4 Datsuns and a mystery man.

At Collingrove the other day, here's that Datto 1600 mentioned earlier. It's Haydn Clark. Boy, was he quick! You'd have to be to beat Peter Hall.

And here's Peter, going about his business.

Here's Kevin Mackrell. How do you beat him and his 6585cc (that's a lot more than 2600) Chev powered Z? Not allow his time for taking out the white posts at turn 1, that's how. I don't like this white post business. They didn't have them in my day. Do you remember them, Wayne? What's wrong with clipping the grass a bit? Remember Stan Keen?

And this is the 240Z shared by Chris Ferguson and Andre Lukasz. They're getting quicker and quicker too.

Who's that hiding under his Clipsal bucket hat and dark sunnies - going incognito? It's Trevor Unsworth. Who's he hiding from I wonder? Got to wave the red flag at least a couple of times.

Collingrove, Oct. 2009. A walk around the paddock - part 2.

This Formula Ford was amazingly quick and shares a shed at Woodside with a blue Ikara. It's Jason Ratsch's Van Dieman.

This is Geoff Redin's 1180cc bike engined BAE Mk II, mentioned briefly in my earlier Lobethal report.

This is worth a closer look, a Nissan block made from a lump of aluminium.

The DBR replica.

And a red and white 100/4. You can tell I'm a Healey fan.

50 sexiest cars.

Peter G emailed me this:-
"The original Nagari was 26th out of 50 World's Sexiest Cars - Muira No.1, GTO No.2 & GT40 No.3, only 3 Aussie cars mentioned, Charger E49 at No.43 & A9X at 48.
Luckily they didn't include the Ikara in the Ugliest 10."

Well....... what can I say, Peter. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm beholding and I think Ikaras are lovely. They wouldn't make such a list because they're too nice.

Did you notice they've turned the Nagari inside-out and made it left hand drive?

A page from the Nov. 2009 Australian Classic Car.

Collingrove, Oct.2009. A walk around the paddock - part 1

Let's start with the tin-tops and let's start the tin-tops with a few rotors. That should make the odd family member happy. This beautiful little R100 was there by default and at the discretion of the stewards. It belongs to Chris Redin (Geoff's son) who managed to do something terminal to his 998cc Cooper Special on the Saturday and brought the Mazda along as a replacement the following day. And what a tidy unit it turned out to be, both in appearance and on the hill.

The RX2 is the familiar Sports Sedan of Dave Cundy's. He doesn't half get stuck into it.

The RX3 of Pascoe Ayling's was also entered as a Sports Sedan. That's a great little car too, complete with flared guards. No flares on the R100 you'll notice.

This immaculate normally aspirated Datsun 1600 was so quick it beat Peter Hall's 260Z. That would have upset him, he's usually the benchmark for Datsuns. The other Z (240 version), jointly driven by Chris Ferguson and Andre Lukasz didn't quite reach him though. I wonder if Peter knew Kevin Mackrell was coming, although there's not much Datsun left in that monster.

This rotary powered Anglia sports sedan should be familiar to many. It went like hell on the day in the hands of Sergio De Luca. In the 80s it was one of the very fastest Sports Sedans at AIR, driven by Luigi De Luca.

Lexus

Gee, this new Lexus sports looks nice.

Rollbar

The rollbar on the Mk.4 is taking shape.

I think it looks good. Just the right height.

The 1932 MacDonberg Special

This very attractive car was a genuine original Lobethal competitor. It had a side valve Ford V8 motor with pipes down each side and sounded lovely.

I was rather attracted to the independant rear end. Look at those massive wishbones. They'd be good on a tractor.Here's a little synopsis from its present owner, Keith Roberts.

The MacDonberg Special was built in South Australia by the McDonough brothers during the 1930s to specifically race at Lobethal meetings. It was based on a 14hp Amilcar chassis and running gear plus a Wizard Smith Essex motor, and sported a most attractive Monoposto body.

At the end of WW2, after a rather unsuccessful racing career and a change of interest by the McDonoughs, the car was sold in a dismantled condition to John Opatt who rebuilt it; but again, it was no world-beater. The next owner solved the performance problem by replacing the Essex engine with a more powerful side valve Ford unit.

After passing through numerous hands, all the time being "bastardised", including a conversion to a two seater sports with disc wheels, it finally ended up in the late 1950s lying in a Victorian farmer's paddock, who had bought it solely for the V8 engine.

The present owner stumbled across the remains forty-plus years later and spent an arduous eight years bringing it back to original pre-War configuration, but retaining a V8 motor.

2009 Historic Winton was the first public outing for the MacDonberg Special in more than fifty years.

Lobethal and Bolwells

In case you were wondering about the lack of talk regarding Bolwells, it's because there was no place for them in the scheme of things which appeared to have a cut-off date around the 1960 mark. You may well ask what the sprinkling of late model Ferraris etc. were doing there then. Well it had something to do with some sponsorship from the Ferrari/Maserati dealer. They, and the small number of group N touring cars did seem rather inappropriate, but the way their owners went mad out on the road may not bode well for them in the future. Anyway, a number of us were spectators and it just so happens that Jon and Lisa live right on the main street. Their front verandah was an excellent viewing platform and the back yard a very good car park. Here's a few Bolly members' cars in the said back yard.

Thank you Jon and Lisa for your hospitality and the sausage sizzle and the Coopers. Late in the afternoon Joan Shearer came struggling up the hill pushing Kevin in a wheelchair. They stopped for a chat and for Joan to catch her breath and I'm proud to say that the pushers for the rest of the trip to the top of the hill were Emily Baxendale and her young cousin of the same age. It was a great day for everybody. The plan was to go and familiarise ourselves with the Stafford Ridge stage while we were in the area. Dino knew all the spots and he was riding shotgun with Norm so I was to follow them to the first spot. There is no way a humble campervan can keep up with a potent clubman with the driver's eyes glazed over with red mist so where they went I have no idea. They were probably parked behind a rock somewhere laughing at me while I drove around looking for them.

A few photos of the Metallic Orange "Chassis No. 001" at yesterday's Healey/Bolwell Show 'n' Tell.

Alfas at Lobethal

The P3 Alfa Romeos were certainly the highlight of Lobethal this year. Add to that half a dozen GP Bugattis, the Delahaye, MGK3 etc. etc. It doesn't get much better. The Hipkins 30/98 was back again plus a sprinkling of decent Bentleys. Wow! Just imagine with only 6 of these P3s in the world, not one, but two of these cars are at Lobethal and neither of them are the ex-Doug Jarvis one that lived in Adelaide. Peter Giddings tells me that one is now in Germany.

The two P3s, both built in 1934, are not identical twins, however. Take the front ends for example. No.31 had an attractive beam axle with semi-elliptic springs and Hartford friction shockers........

.....but take a look at No.12. No springs. No shockers. The beam axle is rigidly mounted.

And while on the subject of springs, I had to show you the rear ones on Neville Crighton's 1921 Alfa G1. Two rows of cantilever springs. It wasn't just Bentley that made very fine trucks, Ettore!

And here's the two P3s looking quite at home in their tent.

Speed on Tweed 2009.

Just arrived by email and via toroartzzz is this great shot of John at Speed on Tweed in my old favorite Nagari No.26. I had to share it.

People you'll know at Lobethal.

This is Peter Strauss, belted up and waiting to get out on the track in the XK140. Peter, as you know, has the beautiful black ex-Webb/Kluver Nagari roadster and the Elva BMW waiting in Europe for him to come and race. These events at Lobethal are not races but "spirited demonstrations" and to keep a lid on things they have the odd radar out. On the Sunday, I did hear that it was a deep red XK140 that fell foul of the radar traps. Not sure what speeds were clocked. Not sure which XK Jag it was either. Only noticed one deep red one though. It can happen to anyone. It was Smeetsy in the Milano last year.Ken Messenger was there in the DBR2 replica again. He was a bit "out of control" too but you know Ken.

Trevor Lambert had the old Overland record breaker there. It didn't put a foot wrong all weekend, except for throwing a tread on one of those ancient tyres. Bit of a learning curve for Trevor and Roger Trethewey on tyre changing from the 20s. The wheel doesnt come off, just the rim. Not as quick as the Elfin or the Bolwell but it accounts for itself pretty well nevertheless.

Here's TC disappearing out of the frame with his mate from Sydney. It was a real Alfa weekend and I'll show you the 2 P3s later.

Here's Geoff Redin contemplating his navel or falling asleep in Ral Rainsford's Uffindel Austin. Geoff built, and still drives (occasionally) a very nice Cobra replica (his son built one too) and also rebuilt the body for this very famous Austin 7 which is a credit to him. With the lack of grunt by today's standards in the Austin 7, which is very much original, I'll bet Geoff was glad to step into his bike engined BAE Mk.II at Collingrove the following weekend.

Still going strong.

For all you previous owners I just wanted to let you know that the 351-Monster goes as hard as it ever did - again.

Mark 7 on ebay.

Everyone has probably seen the Mark 7 on ebay at the moment. Below is the 1978 calendar shot of that very car.

This photograph was taken at One Tree Hill when Bernie Van Elsen had the farm up there. It was owned by Geoff Mann at the time. He was the one who painted it metallic blue. One of the pictures on the ebay site (the one where it's on the back of the truck) shows the electric blue bonnet with the forward facing scoop and the recessed blinkers on each side of the mouth. This same car was Murray Willmott's first race car (the orange one). I see the roll bar is no longer in the car. Avid readers may recall this car being the subject of "where is it now?" when we were wondering what happened to it after it moved to Western Australia. Now we know.

Radical Marcos

Below is a "normal" Marcos. We actually have a yellow one like this in our club. No, not the "Mens Health" tarmac rally one, another one. Looks like the deep yellow is a popular colour with the "Marcos marque" as well.However, here are a few examples of the racing version. Somehow, Bernie Van Elsen's Nagari doesn't look so outrageous any more.

The difference with Marcos compared to Bolwell is that these cars are all factory racers rather than customers like Docker and Van Elsen creating their own monsters. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Bolwell should have gone motor racing (although the Canon car was a factory race car in a way). Racing programs cost heaps and it's a good way for a small operator to go broke. Marcos began in 1959 and went out of business in 1970, 2000 and 2007 that I know of, each time being ressurected by well off enthusiast investors. I don't recall Bolwell ever going bankrupt despite press reports along the lines of "ADRs send Bolwell to the wall" etc. I wonder what wall they were talking about.

Drewer sets sights on Le Mans in 2010.

Datsuns at Birdwood and other Datsun stuff.

This year there were the usual "Z"s on the run, all pretty smartly presented like this one.But in addition to that, I noticed at least three 120Ys and only one of them was the hatchback coupe version. Datsuns are cult cars, there's no escaping it, right down to the 120Y. The other day there was a 180B SSS on ebay in Adelaide and the Historic Rally fans were all falling over themselves to get a bid in. Same thing with Datsun 1000 and 1200 utes, everybody wants one.

This phenomenon is not just limited to Australia. Japanese Datsun enthusiasts are coming to Australia to buy nice old Datsuns because they've crushed all theirs. And have a look at this "ordinary" old RHD 1968 Datsun Bluebird. It's unrestored but in good nick and a dealer on the East Coast of America has taken the trouble to import it from New Zealand and put it on the market for about $10,000. I haven't noticed how easy it was to sell. Might be a bad time. There's no money left in the US these days is there?

It was, however, a very low-mileage unit, see speedo.

It's nothing to do with the rarity of the car either - it's a Datsun! This Skoda, below, which is much more well known in Australia than in USA, couldn't get a bid and has apparently been for sale for a year.

So many Bellets

It was very hard for me to believe just how many Bellets turned up for the Birdwood Classic this year. I would never have thought there'd be that many left! Many of them were the smart looking and well performing Bellet GTs. This line-up was a mere fraction of them.

In the foreground is a genuine Bellet BBQ. "That's nothing" say the P76 owners. Their barby comprises two P76 boots turned into a trailer with the proverbial 44 gallon drum inside as the barbecque itself. They're very proud of it.

Remember that Bellet Sports Sedan that used to run at AIR in the 80s? That used to go pretty hard.

All those Bellets reminds me of the huge collection of Datsun Fairladies (or should that be Fairladys when you're talking about a car model?) that came on the Birdwood run a few years ago. I think they had a Fairlady National Meet here around the same time. Once again, it was hard to imagine that there would be so many of them - 1500s, 1600s and 2000s.

For all of our Buchanan owning readers

Roo, who operates the Buchanan website, from US I think, (this is his Buchanan below),

has had a limited number of Buchanan Body badges made (they can be bought for $45AUS plus post)

as well as replica serial number plaques ($30Aus plus post).you can email Roo at buchananbodies@v8vantage.com or visit the website

http://www.buchananmotorcompany.com/

An FE panel van with a slight difference.

I've seen it before but maybe you haven't. It's a 1956 FE Holden panel van over from Victoria for the Bay to Birdwood Classic. In the side panel you can see a window with sliding glass. Behind that is another flat piece of glass but not like the curved glass that curls around to the tailgate like on the station wagon. So what you say.

Now come around the other side. Look, a back door. And a back seat with a baby seat attached. Isn't that interesting. There must have been a purpose for all of this. There were later model Holden vans, EJ, EH, HR etc custom built with this configuration for use as ambulances. These were bigger vehicles and by then the panel vans had a raised roof. The idea behind it was that a stretcher could be slid down the right-hand side and an ambulance officer could sit in a small seat in the back and attend to the patient, but I'm not sure about this one.

Rules of life for young men in the Barossa.

When you turn 16 you rush out and buy a Commodore V8. Nothing older than a VS is accepted. At that age you automatically acquire driving knowledge to the level of F1. At roughly the same time your mum and dad's driving expertise suddenly declines to the level of "f***ing dickhead". They should learn to keep their mouths shut. If you survive the rigors of Friday night and are out of bed by mid-afternoon on Saturday, your time should be well spent removing the pristine mags on the rear of the said Commodore and replacing them with the black steel rims and second-hand tyres in readiness for an evening of drunken burnouts. And if you survive the burnouts relatively unscathed you will be too exhausted from all that hard work to put the car away. Therefore on Sunday morning there will be these Commodores parked all over town with silly looking black steel wheels on the back, many with burst tyres. The local cops mistakenly think that because of those wheels on the back that you might know how those ridiculous black marks got on the streets and out on the road. Those cops are so dumb that they don't even realise that you have fitted the wheels for their aesthetic appeal.

Yesterday morning Andrew and I went over to Collingrove for the State Hillclimb Championships. Coming down the hill from Penrice into Angaston (a 50kph zone) we round a bend to discover this, a once pristine Commodore complete with steel rims on the back and a blown tyre and a skid mark that veers across the road to the opposite kerb and then sharply back to the other footpath. After narrowly missing the stobie pole (due, no doubt, to the aforementioned expertise), the driver has endeavoured to reverse back on to the road only to dig a hole with the left-hand rear wheel so deep that it sat the diff down on the kerb. The next step is to go home and try and get some sleep before the sun comes up. Surely someone will have rescued the car before you wake up.

Another little article and video on the new Nagari

Try this:-
http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/motors/no-backing-for-electric-sports-car-20091013-gvo2.html

Opel GT

Another sweet little car to catch my eye at the Birdwood Classic was this dear little Opel GT, still with its California number plates and the plate surround declaring "Sonoma Valley, where great wines begin". The Sonoma region, only 45 miles from SF, is indeed a premier wine area and I noticed on Jane's blog only last week that she was relaxing at home in Santa Cruz, after a busy day, with a glass of Sonoma Valley wine. The sticker on the left hand rear window says "Wombat Racing, Australia". I imagine the owner having been an ex-pat Aussie over there. Here, there wouldn't be a need to include the word "Australia" on such a sticker - or to explain the references to "eats roots, shoots and leaves".

....and today's (Saturday's) Melbourne Age.

As The Adversiser is also a Murdoch paper, I wonder if this article will turn up in next Saturday's motoring liftout. I hope so in a way, which is a bit hypocritical of me as I've been having a bit to say about the decline in local content as the Murdoch conglomerate consolidates across the country.

Today's Herald Sun

Hot off the press. For those who aren't in Victoria and don't get the Herald Sun, read on.....

Perfect transplant?

Montreal V8 into GTV. They haven't tried to close the bonnet yet.

Toyota FT-86 coupe

This is going to be a beauty. It's making its first appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show and is described as a "Concept". It must be more than that because Toyota Australia are talking on their facebook site about its Australian release date.

Anyway, here's the details. It features a flat4 supplied by Subaru, a 6-speed manual gearbox and (the best part) rear wheel drive. Sounds good to me. It must be a joint venture with Subaru because they are going to bring out their own version a year after the Toyota release.

At the drive-in.

Just had to show you this excellent photo. It was taken by Michael Jenkin at the Cruising Classics Drive-In night at the Mainline Drive-In for another showing of what's becoming a bit of a cult movie - "Love the Beast". Michael is the son of Alvin and Sylvia Jenkin and they were all there of course in the Jowett. Alvin is the editor of the Gawler Club's "Journal" and had a hand in the building of my original Mark 5 way back in 1965.Apart from the two Bolwells, club member, Colin L, was there in the orange Falcon, still looking for a Bolwell project of his own.

2009 Bay to Birdwood Classic

This year was a "classic" year (odd number year). The distribution of the plaques and "goody" bags (named after Graham Goode) went very smoothly and must be at least partly due to the extra helpers we had this year. Roger Trethewey, the start manager, also reported relative smooth sailing down there as well. First to arrive were these 4 Mark 7s that left the start early after helping Roger.

We are lucky, we get to see most of the entrants up close as they stop at our marshalling point. Never let it be said that the Collins' Zeta runabout is the funniest looking car. The Nash Metropolitan from Broken Hill would have to go close to taking that prize. But wait until Duane gets his Bond Equipe on the road.

Smeetsy braved the weather to bring the Milano along. Some other roofless cars didn't turn up though.

A highlight (for me anyway) was the arrival of the DeTomaso family DeTomaso. The red Lamborghini Urraco just didn't compare.

Two Bolwell Club cars entered were non Bolwells. One was Ross's yellow Monaro, complete with BEECHEY numberplates and the other was Glen's red Scimitar GTE.

The Gawler Club had a very large representation but the Mt. Gambier mob was almost as big and they had further to come. Another large group that had travelled even further was the collection of mainly MGBs from the Geelong MG Car Club. They were all fitted out with flags proclaiming "Go Cats". Obviously sponsored by a pet food company. Talking of MGBs, there must have been hundreds of them. They would have even outnumbered the Mustangs and Falcons.

This Chev owner must have really been worried about the rain. He brought his boat along. But seriously, what a boat it was and beautifully restored.

The Tucker.

You might have noticed "1948 Tucker" in the links. The Tucker car was way ahead of its time. Take a look. Tucker, himself, was a very clever man and a passionate man. "Tucker, the movie" is one of my favourites. It is an insight into what can happen to a non-mainstream car manufacturer. Tucker's car was so innovative that it was seen as a threat to the big Detroit car builders and his finance mysteriously dried up. Even small Australian car builders should see this movie just to be aware of the pitfalls. It would be a good one for next year's Cruisin' Classics drive-in night. For similar reasons, I guess, I also enjoyed "Who Killed the Electric Car".

oops!

Has everybody seen these?
"Apparently a 19 y.o. young bloke took out a VY HSV Clubsport (RED of course) for a test drive from Bundoora Holden in Victoria.
On the drive back to the dealer he gave a little too much gas around the last corner before the Dealership, lost control of the car, mounted the kerb and flew 10 metres over the gate into the front yard of the dealership.
Let's just say they are reassessing the rules of test drives from now on."

Lotus Cortina Mark 2

Mark 1 Lotus Cortinas seem to be everywhere, one even made a guest appearance at Lobethal last weekend. Group N races and classic tarmac rallies would be incomplete if there wasn't a Mark 1 Cortina, Cortina GT, Lotus Cortina, Cortina GT 500 or Lotus Cortina clone.
Now, the Mark 2 in Australia is a different story. British and American Cortina forums talk about Mark 2 Lotus Cortinas as though they are relatively common, often making comparisons between the Mark 1 and Mark 2. I know I'm only a country boy and don't get out much but I don't reckon I've seen a Mark 2 Lotus Cortina. There's plenty of non-Lotus examples getting about on the roads but I think the Lotus ones are rare in Australia. I'm waiting for the emails now, telling me they're everywhere. Anyway, I was surprised to see this nice 1970 Mark 2 Lotus Cortina for sale on ebay in Scotland.

It is fitted with the Lotus Twin Cam engine.

It was pointed out to me that you didn't see Mark 2s racing much because by the time they came out the Escort was around, although Team Lotus did run Mk.2s with 16 valve Cosworth-Ford FVA Formula 2 engines with 205 bhp. I've just had it pointed out to me that they were called Ford Cortina-Lotus whereas the Mark 1s were called Lotus Cortinas.

While on the subject of Cortina GT500s, which we weren't, these Australia-only cars are rare anywhere overseas (getting rare in Australia too really). I think it must purely be an oversight that they weren't included in the recent Unique Cars top 10 Australian cars. All these years later I still feel sick when I think about someone that we know who wrecked one and took most of it to the tip.

Anyway, talking about the Unique Cars top 10 shootout, one of the wags on the Torana forum posted this photo with a comment along the lines of - Bowey's found a use for the Bolwell after all.
Must be jealous.

Quick release steering wheel

This is what I need, especially for little Mark 4s with big steering wheels. And for Colin here's a couple more photos of the Mark 4. That's Peter Taylour behind the wheel. And that's Jessie behind the gate showing absolutely no interest.

I wonder what that windscreen is from. It's too small to be FB Holden. Someone suggested Goggo.

That green Mark 4

This is how I remember that car, years before its German ownership (see comments - previous post). You can see the increased length in the doors. Yes it does look a little different but the modifications made it just that much nicer. (In my opinion that is.)

A Mark 4 with good manners.

Finally had a decent blast in this dear little thing. Here it is with its brand new number plates. That back plate, by the way is mounted on a very neatly done metal trapdoor for the spare wheel which hinges downwards in the same manner as the original doors probably would have done except that these doors are conventionally hinged and have exceptionally good catches operated by a spring loaded leather string in the door pockets a-la MGA.

It starts so easily on the turn of the key and idles nicely without even getting in. On the road it is so easy to drive and does everything perfectly, except perhaps, keep the rain off, but you just need to go a bit faster to solve that problem. That green one that ended up in Germany was like that. Wait 'til Jane reads this. After a short drive of Barry's at Eastertime she wanted one.

That bloody bushfire!

This TVR Grantura was also a victim of those Victorian bushfires.

Airbrush techniques

The last word on Peter G, for now anyway. Remember those t-shirts Pete used to get around in depicting his 2 Nagaris? They were done at the time by a panel van muralist. These are the 2 shirts below.

Just to show you that panel van muralists don't all go on to become graffiti artists, I would like to introduce you to a famous wildlife artist, Roger Murcott who, in a past life at Goolwa, airbrushed murals on panel vans and the odd surfboard for a living. Below is Roger in his gallery which was once a giant water tank below his heritage listed house in Kapunda.

And this is one of his paintings - of two kites sitting on a fence.

The other anniversary for Pete.

September was the big month for anniversaries. Pete's third one was the 30th anniversary of his purchase of B8/54, the blue coupe, in September 1979. While some others have had their Bolwells longer, this was a big moment for Peter nevertheless and something many of us can relate to.

Lots of people will recall that way back in '79, the car came with the modified Valiant Galant tail-lights and the Falcon XY GT cast mirrors (since rectified I think).

Actually, I reckon the tail-lights don't look too bad.

20 years of MX5s and other 20th anniversaries.

Last month (on the 20th actually) a celebration was held to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Mazda MX5 and took place at Mazda's Miyoshi Proving Ground at Hiroshima. Over 1600 MX5s took part and at the end of the day, the whole lot of them did a parade lap of the track. Next Sunday South Australian MX5 owners get their turn with a gathering of the little roadsters at the Birdwood Motor Museum. They may not quite get 1600 I would imagine. If you would like to know more about this upcoming event give Roger a call on 0402 428986.Another 20th Anniversary is one that Peter Garvin is celebrating. 20 years ago he married his "beautiful wife Jessica." It is also the 20th anniversary of the Bolwell National Meeting in Perth, which as it turned out, did not take place over Easter, but later in the year, and Peter and Jessica's honeymoon comprised a drive across the country and across the Nullabor in the Nagari sports. I can't think of a better honeymoon and a great way to get to know Bolwells. They are still together.

I presume they will celebrate this big event by doing the "re-enactment" at the next National Meet, also in Western Australia.

Funny old weather.

After 2 inches of rain, it was a bit of a surprise to see so much dust in Kapunda on Wednesday that a certain white Falcon ute had changed colour to orange. In fact if I took it round the corner and parked it alongside Colin's hot orange example you'd think they were twins. Anyway, yesterday I had to go up to Burra and on the other side of Manoora it started to rain, turning the remaining dust to mud. After being parked in Burra for a while, there was enough rain to have dumped the mud on the ground and I had a pristine white car again. I have probably delivered the dust back to where it came from in the first place.

With no-one to bother except myself I was able to turn Barnesy's latest CD up loud and rock along all the way up there and back. This is the best work JB has ever done. He should have been doing that old stuff years ago. I think I'll email him tonight and tell him so. Not that that mob need much encouragement but positive feedback always feels nice. Well, I reckon it would.

The new McLaren MP4-12C road car

A few weeks back the British Formula 1 manufacturer, McLaren, released details of an up coming road car, the Mp4-12C. Since the release I've been watching lots of sites where the comments are usually critical, emphasising the ordinariness (if that's a word) of the car. Considering the fact that it won't be seen until 2011, I feel this criticism might be a bit premature. Admittedly, the three seater F1, released almost 20 years ago (doesn't time fly), will be a hard act to follow but I can't see it being anything but a stunning vehicle. It certainly looks striking in the photographs.Not striking enough it would seem. A comment I heard was that it was so ordinary that you might as well go out and buy a new Lamborghini for the same money. That's ordinary? There seems no doubt that the new McLaren is putting race car technology into a road going car. The MP4-12C is to be built entirely in-house. It will have a carbon-fibre tub moulded in one piece and will be "ultra stiff". Into that will go a 600bhp/600Nm 3.8 litre twin-turbo V8, using a flat-plane crank for high revs and will be dry sumped to get the engine as low as possible in the chassis. All this power is to be transferred to the rear wheels through a twin clutch, 7 speed gearbox. The car only weighs 1300 kg and is designed to produce huge amounts of downforce. Ron Dennis is also hinting at a racing program. I'm predicting a quality car in the McLaren tradition. I'll take mine in orange of course.