Grey CTR Blog

[EuropeanCTR]

Okay, since i personally think i wanna get more into this forum, and subsequently do more with my CTR: heres the first few Paragrahps on my Rad Journey

(no idea if this is even allowed in this thread, but eh. imma try)


It has now been roughly 3 weeks, since i picked up my Baby on August 5th. Since then it was a pretty amazing experience to drive this hunk of power without ruining it during the break in phase. The car itself, long before i even thought of doin a purchase, was at the first moment uglier than some dog breeds. Altough, it grew on me. Since my Corsa was already 15 yrs old, and i had to do some repairs on it (or better let done), the decision was clear for me to go the only idea that made sense to me

-Stick
-Power, since im still young and want a fun car
-reliability

After i had to wait 2 more weeks after July 20th, since the supplier f'd up towards the dealership, wait was over. 9 months and a huge pile of sweet cash later i get it: MY Fk8, a CTR, basically the king of Hothatch

Days after the pickup

Raw eggs. Best description, really. Dont curb, dont overload. but give it a lil bit of boost, not enough to be considered reckless or stupid regarding the new status. Driving it made me feel like a Million Dollars. No bad side effects, super careful on the interior as well

1-2 Weeks after Pickup

Break in goes smoothly, soon i hit 400km, do a little excursions with the car on sunny days, rainy days and everything in between. Should i mod it? No... not yet anyways. Something peculiar for my taste: other Civics start greeting me on the road, even an RX7 in Funky Purple. Doesnt feel like boasting or letting the money talk, its just... weird for me. But hey, always a first time for everything.

Went for a BBQ with a buddy 60km ish away on a saturday. Car feels amazing after the tyres slowly work emself down enough to really grip. In general super happy how it drives, how it dances across the asphalt. Only downside? a pebble between the breaks makes me shudder until it slips out. f me

3 Weeks after Pickup

Going further away from home, along the lake which marks the border of my country. Doing a big loop around and going back. Closing in on 900km.

Only other downside so far? as soon as its cleaned at the local self serve, it starts to rain. Also some Wax stains from the pick up still show up here and then (white spots). Cant wait for my Care Package of Products, sheesh.

Bonus: a Fella from work offered me his 2 yr old polishing machine for 50 bucks. Wont use it tho until it really is needed.

Bonus 2: Found a good gas station with the cheapest 98 Fuel around. Saves me only cents on the dollar but hey, baby gotta be fed.


(again if this isnt wished here, dm me or smth. otherwise ill try and add pics, more entries and keep it up. Thanks tho for reading)

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[NapalmEnema]

Great writeup and jealous you get to enjoy such a great car in such a beautiful place. Post up some pictures when you can!

 

[typearghhhh]

my swiss broooo

 

[nicola404]

congratulations and a great writup
nice to see some other swiss guys on this forum

after a while you can't avoid modifying your CTR
for me too, after more than 3 years still the same great feeling as first day after the pickup

 

[EuropeanCTR]

Great writeup and jealous you get to enjoy such a great car in such a beautiful place. Post up some pictures when you can!

I definetely will. But since im more up north, theres a few spots i can go to. as mentioned, i will try to continue this thread. Gotta keep myself motivated

congratulations and a great writup
nice to see some other swiss guys on this forum

after a while you can't avoid modifying your CTR
for me too, after more than 3 years still the same great feeling as first day after the pickup

Thing is, im not that familiar with DIY car stuff. Im more "it goes, its good". But maybe since im intending to keep the car for 10+ years, i might attempt to do stuff w it

 

[EuropeanCTR]

August 26th (because most guys here seem freedom unit adopters)

This morning the magic happened! Passed 1000km, my personal break in is done.

Meaning ill try and go ham tomorrow, Friday after work, maybe with a buddy. I dont wanna close down my exact location, so ill pin point some spots that are definetely will get attention. The beautiful vinyards of Hallau, where the round here renowned "Hallauer Bergrennen" goes down. Basically the creme de la creme of what gearheads with a pre 2000 vibe love. iirc of course. Check it out, YT has some insane videos of it

Secondly is Flaach, Buchberg to be exact. Great viewing spot, overlooks a vast amount of area, since the church parking lot is high above the village below

Another great Spot, and the imo pinacle of norht-west exploring is the area around "Sternenberg". Literally meaning Star Mountain, its the best location i know so far for Swiss Togue driving. Endless Kilometers of Road stretching up and down the hill and mountainsides, twisting and turning at every possible point, even doing full 180 degree corners. Makes me wanna go right now actually, but eh, Weekend is the right time for that

Back on Topic: The FK8 is behaving nicely, and driving it gives me joy beyond what i can express in that moment. Cleaning still is a b*tch since it gets dirty immedieately it seems. But hey, better than white.

After Work today i gave it a "bit" of boost, full throttle after it warmed up of course. Just getting that pull from 20km/h to 80km/h is a rush (80 zone, dont worry). My work schedule with the Diesel still gives me that "be responsible" vibe. I do several hundred kilometers a day, up to around 450 at a time. Knowing how to behave by holding back and moving through traffic like a snake does have its benefits. Wont overdo it, still public roads and Autobahns. But yeah, not going back to being all "perfect speed limit" ever again. Still wanna keep it simple and chill, its a car, and my life is worth so much more to me


Enough meandering for today, thanks for reading!

European CTR

 

[EuropeanCTR]

August 28th

Today wasnt really that eventful, except that i sent the car for the very first time. My situation is basically i drive the speed limit, are generally really cooperative in todays traffic and pretty chill when it comes to honest and normal driving.

I knew what the FK8 could do. My heart just dropped a bit down under when i went 130kmh in a 80 zone. For a moment i feared the orange light i saw was a speed trap. Luckily it wasnt (either the mirror warning or something other). I gave it everything it could deliver, peaking at 6500RPM, couldnt push myself more. It was raining a bit, the street was wet. What a new exhilarating feeling...

Its weird, since im really not the one to go full on ham with something. Also led me to actually empty my gas tank.

Plus side is that it kinda prepares me for tomorrow, Sternenberg. A buddy called up at midnight yesterday, how about we and maybe 2 others go tearing up the Togue Road? yeah. No pics for today, and a pretty short update at that. It just feels kinda weird atm

Lets see what Sunday brings

 

[EuropeanCTR]

Agust 29th

After a roughly 45min drive to my buddy, i picked him up and we went for it. Sternenberg, which still is as stunning as it is. Few pics from Bauma, first station and prety much start of the whole mountain togue section. Forgot to tell my friend to take some pictures along the road. He did record a video or two, but they show my face, so no dice

The uphill section before everything goes ham, now that is a beautiful shot

Secluded, some fog and not that many people around, since its a pretty rainy day.

The start of the route is scenic, but feels like a Swiss version of Rally Monaco. Seriously, check the map. the incline and decline is insane. I remember why i loved this route, really. You can step down the pedal like a maniac going between villages. Folk around here are mostly sick of loud car gangs tearing up the streets. I followed the directions of my buddy, since he regularely rode this area when he still had his Lancer.
Everything going smooth, and me giving the car the high revs in the 5000-6500 RPM range. It felt liberating finally going WOT.

Spoiler: Map

Weirdly, i had no hesitation fully throttling the car. Or doing a corner i see up ahead and accelerating out of. (meaning the whole corner is visible, with maybe incoming traffic). Also going through slopes, climbs, i felt good. Not overconfident or knowing i can redline and fly over the little bump like a full on rally driver. But im almost happy with how my time on the hills went

2 Things i will state here now:

-I wont go ham inside villages or where its clear the road is badly visible or my gut tells me no
-I wont do stuff when other people are around or the danger is outweighing everything else

Im really new to this, especially with this kind of power and traction.

However, lets get to the point where i went a bit overboard....

Spoiler: Now the kinda Bad

Everything is fine, nothing bad really happened (except sliding like a mofo)

Im honest, i still fucking hate myself for this. Doesnt mean i want any dumb comments afterwards, insults or whatnot. i know i did wrong, i dont need validation for what i did. I thought about posting this for the whole way home. But since its my "Journey" with this car, it kinda needs to be.

As you can see i lost traction. 100% my fault, i didnt notice the newer pavement, meaning wet its slippery as heck. Was also the last corner before we would be heading back. Im a lucky Duck, that i can say. After my arse lost traction, i managed to pull the car between the markers and smoothly over the Grass. This will be a lifelong lesson, trust me.

We immediately checked the car at the next self wash with a car lift. Nothing. Zip. Except the Grass everywhere which we removed.

Personally, if i was only 10km/h slower at entry, went a bit more inside i wouldve managed to be on the road all way. Not an excuse, just a realization. Please, if you have anything really constructive to add? Go ahead! But again, dont try and talk me down.

Another entry done, next one could be around the corner

Thanks for Reading

EuropeanCTR

 

[EuropeanCTR]

Post up some pictures when you can!

Taking this into account...

September 5th

Took a few days to do something again, and after debating if it was smart doing a 4h total drive for one location after a day of frolicking with alcohol? I decided to go to a different location, namely visiting the Hills of Hallau. Some might know the Hillclimb event that takes place there. Well i sometimes go there, Distance is just way more attractive than going to Bern for the former Bremgarten GP circuit (defunct, destroyed up until a little bit)

Just some Pictures of the whole area

This here is way before the Climb

I went the whole thing in reverse. Or lets just say i went to watch it, after last weekends iteration. From Finish, you go down into the first corner, which has some houses. Couldnt picture them, privacy ofc and nothing too fancy. Second Corner tho, that thing is tight

You still see some tiremarks. Fun to drive tho. Following is the view to the side

Going further, again some very tight corners

This is exactly after No. 10 (view the map), where to massive trees in some bushes stand. Close to the road and devastating if you cant catch your rear zigzaging between both (not that zigzag, but many crashed there).

Going down some snakey lines it aint far now into the Starting line. YT has some nice videos of participating cars. Even the insane Lancia Delta, and many other amazing cars


Very short Post, i know. But i doubt many read this, its just my Journey i wanna record and share.

Next time i might really go to Bern and the remains of Bremgarten, which actually seemed nice in old videos and newsclippings.

If you read this? Thank you very much!

So long for now,

EuropeanCTR

 

[NapalmEnema]

Sooo jealous of where you all get to take your car on adventures!! Are you planning on trying to take it to any tracks in your area?

 

[EuropeanCTR]

Sooo jealous of where you all get to take your car on adventures!! Are you planning on trying to take it to any tracks in your area?

Sadly, we havent any tracks in the area. might go for the Nürburgring, but since Racetracks aint covered by insurance, its kind of a risky move, considering last time i pushed it ended... semi salty

 

[NapalmEnema]

Sadly, we havent any tracks in the area. might go for the Nürburgring, but since Racetracks aint covered by insurance, its kind of a risky move, considering last time i pushed it ended... semi salty

Go with what you're comfortable with and drive where you are happy then - nobody has to track or anything tbh some just like to cruise and nothing wrong with that

 

[EuropeanCTR]

Go with what you're comfortable with and drive where you are happy then - nobody has to track or anything tbh some just like to cruise and nothing wrong with that

Yeah tracking would be tough for me, this is my first car with 100hp+. The feel is there, just dont wanna let it eat grass again

 

[EuropeanCTR]

September 18th

That took some time...

Well, havent been doing that much lately. This due to frequent raining on weekends and some speetraps being put up. Some might say, "cant be that bad?" well actually yes. Switzerland has some harsh fines for speeding. 1-5 over the limit in and out of town is a clean 40 bucks. after that it depends, but normally 6-10 is a hefty 100. Then its all the way up to 160, 240 and eventually you lose your permit for a time or go to jail. Doesnt mean i havent gone tame all the time ?

Other than that so far for the past 1800km of our journey, shes been a real treat. Cant do anything against that one little rock in your brakes, or that teenie tiny scratch that you only see in the sunlight, but hey: its a car. The bigger scratch i noticed was on the vortex generators, which you can see if you look at it. Ive been debating as how on gods green earth a rock would hit there, since i didnt have any tree branches or shit scrape over my car.

In context with that, im already breaking my rule not to temper with my car for the time of the warranty. Its nothing fancy, doesnt mess with electronics but it should minimize that one risk of rocks and debris being thrown up by the wheels

Solution? Rally Armor mudflaps. Kind of a nobrainer, since we got a ton of agrucultur going on. So them cant hurt and i get accustomed to actually do something on the car. After that its probably gonna be a K&N Air filter. Im taking baby steps since this is still my brand new whip and i couldnt get over damaging anything out of lack of knowledge

Should be everything to cover the past 2 weeks. If i can get my arse up on the weekends earlier, i could just go one direction, instead of getting up around noon. (sleep schedule is a mess i tell ya)

Thanks for reading in

EuropeanCTR

 

[EuropeanCTR]

September 26th

Well Friday i had the most wonderful feeling coming home from work: another F*cking screw in my rear right tire. Slowly this starts to piss me off, but it was fixed so rn im kinda fine. The 26 bucks dont bother me, what bothers me is its always from work from our storage facility. Because some morons just dont get that when you lose one you pick it up. Luckily i was able to call in to the dealership, and one of the mechanics (owners son) said i can come right in. (Mind you this was 5 minutes before they were closing up shop)

Dario is a fucking life saver. The System didnt warn me or anything, but since im a daily driver even with a bigger van, i always check my car for potential damage in the evening (especially screws and nails). The screw wasnt big, but to be sure i let some soap water run over it. Pulled it gently, and would you know it: tiny bubbles forming. He got it fixed in a clean 10 minutes. If this keeps happening and i pop a tire? My boss surely will be too happy forking over around 250+ bucks for one brand new Continental Sport Contact 6 tire.

Anyhow, went for a night drive yesterday since i was bored out of my mind. Couldnt go too fast since speed trap season is on again. Figured since one way i know the road, i could go around villages and towns. Cold night air still feels special

Since my vacation got green light ill probably go further inland. Maybe even a roadtrip? But also to get my hobbies straightened out.

Car is still amazing, and Dario even let me know i was driving on a bit too high tire pressure. Might also been a reason why i went into the green that one day....

Well, thats it for now. See you next time

European CTR

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