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Busy, busy, busy. You can see from the photos just how busy was the event. The club stand was thronged with visitors the whole day, pouring over every last detail under the 'bonnets'. Channel 5's Dream Machine program has certainly renewed interest in the replica market, naturally along with the imminent arrival of Ford's new GT supercar. |
| AGM. The
main news at the AGM was as expected the retirement of Eric Smith as Chairman
and Brian Magee as Editor. After two years in the job both had made
clear their intentions. Eric has skilfully steered the club to its current rejuvenated state after a couple of years severely in the doldrums. Brian has done a wonderful job with Fortyfication which has without doubt been the prime mover in the membership increase we have recently seen. Warm applause from the meeting echoed the thanks due to them. Chris Edwards has moved centre stage as Chairman with new boy Tony Hunt taking his old job as Membership Secretary. More new blood, in the form of the knowledgeable Brett McCall, has taken on the onerous task as editor of the club magazine - I am sure we all wish him well, its a tough act to follow. Let's send him as many articles as we can to get off to a good start. Other members of the committee are Tim Martin (treasurer), Allan Feldman (events secretary), Dick Townsend (club shop) and John Bransgrove (spares secretary).
New editor shows promise - watch out Pirelli! Brett McCall is the new editor of Fortyfication, the club magazine of the GT40 Enthusiasts Club. Check out his creative side in this unusual shot of Dave Champ's 40 (left) and that of Tony Hunt. Glad those sills were properly flatted!! |
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Other news from the Show - pictures of cars at the event
Chris confided that he has been working every night until around 1:30 to get the car finished for this event. Chris was determined not to join the Le Mans Classic in a Mondeo again and though he has more work to do yet, this has been a major achievement already.
With a push from some members he was on the stand not far behind the rest. Stoneleigh may look flat but its hilly enough pushing a ton of car - well done boys - sorry I wasn't there to help (not!). What a place to breakdown - how lucky can you be? With all those spares stands he was able to pop off and buy a new pump in a trice and with the skilful help of Roy Snook, had the car repaired within the hour.
As we all know, ex-editor Brian is a master builder of GT40s but even he was caught out by a tiny (invisible) pinhole on top of the ally header tank. Enough it seems to lose pressure/water. On such small details is our reliability dependent.
Ford beats Ferrari - AGAIN!
I had asked in vain hope about any other calamities with which to embarrass unfortunate owners at Stoneleigh. Well, amongst 25 GT40 replicas on the Enthusiasts stand was rather cheekily parked a Ferrari owned by a previous Chairman of the club. I am not sure which model but it was coloured red if that helps. Come the end of the show all the 40's left but the Ferrari wouldn't start! Click for larger picture.
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Chris
Edwards new car. Chris is not
the shortest of folks (6' 4"?) and has on several occasions expressed the
view that he couldn't fit in a 40. However the versatility of the car is
such that he not only fits without a Gurney bubble but has ample room in
the pedal department too. Tony Hunt, not a shrinking violet himself,
could be seen trying the car for size thinking to himself that he needed
wooden blocks fitting to the pedals. There's hope for you yet
Jeremy Clarkson!
Max's
initiation. Nothing in the vein of the Hell's Angels, you'll be
disappointed to learn, but new owner (call-sign) Maxiboy had enough
troubles at his first event. Having travelled all the way from
Bournemouth he successfully joined about 10 of us for breakfast at
Cherwell services, but then one of his fuel pumps failed just as he
arrived at the showground. 
Brian
Magee. Brian was also in the wars overheating as we were
ushered slowly into the showground - you may have been as mystified as me
why we did a semi-circle of the wasteland. The point may have been to free
up the country road outside but in truth it made no difference. 