Hitting the road early

We'd decided to get going early and by 8:00 am we were having breakfast in the hotel and were ready to hit the road about 8:30.

As we were taking off the hood and packing the car we talked to another couple who were doing the same. He was a bit miffed that he had bought tickets for the racing in advance at a discounted rate of £16 each, only to find that at 2:00 pm they opened the gates for everyone to get in for free. I guess our £15 for two people was fine then. Oh and as they were vegetarians they were unimpressed by the solitary burger van the club had provided in its area.

Oliver was feeling better so he drove the first leg - 125 miles in one go in fact. The traffic was light and the morning cool but the car soon warmed us up. It was a good balance for the first hour and then started to get very warm again. The car went well and as we could keep up a steady 65 it kept a bit cooler as well.

We stopped for petrol and more water in Cambridge as the heat was starting to attack us again. Coming out of the air conditioned supermarket it was like being abroad - as a wall of heat hit you.

I took over the driving and it felt more natural than it had done two days before. I guess I'd got used to the car on the motorway. The car seemed to be running well to.

We were home just before 12:00 - another 190 miles under our belts and only three and a half hours on the road including a stop.

Would we go to another Caterham event like this ? On balance it was enjoyable, but lacked enough to keep the non-racer, or those who did not go on the blats, entertained for three days. There were few opportunities to spend money on bits and the organisation was patchy. If the car had been happy and we'd gone on the runs and met more people we had known, then it would have been a better event for us.

Did it justify the cost ? Including the tickets, the petrol, the bits I bought like the bag and hood, changing the hotel at the last minute and the tickets to the racing, plus the food Oliver bought, it was just over £850 for the two of us. Discounting the cost of the equipment that I will use again it was about £250 each.

That is the price of a train ticket to London and a VIP hospitality package at a high end classic car event. Perhaps not a direct comparison but it puts the cost into perspective.

I finished off the day unpacking the Caterham boot and taking it off to top up with petrol hoping the clocking would have stopped. It had not. Overall then we did just over 26 miles per gallon on the run. Not bad really.

I took the Mk2 for a run and shuffled the cars around in the late afternoon sun ready for the Alpine work on Tuesday.

Then I put them all to bed.