Return of the Beast

 I organised a run with the Surrey Porkers down to Caffeine and Machine, near Petersfield at the weekend. The sun was out and it was a lovely day, although a bit of an arctic wind kept the actual temperature low.

The run was a bit longer than we usually do, so I only got 4 takers, which was fine. We met up at Denbies:

And had a fun run down, with a brief stop at a fancy hotel for a coffee:

...before making our way to C&M, who had a 'Built Not Bought' event on. Ironic, since I should have taken Zedster to this. There were 2 or 3 other kitcars there but really, it was just an excuse to go for a drive in great weather.

Coming out of winter hibernation (well, it's been out for a few weeks) was my son's C63 AMG and he has recently had it straight-piped, so it is even louder than before. Personally, it is a little too loud for me (and everyone in the Porkers group, who really don't like it) but my son loves it, which is all that counts:

Our run back was even better as I went via my favourite back-road route and we managed to avoid any traffic - Barry sang beautifully, as usual, and was a joy through the twisties.

Next big event is the Goodwood track day on April 7th - I hope I haven't made a mistake booking Barry in for this. He is 20 years old and track days are intense, although this is only half a day, so hopefully it will be fine.

Plethora of Porsches

 This weekend was a long-planned Tribal Gruppe run to the Cotswolds, taking in Jeremy Clarksons pub and a couple of other 'secret' stops.

I had an early start at 6.15am, 0 degC and very foggy. I took the simple motorway route and the fog didn't clear until the M40 but it left behind a beautiful, sunny day which stayed clear all day - amazing after the dreary grey of the last few weeks.

I met up with the first group of about 15 Porsches coming out of the services and we had a fun convoy for an hour to the meet point at Mollies diner:

Strangely, even though I hadn't booked, I got a table with Ric (guy from the Surrey Porkers group) and we had a nice coffee and bacon and egg bun - perfect!

A short, 15 minute convoy to JCs pub, The Farmers Dog near Burford where we filled the car park:

The pub itself wasn't open but the famous Grand Tour tent was, although they didn't do coffee (no English-grown coffee) so I just took some pictures:

After about 30 minutes of chat with a few people I met on the last run, we set off to Petroyle Restorations which were having a car day anyway, so we totally crowded the place out:

There were some great other cars here - thè owner of this camper van was a die-hard fan and won this beauty in a raffle! Valued at £75k:

Beautiful Ferrari 488 and Aston:

...and a very impressive Cortina with a turbo Cossie engine:

They were also restoring this Jensen interceptor, putting a 450bhp V8 in it:

The place was so packed, I had parked outside which meant I was able to leave before most of the others but I seemed to choose the opposite direction to everyone else, wandered through some tiny lanes alone and met up with some of the others halfway to the next stop, the Classic Motor Hub.

In the middle of nowhere, they also had garages of restoration projects and some beautiful cars for sale:

By now, it was 1pm and there was still another run to Caffeine and Machine near Stratford-upon-Avon but that was another 50 minutes away and I wanted to get home by 4pm at the latest - it would be a stretch if I went to C&M, so I set off for home instead.

I had a great run back, keeping clear of the motorways and choosing some awesome B-roads, getting home at about 4pm.

Got to say, Barry is such an awesome car! The banshee wail of the engine at high revs is magnificent and I feel like it can be heard for miles. How do people settle for EVs? Bloody lovely, it was...and since the drop links and pads change, he is completely rattle-free. I didn't realise how many little rattles there were but now he is silent, allowing me to luxuriate in the engine howl.

What a great day out 😀