Britpack

 So today was a 200 mile return trip to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon - and it was very good. I didn't realise that the title meant, museum of British cars, which is why there were so many MGs, Ford's, Vauxhall, Jags etc, etc. But it was interesting for that reason - I see lots of Porsches, BMWs, Ferraris etc at meets so it was nice to see some Brit history for a change. 

The drive up was pretty good - I devised a good route avoiding all the main roads and had a blast. My new exhaust is really settling in and is actually pretty loud - even my son was impressed as I drove up the drive. I left just after 7am, all alone as explained in my last post but I really enjoyed it. Not worrying about trying to keep a group together is actually more relaxing - maybe I should just do these runs on my own?

The museum is very well set up and modern looking with some fascinating cars - below is the last EVER E-Type built in 1974:

The museums collection of one Jag prototypes is amazing - some lovely stuff, especially the interiors:

This is a Project 7 F-Type - beautiful:

A 4WD XJS:

The 1st prototype XJ220 had scissor doors!!

If I was going to buy a classic, I'd like this SS100 - probably damn expensive:

This is an EV from 2008, a Lightning GT. Amazing, isn't it - I don't know why it never went into production:

This is the first ever BMW - based on an Austin 7!!

This 1930 Austin 7 was driven from Buenos Aires to New York in 1960, 11k miles in 8 months!!

One of the most interesting exhibits was a timeline of British car makers - did you know that the first ever UK car maker was Lanchester, in 1895? And that the oldest still going is Morgan, who started in 1910, a year before Ford arrived? Fascinating stuff...

I had a fun day - my route back was less exciting as I hadn't planned anything. I thought my TomTom would be able to reverse my original route but it couldn't, so I just set it for home and it took me on lots of boring, busy A roads. I did have a fun blat with a motorbike, though - they hate being shown up by a car so you can always guarantee they'll chase you!! Damn, Barry is quick and loud now - huge fun!

In other great news, Vic, one of the guys who came to Wales earlier in the year wants to do my Euro tour! Woohoo, I have a driving buddy...the tour is afoot!

Butt-clencher

 Today was a milestone - my first MOT with Barry. 

With a new exhaust that has lost 2 of the original 4 cats, emissions were my biggest worry but it all seemed to go well and a pass with 2 advisories for discoloured side indicators. Strange because they look fine to me...

Been on holiday last week but I'm planning a long-ish drive up to the British Car Museum at Gaydon on Saturday. I have invited people from my Porkers group and the Boxa forum but no takers so I may be on my own. Weather forecast is looking quite good so unless it goes downhill, I'll be Billy-no-mates...

I'm having a struggle at the moment to get any enthusiasm from others for road trips. I really want to go to Europe next year but no-one else seems even vaguely interested. Even my son is not that keen; for him the problem is money - his car is costing him so much, he can hardly afford to drive it. In fact, he is looking to sell it but he refuses to get anything much cheaper, so I cannot see his position changing.

My Porkers group don't really do long trips together ( a couple have done their own thing) and I don't really know anyone well enough on the Boxa forum. My kit car people refuse to go abroad and want to do Scotland again next year. Scotland is just as far as the Alps and I know everyone says the roads are great BUT there is NO WAY they are better than France and the Alps - and the weather certainly isn't.

So it looks like, if I want to go, it'll be alone. I don't mind during the day but being alone in a hotel all evening is a tad dull. So my choice:

Go somewhere I don't really want to but with company OR

Go somewhere I do want to go but alone.

I've also had an interesting idea of going to the Le Mans Classic, which seems to be a French version of Goodwood. I've found a company who offer a package for around £650 which includes the ferry crossing, 3 nights on a campsite on the side of the track and entry ticket. They've also confirmed that I can book the return ferry leg a week AFTER the Le Mans event, so I could go to Le Mans AND then do a week round France. Genius idea!

So that is my current vague plan - just see if I can get a driving buddy to come with me.

Brooklands Mayhem

 Brooklands museum held it's annual German car day and it was excellent...

The Surrey Porkers met up at a car park just outside Brooklands:

We drove over and queued up for a few minutes:

....and we had a very prominent position set aside for us (not quite sure how we managed that):

About 14 of us in total had a very enjoyable day. There was a Porsche-only event here a few weeks ago but I personally prefer a bit of variety, although, for some reason, I didn't take any pics - sorry about that. Suffice to say, huge numbers of Beemers, Audi's, Porsches, VWs - even an Audi A2 club (anyone remember that box from the early 00s?).

My son also came along in his C63 and the highlight of the day was his run up the Brooklands hill - while there were other C63s and similarly-powered cars there, nothing beats a C63 with a yobbo driving it. My son spun his wheels up the length of the hill, leaving an awesome tyre mark, lots of smoke and a cheering crowd. He had his 15 minutes of fame as numerous people came over to thank him, including the head of the MB sales team who personally owns a C63 and was heard to say to a potential customer, "this is the new C63 - but its not really" (the new C63 has a 4 litre V8, not the full-fat 6.3 litre). Video below:

I do wish I'd had a go in my car but it just didn't occur to me - next year.

My new exhaust is settling in nicely and sounds great, really enjoying the bass roar.

Exhausting

 I think I've used this post title, or similar, before - couldn't think of anything more original,  soz.

I had lined up someone with a lift to help me do my exhaust but then he pulled out, so I reluctantly had to book the car in with a local specialist, who quoted me £530 which might go up if there was too much corrosion. 'If'?! I wasn't happy...

Then, a saviour in the form of a guy on my Porkster group who has never been out with us but has offered his lift and full garage facilities for anyone who wants them. I jumped at the chance and went over on the weekend. Damn, he has an amazing setup - 2 double garages, one with a full height lift, a ton of tools including a compressor for air tools - I was well jel.

With his help (in fact, he did most of the work), he air-chiseled 4 of the 6 studs straight out in minutes. The last 2 were utter bustards, however, and with a combination of dremel, hammer, chisel and hacksaw, it took us another 2 hours to finally get the flanges apart:

There were still a couple of tricky bolts and clamps holding the silencer on but an angle grinder and hammer made short work of those:

The old exhaust weighed a ton and had a couple of big holes, which is where they were blowing from:

Putting the new one in took around 30 minutes going slow - great piece of kit:

Surprisingly, the exhaust isn't hugely louder than stock; much bassier but not loud. There is also a strange whistle as you coast, which someone had mentioned in a FB post. It's not great but I'll just have to suffer it - this is the cheapest way to fix a blowing exhaust, I was never aiming for the best-sounding one.

As it is, Cearth (the guys name, not Irish or Welsh, just weird parents) has saved me well over £500, which is awesome and he is my new best friend. He's also got a 911 and a Boxster and was impressed by Barry; no leaks, not too much corrosion and even the cat is in good nick (he has an endoscope).

The exhaust sound may change a little after it beds in but it's pretty good and, most importantly, should get me through my MOT in a week or 2.

Goodwood Revival

 I've only been to the Revival once before, years ago when the kids were young and I stupidly took them with me. This meant I spent most of the day keeping them happy and they got bored by 3pm, so we left early and I saw none of the races. 

So this year, I just went by myself - it was (cliche alert) awesome.

I also decided to make an effort and dress up - bought a cheap vintage flat cap and waistcoat from eBay and it worked well:

Damn, Goodwood is...er...good - so well organised; (expensive) food and toilets everywhere, loads of stalls, themed areas, various music venues playing all day and the most amazing staff, who always seem friendly no matter how many burgers they've served that day. If you are only just a bit interested in cars, you MUST go at least once. And there is loads of stuff for non-car people as well - just brilliant.

The American Beach area - several food stalls, a band playing, dance floor - a really fun place to be:

An ear-blasting Cobra:

A Porsche 356, coming last:

One of the more dedicated outfits:

A McLaren-Chrysler with a very loud engine:

That is the GT40 owned and driven by Adrian Newey (head of Red Bull F1 team):

This Maserati was for sale for a mere £26k - I was sorely tempted, it is beautiful but flaky:

View from the bridge linking the 'Over the Road' section with the main track:

A 1960 F1 car driven by Jim Clarke:

A beautiful old BMW:

The 16 cylinder, 2L (!), 600 bhp BRM - sounded amazing out on track:

Possibly the most photographed car ever - the 250 GTO belonging to Nick Mason:

A truly stunning day out with only a few minutes of rain (it had been a monsoon the day before). I stayed until the last race finished at 7pm (having arrived at 9am), watched a twin Spitfire flyover as I walked back to Barry and then had a beautiful, top down evening drive home.

This is what Life is for...

Last of the Summer Wine

 As we slowly head into the dreary months, I had a nice drive out on the weekend; breakfast at the Chalet Cafe which is turning into more of a biker caff these days - no interesting cars there at all. I then popped along to Denbies where there was a BMW M Cars meet going on, which was interesting (but not enough to take any pics).

Earlier in the week, I went to the Brockham Cafe for lunch and, once again, got a space right outside:

It's like they know I'm coming and keep a space free - very considerate and obviously, as it should be.

I got bored of waiting for the Top Gear exhaust to come into stock (they promised mid-August), so I blew an extra £100 for the DesignTek version from Design911 (it's almost identical):

Arrived today and I've decided to try save some cash and fit it myself. It doesn't look too hard, especially as I'll have a lift; the same guy who let me use his lift for my oil change has kindly offered (well, I called him) it again for this. The only problem is he isn't free for 2 weeks, so it will have to wait. Really looking forward to it...

Belt and braces

 Been a busy few weeks - first of was an American car cruise in my local town which turned into a surprisingly fun evening. 100s of people turned out, some cool old cars and lots of yoofs also gatecrashed the event (including my son):

Also popped out at lunch one day to Torque Motors and, amazingly, the only cars there were all Porsches:

Had a week holiday and came back to a busy weekend - in one day, went on a run with the Surrey Porkers to Lasham airfield for breakfast:

...and made a detour to Caffeine and Machine - not very busy and mostly Porsches:

Finally went back to Torque Motors to meet my son - Focus RS club there and a few nice Dodge Challengers, Audi R8 etc.

While I was away, the new fan belt and coolant sensor arrived, so I had an excuse to remove the front bulkhead panel and see my engine AGAIN, from a different angle:

Changing the belt took minutes - the old one looked fine, so I doubt I'll be changing this again - in fact, the old one on the left looked better than the new one:

The coolant sensor was also pretty simple and after a short test drive, the 'fault indicator' message has gone - result!