Fire Up The Quattro…Both Of Them!!! šŸ˜Ø

Hi all! Today’s post is a little different, as i rarely get the opportunity to experience a proper car…Never mind get to talk all about the engine, tyres etc with another proper petrolhead! šŸ’ŖšŸ¼ 🤣 Well it all started at the end ofĀ Eileen’s funeral last week when we needed a lift to the train station to head back home. Ben (ex brother in law and friend) said he’d give us a lift and disappeared to go and get his car?!

What is that visceral rumble outside?? šŸ¤”Ā 

Audi $S4 1

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben – Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Ā Ā Please meet the RS4ā€¦šŸ˜² Ā Ā 

Ben: ā€œFirstly, the RS4 was hand built by quattro gmbh (Audi’s in-house performance arm). The B7 RS4 is powered by a direct fuel injected (FSi) 4.2litre V8, producing 420bhp and revving to over 8,000rpm.

Mine is around 450bhp and revs to 8,500rpm due to some minor modifications.Ā It has the quattro all wheel drive system with a 60:40 power split with a rear bias to aid handing.Ā Front brake are floating discs with 8 piston callipers (also used on the Lamborghini Gallardo). As with all B7 RS4s, it’s a 6 speed manual (has to be manual).”Ā 

Audi $S$  2

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Fire up the Quattro…

As Sarah was getting into the back seat she said ā€œYou’ve got to be in the front for this oneā€ i said ā€œFantasticā€ as Ben kindly guided me around and opened the door as i got in. I said ā€œAwww these Recaro bucket seats are amazing, and i can fit in themĀ properly now i’ve lost 5 stone, lol!ā€Ā šŸ¤£Ā 

Audi RS4  Dash

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

I was listening to the rumbling beast ticking over as Ben slipped into the drivers seat.Ā ā€œAwww i love a V8 it just sounds amazing and it’s only just ticking over!ā€ Ben then blipped the throttle a few times (to widen my smile even further) and pulled Ā away.

Sadly the train station was only about 10 minutes away, but when we reached the duel carriageway…Ben wound the windows down and floored it!! 😲

I’m not sure if it was the instant force of being blasted back into the seat, or theĀ symphony of the 450 angry beasts filling my ears that gave me that feeling like nothing else…I simply couldn’t stop the huge grin from leaving my face!Ā šŸ˜€

ā€œWow that was immenseā€ i said whilst pealing my head off the rear window, lol.Ā ā€œThat was only 6500rpm as we keepĀ running out of road, we have 2000rpm leftā€ Ben said as he gifted me with another blip of the throttle to evoke the awesomeĀ symphony!

The tunnelā€¦šŸ˜²

Audi $S4  4

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

We even had a tunnel moment where you can really hear the deep growling boom of the V8 through the open windows, awwwww…I’ll pause for a minute for you to imagine the beautiful sound of the V8ā€¦šŸ˜²
The exhausts…

2 Audis

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Pulling up outside the train station (oh no the carĀ experience is coming to an end) we all got out. I was wondering why Ben had left the car running as i knew he’d already said he’d come inside to check everything was ok and our tickets worked in the gates etc…Above and beyond kindness!Ā šŸ˜€ Ā Ā 

Whenā€¦šŸ¤”Ā 

Ben walked me around the rear of the car on the nearside about level with the tyre. He then placed Sarah in aĀ similar position on the offside, ā€œStay there a minute and listen to this!?!ā€Ā 

It all happened at the same time…My ears were blessed and blasted with the massive sound of the V8 from the rear, then my lower half of my trousers blew backwards from the wind (tornado) blitzing me from the tailpipes…And as the revs lowered we could hear the huge pops, bangs and explosions coming from the exhaust! Wow what a finish, and now we understand what you wereĀ up to, lol! 🤣 

I can’tĀ thank Ben enough for giving me and Sarah this amazingĀ experience, and Sarah was happy that i got to talk all about cars without boring her to death, lol!Ā 

Oh just one more thing…This monster has 275mm tires and 20 inch rims! šŸ’ŖšŸ¼Ā 

The Audi 4.2 V8…

Audi 4 2 V8

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Ā 

Fire up the second Quattroā€¦šŸ˜²Ā 

2 Audis 2

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Please meet theĀ Audi 90 quattro 20v sport…
Ben: “The old one is a 1991 Audi 90 quattro 20v sport (One of only 92 ever built), it’s a rare car. Powered by a 2.3litre 5 cylinder twin cam engine. It has a 5branch exhaust manifold and fully electronic multipoint fuel injection (very advanced for its age).Ā It was an early adopter of catalytic converters but as mine is pre 1992 I’ve removed mine (totally legally).”

“Along with some internal engine work it’s power is up from original 170bhp to around 220bhp and this revs happily to around 7,400rpm now.Ā It too has Quattro all wheel drive with TORSEN centre diff and lockable rear diff.Ā It has cast front suspension arms and is considerably lighter than a normal Audi 90.Ā I’ve had this for about 15years.”
Audi 90 Quattro 2

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

About 5 years ago on another trip to Derby, Ben kindly gave me and Sarah a similar blast in this classic Quattro. It sounded and felt fantastic and it was a real blast back from the past! I remember Ben opening the sunroof and windows to get the full exhaust tone playing in our ears…What a beautiful sound! šŸ˜€ Ā 
Audi 90 Quattro 5

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

What’s under the hood?!
Audi 90 Engine

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Audi 90 Engine 2

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Audi 90 Quattro 7

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Audi 90 Quattro 6

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Audi 90 Quattro 8

⇧ Photo supplied by Ben –Ā Ā©PerformanceĀ Prestige ⇧

Ā My story and a little about my ā€œNovadoseā€ā€¦šŸ¤”Ā 

As you may know my last car before i went blind…Was my custom 1991 Vauxhall Nova 1.4SR resprayed in dark pearlescent purple (bottom half) and white for the top half after i’d fitted a full Zender body kit. . As i worked as a panel beater in a bodyshop, my fave part was hammering out the rear wheel arches, filling them for a slightly wider arch…So i could squeeze in the 205mm tyres on the 17 inch rims. I’d only ever seen 16 inch rims on a Nova in Derbyshire before, so i had to see if i could fit the 17’s…That’s why i called it theĀ ā€œNovadoseā€. 🤣 Ā Ā 

I’ve always been interested in cars as most of my family are/were mechanics…I think that’s why i get so excited whenever i have a carĀ experience like the one above…And why i’ll always share it with you guys!Ā šŸ˜€

Do you have any carĀ experience stories to share?Ā šŸ¤”Ā 

Transatlantic Sunset Tour: Day 10,11 & 12 ~ Relaxin, Reflectin & Coffin!!

Sea logo

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Sarah & i were feeling really run down, tired and a little concerned about what the rest of our dream holiday had in store for us. But now we had a few days at sea, so we decided to get out there and enjoy the time we had left. šŸ™‚Ā 

Sarah looking out to sea

⇧ Sarah relaxing and reflecting ⇧

During our time at sea, Sarah & i loved standing and looking out over the vast ocean. It seemed to put perspective on how majestic and awesome our God is. Also how small we were in comparison and yet he loves each one of us…amazing! šŸ™‚Ā 

Shopping…Ā 

Handbags on ship

There’s nothing like being surrounded by handbags to put a smile on Sarah’s face! šŸ™‚Ā 

Of all the places…i never thought i’d be in a handbag store, on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. But Sarah seems to find these shops wherever we go… and if it helps her relax, i’ll be right there with her! šŸ™‚Ā 

Another fave spot…

Sarah on deck

Each day we’d find our way up to this spot and just look out over the pool deck and take in the full panoramic view of blue. There was always a live band playing, giving a great atmosphere and a hot-plate thingy where i could get a fresh burger! Mmmm šŸ™‚Ā 

Hair salon…

Hair salon

After Sarahs last trip to the hair salon she was really pleased with the way the stylist had cut and styled her hair around her eye…. but the hospital adventure had kind of ruined it. So i thought she might like to relax and get it done again. Whilst waiting in the waiting room i took this shot through the window ….That’s the best view i’ve ever seen from a hair salon! šŸ™‚Ā 

The evening restaurants…

So far i havn’t said much about our evening meals. For the first few days we really struggled with the buffet restaurants, as the food was placed in big trays under a glass cover with really long fork/tongs to pick up the food. Sarah had no idea what she was picking up as it was just too far away for her to focus and the waiters didn’t understand we couldn’t see properly, which caused a few problems!

At home we try to stay away from self service/buffet style places …not because we are too snooty, lol …but because we simply can’t find anything e.g plates, food, cutlery, where to pay, which causes too much stress and makes us wish we hadn’t gone out at all!Ā 

After a few days we decided to try the ā€œOrion Restaurantā€ which was waiter service. On entrance the waiter asked if we’d like to share a table or sit by yourselves. Sarah said ā€œSharing is fine with usā€ (I thought is it really… 😦 The waiter then escorted us to an empty 8 seater table. After he passed us our menus (which we had no chance of reading) our table soon filled up with people. After friendly hello’s Sarah said to the lady next to her ā€œI don’t want to be a nuisance…but we are both registered blind and so can’t read the menus. Would you be able to read it to us?ā€ After the confused look on all of their faces (my imagination from the body language) the lady said ā€œOf course, but i’d never have guessed that either of you had sight problemsā€. (My thought was ā€œYou need to be on this side of my eyes to understand the problem :(ā€œ) After we’d heard the menu, Sarah whispered ā€œThis works perfectly for us…we get the menu read out, and we get to meet lots of different lovely people” šŸ™‚Ā 

Shortly after…we heard the people sitting opposite us say ā€œDid you hear the ā€œCode Alphaā€ last night?ā€ The others replied ā€œYes we did, it woke us up…it was after 1am!!ā€ ā€œYeah i know and there was no need to call it around the whole shipā€.

I said ā€œSorry…that was us.” Ā  ā€œIt was you two! what happened?ā€ Sarah showed her bruised and bandaged wrists (from where the drips had been attached) and explained everything that happened. We heard this same complaint for the next few evenings…. and even some different, elaborate explanations of what had happened (even one story where Sarah was said to have died and been taken off the boat by helicopter in a silver bullet coffin????.) Ā 

We also heard that quite a few people had complained to reception about the 1am code alpha (because they thought it was a call to abandon ship) and how they felt they shouldn’t have been disturbed in the middle of the night!!

The Cough…

If you can remember…on Day 8 there were a couple of people in the hospital waiting room with deep growly coughs. Well today…Sarah’s got it too !! 😦 This deep booming growly cough (reminds me of the Rockford Fosgate subs in the boot of my old custom Nova) is giving Sarah lots of Ā chest pain, a sore throat and a pounding head. We’ve noticed the unique sound of this cough around the ship as we’ve been exploring! ….As if Sarah didn’t have enough on her plate with no sleep, uncontrollable blood sugar, one eye closed and exhaustion…she now has this nasty cough 😦

Keep smiling… šŸ™‚Ā 

I have no idea how she does it. But no matter what’s going on…Sarah has Ā a lovely beaming/contagiousĀ smile on her face that blesses all who see her šŸ™‚ Ā 

Sarah reflection

Ā The Azores…

After about 4 (or is it 5?) sleepless nights (i’ve lost count) we were looking forwards to arriving at the Azores. Sarah was especially looking forwards to getting off the ship and onto solid ground and having the freedom to explore another fantastic island! šŸ™‚ Ā 

Yippee land ahoy!!!

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