New nose cone badge

Ow yes, I've been working on the PI again. Incidently I found a mk1 nose cone badge for sale in the Netherlands. Call that unique! It seemed a well preserved example for a fair price so I bought it as a replacement for the currently not so nice badge. Just swapped it over so that's another job done. The car is still not running though, hopefully I soon make some progress on that subject too. First the GT6 will be prepared and checked for the "nacht van het oosten" rally. The car hasn't run since November, so fingers crossed. Looking forward to the rally and driving the Triumph again after not being used for such a long time.

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Fitted!

First time out

The Mini scene in the Netherlands must be one of the most active scenes outside the UK. Loads of action going on all year round so we decided to visit a local run and find out about the Mini hospitality! Just a couple of miles from home we arrived at the start of the Mini rally. 23 smart little cars found their way to the pub, which wasn't bad as the weather forecast wasn't really promising. The run turned out to be Mini indeed, as it was only 50km. Map reading this time!They gave us a map which showed 10 spots that all had to be visited. At these spots they had taken some photographs of unique objects in that area. We had to find the correct photos at the correct position. It turned out that our navigation skills were excellent, we found the 10 spots in no-time! Finding the photographed objects seemed to be a bit more complicated. Or maybe it was because we couldn't be bothered jumping out of the car and inspecting the area like a true Sherlock Holmes. The photos were too much in detail. In the end we managed to find at nearly all spots a suitable photo. Back at the pub we realised that some of the Mini folks took this photo searching very serious. In fact, it now seemed that there could have been found multiple photos at one spot, something we didn't know.... So you can imagine the results of our first Mini event. Well, we didn't come last! (but as close as you can get). Anyway, we had loads of fun in our little car. Els had her first wheelspin experience! She really enjoys driving the Mini. Which is great! The day ended in good atmosphere, being invited by some local Mini friends having a meal at the local chip-shop.

Another British Classic

And no, it's not another Triumph (I wasn't allowed). The new car added to our fleet is a classic Mini. Els always wanted one and I thought it was about time to find one of these little cars. So we started our search on the web which lead us soon to the car we bought the other week. It's a 1991 Mini Cooper with factory "S pack". It has a modified head, single SU carb and no cat. It became a waxoil treatment when new. The results can been seen today as it's still a very solid car. A full history and being well equiped made this car to the one to have. Don't think we could have find a better one for a fair price. Anyway we're really happy about our new little power pack. Finally some pics.

Update no 9: Nachtrit 2009

The final update is about the November nachtrit. It was the first time for Els being a co-driver in this sort of events. She was a bit nervous about it, but once started things went really well. The first couple of miles we took it easy to get used to the tulip diagrams. It didn't take long before we could speed up. She really got the hang of it and all was going well, both enjoying the event. Unfortunatelly Els became sick during the first section of the rally. At the halfway stop we deceided to return straight to the finish as she still wasn't feeling well. Which was a shame but also the only right thing to do. The way back was good fun! I enjoyed myself driving the GT6 back by following the "fastest" route designed by our TomTom. Some very fast roads through a forest brought us back to the motorway. Satnav can be fun sometimes! GT6 went really well. As a test I removed the rubber seal on top of the bulkhead. It made all cooling issues dissappear. Apperrantly there's a much better under bonnet flow with the seal removed. I'm happy with the results and didn't expect it to make such a difference. Hope it will cool things down in summer as well. Time will tell.

Update no 8: Car exchange

Well, as our dog became bigger we realised that our little Saxo became to small. The Citroen had to go. As it was Els her first car it was quite an emotional goodbye. It was a good car, never let us down. We´ve taken it to Scotland and the Alps for holiday. In fact we drove it into a gletscher one day!



We found this as a replacement, Audi A4 1.8T Avant. A nice car which has plenty of space for our favourite pet. Drives really well, but is also a bit dull. (like all moderns?) Nothing exciting about it, it just brings us from A to B and back. Which can't be said from the car behind it.........

Update no 7: Nurburgring 2009

Again we visited the Oldtimer Grand Prix weekend at the Nürburgring.

Friday was good! Nice weather, lots of entertainment at the Nordschleife during the 3 hour race for sports and GT cars from the 60's, good BBQ and many tasty beers.

Saturday was foggy, very foggy. In fact it was that foggy that all races had been cancelled until the weather would clear up. Eventually at the end of the day there were some cars on track, but still not racing due to the weather conditions. Luckily we found this log.......















Sunday it was time to go home. It wasn't the best Nürburg weekend we had so far, hardly seen any races. We spent most of our time at the campsite and made the best out of it. It was great, 2010 Here we come!