Suzybee

I forgot to say that it was great to see Ian driving his old car on the run, and to hear it again!

keith2.2

Right, proper post time;

After 4hrs sleep, got up and dressed trying not to disturb vicks. Had a cracking drive to the meet point at the red lion, where I parked up and left my lights on..

ooh and I also noticed that where I've been slamming my bonnet (the snorkel and cf panel seem to stop it from closing properly..) I've got a dent. But that's by the by.

The cavilcade rolled up, lights a flashing - I jumped in the car, turned on the ignition, hit the start button - nothing. Damnit!

"...Sazzy..my battery is dead! Can you give me a hand with jump start?!"

Sazzy Recovery Services kindly pulled over, and the upshot was that after flagging down a passing cyclist (not many of those at 5am on a Sunday Morning outside Welwyn!!) we got going to catch up Suzy and a couple of others who had waited for us after noticing the omission!

A cracking blat to Hemel - got out of the car and Suzy shouted over "Following you is fun!!! Make sure nobody else is allowed to!!"

Apparently Hayward and Scott have come up trumps on the exhaust!

Not sure what small town we were in, but the "hairpin" around the roundabout was surfaced beautifully...

Had to slam on the brakes again to duck into a layby mid convoy - The bottle of coke at the BP garage had caused concentration issues an hr later!!

Sorry to MQ for the stop at the Shell garage! Think there was a bit of a drop in communication so I stopped to get fuel just as everyone else left the forecourt! Hey ho

I had a nice blat back through oxford then over via aylesbury and hemel to get back to hertford to help Vicky finish off making space in the garage to park the S.

Even saw a Wedding-S2000 in Oxford. Waves exchanged.

Weather was fabulous - I've got a v-shaped tan line around my neck from my t-shirt! Much to Vickys amusement.

Air-con with the roof down just seems a bit wrong, but it felt nice!

Well done to Simon and Suzy, good to see everyone else again!

Oh and I loved "the dip"!!

Mistress Quickly

I'm looking forward to seeing Wifey's pics too. We pass through such beautiful villages, I always feel that it is a shame not to capture them. I would have loved to have got a photograph of the convoy passing through that low level mist near the start but Saz did warn me against taking pics whilst driving. Once I saw Wifey snapping away I largely resisted the temptation to pick up my camera.

My eyes are still sore this morning. I reckon I'm going to have to get a pair of goggles like the early motorists used to wear.

Been laughing to myself about about the 118 runner with the litte red shorts.

Mr Q often tells the story of taking his TR2 to the South of France in 1956 and it was so hot that he had to put the roof up. In all the years that I have been driving convertibles it has never happened to me before until yesterday.

Glad you are back from the dark side Barry.

Wish you could come on a run with us sometime Shisky. If you didn't want to bring the Merc you could passenger with me.

Suzybee

Couple of points to reply to:

Keith - it was Chesham you did the slide round the roundabout!

MQ - I closed the roof in the traffic jam in Brussels and put the air con on - it was just painfully hot - hence the lorry sneaking up on my blind side and hitting me! best not to close the roof in hot weather. I also closed the roof in Australia once in my S2k as I was being baked alive!!! and there is nothing wrong with using air con with the roof down!

MQ - please resist the goggles - they are not appropriate for an S2k!!!

keith2.2

Thinking about it - Suzy / Simon do you think you could send me the ininery file anyway? If I can get hold of a sat nav, I might talk dad into going for an early morning jaunt one weekend - bit of father/son bonding in respective sports cars!

Sazzy

that was me Keith, I think you're getting your Suzys and Sazzys mixed up

I loved following you, a combination of hearing your heel toe action, the noise of your exhaust and your bikers line (even though you're not a biker ) as well as the drifting round roundabouts.

I only did the first part of the run to Jack's due to work commitments but I think it was the best one yet. Definitely the drive of the year and like Haroon, I loved every mile of it.

It was so well organised and thank you to Suzy and AE for waiting for us whilst we got Keith back on the road, it was lots of fun playing catch up

I've not been that fast down the dip before, it really did feel like a roller coaster

Totally totally loved it. Had a great drive back with James too, although James did you see those bikers going way too fast wearing just shorts and T shirts?

Thanks Simon and Suzy plus everyone else on the run for such a fantastic morning. Can't wait 'till next year.

Sazzy

I thought it was a bit Mr. Ben, AE said Mr. Bean

keith2.2

Sorry sazzy - I was well aware it was you!! Soo many S's and Z's!!

Bikers line is from doing a RideDrive advanced day. I actually find it quite counter intuitive because it often feels like the wrong line, and it's a lot harder to link up bends smoothly compared to a "racing line" type route.

Much more effective on the open road, though, as one might imagine. The only thing I find is that when I'm taking, say, a wider line around a left-hand bend, and see something coming the other way - I move back in and invariably get flashed or gesticulated at by the oncoming driver - despite haivng seen them comfortably earlier than I would have done otherwise.

I can see it from their point of view, though. Still, that's a dicsussion for another topic.

I'll definately make more of an effort to get to more Ricky's..hopefully Vicky will fancy one, too.

By and Large, Sazzy, I had a great time! ...you weirdo

Sazzy

Interesting post

James Rae

The 3:30am rise was difficult but well worth it, I had a fantastic time.

Followed AE for most of the run, your ‘track car’ sounds very nice, especially through that tunnel! Brilliant!

Had an exciting split from the pack when AE, me and Suzy stopped to wait for keith2.2 and Sazzy. We then continued in convoy led by AE to catch up with the rest.

Only did the Ricky Run bit and went home feeling very tired from Jack’s Hill café, sat in front of the telly to watch the Grand Prix and promptly fell asleep.

Saw a couple of Caterhams and a red S2000 on the way home, flashes and waves exchanged.

Also saw the bikers Sazzy mentioned out for a summer blat wearing shorts and T-Shirts… rather them than me!

MQ those are some wonderful photos! Sally took some nice pictures too so I’ll attempt to put them up on here tonight.