New Joiner - late hello

[PeteGray]

Hi,
First off an apology. I've been reading the forum for a few weeks, and went onto post an ad, before saying hello. Harvey, from the CSL forum, gave me the inside line about S9's, so thanks again to him.

As has been mentioned on a different thread I've just bought, but not yet received, a CLK63 Black, which I'm ridiculously excited about. I'n addition there's a couple of CSL's and a 996 turbo at home, in addition to the two family cars, one of which is a surprisingly good Golf R.

I'll post up a piccie of the CLK when that arrives and I don't seem to have any pictures of the other CSL. Will get a couple of those as well.

For this summer my aim is to acquire some driving skills, as I don't have any. I'm trying to book a few dates with an instructor called Karl Goshawk (interested to know if anyone has any experience of him). I'm really looking forward to this as it's simply impossible to use the capability of these cars on the road with a bike or horse around every corner.

 

[PeteS]

Welcome y):

 

[KnickeRS]

Welcoem Pete.

Did you note my response on your other thread?

You've just bought "my" CLK Black Serious ! You will love it I feel sure. It is a hooligan if you want that but amazingly capable when you focus on that style of driving too. Do note that it runs on Supersports which are a size up from standard spec as these are a marked improvement and also, make sure you keep the tyre pressures in their high speed setting which may surprise you just how high it is but believe me, it makes a huge difference to that cars capability !

 

[PeteGray]

Welcoem Pete.

Did you note my response on your other thread?

You've just bought "my" CLK Black Serious ! You will love it I feel sure. It is a hooligan if you want that but amazingly capable when you focus on that style of driving too. Do note that it runs on Supersports which are a size up from standard spec as these are a marked improvement and also, make sure you keep the tyre pressures in their high speed setting which may surprise you just how high it is but believe me, it makes a huge difference to that cars capability !

Hi,
What a nice coincidence that it's your actual car. I haven't even seen it yet but, have read and watched just about every piece of information available on the net, which on this particular car, is quite a lot. How long did you have it for and anything else you think I should watch out for or bear in mind with it?
Thanks for the information on the tyres, it sounded quite quite undersized, and was something I'd planned on attending to. It's still with Mercedes but, I'm sure I'll have more questions once I get it and we get some dry weather.
Funny, since buying it I've noticed a few regular CLK's on the road where as before I wouldn't have remembered when I last saw one (I freely admit to taking a long route home recently just to follow one).

 

[InsBro]

Welcome, great collection

 

[KnickeRS]

Hi,
What a nice coincidence that it's your actual car. I haven't even seen it yet but, have read and watched just about every piece of information available on the net, which on this particular car, is quite a lot. How long did you have it for and anything else you think I should watch out for or bear in mind with it?
Thanks for the information on the tyres, it sounded quite quite undersized, and was something I'd planned on attending to. It's still with Mercedes but, I'm sure I'll have more questions once I get it and we get some dry weather.
Funny, since buying it I've noticed a few regular CLK's on the road where as before I wouldn't have remembered when I last saw one (I freely admit to taking a long route home recently just to follow one).

That car wants for nothing Pete. It has not long ago (in miles), had a full service and the tyres have done 900 miles only and were new only fifteen months ago. There was an electronics glitch on the gear box which I have just paid to be sorted in anticipation of your purchase.

You will love the car of that I am sure. Make sure though that you use the box properly, always in manual mode and keep the TC turned off (its easy to control, honest). When down changing just always hold the left hand paddle in and the car will run down the box each gear at a time as its engine management will allow. Most owners don't know or do this. The car makes much more sense if you do this rather than trying to down change and the car not doing as you've asked as it wants to save itself from over eager drivers Up changes of course you pull the paddle for each and every one. I look forward to hearing your first impressions.

 

[S1ARM]

Good afternoon and welcome Pete!

Nicks car is lovely I remember trying to follow it on track and watching him disappear into the horizon!

 

[KnickeRS]

Pete,
I have opened you up with full site access now. Please remember that this is a private forum and what goes on in here, stays in here please. Get used to us all and then if you wish to introduce new members then please do but make sure you know them and are happy to stand behind your referral.

And don't judge the keyboard warriors too harshly as I can pretty much guarantee you that when you do eventually meet them, you'll likely quite like them but at the same time think, wtf, that was him !

 

[Barry P.]

Hi,


For this summer my aim is to acquire some driving skills, as I don't have any. I'm trying to book a few dates with an instructor called Karl Goshawk (interested to know if anyone has any experience of him). I'm really looking forward to this as it's simply impossible to use the capability of these cars on the road with a bike or horse around every corner.

Hi Pete and welcome to the forum. I know Karl, he used to work with me instructing at The Racing School when it was based at Rockingham but I 've not seen him for a few years, I think he then moved over to Palmer's place at Bedford. He's an experienced instructor, nice guy and I'm sure you will learn a good deal from him.

 

[PeteGray]

Hi Pete and welcome to the forum. I know Karl, he used to work with me instructing at The Racing School when it was based at Rockingham but I 've not seen him for a few years, I think he then moved over to Palmer's place at Bedford. He's an experienced instructor, nice guy and I'm sure you will learn a good deal from him.

Hi Barry, Thanks for this. As ever clashing schedules are preventing me from booking win with Karl at the moment. If you knew of anyone else I could consider I'd be very grateful.

 

[PeteGray]

Pete,
I have opened you up with full site access now. Please remember that this is a private forum and what goes on in here, stays in here please. Get used to us all and then if you wish to introduce new members then please do but make sure you know them and are happy to stand behind your referral.

And don't judge the keyboard warriors too harshly as I can pretty much guarantee you that when you do eventually meet them, you'll likely quite like them but at the same time think, wtf, that was him !

Got it and thanks for the access. Rules will definitely be observed.

 

[PeteGray]

I'm impressed. Received the car yesterday and already very pleasantly surprised by the breadth of it's abilities. The precision and speed in the steering made the greatest impression on me yesterday. Possibly the best I've experienced. The ride was much more compliant, on all but the worst roads, than I'd expected and the power is great. It's quieter than I anticipated but, I've hardly gone beyond 4000 rpm and I get the impression that the real power, noise and fun is past this point. In short I love it.

Had forgotten to check the tyre pressures and use your tip on the gearbox, which feels like it's going to take a bit of time to understand to get the best out of.

Thank you. I'm very pleased with it and happily went to bed last night buzzing with the memory of the nose rising and the diff twitching as you boot it out of a corner, or on a straight for that matter.

 

[KnickeRS]

I'm impressed. Received the car yesterday and already very pleasantly surprised by the breadth of it's abilities. The precision and speed in the steering made the greatest impression on me yesterday. Possibly the best I've experienced. The ride was much more compliant, on all but the worst roads, than I'd expected and the power is great. It's quieter than I anticipated but, I've hardly gone beyond 4000 rpm and I get the impression that the real power, noise and fun is past this point. In short I love it.

Had forgotten to check the tyre pressures and use your tip on the gearbox, which feels like it's going to take a bit of time to understand to get the best out of.

Thank you. I'm very pleased with it and happily went to bed last night buzzing with the memory of the nose rising and the diff twitching as you boot it out of a corner, or on a straight for that matter.

Great and yes, you've not experienced the Black Series at all if you're not above 4K !

Make sure you drive it in manual mode as much as you can and stay out of Comfort mode on the gear box. You'll also find the traction control is very intrusive so turn it off and play. You'll find it ever so easy to play with and it won't bite you back. The tail is loose if you want it to be and equally it can be perfectly planted if you want that too. Such an underrated car and I too was guilty of this back when new. I'd put in on track against its contempories of its day, namely a F430 or 997-1 GT3RS any day of the week.