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1st - 2nd May, ACTION.With Doris (probably) running OK, we arranged to meet up with the nice people from Practical Performance Car magazine on Monday, so there were a few bits to tidy over the weekend, unfortunately while touching up some of the Dulux on the doors there was a bit of a nasty paint reaction. Sort of a nasty reaction like painting brake fluid on really . Bugger :-( The quickest way to get Doris to a 'generally all the same' yellow was going to be an emergency respray in celulose. Yes, I know that she should at least be hand painted, but there really wasn't time! 3 litres of Nitromors, a heat gun, 2 scrapers, an orbital sander, a rotary sander and a DA sander had removed all of the external paint by early afternoon on Saturday, so heavy coats of primer started going on complete with a few large runs & sags. Sanded the really nasty lumps back off, then added a couple of coats of yellow and called that it for the day. Up early on Sunday to flat the yellow a bit, then added a couple more coats. When it was dry enough not to rub off as you walked past, we started putting the mirrors, arches & sundry other bits back on. Click for emergency respray pics 3rd May, Media Moment !!!Off up to Bruntingthorpe Proving ground to meet Will and Kevin from Practical Performance Car magazine today :-) Due to the potential oily problems we decided to try out Pete, the caravan - trailer conversion so that hopefully Doris would actually get there (and we could get away with blowing her up on the track too). For a first attempt it towed pretty well, and the only thing that fell off was the little knob from the top of the nosewheel. After negotiating the scary stinger things at the entrance we were directed past a 747 onto the main circuit (still with the trailer) and had to do 1/2 a lap to get to where the shoot was going to take place. Briefly had a chat with Will and Kevin who were doing another 'driving sideways' feature or something, then met up with the photographer and unloaded Doris. Spent a bit of time doing general static shots and looking at interesting details, then got to have a play on a 2 mile bit of track with a nice wide bend for some more dynamic pics of Doris in action. Very pleased with the 048's, really sticky, but I get the feeling that I left some of them behind... After the pics, Will, Kevin and then the photographer each had a passenge, then a drive. I have to admit that as a passenger, I found it quite exciting, almost a hundred on the straight bit and 60ish through the bend. In all I think they liked her, but you never can tell the way things will be reported in the media ;-) Pics of pics being taken here!
16th May, ACTION - London to Brighton.Got up at stupid 'O'clock to get over to Ashford for 6:30am, and because the forcast (and the sky) looked good, I popped the roof off. Nice run to Ashford, filled up with petrol, then overheated in the car park while waiting for the others to turn up because we had switched the fans off - oops! Took a nice cross country run down to Brighton with Elaine driving so I could relax and watch the countryside go past (often quite quickly). We parked on the sea front by a grumpy trader selling toy cars, who complained about the noise and exhaust, so not much chance for necessary v8 engine noise :-( Apart from that the show was ok, with the usual traders, but not much 2nd hand stuff to investigate, so after the usual expensive hot dogs, chips & drinks etc we headed off at about 2:30. All went well until about 1/2 way back when someone else broke down (for a change), and Doris ended up towing Dave's dead Mini for 15 miles or so. Hooray for the towing power of the V8, but I am not sure Dave was convinced by the acceleration or top speed on a short towing strap ! Doris has redeemed herself and repaid the favour by helping out someone else, and surviving a 160 mile trip unscathed :-)
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fuel injection by MEGASQUIRT For General V8 info try http://www.v-8.org.uk/forum/ For sensible Spag stuff visit www.spagweb.com or for madtech mayhem try www.magicspanner.co.uk
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