Whatsthisthen?

[CitroJim]

Ouch to all three!!!

VIR and 240v mains do not make happy bedfellows these days...

[MattBLancs]

Ouch to all three!!!

VIR and 240v mains do not make happy bedfellows these days...

Indeed!

VIR: Aware of it from work - not directly involved, but there was some in a building still functional and in use. Essentially we were told it could remain completely untouched (and was safe on the basis it had not gone bang up to that point in time!) OR we could isolate it and never use it again. Could move, disturb, connect to it, would not even let it be sealed against in case that triggered it's insulation falling off trick!

Have found various short pieces of it in the house but all disconnected. Mostly the drop from ceiling to light switch, buried directly in the plaster (and obviously revealed as I knock the plaster off)

[Armidillo]

From taking the kitchen ceiling down, here's a few What's This Then on different topics

Animal

Spoiler: show

...

I'm not familiar with many Northern Hemisphere insects (although becoming all too familiar with European Wasps - grrr), but I would have guessed the blobs were egg sacks of preying mantis (stick insects). However they are a bit too round and symmetrical (compared to the Aussie ones at least).

[NewcastleFalcon]

Hopefully this picture will not tell you much and or make it too easy

Whatsthisthen

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I know that look, I had one and actually did a rally in it!!It is a Renault Fuego, mine was a maroon GTS can't say about that one!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

That's it Mick one of a couple of Renaults getting sold from a private collection at the DVCA auction coming up.

Its an interesting enough car, quirky looks, that example is a bit bland interior wise.

https://www.dvca.co.uk/vehicles-for-auc ... go-GTS2785



Neil

[mickthemaverick]

This is more or less what mine looked like before I rallied it:

MTM Created image

[myglaren]

Always liked the looks of the Fuego. They were accused of being 'tinny'. What was your impression Mick?

[mickthemaverick]

I wouldn't have agreed with tinny. I found it to be the opposite in fact, it felt heavy to drive and took the inevitable scrapes and dinks from flying stones off the wheels on the gravel stages very well. Sitting inside it felt quite low and luxurious but the performance did leave something to be desired. I only bought it in an emergency having paid the £200 entry fee for a rally at the coming weekend I set about preparing the RS2000 on the Thursday evening only to discover a ruptured brake line. In those days I had no chance of getting a spare, fitting, bleeding and being ready to leave by 6pm on the Friday so I grabbed the local paper to look for a possible car to take as I did not want to use my road car, the Lancia Beta Convertible, for obvious reasons. The Fuego was the only one with any slight sportiness about it and was available for £100 so I phoned the guy who was in Carpenders Park and went and collected it at 11pm ish on the same evening.

That left me the Friday morning to prepare it, basically fire extinguisher, harnesses, nav light, spotlights and the obligatory 2nd return spring on the throttle lever. That lot completed we left for Wales at 7pm on the Friday and got to the hotel at 11.30. My biggest worry was getting through scrutineering as there were a number of possible issues which I was hoping to talk my way out of . We had to take it through the scrutineer's garage twice in the end as the first time we failed the noise test would you believe!! A very quick application of exhaust paste over a piece of gauze from another entrant's spares box and a couple of jubilee clips got it down to a passable level and we were good to go.

On the event we had an excellent first half and we were sitting in 5th position at the halfway point, more due to my navigator's excellence than the car's performance but sadly the event came to a premature end with only about 25 miles left when we had a complete loss of electrics in the middle of Brecon Beacons. We had no option other than to wait for the course closing car and report our demise. Then we had an hour to wait for daylight until I could see enough to investigate - the one thing we had not transferred from the Escort being my trusty torch!! It turned out to be a disintegrated connector in the alternator charge lead and so with the aid of some 'Heath-Robinson' wiring and a jump start from a marshal's car I was able to get it going and we drove sedately into the finish to discover we had actually been classified as 37th out of 41, the others having broken down earlier in the event than us!

Once home I did some more work on the Fuego before doing a single stage event in Thetford Forest and a few local navigation events. I took that opportunity to take the RS off the road to install a new LSD and driveshafts so I used the Fuego for about 2 months before selling it to a lady from Catford who was in love with the shape!! She paid me the princely sum of £230 for it having knocked me down from the £250 I was asking but all in all my memories are positive!!

[Rp0thejester]

Your a strange one Mick, I would never of put you down as a rally driver but now the OS maps make sense

[mickthemaverick]

MTMO

[myglaren]

Log fire on a pub/restaurant.

[mickthemaverick]

Spot on Steve! Have a large coffee on me!!

[myglaren]

I have one right in front of me Mick

[mickthemaverick]

Aah, pre-emptive reward eh? have a refill on the merits of intuition then!!