James, I've just spent my entire Christmas break (on and off) reading all 200 pages of this thread. What a story! A fascinating read from start to finish for various reasons. I'm gobsmacked that you still have a girlfriend and can afford to eat!
The reason I decided to read all of this was because I dream of doing something similar to mine that's sitting in the garage, but I've got no chance of racing at the moment. It's 90% ready to go, but not as 'polished' as yours or some of the other guys that post regularly in this thread. Even so, I'd love to get it out there against some of you guy's! Sadly the budget isn't there and family comes first (damn growing up...)
Another reason I decided to go throu all of this is that I've just bought a 197 that's got a few receipts from TDF, including mapping, and it's occurred to me that it must've been done in the dark, during a power cut, by Stevie Wonder. I know little about trader politics as I purposely keep out of all of it, but I had to see what all the fuss was about and it's done nothing but confirm my suspicions.
All I can say is good on you for keeping at it and dealing with all the crap in such a stand up way, you are a credit to this forum IMO, I wish we had more members like you. I'm really looking forward to further updates in the new year, one which is hopefully more reliable than last year! Fingers crossed I might even get an opportunity to come and watch one weekend. I'd also be very keen of joining in on a Cadwell day if you do all book one.
My one comment having watched all the videos in the thread would be to keep it in a higher gear occasionally!