With the weather during the week before the Newark Kitcar Show remaining unsettled, the big decision was: adventure v comfort, ie to travel in the Locost or the Xsara.
The adventure element came from the Locost having been MoT’d and taxed on 13 June – the show was on 15-16 June. The car had been off the road since the end of October so it hadn’t been shook out properly since coming back on the road.
The decision re mode of transport was left, literally, to the last minute. At 7am on the Saturday of the Show it was still raining in Edinburgh but the sky looked like it could settle down and the forecast for the South was good (Saturday: sunny periods with moderate SW wind, rain overnight. Sunday: overcast, dry with moderate SW winds.) For once, all the forecasts agreed with each-other – so it looked like we could drive out of any adverse weather in the Edinburgh area.
So, adventure it was to be. (As Osy (fellow traveller) said “It is after all a kit car show – no cred in arriving in a Xsara”.)
As the Locost came out of the lockup at 7.30am the rain stopped. Loaded up, we set off at 8am – that’s when the learning curve became a straight line.
In principle, a windscreen on a Locost is “a good thing” – no flies in the teeth (or in my case, once last year, bee in the forehead). I think however, there is a serious possibility of fly-strikes on the back of the head! Why does nobody stress the astonishing amount of cockpit back-pressure that the screen creates?!
Apart from the lack of coolness created by your hair pointing straight forward, the effect on the eardrums is shattering. Oh, and going through a couple of rain showers, we got rain on the inside of the screen. A lot of it – clearly it was being whipped round by the back-pressure. Things weren’t helped by the blustery strong South-West wind that was hitting us on the front corner.
Serious thought is definitely required in the design department – thoughts turn to spending most of my time at Newark cribbing sidescreen etc ideas to settle down the turbulence in the cockpit. The turbulence took out one of the lenses of my Polaroids. Now that is a surreal experience: driving along at 70, vision in one eye suddenly goes white (while the other remains “normal”). The brain starts looking for an explanation – first reaction “what is this, a stroke or something?!” Then the reality sinks in. No idea where the lens went. I’m hanging on to the rest of my sun-specs in the hope that the lens is in the car, but I suspect it’s lying on the A1M somewhere in North Yorkshire.
Another little observation on Locost-screen dynamics. When the screen-wash water hits the screen, it promptly heads down (not up) the screen. Clearly some strange area of low pressure on the front of the screen.
Other episodes in the South-bound adventure:
1. A gaily coloured police Volvo estate followed us in to Washington (Newcastle, that is) Services. Once Osy had convinced me that it really was us they wanted to talk to, the officer said “We’ve just put your number into the computer and you should be off the road”. (Possibly little else to do in a Saturday morning?) “Yes”, I said, “It was until last Thursday, when I put it back on the road, MoT’d and taxed it - I had declared SORN over the winter” [What a good boy I am.] “Oh well that’s OK, it’s just that it takes 6 weeks for the computer to update. Must be bloody cold in there. Want any help?” Nice boys they were really. The last question was inspired by me doing tight circuits of the Service Area car park looking for a petrol pump. Mibby it’s just me, but both South- and North-bound we followed the Washington Services signs for “Cars” and found ourselves in a carpark rather than at petrol pumps.
2. A bird (unseen, but possibly large) decided to crap on us. Half of it (droppings, I think the polite word is) hit the top of the screen; the rest splattered me in the face. This is best left described as “another surreal moment”.
Turned off the A1 at Carlton-on-Trent, just North of Newark, to have a look at what would have been the main London – Edinburgh road about 40 years ago, before it was by-passed. Looks just like a country lane now.
As for the Kit Car Show, arrived about 1.30pm to find the place virtually deserted. No doubt the effect of the concurrent England/Denmark World Cup match. Did a quick tour of the cars and the stands – but ran out of things to do at about 4pm. In the past, other Scottish Locost owners have come in reasonable numbers to Newark – no sign of any today. Headed into Newark in the early evening for something to eat and a wee drinkie. The street theatre involved the resultant carnage from an England win/a day of serious alcohol/warm weather. The English do know how to celebrate – loudly. But by about 7pm they all went quiet – clearly no stamina, or they had finished beating each-other up. Plans B and C were, respectively, go back to the Showground and have a drink at the bar there, and if the atmosphere wasn’t up to much, have a couple of bottles that we bought at the supermarket at the tents. Plan B didn’t have much mileage, as the bar was shut. Plan C worked fine – followed by a fairly early night.
As forecast, there was some overnight rain, but Sunday dawned bright, warm and gusty. For some reason it had a much better feel than Saturday had. Sure enough, cars started to stream in in numbers that far exceeded Saturday’s and there were more trade stands. And, while we were packing up our tents, a formation of about 20 geese flew across at (exactly) tree-top level – a nice sight. And I managed to cure a wee petrol leak at the neck of the new tank which had been niggling me yesterday (smell of fuel as we came out of the roundabouts on the A1).
Parked the car in the Locost line up – lots more company today, must have been about 20 Locosts there. (The concept of “lo” in Locost seems to have been lost on quite a few of the builders – never seen so much expensive metal crammed into an engine compartment as there was in some of the cars.) Chatted with other builders - even encountered David Ferrier, fellow Scottish Lowcoster (who had travelled down in a tintop). Did my sidescreen spying (got a few neat ideas for them and for solid boot-area covers); bought Stainless hinges for (planned) sidescreens, assorted fasteners, small tools and the rest of the usual stuff you come away from Shows with. The day restored my faith in the Show. Nice atmosphere, not too big, not too small – don’t expect too much if there is a big match on the TV.
As we had done everything we had wanted to do by about 1.30pm, we set off for home. The weather was still fine (sunny periods, strong blustery SW wind, no sign of rain). Progress was good. SW wind now in our favour and buffeting in the cockpit was not so severe. But we weren’t in a hurry.
I had brought earplugs which we hadn’t used on the way South – tried them and they made a big difference to the noise level and battering the eardrums got. Well, I tried them, Osy spent the entire journey trying unsuccessfully to stuff them in his ears.
As we weren’t in a hurry, when we stopped at Scotch Corner for a coffee, we chatted with people who were interested in the car. Even stopped to have a proper look at the Angel of the North. (Nice welding, nice idea, but where is the local information on it and what is the use of a 6-car lay-by for car parking at an attraction like that?)
Perhaps we shouldn’t have been so leisurely – as we approached Berwick, the skies opened, and the ambient temperature had dropped a lot. At a steady 55mph, we and our baggage stayed dry, but Osy was kept constantly occupied wiping rain from the inside of the screen. Seemed like a very long last hour of the journey. Once inside the Edinburgh boundary, things were different – saturation. Phoned ahead to make sure the lock-up door was open when I got there and that there was hot water for a shower. Yup, all in all, a bit of an adventure.
Miles in June:
Cost in June: £5 (SS hinges) £15(Assorted fasteners)
Started making sidescreens - not realising how long that would take! One of the main problems was that I couldn't decide whether I wanted, at the end of the day, a soft-top or a solid roof. I was tempted towards the latter by a photo of a Westfield roof I had seen in a magazine. I still couldn't make up my mind so as a stop-gap I went ahead with sidescreens that would suit a soft-top, if I ever got round to having one made.
The saga of the sidescreens is recoreded in The Build
Miles in July:
Cost in July:
Went to the Popular Flying Assotiation's Fly-in at the Museum of Flight, East Fortune on 16 August. Here's the car with one of the Museum's exhibits: a Blackburn Buccaneer.
The continuing saga of the sidescreens is recorded in The Build
Miles in August:
Cost in August: