DRAFT Notes

Well, we have finished our mini poll and it seems that the animated Lara Croft beats the rest hands down.  The discussion started when the wife argued that Betty Boop was far more attractive than Jessica Rabbit.  Obviously she is in the wrong, I just needed some impartials to prove the point.  Quite a lot of apathy going on as only a few of you voted, but if we take a swift look at figures, the Lara Croft doubled the votes of J.Rabbit, with Betty Boop a near 3rd.  I am very surprised that the caramel bunny didn't get even a single vote.

Onto more important things now, the car.  It's Tuesday and I've just come back from a test thrash.  All seems ok with the exception of the drivers window now.  I haven't had a chance yet to look at it , but pretty sure one of the runners has snapped as the window goes down fine, but going up, only the front edge of it is happy to raise.  I will try and have a look at it tomorrow.

Providing Mrs Savage doesn't give birth.  I'm expecting the pitter patter of feet any time now.  If she drops a calf in the next couple of days then that causes a couple of problems in terms of spending hours tweaking the car, but sure I can fit in a little tweakage.

During todays drive I did notice that the exhaust note may get just a tad on my tits along lengthy stretches of motorway.  Until now, I haven't done a dual carriageway run further than 5 miles or so before going to play on the A & B's.  Today I only covered 15 miles ish in a straight line up the A3 (Portsmouth - Petersfield) but the tone of the exhaust at  (*ahem*) 70, makes you partially deaf when you exit the car.  You have to pop your ears to regain your senses.  This wasn't helped by moving the sub from the enclosed boot to inside the car.  I did have the amp set up so that midrange power came through to the 6x9's and rears without being drowned out by the bass.  However, now the sub is where rear seats should be, there is a definate fight between bass and melody that melody just cannot win.  Time to change settings.  With the exhaust and stereo fighting it out, it is just too much.  I need to get something sorted swiftly to take it back to pleasant.

Just in case I can't figure out another option, I've just bought a set of ear plugs, that should muffle the exhaust to manageable levels but allow speech etc to travel through to my hearing fine.

Dont get me wrong though, the twisty roads are still awesome fun, especially with that exhaust going up and down through the ranges, I just need to set the ICE to cover the exhaust note on fast dull patches.

A completely seperate note, I am quite a patient chap, but I'm struggling with the time being taken on producing the vinyl graphics.  The work we are getting from HSP is perfect in quality but taking far too long to produce each logo, so we are out-sourcing.   Before anyone takes this as a moan or a mark against HSP, the work they have carried out is superb and we are eternally gratefull, but as they haven't charged us a single penny, not one, I feel bad giving them a weekly chase for a freebie. If we were paying market rate then I have no doubt the work would be turned around in a few days.  HSP are wonderful people, but we need to crack on now, time is no longer a luxury we possess.

 I have mailed at least a dozen or so companies and no-one actually seems that keen to do any work.  Gits. 

You might remember Vinyl4U being mentioned last time as good quality and incredibly fast, so I mailed Kate with the images for the last 21 graphics needed, and asked her for her best price.  She came back to me with £60 including delivery and reckons it will take her just a couple of days from receiving the go-ahead to us receiving the graphics, so thats cool.  At the same time, I mailed Ed @ scumrun  HQ and asked if he might know some local, quick friendly printers.  He got back to me today to say he's away but back Wednesday, forward him the details and he will have a look and see what he can organise.  Cheers Ed.

I can't remember if I mentioned I have ordered a new cover for my phone, but I did.  I have managed to find a company that will print any image onto a cover for your phone.  It's a hard protective case and it turned up today.  I opted to have a photo put on and to be honest, it looks stunning.  Better than I could have anticipated.  If you are looking to get hold of a snazzy new cover for your iPhone 3, 3GS or 4, then give me a shout.  Currently looking at £30 plus postage but for that you can have any photo you choose (subject to the usual copyright blah blah blah) put onto a superb hard case.  If I can generate enough interest I might be able to blag a bulk discount, so email me if you're tempted.  Here's mine:

Maybe a photo of the wife and kids, or a car, or your pets, or that stag weekend stripper you took back to your hotel and ruined for all other men.  Any photo you want can be put on there together with words, web addresses etc...  If you are a member of a forum and have a "sig" then thats do-able, or if you have a few photos you want as a collage, let me know and I'll see what can be crafted.  I know this appears to be quite a chunk on the phone cover, but I really am gobsmacked at how god-damn good this has turned out to be.  I know you can pick up snazzy covers for £5 or less from the market, but they're common - go bespoke.  mail me if your interested and I'll see if we can arrange a better bulk price.  floppythrottle@live.co.uk

I have a few other examples of what they can do and these are as follows:

Having been to B&Q, I hopefully have a cheap but workable solution to the rear window leak.  I have delicately resealed the rear window with a flexible drain silicone sealer.  This is designed for fixing exterior gutters and drainpipes but it's the only sealant I could find for exterior use and in black.  So, I have done my nest to produce an evenish finish using a cartridge gun and the back of a teaspoon. Who needs expensive tools eh?

In terms of advertising, and raising awareness of the plight of the Floppy Throttle I have been in contact with the local news teams today and got a sniff of interest from the Portsmouth News.  By a sniff of interest, I got an email from them saying they've had a look at all the details and passed them to the reporter who deals with our area.  Maybe, just maybe, we can get some pics into print.  This is where I hope that the graphics for our lovely lovely sponsors turn up before the photographer does.  That's providing their local wordsmith gets in touch to arrange something.  Also waiting for some replies from varying other publications that I sent out today and hopefully get some coverage there too.

In other aspects, Relentless (remember that effort) have yet to reply, I'm still awaiting the FEOC stickers although the guy who posted them emailed me after reading the last blog quite surprised they arent here yet, my shiny new Ford badge has been dispatched and I got a sorry we missed you card today from royal mail (but thats for some lego I ordered - probably best not to ask).

I see from the FEOC-UK site that Varnie has been following the blog, so quick name check and a public nag - Hello mate, finish your alloys :)

It's now Thursday morning and I had a bit of an email exchange with Ed last night.  He is a little busy (un-surprisingly) but will try and squeeze in our graphics run in between fixing his gearbox and printing 300 or so tshirts, hats etc... and before he goes off on his holiday in a weeks time.  After a bit he mailed me to say he had a look at the vinyl he had received for whatever project he is currently on and they had sent him the wrong stuff.  Down side - Ed can't do what he wanted.  Up-side - He now has an unexpected clear day so he will try to get our sponsors sticky stickies sorted asap.  Woohoo.  Came in at £50 for what we are after and he can tweak a couple of bits that the others were struggling so happy happy.  As it happens, his workshop type thingy is less than half an hour from me, so when the graphics are done, I think I'll go introduce myself and collect them.

Thought of yet another expense last night...  Waterproof bags.  We are aiming for roof off for the whiole rally, but things tend to get wet if it rains.  So I have just grabbed a couple of waterproofed  "record bag" type things to keep all our important bits (passport, licences, tickets, insurances etc) dry.


It is 11.15 on Thursday morning.  I have checked my emails and I am a very disappointed young man.  The reason for this is simple.  Relentless have emailed me and effectively told me that they want no part of this shenanigans and they will not assist in any way shape or form.  My heart is a little heavy as a) I like Relentless and b) Means Gruff can go Mardi Gras happy as Iit means the cool logos on the mirrors have got to go.  Bah humbuggery.

Does your company want to advertise on the mirrors?  Well does it? 

Also in my email inbox was a lovely message from somebody named Sarah Cowdrey.  That name will probably mean nothing to you lot, as it meant nothing to me.  However, Sarah is Community Publisher for Havant people.  She is aware of what we are up to and would like to write a story.  I know it's not front cover of Hello magazine, but it feels pretty damn good to get some interest.