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A Summer of Dream Rides
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With my Racing taking a mid season break between Thruxton at the end of May and Pembrey in Mid July I decided I needed something to keep me out of mischief for this period. At the January committee meeting the answer soon became apparent, Dream Rides. There were to be events organised on 4th, 10th, 18th June and 3rd July. It was a good job there was to be nothing on the weekend of 24th/25th June as my nephew was to be married that weekend. THIRLSTANE CASTLE My last visit to Scotland in a social sense took place in 1990 when I ventured north with the Morgan club and I remember enjoying myself at one of the distilleries. I had missed the Bute Dream Rides 3 years previously and had intended to go the following year to Bute or Dundee but unfortunately both events were cancelled. A 300 mile journey on the Friday afternoon started slowly but speeded up and I was soon keeping my eyes open for the Red and Yellow stickers which mark out Scottish cameras. A pleasant evening was spent at the Lauderdale Hotel and Saturday was spent doing a bit of sightseeing. Unlike the Kids Tour 2 weeks previously the weather on Sunday was kind with a mixture of cloud and sun. Arriving at the Castle soon after 9 I found several of the Polars putting up their new banners having marked out the site the previous afternoon. The backdrop was nothing short of magnificent being located on the terrace right in front of the castle. The organisation was superb and soon everything was ready to start taking bookings. A good selection of cars from a vintage Bentley, to Minis old and new, Porsche, TVR and Lotus. The show was organised by the Borders Vintage Automobile Club so there was a good chance the Bentley would prove the most popular and o it proved, going out for a total of 9 rides including several Bears passengers. The day started quietly with most visitors being drawn first to the vast array of different cars being exhibited. There was a wonderful collection of pre 1930 cars in top condition. Individual cars were split by decade and there were also several car clubs including the Stag club who caused some initial confusion having stolen the Bears colours of yellow and blue. The Rides started to pick up around lunchtime and there was a steady stream of cars going out for most of the afternoon despite access becoming a little tricky not least due to some overenthusiastic marshalls. Final tot up will show that the Rides raised close to £1000 and the collection raised over £200. Overall it was a great afternoon and I was well impressed with the enthusiasm of the Polars who spent the day using tactical persuasion on the public to part with their cash. At 5 o’clock I headed South along the A68 and A696 following Pete Catchpole in his TVR 350C and Jim Harris in his Mini Cooper Works. The entertaining drive was a great end to a great day. SUPERCAR SUNDAY AT GAYDON A week later, England have qualified for the knockout phases of the World Cup and I’m on my way to the annual Father’s Day extravaganza at Gaydon. Having fried in the sun the previous week I donned shorts and tee shirt expecting another baking hot dayonly to find it turning distinctly chilly later in the day. I think the National Heritage Museum is the perfect setting for the show allowing the visitors to see some of our motoring history as well as some of the modern Supercars. There was the usual wonderful collection of Lamborghinis, Ferraris (including 3 Enzos) etc but I was a little confused as to why a Fiat Stilo with a big Bass Box thought he was a Supercar. The Bears were lucky enough to have one of the new GT40s available for rides. In contrast Chris Glasbey brought his newly tuned TR3 and judging by Pats comments it was flying. It sounded superb as he headed off on one of the first rides of the day carrying a lady whose husband had owned one when they were courting. Unfortunately the TR3 returned sounding a lot sicker, later to be diagnosed as a broken tappet. Hopefully all is now well. After a quiet day at Evesham I was much busier starting with 3 friends on a stag weekend one after the other but I was more than a little envious when I saw Mike McSean going out in his new silver Elise with an absolute stunner. She must have worn him out, poor boy, as he was next seen fast asleep in the Bears gazebo. A total of over £3500 was raised including about £600 by Russ Swift who again auctioned off rides in his show. 4 big hulking chaps in a Mini on 2 wheels was a wondrous sight. A good end to another successful event organised by Mick Bryan and his team. BA CLASSIC - HEATHROW The final Dream Rides of this hectic spell was a new event, the BA Classic Car show near Heathrow. This day was hot and I fried in the traffic on the M25. It was to prove another quiet event, with numbers of visitors below the expected numbers. Maybe it was the heat as we only did 2 rides all afternoon. Still it gave plenty of time to wander round the show and spend some time talking to the Bears. It seems a long time since I spent an afternoon doing nothing much. And now there’s Blenheim and the NEC to look forward to. Andrew Lake
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