Life is very busy at present. A couple of weeks ago I sold Robin Eyre-Maunsell’s Sunbeam Alpine to another friend, Phil Dunne at Hagerty’s insurance. I don’t think Phil’s plans for the car are going to as demanding as those from Robin so it is likely to have a gentile retirement – rather like what happens to police horses when that have done their bit.
Immediately on dropping the Sunbeam Alpine off at the Hagerty HQ near Towcester my trusty Mitsubishi and trailer headed for Great Gransden where Phil Stainton, who looks after Lord Irvine Laidlaw’s collection of cars, is based. The task here was to tow both the Ferrari Dino 246 in which Irvine and I would be competing in Ian Crammond’s Three Castles Rally in Wales and also the Mercedes in which Irvine’s wife Christine, with Phil navigating, would be using on the event to Llandudno.
The Dino was in a covered trailer so it wasn’t until we arrived at the trailer park that I got my first sight of the car. I just stood and stared at what was, to my eyes, the most beautiful car ever. The paint finish was unbelievable and no Ferrari left Enzo’s factory with such perfect door shuts. I drove the car to our hotel, the wonderful Bodysgallen Hall, and everything still appeared wonderful with the exception of the gear change which, was much more rubbery than I expected and reverse, opposite first, needed a huge push downwards to engage and was quite a problem. I didn’t realise how big a problem this would become when the event had started.
Irvine and Christine were flying into Chester and Phil was collecting them so it was my task to put both cars through the highly efficient scrutineering process on Llandudno prom and the only things needed were marking the battery earth with yellow tape and removing the hubcaps on the Merc.
There was a prologue on the Wednesday afternoon but Irvine wasn’t able to do this as he had two cars arriving for test drives with a view to adding them to his collection. While I was busy playing with maps and road books the first of these arrived and I was most surprised to receive a call from Irvine asking me to come to the car park ‘for something that will interest you greatly’. When I got there I found this wonderful car Racing Green B Special 3/8 racer.
It is based on a 1952 Mk 6 Bentley saloon chassis but is fitted with a Rolls Royce B series straight engine reving to a heady 2,500 rpm and fitted with 4 x 2” SU carburetors. The gear change which was inside the saloon, is now outside, as is the hand brake but the huge steering wheel is retained. My treat was to take this wonderful car up into the hills inland from Llandudno accompanied by Nigel Holmes of the manufacturers www.vintageracinggreen.com. Once I had got used to the apparent delay before the steering reacted it was so much fun. The torque, as you can imagine, was unbelievable and it was bloody quick on narrow Welsh lanes!
As I arrived back from that another treat awaited, Irvine’s second test drive was waiting for me. Nick Baker, Morgan’s Direct Sales Manager, had brought up a brand new Plus 8. Now, a Plus 8 is no ordinary Morgan. It is the traditional shape but has a lightweight aluminum chassis, a 4.8 litre V8 BMW engine producing 380 bhp linked to a six-speed auto box, with a dry weight of 1,100kg and does 0-100 k/h in 4.5 seconds.
To my surprise Nick just threw me the keys and let me loose on my own. So, I set off to drive the same roads on which I had driven the Bentley. The Morgan is a wicked, wicked machine, it reaches unmentionable warp speeds on the tiniest of straights, and the chassis is so good the wheels stay connected to the ground at all times and the ultra-quick steering is really easy to get used to. As a toy this is close to the ultimate but I just haven’t got a spare £75k at the moment!
So, what’s coming up? My old friend Robin Eyre-Maunsell, former Rootes and Chrysler works driver in Imps and Avengers and RAC British Group One Champion in 1975 and 1976, is returning to the forests with me in the passenger seat on the Sweet Lamb Historic Stages in mid-July. Though now 75, Robin is still incredibly quick – he did his ARDS test on his 65th birthday and has successfully been racing Alfas ever since – and I have no doubt he will do justice to the newly built Pinto engined Escort he is being lent by Owain Lloyd and in which Owain recently won the Irish Classic Rally.
We are planning on doing this properly with a good test beforehand and I am confident he will surprise a few of the (much younger) regulars.
Pic shows Owain Lloyd winning in Ireland in the Escort – credit Ray Brown and Robin winning British Championship in Avenger
Avenger – Indiscretion on the Isle of Man in 1976 – luckily on the pre-event shakedown
Finally, I am off to the Goodwood Festival of Speed for all four days next week combining work and play. I am looking forward to seeing Rauno Aaltonen who will be in his 1964 Monte Carlo Rally Mini Cooper S, Hannu Mikkola in the somewhat quicker S2 E1 short Quattro and modern rally men Kris Meeke (Citroen DS3 WRC) and Elfyn Evans in the new Fiesta WRC.
Happy motoring.
