Well the Champagne British Car Festival for 1998 is now history. The
attendees to the Pub Crawl were many and veried. In addition to Dr Blofeld
(and his cat) were several martini's (no kidding, people dressed up as
martini's), folks with gold fingers, folks in tuxedo's and formal evening
wear and at least one gal all in gold (ala Goldfinger). Enough to fill two
double decker busses (which we did). then we invaded the sleepy little
burg of Champagne/Urbana. Of course Champagne/Urbana is a college town so
the locals didn't even bat an eye, but we had fun anyway.
It rained again Saturday night and the fire alarm went off, again. But we
were out on the town and didn't notice. The following morning brought us
clearing skies, finally, and it came time for everyone to dry out the cars
and get ready for the show. but first some very important business.
Breakfast.
The dawn patrol left the gates at 6:30 and meandered over to Phoney
Mahoney's Somewhat Authentic Irish cusine for a genuine (almost) Irish
breakfast. And after a filling breakfast back to the show grounds.
The turnout was great. Especially the Lotii (the featured marque) which
turned out in great variety. There was an Eclat, two 7's, a couple of
Elan's, an Elite, a Cortina, several Europa's, a 14 (replica), and 7
Esprit's! On the Triumph front there were the usual Tr3's, 4's, 6's, 8's,
and Spitfires. Not so typical were the two Sport 6's and the 2000 Saloon.
Your's truley didn't win nuttin' this year (not even best setting with our
genuine china picnic spread and our genuine bottle of French Wine) but Greg
P (aka Dr Blofeld) did take first place in the TR4 catagory. (I think it
was the cat. I doubt that it was the fact that no other TR4's showed up.
(I zink Herr Blofeld hat zem all eliminated))
All in all it was a fun show and I think anyone within a 200 mile raduis
should check it out next year. The theme for next year's show has not yet
been selected but the suggested themes are: The "Avengers", "Henry the
Eighth", and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxie"
That's all from here.
Dave your man in the field) Massey
P.S. This was the first foray in the TR6 since I installed the balanced
driveshaft, the electronic ignition, the cruise control, and the new
crankshaft bearings and oil pump. The car ran fine, returned about 26 MPG,
held 60 PSI oil pressure warm (with 40 wt oil) and the top didn't leak much
at all considering how ratty it is and how much it rained.
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