Twistee

It's live now and the live broadcast has the potential to be great, but the stream is choppy and currently ruining the experience. I have a 1GB fibre link, so I can rule out bandwidth as the issue. I hope they improve rapidly and this is just a teething problem. Still pretty exciting. And just like that @the 45 minute mark it has been sorted.....

@BanditThat's not off topic, it's a BMW and has a connection to Hicky in a thread about the TT. I can connect the dots Great looking piece of kit with some expensive hardware upgrades, I bet when new that was a lot of coin to put on the track. Who ever stumps up the cash for that will have an epic ride. Given the price of a new 1000RR is 3 to 4x what is being asked for that bike it's a good deal (and you won't get 3-4x the performance), assuming you were already hunting for a BMW track hack it looks tempting. Needs some BMW M decals to complete the look though.

"The big problem with Macau is that the bike racing gets in the way of a fantastic holiday" @dirtydoogle I think that Collecting Cars episode is possibly my most listened to podcast ever, he is a great story teller and ambassador for the sport.

That's a good flick, there are plenty about Dunlop and McGuiness online that are worth a watch as well. The road race guys seem far more down to earth and relatable than the equivalent 4 wheel racers, probably a large part of what draws people to the sport is the amazing history of crazy characters who are accessable to the fans. I would also love to attend TT week, but I think it is getting health and safetied into oblivion for the fans. The days of leaning on a rock wall while a superbike belt by within arm's reach are numbered. In the meantime I will do with a digital version and watch the video streams.

Thought I would post this up for anyone that follows the TT - especially as it has been out of action for the past couple of years due to Covid. For the first time ever the IOM TT is going to be live broadcast, the streaming service is $40 for the duration of the event. For that price I've already signed up, the package includes replay access for 12 months. It's like Bathurst on two wheels after several lines of cocaine and all the brave pills https://ttplus.iomttraces.com/ And yes if you like BMW's there may be one or two at the pointy end of the field - https://www.visordown.com/news/racing/road-racing/peter-hickman-confirms-2022-isle-man-tt-nw200-factory-fho-bmw Even if you don't ride or follow road racing go watch some TT clips on Youtube.

Desperately trying to get some very expensive electronics sent to Melbourne from Auckland, item was handed over to the courier 10 days ago.... it's still sitting at Auckland Airport - FFS!!!! I could have bought a return ticket business class and hand delivered it for less than the money that this has cost to date in lost production.

@HarperFair call, I'm sure it's 100% reversible, I could be completely wrong (more than happy to be) and the manual could be the greatest thing to have been missed by BMW ever in the touring.

Still can't get over how heavy "modern" cars are, I guess safety and luxury options rack up the mass.

Personally I don't agree with the concept of doing a manual conversion on a car that is 1 of 222 that were right hand drive ever made. It annoys me every time a journo or youtuber bags the SMG after spending 10 minutes with it, the SMG is raw and brutal when you want it to be but can be butter smooth doing the school run. So either I have a Wednesday car or most reviewers have made up their mind about how bad an SMG is well before having any seat time. Rant over. That aside, I'm all for someone championing the E61 M5 and I do like Carfection as a channel.

The Carfection review, very cinematic and therapeutic after a long day.

Poor M3, missing dash trim, rusty seat runners, incorrectly fitted door rubbers, front bumper, bonnet and arches look like they have seen better days........ sigh .... anyone test driving that beast needs to up to date with all their shots. Clearly owned by a "car guy", great documented service history.

So did you pop a skid, bro......? or did you do skid owww ?

Sure is, inlaws are in the retirement village around the corner.

Latest instalment, Ben Collins drives it and gives his review.

Latest update: I pulled a couple of all nighters for work, after two days on the trot I was a tad foggy in the head. Arrived early to pick up my daughter from school, parked up as per usual turned off the car, adjusted my seat, fired up the laptop and started a meeting..... 30 minutes later, DING, low battery!!! FFS I had run the M5 out of electron juice. As they say in the classics : Hitched a ride to get my jump pack and life was vaguely back on track, but seriously - how many bits of electronic black box wizardry does it take to inform the idiot driver that maybe they should turn the ignition off before the battery is completely dead. So the moral of the story is, no idea..... something about make sure you have a towel and jump pack?

https://www.driven.co.nz/news/man-crashes-his-classic-1m-supercar/ "The accident is believed to have happened at low speeds and according to the report it was due to the driver's unfamiliarity with the manual transmission." So it had gears, a funny stick thing and a third sticky out thing by the feet. I would also be confused. Don't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for someone that paid almost $1,000,000 for that car and then darted it into a palm tree.

I think Clarkson sums it up well

Car looks great, don't you just hate nature !!!

Latest video update of the DRIVETRIBE E61 M5, most watchable as Mike is not woffling on nearly as much as normal and the car is at EVOLVE Tuning :D Biggest take away from this vid is that EVOVLE are still actively developing the full carbon inlet plenum for the S85, something that has been hinted at for more than while and many just put down to idle gossip. Time to start saving ! M5 @ EVOLVE Video PS to any mod - normally when I paste a link directly into a post it will generate the embedded video, not happening with this thread? What have I done incorrectly?

And repeat, then probably go to the red light district and top it off with a quick smoke..... WTF Netherlands, you crazy.

So not BMW, but a 3.4 Turbo Porsche that gets a stunning 24L / 100 kms open road . Yeah, so about that M5 being a gas guzzler? Obviously this a bit of click bait as the beast is old school turbo tech, and lives in 4th gear as it's a big turbo low compression setup for Germany so it doesn't have much of a chance to be economical. As expected another nice Harry vid:

Pretty sure it's the Heritage Touring cars series in AU http://www.heritagetouringcars.com.au/ , which is absolutely wonderful to watch and terrifying. A true series based on use it for what it what built for racing, and we are lucky that there are owners who have taken to the spirit of it.

@Bandit Thanks, that was a great vid. The M3 has a stab at McPhillamy, very brave . New YouTube channel to occupy life !

I'll stand by my statement having done a stint in that industry, yes it is painful because insurance continually and competently adjusts rates - but it is also a consistent income stream that you can run a shop on. @ctho GT Refinishers are also really good, close friend had a bare metal job done by them and it was stunning. But from memory they are always in demand and it took a while to get into the shop, if you are happy to wait then they are possibly worth investigating.