Thanks all for your supportive comments. Really good to meet up with all of you face to face at Knockhill, Silverstone Classic, and Donington track days. I had a great time chatting with you and sharing our views on the cars and sport we all love. It was good to put the faces and personalities behind your forum posts into a personal perspective.
Now that I've had time to catch my breath following an 8 day epic car tour from Inverness in the Highlands, to Watford Herts, I thought it may be of interest to share with you my observations and comments on this 1430 mile odyssey south to motorway-land, including the two Porsche Club events I attended at Silverstone and Donington.
So as not to bore you with too long a narrative, I shall split the report into two parts, dealing firstly with the Watford, Silverstone Classic element, followed in a separate post with the Donington track day event.
My drive south from Berwick upon Tweed via the A1/M1 was generally uneventful until I reached the proximity of the M25, which thankfully I avoided by taking the later J5 turn-off to Watford. The closer I got to London the more erratic the driving standards became. Cars, vans, and trucks thought nothing of zig-zagging across all four lanes, undertaking and overtaking at will. Vehicles also drove far too close together. Variable speed limits of 60, 50, and even 40mph were frequently announced on the overhead gantries which made the congestion and close proximity of the traffic even worse. Everyone seemed to be in such a damned hurry. "Me first" was the normal reaction of road users in the south. I was also astonished at the rip-off prices of Shell V-Power on the M1. I prefer to use this brand of fuel in my Porsche, and I try to time my refuelling stops whenever Shell petrol stations appear on the service signposts. In Scotland, V-Power currently costs £1.34 per litre. I was paying £1.60 per litre on the M1 at Newport Pagnell. Blatant profiteering.
My day at the Silverstone Classic was absolutely astounding. The warm, sunny weather made for very pleasant browsing amongst the astonishing collection of road and race cars on display in the various club car parks and pit-lane garages and paddocks. In all my many years of attending race meetings and classic car shows up and down the country, I have never before seen such a high quality and diverse selection of road and race cars in my life. Close quarter access to all of the cars was freely available, even in the pit-lane garages where the mechanics were busy fettling the cars prior to their race. Some were even dismantling race engines in the garages to rectify mechanical faults, and were in no way brusque or off-hand when polite enquiries were made as to the problem. I watched several races from the Porsche Club grandstand which was adjacent to the club marquee where unlimited coffees, and teas were dispensed. Oh the joy of hearing the wonderful shrill wail of the V12 F1 Ferrari and Leiger F1 cars from the 1980's. These sounds contrasted with the more familiar gruff blare of the Cosworth DFV V8's and the Renault turbo F1 cars. It was heaven on wheels. The Silverstone Classic is an event I shall never forget for its atmosphere, friendliness, and sheer spectacle. I hope to return again.
My Donington track day report follows soon.
Brian
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