Good News!

I have had the chassis checked at Offords and they have declared it to be in great shape. This is unusual for a Chimp of this age. Offords had 1 on the ramps and another 4 Chimaeras awaiting chassis repairs, so I am well pleased. The mechanic who has his own Chimaera also liked the engine mods and thought how nicely the car drove.

I had a small leak on the low pressure side of the Power Assisted Steering seen to with new hoses, a new Serpentine belt fitted and the Diff topped up. With the chassis check this cost £150. I will get the chassis scraped and more waxoyl reapplied before the Autumn.

It was a 170 mile trip in pleasant sunshine and the Chimp just purred along, never missing a beat. With the induction changes it has an unusual engine note at motorway speeds and is a lot quieter. In addition the fuel consumption is very much better. It really was a pleasant trip regardless of traffic and again it makes you realise what a great car the Chimaera is in all driving conditions. I was so comfortable on the way home I almost nodded off!

I did get held up in traffic on the All and A14 and watching the temperature gauge like a hawk noted how well the fans coped under pressure. Roundabouts are an endless source of amusement however as the Chimp is brilliant and carrying lots of corner speed you leave other vehicles floundering in your wake as you accelerate smoothly out the other side.

Again very pleased with my purchase and feel ever more confident in the Chimp's abilities.

A Good Day

Sun was shining this Sunday, so I dragged the missus from her duvet at 8:30, checked over the Chimp, removed the roof panel, put "Songbirds 2008" on the excellent Pioneer CD changer for her (instead of Tom Waits / Nick Cave / Bruce Springstein) and set off for Wells-Next-The-Sea about half an hours gentle cruising distance away.

The Chimp purred lazily through the lovely Norfolk countryside at 60 mph, with the heater blowing lots of cosy warm air. What a pleasant drive, which the missus seemd to thoroughly enjoy; which is nice.

We stopped at the wonderful Wells Deli for Spicy Chian coffee and to buy some local cheese and bread, fed the ducks, noted a Porsche Boxster and an XK8 in the car park, walked up an down the wharf and headed for home again.

I have driven this little route in/on many vehicles and begun thinking on the way home how the Chimp is so well suited to this kind of driving and what a great morning it had been. The Chimaera has to be the quintessential English sports car and very much at home on the highways and byways of Norfolk. You can choose to cruise gently along or with a drop of a couple of gears get to insane speeds in a matter of seconds, relishing every corner with the V8 howling fortissimo. If only the MGB / Elise / Triumph TR / Porsche / Mazda MX5 crowd new what they were missing and for so little money.

Bloody Marvelous!

Porsche virgin no more

The Chimp has been running really well and I am using it more, which seem to be a real tonic for it.

My son and I happened across a new shape Porsche Boxster S on Sunday on dual carriageway just before some traffic lights and though some stupid granny swerved across 2 lanes in her Nova and cut us all up, managed to line up with it on a red light. On the Green I bogged the Chimp and she didn't "pull out of the hole" very well so we were neck and neck in first, I banged her through the gears t0 6000 into 4th and the Chimp pulled ahead in each gear. Brilliant stuff and goes to show the tuning modifications have been worthwhile. the Porsche weighs 1353KG has 260bhp and goes 0-60 in 5.7 seconds. It all happened so quickly, but a good result:

1996 TVR Chimaera 400 = 1 : 2006 Porsche Boxster S =0 !

I have also been out on my favourite country roads exploring the handling of the car at speed and even though the roads are apallingly rough and pot-holed the Chimp is hanging on well. I feel now it may be time for a brake upgrade though!

This is a brilliant car for the kind of driving I do and I am enjoying the experience very much indeed.