Kicking Up The Spray
I will update my blog, as I go out and about, hopefully coming home with a few pics to share with you.
Brooklands New Year's Day 2015
New Year's Day saw us head down to Brooklands for their annual meet. One of the pleasures of this event is the sheer diversity of vehicles to look at, and you never know what will be just round the corner. The constant queue of cars entering the site in the morning, soon meant that the museum filled up with vehicles for all tastes.
See what I mean about an eclectic mix of vehicles on site!
There was even some heavy commercial stuff found trundling down the entrance slope.
Some people were obviously still in the Festive mood.
This Mini was prepared for action!
The E Type began boiling up in the queue, and was doing an impression of a kettle.
Quite a collection of Rovers.
Some American Muscle came out to play too.
Fast French Pocket Rocket.
A true English Gentleman's Express.
Not all exhibits were shiny bright, but wore their patina with pride.
A classy spare wheel.
One of the more unusual paint finishes.
A highlight of the day was a very kind invitation to tour the premises of The Brooklands Motor Company, where there was a magnificent collection of exotica on show.
Pretty fine line up.
At various stages of restoration.
Once again a fantastic day out, with so much to look at. Many thanks to all the workers at Brooklands Museum, The Brooklands Motor Company, and all the owners that braved the cold weather to bring out their vehicles for display.
Brooklands Military Vehicle Day 2014
On the 16th November we headed down to Brooklands once again, this time for the Military Vehicles Day, all matt paint and mostly olive green in colour! This event seems to be growing each year, with the number of exhibits increasing in both size and variety. More owners are now dressing in the correct attire too, which helps build the military atmosphere around the site.
Land Rovers in all shapes and sizes have been the mainstay of military transport for many years, and a huge number turned up.
You definitely wouldn't want to argue with this machine out on the road!
I bet it was a good view from up there!
All the owners add with their own individual style to their vehicles.
Just in case of any injuries.
Reflective Land Rover.
The recent rain, made sure there were plenty of puddles over on the Mercedes Benz World off road course, where the Military vehicles were allowed to play for an hour.
Scout Car paddling around.
Land Rovers take to puddles like ducks take to water.
Quite possibly the biggest splash of the day!
Goggles at the ready.
Not to be outdone, the motorcycling fraternity decided to get their feet wet!
A couple of very important passengers.
Monty and Winnie of their way back to the Museum.
Plenty of luggage on this outfit.
Later in the afternoon, the Test Hill was open for runs.
Not all were successful in getting to the top of the hill, and this participant was escorted back down again.
Once again, another very successful event put on by Brooklands Museum, make a date in your diary for next year.
Walk Around London
Last Sunday, we headed up to London to find it bathed in sunshine and remarkably warm for a late Autumn day, so warm in fact that it was difficult to remember at times that it was November 9th! We started off with breakfast in our favourite place in Kensington High Street, Cafe Tarte, great, fresh food at reasonable prices. But enough of my culinary experience, we were out to take some pics.
Looking above the shops in Kensington High Street, there is another world that most people never look up to see.
The sunlight picked out the detail in the exterior of the Royal Garden Hotel.
Walking onwards we found ourselves in Exhibition Road, outside some of the Imperial College buildings.
The classical frontage of the buildings opposite make a nice wallpaper for the modern glass frontage of the College.
Even the cladding up high is a source of reflected architecture.
Makes you wonder if modern architecture is a step in right direction, doesn't it?
Opposite the College is this modern church building housing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Walking further on we were soon standing outside one of the finest buildings in London, in my humble opinion, The Natural History Museum, absolutely smothered in fine details, and the more you look, the more you find to admire!
A coach was parked outside the museum, which normally wouldn't have excited me too much but it luckily came with some very reflective windows!
We did get some strange looks photographing a coach, but I think it is a bit different to the usual shots of the museum!
Never one to shy away from taking a car detail shot, and this Tesla parked in the street was too good to walk by without taking a few pics.
Of course, London, like any busy bustling city, is all about the people. Though I must admit to not taking many people photos, even I was tempted to start taking some, especially when they are dressed to be noticed.
Must be lunch time!
Walking back to Kensington High Street, past The Royal Albert Hall, some colourfully uniformed guards were guarding the entrance, ready to greet some important guests going there for a Remembrance Concert.
Further along we came across, what must rate as one of the most peaceful protests ever, as a group of Romanians were demonstrating about the recent vote that they felt wasn't conducted fairly.
Not exactly spitting hatred is he?
Once again another great day in our Capital, with many varied sights to take in and enjoy!
Brooklands Autumn Motorsport Day
Time marches on at a tremendous pace, and so we find ourselves heading down to Brooklands for their Autumn Motorsport Day on October 12th. Despite there being some changeable weather around at the weekend it remained dry at this event, luckily, ensuring a good turnout of cars, as well as a good number of spectators.
The range in competitive cars was immense with most disciplines represented, and there were some real rarities being given an airing.
I got there nice and early and stated to look around the paddock as cars began to arrive. This Fiat looked very racy just parked up, let alone in motion.
Alfa 4C looking very curvy!
As the pace cars was removed for the demo runs of the Formula Nippon and this Formula 1 Benetton, we were able to fully appreciate the howling engine note as they chased up and down the gearbox.
Later on in the afternoon the Test Hill was in action, which is always a crowd pleaser, particularly if there is some spirited driving on display such as 'Marky' demonstrated.
None pleased the crowd more than the driver of this racing Bentley who managed to wheelspin the whole way up the hill, which caused much clapping from the appreciative crowd, along with coughing and nose blowing as the acrid burnt rubber aroma filled their lungs!
In case you were wondering if the participants get apprehensive before barrelling up the hill, just have a close look at this passenger's expression!Concours Of Elegance, Hampton Court Palace
On Sunday September 7th, we headed off to Hampton Court Palace for the Concours Of Elegance 2014. This is the third year that this event has been run, the previous two at Windsor Castle and St James Palace respectively, both of which I also visited. The first thing that struck me as I walked in was that there was an awful lot more space for the cars to be displayed in, than the two previous venues. So much so that not only were the Concours cars displayed within the gardens, but also the entrants from the Octane Tour when they arrived, as well as cars from selected owner's clubs. This obviously meant that there were plenty of cars for us to study!
Although the cars were polished up to an inch of their lives as you would expect, the surrounding roads and paths were very dusty in their nature, and the valeting team had their work cut out keeping the film of dust off the cars as they sat on display, and at times it was a losing battle for them. The cars of course were magnificent, although I would have to comment that there wasn't the occasional jaw dropping wow inducing machine that there has been at the the previous two events, either that or I am getting harder to please in my old age. Either way, this was still the best collection of important cars that you will see in Britain this year.
Simply stunning, as a 1960's Ferrari should be of course!
One of the more unusual vehicles on display, which would probably prove a bit tricky to clamber into!
They sure could bash out some classy bodywork, those Figoni et Falaschi boys.
In case you were wondering, this is the front end of a delectable Bugatti.
Just in case you needed verification of the Bugatti credentials.
That is what you call a boot!
Fantastic finish on this Eagle Low Grag GT.
Curves everywhere.
Ettore's initials on show.
Rear view of the one off Ferrari F12 TRS.
Polishing cloth in hand, inspecting handiwork.
An ant's view of a few million quids worth of Italian exotica.
Metal and windows.
Highly reflective metal surfaces create all kinds of abstract art.
I wonder if they only polished the bottom half of the back wheel that was on show?
I'm sure the shoes weren't that big in real life!
The Royal Bear keeping an eye on things.
A couple of artists were in attendance, and just look at how realistic the painting that he is working on looks. 40 hours of work had gone into this small work of art up to this point. Should have taken up photography, 1/500secs normally creates my picture!
Just a few pots of paint being used, by another artist.
The band obviously took requests by mobile phone.
At the end of the day it was time for the cars to make their way home or indeed to the safety of their transporter, and so the Grand Depart started. The previously mentioned dust can be seen in the next few pics. The Jaguar driver above was doing a good impression of a goldfish!
A very grand car in front of a very grand house.
Super desirable California.
One way to carry your luggage I suppose.
Overtaking down the outside. Love the way that the tyres on the large Bugatti look ridiculously thin by today's standards.
Sure enough the day proved very exhausting for some!
The weather was kind, the setting was magnificent and the cars were of the highest quality. Can't ask for more than that!