111 SLAPPER RED STOPPERS...

You know that thing where you see something on eBay that you fancy but is too expensive, so you save the item to see if the price comes down? A few weeks later, the seller cut the price in half, but it is still too expensive. They then add ‘Or Best Offer’, so you put a lowball offer in to get things started, fully expecting to pay much more, but then they accept? You know that? Yeah, well, it just happened.

The something was a complete set of red Competizione brake callipers that were £325 and then reduced to £165, and the ‘Best Offer’ I submitted was £150. There is now a satisfyingly heavy box in my garage, hopefully containing a complete set of uprated brakes - I haven’t had a chance to check yet, plus I don’t know what I’m looking at.

The plan is to buy some brake cleaner, give everything a once over to remove the brake dust and crud and then fix the scuff marks with a liberal dab of brake calliper paint - I just found out that such a thing exists, about £15 it costs, specially formulated to withstand high temperatures.

After that, we will get some new pads and discs (£70 for the front, £50 for the back), get the whole lot fitted, and be all set for our trans-Europe jaunt in the summer. A bonus is that I will have some seriously good-looking brakes peeking out behind my home-upgraded white alloys. Well, that is the plan!!!