I had been looking forward to this event for some time as it would be my first break away this year. It was a driving event (non-competitive) across the borders of England and Scotland. It would give me a chance to do some fine tuning on the recently rebuilt engine and also a last good run before the European tour in September.
So, with the car packed and ready, I left my house around 10am Friday morning and headed for Derby to collect co-driver Dave Harvey. As usual, I caught a bit of traffic on the M25 and M1, but I arrived at Derby at 13.30, so not too terrible.
After a quick coffee and cake we set off across the A50 only to meet horrendous traffic at Uttoxeter due to the horse racing. Once we were past this, we then met even more horrendous traffic on the M6 around the Manchester area. We stopped around Lymn to change the coil as we were starting to get a slight mis-fire.
This made no difference so we carried on and eventually reached our hotel at Lancaster. Once here we met up with good friends Richard and Roger and enjoyed a few beers. It wasn't a late night though as we had all travelled long distances and were quite knackered.
Saturday morning saw the start of the event and around 40 cars lined up ready for the off. Because we were setting out from England, we were flagged off by Valerie with her Union flag and right on que, the rain started.
My car was wearing it 'summer bonnet' for this event. (Its my Louvered bonnet so it can expel under bonnet heat) I was going to fit it for the European trip as well, but seeing as it was supposed to be really hot this weekend, I thought I may as well fit it early.
Saturday started off raining and we encountered some huge puddles, but by the afternoon, it was bright and sunny. We had quite a lot of driving to do today, so there wasn't much time for photo shoots or even lunch stops. We did stop for a cuppa twice though. Or, as we call it now, a brew with a view.
By Saturday evening we were at out hotel in Tinto in Scotland and it was nice to get out of the car. The hotel was lovely and old fashioned and had some nice period features, such as the original telephone kiosk and stained glass windows. We also had a very nice dinner there and a few beers to follow.
Sunday morning saw some more glorious weather and we had some beautiful drives. Scotland is such a lovely place, but it really needs to spend some money on some road repairs. The potholes on Saturdays route had been bad enough, but todays route was absolutely full of them! So much so, that we cut the last part of the route and stuck to main roads. Roger's car and mine are both travelling around Europe in five weeks time, so the last thing we needed was suspension damage!
(Being flagged away from the Scottish start point on Sunday morning)
By Sunday night we were in Darlington and again, a nice dinner followed by a few beers was the order of the day. We were sensible with the beers though, as we all had a long drive home on the Monday.
Monday morning we set out in the sunshine again and Dave and I turned off the M1 at Derby so I could drop Dave off home. My clutch pedal had gone a bit 'spongy' the night before, so a new seal kit was fitted at Dave's to make sure I got home. (Or so we thought.)
I was doing well for time after leaving Dave's and should have been home around 5.30pm. Unfortunately, the Huco electric fuel pump had other ideas and decided to give up the ghost at Chelmsford. Also, unfortunately, I had lent my spare fuel pump on a prior event and hadn't got round to replacing it. So, the rest of my journey was made on the back of an AA truck.
The really annoying thing is, that the last three breakdowns that I have had, have been nothing to do the parts on the 56 year old car, but the 4 or 5 year old 'upgrades' that have been fitted to them. It would appear that nothing is built to last anymore.
It was still a great weekend though, and it was good to catch up with good friends. We also completed our fine tuning on the new engine and up until the fuel pump gave up, the car was running absolutely fantastic! So much so, that I'm now not even going to book it in for a rolling road session like I was going to. I just now need to get the car fixed for the European trip!
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