Day 2 & the crossing over to France to drive down to Le Mans & the farm we are staying at. Today’s breakfast in the hotel became more interesting when it turned out that the chap on the table next to us owned one of the teams that races at the Le Mans 24 Hour, & that he was ‘popping over to Switzerland to have lunch with a banker who might be interested in financing next year’s team’. Nice fellow & we had a good chat. Then it was a rapid drive to the Chunnel to catch the train over to Calais. Always some nice cars around & this year was no different, with the added bonus of a shared carriage with a couple of nice Porsches & a Bentley. Meeting up with Jay some way outside Calais was relatively uneventful (compared with previous attempts!) & we headed off to Le Mans in convoy along with the accompanying (tasteful) yellow V8 MG. Predictably perhaps on her maiden voyage, we had to stop when Jay’s Mantis had temperature issues – the silver lining being ample time to oggle the newly installed LS3 while he fed it expensive French springwater!

It also allowed for an opportunity to admire fellow Brits’ cars as we all headed towards Le Mans.

With Jay’s engine temperature issues held at bay, we made good time on the Peage for a fair distance before hitting a massive queue which culminated in the discovery that the Peage had been closed off & everyone was being diverted back onto the main roads, which were predictably solid with traffic. So, filled with the British spirit of adventure & with an improbable level of confidence in Jay’s SatNav, our three cars boldly set off on a route that avoided the jams… aka ‘the opposite direction’. A lengthy but scenic tour through some beautiful French countryside & picturesque villages ensued, made all the more interesting by Jay’s Mantis losing clutch pressure. We pulled over outside a station in a random village whilst, undaunted, Jay bled the clutch… then filled it up with engine oil. Now I didn’t know you could do that! (I also get that you shouldn’t!).

Anyway, it did the trick & we cracked on, getting to Chateau Morrison a fair few hours later than planned (& dare I say it, with a slight sense of relief on my part). It’s always a pleasure to see Debbie & Darren & catch up on the latest improvements to their farm. The delayed arrival has meant extra time for the beer to chill, so everyone is happy & a few bottles have been got through with the Marcos Essex crowd who had arrived the day before. Marcos ownership & Le Mans should never be dull & on Day 2 neither has disappointed!

On the way & nothing has fallen off the car (or me!) yet. Stopped at Clackett Lane services to get bevvied up on can number one. Only Monster Ultra Red though. 

Bah! Swimming run again & once again the only parking is under some huge lime trees. The whole car needs claying after last week, with sap spots overover the whole of the car. Bummer! 😢 However not enough to damp the excitement of setting off for the Le Mans Classic tomorrow! Whoohoo! 😎

Fantastic day at Tatton Park Performance & Sports Car show. 13 out of 15 cars showed up, including a familiar LM 500 with new owner Emma, and Colin who had driven all the way up from Bournemouth… Good effort! Bloody glad I took the ‘event shelter’ because it was baking hot. Then it was time to catch up with everyone.

Favourite daughter also came along & was fab all day,  albeit at a cost! 😂

Every little helps!

All in all a great day & well worth a few hours (OK quite a few… I never said I was good at it) on Saturday of washing & polishing. Although I admit to drawing the line at waxing.

Hurrah she’s back! And OF COURSE it hasn’t been as sunny as when I didn’t have the car!… 😂

Very excited this morning! Oh yes… Going down to pick the Mantis up after THREE WEEKS down at Redline. (I had given Joe a list of things as long as my arm to be fair!). The plan was to get the train down to Trowbridge via Bristol where Joe was picking me up to take me back to Redline & run through everything he’s done on the car. However, never a dull moment with anything to do with the Marcos… Before I have even got on the train I discovered that someone had lot drunk, pinched a tractor & taken out a bridge near Cheltenham so there is major service disruption. Argh! So I will be two hours late getting to Redline with poor old Jeremy & Joe losing a chunk of their Saturday afternoon. That said, Jeremy sent me the invoice last night so I know he’ll be pleased to see me! However I am chomping at the bit to get the car back & check out the changes. The added suspense will only serve to make the reunion all the sweeter…

Ordered new boots for the car today, to be fitted while the car is down at Redline. Having seriously considered the Continental Sport Contact 5s (which have trumped the other tyres in group tests last three years), I couldn’t get them in 265s for the rear so decided to go for latest generation of my current tyres; Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3s. Hoping the wet driving & braking has improved. 😉.

Also talked to Joe at Redline who’s working on the car (good chap!), who told me that Protech couldn’t supply new shocks for at least two months 😕, which is obviously no good for me as I need the car back. Shocks are pitted, but he’s agreed they will recon the existing piston rods & seals at no charge, & we’ll get the shocks done properly when the car is there next. The list has started already!

Did anyone get the D&G reference in the title? I suspect not… 😉

I finally got the car down to Jeremy & Joe at Redline Sportscars today, with a long list of things to be done, top of the list being the two oil leaks. I was delighted to have my son along for company & having left Home about 0830 we made good time all the way down to Wilts, the only delays being motorway roadworks rather than traffic. The car behaved impeccably & I was glad to have a working stereo with 3.5 hours driving (not much scope for chatting with the top down & exhaust growling away!). We drove through the odd rain shower without complaint from his highness, even though there was enough water to fill up the door handle recesses… 😂

When we got to Redline it was a pleasant surprise to find many of the Essex group there as one of them was considering buying a car off Jeremy & had arrived mob handed with Marcos experts. The car looked lovely to me but the eagle eye of Mr Partridge spotted a few things of course. A sale was agreed however & nice to have another Marcos off to a new owner rather than languishing in a garage somewhere. My son liked the look of it too but tragically doesn’t get sufficient pocket money to afford a classic sports car aged 11 years.

Having fully briefed Joe we jumped on  train back to Wilmslow & were home just over 11 hours after leaving. Fingers crossed Joe doesn’t find anything major (or expensive!) & I can collect the car in a couple of weeks.

Excited! Just booked tickets for the UK’s fifth International Concourse in early September at… Windsor Castle, & part of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations! How cool is that! Organised by the MOC (Well done again John B) with a dinner on the Saturday evening beforehand. Should be great fun & looking forward to doing it all with my son accompanying me. An adventure all round then.

On a less cheery note the oil leak has got worse & I’ve had to top up almost from scratch again. A trip to Redline for Joe Cubitt to look at it (and many other things) is planned for next Friday & can’t come soon enough.