Is there some way I can get a bit more grunt from my 1 litre when coming out of blind side turnings things can at times be a bit hairy when a BMW comes around the corner doing 45 in the 30 as usual.

take off from start to 30 is fairly terrible at the moment.

This could be due to an old high mileage engine that hasn't been treated well in the past or maybe it just needs a small boost.

Is there anything cheapish I can do to improve things?

many thanks

Yeah, sell it and get a quicker car

a good service will help make sure the fuel filter gets done

Loads of clubpolo stickers.... from what I've heard they each add 10bhp

A good service should sort it,maybe you have a binding brake?