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One out of two ain't bad ! The 7 was first at 8.00 am, so I thought I'd get up at 6.00 and fix the foglamp.
Now, trying to fix ANYTHING before you've had a cup of tea is inviting disaster, and so it was - I managed to take out the front AND rear sidelights !!
 Wose was to come ..... a lot of the rivetts under the seat had pulled out, meaning the car is a fail due to imminent possibilty of driving with my arse atually ON the road !!!
 So, two weeks to fix and get back to the MOT station for another test ....
11.00am , and with the 7 not passing it was the 911's time !, as I drew in another lovely '68 Porsche 912, which had failed on a lot of welding !!!
 The amazing thing is that 22 years seperate these two cars !!! , and almost all parts are different.
After a very tense 48 minutes, I was handed a green MOT !
1 out of two ain't bad !!, but no blatting for a while , and time for me to hone my rivetting skills !! On nights like these ...... Mission: Ben Long's Thames Valley Meet
Forecast: low cloud, but no rain......
Looking at the sky told another story however...... After a little pondering, I decided to throw caution to the wind and head for Ben Long's Newbury Sevens meet.
2 miles from home I felt a light rain mist on my face (in an aeroscreened car, this feels like a acupuncture session applied with extreme prejudice !), and almost decided to scratch the mission !
Pressing on I took the motorway, as getting to a nice pint of Rin Tin Tin was the priority.
Approaching the pub, the sunset blasted through the clouds, casting an eerie , almost forest-fire like red-sky !
Arrived to find a few other hardy Seveners had decided to ignore the dark clouds, along with a very well prepared Ginetta G33 (http://www.g33.co.uk/). The Newbury meet always has some great cars, with TR 6's, Westfield 11's, A lovely Lotus 23 replica, and of course David's very cosseted Crossflow - possibly the cleanest in UK !! (Hi David !)
The ride back was a formation blast with me and Cannonball Bob flanked by Ben and 4 other outriders on their quad-bikes (those boys are nutters !!!) This sort of stuff almost makes going to work worthwhile (almost !!!!) Sleeping with the enemy ! Deja vu ? - it seems like only a couple of months ago I replaced the 964's alternator front bearing....
Homeward bound from work on Thursday night, a worrying smell pervaded my nostrils ! - that electrical burning smell you always try and persuade yourself you are just imagining !
Pulled over behind 2 parked RAC vans, who just ignored me completely and moved off shortly afterwards. So bonnet up , I restarted the engine to a very deep grinding noise , and the ABS Ligtht on, and sparks emanating from the alternator...Deja vu indeed ! :(.
Crawled back the final mie and a half on sidelights to conserve battery power, fire extinguisher at the ready, and breathed a sigh of relief to be home !
The funniest thing was, after bracing myself for the massive cost of a new alternator, Euro Car Parts came up with a recon unit for, wait for it - 100 pounds !! which is cheaper than a beetle part !!!
Oh, and the opportunity to park the 7 in front of Porsche's HQ was just too good to pass up....strangely though, they weren't their usual congenial hosts, and no cup of tea was forthcoming - I must dress up next time I go !
Rob Mansers 1st Race (Castle Combe 13 Apr 09)The fog was closing in and the weather didn't look good as I hauled myself out of bed at stupid o'clock, made my lunch and left in my usual inimitable style (read as , usually very late)
I decided on the 911 for the journey as it is just one long stretch of M4, and was ue to meet Colin in his Seven at 8.00am. I was late again and about 1 minutes behind, so called Col and said I'd meet on the M4 - Put the hmmer down , and 10 minutes later a green and yellow Seven edged into view.
Arrived at the circuit, where Rob had organised tickets and a car pass for Competitor parking - Decided that the public parking was way too far to walk and managed to blag a space next to Colin !!
  A Foggy start to the day !
Rob has sold his Caterham and teamed up with Edgington Racing , who are a pretty good set-up, and make extremely good coffee !!! (Cheers all !) for a race series in a Van Diemen Formula Renault.
A good performance in wet testing earlier in the week set the scene for the weekend race.
A walk round the pits showed the very diverrse machiner from Tiger R6's and Caterhams, through Formula Ford and Vee, to the Stock Hatch , and even (I kid you not) a race Jaguar X-Type !
 The Hamlet Cigars sponsored XJS racer had a high Luxury-to-weight ratio !
After breakfast , which absolutely MUST be of the 'greasy spoon heart attack' variety, we sat up on the bank next to the start line. Almost immediately an on-fire red R6 headed off track towards the marshall station directly in front of us - it was amazing to see how fast the flames took hold, and some indecisiveness from the marshalls meant the bodywork got some fire damage. (Must check the extinguisher in my Seven !)
The next catergory was 'Stock Hatch' which is mainly football hooliganism on wheels - 40 mainly Saxo's into one corner simply does not go !, and rolls, shunts, and just plain bad driving abounded !, and the second race was abandoned.
Rob's two races were much more gentlemanly, with no John Cleland BTCC type tactics in evidence.
At the end of the day we headed into Castle Combe Village, proported to be the most picturesque in England, for a couple of beers, and possibly the thickest sandwiches in the UK !
Incidentally, ALWAYS take your sun cream with you , and remember not to wer your sunglasses all day to avoid 'polar bear' eyes ! - My boss asked me if I'd been skiing over the weekend !!!
Full album HERE  Rob's Formula Renault
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