Air hair lair. (say it fast )
Yes hello, I'm picking up quite the accent eh?
Really been a rollercoaster ride lately. I'm very tired & ever so slightly grumpy so I'll have to go through my note book & find a little story to relay to you, something that will also make me smile & get my writing juices flowing -as they say.
Yeah, this is a good memory. The Crown pub, in Weston, has been serving beer since 1593.( no I don't remember THAT much ) My first PROPER pub since I've been here. Fantastic meal, yet again all the meaties looked at my food with envy. We even had success on the wine front -every bottle was superb. To start with I had a beautiful real ale called 'goats milk' . It was teppid, flat, full of flavour, smooth & creamy, & just plain & simple a beautiful experience. When we first got there, I went in & jokingly asked for a pint of Bishops Whippet- I'd made the name up on the way to the pub as we followed big Chris in his Porsche Cayenne turbo. To my suprise the barman said he was very sorry but they didn't stock it anymore, preferring to specialise in local brews..... I thought I was being funny. He & Queen Victoria were not amused. We were trusting Chris' g.p.s to find the place & get us out afterwards. On the way home it was PITCH BLACK apart from the glow of London on the horizon, everytime we burst into another village our eyes would struggle to adjust to the lights on the pub signs or local village halls.
The Crown pub was a stand-out bright point in a weekend of bad luck. With only 2 cars to run Gary & I had towed them down to Silverstone with a van each. I had felt quite the superstar with my silver Mercedes van towing the black & silver Chevron B8 -except there is no rear view mirror, only door mirrors & it's just impossible to check the curl on your ' tache with your head hanging out the window while doing 70 mph. Gary had the red Merc van with the red Mustang lurking in a covered trailer. The meeting we were off to was one of the biggest classic meetings in the British season, the marque of honour being Aston Martin this year. Before our test session I got the vans parcked, awnings out, chairs & tables laid ready for big Chris & little Chris to arrive. Then I had a quick look around, watched the new DB9 Le Mans Aston race car doing some practice starts & quick laps ready for sundays display. Before I knew it, it was time to be back in our pit to ready the car & get both drivers set up with belt & mirror positions and to talk through the pit stop....it was decided that we DID have to remove the quick release steering wheel for Big Chris to get out fast enough......you don't get to 66 years with an epicurian lifestyle & still manage to slip lithely in & out of tiny sports racing cars y'know!
Well I'll cut to the chase, clutch trouble upset the session & we didn't qualify that well. So I spent an afternoon working on my tan while pulling the gearbox out of the B8. Gary rushed about trying to locate some parts. We got it all back together using the second hand spares we carry- just in case the brand new one we had in the car failed for some reason...well some reason had arrived on our doorstep & found us using the parts from well stocked vans that I'd sorted out late the night before. After "only" finishing 6th in the race due to no clutch, we have since stripped it all down again & found that the 1968 magnesium gearbox is quite frail & has distorted really badly, the casing cracking in a few places & alot of the clutch symptoms being down to stiff gear shift mechanisms confusing diagnosis when the 'box got hot. So I am currently making the red B8 race ready in time for Nurburgring this weekend, while a new casing is built up for the black car. My tan has reached " white as a German " level, so I should fit in nicely! Looking for some tight leaderhosen on e-bay Germany, hopefully they'll do a part exchange on the silly stripped muscle shirt & beretI bought to blend in with, in France.
After that little mechanical issue we were ready for the Mustang to romp home to another win.....however we called a halt to it at the driver change 'cos of overheating. Many cars in classic racing at the moment seem to be running, on average, 20 to 30 degrees C hotter than they ever have & it is the cause of much debate in the pits. I am hoping that my redesign mk2 beats it.....we are all scratching our heads after trying all the tricks we know.
After that disaster we cleared out as fast as we could. The 5 hour trip home stretched out before us.
I did blow my new mountain bike budget on a 1957 car movie poster for 'The Young Racers'
....." a little death each day.... a lot of LOVE each night......." Aww shit! 's not fair! We've had 2 cars die & I only got phone love. NO ! not dirty phone love you idiots, nice clean phone love from Selene. I mean she doesn't even say "fuck", so what kind of phone love d'you think I'm gonna get from her?
Since then it has kind of been just work, work, work. Not that that is alien to me. No one has ever called me lazy- except Selene, but I think that it is perfectly normal to leave your burkha lying around on the floor with other items of clean clothing that you may want to wear in the coming fortnight. She has other views.
I have been bumped up the ladder in an unofficial way. I now run the workshop while Gary races around getting stuff ordered & picked up for us. He has finally assumed the Manager position while I handle the forman role. Dan our " boy" helps us all or drives around getting real urgent stuff picked up & delivered....he spent 10 hours driving last wednesday! And I keep the rest of the lads busy working through my daily chores I set. I have introduced a new concept to them - being anal about sorting things into piles so you can break jobs down into tasks & see the order that things need to be done in. That way you don't have to retrace your footsteps too much - although this is sometimes inevitable when building racing cars. My other famous Lambkins innovation......making lists! And getting the list done BEFORE you get a list of lists....like I carry around!
It is now my job to direct Dan loading the lorry & vans for race meetings with what we might need or want & where & how to stash it. Gary has really loosened up & chilled out ever so slightly with his new found ability to delegate to me, knowing that somehow I'll get it done by someone else or do it myself- without the need for him to check up, get stressed & micro-manage the workshop. This is supremely beneficial to him since he is within 5 years of the same age that his father died of a heart attack, a family legacy he should've had Tim from the 'nam ( Sydenham ) sort out years ago.....If only he had a Selene to help guide him through his work....
Gary is having trouble dealing with all the same issues that I had trouble dealing with when Selene & I had been going with the business 2 or 3 years. There are so many very basic & easy to overlook problems when your business has taken off & gotten very busy. Selene was in control - it was me that felt like my life had been taken over by the business, it was me that started to rebel. I reckon the first casualty is time management. Oh, hang on that's the second casualty...the first casualty is lunch! If only we could do lunch, earn a huge amount of money without casualties, no working for people & definitely have no people work for you, what a happy world this would be! Once I have stopped Israel calling people who's country they have invaded "terrorists " & "rebels" I shall re-write business forever......ha ha haaaa!!!
Ok this is silly being up at 1am, writing silliness when I'm up at 6silly o'clock this morning to finish the B8 & the truck, load all our gear 2 Mustangs & the B8 ready for Germany & the Nurburgring.
Ciao, Ciao!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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