The advantage of keeping a diary, or to be more accurate a
log, of my car exploits, is that I have a record to look back on to see what I
have been doing.
Or in the case of 2016 - not doing.
Keeping a monthly note of the mileage also helps because it
confirms or challenges what you remember about which car has seen the most use.
Did I use the Ferrari at all, was the Aston the car of choice – or did the new
boy in the stable, the Caterham, get all the attention ? Who was running the
MK2 Golf and what broke this year ?
Occasionally I also write longer articles about specific
trips. The Alpine events tend to get a write up in the club magazine if I am
lucky. All big car shows get a picture album on social media and for the Le
Mans Classic, which I have attended on most even years, I even print book of
photos which always includes a few lines on how the car I take behaved –
traditionally the E-type - and
traditionally a ‘phew, I managed to get home OK again’.
The Golf Mk7 vs the SAAB Aero comparison is also interesting
- in a nerdy way.
All of which brings us neatly to this table with a summary
of 2016:
Miles
|
Trips
|
|
Aston
|
1488
|
33
|
Alpine
|
1091
|
61
|
E-Type
|
807
|
34
|
308
|
596
|
22
|
Caterham 7
|
956
|
52
|
Golf MK2
|
2526
|
|
SAAB
|
11526
|
|
Golf MK7
|
8165
|
The raw statistics show a surprising winner, as the Aston
seems to have beaten all-comers. No long runs in the Aston to Yorkshire, Olney
or London this year either - although somehow it still racked up most miles.
Mainly I suspect going backwards and forwards to Brentwood for servicing and
tyre changes at 120 miles a pop. Which if we are brutal was about 20% of the
miles.
The surprise runner-up is the Alpine which did well again,
exceeding the last three years totals and crossing the 1000 mile barrier. I say
surprising as it is the last choice for the longer runs. However it does have
the club ‘organisation’ behind it - so shares the time with other Alpine owners
– giving impetus to use it on organised runs and to meetings.
Looking for reasons behind the rest of numbers it’s not
clear. Every year I aim to give each car a long run of a couple of hundred
miles at least. So this year what one got left out ?
The E-type missed the run to the Classic Le Mans due to the
wedding and then broke down before it could complete the three legs of the
Round Brittan run, which would have been around 400 additional miles (on top of
the initial evening dash to Cromer) which would have taken it above the 2015
total but not near the 2014 – which was boosted by nearly 1000 (mainly glorious)
miles in France. It was in disgrace for several months too as I could not find
the rattle and then off the road for the dynamo.
The Caterham, which is shared with Oliver, has even done
fewer miles than 2015 - during which it was only in the fleet for 7 months of
the year. It was well used, second only to the Alpine, but only for short ‘blasts’
to keep it fresh, although this year so far it has not needed it’s plugs
cleaning.
The member of the team that was picked less seems to be the
Ferrari. It missed out on the Silverstone event and the Cranleigh Car Show
which boosted it in 2014. No trips to events, nor Milton Keynes etc. Even so,
just shy of 600 miles is quite a lot less than 2015 or indeed 2013.
The Mk2 Golf did a credible 2500+ miles with trips to
Liverpool clocking up the miles.
Moving onto moderns I think I see where the miles went.
The SAAB exceeded last year even though it only had two
months of commuting through the mid-winter to Witham vs three months at the end
of 2015. That was made up for by the trip to France via Germany in the late
Spring and then another trip to France via Devon and probably 100’s of short trips
to the dump and doing working jobs.
The Mk7 Golf was on a par to last year and although quite a
bit under the SAAB has still accumulated almost 19k miles in just over two
years.
I probably drove over 16k miles in all: c11k in the SAAB or
MK7 Golf and c5k in the toys.
