Brooklands 2010
There was a bit of confusion about the leaving times as with BST and the alteration on the forum but we are big enough not to let it bother us.
Leaving the Malt Shovel at 8.20 ish we (Alec, Eric, Kevin, Jason-Rahul, Andy & Sven) convoyed to Brooklands with Eric at the helm.
We went the back route and went straight in to Brooklands as there was no queue, we were directed to the bank and we all lined up leaving a space for Brian Wellsted. Justin had arrived in his Smart car (in the non-Mini car park) but had to go home to drop off the pooch.
I had a walk around the trade stands and bought a few tit bits for the master cylinder. Some of the cars in the concourse were very nice, but I can’t help thinking is all the money and time worth a cup which costs about £5? 

The Hill climb was as entertaining as usual, but it was a little chilly and as I had to go home to fixed my daughter’s car I left at 1pm ish not soon before may others apparently.

Overall a relaxation easy show about ½ from home.

January 2010

Bingley Hall 2010

The day started early in the morning with me meeting Jason at his place, I had been told to wait outside as he had taken Bimu around the block to get him warmed up, soon enough I saw the eerie yellow glow of Bimu’s headlights and heard the rumble of his exhaust. Unfortunately Jason wouldn’t be able to come along due to unforeseen circumstances but he would be able to guide me and Pete to Denham as I couldn’t remember the way. We waited for Pete; soon we heard the rumble of another exhaust and the “wee wee waah waah” of his straight cut box, it was the first time we were meeting Pete so we talked for a few minutes before setting off. Following Jason we made it to the meeting point in Denham, Justin was already there with Francesca in the estate but we were soon joined by Floydie and Andy. We were getting ready to leave just as Eric and Debby came before a final farewell came from the tannoy “You’re on CCTV!!” Odd!!

Still feeling sleepy we joined the M40 thinking about the crazy love we have for these cars which make us get up early in the morning and then travel in them for many miles. Halfway through the journey we stopped at services for a deserved break where we caught up with each other and wondered if we would ever feel our legs again, it was cold!! We topped up the cars with oil, fuel etc and set off again. I got a text from a friend already there asking how the snow was, I thought that was odd as it was bone dry where we were!! Pete bought batteries for his portable radio so we amused ourselves rest of the way trying to find reception and good music to listen to.

After a while we arrived and sure enough there was snow!! We were looking forward to seeing more minis and spending hard earned cash, there was a queue to get in and the cars were moving slowly up an incline, which meant loads of stopping and starting. I noticed something odd, smoke coming through the vents, this couldn’t be good. The temperature shot up to H and we had to quickly pull over. Smoke was coming out from the clutch cover (has holes drilled in it) and it stank of clutch. Justin pulled over and we told Justin and the rest we would meet them inside. We embarrassed as we had broken down just around the corner from the entrance. After waiting for about 15mins and thanking mini owners for slowing down and offering help we managed to get the mini into the show. Thoughts of going home on the AA truck were scaring us.

The show was huge, minis everywhere on display and loads of traders, loads of people too! Pete and me were looking for everyone else but we couldn’t find them, we managed to find friends from the mini forum and went around putting faces to names we had seen on the forum. After getting Justin’s number from the ad in the estate we realised Floydie was sitting in his mini with the little one who was feeling ill. We went back to the show and had a proper look around; Justin was spending the moolah by the looks of it as he had a couple of bags stuffed with goodies!! I made the mistake of saying I would come back to stalls later as I found stuff was selling fast and wasn’t there when I went back. Pete was looking to buy new bucket seats and found a nice pair in black with blue piping. I came away with new hubs and a water pump. We also got to see the new seven port head specialist components had which looked tasty but for 3 grand with all the bits needed it looked like we would have to buy a couple more lottery tickets and keep saving in the piggy bank!!

We met up in the car park and loaded our goodies. The journey back was all good and to our surprise Pete’s mini was behaving well. A little hiccup came along when we (Me, Pete, Justin and Francesca) managed to get onto the M5 and make a trip to Birmingham; we filled up with fuel and got back on course..Oops!! We met up with everyone else who were waiting at services which was nice as we were feeling lonely and lost with no other minis around. The rest of the journey back went well and trouble free.

All in all it was a really good day out, loads of minis to see and stuff to buy!!

A good mini start to the New Year I thought!!

Rahul

September 6th, 2009

Minis by the Sea 2009

As Cecil is still off the road, I caught a ride with Justin which meant an extra early start to get to his place for us to be at the pub for 7am. From there on Alec led the way, or rather his SatNav, which took us along motorways, so not the most interesting route, but a quick one. The result? We got to Worthing at 8.30 despite never doing more than 60 mp/h according to the estate's instruments, and where amongst the first Minis on site. Who were we? Alec, Justin with me as a passenger, stretch, Brian and Debbie and her mum in the Micra as the Mini had sold the day before.

Once parked up right at the front (later turned out to be not so great due to at times extremely loud music) we put up the gazebo and made some tea. The forecast had been okay and so far it was a bit cloudy but warm-ish. After a nice cuppa and as a few of us had had no breakfast, we went off to buy some bacon and bread. We finally found it in a supermarket for which we had to wait until it opened at 10am ... why did we leave so early again?

Back to the show and soon the bacon was sizzling, announcing the arrival of breakfast. What became clear at this point was the tone of the day. No children and the mix of people made for interesting language and banter.  After the food had been eaten and more tea consumed we went for a first round of the showground. It's not massive but the number of Minis always is amazing. It also leaves little room for autojumble/merchants, so overall the day was one of the less expensive ones. We did buy some tickets for the raffle though, seeing all the money was for charity it's kind of a must.

A few rounds of the showground later, stretch and Alec went "shoe shopping" and actually did come back with some shoes for stretch. Though Alec had to go back later to buy a book. In the meantime the auction had started which we did not pay too much attention to. The drawing of the raffle tickets afterwards however caught our attention. Not only because we had bought tickets and therefore a chance of winning something, but also because a lot of people assembled between our club stand and the organiser's tent which gave us some nice insights into ... well ... let's say interesting sights. Oh, and we also won, Arni won a "Mini only" parking sign and stretch won some books.

During the autcion/draw we also witnessed a coach knocking off some of the letters over the entrance of a hotel right next to the showground. We must assume the driver was blinded by the shining Minis across the road, as otherwise he just had no clue about the size of his vehicle. He got a few laughs and even some applause though.

It was then time to pack up and head for home, along the same route as we had taken there. This time the drivers got a bit more playful and changed the order of cars a few times. All good fun until stretch realised his car was running on fumes. Justin, at this point in the lead and unaware of the fuel crisis, pressed on which meant I made it home just in time for dinner.

All in all a great day out. As much as I enjoy driving a Mini, being a passenger once in a while is rather enjoyable as well. It also allows me to take pictures on the road, so have a look at the gallery here.

August, 8th/9th 2009

IMM 2009

Click on the image for a larger version

The MMC went in two groups, Saturday saw Justin, Alec and Floydie while on Sunday Arni, Stretch, Jason, Eric, Debbie, Alison, Andy and his daughter went, though Jason was passenger to Stretch and Debbie to Eric, so we had five cars. As I was only there on the Sunday, I can't comment on Saturday.

We met for a 7 am start at the Denham McDonalds, stretch was nearly late as he had slept in, but we made it off the mark and got on our way more or less on time. I had the gazebo on the roof and also the sat nav in my car, so I was leading and trying to keep the pace at around 60 mp/h. We made one scheduled stop for Jason to get some cash but apart from that had a very smooth journey. As this was Alison's first motorway drive, Debbie jumped in with her for the way up to Longbridge and it went by with no problems. Alison felt confident enough to tackle the drive back on her own.

Once we got to the site I was expecting a gate with someone checking our tickets. They didn't, at least not really. They wanted to see the clubstand card but that was it. And since Alison was in between stretch and Eric she was let onto the grounds and then simply joined us on the clubstand. Andy initially parked in the car park for day visitors but later also moved his car onto the stand. We were also not told where to go, so we drove onto the grounds, looking for a place that was reasonably dry and settled for behind the main arena.

The grounds were still quite soft from the rain earlier in the week, but more or less dry, so we set up the club stand, organised our cars, decorated them and then made a cuppa. I had brought "For Sale" signs for the Mini (the red one), so I stuck them on and then we went to find some friends that had come over from Germany. We found them quickly at the rocker cover races where their son was competing (though he did not win anything). I left Gerlinde and the kids with them and went for a shopping trip as I needed parts for Cecil. After having been round most of the stalls I met up with the rest of the family again and we had a look around the concourse area. Quite a few nice cars, especially the '59 club. There is something just right about MkI cars.

We then went back to the club stand for a spot of lunch and a cup of tea. The weather had turned out really nicely, blue skies, no clouds and, especially inside the gazebo, rather warm and also humid. After lunch it was time for the kids to have a go on the bouncy castle. I used the time to make my way up the hill to have a look around the site and the cars parked up there. It was really impressive how many people from around Europe had turned up.

Click on the image for a larger version

We then went to meet up with our friends at their tent as they had brought something over from Germany for us. Just after we got there I got a call from stretch. A couple had turned up at the clubstand and they were interested in my Mini. I made my way back there while Eric and stretch entertained them (thank god that did not put them off too much). They had a look around the car, quite brief I thought and then made me an offer. Ideally they wanted to take the car with them straight away but since I had not anticipated such a quick sale I had not brought the V5 so we had to settle for collection during the week. They gave me a downpayment and then went off in search of parts. About 2 minutes later she came back and asked if it was okay for them to come and collect the car later on in the evening. We agreed on around 7 pm and she went off again.

I headed back to the tent from where we a bit later made our way back to the clubstand since our friends wanted to see the Mini and this was the last chance they would have. We then caught the last few minutes of Mike Brewer and Ed China filming for "Wheeler Dealers" in the main arena before we headed over the road to see Russ Swift do a bit of fancy driving. I am not sure I would have taken part with my car, but two people did. One even with a German registration. She did get a bit of a shock when Russ did a J-turn between the two cars and missed her Mini by not more than an inch at most. One day I'll take a course to learn some of those stunts ...

After we got back to the club we met Stimpy and his family who had driven up on their own but had come around for a chat. Then the boys (Eric, stretch, Jason and Arni) had a walk around the autojumble area before we started packing up.

The way back was smooth as the way up, a bit more traffic at times but no problems whatsoever. Somewhere around half distance we split up a bit. I needed to get home to sell the Mini and stretch wanted to go a bit faster as well (not as fast as Stimpy though, who came flying past at one point. Love the color on the car ...). Back home I had barely 10 minutes to get the Mini ready for being picked up. We settled the money and paperwork and then had to wave goodbye to a very trusty companion. I hope he has gone to a good new home!

Click here for the gallery!

June, 21st 2009

Middlesex Town & Country Show

Not a car show for a change, but a Town & Country Show. On our doorstep, in the same place as the Uxbridge Motor Show in July, so easy to get to. In preparation we all had to bring our insurance and MOT papers (though no-one ever wanted to see them) and the letter we got stated that no movement of cars would be allowed once the show openend. So, we got there early with the result that no one from the organising team had any idea what to do with us. After a short moment of confusion, we took matters into our own hands and set up our club stand in a space that seemed dedicated to cars and was empty. Nobody ever questioned us being there, so we couldn't have been far wrong.

In time, another Clubman and an Elf joined the line up, only a red Cooper decided to park on its own amongst other cars that had assembled. The driver of the latter later told me he did not want to disturb our club as he wasn't a member. So, we had (picture from left), the two visitors, Justin, Eric's roundnose and Eric's clubman, floydie, Justin's dad and Alec. My car had failed it's MOT just days before so I was only a passenger, which is actually quite nice once in a while.

click on the picture for a larger version

As the showground slowly filled with people, we sat baxk, relaxed and had a cup of tea. Over the course of the day Sylvia dropped by with her daughter, Eric's daughter including her children made an appearance and Justin's wife and daughter showed up for a picnic. We all, at various times, wandered around the showground, which included attractions such as ferret racing and a large marquee full of stalls selling all sorts of food and drink. Small strawberry tartlet for over 2 quid anyone?

As floydie had brought his gas BBQ, we had a large lunch (Eric finished off most of the 20 sausages we had on top of all the burgers) and, to be honest, a very relaxed day with not much to do overall. We did take part in the car parade in the central arena in the early afternoon, but since there were no autojumble or other car related stands, we spent a lot of time on the stand (and also very little money). A nice change from car shows, but not something I would have wanted to spend 8 quid entrance fee on.