Coaster/YK

[ZedLeg]

Lovely post Marky and welcome to the forum.

[mik]

PS. Sorry for the essay. I was tempted to chop a load out but I wanted to mention it all.

Please don't be sorry. As Zed said - a lovely post and - speaking purely for myself - it's nice to hear more from those YK was closer to.

I remember you mentioning at Glenshee that you wanted a GT3 next. Nice.

The silver S1 Elise was @scotta (it's now replaced with a faster Elise).

[IanF]

Lovely post Marky and welcome to the forum.

What Zed said. Welcome to the forum

[Barry]

Nice words Mark, thanks for that. I'm hoping to make Bicester still yeah, again one of the events YK pushed us to get involved with. We'll raise a glass to our friend while we're there.

[duncs500]

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum @Marky911. Shame I couldn't make the last Scotland trip, would've been nice to meet you guys then.

As for the PH Bicester event, I've got tickets after being put on to it by YK. I still plan to go so hopefully will have the chance to catch you.

[Marv]

Been looking back on my old messages to YK, above is a more recent one he sent to me. Years ago we met up at Snetterton and almost straight away he offered to let me drive it on track. Being so rusty with driving on track, I said I'd drive it on the road if that's okay with him. This would be the second time I'd driven his GT3....he was keen on me seeing how much he'd improved it.

The first time I drove it we were on our way down through the Galloway forest park, he'd only recently bought it...it was tramlining all over the place. I was surprised he drove it almost all the trip without mentioning it He kept telling me to rev the engine harder and drive it properly, but I told him I was more worried about putting it in a ditch . After that trip he did his research and got the geometry and suspension settings properly sorted and put on a new set of tyres.

Snetterton was maybe a year later. I did a few passenger laps with him and as others have mentioned he was a bloody good driver. The GT3 was impressively rapid with him at the wheel

Onto my drive on the road and I was amazed with the difference. He was pretty proud on how much he'd transformed the car to work brilliantly on the road and track - just what a 911 GT3 should be! This time round, he was telling me to slow down, as it became apparent that doing 130mph just felt like it was 40.

On our first trip to Scotland when he had his ITR, IIRC he said to me and Duncs his aim was to eventually get a GT3...he saved so hard to get that car and really got the most out of it, and he always made sure that others would enjoy it too.

I'd like to think that he was a kindred spirit. We shared interest and enthusiasm in things away from cars too. He was different to me in other ways too, but for them differences I liked him even more.

Nicely put Marv. Hope you’re well.

Mark.

Thanks Mark and welcome to the forum too.

Can't make Bicester this year, unfortunately...but please raise a glass in YKs honour for me, if you all manage to meet up.

Just reading your words reminds me of how much YK loved trying different foods from the places we visited. I feel he often researched it before hand, or would seek advice from the locals on what to try.

Another thing which used to make me smile, was how he'd carefully orchestrate the pictures during our trips and get a bit bossy with where and how we should be parking our cars to get the right picture

The first trip we did together, I found this a little finicky...but when I got home and saw the pics he'd taken, mine looked pretty bad by comparison!

[Rich B]

Is the Bicester thing a turn up thing or a ticketed event?

[Matty]

Is the Bicester thing a turn up thing or a ticketed event?

Ticketed - the one last month was great, so well worth a visit:
https://bicesterheritage.co.uk/events/p ... sary-party

[John]

I've got tickets too. My wife is quite keen to visit, nothing at all to do with the close proximity to Bicester Village I'm sure

Great post Marky too.

[scotta]

PS. Sorry for the essay. I was tempted to chop a load out but I wanted to mention it all.

Please don't be sorry. As Zed said - a lovely post and - speaking purely for myself - it's nice to hear more from those YK was closer to.

I remember you mentioning at Glenshee that you wanted a GT3 next. Nice.

The silver S1 Elise was @scotta (it's now replaced with a faster Elise).

Hi Mark. Welcome to the forum. That was a great day in the highlands. As @mik says the S1 was sold to my mate (Who ive just been messaging about a track outing next weekend in it) Ive replaced it with a S3 Club Racer S (See Below).The S1 didn't go far as my mate lives directly opposite us.

[Marky911]

Thanks for the welcome lads.

I’ll have a nosey around on the site when I get a few minutes.
I won’t derail this thread but will comment on some others or something.

Cheers zedleg and Ian.

Mik, you and Scotta were both flying. Good to meet yous that day.

Dunc and Barry, well me and Craig are definitely going to Bicester as I say, so the more the merrier if you want to meet up.
We haven’t done Bicester before or C&M so we are looking forward to it.
We’ll discuss when we see you Barry.

Hi Marv, yes Yk loved a bit of car choreography didn’t he.
His pics were usually good though, as you say. And yep he’d try anything as far as cuisine went. He was always calling me and Craig boring.

Hi Rich. We have tickets as Yk told us about it in March. There may still be some available though.
Only select cars are wanted for in the show. Only RS Porsche etc. not even standard GT3s allowed. The parking areas should be interesting too though I’m guessing.
Should be a good day out.

[Rich B]

Thanks for the welcome lads.

I’ll have a nosey around on the site when I get a few minutes.
I won’t derail this thread but will comment on some others or something.

Cheers zedleg and Ian.

Mik, you and Scotta were both flying. Good to meet yous that day.

Dunc and Barry, well me and Craig are definitely going to Bicester as I say, so the more the merrier if you want to meet up.
We haven’t done Bicester before or C&M so we are looking forward to it.
We’ll discuss when we see you Barry.

Hi Marv, yes Yk loved a bit of car choreography didn’t he.
His pics were usually good though, as you say. And yep he’d try anything as far as cuisine went. He was always calling me and Craig boring.

Hi Rich. We have tickets as Yk told us about it in March. There may still be some available though.
Only select cars are wanted for in the show. Only RS Porsche etc. not even standard GT3s allowed. The parking areas should be interesting too though I’m guessing.
Should be a good day out.

they want M2 comps...!

[Marky911]

Thanks John, I was replying while you did.
Sounds like you’re sorted for Bicester too.

Hi Scotta.
The replacement looks great. Not that you needed a faster one mind.
Great colour too. Lovely.

[Marky911]

they want M2 comps...!

Ha, nice. Is that what you’ve got? You’re in luck.

They want standard 997s too but not mine or YKs GT3s when we asked.

They only want cars on display that are as old as P’heads, which is a shame as I’d liked to have seen some older stuff. Guess I need to go to the Scramble for that.

[adamzxr93]

Afternoon ov9’ers.

Long post! Apologies, I didn’t realise until I got to the end.

It’s a shame to be signing up under such sad circumstances but Barry pointed me in the direction of this thread so I wanted to pop on.
Lovely comments and great pictures, I’m sure we all have so many.

My mate Craig and I met Yk online via the 911uk forum when he joined with his Carrera. So we are newbie imposters compared to you guys who knew him for years.
I was also in a C2 at the time, having sold my first GT3.

Anyway after much commenting on each others threads and chatting via PM, one day Yk mentioned he was passing ours (Northumberland) on his way to do some driving in Scotland with some of the Scottish lads and would we like to tag along.

What a kind offer and naturally we said yes.
I’d actually done very little driving in Scotland up until then somehow, so we were really looking forward to it and what a trip it was.
Oh and by this time, thanks to working his arse off, Yk had progressed to his GT3, which he thoroughly deserved.

We met him on the Friday night in Scotland where he introduced us to Barry and Marv too (also great lads) and then the Scottish guys welcomed us on the Saturday morning.

I’d just like to say a belated thanks to those lads for showing us around your playground up there, I thought we had it good in Northumberland but it’s something else up there.
I only recognise Mik and the white Evora from the little avatar pics but I’m sure there’s a few more of you on here. There was a lad in a silver S1 Elise who wasn’t hanging about.
Anyway, nice lads and a lovely day. I can communicate better via written word than spoken, so apologies if we were a bit quiet in person.

Here’s a pic where we met some of you at the start of the day (featuring the man himself).




Anyway that was a great day and weekend.
From the first time we met Yk, Barry and Marv at the hotel on the Friday night, they made us feel like part of the gang.
Yk was such a positive and enthusiastic lad. One of those guys that always seemed genuinely happy to see you when you turned up. Just a lovely lad.

That was to be the first of several great weekends away with YK and Co.
In fact as far as my car stuff goes in this country Yk was the main instigator for having stuff in the diary. I’m going to miss the adventures hugely and already feel a bit lost regarding future car stuff.

We did several Scotland trips and also a weekend in Wales after the 2019 RS day at Oulton, finishing with another trackday at Anglesey. I was between cars then having sold the C2 so we were in my mate Craig’s C2.
Coming out of the hotel one morning Yk threw me the keys to his GT3 and insisted I drove it to the next destination. As has been said on here he was so keen to spread the joy.
Needless to say it only cemented my “want” for another one.
I got back into one in 2019 and although Yk passed by mine on his way to Scotland that autumn I had just returned from a euro trip the week before, so had to sit it out.
He popped in anyway and it was good to compare cars.




Me, Craig and YK made it away together in 2020 during the various states of lockdown and had a great if wet NC500 trip. The plus side was completely empty roads.

As always Yk was a total pleasure. The rain never dampened his spirits even though I was whinging about needing a canoe not a car.
That pic of the deep fried Mars bar instantly took me back to that moment. We both tried one. It was in the pub/cafe at the Loch Ness visitors centre. We’d just finished a days driving and everything was closing at teatime so we ate there before heading back to our hotel.
He loved the stretch of road leading into/out of there.
Yk was always up for sampling the local grub and immersing himself in his surroundings.

A couple of pics of that trip.






What can I say about recent events then. Not much, it has knocked me for six to be honest.
I got a text of YK a on the Sunday after his diagnosis asking if he could ring instead of texting, which probably meant something was up, I guessed.
I had no idea about what was to come but knew he’d been expecting a diabetes diagnosis, from what we’d discussed earlier that month.
Only a week or two before, we had booked up for P’heads birthday bash at Bicester for August and he said he was having some tests etc.

Anyway he rang me and began telling me the news. I’ll be honest we were both in tears. It was the most upsetting phone conversation I’ve ever had and this is not at all about me here but just to add a bit of context I’ve had two cancer diagnosis myself and even hearing those words from your doctor is terrifying, let alone being in YK’s position with regard to how far on it was.
I still don’t know how he handled it so bravely.

He explained it was very far on and that the docs had said there was nothing they could do. They were talking months. That conversation is burned into my memory.
As you all know things deteriorated incredibly quickly. Yk kept in touch and also many thanks to Barry as he kept me updated at every stage as well.

Well, Barry messaged a couple of Fridays ago to say that Yk was being transferred to a hospice after an unsuccessful procedure in hospital and they were now talking weeks not months.
Me and my mate Craig hopped in the car on Saturday morning and headed down to Cheshire to see YK. Barry was there too which was good. It was crap to meet up under those circumstances but good to be together for a bit.

I won’t ramble on about the visit but we were glad to have gone. (Not “glad” as such, but you know what I mean.)
There were tears but there were smiles too.
We chatted about past and present and it was an important visit. (Again “important” isn’t the right word but…).

Even in that situation YK was his usual positive and honest self. He was pleased to have his finances sorted for his family and he said “Don’t be sad, I’ve had some amazing experiences and I’m at peace with it”.
He also said what Barry mentioned earlier “If there’s anything you want to do in life for yourself or your loved ones, then do it. Don’t wait as you never know what life has planned”.

So true.

Craig messaged Yk on the Sunday morning to say we’d got back no problem the night before and it had been good to see him, but he got no reply.
I spoke to Barry later that day and he said Yk had taken a turn for the worst during Sunday and they had called his family in.
Barry updated us on the Monday morning saying that Yk had passed away in the early hours with his family by his side.

Well, what can you say to that. Brutal.
YK didn’t want it to drag on though. Once he had his finances sorted which amazingly he did in the space of a week, he said as politely as ever “Sorry for you to have to hear this, but I’d happily go in my sleep now that everything is sorted”.
As much as that’s hard to hear it’s totally understandable and as he said he’d made his peace with it.
It was so typically Yk though to be more worried about the person hearing it than himself, the guy going through it.

He handled the whole thing like a proper hero. Again, I don’t know how he did it. Hard as nails.
It’s so horrible to lose anyone like that but once the outcome is known you don’t want people suffering.

Like many on here we lived miles away from Yk but kept in touch via text and forums a lot.
I wish I’d done more stuff with him but I’m so grateful for the things we did do.

He could have a good laugh, even at his own expense. I remember at one touristy place we were at, he was trying to get a decent picture. I’m sure some of you will remember he’d pull out this camera with a lens about 2 foot long.
Anyway he couldn’t get a clear shot due to all the English and Scottish tourists.
Being Chinese he said “Blimey, it’s usually my lot getting in the way for their photos”.

We had some great times and the post drive meals and beers in the hotel at night were always a good laugh with him and also Barry and Marv when they were there.

We meet thousands of people in life but only take a few along with us as we go.
Me and Craig feel lucky to have met Yk and shared in his passion of cars and driving.
As I’ve said in another thread. He was one of life’s good guys. Always positive, always pleasant and just a nice guy to be around. It’s a huge pity it ended too early.

RIP YK. You’ll be missed.





PS. Sorry for the essay. I was tempted to chop a load out but I wanted to mention it all.

PPS. Special mention to Barry for his friendship with Yk and for stepping up massively these last couple of months and taking care of him.
It must have been hard so take care of yourself. Speak soon.

I’m sure there are other friends I don’t know, who’ve helped to mind. I know he mentioned one or two who had taken him to hospital appointments etc. So well done if you’re reading.

Also, not entirely the time, but we are still doing Bicester in August so if any of you lads want to meet up for a beer or cuppa that would be good.
We are staying at Caffiene and Machine the night before. It will be bittersweet but it’s booked and is the last thing we planned with Yk.
Not sure peoples thoughts but a drive out each year in memory of him would definitely be something I’d be up for, but that can be discussed later.
I’ll certainly be remembering him in my own way if nothing is arranged.

That made for a lovely read! As you say definitely bittersweet, but all we can do is think back and thank him for the memories!
I’d definitely be up for a yearly memorial drive out! Sounds like the perfect excuse for me to use the car more, and I can’t think of a better way to honour his memory!

[mik]

Found a couple of (dreadfully composed and lit) older images with YK’s ‘teg. First time meeting him and @Marv . I had met (and inadvertently attempted to kill) @Duncs previously….

[duncs500]

@mik I don't remember you attempting to kill me? Must have been very subtle.

[Ascender]

Afternoon ov9’ers.

Long post! Apologies, I didn’t realise until I got to the end.

It’s a shame to be signing up under such sad circumstances but Barry pointed me in the direction of this thread so I wanted to pop on.
Lovely comments and great pictures, I’m sure we all have so many.

My mate Craig and I met Yk online via the 911uk forum when he joined with his Carrera. So we are newbie imposters compared to you guys who knew him for years.
I was also in a C2 at the time, having sold my first GT3.

Anyway after much commenting on each others threads and chatting via PM, one day Yk mentioned he was passing ours (Northumberland) on his way to do some driving in Scotland with some of the Scottish lads and would we like to tag along.

What a kind offer and naturally we said yes.
I’d actually done very little driving in Scotland up until then somehow, so we were really looking forward to it and what a trip it was.
Oh and by this time, thanks to working his arse off, Yk had progressed to his GT3, which he thoroughly deserved.

We met him on the Friday night in Scotland where he introduced us to Barry and Marv too (also great lads) and then the Scottish guys welcomed us on the Saturday morning.

I’d just like to say a belated thanks to those lads for showing us around your playground up there, I thought we had it good in Northumberland but it’s something else up there.
I only recognise Mik and the white Evora from the little avatar pics but I’m sure there’s a few more of you on here. There was a lad in a silver S1 Elise who wasn’t hanging about.
Anyway, nice lads and a lovely day. I can communicate better via written word than spoken, so apologies if we were a bit quiet in person.

Here’s a pic where we met some of you at the start of the day (featuring the man himself).




Anyway that was a great day and weekend.
From the first time we met Yk, Barry and Marv at the hotel on the Friday night, they made us feel like part of the gang.
Yk was such a positive and enthusiastic lad. One of those guys that always seemed genuinely happy to see you when you turned up. Just a lovely lad.

That was to be the first of several great weekends away with YK and Co.
In fact as far as my car stuff goes in this country Yk was the main instigator for having stuff in the diary. I’m going to miss the adventures hugely and already feel a bit lost regarding future car stuff.

We did several Scotland trips and also a weekend in Wales after the 2019 RS day at Oulton, finishing with another trackday at Anglesey. I was between cars then having sold the C2 so we were in my mate Craig’s C2.
Coming out of the hotel one morning Yk threw me the keys to his GT3 and insisted I drove it to the next destination. As has been said on here he was so keen to spread the joy.
Needless to say it only cemented my “want” for another one.
I got back into one in 2019 and although Yk passed by mine on his way to Scotland that autumn I had just returned from a euro trip the week before, so had to sit it out.
He popped in anyway and it was good to compare cars.




Me, Craig and YK made it away together in 2020 during the various states of lockdown and had a great if wet NC500 trip. The plus side was completely empty roads.

As always Yk was a total pleasure. The rain never dampened his spirits even though I was whinging about needing a canoe not a car.
That pic of the deep fried Mars bar instantly took me back to that moment. We both tried one. It was in the pub/cafe at the Loch Ness visitors centre. We’d just finished a days driving and everything was closing at teatime so we ate there before heading back to our hotel.
He loved the stretch of road leading into/out of there.
Yk was always up for sampling the local grub and immersing himself in his surroundings.

A couple of pics of that trip.






What can I say about recent events then. Not much, it has knocked me for six to be honest.
I got a text of YK a on the Sunday after his diagnosis asking if he could ring instead of texting, which probably meant something was up, I guessed.
I had no idea about what was to come but knew he’d been expecting a diabetes diagnosis, from what we’d discussed earlier that month.
Only a week or two before, we had booked up for P’heads birthday bash at Bicester for August and he said he was having some tests etc.

Anyway he rang me and began telling me the news. I’ll be honest we were both in tears. It was the most upsetting phone conversation I’ve ever had and this is not at all about me here but just to add a bit of context I’ve had two cancer diagnosis myself and even hearing those words from your doctor is terrifying, let alone being in YK’s position with regard to how far on it was.
I still don’t know how he handled it so bravely.

He explained it was very far on and that the docs had said there was nothing they could do. They were talking months. That conversation is burned into my memory.
As you all know things deteriorated incredibly quickly. Yk kept in touch and also many thanks to Barry as he kept me updated at every stage as well.

Well, Barry messaged a couple of Fridays ago to say that Yk was being transferred to a hospice after an unsuccessful procedure in hospital and they were now talking weeks not months.
Me and my mate Craig hopped in the car on Saturday morning and headed down to Cheshire to see YK. Barry was there too which was good. It was crap to meet up under those circumstances but good to be together for a bit.

I won’t ramble on about the visit but we were glad to have gone. (Not “glad” as such, but you know what I mean.)
There were tears but there were smiles too.
We chatted about past and present and it was an important visit. (Again “important” isn’t the right word but…).

Even in that situation YK was his usual positive and honest self. He was pleased to have his finances sorted for his family and he said “Don’t be sad, I’ve had some amazing experiences and I’m at peace with it”.
He also said what Barry mentioned earlier “If there’s anything you want to do in life for yourself or your loved ones, then do it. Don’t wait as you never know what life has planned”.

So true.

Craig messaged Yk on the Sunday morning to say we’d got back no problem the night before and it had been good to see him, but he got no reply.
I spoke to Barry later that day and he said Yk had taken a turn for the worst during Sunday and they had called his family in.
Barry updated us on the Monday morning saying that Yk had passed away in the early hours with his family by his side.

Well, what can you say to that. Brutal.
YK didn’t want it to drag on though. Once he had his finances sorted which amazingly he did in the space of a week, he said as politely as ever “Sorry for you to have to hear this, but I’d happily go in my sleep now that everything is sorted”.
As much as that’s hard to hear it’s totally understandable and as he said he’d made his peace with it.
It was so typically Yk though to be more worried about the person hearing it than himself, the guy going through it.

He handled the whole thing like a proper hero. Again, I don’t know how he did it. Hard as nails.
It’s so horrible to lose anyone like that but once the outcome is known you don’t want people suffering.

Like many on here we lived miles away from Yk but kept in touch via text and forums a lot.
I wish I’d done more stuff with him but I’m so grateful for the things we did do.

He could have a good laugh, even at his own expense. I remember at one touristy place we were at, he was trying to get a decent picture. I’m sure some of you will remember he’d pull out this camera with a lens about 2 foot long.
Anyway he couldn’t get a clear shot due to all the English and Scottish tourists.
Being Chinese he said “Blimey, it’s usually my lot getting in the way for their photos”.

We had some great times and the post drive meals and beers in the hotel at night were always a good laugh with him and also Barry and Marv when they were there.

We meet thousands of people in life but only take a few along with us as we go.
Me and Craig feel lucky to have met Yk and shared in his passion of cars and driving.
As I’ve said in another thread. He was one of life’s good guys. Always positive, always pleasant and just a nice guy to be around. It’s a huge pity it ended too early.

RIP YK. You’ll be missed.





PS. Sorry for the essay. I was tempted to chop a load out but I wanted to mention it all.

PPS. Special mention to Barry for his friendship with Yk and for stepping up massively these last couple of months and taking care of him.
It must have been hard so take care of yourself. Speak soon.

I’m sure there are other friends I don’t know, who’ve helped to mind. I know he mentioned one or two who had taken him to hospital appointments etc. So well done if you’re reading.

Also, not entirely the time, but we are still doing Bicester in August so if any of you lads want to meet up for a beer or cuppa that would be good.
We are staying at Caffiene and Machine the night before. It will be bittersweet but it’s booked and is the last thing we planned with Yk.
Not sure peoples thoughts but a drive out each year in memory of him would definitely be something I’d be up for, but that can be discussed later.
I’ll certainly be remembering him in my own way if nothing is arranged.

Thanks for taking the time to post those pics and memories.

[ZedLeg]

@mik I don't remember you attempting to kill me? Must have been very subtle.

That's how he works, he was running poison down a thread to your mouth while you slept. Couldn't do it in the end though, auld softy.

[scotta]

@mik I don't remember you attempting to kill me? Must have been very subtle.

That's how he works, he was running poison down a thread to your mouth while you slept. Couldn't do it in the end though, auld softy.

He's tried that with me before - TBF i though it was just as he was from Glasgow.