Just Traveling

Not much activity really.

SAAB out PM to get plumbing parts and quick trip to Harkstead was about it.

So just one more from Zoute.

A nice blue Bristol engined AC.

Cleaning - but not Cars

I spent the day cleaning the house. Deep cleaning the sitting room etc. so it looks presentable for the video Lucy and Oli are hosting on Saturday. Surprising how dirty everything was.

In the evening I was able to look through the pics from Zoute.

Some will be ok with processing but lots are quite 'flat' - as was the event for me.

Here is a nice Aston modern one though.

Perhaps I've just seen too many cars already to be excited by much. F40 - saw two this week already.

Spoilt Git.

ION: 'The Donald' seems to have pulled it off. The rest of the Israeli hostages have been released and the shooting has stopped. 'Well I never' said the world.

More de-tours ?

I had a better look at the nice BMW 4 series in the morning as we left - only to spot the grill.

Oh dear. That was ugly - unlike many cars it was actually much better from the rear.

Then more round the houses in the modens, this time because there was a marathon going through the town we were planning to have brunch in - only to find that the Belgians don't do Brunch it appears.

Lunch over we went our separate ways. We had a good run back to the train past Bruges where I recognised the gates - all on fairly empty roads. We then flexi-plus'ed our way past the queues - this time without incident.

The run back up M20/25 and A12 was good too and we were back home  by 7:30 - including getting petrol. So five hours was a good time. We could have probably shaved 30 mins off that if we had timed the train better. 500 miles all on one tank over the weekend - quite civilised all in all.

Finally SAAB to get a take away. Back to normal.

How to avoid Parking Charges - and Would I go again ?

Off early in the BMW again as I worried about parking - but someone had plan ...

The interesting trick was Jeremy and his electric car. I was still concerned about finding a parking place but he just found a charge point - reduced the charging rate on the battery and we stayed there 'free' all day - slowly charging.

Here we are smugly parked up in the town - lets ignore the fact that it does not fit in the bay.

So what of the actual Zoute Grand Prix ? We arrived early and already it was very busy. Confusing and Chaotic and Mostly Modern as far as we could see. Cars revving and burning up the street. Obviously a very rich town. Lots to look at though. Like this beauty.

As to the Zoute Grand Prix (again). The first part we found was along the beach promenade where the modern car companies were trying to pair their new (mostly electric) models with classics. Oddly the first one we came across was this Mazda Cosmo.

'If I want to see one of those I'll go to Shotley' I said.

Having wandered past a few we went to watch the start of one of the exclusive tours. Mostly modern cars at the front again - ok modern like a Bugatti Veyron and an Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato - so special, but that was not what I'd come to see so I decided to go to the Concours instead.

The Concours was mixed. A few pre-war cars - but mostly classics and more modern supercars. Much smaller than Hampton Court but just as expensive. The BMW art cars were nice but not many of those were on show either. I liked this one though.

So I busied myself trying effects in-camera on the models. This was good I thought.

I finished the concours (and the whole event) a bit flat to be honest. Researching later I found out that the 70 special vintage and modern cars were hidden away in the 'exclusive' e.g. €400 - hospitality area. Shit.

We wandered back to the car via the crowds, modern supercars and shops. Arriving back at the car it just ticked up to 100% charged. We drove back to the house to find Matthew and Eva had arrived in a very nice BMW 4 series convertible they had rented.

So would I go again ? It would be much better to be part of a tour - but probably - on balance ... no.

How to get to the front of the queue

So Zoute bound but first ... 

Beep beep beep - I was awoken early by a series of three beeps - it sounded like a car alarm but after 20 mins checking it turned out to be Tom's house alarm opposite.

Checked the Aston and the battery charger is not on green after a day so that's going to be an issue. Finished packing the MK7 quickly though.

So we were off about 9:15 and had a good run - 2 hours ish - only to find out our purple (e.g. privileged) lanes were closed.

Nice Aston in the normal queue though.

A Vantage S. S for Shame. A shame I did not have the courage to bring mine I thought - and then remembered the battery.

After customs though we went wizzing past the queue feeling privileged at last. Then there was suddenly a slight problem - just as we're were boarding. A lost wallet - so we're pulled out of the line - and spoke to the chap directing traffic. Told to park and wait.

How exciting waiting on the slip road ! Luckily about 15 mins later they have found it and we're put onto the next train. At the very front of course.

Another reasonably easy two hour run the other side across France and Belgium. We arrived early so we went through Knokke to look at where everything was. It was full of modern super cars - from Lamborghini through Ferrari and Aston with a Bugatti (Chiron I think) thrown in to the mix.

We found the air B&B easily but locked up behind their electric gates. They came quickly though as they lived next door.

Finally an evening run in the big German Laptop to the (very expensive but very good) restaurant.

How Many Left ?

I was reading a small news article about a company selling 'fractional' ownership of an Aston Martin V12 Vantage and it said it was rarer than the F40 I saw yesterday ? Really ?

Well, around 1,315 Ferrari F40s were built and only 1,199  of the Aston. Er well of the first-generation Aston Martin V12 Vantage - like mine. Then there were the second generation (mostly automatic) and special editions making another 2092 between them so well over 3000 in fact. 

Later it got me thinking that the Imp was quite rare - possibly around 120. But then the Talbot Ulster Coupe is 3. The E-type S1 by comparison was 33,205 but that is 3.8 and 4.2's combined and 12,000 SI Alpines.

Anyway - our cars in use were the MK2 Golf (6.3 million made worldwide) off to Harkstead for jobs.

Then home and back in the SAAB (under half a million) as I'd forgotten something.

However that freed up the garage and encouraged me to get the Ferrari out (about 13,000 made of all 308 variants). 

It went well once warmed up - so glad I did.

Mr E gets some love - at Last

Started first thing (well late morning) checking the E-type in prep for a bit of filming. Oh dear.

It was very low on oil - it needed almost three and a half pints. When did I check it last ? Plugs were very sooty black too.

I cleaned them with the wire brush and then used brake cleaner - that worked very well. I did need a bit water too but not a huge amount. Finally the tyres needed air too. The rears were both low and the offside front was 10 psi short !

I've really neglected to this year. Looks like March was the last time I checked everything over and cleaned the plugs. I've done less than 500 miles in it this year and no long runs - so no excuses.

After that I got the car out and gave it a good clean - including getting the berries off the underside. It started to rain so I had to put it back into the garage. I then cleaned out the stones and berries. Here is just one part.

That finished Oliver arrived so we did a few miles filming. I gave his Dad a ride in the E-type - I forget people don't ride around in stunning classic cars every day. It did 'stutter' a couple of time slightly - so in need of a tune up.

After a bit we stopped to do the shots from the car ... here is the pratt in the driving seat.

That's a Go-Pro on my head. Here are a couple of early shots.

Finally after all that playing the Aston was chosen for the run to get supper. Moody car shot.

Ah - now that had its own stutter on starting - second time - so probably time to get the battery changed as it's been 6 years. I put it on charge when we got home just to top it up a bit - fingers crossed it will last until I take it down for tyres ...