March
We receive an invitation from Rallystory, Paris to enter a car in
the Rally of Paris. We travel via the Eurotunnel and after a hectic
start with about one hundred other cars, set off for Montlery, where
we are given the opportunity to exercise our cars at high speed on
the historic banking of the race track. From there, we drive to Le
Mans where we have the opportunity to drive on the Bugatti circuit
though, unfortunately the track is wet and slippery. At the award
ceremony later that afternoon we are given the prize for the most
interesting car in the rally. From there we then drive eight hundred
miles, mainly in the rain, to Lech in Austria. The last twenty miles
driving is amidst a snowstorm and despite the relatively narrow tyres
on the car the SS100 copes extremely well.
We decide to pose the
car in the main street of Lech one afternoon when there are thousands
of skiers attending the bars and restaurants. There is a German
reporter from a Frankfurt newspaper wanting to write an article
about the car, and I think this is the only time that I carry out
a road test in the snow. (The article does not in fact appear until
2003 but has very extensive coverage with superb photographs). That
same afternoon an English gentleman skiing in the resort hands me
his card and asks me to send him full details of the car when I
get back to the UK. I am delighted to say that he subsequently bought
a car. This was the third time when I had literally sold a car in
the street.
May
I wanted to enter the rally of Corsica with the Guild of Motoring
Endurance and my daughter, Caroline, indicates she would like to
come (for the holiday). Since she left home, ten years previously
we had regrettably spent very little time together and this seemed
the perfect opportunity to get to know her properly. Little did
she realise that she would be frantically navigating and driving
– sometimes at considerable speed – but we have a great
time I would recommend Corsica to anyone who wants to experience
unique and spectacular scenery with some of the most amazing roads
in Europe.
July
Late last year we had received an order from an English gentleman
living in Tuscany who wanted us to build a left hand drive SS100
for him. He had originally planned to come to England to drive it
home, but had family commitments when the car was ready, so I agree
to deliver the car by road. Time for me was very short, so I had
to accomplish the drive from door to door in two days (that meant
averaging seven hundred miles a day !). A faulty coil delays me
on the second day so I arrive much later in the evening than planned.
The new owner is delighted with his car having only ever seen the
SS100 in photographs prior to my arrival. I spend a couple of days
chilling by his pool and learning about olive farming and harvesting
before flying home.
October
Earlier this year I sold a self-build Suffolk SS100 project to Jason
Len of XKs Unlimited in California. Jason has the largest Jaguar
parts business in the world outside of the UK and we had been sending
parts out to him since he had ordered the car in March. He now invites
me to be his guest for their XK’s )Open Weekend and to attend
the Jaguar Clubs of North America (JCNA) rally that was being held
at his ranch style home in San Luis Obispo. His works setup is superb
and he does a great deal of restoration work with parts and service
for a large number of XK and E type owners on the American mid west
and west coast. His SS100 is partially built at this stage so I
agree to return the following year to drive it.
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