Starting at the top ?

The Talbot started fine in the morning and after a bit of a warm up I took an obligatory photo in front of the hotel.

Then we set off for petrol. That completed off to Prescott we went. 

Arriving we had the usual problems – poor directions, lack of staff resulting in a long row of old cars forced to queue in the heat on a steep dusty gravel slope. That obstacle overcome we hit our second snag - how to get into the Talbot area through the barrier tape ? Well that meant going all around the field and back and then slip in under the barrier.

Settled in at the end of the short row we were greeted by the organiser and I said hello to Dudley, the owner of the other Ulster who was already. Nice chap and over the day he gave us advice and we measured the roof lines. Yes ours is an inch lower and a sharper looking car results. Dudley also showed us how he locked the passenger side of the car - I’ll look for a key to fit the tiny lock. He also thought we were ‘brave’ to go directly from Classics to a Talbot and its complexities. Ah.

We chatted to a few other people and got the low down on Foppe and Polson respectively – then bumping into Polson senior and Alex several times during the day. We wondered around the very expensive book stalls and parts on offer but I did not look at many cars at all. I did make a bee line for an Austin Seven special though that I’d seen in regularly Classic and Sports Car magazine build built up by Martin Port and he told us about the car. Unfortunately I mistook him for James Elliot and it appears after that faux pas I did not take even a picture of it.

I also chatted to the Riley club parked opposite us and spotted the blue special I thought of buying - Jana did not like the colours - phew.

As to the ‘racing’ [well practice runs] some of the old cars on the hill were interesting - but not all. The paddock was more interesting with a buzz of activity and an almost French disregard for health and safety. 

Eventually we had had enough and returning to the club area found lots more Talbots had turned up during the day - more due tomorrow apparently – but they had boxed us in. However we just took the barrier tape down and drove over it to get out. Saying our good buys we were told that "you started at the top in terms of Talbot ownership". Umm that's a double-edged sword I thought.

The run home was great on wide country roads although I did make the mistake of pulling out at a junction with a car speeding along - forgetting a 0-60 dash is not TAS's strong suit – again.

No bad delays though as we approached the hotel so we parked up (again in front of the hotel) and chatted to passers by admiring the car as we unpacked.