Welcome to my shiny new blog set up especially for my fun and games with a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R750 K4.
I’ve bought it mainly for trackdays, both in the UK and abroad, but also for the occasional hoon.
The deal has been done and I am collecting it on Bank Holiday Monday, May 4th from the Midlands and then riding it the long way home to London via Grimsby and Lincolnshire Wolds for a quick hoon with my mate Wazza and his Rizla Replica GSX-R750 K2.
The bike’s present owner is an Instructor for the Motorcycle Folly and I made the mistake of saying that I really liked the 750 Gixxers as an all round package, especially for the track. Roger said it was for sale and suggested I take it out for a session on the recent Folly trackday at Castle Combe. It was sooooooo easy to ride fast and was so controllable, that it practically sold itself to me.
I’m intending to use my new TomTom Rider v2 satnav to guide me home, so that should be fun setting it to work. If not, I’ll have to rely on a small map book, Google Maps on my Nokia and signposts!
So Alastair Darling has announced a new plan to offer a £2,000 discount if you trade in a ten year old car and buy a new one. Woohoo!
Now then, let’s have a little think about this. I drive a 1999 Ford Mondeo ST200 which would qualify in a few months’ time. I bought this second-hand at less than a year old and got a whopping discount off the new price. So woohoo! Let’s go and buy the new equivalent Mondeo.
Except there’s not really an equivalent, but there is a 2.5L 220PS version though not as nice looking.
In 2010, I will pay £205 to tax the ST200. On the basis of the Ford’s emissions figures, I would pay £245 a year on the new one but in the first year, I’d pay £550!
So let’s do the sums: the Government discount of £2,000 is probably £1,000 more than mine’s worth. So I’m up £1,000. Then I would pay £350 more for tax in the first year, so I’m only up £650 now. And that’s around a 2.3% discount in real terms. No doubt the dealers won’t want to add their own discounts on top of this if they can help it and of course buying new and turning the wheels would lead to a huge reduction in value that would dwarf that discount.
And of course every year I’d be worse off because the VED is higher on the new one than the old one.
If I go for more of a performance car then the numbers simply don’t stack up especially as the first year’s VED would go as high as £950!
No doubt the banks wouldn’t want to lend me the money anyway…
1000 miles in 24 hours (plus 400 miles to and from the start!)
I’ve signed up to do this: the Royal British Legion is holding an event under the Iron Butt Association SaddleSore 1000 rules. There are several aims, first to raise money for Royal British Legion. The second is to try and take the record from the Americans. And the third is obviously the personal challenge of trying to ride 1000 miles in 24 hours (plus a 400 mile round trip to and from the starting point!).
The event starts on Friday 19th June at 12:00 with riders briefing, with riders departing between 08:00 and 09:00 on Saturday 20th June, completing the ride by 09:00 on Sunday 21st June.
I have sent off my entry form along with a cheque for £30 but I will also need to raise at least £50 of sponsorship.
As for the ride there are four routes, two north, and two south. I am taking the Route B North Anti Clockwise.
The RBLR website and route details is here.
The easiest way for me to collect sponsorship is the just giving website at http://www.justgiving.com/richardhmorris – they can claim the gift aid on your behalf.
Please sponsor me!
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