Two new mods at The Fast Show 2011
So some of you saw these being done and have already seen it, but for those of you who left early, or didn’t go to TFS…
First up, a new sticker on the boot lid 
There’s a reason for choosing that one too My car is a standard 1.9 CDTi 150… and on the rollers, it produced 155BHP… So that extra 5 has to come from somewhere 
The next one, and the bigger one… I blame Kev for this one. Had I not seen his in under that tent, I probably wouldn’t have bothered looking or thinking about it 
But here’s a before shot:
Some magic being worked:
And the finished result
Big thanks to the guys from Coastline Graphics with their “Wrap What Ya Brung” tent 
The Fast Show 2011
Well today was The Fast Show 2011, and I attended with Astra Owners Network. Very early start, on the road at 3am, but it was a brilliant day, albeit a bit cold! Getting out was a bit of a nightmare though. Apparently there was an accident on the main gate, and it took 2 hours to clear… 5,000 cars trying to get out that same gate at once, the whole of Santa Pod was gridlocked for about 3 hours!!
Here are my pics though
Clean for The Fast Show 2011
Well, with TFS on Sunday, I thought it was about time I gave the car a clean… so I popped over to Halfords to get some supplies…
So this was the state of the car at 11am this morning:
Hoovered the interior and cleaned all the dash and plastics with some Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care:
I then stopped taking photos and got to work. I also did my Mum’s car at the same time…
First up, rinsed it all down with a pressure washer.
Then cleaned the wheels with some Wonder Wheels (It’s all I had, and couldn’t justify buying some new wheel cleaner when I already had some )
Washed the car with some Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, two bucket method.
Dried using a waffle weave towel and some Demon Shine as a drying agent.
Cleaned the glass using some generic supermarket glass cleaner.
Polished the glass with some Autoglym Car Glass Polish.
Sealed the wheels using some Autoglym Alloy Wheel Seal.
Dressed the tyres with some Meguiars Gold Class Endurance Tyre Gel.
Dressed the plastics and vinyl B-pillars with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care.
Polished using a machine buffer and Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine.
That got me to this stage, where I got the wax out 
Once I waxed everything, I re-dressed the plastics and vinyl B-pillars as I got some polish/wax on them which wouldn’t come off… But here’s the file results 
So 7 and a half hours work, and the results speak for themselves My first time using that Autoglym HD wax… and first time using a non-liquid based wax as well… and I’ve got to say I was impressed. Smelt quite nice, spread really nicely once I got used to it. And the pot looks barely touched after I’d done the whole car, and I think I used it too thickly… so it’ll definitely last a long time I was getting put off by the £45 price tag, but I would say that’s well worth it now I’ve actually used it
Trax 2010
So Trax has finally turned around, and what a great day it was!
I have to say, I am proud to be a member of Astra Owners Network. It is more than just a car club, everyone is so friendly, chatty, willing to help out with pretty much anything. They are a great bunch of people, a huge credit to them. The club stand looked awesome as usual, and was pretty big. We had a total of 66 cars on our stand. Yes, sixty six. 
Of the Astra Owners Network awards, MissyR quite rightfully won the Car of the Show award for her massively modified arden blue Astra OPC. One of, if not the, best cars on the forum. Best H went to Coxey for his moonland sporthatch, best G went to X_Steph_X for her Astra Coupe and Richgsi2 won the award for best detailed. As always, there is the wooden spoon event for the stupidest mistake of the show. This went to none other than the mental Scot, Wee Mac. She had such a great time at the hotel on the Saturday night that when it was time to leave on Sunday morning, she was still far too drunk to drive her van to Silverstone! Someone else, someone sober, had to drive it there for her
Congratulations to all those prize winners!
I’ve taken a fair few photos, feel free to browse them here: Trax 2010
Preparing for Trax ’10, pt. 2
Big thanks to Adam (Stampede) today for sorting out an awesome SMD conversion for me while he was down this way, and a big thanks to Ash (Phatashki) for letting me come over his way to have the conversion done with his
I’ve seen so many people say that they’ve had an SMD conversion done, taken photos and said the photos don’t do it justice, but I’ve been sat there thinking “That looks great, how can it be any better?”
I now understand how, as what Adam does is truly awesome and completely transforms the interior
As we all know, this is the lovely dull interior we all know and love…
Here’s Adam hard at work
And here’s the result
This definitely has to be one of the best mods. I love how much better and brighter it is, and I’ve had trouble driving home this evening, as I can’t stop looking at it rather than the road I’m glad I went for a mixture of blue and white, rather than just blue though. I think all blue would have been a bit much.
The pics I’ve got aren’t great, but when it’s more dusk-ish tomorrow, I’ll grab some better, clearer photos
A great job well done by a top bloke. Cheers Adam