it, and heard the distinct sound of an air leak.

This morning when I got up, I found the tyre flat again, so I drove to the nearest service station (200 metres or so?), filled it, and drove straight to Bridgestone.

I had a bit of a discussion with the Bridgestone guys about my enthusiastic driving style, and it was decided that they would fit their highest performance tyres, the Bridgestone Adrenaline.

My choices were:
235/45/17 – $249 each.
245/40/17 – $395 each.

I took the cheaper option.

The tyres that came off the car also Bridgestone Adrenalines (completely bald), and anyone that’s spoken to me about these tyres knows that I don’t think much of them in the wet, but I was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. They were on the car when I bought them, and I treated them with utter contempt.

After the tyres were fitted, the car passed it’s rego inspection with flying colours (I didn’t have any doubt that it would, I try to keep it in decent condition).

What do I make of Bridgestone’s top high-performance tyre so far?
In wet weather, it’s fucking useless.
The car does feel a little more stuck to the road around corners, but as soon as I hit the accelerator, it’s all over.

These tyres simply do not have the wet weather grip to put the power (or any power, really) to the ground.

If I drive like grandpa, they’re just like any other tyre, I guess, but that’s not exactly credit. From a standing start, if I try for anything more than light acceleration, they spin.
If I get rolling, and ease on the power, as soon as the boost comes on, they also start to spin.

I really hope that the dry weather performance makes up for what they lack in the wet.

Sold mum’s car

Well, after fucking about for months, I finally sold mum’s car.

A friend of mine, Mark, helped get it running properly again, but nothing could be done about the hail-damage.
I’m now down to three cars on the driveway. WauloK’s, my daily driver, and a broken Fairlane Ghia.

Cleaning out the car entirely filled the large garbage bin, and it doesn’t get collected again until Monday.

Speaking of Monday, it marks the start of two weeks of travelling around NSW and QLD. I’m going to be a tourist for a while. It should be a lot of fun.

Electric car dragracing

Last night a bunch of us from the Australian Electric Vehicle Association went to Sydney Dragway with Mark and his electric Clubman to play on the track.

The previous best was a 16.8, but this time we were going to play with the Zilla (controller).

Unfortunately, we found out that the higher the amps were set, the lower the battery pack voltage was towards the end of the track. While it was nice for the take-off, the continued drain on the pack reduced the top-end, and Mark crossed the line at 17.157 @69.94mph.

Lots of talk was had afterwards about new batteries. Who knows where this fun little car will go.