Smart Car E-magazine - smartUSA-club

The only independent dedicated 

smart car e-magazine 

spring 2007 | issue 15| 

Beaulieu 06’ 

Dyno 

Meet 

New look for 

massive 

In this issue 

smart news 

Canada ER 

your local meets 

from the readers 

featured cars 

BRABUS remap reviewed 

smint’s roadster diary 

Leather trim 

plus lots more... 

Digi Roadster 

ISSN 1744-9448

Smartarse Design - 

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for all your smart performance parts and services 

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Charge cooler 

Viper induction 

Custom Map 

Lambo doors and ICE 

Custom Remapping £350 inc VAT 

NOW Available, Custom remaps by appointment. 

Plus a wide range of remaps available by RedDot for : 

Mk1-6 fortwo, Mk7 fortwo, Brabus fortwo, 

roadster 61, 80 bhp and BRABUS 101 

Our remapping service includes diagnostic check, performance 

consultation and remap, all backed by our Smartarse Design warranty. 

Please call for details. 

Win-Star & Bosch 

smart diagnostic 

computer systems 

Smart Car Servicing 

fortwo - A £125 B £195 inc VAT 

roadster - A £149 B £275 inc VAT 

roadster coupe - A £149 B £295 inc VAT 

BRABUS roadster - A £149 B £349 inc VAT 

BRABUS roadster coupe- A £149 B £369 inc VAT 

Forfour - A £125 B £220 inc VAT 

Accessories 

Full range of interior & exterior products in stock 

Smartarse Design Custom Service 

- Full leather interiors 

- Classic and custom paint work 

- Body work styling 

- Personal custom performance enhancements 

Coffee and rest area 

No obligation free friendly advice 

Call us on 01794 367878 

www.smartarse-design.com 

New Products and Services... 

£89.99 inc VAT 

fitted Offer 

Stealth Exhaust 

fortwo and roadster, 

stainless steel, full 

Janspeed lifetime 

warranty, great sound 

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NOW in stock 

£429 

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3M Scotchgard film 

protection for glass roof 

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Body panel protection 

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we 

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smartimes magazine 

Smartarse Design Romsey Unit 6, Wynford Farm Ind Park, Belbins, Romsey, Hants, SO51 0PW 

Tel 01794 367878 email: citycarsrusltd@btconnect.com 

Smartarse Design Watford Unit 2a Blueprint Commercial Centre, Imperial Way, Watford WD24 4JD 

Tel: 01923 288199 email: citycarsrus@btconnect.com

in this issue 

contributors 

James Gillam, Carl Noonan, Lief 

Hanson, Richard Neale, Tom Crawford & 

Julie Saltmarsh, Philip Egan, Colin (DOC) 

Robinson, Ian Dolphin, Steve Crosbie, 

Dazza, smart media, Scott Fen - Impact 

press & PR ltd. 

Special thanks to: 

Roger Broome, James Gillam & Meara 

Paterson, Sheena Hamilton. 

publisher/editor 

Stephen Goddard 

smartimes 

9 Downlands Road 

Winchester 

SO22 4ET 

www.smartimes.co.uk 

email: info@smartimes.co.uk 

copyright 

smartimes magazine 2007, All rights reserved. 

Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden 

without the express permission of the 

publishers. 

Page 

Winter 06 edition 4 

Club meetings and events 5 

smart news 

from the readers 6 

Hoggs Christmas 7 

smart news 8 - 10 

smart G3 photoshoped 11 

smart meets and articles 

smart Canadian EH? 12 

JB’s smart in the snow 13 

Beaulieu show 06’ 14 - 15 

South West smarties 16 

The Smart Scene book competition 17 

The future is bright, very bright 18 

Lief’s collectors edition roadster update 19 

Feature cars 

Digi-roadster cover car 20 - 21 

smart Carl 22 - 23 

Projects and technical 

wraped disks 24 

smart leather interiors 25 

SMINT’s roadster diary 26 - 27 

smart fuel questions 28 

EvilTwin BRABUS remap review 29 

massives’s new cloths 30 

FQ101 G2 conversion 32 - 33 

Dyno meet 34 

smartRest 35 

Ahmed Khalifa’s baby 36 

Forge silicon TIK 37 

iMove round-up 38 - 39 

Thank you and fair well 40 

smartimes back issues 

Back issue content and smartimes information 65 - 66 

smartimes magazine

to our readers 

smartimes to end publication 

It is with great regret I have to inform you that smartimes is 

to cease publication after this the spring 2007 issue. 

Over the Christmas period several major events have 

coincided to make it impossible to carry on publication. 

Underlying these events is the non payment of accounts by 

a handful of advertisers over the last two years. This has 

brought our financial situation into loss for the second year 

running. 

Given the support we have had over the years from our 

volunteer team, readers and subscribers, it has been a 

difficult decision to holt smartimes but, these circumstances 

are beyond our control or resolution. 

Our site and download area will be maintained for another 

twelve months. This will be reviewed based on any 

forthcoming subscriptions through 2007. It is our aim to 

keep our website live for the foreseeable future. 

Thank you for your support and understanding in these 

difficult times. 

thesmartclub.co.uk 

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editor and publisher 

smartimes - the only independent smart car magazine 

The views and opinions published in smartimes magazine are not those of smartimes 

magazine ltd or its management. 

Articles are edited and published without condition or copyright restriction of the writer/ 

supplier. Submission and publication is not a contract between smartimes magazine ltd and 

the writer/supplier. Smartimes holds the copyright for all material published in smartimes 

magazine. 

www.clubsmartcar.ca 

Canadian smart owners club and forum 

www.smartenthusiast.com 

American smart owners club 

 


smart meetings and events 

MEETINGS 

Andover Smart meet. The Oak, Smannel, SP11 6JJ, just 

outside Andover on the Newbury Road. First Tuesday of 

the month starting at 7-30pm 

Bristol 2nd Sunday of month at The Blue Bowl (details, 

location, menu etc on www.thebluebowl.co.uk ) from 12.00. 

Donington various Sundays at Donington GP Collection 

2pm onwards, 20th August. 

Essex Smarties -Second Tuesday in the month at ‘The 6 

Bells’, Main Road, Boreham, Nr.Chelmsford, Essex. CM3 3JE 

(just off the A12 at Boreham Interchange). Any time from 

around 8pm. www.essexsmarties.co.uk 

e-mail: julie@spottybadger.com 

Gloucester meets are continuing at The Whittle Inn, 

Gloucester Business Park, Brockworth on the 1st Sunday of 

the month, 12.00. 

The Herts and Beds Meet, first Thursday of every month at 

Baldock Services, on the A1(M) junction 10, from 7.00pm 

for details contact (John Porter) 07979 300122 or 

email john.porter@smartofhertford.co.uk 

Hull & East Yorkshire, meet at the Altisidora, Altisdora 

pub, Bishop Burton, from 8.30 pm onwards, 

every last Wednesday of the month. 

Kent - The Whaft, Cotton Lake, Galleons Boulevard, 

Crossways Business Park, Dartford, Kent DA2 6QE 

1st Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm 

Midlands - Bowling Green, Friary Road, Lichfield, WS13 

6QJ Every week on a Wednesday, starts at 8.30pm 

Northampton, Queen Elanor pub, Northampton 

first Sunday of each month - 7 pm 

Mansfield ‘The Snipe’ meet, at ‘The Snipe’ pub, on the 

A38, two minutes from J28 of the M1, near Mansfield 

Notts. Every third Wednesday evening, 6.30pm 

Milton Keynes area meeting - every other Monday night at 

the Caldecote Windmill just off the A5 southbound in Milton 

Keynes at 7:30pm. web site www.mksmarts.co.uk for map 

and directions on how to get there and dates for the next 

months meetings. 

The North West Smarties Mascrat Manor Pub, just off 

Junction 21 of the M6 Southbound/Northbound (sign posted 

Irlam A57) once a month - Dates are announced online, noninternet 

members contact us on 07854923172. 

NorthEast (Durham) meets are now bi-monthly at different 

venue’s. For details please email: nesmarts@gmail.com 

‘HHOGS’ Hoggs Lodge, Clanfield PO8 0QD, Portsmouth. 

Just off the A3. The last Thursday of the month from 7:30 

pm onwards. 

‘BASS’ Old Bell, Grazeley Green, Reading, Berkshire, 

RG7 1LS. 3rd Tuesday of the month from 7:30 pm 

Bucks and South Herts Meet (BASH) 

Chequers Inn, St Albans Road Redbourn Hertfordshire 

AL3 7AD Third Thursday of every month from 7:30pm 

Southampton ‘HHOGS’ The Forge, Main Rd, 

Otterbourne, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2EE 

We meet on the second Thursday of the month from 7pm 

Sussex Meet the Red Lion Public House at Handcross RH17 

6BP (Just off the M23) Every Third Monday of the month from 

7:30 pm 

smarts of Shropshire (SOS) 

Horse Shoe Inn, Uckington on the B5061 between 

Shrewsbury and Wellington (Old A5). 3rd Tuesday of the 

month from 7:30pm. 

South West Smarties 

South Wales meets are normally on the 3rd Sunday of the 

month, and Devon meets on the 4th Sunday. 

Further details of all the above can be found on www. 

swsmarties.co.uk (please note the .com site is no longer 

operating, thanks). 

‘BASS’ Walton/Weybridge - The Weir, Barge walk, 

Walton-on-Thames. The first Wednesday of the month 

from 7:30 pm onwards. 

Wales - for details of Welsh meets 

email n.wilcock@talk21.com 

Buy your copy now! 

£15 with FREE p&p to UK addresses only. 

Postal charges to: Europe - £2.50 • Zone 1 & 2 - £4.00 

This is a Limited Edition, quality product that you 

will not find being produced anywhere else! 

A3, full colour on heavy weight paper, spiral bound across the 

top and posted in a white card envelope. 

Our calendar is full to the brim with fabulous 

photographs of you and your smarts, taken by 

Tom Crawford at meetings and events across the country. 

The calendars will be posted out in November in plenty of 

time for Christmas. 

Please make cheques payable to: 

Spotty Badger Productions 

1 Grouts Farm Cottage 

Kelvedon Road 

Tolleshunt D’Arcy 

Maldon 

Essex 

CM9 8EL 

For those who like to shop online 

a Paypal account has been set up 

for you to use. 

Please make your Paypal 

payment to: 

polkadotsmart@hotmail.com 

‘where smart people buy smart stuff’ 

www.parts4smarts.ca 

Exclusive 

North American distributor 

of Michalak accessories 

CityCarsR us 

More smiles per mile in a smart 

Choice of over 10 vehicles in stock 

fortwo prices from... £2,995 

roadster prices from...£7,995 

Servicing £45.00 per hour - Computer diagnostics equipment 

Full Range of Accessories 

We ONLY sell smart cars. 

Our stock changes weekly 

Ring us NOW for current availability 

Tel: 01794 367878 or 077 4017 4955 


from the readers 

A very precious OYSTER! 

You may wonder what I mean by ‘Oyster’. Well, that is the 

nickname for my Smart for2, as the number plate looks alot 

like the word Oyster! 

It, is the most wonderful and most enjoyable of cars I have 

ever known and, I love it to bits. 

Just recently though, I was in a road traffic accident. My 

little car and me were both hurt. But we both came out still 

live and kicking-thankfully. 

My car, aka the OYSTER, was hit with me in it, by a 

dangerous disqualified and speeding driver who was doing at 

LEAST 60 mph in a 30mph zone. 

If anything, I was surprised at how big and STRONG my 

Smart was! It took the full impact to the back and along the 

drivers side. There was hardly any damage, only to the rear 

wheel and wing. But even then, the damage was minimaland 

I was SO surprised at how amazingly tough those little 

bugs are ! 

The most damage was to the other drivers car. I would say 

that judging by the photos I have seen, a right-off. 

It has proven to everyone I know just how safe these little 

Smart cars are. 

I am still getting over the shock and trauma of that night 

and, I cannot WAIT to get my car back. 

It looked so weeny on the big low-loader when it was being 

taken to the Smart/Mercedes garage to get repaired. I 

think I cried! I adore my car so much. It sounds crazy but 

it’s become my hobby. I can’t drive it until I’m fully better 

and had more physio. But that won’t stop me going out and 

cleaning it and personalising everything inside it. 

Marge and John Smeatons of Ottawa, Canada 

Tony Martin kernowsmart member 

These little cars are the best and as I know, the safest cars 

- unfortunately I have experienced an unfortunate scenario 

where I could have been killed. But, I was safer than I’d have 

been in any other make of car. 

Since the accident, it has made me realise just how lucky I 

am to be here to tell this tale. 

 


HOGGS do Christmas 

The HOGGS Christmas meet 

Otterbourne, Southampton had a 

suprise visitor. Farther Christmas 

(Toddy) turned up in a smart. Toddy 

however got more than he bargained 

for (See photos). 

Jenny and Kevin brought a Christmas 

cake as the prize of a free raffle. Kevin 

policed the meeting ensuring no funny 

business got out of hand. 

With a full house of over thirty 

members at The Old Forge Inn, the 

HOGGS continue to be one of the 

largest smart group on the south coast. 

Thanks go to Snozy for arranging 

the meet with The Old Forge Inn 

management, the deposit vouchers, 

and Christmas crackers. Farther 

Christmas (Toddy). Spotty smart for 

the Santa’s grotto display in the back 

of his smart. All who attended this 

fantastic, fun evening. 

Massive 


smart news 

Special model for the market 

launch: smart fortwo “edition 

limited one” with individual 

and exclusive equipment 

smart will be offering an exclusive special model of the new smart 

fortwo to coincide with the market launch in April 2007: the “edition 

limited one” shows that, like its predecessor, exclusive equipment is 

available for the new smart fortwo and there are lots of opportunities 

for individualisation. 

The “edition limited one” smart fortwo will be presented for the first 

time at the Bologna Motor Show (05 - 17 December 2006). At the 

same time this will be the world premiere for the new smart fortwo 

at a show. With more than 210,000 smart fortwo sold to date, Italy is 

the largest market for smart. 

Unique: bodypanels in pyrite grey metallic 

As the name says, this is a limited edition. Just 1,500 models of the 

smart fortwo “edition limited one” will be built. The special model 

is available as a coupé only. It has a silver tridion safety cell and 

bodypanels in exclusive pyrite grey metallic. The door mirror caps 

and radiator grille are also painted silver. Further exterior features 

include a panoramic roof with sun blind and 15 inch alloy wheels in a 

six-spoke design. 

The smart fortwo “edition limited one” is powered by a 52 kW (71 

bhp) petrol engine. The maximum speed is 145 km/h. The new 

automated five-speed manual transmission with the softouch 

automatic gear programme provides for even more comfort and lots 

of driving fun. 

Exclusive leather trim: “Used look” nappa leather 

In addition to the special pyrite grey exterior, exclusive features in 

the “edition limited one” include seats, gear knob and a three-spoke 

sports steering wheel (incl. steering wheel gearshift) in an elegant, 

cognac-brown used nappa leather look.The velour floor mats also 

have a leather trim. 

The interior appointments of the smart fortwo “edition limited one” 

further include air conditioning with automatic temperature control 

(incl. dust and pollen filter), heated seats, a cockpit clock, rev counter 

and the smart radio 9. 

Further features are a luggage compartment cover, a storage 

compartment in the tailgate and fabric elements on the instrument 

panel, door trim and knee pad. 

The new smart fortwo: Ordering starts mid January 

The new smart fortwo can do everything that the current model 

can do - but even better. This means that the new smart fortwo is 

even more comfortable, even more agile, even safer and even more 

environmentally friendly than its predecessor. 

Like the other models, the smart fortwo “edition limited one” can be 

ordered from mid January 2007. The prices will be announced in good 

time. The starting price for the new smart fortwo will stay at the level 

of the predecessor model. 

UK directory 

smart Customer Service Helpline 

0808 000 8080 

smart Retail Call Centre 

0870 027 0700 

smartmove assistance - breakdown cover 

UK: 0845 300 3161 

International: 0044 20 8603 9941 

smartstart 

Burystead Court, Caldecotte Lake Drive 

Caldecotte, Milton Keynes MK7 8ND 

smartstart is a trading name of DaimlerChrysler Services UK Ltd 

smart Motability Customer Helpline 

0845 6001662 

smart Retail Corporate Sales 

0870 8500 522 

smartstart Insurance: 08456 033 330 

smartstart Finance: 0808 000 8080 

 


smart news 

Exhibition at the Mercedes- 

Benz museum: 

‘‘smart story’’ shows the 

history of the brand – 

including the new smart 

fortwo 

Not yet at dealerships and already a museum 

exhibit - those who would like to see the new smart 

fortwo before it is launched in April 2007 now 

have an opportunity to do so. From 06 December 

2006 to 14 January 2007 the new smart fortwo 

will be part of the ‘‘smart story’’ exhibition at the 

Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart. 

Visitors to the exhibition will see that the design 

language of the new smart fortwo is a consistent 

evolution of the original shape. This applies to the 

design, and it also applies to the engineering of the 

new car. 

The new smart fortwo can do everything that the 

current model can do - but better. This means that 

the new smart fortwo is even more comfortable, 

even more agile, even safer and even more 

environmentally friendly than its predecessor. 

smart story: unusual design studies, prototypes 

and show cars 

The “smart story” at the Mercedes-Benz museum 

follows the history of the smart brand based on 

18 vehicles. These include unusual design studies, 

prototypes and show cars, some of which have 

never previously been presented to the public. 

Anders Sundt Jensen, Vice President for Marketing 

and Sales at smart says ‘‘The smart fortwo belongs 

in a museum - because it challenges the status quo 

and calls on people to rethink their perceptions, 

because following its market launch in October 

1998 it quickly became a cult vehicle. And last 

but not least, because we are not only showing 

the past, with the new smart fortwo we are also 

showing the future.’’ 

The earliest models on display are the two 

forerunners of the smart, the „Eco Speedster“ and 

the ‘‘Eco Sprinter’’ dating from the year 1993. In 

addition to these vehicles, prototypes, show cars 

and special vehicles for use on the airport runway 

or by the police or fire brigade are on display. 

All vehicles exhibited stand for the development 

of the smart brand and the classlessness of the 

uncompromising concept of a car that has the clear 

purpose of ensuring personal mobility for its users 

in towns and cities. 

Last vehicle destined for the museum 

A total of 770,256 smart fortwos were produced 

at the production plant at Hambach in France. 

The last vehicle of the current smart fortwo 

series rolled off the production line at the end of 

November. Anders Sundt Jensen will hand this car 

over to the Mercedes-Benz museum at the opening 

of the exhibition. 

To date more than 770,000 people have decided to 

switch to a smart fortwo - often to replace a larger 

car with the lively two-seater. Because the smart 

fortwo is something special and stands out from 

the crowd, because it gives them a totally new kind 

of personal mobility in the city, and last but not 

least, because it is quite simply fun to drive. 


smart news 

North American International Auto Show in Detroit: 

Premiere of the new 

smart fortwo in the 

USA 

For the very first time on US soil: the new smart fortwo, 

celebrating its USA premiere at this year’s North 

American International Auto Show in Detroit (January 

7 to 21, 2007). The new smart fortwo will be available 

in the USA beginning in the first quarter of 2008. The 

car shown in Detroit is an European version of the new 

smart fortwo. Model lines to be available in the United 

States will be announced at later date. 

smart, like Mercedes-Benz and Maybach, is 

part of the Mercedes Car Group. The exhibition stand 

is directly opposite Chrysler and Dodge in Oakland Hall 

(inside Cobo Center). Written in large letters on the 

stand are the words “Coming to the USA in 2008”. And 

right in front of it, a smart fortwo with red bodypanels 

and a silver tridion safety cell. 

The new smart fortwo can do everything that 

the current model can do - but better. This means that 

the new smart fortwo is even more comfortable, even 

more agile, even safer and even more environmentally 

friendly than its predecessor. And from the first 

draft it is designed to meet USA customer needs and 

registration standards. 

The right car at the right time 

It is time for the smart fortwo to make an 

appearance in the USA; fuel prices are rising, and city 

traffic is increasing by the day. In short, the smart 

fortwo is the right car at the right time. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, the two-seater quickly 

became a popular vehicle following its launch in October 

1998. The same is sure to hold true in the USA. 

More than 770,000 customers have chosen the 

first generation of the smart fortwo – often to replace a 

larger car with the lively two-seater. Because the smart 

fortwo is something special and stands out from the 

crowd, and because it is simply fun to drive. 

Apart from this, the vehicle concept is also 

highly practical – especially for people who live in cities 

or urban areas. On most journeys a car carries just 

a single occupant, and because people make faster 

progress through the city in a smart fortwo. And 

because with a smart fortwo, people can make faster 

progress through city streets and they do not even need 

to search for a parking space – the smart fortwo can 

easily fit between in very limited space – they can find 

one right away. 

As early as 2002, the smart fortwo was included 

in the permanent collection in New York’s Museum of 

Modern Art – the only vehicle there that is still produced 

today. The five other models to attain this honor were 

the Cisitalia, Jaguar E-Type, Willy’s Jeep, Ferrari Formula 

1 and Volkswagen Beetle. 

The right distribution partner 

With Roger Penske and UnitedAuto Group, smart has the 

right distribution partner to bring the smart fortwo to 

the US market in 2008. smart USA is currently reviewing 

market data to determine dealership locations – no 

specific locations have been identified to date. Dealer 

organizations will be announced during the second half 

of 2007. 

UnitedAuto Group, Inc., headquartered in 

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, operates 319 dealers with 

41 different brands and 27 repair workshops. UAG 

specializes in the sale of new and pre-owned cars, 

financing, insurance and supplying spare parts and 

also offers a maintenance and repair service for all the 

brands it offers. 

10 smartimes magazine

Photoshop - smarts 

Adrian Price is a wizz 

with photoshop. Adrian 

sent us these excellent 

interpritations of the new 

G3 fortwo and crosstown 

in BRABUS dress. 

Nice work, I wonder how 

close the fortwo BRABUS 

is to the finally released 

official version? 

Oh, and a nice take on the 

smartimes project car in 

green and silver. 


11

smart Canadian EH? 

Canadian 

International 

Automotive 

Show 2007 

by James Gillam 

I recently had the opportunity to attend the 

two press days this past week at the premier 

automotive show. Held in the city of Toronto 

it is a sprawling and overwhelmingly large new 

and custom vehicle exhibition. With more that 

31 Canadian exclusive debuts it proved to been 

two full days of car perusing. For full coverage 

head over to www.autoshow.ca . The 2007 

show offered up a tantalizing array of concept 

automobiles including the Acura Advanced 

Sedan Concept, BMW Hydrogen 7, Dodge 

Avenger and Challengers Concepts. Ford was 

onsite with their GR-1, Super Chief and SynUS. 

Not to be left our, our Asian friends, Mitsubishi 

showed their Concept X, Nissan show the Urge 

with Toyota bringing in the MTRC. 

Morray Callum, Design Director for Ford 

North America and Dan Sims from Mitsubishi was 

among the notable designers giving the press insight 

into their view of the automobile, its design, function 

and direction. 

One of the most talked about displays and 

what particularly caught my interest was the Sports 

Compact Revolution. A special feature of the 2007 

automotive show this display of over 70,000 square 

feet was “decked out” with the coolest customs and 

hottest rides in the entire country. It included a 

center stage with live entertainment, electrifying 

presentations and product demonstrations. 

Down on the main concourse level could 

be found the very large Mercedes Benz automotive 

display and to its left a much smaller future foreword 

looking smart fortwo display. Much to the dismay 

of passers by the new 2008 fortwo model was not 

debuted. In its place however was a Canada only 

special and limited edition Black “Nightrun” Coupe 

model. With Brabus style wheels and rims and lower 

body cladding it presents for Canada, a new smart 

face. The leather interior, blue/grey suede feel 

seats, dash, doors and steering wheel with white 

stitch accents added to the customization of this 

little fortwo. 

Mercedes Benz and smart put on quite the 

show for the VIP prior to the grand opening to the 

public. With wine, cheese and an assortment of sea 

food they made the event a memorable one for all. 

James Gillam 


JP’s smart in the snow 

G’day all, 

I’m quite late with my little piece this month due to some health issues, my apologies 

to all concerned. The Smart scene here in Australia seems to in the death throws, 

sales are down and my opinion is that here we subject to expensive servicing costs, 

long waits for parts and poor resale values. In our case we purchased our Roadster 

452 12 months ago and due to the health reasons previously mentioned the car has 

become difficult to drive and get in and out of. With heavy heart we had to put her 

up for sale, well 12 months ago just over $30.000AUD valuation $16.000AUD wich I’m 

told is top dollar from the dealers. We tried the last few weeks to sell on the internet 

car sales, and so far not one inquiry at $25,000AUD. The car has 20,000kms on it but 

a brand new engine was fitted under warranty just prior to Christmas and it has just 

turned over 1000kms. Parts here are hard to get and very expensive, after some research 

on the net Smarts are Us etc parts are a third the price here even allowing for 

import and freight etc. So there are quite a few disillusioned owners out there. While 

under warranty services in comparison to most other makes are ridiculous. $450 AUD 

for a minor service and $700AUD for a major service. What will happen over the next 

months is any ones guess but with values being as they are and now being stuck with 

a car that has lost 45% of it’s value in 12 months and we cannot drive I see things 

are going to be grim. I would e interested in any feedback to my comments and to 

see how other perceive the slow but constant change in Smart enthusiasm. As an 

owner of four Smart cars in the family we are really pi--ed off with the whole deal. The 

dealers need a good kick in the rear to wake them up. So many have tried so hard to 

promote the vehicle and get it seen around the countryside, we got no support from 

dealers it would seem the only ones interested were owners. I will leave it at that for 

this month and look forward to any feedback. Until next time..Colin (Doc) and Lesley 

(EKO) Robinson. Queensland Australia 

OZ 

Update 

Colin (DOC) 

Robinson 


13

Beaulieu Show 06’ 

Luckily for Miss P, s2trash had to drive down to Beaulieu 

on the Saturday as Bubski’s passenger, as Miss P had 

a car full of calendars. They met up at Clacket Lane 

Services on the M25 and were joined by Miss Radley and 

Besty both new Essex Smarties, in their black Brabus 

roadster. Not long after leaving the services s2trash, 

having consumed far too many large cappuccinos, began 

to feel slightly ‘green’. Several pit stops were required 

on the journey down to Beaulieu. 

By the time they reached the Travelodge at Lyndhurst, 

which had been taken over by smart owners from all over the 

country, he needed a rest before commencing the evenings 

social activities with the assembled smarties congregating at a 

lovely pub called The New Forest Inn. It was a very entertaining 

evening, especially when Kittycat accidentally set fire to the 

new Spotty Badger smart car calendar, and Mr Smart Suits 

burnt his fingers trying to put out the flames. The evening just 

flew past and it wasn’t long before they were being kicked out 

into the cold autumn night air. Around 1am Bubski, desperate 

for a ciggy, popped outside the hotel to find the Wellsmart 

gang, cruelly washing off the three months worth of dirt he 

had been dutifully accruing for his entry into the Dirtiest Car 

competition, due to be held later that day at Beaulieu! Luckily 

he saw the funny side of it! 

Bright, breezy and caffeine free, s2trash, Bubski and Miss P 

arrived at Beaulieu for 7.30am Sunday, to usher in the traders 

and car clubs. T1NY W was there as always with his smart 

circus and Sound Off equipment, accompanied by his girlfriend 

Vicky, Evilution and Kat. 

T1NY W deserves a big thank you for all his support over the 

years as Beaulieu would not be the same without him. 

Wellsmart brought a mosque-like marquee to trade out off, 

Smartypartfast brought the whole smart range of goodies with 

him which took ages to set up but was much appreciated. Other 

traders in attendance were Bigperformance, C.H.A.L.K.Y 

engineering and Smartarse Design. Smartarse Design 

offered free clutch adjustments, which had them run off their 

feet all day. 

Several smart clubs including the roadster.net, South West 

Smarties and FQ101 came and displayed their cars in small 

formations. Steve Goddard, another unsung hero of Beaulieu 

who always publicises the event, set up Smartimes next 

to Spotty Badger who were selling their 2007 calendars. 

At 10am the cars came flooding in, expertly parked by the 

efficient Bubski with the added help of Magnet in a highly 

florescent jacket, which was most fetching. 

At 11am Hot-Toddy led the remembrance day two 

minutes silence, without the PA system, which had refused 

to work for the second year running. Shortly after this the 

first competition was awarded. The winner was chosen from 

all the cars arriving, as the first spotted with a magic tree air 

freshener. Imported_sam123 won and Wellsmart donated 

her prize. Next was the Dirtiest Smart competition. How odd 

was this? The three dirtiest cars were all yellow, Mad Dan 

being one of them. It was very hard to find a winner and Steve 

Goddard was called into help judge the levels of grime, which 

amazingly included some authentic blood and guts from a poor 

“road kill” bird! The eventual winner was Mr M.E Jenkins, 

whose car looked like a tramp lived in it, and his prize was 

a cleaning kit, bucket and instructions on how to use it by 

Wellsmart. 

The Best Car at Beaulieu competition was unanimously 

won by Warbird. This was judged by the amount of people 

standing beside their favourite car. The people’s choice was a 

good one. 

The Sound Off and Exhaust Off were run by T1NY W as always, 

but sadly s2trash forgot to make a note of who actually won… 

so answers on a postcard please before he gets shot at dawn! 

It was such a great day, the weather alone was amazing for the 

time of year, being warm and sunny, and as the day started to 

draw to an end nobody seemed to want to go home. 

Beaulieu 2007 is already booked for Sunday the 11th of 

November so write it in your diary and s2trash and Miss 

Polkadot look forward to seeing everyone there next time. 

Dirtiest smart, 

inside and out 

© Spotty Badger Productions 

Photography by Tom Crawford, Nick Wilcock and Massive 

more photos on next page... 


Beaulieu Show 06’ 


15

South West area update 

Winter Diary of a smart owner! 

The dark, damp days in deepest 

Gloucestershire are obviously not the 

best of times for me and my smart…. 

those long, sunny days of summer 

seem a world away now! 

Anyway, the last major outing of 

the year to Beaulieu in November 

proved to be a great day out as 

always (thanks to Tom for organising 

(??) it!) I had agreed with Stephen to swap 

my rear screen with his old one, (no longer required with his 

‘large rear end’!) 

I thought this was a simple process of unbolting the glass 

and fitting the new one…but I forgot the transfer of the rear spoiler, 

wiper motor etc!....Still it went fairly smoothly with a bit of help and 

advice from David ‘smart-suits’ Webber, and the extra pair of hands 

(thanks Tony) to hold everything in the air, until it was bolted into 

place!...I now have a working heated rear window, which was the 

reason for the change. 

While we were doing this swap Paul from Wellsmart was 

working on resetting the mileage (to what it should have been) on 

my dash….so I think I should have the prize for the ‘smart in most 

pieces’ at Beaulieu! sRu had supplied me with a standard dash as 

the MrDotCom one I had, had failed, and a replacement could not be 

obtained I think it’s now sorted, after Paul had his computer on it a 

couple of weeks later, as a bonus I now have outside temp reading 

as well (which has never been on standard dash before!). My x- 

gauge, fitted to the clock pod, has been invaluable during this time 

for keeping a check on my speed, engine temp etc when nothing else 

was working! 

Following the fitment of Armourfend to my glass roof at 

the ‘non-dyno’ Watford meet, Paul Murphy has now got the patterns 

loaded onto his PC and took the time to come up to my house and 

apply this product to panels on the front of the car to protect the 

paintwork from any further stone chips (I had a couple that David 

managed to touch in a while ago!) 

It certainly doesn’t detract from the paint finish, making it 

look even shinier if anything, and is quite hard to spot that anything 

has been added. Looks a great product, I would recommend it to 

anyone with a custom paint job. 

The Gloucester Area Smarts (GAS) meet on 3rd December for our 

Christmas meal was deemed a great success. With a total of 18 

people for lunch, which was a very nice 3 course meal followed by 

mince pie, coffee and 4 free bottles of champagne, all for £13 each! 

We also supplied a few raffle prizes… wine, chocolates, biscuits, 

smart nutcrackers (from Tony), the hammock we won in the Lakes 

and the extra bottle of champagne…so I think most people went 

home happy! 

Look forward to seeing everyone in 2007. 

My car was out of action for the GAS meet, due to 

puncture in a rear tyre. I had been slowly deflating since 

Beaulieu so I decided to buy some ultraseal to try and 

fix it…unfortunately when I removed what appeared on 

the outside to be a small nail, it turned out to be a screw 

about 2” long and 5 to 6mm wide, the resulting hole being 

too much for the ultraseal to cope with, plan B came into 

operation…buy some new tyres (as both rears were down 

to about 3mm tread anyway). 

My search for new rubber was done on the 

internet. I currently have 205/45 x 15 tyres front and 

rear and found not a lot of choice in this size, so opted 

for 205/50’s replacements for the rears as this gave a far 

wider choice (any speedo correction could be checked via 

sat nav/x-gauge. I have measured the circumference and 

found the 50 profile to be around 15% larger overall, but 

I think it fills the rear arch a lot better!). www.mytyres. 

co.uk offered a varied selection, most of which had test 

results for wear, grip, 

Height difference between 45 

noise, braking etc to 

& 50 profile clearly shows. 

give a comparison 

Note asymmetric pattern on 

between makes. My first 

new tyres for wet/dry grip. 

choice was out of stock, 

so I then opted for a 

GT Radial, Champiro 

BAX priced at a very 

reasonable £42.30 each 

Inc VAT & delivery as 

Inside of (old) tyre coated 

these came with top 

with Ultraseal….nice uniform 

marks in the tests…I was 

coating. 

quote delivery time of 7 

days, but they arrived in 

3, pretty good service 

in the ‘pre-Christmas’ 

rush. 

My initial 

impression is that they 

seem to perform well, I’ll 

let you know more when 

they’ve done a couple of 

thousand miles. 

New rubber in place…seems to 

fill wheel arch a lot better. 

Plans for 2007: 

Well now that the New Year is here….get your diaries 

out and start booking time off work! I already have 7 

major events/camping weekends in mine ….. Are you 

coming???? 

MAY: 5th – 8th (Bank holiday weekend) Southern Ardennes 

Mountain Trail, Belgium. Organised by Continental Car Tours 

(CCT), if we can get enough people this will be a ‘smart only’ 

event. Price from £119 per person (2 sharing) 

MAY 19-20th St Ives, UK Camping weekend 

JUNE 15-18th Smartmania Sleepover 

JULY 25th–AUG 1st Smartz week in Southern Ireland 

AUG 9-13th Nurburgring Old Timer Grand Prix … another CCT 

event, join a group of classic cars on this…camping or hotel. Price 

from £99 per person (2 sharing) 

SEPT 6-10th Smartstock, Lake District, UK 

OCT 25-29th smart-club-niedersachsen Intermeet in Germany 

Further details of all the above can be found in the 

various smart club forums on the net. (or send me a PM/ 

e-mail, with your e-mail address & I’ll give you more info) 

Some may be subject to change/cancellation so please 

check first. 

Happy New Year everyone……if you see me anywhere, 

come & say hello, I don’t bite! 

For more of my photos from meets: http://ian-dolphin.fotopic.net 

Ian Dolphin 


the smart scene - Competition 

3 books to give away 

The new book ‘The Smart Scene’ is launched in April 

and includes over 400 photos plus: 

The Smart Timeline of events from birth of the car 

until now. Details of the Smart range, including 

Limited editions. Detailed accounts of Events and 

expolits over the last 3 years, 2003 - 2006. The smart 

Factory - Smartville (in detail with photos). Modifying 

Smarts. Customised Smarts - A cross section from 

simple mods to major re-builds with full spec sheets. 

Interesting Smart stuff - Advertising, C7 Kit Cars and 

Tritech Trikes. Smart Businesses. Monthly Meets. 

Website Clubs. 

‘The Smart Scene’ will cost £19.99 and can be bought 

direct from Spotty Badger Productions by cheque or Paypal, 

and via E-bay. It will also be sold in book shops worldwide. 

Competition 

The Authors of “The Smart 

Scene” are Miss Polkadot 

(Julie Saltmarsh) and s2trash 

(Tom Crawford), which one is 

in the photo above? 

All answers on a postcard to: 

Tom Crawford 

12 Langton Close 

Battle East Sussex 

TN33 0XH 

England 

Two UK launch dates have been booked so far. The premier 

launch day is Saturday 7th April at Smarts-R-us, 

second will be at Cambridge Smarts, Saturday 14th 

April. Saturday 5th May at Wellsmart. A forth date in 

Sussex is yet to be confirmed. 

‘The Smart Scene’ is 80,000 words with over 400 

photos, size 248mm wide x 226mm deep, so save 

on postage and get a signed copy at the launch 

venues. Or enter the photo competition and win one 

of the three to be given away courtesy of Campbell 

McCutcheon (messerchmitt_owner) on behalf of 

Tempus Publishers. 

‘The Smart Scene’ 

Spotty Badger Productions 

1 Grouts Farm Cottage, Kelvedon Road, Tolleshunt D’Arcy 

Maldon, Essex CM9 8EL 

email julie@spottybadger.com 

Hove Smart Cars 

Possibly the largest selection of used smart fortwo’s, 

coupes & cabrios, standard & modified in the country, prices 

from £2995, approx 20 in stock. 

Showroom 2nd Avenue, Hove 

Full dealer facilities including 

part exchange & finance 

Call 01273 73 70 70 

or visit us at 

www.cgtrading.co.uk 


17

The future is bright, very bright indeed 

The conversation went something like this, “Hi 

Imro, can I order some S-mann air intakes from 

you?” “Sure thing Paul I’ll get them in the post to 

you tomorrow” “so what’s happening in Holland 

at the moment” “I’m trying to get hold of a new 

fortwo to develop some parts for it” “You’ll never 

do that, they’re not showing it until Geneva” 

“Well actually Paul, they’ve got two on display at 

the Brussels Motorshow at Heysel Expo… and the 

show ends on Sunday” 

This conversation took place on Friday the 19th of 

January which brings the European showings of the car 

well ahead of schedule. We can only presume this is 

because Smart have run out of new fortwos and are 

keen to promote the fact that the generation 3 cars are 

just around the corner. 

Saturday evening the doors closed at SRUS and I 

jumped into my Ferrari Red road rocket i.e. a Brabus 

Fortwo with a 103BHP Evil Twin tuning. It’s the prefect 

companion for a cross country 6 hour blatt as it will 

comfortably sustain 100mph plus where road conditions 

allow. 

Eurotunnel were charging a mere £22 each way for the crossing so this 

was chosen as my means of crossing the channel and overnighting was 

provided by the cheap but very cheerful Village hotel in Calais. 

After a hearty continental breakfast a very excited me boarded the Brabus 

and headed up the coast to Oostende then turned right to Brussels to 

complete the 120 mile journey. This was demolished in a hour and a half 

even though a coastal breeze did it’s level best to blow me of the road thus 

testing the Bilstein PSS suspension to the limit. I can honestly say that not 

a single car came past me n the entire journey there although given that I 

arrived at Heysel for the opening of the doors at 10:00 am the majority of 

the French/Belgians were probably still eating their croissants. 

Once inside the show, I quickly scanned the floorplan and in an almost 

childlike quick-march (the kind you do when your parents have told you 

not to run somewhere) found something that will be the object of a million 

people’s desires. 

If you like the current fortwo, the G3 car is heart-achingly, jaw-droppingly 

beautiful. It becomes immediately apparent that Daimler Chrysler are 

very serious about this car as it has made a quantum leap in terms of 

finish and quality. It no longer looks toy like, it simply looks like a scaled 

down premium brand product. Smart learned a lesson or two about quality 

with the Smart forfour and this grown up feel has been handed on to 

the new fortwo. To try and illustrate how this car makes you feel, you 

could compare Elle Macpherson with Kylie Minogue, where the ‘Body’ is 

any premium small car (BMW 1 series, Mini, Golf etc) and Kylie is the ‘ohso-cute-but-in-reality-to-be-taken-very-seriously’ 

new fortwo. 

‘limited one’ was on hand for comparison) that you 

can see where the extra inches are… that is until you 

get inside and realise that you are no longer touching 

elbows with your passenger and that the tardis like 

effect of a Smart is even greater in the G3 cars than 

in it’s predecessor. 

Gearknob and wiper/indicator stalks excepted, the 

interior is all new and a joy to behold. It’s bright, 

bold, well laid out yet still a little quirky with Smart’s 

signature pods still sat in the middle of the dash. The 

doors now ‘clunk’ shut and feel heavier and better 

made, undoubtedly due to US crash regs now being 

complied with which has to be good for all of us. 

Interior fabrics are classy but bright and remind us a 

little of the fun factor that early Smart interiors had. 

I walked away from the Smart stand ecstatic. As a 

company we have invested a lot in the Smart brand 

and at long last it looks like the future for us and 

every other Smart owner/lover in the land is bright. 

Very bright. 

Paul Holmes 

I could not leave this car alone and spent most of my time in Brussels on 

the Smart stand even though it only had two cars on display, a metallic 

blue Passion cab and a silver Pulse coupe. I prodded every button, opened 

every orifice, operated the cab roof (which now works entirely from within 

the car) with it’s heated rear glass window and listened to the vastly 

improved factory radio/CD player, yes it would appear Smart have realised 

that nobody uses a cassette anymore. The door mounted speakers pack 

quite a punch, again this if forfour standard and it does lead one to think 

that much joining of forfour and fortwo DNA has taken place. 

The powerplant is also fourfor/Mitsubishi derived even though in it’s new 

guise it is a 3 pot, 1 litre as opposed to the 1.1 of the forfour. I’m sure 

with 3 power outputs (61bhp and 72bhp non turbo and 84bhp turbo) 

there’s going to be something for everyone here and with all cars ‘limited’ 

to 145kmh performance will be strong across the range even though at 

760kgs the new fortwo is a little porkier than it was before. 

The car has indeed grown but you wouldn’t really know from the outside 

where clever detailing like the oversized head and tail lights (now shared 

across the entire range as with all the panels) help to make the car look 

infeasible small. It’s only by comparing it to an earlier car (an early Smart 


Leif’s limited edition 

We published details of Lief’s limited edition 

BRABUS on page 35 of our winter 06 issue. We 

showed the gold version by mistake, Lief’s is painted 

in silver metallic, “all over”. 

Inaddition Lief has a 240 watt hifi amplifier and the 

BRABUS steering wheel, in brown leather. 

Lief also supplied some additional information regarding 

performance ”the slalom test”: 

Source : www.track-challenge.com 

Brabus Roadster Brabus 101hk: 

BMW M3 E46: 

Audi RS4: 

Audi TT 3,2: 

BMW Z3 3,0 

BMW Z4 2,5 

Honda S2000 

Lotus Elise (122 hk): 

Lotus Elise 111R (192 hk): 

MB SLK 55AMG: 

Mini Cooper S Works: 

Opel Speedster (2.2 liter): 

Opel Speedster Turbo: 

Toyota MR2: 

Wiesmann 

Porsche 911 Targa(320 hk): 

Porsche Carrera 997: 

Porsche Boxster: 

Porsche Boxter S: 

70,3 km/h 

66,4 km/h 

63,4 km/h 

64,0 km/h 

62,3 km/h 

65,3 km/h 

63,1 km/h 

64,5 km/h 

69,4 km/h 

65,8 km/h 

65,2 km/h 

67,2 km/h 

67,9 km/h 

62,1 km/h 

65,9 km/h 

67,4 km/h 

70,7 km/h 

65,1 km/h 

67,1km/h 


19

Digi-roadster 

Jonathan Hope, Digi Roadster – My car was 

originally purchased in March 2004 from 

Euro Sportscars in Stoke Poges as No 02 of 

100 of a special “Digi-tec” limited edition 

run. This consisted of taking a standard car 

and adding front spoiler, side skirts and rear 

spoiler, colour coded front and rear “grey 

plastic” areas, Digi-tec 16” graphite coloured 

alloy wheels, EBC drilled and grooved front 

brakes with EBC green-stuff brake pads, 

front wheels spaced out by 30mm per side, 

rear wheels spaced out by 25mm per side, 

Eibach performance springs, custom intake 

ducting, custom twin centre exit add-on to 

the standard exhaust and a true Digi-tec remap. 

Digi-tec in this case being the original 

Germany tuning company and not the UK 

brand of the same name. 

In December 2004 I changed the standard turbo 

for a Smart-R-Us Tsunami hybrid turbo together 

with an Evil-Twin dump valve. This appeared at the 

time to make the faster but I had no dyno or test 

data to back this up. 

In January 2005 the Eibach springs and standard 

shock absorbers were upgraded to SW Greenline 

springs and Bilstein dampers. This lowered the 

ride height by a further 20mm and helped stiffen 

up the handling. Also at the same time the 

standard rear lights were changed for Michalak 

units. 

In spring 2005 some engine modifications were 

undertaken to improve the breathing of the 

engine. These consisted of Janspeed intercooler 

pipes, Brabus TIK pipe and a Viper induction 

system. 

These modifications again appeared to make the 

car faster and more enjoyable to drive. 

Following a number of problems with the modified 

standard exhaust (the welds connecting the 

extension pipe to the main can kept breaking) it 

was changed for a prototype Janspeed de-catted 

twin centre exit exhaust in October 2005. 

I attended my first dyno day in December 2005 

in the hope that the car would be putting out a 

healthy amount of power. Bearing in mind the 

standard car puts out 80 bhp and the digi-tec 

press release and advertising had their modified 

roadster putting out 112 bhp. 

So, I was hugely disappointed to get a result of 

exactly 100 bhp and 76lb/ft of torque (according to 

the experts the car was “over-fueling”). 

This gave me the incentive to have a custom remap 

as a lot of mods had been undertaken since 

the original re-map. 

So, a few days later my first custom map was 

done which gave revised figures of 103.2 hp and 

90lb/ft of torque (better but still not outstanding). 

They said that they had been quite conservative 

with the custom map so in February 2006 they 

had another go. Again this improved the figures 

slightly to give 105.5hp and 94.3lb/ft of torque - 

not bad for a 810kg car but still could be better. 

The next service was due August/September 2006 

so I decided to spend some serious cash to try and 

get more performance out of the car and change 

the vehicles aesthetics. 


Digi-roadster 

This work took close to six weeks in all to 

complete (most of which was due to delays 

at the paint shop). These modifications 

consisted of: 

• Full re-spray 

• All wheels refurbished 

• Front brakes replaced with 308mm 

vented disks and AP Racing 4 pot 

calipers 

• Tillett Racing carbon fibre racing 

seats with suede pads and custom 

sub-frames 

• Michalak Bi-xenon front headlights 

and custom black vinyl surrounds 

to the front fog lights 

• Black side indicator lenses 

(replacing clear lenses) 

• Aluminum internal decorative parts 

for main and secondary dash board 

instruments, door pulls, heating 

and ventilation controls, indicator 

stalks, dash top buttons and 

heating pods. 

• Aluminum and leather replacement 

gear knob and hand brake. 

• Aluminum starter button (replaces 

the key slot and ignition barrel) 

• Tinted side and rear windows 

• Brabus V6 style leather steering 

wheel with aluminum "Ferrari style" 

gear change paddles 

• Aluminum and rubber pedals 

• Janspeed "stealth" exhaust with 

custom extension and twin centre 

exits (manufactured and fitted by 

Torque Exhausts) 

• Existing wheel spacers replaced 

with 40mm per side (80mm track 

widening) to the front wheels 

and 45mm per side (90mm track 

widening) to the rear wheels 

• Fully polished head fitted with 

Brabus cam and valve springs 

• 4 bar fuel regulator 

• Mk 1 fuel rail 

• Mk 1 MAF sensor 

• A further custom map 

• Ventureshield custom clear 

protection to the front and sides of 

the car 

The custom map results are getting there 

now - 121.0hp and 105.5lb/ft of torque. A 

much better result but, I am not finished 

yet!” 

Jonathan Hope 


21

smart Carl 

My smart experience 

started 4 years ago and 

is still going. I first got 

into smarts after my 

older brother bought 

one. I have to admit; 

I didn’t like them at 

first and used to make 

comments to him that I 

now receive to this day. 

He then joined S2Crew, 

which I went along to as well and the cars 

were so surprising. I couldn’t believe you 

could do some of those things to a smart 

car. 

After that, my brother let me drive his car 

home and I loved it. I then knew I wanted one. 

I then spent the next couple of months trying 

to find a car. I managed to find a Mk3 blue and 

silver coupe passion. I ended up buying it a 

week before my driving test and in that week, 

I managed to spend over £1000 on wheels, 

stereo, etc. The day of my test came and I was 

hoping I would past as I had a car waiting for me 

when I got home. I managed to pass first time, 

went straight home and went driving. 

I was non stop modding, changing bits 

here and there. I even changed bits that didn’t 

even need changing. I changed the brakes, 

exhaust, bulbs, pretty much anything that could 

be changed I did. I didn’t change too much to 

the engine; I made it look nice visually. 

In the 2 years that I had my first smart 

I spent over £5,500 on modifying it. I went to 

many smart events, Billing (which I came 3rd 

in the best graphics competition), L2B and 

many more. Unfortunately, the reason why I 

don’t have it any more was because my car was 

written off after someone hit me. Not only was 

my beloved car destroyed, but I was taken to 

hospital with a suspected broken neck. Luckily, 

it wasn’t broken, but had some serious bruising. 

The next few weeks had me in bed and going to 

physio trying to get better. Family and friends 

helped me recover lots of bits off my broken car. 

The thought of getting a different car did cross 

my mind, but having a over £1000 of smart bits 

in my garage and then watching a DVD from 

Billing, I had to get another one. 

That then saw me search high and low 

for another smart, finding a Mk5 Passion cabrio. 

This meant I had a newer smart with heated 

leather seats and being a cabrio, I now had the 

soft top that I wanted. With the memory of my 

first smart in mind, I had to modify this one. It 

wouldn’t be my car if I didn’t mod it!! So I drove 

the new car home from the garage, no sooner I 

got home bits from my garage were going on it. 

Wheels, the new front spoiler and brakes (which 

I bought a week before the new car), stereo, 

etc, you name it, it was going on. Within 2 hours, 

my car went from a standard Mk5 cabrio to a 

modified smart. All I needed next was a remap, 

exhaust and a few other bits. 

I have spent slightly less on my second 

smart than the first, but this one is much 

better. It has push start mounted in the gear 

knob, custom dials, alarm and loads more. The 

graphics are much better and always gets heads 

turning. I enjoy every time I get in and drive it. 

Hopefully, I can do some more things 

to improve the look and make it go faster!! 


SPECIFICATION 

Mk 5 2001 Smart Passion Cabrio 

smart Carl 

Engine: 

599cc Turbo 

Pipercross Air Filter 

Pipercross Cold Air Feed 

Denso Hot and Cold Spark Plugs 

De-lipped Air Intake 

Blue Hose Covers 

Silver S-Mann Air Scoop 

Roadster TIK Air Pipe 

Remap 

Janspeed Stainless Steel Exhaust with Twin Centre Exit Mk 7 

Valance and Janspeed Surround 

Janspeed Mirror polished Stainless Steel Intercooler Pipes 

Switchable Trust+ 

Exterior: 

MS Design Front Spoiler (meshed) 

Michalak Headlight Eyebrows 

Brabus Petrol Cap Cover 

Brabus Front Grill (Remeshed) 

Brabus Side Scoops 

DTM Wing Mirrors with working Indicators 

Smoked Ford Focus Side Repeaters 

Black Short Ariel 

Custom “Superman” Badge 

‘Wideboy’ Badge on Rear 

‘83’ Badges by Wing Mirrors 

Reflex Wiper Blades 

Ultra White Headlight Bulbs 

Blue Enigma Indicator Bulbs in Front lights 

Chrome Indicator Bulbs in Rear Lights 

Brushed Rear Axle Covers 

Personalised Registration 

Silver Graphics 

Interior: 

Push Start – Button Mounted in Gearknob 

Aluminium Shift Light 

Brushed Brabus Pedals 

Brushed Brabus Handbrake with Black Leather 

Brushed Tax Disc Holder with Brabus Logo and ‘Edition 

Viper 001/001’ 

Brabus Floor Mats 

Brushed Pod Rings, Dash Surround, Heater Vents, Heater 

Vent rings, Heater Knobs, Stalk Ends, Electric Window 

Covers, Custom Dials with ‘Wideboy’ on Rev Counter 

Brushed Inner Dash Surround with Custom ‘Batman’ Logo 

Carbon Fibre Dash and Centre Console Surrounds 

Black Leather covered Michalak Door Panels 

Silver Michalak Door Handle Covers with Black Leather 

Chrome Michalak Silver Heater Surrounds 

Chrome Stealth Boost Gauge Running to 1.5 Bar 

Blue LEDS in Dash, Pods and Interior Light 

Momo Shoulder Pads 

Suspension: 

Eibach Lowering Springs: 20mm Front, 25mm Rear 

Ice: 

Kenwood MP3 Mask Headunit 

Revo DAB Radio 

Standard Front Speakers in Bass Bins and Tweeters 

JBL 3.5inch 75watts Speakers in Headrests 

JBL 10” 1600watts Sub in Boot 

JBL 600watts Amp 

Microscan AN211 Car Alarm 

Wheels and Brakes: 

Schmidt Space 195/45 X16: Front, 205/45X16 Rear 

Falken Tyres 

EBC Drilled and Grooved Disks 

EBC Greenstuff Pads 

Performance: 

Power: 75-80 BHP at 1.3-1.4 Bar (Estimated) 

0-60 MPH: 12-14 Secs (Estimated) 

Top Speed: 105 MPH (Estimated) 


23

warped disks 

After 18 months and 12,000 miles the project 

cars front disk brakes had become warped. 

Yes, the project cars extra weight and some 

heavy braking had managed to warp our Tarox 

disks. We were surprised but could understand how 

all the weight the car carries along with the very 

large wheels would add extra stress to these highly 

rated disks. 

We discovered the warping when checking 

the suspension. This was being re-set after testing 

a KW adjustable kit. A new set of Reddot disks 

were available of the shelf or we could try a new 

Reddot set with curved grooves. Always willing to 

try something new we fitted the test set, having 

checked the current pads for wear. 

Over the next few days we took to braking in 

the new disks gently. This was not difficult as the 

bite was positive and feedback through the pedal 

excellent. 

It is amazing how much pressure and bite 

you loose with warped disks. The disk 

effectively, continuously being on-off 

on-off through the cycle, lost approx 

40% effectiveness. 

We had tested the straight groove 

Reddot disks a few years ago and found 

they delivered approx 30% improved 

performance over standard. The new 

pattern had not diminished this and 

performed equally to the Tarox. We 

could now drive the car with confidence 

again. 

Reddot disks £115 

Tarox sport disks £135 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Smart Leather Interiors 

Thomas began his training as a leather craftsman 

in 1985. He specialized as a car upholsterer 

completing his training in 1988. This is also 

the year that he won second best automotive 

upholster and craftsman and artisan in Germany. 

By 1992 Thomas had become immersed in the 

automotive interior industry and worked as a developer 

for vehicle coverings with auto companies and tuners. 

It was then that he met his business partner Thorsten 

Vogel who had worked as an independent developer for 

vehicle coverings. Thorsten completed his mastership 

examination as an upholsterer and took top prize in the 

German nationals in 2003. 

A year later, 2004, Thomas and Thorsten started 

their business, Autosattlerei, enhancing automobiles 

with high end leathers and accessories apart from their 

chief work as developers. 

Thomas says that in the beginning it was tough and 

business was slow but they stay with it. Developing 

their skill and ability they stumbled upon smart cars and 

their “funky interiors”. 

Through an enthusiastic smart customer they 

discovered all the fantastic color combinations they 

could use to make seat covers, doors and dash panels. 

It wasn’t easy and Thomas says it took about a half year 

for development and the search for the correct material 

they could offer smart car discerning customers. 

To date, Thomas and Thorsten have equipped 30 

smarts, fourtwo’s, roadsters and forfour models with 

complete leather, many in two-tones and now do more 

that three interiors per week. 

Not solely focusing on smarts, Thomas and Thorsten 

do complete restorations on rare and vintage cars and 

custom interior for tuning vehicles. 

Thomas and Thorsten can be contacted at 

Autosattlerei, Limpeckstrabe 29, 90104 Riekofen, 

Germany. Email works best at t.quereser@t-online.de . 

In Canada, Thomas and Thorsten are working 

directly with supersmart mca, a smart car garage and 

customizing shop. Supersmart have been thrilled with 

the high quality of leather interiors having a number 

of smart owners upgrade to luxurious leather and 

stunning leather-suede combinations. If you would like 

to view Thomas and Thorsten’s work or order through 

supersmart located in Ontario Canada contact James or 

Adam at abedell@cogeco.ca or james@jameshgillam. 

com or 905 923-0107 or www.supersmart.ca 

smartboy (James) 


25

SMINT’s roadster diary 

by Philip Egan 

80bhp turbo 

Polished TIK pipe 

Oil not do that again! 

In the last issue I told you that I was due to 

collect an 80bhp turbo from Craig Axe and the 

plan was to leave it wrapped up in a box in my 

spare room until the end of 2007 at the earliest. 

Well that was the plan. The thing is as smart owners 

yourselves you know that things are never that simple 

are they? 

Let me take you through the chain of events 

that has led me to be writing this issue’s 

diary on a train from Watford Junction station 

heading towards home via New Street station 

In November 2006 I drove down to Craig’s 

house in Essex to collect the turbo as well as a 

lovely polished TIK pipe. 

The journey down was a good run with the only 

a couple of noteworthy comments to make – 

1. I ran out of washer water on the way making 

driving a little interesting – of course this was 

only after I had past the last service station 

leaving me with the option of urinating on my 

windscreen to clean it or driving on. I hasten 

to add I drove on! 

2. I realised that Watford and therefore 

Smartarse Design in Watford were a lot 

closer to Walsall than I had previously 

thought – 108 miles, mostly being motorway. 

I spent the day with Craig, he took me for a great 

pub lunch and he went through in fine detail each 

of the modifications to his fantastic car – See the 

previous issue for full details and photographs. When 

discussing my car with him I mentioned that I was 

using up a little oil and he advised that I really should 

get it checked out. The thing is I knew myself that I 

should but sometimes I try to hide yourself from the 

truth when my car isn’t behaving and driving like it 

should. 

To check the oil accurately you need to do the 

following – 

1. Make sure the temperature is at normal 

running temperature. 

2. Wait for five minutes after turning the 

engine off so the oil returns to the sump. 

3. Take out the dipstick. 

4. Wipe it. 

5. Replace the dipstick and remove again. 

6. The oil should be halfway between the two 

grooves. 

If you’re not prepared to check the oil so often 

you’ve got three options – 

1. Sell your smart now while the engine is in 

full working order. 

2. Sell your smart in X months or X years 

for a whole lot less because the engine is 

ruined. 

3. Pay out big bills to repair or replace the 

engine and learn your lesson that way! 

Now I’ve got the importance of checking your oil 

level across I’d best get back to the trail of events 

that led me here. 

Taking Craig’s advice I decided to make sure that 

I got to he bottom of where the oil was going as 

soon as possible. The first step was to replace the 

one-way valve that is part of the pipe that runs 

across the back of the engine bay. 

That’s the problem with me, I’m what some people 

might call a lazy car owner, some would even call 

me a bloody stupid car owner, and as I sit on a 

train writing the diary rather than driving from the 

smartimes dyno day in Watford I’d have to agree with 

the people who’d call me bloody stupid. 

Some cars you can get serviced once a year and leave 

them to look after themselves besides giving them 

a wash and filling them with petrol when needed. 

Unfortunately the smart isn’t one of them – it is 

essential that you check the oil level on a weekly basis 

and I don’t mean once a week for the first couple 

of months of ownership and then once a month and 

then every six months and then hardly ever. I mean 

EVERY week! 

If you don’t do this already then stop reading now. 

Pick you pen up and write down “CHECK OIL” on a 

post it note or piece of paper and stick it on your 

dashboard or steering wheel, or even better set a 

reminder in your mobile phone so it goes off once a 

week at a time when you normally arrive home from 

a journey in your smart. When the reminder goes off 

make sure you check it. Don’t ignore it and put it off 

until tomorrow because tomorrow might be too late! 

I read on smartmania.co.uk that it is advised to 

replace the one-way valve every three years as the 

valves are known to become ineffective. As soon 

as I found this out I felt so relieved and I was sure 

this was the problem, I ordered the part from John 

Porter at smart of Hertford straight away and the 

part arrived a couple of days later. I fitted it the 

same day and it made no difference whatsoever. 

Of dear. Having investigated in the engine bay it 

appeared that there was oil seeping from the base 

of the top intercooler pipe. Maybe the solution was 

going to be straightforward after all? 

I had always liked the look and the idea of 

increased solidity of the Janspeed intercooler pipes 

so this seemed an ideal time to get them fitted. I 

got a quote from Smartarse Design to fit them, 

as they are the only supplier to sell the aluminium 

pipes, which was £105 for the pipes plus one hour’s 

labour. Of course it made sense to get a quote 

for the bigger turbo and TIK pipe and an 80bhp 

exhaust to be fitted at the same time. This would 

only be an extra 2 hours labour and £100 for a 

second hand exhaust. 

I decided to take the plunge and get it all done at 


SMINT’s roadster diary 

by Philip Egan 

Oil not do that again! 

the same time but explained to Rob Baker at smartarse about my oil woes and 

asked him to do a compression test on the engine before starting any work. 

Luckily we had already planned a weekend in London for my birthday and 

leaving the car at smartarse in Watford is perfect for a park and ride scheme, 

Watford Junction station is a short walk from smartarse and London is a 

thirty-minute train ride away from that. 

The only downside was that I had forgotten to take the polished stainless 

steel TIK pipe with me as I was too busy making sure I had everything else I 

needed. I decided to get a Brabus TIK pipe fitted instead and to sell the steel 

TIK pipe on ebay. 

All kinds of panic was going through my head, if the compression test failed 

it would mean either an engine rebuild or a replacement engine which would 

have to wait a year to get done. Sitting on the platform at the railway station 

my phone rang with a concerned Rob Baker on the phone, was this the news I 

had been dreading? No it wasn’t; I’d actually forgotten to give my car keys to 

Rob, luckily I wasn’t half way to London and one of the employees at Watford 

drove down to the station to pick the keys up from me. We did miss a train 

due to that little hiccup but I don’t even want to think about the outcome had 

we needed to return back to Watford on another train back again! 

Saturday 9th December arrived and the day went at a fast pace as I shopped 

my way around Covent Garden. I phoned smartarse and I was relieved to 

hear that the levels of the compression test were acceptable and the work 

had been done and the engine was running without oil leaking from the hose 

connections. The car had also been run on the dyno with reasonable figures of 

61.62Hp at the wheels and 69.78ft per lb of torque at the wheels. 

The short journey back to the Midlands was so 

sweet for two reasons – 

1. I had my car back and it didn’t need 

serious work. 

2. It was driving better than ever and you 

could really feel the boost at around 

3000rpm, particularly in 2nd, 3rd, and 

4th gears. 

I checked the oil after the first journey and the 

level seemed fine and again a week later and 

everything still seemed fine. My car hibernated 

for a week during the Christmas break but 

a journey during the first week of January 

2007 resulted in the engine light igniting – I’d 

hoped that it was simply the car getting used 

to it’s new exhaust but on checking the oil I 

discovered that it wasn’t even showing on the 

dipstick and I had used up a couple of litres of 

oil in two weeks! 

I filled it back up to the correct level and 

decided to accurately measure the oil every 

evening for the couple of weeks leading up the 

dyno day at smartarse Watford so I could leave 

my car down there with an accurate chart of 

how much oil I was getting through – It had 

actually used 1.4 litres of oil in 160 miles! 

Actually getting to Watford on the 27th January 

wasn’t to be so easy, my car decided to give up 

on me four times during my journey with the 

only resolution being to pull over into the hard 

shoulder, turn the ignition off, and turn it back 

on again and the car would drive normally again 

until I gave it a little too many revs! 

Well I made it in the end and following 

investigations by Rob it turned out that my 

engine was showing 90psi in the first cylinder 

when it should have been 120psi, the other 

two pistons were both showing normal levels 

but the spark plug in the middle piston was 

completely frazzled hence the cutting out on 

the journey there. 

As I complete this diary I have just won a 

replacement engine on ebay for £615.28 

including delivery with £500 labour to fit the 

engine to go on top of that. It’s been an 

expensive lesson for me not regularly checking 

the oil and a mistake I won’t make again. 

We’d also had a laugh about my bodged cold air feed pipe that had more kinks 

in it than a fetish club and Rob had refitted a standard air intake pipe back in 

its place. 

Close-up of the intercooler pipes 

Well all that’s left is to say goodbye for 

what looks like it will be the last time as 

smartimes is to cease production due to 

personal and financial reasons. It’s been 

an eventful three years and 8 months since 

I wrote my first diary on the Summer 2003 

issue and I hope you’ve had as much fun 

reading this diary over the years as I have 

had writing it for you. 

The only downside at this stage was 

that the turbo that had been removed 

actually had a crack inside the outlet; 

this was frustrating as I was hoping to 

sell this turbo to put towards paying off 

the work that I had put on my credit 

card. 


27

Mcc Smart Fuel questions 

Smartarse Design recommend the use of Super unleaded on the Mcc 

Smart 42 and Roadster. Our recommendation would be Shell V power 

98+ Ron fuel 

This is even more important if you have a remap or your Smart has been 

tuned. Any ‘Pinking’ or detonation will ruin the engine and cause premature 

wear and possibly terminal engine failure 

• Higher rated 97/+Ron octane rating will reduce the chance of pinking/ 

detonation 

• While Tesco 99 Ron has been independently tested and shown to 

give more power than Shell V power and Bp Ultimate if does not 

have the same engine cleaning properties. See the below link www. 

thorneymotorsport.co.uk/tuning/Fuel_Test_Results.shtml and here 

for the Dyno results http://www.pistonheads.com/inc/popup3. 

asp?pictureURL=http://www.pistonheads.com/pics/news/14919/fuel_ 

test-2-L.jpg 

• More power will be available and the potential for better economy. 

“Smartarse 

Design 

recommend the 

use of Super 

unleaded fuel” 

What is detonation (Pinking) and why is it so bad for my engine? 

The fuel/air mixture is normally ignited slightly before the point of maximum 

compression to allow a small time for the flame-front of the burning fuel to 

expand throughout the mixture so that maximum pressure occurs at the 

optimum point. The flame-front moves at roughly 33.5 m/second (110 feet/ 

second) during normal combustion. It is only when the remaining unburned 

mixture is heated and pressurized by the advancing flame front for a certain 

length of time that the detonation occurs. It is caused by an instantaneous 

ignition of the remaining fuel/air mixture in the form of an uncontrolled 

explosion. The cylinder pressure rises dramatically beyond its design limits and 

if allowed to persist detonation will damage or destroy engine parts. 

Detonation can be prevented by: 

• The use of a fuel with higher octane rating (The RON rating is listed on 

most Fuel pumps) 

• The addition of octane-increasing "lead", methylcyclopentadienyl 

manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), isooctane, or other antiknock agents. 

• Increasing the amount of fuel injected/inducted (resulting in lower Air 

to Fuel Ratio) 

• Reduction of cylinder pressure by increasing the engine revolutions 

(lower gear), decreasing the manifold pressure (throttle opening) or 

reducing the load on the engine, or any combination. 

• Reduction of charge (in-cylinder) temperatures (such as through 

cooling, water injection or compression ratio reduction). 

• Use of a spark plug of colder heat range in cases where the spark plug 

insulator has become a source of pre-ignition leading to detonation. 

Why would my car be detonating? 

The MCC Smart City Coupe and Roadster engined variants use a turbocharger 

to increase specific power output. This increases the pressures inside the 

combustion chamber and also greatly increases the temperatures inside 

the combustion chamber and the associated heat soak into the engine 

(Turbochargers generate heat as they compress the air in the induction 

system. The Turbo turbine uses the exhaust gas to spin the vanes and so the 

exhaust gas heats up the turbocharger and manifold doubly increasing the 

heat generated). Detonation can always be an unwanted side effect forced 

induction. 

Detonation in four-stroke engines is caused by the detonation (knocking/ 

Pinging/Pinking) of the unburnt portion of the fuel (due to its overly high 

sensitivity to heat(caused by compressing the inlet charge) and pressure of 

the particular fuel under certain conditions( Boost pressure of 11-13 psi std 

reaching 21 psi in tuned engines)) resulting in a pressure wave. This force is 

extremely destructive to common piston engines, and often results in holes 

blown through the top of pistons or cracks in cylinder heads and damaged 

sparkplug electrodes (some being literally blown apart!). 


EvilTwin BRABUS Remap Review 

Paul Holmes of Smarts-R-us, gave us their 

BRABUS remap demo car for a few days during 

December 06’ to test drive and review. 

The red BRABUS coupe 

had the EvilTwin BRABUS 

remap, Powertec 

induction, Forge Silicon 

TIK and Bilstien PSS 

suspension. A nice 

combination of mods 

although the suspension 

was set at its lowest, 

making the ride very hard 

and a little jerky on poor 

roads surfaces. 

We took the car out on 

our normal commute 

route, A and B roads cross 

country. This is when 

we noticed the stiff ride 

set-up. The performance 

however was very smooth, 

making it easy to change 

up and down the gears 

on those hills and tight 

cornered lanes through 

the countryside. Smooth and powerful, acceleration 

was positive with a nice torque feel. The car handled 

the route very well and made for an excellent driving 

experience. 

Next we took to the motorway, the BRABUS was now in 

its element. The suspension set-up suited the motorway 

and the car felt firm and responsive. Powering down 

the slip road, acceleration was smooth and speed 

climbed quickly. Out into the flow of traffic with ease, 

the throttle gives full control with slight adjustment, the 

car responds in a timely fashion. Pulling into the outside 

lane and evaluating the pace, the BRABUS did not 

waver. We had more power than needed to cope with 

the traffic. 

As you can see from the Dyno plot, the power 

and torque delivered by the remap is smooth and 

continuous. This delivery provides maximum power and 

drivability in the higher revs. Making the car suited to 

the top end range and motorway cursing. 

However we found the car performed well under 

all conditions if a little uncomfortable due to the 

suspension set-up on poor roads. Given the standard 

BRABUS suspension is more forgiving, the BRABUS 

remap provides an excellent off the shelf power 

upgrade path, for those owners looking for a hike in 

performance. 

We rate the EvilTwin BRABUS remap 9/10 for value and 

performance. Given the power increase, we would like 

to see what this remap would provide in conjunction 

with a sports exhaust. We have found in past tests, a 

good sports exhaust can provide further gains while 

adding predominantly, to the smoothing of delivery. 

Massive 


29

Massive’s new cloths. 

As 2006 drew to a close we started to 

consider a new look for the project car for 

2007. The current design was 2 years old 

and we felt a change of style was in order. 

After considering many options we settled 

on a retro come, Judge Dread, industrial 

look, something against the main stream 

and a little more against the flow of the 

max-power looks. 

The best laid plans however never run 

smooth. The new panels were sprayed Ferrari 

yellow, damaged in transit and returned for repair. 

No Michalak indicator bonnet pods were available 

so, the indicators were moved and replaced the 

fog lights in the grille. The grille was broken 

during removal and a replacement ordered. 

New (second-hand) wheels were sourced but on 

delivery the sizes were not as stated. Being a 

rare split design, and unable to afford them new, 

we decided to worked with these 7J’s and some 

spacers to get the look. 

Plan B went into action and working with 

our assembled replacement parts we started the 

transition. Yellow panels, BRABUS front spoiler, 

front winglets, mirror covers, black mesh, Schmidt 

TH-Line split rims, Toyo R888 tyres, a selection of 

wheel spacers and lots of Vinyl. 

We removed the old panels and got to 

work fitting the new yellow set. Working through 

the re assembly, the indicators were mounted in 

the smann grille. The BRABUS spoiler mounted, 

we meshed this and the side vent holes cut into 

the front wings. Panels replaced the new look 

started to take shape. 

The door panels had Vinyl “Massive” 

design applied along with the www.smartimes. 

co.uk in silver and crystal finish. The clever-end 

also had a little make over with black blocks to 

extent the rear window line. 

The replacement Schmidt TH-Line wheels 

are true split rims in 7J. We had been told they 

were 6J front, 8J rear and had a 9J rim which could 

be swapped. After a lot of consideration and a test 

of the 7J front rim, we decided to stick with the 

7Js. These were fitted with Toyo R888 road legal 

track day tyres, 195/50/15 front and 225/50/15 

rear. The R888 tyres had been on our wish list for 

some time but, prices had always been an issue 

for our 16”/17” rim combination. The 15” TH-Line 

enabled use to find R888s at discount prices, and 

their wide cut tread pattern would finish the new 

look. 

All finished, well not really, we still 

have a few things to do. These include further 

Vinyl work, Armourfend paint protection film, 

refurbished headlamp moulding and new rear 

valance. We do however, believe the make over is 

working, giving a much more purposeful look and 

not just a follower of fashion. 

We are sure this revised incarnation of 

the project car will not meet with many peoples 

vision of the perfect smart. Our aim was not to 

please people but, to show that you can step out 

side the fashion and trends, please yourself and be 

different. The one thing a smart is, is a personal 

statement. For what ever reason you brought a 

smart, deep down you know it has personality. 

Massive 

Thanks to Smartarse-design, Smarts-R-us and 

Sussex Cars for their help with massive’s new 

cloths. 


Sussex Cars 

3 North Lane, East Preston, West Sussex BN16 1BN 

Tel: 01903 784784 www.sussexcars.com 

See our web site for amazing deals on pre-registered 

smart fortwo, forfour and roadster models. 

EBC 

New and Used cars/parts/accessories/servicing and 

The Edge Performance & Tuning - exclusive to 


The Edge and Edge 2 plus NEW Thru Flow Exhaust with 

interchangeable tail pipes. Demonstrator fortwo and roadster 

now on site. 

The official Star Compact 3 diagnosis machine at Sussex Cars. 

Phone us to book your car in for a full check and service. 

PERFORMANCE FILTERS 


Tel: 01903 784784 www.sussexcars.com 


31

FQ101 G2 Conversion – A World First 

As you already know from a previous smartimes issue 

and detailed on the www.FQ101.co.uk website, we were 

running a (modified) 698cc engine in an Mk6 599cc car. 

After running this setup for almost a year it’s proved a 

winner, perfect for when you want a mad five minutes 

blast and need the power. Few cars pose a problem once 

moving, however a standard G2 fortwo would leave the 

car at the lights; this was down to the sports start and 

gearing. 

We drove to Kent to pick up an exhaust for another 

car from Chequered Flag, whilst there I got chatting to Dave 

and Shamus over the feasibility of doing a G2 conversion. He 

mentioned he had G2 cabin wiring loom from a fortwo and a 

roadster engine loom for sale. After not much deliberation I 

bought these two items and set off thinking it would all be a 

straight forward and easy swap! Chatting to Gav (Racing Snake) 

on the way home, he thought the project was going to be big, 

take a lot of time and I should look into things further before 

starting any work. 

Later that evening I started stripping the car like a man 

possessed to try and get a head start on fitting the loom. I really 

should have listened to Gav as little did I know that this would be 

the last time I drove the car for the next three months!! 

Everything went pretty smoothly fitting the cabin and 

engine loom as it followed the original path of the G1 loom. It 

was very time consuming though, as everything from the interior 

including the dash, centre console, seats and carpets had to be 

removed but it wasn’t too much of a problem. We then made 

another trip to Chequered Flag to pick up a new ECU, SAM unit, 

keys and gearbox stripped from a 2004 fortwo Pure, we thought 

that these items would at least allow us to get the car started so 

we could start ironing out any problems. 

We fitted the gearbox, plugged in the ECU and SAM unit 

and connected the battery; all the interior lights came on which 

was a good sign! turned the key and…. Nothing!! All we had was 

six lines flashing on the dash before the car totally shut down. 

This was our first major hurdle. 

The weather was now against us, the nights drew in and 

it got cold and wet, everything we were going to do was going 

to take twice as much effort as we had no cover, it was all being 

done in the open air on the drive so feeling a little despondent I 

was beginning to wish we had never started. 

We were unsure on the minimum number of components 

needed to make a G2 run, so we just decided to look over the 

whole car and buy any part that was missing just to get it 

working. We quickly found we needed a new ABS pump as it 

controls the ESP on the G2 cars, this part retails from smart at 

nearly £800 + vat so we set out for a second hand one. Locating 

one was harder than we thought it was going to be, especially as 

we also needed a new ABS/ESP wiring loom for under the car to 

connect it to the main cabin wiring loom, and then into the SAM 

unit. Things started to get expensive as we realised the pedal 

box and master cylinder is also different, we also had to run new 

brake lines to the rear of the car as the rear brakes would be 

controlled independently with the G2 setup. 

After finally sourcing an ABS/ESP unit and loom 

we connected it up. We were all feeling pretty confident that 

it would work and we would have the first working G1 to G2 

conversion… but no, same story, it just wouldn’t have it, at this 

stage there was no going back! With countless hours and money 

now invested in the car we had to continue and persevere to get 

the issues resolved. 

In trying to establish what could possibly be causing the 

problem we fitted the ECU and SAM to another car only to find 

that the Pure ECU and SAM for one reason or another weren’t 

talking to each other. We quickly discarded them and went on 

the hunt for replacements, this is where is all got interesting. 

We managed to source a roadster that was being broken 

up north; we sat down and weighed up our options. We decided 

to commit and go ahead to expand this project into the first G2 

roadster conversion for a fortwo. That evening we made a list of 

all the things needed from the car and got it all ordered. 

The ECU, SAM, keys, dash and clocks arrived with a 

mass of sensors. Keen to get on with the work, we worked late 

on the car to get everything fitted and wired up. 

With great anticipation we turned the key, and it fired up first 

time!! We felt we were now on the steady road to getting it 


FQ101 G2 Conversion – A World First 

working, but this now meant another trip to Kent to 

pick up a Roadster 82bhp gearbox to complete the 

setup, as the fortwo G2 gearbox would not operate 

all gears with the Roadster ECU and SAM. 

For the final push and keen to see some 

serious results, we all put in extra effort to change 

the gearbox over (again!), refit the interior of the 

car and tidy up the auxiliary components. Getting 

everything fitted back into the car took days, we 

were all really tired at this stage, working full days at 

work and continuing to about midnight it really was a 

case of every spare minute. 

D-day, we started the car, selected the gears, 

and off for a test. Finally getting the car moving was 

fantastic! A huge relief as all the hours of work (and 

emotional) effort finally paid off!! It moved exactly 

like a modified Roadster, the engine was already well 

above standard roadie spec, it pulled fantastically 

with a top speed of around 115mph, and key to the 

quick getaway, we now had that all important sport 

start from the 2-stage pedal! 

All feeling very pleased with the conversion 

and everything running as it should we were mad 

enough to start looking to further upgrade the power. 

I already had a Brabus charge cooler to fit along with 

a front mounted radiator to cool it, the whole system 

was fitted on brackets which we custom made and 

at this stage was relatively easy to fit compared to 

everything else we’d taken on! Once bled, the unit 

made a huge difference in intake temperature (down 

to about 25 degrees on full throttle, when around 

65-85 was normal on this car). It did make a slight 

improvement to the performance, though nothing 

was measurable as of yet as the car was still running 

a totally standard non-mapped ECU. 

As a result of the conversion it obtained 

some nice little features, such as drive lock, lane 

change and sports start to name a few. The Roadster 

Speedo was fitted after several painstaking nights of 

sanding, filling and painting to blend into the dash. 

Following that was the boost and temperature gauges 

uniquely mounted upside-down from the roof lining. 

As we had all of these spare roadster bits to hand we 

looked at what else could be fitted, the ESP off button 

was a winner and now resides in the draw under the 

stereo. These have already been documented on 

www.FQ101.co.uk. 

For the final push for power, we looked to get 

the car remapped (usually the starting point for smart 

owners!). From the maps available I approached Ian 

having driven his roadster earlier in the year, I felt 

one of his maps could compliment the modifications, 

plus I could have the addition of one of his fast road 

cams that I’d been promising myself for so long! 

We fitted the cam on the same drive as the 

conversion, now established as our ‘workshop’! Then 

went to see Ian for the remap, I spend a whole day 

trying several maps on the car, changing to suit both 

the modifications and the characteristics that I was 

looking for from the car. Following all of the changes 

done it now will give even the meanest roadster a run 

for its money, not bad for a car shaped like a house 

brick! What’s next for the car? Who knows ;-) 

From all of the effort we have all put in to 

the car, I do know one thing… I am one very happy 

smart owner! 

My thanks goes out to everyone who 

helped throughout this project, and foremost the 

rest of the FQ101 guys for their invaluable help; 

Gav (Racing Snake), Jim (JimmyWong), James 

(SmartSparky), Rich (RichG), Sam (Imported_ 

Sam123) and Kirsty (KirSTy). 

Justin (Justrules) 


33

smartimes Dyno meet 

The smartimes dyno meet at smartarse 

design Watford in January turned out to be 

a huge social get together. 

On the day we had 40+ smarts and 15 runs 

on the Reddot rolling road while smartarse design 

provided a BBQ, hot drinks, technique advice and 

cover from what was a perfect day for dyno runs. 

The cold weather and clear skies added to the 

overall performance across the cars running on 

the rolling road. Regardless of the high figures 

being attained, we could access the trend and 

compare out put car to car. 

We had our project car on the rollers first. 

The car had been previously been achieving 104 

bhp with 84 ftlb torque. During the previous 

month, the turbo had been replaced and a high 

pressure fuel regulator installed. The car had felt 

more powerful after these mods and I anticipated 

we would be looking at 110 bhp and increased 

torque. We had also had a couple of incidents 

of safe mode in sub zero temperatures so were 

sure the boost had increased; our X Gauge 

had confirmed this. On the run, the project car 

achieved 112 bhp and 102 ftlb torque. The Boost 

was recorded at 1.6 bar, this would be adjusted 

down to 1.2 bar at the end of the meeting. 

As the other runners started to get there 

plots the high trend began to become apparent 

but was across the board and consistent. 

Comparing figures, we had some good figures 

from high boosting cars. The mechanical moded 

cars running lower boost provided comparable 

figures. A table of the days figures will be 

published on our web site once I have the plots 

from Reddot. Check at http://www.smartimes. 

co.uk/dyno.html 

The dyno aside, the day was an opportunity to 

meet with old and new friends alike. With many new 

faces joining in the fun it was good to see these 

new owners taking an interest. Those that were long 

time enthusiasts were catching up with each others 

news and seeing what was new with their smarts. 

There was a lot to see as many had been busy 

over the last few months and Christmas presents 

abound. One of the nicest touches was some custom 

painted airbrush work on a silver fortwo, two lovely 

40’s aircraft style motifs on the rear quarters of the 

tridon. 

People ebbed and flowed throughout the day, 

and the general atmosphere was excellent. We did 

have one issue with getting Jonathan Hopes Black 

roadster onto the rolling road, delaying the dyno 

runs. Ultimately the side skirts were removed and 

the car produced high figures on the dyno making 

the sacrifice worthwhile. Jonathan’s car is featured 

in this issue on pages 20-21. 

I would like to thank all that attended on the 

day, the smartarse design and reddot teams for their 

support and hard work. Special thanks to Bubski for 

booking in and overseeing the dyno runners. The UK 

smartimes team for all getting together in one place 

for a team photo. 

Please review the performance figures when 

published, balancing output to modification and 

boost levels with the perfect turbo performance 

conditions on the day. Drivability is difficult to access 

from rolling road figures, ultimately the way the car 

drives is the best test. 

massive 


Out with the old 

SmartRest 

Never happy with the status quo I decided 

it was time to improve the comfort of my 

smart car. Due to the long distance driving 

and commuting between cities for work 

here in Canada one of the things lacking in 

the original smart car was an armrest. 

I initially purchased and installed the smaller 

swing up/down armrest but found that it 

interfered with shifting the smart fortwo. Never 

satisfied I have recently installed my colour 

coordinated leather with orange overstitch new 

armrest with storage compartment. This, in my 

opinion is the ideal solution for comfort in your 

smart car too. Sitting further back from the 

dash than the swing down type it makes for easy 

shifts and comfortable driving. 

We all know that storage space is lacking in the 

smart fortwo so the addition of the storage in 

the middle compartment is about they best thing 

since slice cheese as they say. Check out the 

photos and see for your self. 

In with the new 

James Gillam 


35

Ahmed Khalifa’s baby 

Firstly 

I got 

the car 

a couple of 

years ago, it 

already had a 

SRUS remap and 

mickalak are scoop. 

It was a passion with 

standard passion rims 

(2001 Y reg) 

Was quick compared to what 

my mates had, and sounded good 

with the K&N. 2 months later got a 

set of striklines of one of the forum 

members on ebay. (Bargain) 

Give it nearly a year and a 

conrod went straight through the 

engine and blew a nice hole out of it. 

(metal, oil and flames galore) 

Managed to source a G2 engine 

with 2K miles with turbo and got it 

all fitted. was so smooth, noticeable 

power but the remap wasn’t doing 

its job. 

So due to an accident (someone 

hit me at a roundabout) took 

it to SRUS to fix and re-do the 

remap FOC to the new 84bhp. Big 

difference and shiny new front end. 

Now I’ve had it been toying with 

bits and getting it regularly serviced 

at SAD Watford and always will from 

now on. 

Haven’t been to any meets cuz 

there are none in London but SAD 

is a definite whenever its on, and 

intending to do the 2007 Brighton 

run. 

Check the list below. 

Pipercross Filter 

SRUS Remap 

Schmidt space 16” 

Custom Engine plate 

Alloy nobs inside 

Mickalek air scoop 

Smoothed intake to throttle body 

Roadster TIK pipe 

Red Callipers 

To-do: 

Light Eybrows (Black) 

Bilstein Streetline 

Venom Induction 

Brabus Bodykit 

Brabus Widestar arches 

Full respray 

Intercooler pipes 

Roadster Turbo 

Custom one off Leather interior 

Grooved brakes and sports pads. 

Whats holding me back is money as 

I was a student and now working 

so debts just about paid off, so 

onwards and upwards. 

Ahmed Khalifa 


Forge Silicon TIK 

The Forge Silicon TIK 

was developed by Forge 

for smarts-R-us in the 

autumn of 2006, as an 

alternative upgrade to 

the BRABUS roadster 

74kw used by some 

smart modifiers. 

The new TIK has been 

tested on the smarts-Rus 

101 BRABUS remap 

demo and is now in full 

production. 

Available for order 

direct from smarts-Rus 

retailing at £129.99, 

it will be interesting to 

see how this performs 

against other silicon TIKs 

which are available and 

the BRABUS roadster TIK 

that has proven to be 

very popular. 


37

iMove round-up 

Introduction 

I have owned my Smart car for around 18 

months now, and it wasn’t until I started 

thinking about the idea for this article that I 

realised how much I had changed the car in that 

time. The iMove model comes with a reasonable 

specification to start with (see breakout box) 

but that’s just not enough for some people. 

The thriving smart scene and the ease at which 

you can add parts positively insist that you 

personalise your Smart. 

1 

Smart fortwo iMove edition 

specification 

2 

Engine 

45kw (61 bhp) petrol engine 

Exterior 

tridion safety cell in silver 

bodypanels in lite white 

BRABUS “Monoblock VI” alloy wheels 

electric tritop convertible roof 

3 

Sound 

Apple iPod (20Gb) integrated into sound 

system via cradle 

smart radio/CD with RDS 

smart sound system upgrade 

Interior 

4 

Leather upholstery for seats with heating 

BRABUS leather interior door trim 

5 

BRABUS leather effect instrument panel 

BRABUS trims in white 

cockpit clock and rev counter 

leather steering wheel 

leather gear knob 

air conditioning 

Safety 

electronic stability program (esp) with hill 

start assist 

anti-lock braking (abs) with electronic brakeforce 

distribution 

6 

14 

22 

passenger and driver airbags 

drive lock function 

It all started with a pair of fog lights, and from 

that thin end of an increasingly large wedge I 

find myself edging ever closer to gadget nirvana 

and financial embarrassment. It’s not that I 

am weak you understand, but I just love my 

creature comforts, and the Smart is so easy 

to work on that before you can say “Pimp my 

ride” my Smart somehow has a spec that could 

embarrass a Maybach! 

7 

8 

I though that this would be a good time to 

take stock and review the progress so far. The 

pictures and table below tell the story…. 


iMove round-up 

Description Cost Notes 

Exterior 

1 Aerial Ball £3.00 

Walt Disney World 

- Florida 

2 

Spoiler Windscreen 

Wipers 

£35.00 Evilution 

9 

10 

11 

12 

3 Fog Lights £100.00 

Interior 

4 Sunglasses Holder £5.00 Evilution 

5 

6 

Shorter Rear View 

Mirror Stalk 

Nokia CK-7W Bluetooth 

Handsfree car 

kit 

Smart-parts-direct / 

Smartimes 

£20.00 eBay / DH Parts 

£50.00 eBay / Smartimes 

7 x-Gauge £150.00 

Welte Engineering / 

Evilution 

8 

Extra clock pod (for 

x-Gauge) 

£20.00 eBay 

9 

Leather Steering 

Wheel with Paddle 

Shift 

£220.00 eBay 

18 

10 

TAN code for Paddle 

Shift 

11 Cruise Control stalk £50.00 

£80.00 Smart Dealer 

Smart-parts-direct / 

Evilution 

12 

TAN code for cruise 

control 

£80.00 Smart Dealer 

13 Windowlifter Kit £90.00 

misterdotcom / 


19 

14 iPod cradle Included 

Standard in iMove 

model 

15 

17 

15 

16 

Brabus Alloy Gear 

knob 

Brabus Alloy handbrake 

lever 

£50.00 eBay 

£75.00 Smart-parts-direct 

16 

17 Smart car keyring £20.00 

London - Brighton 

show 

18 Headrest inserts £5.00 eBay 

13 

19 

Clarion SRV303 Subwoofer 

£120.00 

MCS Direct / 


20 

Smart Fire Extinguisher 

£10.00 

eBay / Smart technique 

21 

20 

21 Smart Interior Mats £20.00 

London - Brighton 

show 

22 

BRABUS Alloy pedal 

covers 

£50.00 eBay 

So where to from here? So far I’ve done nothing to the engine, 

not even a de-lip so that’s probably next. I already have an ITG 

air filter waiting to be installed, and from there is a short step to a 

remap, stealth exhaust, grooved brake disks, suspension upgrade, 

s-mann grill……. 

Looks it’s be a while before I’m finished! 

Many thanks to all that have helped me in my quest for the most 

gadget loaded car. See the list of contacts and websites for the 

main offenders!! 

For more information see: 

DH Parts - http://www.smart-zierteile.de/ 

Evilution - http://www.evilution.co.uk/ 

Smart-parts-direct - http://www.smart-parts-direct.com/ 

Welte engineering - http://www.welte-engineering.ch/ 

MisterDotCom - http://www.misterdotcom.de/ 

MCS Direct - http://www.mcsdirect.co.uk/ 

Smartimes - http://www.smartimes.co.uk/ 

Dazza. 

Goodbye? 

Since starting this article I have heard that this may be the final 

Smartimes. It goes without saying that this will be a great loss 

to Smart enthusiasts from all over the world. I don’t think it’s an 

understatement to say that Smartimes helped to build the whole 

Smart scene, and it will be sorely missed. My heartfelt thanks to 

Stephen and the whole team that made it happen, and I would like 

to say thank you for everything you’ve done. 


39

Thank you and fair well 

The UK smartimes team 

I would like to thank everyone 

who has contributed, helped and 

supported smartimes. Without your 

enthusiasm and hard work smartimes 

would never have got off the ground 

and been the broad smart based 

magazine read by enthusiasts around 

the world. 

My special thanks goes to James 

Gillam our Canadian correspondent. 

James has made smartimes a cross 

atlantic success while becoming a 

source of un-bounding support for 

smartimes, making connections in DC 

Canada and providing a large volume 

of articles. 

Many of the UK team have been with 

smartimes from the beginning. I 

thank you all for understanding why 

smartimes has to cease. 

Good Luck and keep smarting 


This new book written by 

Julie Saltmarsh (with some 

hindrance from Tom) and fab 

photography by Tom Crawford, 

is a semi-autobiographical account 

of the smart and its incredible rise 

in popularity in the UK. 

This unique book, containing over 

400 full colour photographs of 

smarts, owners and rallies held 

over the past four years, 

humorously documents the smart 

scene directly from the viewpoint 

of these two smart owners, who 

have been involved in the world of 

these wonderful cars since 2002. 

The book also brings to the public 

eye the first detailed photographs of a smart being constructed within Smartville, 

the smart factory in Hambach. Not since the factory opened has anyone been allowed to 

document and publish such images in depth! For the main part, this book is about the 

fantastic owners of the smart, and the amazing times that have been had at the 

numerous meetings and rallies held around the country; and Tom’s brilliant photos bring 

to life the wonderful people and fabulous cars that make the smart scene the incredible 

place it is today. 

Contents include 

• The smart Timeline – a history of events from the birth of the car to the present day 

•The smart Range – the range of vehicles including Limited editions 

• Detailed accounts of Meetings, Events and Exploits over the last 4 years 

•The smart Factory – Smartville, a detailed visit with unique photos 

• Modifying the smart 

• Customised smarts - A cross section of owners cars detailing examples from simple 

modifications to major re-builds with Full spec sheets 

• Interesting smart stuff - Advertising, C7 Kit Cars and TRIKEtec Trikes 

• Independent UK smart Businesses 

• Monthly Meets 

• Website Clubs 

Books can be ordered direct from Spotty Badger Productions by Cheque or PayPal or 

You may purchase a personally signed copy directly from the authors at the 

following book launch dates: 

Smarts R us, Nottingham, NG4 4HF - Saturday 7th April 

Cambridge Smart Cars, Grantchester, CB23 9NF - Saturday 14th April 

Wellsmart, Wells, Somerset , BA5 1EY - Saturday 5th May 

£ 

Plus P & P* 

Spotty Badger Productions PayPal: polkadotsmart@hotmail.com 

1 Grouts Farm Cottage, Kelvedon Road, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Maldon, Essex CM9 8EL 

*Postage and packing charges cannot be confirmed until the book is published and 

its weight determined - This ad will be amended with the charges as soon as is possble. 


catch-up on what you have missed in smartimes 

Check out what you may 

have missed in previous 

smartimes issues. 

Our £5 annual subscription 

pays for online access to all 

out of print and 2006 issues of 

smartimes. From 2007 we will 

make all issues available from 

our download area. 

If you subscribe you are also 

able to register for our monthly 

email newsletter. Check details 

on our home page at www. 

smartimes.co.uk 

SRING 2003 

Introduction -1st edition 3 

Club contact information 4 

Club meetings 5 

From the smart press room 

City & Cabrio - 2 nd generation 

offers even more comfort, safety, 

individuality and power 6-7 

Roadster -An intensive open-air 

motoring experience 8-11 

Forfour -Unmistakable features for 

every member of the smart product 

family 12 

A history of smart 13 

Club s 

A retrospective - Hambach & 

Gaydon 2002 14-15 

Cat and fiddle meet, Jan 2003 16 

Club chatrooms - words of 

wisdom 17 

Featured cars 

Bluecabby Swindon 18-19 

Dans smart 20-21 

Pink mean smartie machine 22-23 

smart car graphics 

jgr22 designer Logo 24-25 

How to section 

De lip the air intake 26 

Change the air filter 27 

Your smart car Photos 28-29 

Puzzle and word search fun 29 

Working smarts 

Pander Pizza 31 

SUMMER 2003 

Introduction - 2nd edition 5 

club meetings and events 4 

from the smart press room 

special edition starblue 6 

500,000 smarts 6 

forfour pictures 7 

roadster with v6 biturbo 7 

articles 

thesmartclub - profile 8 

living with a roadster 9 

first official smartie in Oz 10 

smartville, a smart factory 11 

hambach tri 2003 12 

Funkysmart.co.uk - profile 13 

Billing, the smartstock event 14-17 

The unofficial L2B run 18-19 

a L1CKLE dairy 20-21 

TUG - a love story 22 

T255 JUG 23 

Susie saved in Yellowperil 

incident 24 

At last I have a smart! 25 

Delilah- my affair with a 

topless model 26 

photosho anel swops 27 

smartarse designs, 28-29 

featured cars 

Richard Caesar - Stormtrooper 30-31 

Martin Hunt - It’s an itsy bitsy teeny weeny 

yellow hotted-u machini ! 32-33 

Nicksmart - Switzerland 34-35 

Dave - the fastest binman in 

the south 36 

technical 

re-ma reviews, smarts-R-us 

and Digi-tec 37 

Dyno Day meeting, 38 

How to fit a scoop 39 

pure turbo ugrade 40 

smartronik gear change mod 42 

your smart cars 

readers smart car photos 44-45 

working smarts 

Hire a smart 46 

WINTER 2003 

Introduction - 3rd edition 5 

club meetings and events 4 

club contact information 5 


smart club Mexico 6 

Oz update 7 

Roadster-mod‘s on the cheap 8 

Smartarse Design open 

premisses 9 

The Forfour 10-11 

Bexhill beach arty 12 

funkysmart Aviators 13 

thesmartclub Roadster review 14 

Smartarse competition winner 15 

Roadster blues 16 

The birth of Sparky 17 

S2Blade 18 

Ian’s limited edition 18 

Profile - smarts-R-us 19 

Dover, France, Belgium and 

back in a day 20 

S600 JF the story so far 21 

shine’s dairy 23 

Leeds to Bridlington 24 

thesmartclub track day 25-26 

Profile - smartFX 27 

London to Brighton - start 28-29 

London to Brighton - finish 30-31 

featured cars 

Matt Hall - S2Gulf 32-33 

Dave Thomas - DaveMT 34-35 

Marco Dozie-smartclub Ticino 36-37 

technical/reviews 

Digi-tec stage 2 and 3 options 38 

Motoflow magnet 39 

EBC disks and ads 40 

Sorts exhaust 41 

Dyno Day results 42-43 

your smart cars+ 

readers smart car photos 44 

Christmas wishes from the Karrot 

Krunchers 45 


smart hypnosis 46 

SRING 2004 

Introduction - 4rd edition 5 



Sussex Christmas arty 6 

Billing 2004 - Event 7 

Goodwood Trackday -Event 8 

Smart wedding in Singapore 9 

Smartarse open day 10 

Michalak - Roadrunner 11 

Smart Brentford tour 12-13 

Brabus roadsters feature 14-15 

Are they smarts? - Sling Shot & Treo 16-17 

What’s happening at the dealers 18 

The Sringer Fleet 19 

Beaulieu meet pictorial 20-21 

OUCH! That Smarts 22 

Little Miss Bys 23 

Shine’s Diary - Five Minutes of Fame 24-25 

featured cars 

The Dawn of a New Era in Smart 

Performance - Pete Bee’s Z Car 26-27 

Cover Car - look what they did to 

sparky... Arizona Blaze 28-29 

Live and Simple - TomC 30 

Smart tart - Gillian Flynn 32-33 

Smartaccs - new smart 

accessories 34 

S2Wideboy 35 


MCC gets GS 36-37 

Dashboard Bling 38 

Headrest Speaker Mod 39 

Rear panels removed and 

replaced 41-43 


Readers smart car photos 44-45 


Minster Cleaning 46 

SUMMER 2004 

Introduction - 5th edition 4 



Oz update 7 

Canada gets smart 8-9 

Ticino or bust 10 

at the dealers 11 

a couple of days away to relax 12 

Cadbury World meet 13 

Brief encounter 14-15 

Jutta’s Euroean Dairy 15 

Michalak’s at Geneva show 17 

Back to Hambach 2004 18-19 

we drive the forfour 20-21 

smart ringer 22 


in brief - news 25 

Nick’s smart story 26-27 

smart of Bristol, smart dealer of 

the year 28-29 

smart wrapping, adsigns 30 

shine’s roadster diary 32-33 

featured cars 

Rob’s ink to Blue 34 

Piston Broke 35 

Brit Tiny 36-37 

Evil Twin Zcars roadster 39 

Sno2y’s little Scam 40 


Nottingham Dyno meet report 41-44 

Sidewinder Exhaust review 45 

Iridium spark lugs 46 

Fitting side skirts 47 

Front and door panel removal 49-51 


Readers smart car photos 52 

Sharon’s word search 52 

smart weddings 53 


Bettershred 54 

Winter 2004 

Introduction – 6th edition 4 


Lejog, Lands End to John O’Groats 

charity run 6 

Smartimes project car 2005 

7 Smart 

thinking…/dealer news 9 

From the readers 10 - 11 

Oz Udate by Pete Bender 12 - 13 

smart club Denmark calling 13 

Canada ER, ready and waiting 14 - 15 

smart dealer news 16 

Smartkid, the youngest smart driver ? 17 

Evil Twin news update 18 

FAK£RS movie release 18 

Smart media news 21 

Smart move - Canada 22 - 23 

A smart Euro trip pictorial 24 - 27 

Smart shark, smart of Hertford 28 

Summer in Sussex, we visit 

Sussex Cars 29 

The smart CDI 30 - 31 

The Blade – crossblade owner 32 - 33 

Snozy takes the high road to Scotland 34 - 35 

Rob Baker’s smart with wings 36 - 37 

Steve White’s Gumball 3000 38 - 39 

Billing smartfest 2004 pictorial 40 - 43 

Get smart about cancer, mile of smarts 44 

Bruntingthore track day 45 

We talk to the head of smart 

UK & Ireland 46 

Smart market launch in Canada 47 

London to Brighton rally 04’ 48 - 51 

Shine’s roadster diary, sounds good 54 - 55 

Extreme smart marathon in Canada 56 - 57 

Smart girl says hello from Canada 58 

S-MANN stealth smarts 59 

Fotfour sortstyle 61 

A tale of two roadsters 62 - 63 

Turbulent going’s on down in Hampshire 64 

Smart antenna stubby conversion 65 

Iridium spark lug update 66 

Magnex exhaust reviewed 67 

Your smart cars 68 - 69 

Working smarts - WA 


41

catch-up on what you have missed in smartimes 

SPRING 2005 

7th edition 4 



charity run 6 

smartimes project car 2005 7 

Oz Update by Pete Bender 8 

International new and old 9 

Road Dyno Charity Meet 10 

smartmania 11 

smart students 12 

BRABUS ‘SB3’ Power Kit 13 

smart of Hertford 14 


Beaulieu meet 2004 16-17 

Canada ER 18 

Bexhill Beach Party 19 

Greetings from an Ex Scot 20 

Sussex Christmas Meal 21 

Ace Café meet 22 

smart girl 23 

The Blade – crossblade owner 24 - 26 

Over the rainbow - featured car 27 

Chameleon roadster - featured car 28 - 29 

Ruby Maxed - featured car 32 - 33 

featured cars 

smartarse’s Mirage a Trois - 34 - 35 

Artful ECOnomy 36 - 37 

Moonrush - Fuel Cell 38 - 39 

smart boy 40 

Shine’s roadster dairy 41 

smart move 42 - 43 

Project Car - Bend it like Andy 45 

“Dude I need a service” 46 - 47 

Replacing your exhaust 48 - 49 

Check Your Oil ? 50 

Project Car - Red Dot Brakes 51 

Your cars and letters 52 

Project Car - wheels 53 

Working smarts - Koncept Hair 54 

SPRING 2006 

11th edition 4 


smart chat 6 

smart news 

Pink Limited Edition fortwo 7 

at the dealers and smart news 8 - 9 

BRABUS Concept forfour 10 

smart technology forum 11 


OZ update by Peter Bender 12 


Vic on tour, towing a smart 14 

BRABUS Factory Tour 16 - 17 

From the readers 18 

First Annual West Coast smart 

Car Show 19 

Annual Beaulieu Meet 20 - 21 

The smart Season 22 

thesmartclub 5th birthday review 23 

Smallest wonder meets 8th wonder 24 - 25 

TheBlade - Time to go home 26 - 27 

smartmove - America Calling 28 

Feature cars 

C7 - smart based kit car 29 

Binxyboo’s urban fairy 30 

Justrules - cover car 31 

Ross from Oz 32 - 33 

ICE smart a true winner 34 - 37 


Wonder wheels? 38 

Snow on the road - Tom Crawford 39 

MSM’s own smart 40 

smart’s flying tiger 41 

Retro fit fog lights 42 - 44 

Winter service for the smart 45 

Re-mapping 46 

Shine’s roadster diary 48 - 49 

fortwo oil cooler install 50 - 51 

Watford Dyno Meet 52 - 57 

roadster cam up-grade 58 

Working smarts - Wee Willy 59 

Wedding smart car 60 

42 smartimes magazine 

SUMMER 2005 

8th edition 4 


Lejog, Lands End to John O’Groats charity run 

and auction announced 6 

Daimlerchrysler announcement 7 

International news 

Biggest Baddest bash in town. Toronto motor 

show 8 - 9 

Smart club Hong Kong 10 - 11 

Smarts were a hot ticket! 12 

Oz Update from Pete Bender 13 

BRABUS factory trip 14 

Smart and local news 

From the dealers 15-17 

The Happy Cheese lives on 18 

BRABUS forfour feature 19 - 21 

Features 

TheBlade reports from Florida 22 - 23 

Billing smartfest details 24 

Ferrina, my story 25 

Jez’s wooden smart 26 


Smartimes project car, stage two 

build photos 27 

Michalak’s C7 smart based kit car 28 - 29 

Project car – ICE install 32 

Project car – GPS for safer driving 34 

Project car – Button shift 35 

Project car – turbo upgrade 36 - 37 

Smartball 2005 charity run 38 - 39 

Shine’s dairy – rough with the smooth 41 

Smartboy – sound machine 42 - 43 

Smart move - survivor 44 - 45 

Project car - suspension 46 

Smart fluids – screen wash 47 

Janspeed Dyno Day 48 - 49 

Smart LPG conversion 50 - 51 

Your cars and letters 52 - 53 

smartquiz 53 

Working smarts – smart shoes 54 

SUMMER 2006 



smartbeat event 6 

smart news 

From the readers 7 - 9 

smartarse design 

incentive scheme 

Watford and 

10 


smart news and Geneva motor 

show 

12 - 15 

Zap on the road 16 



smart girl - Canada Concept 1 18 

smarts-R-us2 closed 19 

smart boys - Canada 19 

Brit Tiny - Welcome 20 

Canadian smart cars go to auto 

show 

21 

Justrules goes BRABUS 22 

C7 - A day in the park 23 

Evilution’s darth smart 24 

smart love and big Ben 25 

BASS do Brooklands 26 - 27 

smart trek 28 - 29 

Feature cars 

Intercepter 30 - 31 

Clever-end project 32 - 33 

Chilly Willy’s clever-end 33 


PIAA wiper blades 34 

under tray inter cooler scoop 35 

fortwo speaker up grade 36 - 41 

SW Exclusive remap review 42 

Shine’s SMINT’s roadster diary 44 - 47 

Stealth exhaust and custom 

remaping 

48 

Salisbury Dyno & Spring has 

arrived 

49 

Clarion SRV303 sub install (fortwo) 50 - 52 

South West smarties Dyno meet 53 - 54 

Viper side intake modification 55 - 56 

Bilstien PSS suspension up-grade 57 - 58 


Essex Police ‘crimestoppers’ 

smarts 

59 


Back issue content and smartimes 

infomation 

61 - 62 

AUTUMN 2005 

9th edition 4 



charity run from start to finish 6 - 9 

International news 

Canadian ER - smart car round up 10 - 11 

Oz Update from Pete Bender 12 

smart club Hong Kong 13 

smart meet Husum, North Germany 14 

smart meets and news 

Thesmartclub go to Hambach 15 

St. Ives - Camping weekend 16 

Karrots Do Battle 17 

M25 - Motorway Madness 2005 18 

Steam whistle brewery a smart success! 19 

82 Go Wild in Wells 20 

smartboy - Meets, Greets and Eats 21 

smart news 22 - 23 

Features 

The Blade’s penultimate report 

from Florida. 24 - 25 

Project car stage 3 in brief 26 

“The Affair” 27 

Funkysmart’s Billing smartfest 28 - 31 


Hello Again Smartimer’s from Robdot 33 

Project car – ICE install update 36-37 

To TINT or not to TINT 39 

Andy Guru - smartsport 40 

Project car – insurance 41 

Shine’s roadster dairy + competition 42 - 45 

Miracle dry wash - we used it 49 

Rob Baker joins Smartarse Design 49 

DIY Chassis End Caps 50 

Project Car - on board computer & 

cruse control 51 

Service in Canada 52 

Your cars and letters 53 

Working smarts – The Phat Red Arrow 

54 

Autumn 06 


smart news 

from the readers 6 - 7 


smart news and emotional drive 8 - 13 


St Ives, camping weekend 14 

South west Sunday in June 15 

Africa in a pulse 16 


smart girl - Niagara Helicopters 18 

Niagara wine tour 20 - 21 

first smart car in Illinois USA 22 

smart cullinan 23 

fashion cares 24 

Fete de la musique 25 

Canada find the code 26 

Scotish border meet 28 - 29 

smartbeat weekend 30 - 31 

Feature cars 

Limited edition widestar 32 

smartarri - crossblade 33 

Mono - Autotronics show car 34 - 35 

Clever-end project 36 - 37 


SMINT’s roadster diary 38 - 39 

smartboys summer madness 40 

LED interior lighting 41 

performance clutch 42 

performance HT leads 43 

Tint the backend 44 

Braided brake hoses 45 

Nokia’s CK7W car kit install 46 - 49 

smart cargo - half height storage net 50 

smart starter 51 

CDi muffler ends 53 


Ocean yachts 54 


Back issue content and smartimes 

infomation 55 - 56 

WINTER 2005 



smart chat 6 

Smart event hosted by Mercedes Benz 

and the Italian chamber commerce of 

Toronto 7 

at the dealers and smart news 8 - 9 

smart concept at IAA - crosstown 10 


OZ update by Peter Bender 12 

Route 66 the smart way 13 

Blackpool Lions Parade 14 

smartball - Kings Road crossblade meet 15 

A VERY happy birthday! - Gaydon 16 - 17 

The Daisy Project 18 

smartboy - American Muscle meet 

smart n’ Cute 19 

Six Go Mad in Cornwall 20 - 21 

Bexhill Beach Party ~ 2005 22 

Monte Carlo … not bust 23 

Features 

The Blade’s final report from Florida. 24 - 25 

London to Brighton run 26 - 27 

Fluff - NEMO smart 28 - 29 

smart classic - Something for the discerning 

smart enthusiast 30 - 31 

Forfour - Dutch Style 32 


Project car - ICE updated 33 

A BUD and his smart - survival 34 - 35 

She’s the smart one - fuel economy 36 - 37 

smart finish - scratches ? 39 

Inter cooler pipes and induction 40 - 41 

Shine’s roadster dairy 43 

Viper induction kit installed 44 - 45 

Essex Commemorative Lotus smart 46 - 47 

smart wheel arch extensions/trims 48 - 49 

It seemed so easy - side kick or skirts 51 

Project Car - round up 52 - 53 

Working smarts – Chilly Willy’s 54 

smartimes magazine was an 

concept discussed on the UK 

smart club message boards over 

December 02’ and January 03’. Out 

of these discussions the magazine 

was born and the first issue 

published on April 14th 2003. 

smartimes is a broad based smart 

focused publication providing news, 

views, events and product information 

along with third part accessories and 

services. 

Contributions from our readers 

are a core part of smartimes appeal. 

We welcome any stories, photos and 

technical material our readers want to 

provide for editorial. 

Our costs, which are extensive, 

were covered by our advertisers and 

cover price when published in paper 

form. Unfortunately we have been let 

down by a few of these companies 

and now offer smartimes free online. 

We therefore request donations 

to help with costs of overheads such 

as insurance, software and hosting. 

This also ensures our independence 

and impartiality. smartimes is run by 

volunteers and no salaries are paid. We 

are not a charity, we have registered 

as a company to protect our name and 

operate professionally with the highest 

standards possible, something the 

smartimes team take great pride in. 

Please help us provide smartimes 

free for you by making a small donation 

of £5.00 By PayPal or cheque. 

Thank You 

All the smartimes team 

smartimes ltd

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