Tatton frenzy

A triumphant return from the Tatton Park Classic Car Show for yours truely, and indeed everyone who turned up for the Marcos stand! Having rashly decided to clean my car when it stopped raining yesterday (it didn’t!), I had to stir my bones at 0600 hours this morning & make some kind of last ditch effort. Fortunately it wasn’t raining & a ninety minute stint left the car looking clean (no time for polish) – clean enough to get 2nd place for “Best two seater of Show”… I am quite chuffed about that! There were seven Marcos in total at the show (two Mantis Spyders, two LMs, three GTs), and we were awarded first place in the “Highly Commended Club Stand” category (ninety club stands in all, three “Best Club Stand” trophies so that means fourth out of ninety – not bad eh?).

 

It really was that grey…

Prepping for Le Mans

I’m hoping to guarantee a faultless trip to & from Le Mans by getting the car serviced, so it was off down to Mr Chivers for some TLC for the Mantis. Apart from the service, Dave also fitted the new stone chip guards which look the dogs danglies, but I didn’t half wince when he wrenched the old ones off (taking half the paint with them!) – I am far too scared to treat the car like that! We examined the roll-bar positioning to see if there was any way we could counter the slightly off-center positioning caused by the chassis location, but it would have been a lot of work for a little gain; I have decided to live with the hood frame rubbing the nearside section of the rollbar. Chassis also liberally doused with waxoyl. Tried to fit the accessory built sent by MHS (discovered a spare in the boot as well – Doh!) to replace the squeaky one but however we strained it was just too short. Gave up eventually. The main achievement was the windscreen however! Dave removed the T-piece & scraped the windscreen surround down, revealing numerous holes in the seal where you could put your finger through to the inside of the car! Amazing the car didn’t leak more than it actually did really, but still pretty poor work by MHS when they fitted it a couple of years ago. Anyway sealant was duely reapplied then allowed to go off overnight, which seemed like a good excuse to stay over & go to the pub! T-piece re-fitted Sunday morning & looked sweeeeet. On the way home I called in at Redline Sportscar where Jeremy, the factory salesman, now operates the numero uno Marcos showroom. Despite just having locked & alarmed the building, when Dave C & I turned up in the two Mantis, JK opened everything up again so I could look round, & even responded to a casual enquiry about stock by taking the dust covers off each car & talking me through them. What a tremendous chap, and dammit, if I hadn’t already got one I would’ve bought another! I soon had the opportunity to test how successful we had been in resealing the windscreen, as the heavens truely opened as I drove back up north from Wiltshire. I must admit I was a little too stubborn about getting the hood up this time, & only stopped to reluctantly erect it when I realised that I had left the motorway & gone up a sliproad without realising, at which point I had to admit that I couldn’t see a bloody thing! Touchingly several people risked pneumonia themselves by winding down their windows to jeer at me as they shot past – fair enough!

Back to Rockingham for ‘Thunder Sunday’

Yesterday was Thunder Sunday at Rockingham (oval banked circuit). As per last year’s visit, the line-up was mainly Mantis, but Debbie & Darren were there in their uber-shiny LM500 again. Apart from showing the cars, we got another opportunity to do a couple of laps around the track in front of the crowd, which saw the usual hooning with the exception of myself, as I demonstrated the more sophisticated side of the Marcos Mantis. (There may have been a teeny wheel spin but personally I put that down to poor clutch control… ) The organisers also used Marcos to parade the race drivers for the primary event up & down in front of the crowd. I happen to be at the front of the line of Marcos so got to take the current champion (Steve someone?) – a thoroughly unpleasant fellow who was clearly bored by the proceedings & lacked even the manners to greet the person whose car he then proceeded to put his feet all over. (The other drivers were quite chatty apparently). I also succumbed to a Road Angel 2 (Speed Camera thingy) as they were fifty quid off. Bugger knows why I bought one as I don’t exactly thrash the car, on the other hand I’m a sucker for a gadget with a discount! I was gutted when I discovered that I couldn’t get at the 12V socket under the dash because the Stereo Amp is in the way, so it became a very expensive box…

Today continued on to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh with some of the remnants from Rockingham. There were a good few Marcos there already when we bowled up. Mike McCullough (probably spelt that wrong!) seems to have powder-coated anything he hasn’t already chromed, his Mantis engine look stunning but I bet he doesn’t drive it when it’s wet! Weather stayed reasonable until mid-afternoon by which time I had my find-of-the-day, a collapsible bucket! Woohoo! God I need a life… Anyway drove back with the hood down & stayed dry enough except for the odd set of traffic lights & standing traffic. As usual after two days of ‘car stuff’ my head hurts & I am knackered!