My day at TopGear (Bridport)

Lets begin at the beginning.. The original exhaust system on my 2002 C4 started blowing (quite badly) and after hearing so many good things about TopGear (Bridport) I decided to drop them a message to ask about availability and costs for the Mild Sport system. I received a fast response from Alex with a great quote so I booked the car in. By the way, TopGear then send you a text & email to confirm the booking, to remind you the day before and to confirm that the car is booked in (handy if someone else is taking your car in on your behalf) I arrived at around 9am and had a friendly greeting from the reception staff and I was introduced to Luke, the technician who was going to deal with my car - He went through the procedure with me and was very patient with me as I took photos! I left Luke to it and walked into Bridport for a look around - it takes about 25 minutes to get there - lots of coffee shops & pubs in this delightful small town. Well worth the walk! I got back and Luke was about halfway through the job - they were having issues with the rusted bolts of the nearside silencer.. Anyway, lets have some photos!! Before pics: Showing the rotten silencer boxes and where the joint is blowing: And here's Luke holding one of the shiny new boxes: Rotten Offside box nearly in: Luke ran the original tips over a buffing wheel, came up pretty well! Having problems with the nearside box though, time to get the boys 'round! Steve, the owner came over for a chat, really nice guy! (And no, he's not the Stig ) Nearside in! Luke was *Meticulous* about getting the tips aligned and equal :thumb: So if you're still reading this, then it's because you're looking at getting a new exhaust fitted. If you want a great job done, by friendly, professional staff, then you should absolutely take a trip to Bridport. Recently, an R8 came down from Leeds and an Aston from Switzerland. These guys know what they are doing - It really is worth the drive down and certainly worth the money! A special thanks to Alex for sorting me out, to Steve for taking time out to have a chat with me, Luke for his attention to detail, but an extra big thank you to Jenny on reception for bringing me a can of lemonade! :thumbs:

Great review Rob, They are a good bunch there and a very professional set up. Did Steve tell you he used to have a 997.turbo before he got the beast of a Nissan with half the worlds supply of carbon on it. or has that now been changed lol. more importantly did you see the legs :floor: :floor: ooops no more importantly what do you think of the sound as you went for the mild sports boxes. :thumb: :thumb: ps I am not going to say a thing about Luke polishing your tip :grin: :grin: :thumb:

Hi Phil, yes, Steve mentioned his Nismo GT-R and the previous 911 He now has an M3! No legs on show At tickover and urban speeds, it's quiet - certainly quieter than it was when it was blowing! but when you toe it, it's deeper and more throaty than OEM, but not much louder - which is what I wanted :thumb: Haha!!! I didn't even think about the obvious tip polishing euphemism! :floor:

That sounds great as its the sound you wanted , mate you can rely on me to spot any potential euphemisms to be had :grin: :grin:

Thanks for sharing, I've been waiting for the C4S exhausts to be back in stock. Hopefully soon, MOT is due shortly and I'll need it for that...

Great write up and pics. :thumb: I've never used Topgear (yet) but I know from my mate Craig's experience that they stand by their work and products and are proper old skool when it comes to customer service and back up. Very rare in these times of "Bodge-it and scarper ltd" type companies. It's good to see a business that deserves it, thrive. :thumb:

Thanks all for the kind words. Rob shame we didn't get a chance to meet personally but i'm glad the team took care of you I watched some of the fitment on the cameras. Loving the photos! We'll be back in stock of pretty much everything presently out of stock for 996 and 997 Carrera at the beginning of July. Note our louder sports silencers are in stock and will fit C4S.

:worship: Great work :thumb:

Looks good. Only thing I would say is that we have replaced a few of those horrible exhaust U clamps on these systems. We bought some stainless steel banded clamps and fitted those. Not sure why you can't just use the Porsche clamps or get the banded ones as the U shaped clamps look cheap and corrode in no time. Just a thought.

It might be a good idea for topgear to do that as they are offering lifetime you own the car warranty with their products so it would save them having to replace them in a few years FOC :thumb:

I'm really tempted by the sports backboxes, the only question i had is why they were so cheap compared to anything else...

Alex did explain that in the group buy thread, he explained that They are the manufacturer of exhausts for themselves and other brands supplying globally. Their original business model was supplying to the trade which still acounts for the bulk of their business, and only in recent years have they moved into the retail sector . They have no middle man mark ups, they buy the raw material in huge volumes so the price is better allowing them to pass this price onto the customer. they produce particular popular exhausts in high volume runs minimising retooling rejigging times etc. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Sounds good to me... any group buys coming up ? ;-)

Alex was asked last week and said he would be happy to consider another in a couple of months time , in the meantime all 911uk members get 10% off the internet prices as they are a forum sponsor . :thumb: :thumb: if you PM him he will give you the code to use at checkout . :thumb:

really? awesome This goes right up to the top of my purchase list!