:: Diary - July 2006 ::

:: Saturday, July 1, 2006 ::

TVR Club meeting.

Refitted the wheel arch liners, still without the extensions on each side. I need to buy another couple of bits of plastic.

Another couple of new members - these cars are getting far too common.

Various events planned for the summer - I put the car down for a classic car fair at Knockhill race circuit later in July, and for two shows in August, at Irvine and Callander.

I've got a sunburnt head again. Note to self - buy a hat.

I also have a badly burnt right arm. Note to self - if there's a big queue in the chip shop, don't stand for ages too close to the kebab machine.

:: Sunday, July 2, 2006 ::

A nice early morning blooter before garaging the car for my holidays.

Also removed the guest book and forum from the web site, because they are getting filled with spam and other crap. I have added a "contact me" facility instead, just in case anybody is daft enough to want to.

:: Friday, July 14, 2006 ::

Bought an A4 bit of black plastic for 75p, which will be perfect for making the little front mudflaps I have been thinking about for over a year. I also bought large washers for my pop riveter, so that I can fix them on.

Also ordered a top balljoint for the nearside from the local motor factors - a grand total of £11.21. He has ordered it in for Monday.

Then spent hours (and hours) modifying this website, mainly to change the "look" in the browser window - I have felt for ages that it was too "sprawly" in width, for the size of print, but have tried before (and failed many times) to get the "frames" to appear narrower and centralised in the browser window. Today I cracked it, largely thanks to my son, who wrote a whole web site in less time than it took me to fix this one, and then uttered a few words of advice.

I did repay him by showing him how to fix the "send email" link on his site though, so he's not as smart as he thinks he is. I hope.

I still have three days before I go back to work. I think I'll fit the mudflap thingys, polish the bonnet (which has not been polished since it was repainted) and try to take some scratches out of the boot lid. The car is on show at the first Scottish Classic Fair at Knockhill racing circuit next sunday, so I want it to look reasonably decent. This show has been set up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first race win of Jim Clark, Borders farmer and World Formula 1 Champion in 1963 and 1965, and also of the win by the Ecurie Ecosse racing team of the Le Mans 24 hours race in 1956 in Jaguars.

The weather promises to be good this weekend too, though, so some driving is also in order.

:: Saturday, July 15, 2006 ::

Along to the garage first thing, to fit the mudflap thingys. First cut the A4 plastic in half, lengthways, then remove the bottom wheelarch screw on each side, and slip the plastic up behind, between the wheelarch and the body. A little bit of gaffa tape to hold it in place till I adjust both sides, then remove one arch completely, and drill a 3mm hole and insert a pop rivet with large washers each side to spread the grip. Then another 3 rivets, remove the gaffa tape and refit to the car, then do the other side and hey presto!

I have mudflaps!

They are only tiny unobtrusive ones just to prevent crap being thrown onto the front of the chassis outrigger, but as this is a well known rust point, it's worth it!

Considering that I have been thinking about doing this for over 2 years, the actual job was a doddle.

Total cost = 75p for plastic and £2.00 for large diameter rivet washers.

:: Sunday, July 16, 2006 ::

Decided to polish and wax the bonnet, just to give the paint some protection from the flying limefields we have around here. I haven't polished the bonnet since I got it back from that paintshop (for the third time) in March, so it should have dried out enough by this time.

It already has a splatter mark embedded in the paint which I hope will polish out.

A polish with an orbital polisher, and then a wax later, and my squashed insect collection and bird crap artwork has all gone, lost forever, and the bonnet is nice and shiny.

So nice and shiny, in fact, that I'll now have to wax the rest of the car again. Can't be bothered today though, it's too hot, even in the shade. I'll have to do it before the car show on Sunday though.

I also need to clean the dashboard and carpets which are, quite frankly, minging.

:: Monday, July 17, 2006 ::

Last day of holidays today!

Polished up the rest of the car bodywork including the door shuts, underbonnet paintwork etc.

A spot of touch up paint on the new fibreglass on the boot channel drain pipe. I'm not sure that the paint matches exactly, but it looks ok.

Then cleaned all the carpets, seats, dashboard, door trims etc.

Polished the exhaust pipes.

What else? I forget. Oh yes, gave the engine a quick clean over, not that it was that manky to start with.

I was also going to dress the tyres but I left the cleaner along at the garage and I can't be bothered going along for it. I want to clean the tyres and the rubber bumpers before Sunday (although I could do it while I'm there, I suppose).

:: Saturday, July 22, 2006 ::

Today the club has organised a run to see Concorde in an air museum near here, and then a barbeque.

The first (and hopefully only) problem is that I haven't been back to sort out the tyre dressing etc - so it's off to the garage first thing to do that. In a fit of early morning enthusiasm I also wax the whole car again and machine polish it. It's looking mighty fine!

So I drive to the museum, and park up, in an area of the car park that has been reserved so that we can have a wee impromptu display of our own. You'll notice in the photos that it's quite sunny. Remembar that, it could be important later.

Concorde is an amazing example of pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge and engineering. It's a beautiful thing. The tour starts with a trip inside to see around. The most surprising thing is how small it is inside - the crew areas and the galley, where they prepared gourmet meals, is miniscule - about the size of a shower cubicle.

Concorde was so far ahead of its time that, if it was to be designed now, it would still be about 10 years too early. At the time, it was the project to rival the American space race, and a damn sight more useful too. Of course, if Concorde was to be designed now, it would be deemed unacceptable on environmental grounds, it would be too noisy and would have to be towed into the air by a Tiger Moth or some bloody thing, and every nimby on the planet would be acting to object to it because it's visually intrusive because they could see it once from their greenhouse if they stand on a chair balanced on a table and use binoculars.

On the other hand if Concorde was to be designed and built now, it would be condemned to death at the start because Britain plc is run by accountants and bean-counters who are obsessed by profit (not to mention the promise of personal honours if they redirect enough of the profits in certain directions) and the concept of national pride has been totally lost.

So unfortunately it is probably the first and last of its kind, and its loss is the biggest backward step in aviation since Wilbur Wright took a cartoon run-up before jumping the length of a football pitch and into the history books (there's an interesting thought: Concorde itself is longer than the length of the first flight by the Wright brothers!).

This has been a party political broadcast by the totally-pissed-off-with-the-nanny-state party.

It was apparently very easy to fly too. Obviously. I wonder if those dials also steam up within 30 minutes of starting it?

Anyway - then we set of for a convoy run for an hour or so, to allow time for the barbeque to be prepared.

I have tried for over 10 minutes to think of a caption for this picture but I can't.

Overall, it was a very good day out, an excellent idea by Noel, good barbeque, so thanks very much to Noel and Clare.

Oh and I won a bottle of wine in the raffle!

:: Sunday, July 23, 2006 ::

The Scottish Classic Speedfair at Knockhill today. It's sunny. Remember that.

We set off early and stop on the motorway to help a man in an MG who has broken down (the car has, not the man). He carries a bootload of tools and spares, including an old fuel pump, and is obviously used to doing these roadside repairs. I find this quite ironic since I am the one with the so-called unreliable TVR, and I don't carry any spares, and only a tiny box of the most elementary tools. I do have breakdown cover, though, but (touch wood) I've never had to use it.

Anyway I leave MG man to it, before anybody passing starts to think that he's stopped to help me, and carry on to Knockhill. We arrive to the usual parking chaos, and I am directed into a free space by Hitler's mother. While I am trying to reserve space next to me for the other 4 cars, a man comes up and tells me I'm in his club's space, and the only reason that it's free is because some of his members have been directed somewhere else.

Considerable moaning and grumping ensues, until I spot a man with a radio and a car park map. A quick chat and we get reorganised into the right places. I blag a spot beside the entrance, backing onto the race track and within strolling range of the juice van. Oooo! Suits you sir!

The others arrive a few minutes later, we park up, and fix the club banner to the crash barrier behind us, using a gazillion tiny plastic cable ties. I unpack my necessities for the day: 2 seats, a dust brush, some dead-bug-remover spray, and a couple of cloths.

I clean the film of dust off the car and then clean off all the dead things.

Nothing left to do then except sit around a bit, chat to people, sit around some more. This would be a lot easier if my seats hadn't been nicked by people too stingy to spend a fiver to buy their own.

I clean another film of dust off the car. It's dry and sunny and there's dust everywhere.

Then we all park ourselves on our chairs, getting up occasionally to watch the various events, including a Spitfire flypast

4 guys with parachutes

Sir Jackie Stewart in the Tyrell he drove to the World Championship in 1973 - it's in a private collection in Canada (I think they said) so this is the first time he's been reunited with it. He blooters round for a few demonstration laps. He's not bad I suppose...

He also does a few demonstration laps in a Jaguar.

The Lotus of former world champion Jim Clark is also there.

I clean another film of dust off the car. It's still dry and sunny and there's still dust everywhere.

At 4:30pm I realise that it's sunny, (mainly prompted by the burning sensation on my head) so I put on some sun cream. Clever eh?

Then at the end the clubs are invited to do a parade lap around the circuit, which is superb.

This photo, and the photos of Sir Jackie in the Tyrell, were taken by my son, who is showing a fair degree of promise as a photographer.

We arrive home 12 hours after we left, with severe sunburn.

An absolutely brilliant day out and I hope that Knockhill are encouraged to hold this event every year, as the Scottish "Festival of Speed".

Oh and finally - a sincere and heartfelt thank you to whoever it was who dragged their bag across the boot of the car while I was having a look around some of the other displays, and scored it from one side to another, leaving a series of obvious (to me and probably to them) scratches. You really made my day complete. I fervently hope that you also had a good and enjoyable day, and that your next shite is an obese breech-birth hedgehog. Careless inconsiderate pillocks like you should be compelled to travel in the back of bin lorries where you can do no harm.