East Anglia Region - Newsletter July 2003

[route66]

Hi all,
June’s meet at The Maybush at Waldringfield was a bit of an eventful day. I drove up the A12 alone, as Steve was sunning himself in 33 degrees of Le Mans sunshine, cheering the Bentleys on, and apparently getting tipsy. Well they do say “24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a race” don’t they. So I navigated myself to the Maybush on a glorious day and spent 15 minutes trying to park the car. The Yachties were out in force, and had spilled over onto the car park at the Maybush, and gone off for the day sailing. The pub was absolutely jumping, with hundreds and hundreds of people milling around, and eating. I managed to find John Tullett, found ourselves a table, and ordered lunch. Whilst we were tucking in, Mark Bright and Colin Hendry appeared. They’d given up all hope of securing a car parking space in the chaos, and were going to decamp to the Fox at Newborne, 2 miles away. They’d followed 2 more cobras that had turned around and roared off to the nearest pub. We finished our meal, and prepared to follow them. As I walked out into the car park, a throaty growl made me turn around. Don and Jill Fleming (our hosts for last year’s Treasure hunt in Coltishall) had been released from running the restaurant (as a Fathers day treat) and had thundered down to meet us all. We duly made an about turn and drove in sedate convoy to the Fox.

Considering there were 16 East Anglian cobra fanatics in France for Fathers day, there was a really good local turn out at the 2nd pub of the day. Rod and Celia Brand, Ian and Debbie Denton were waiting for us in the beer garden along with the usual crowd. We also had a new edition to the cobra fan club, Colin and Belinda brought along their 3 day old baby girl to show off. I’ve lost the bet Colin that you were going to call her Carole Shelby . Anyway, many congratulations, and I feel very pleased with myself that I didn’t make her wail when I held her for a few seconds!

I’ve also done a bit of arranging for future meets. Our forthcoming August meet and Summer Barbeque will be held at the home of one of our members, Simon & Sarah Finlay. By co-incidence, one of my work colleagues will be staying with me for the weekend and will be coming to the club barbecue. Nothing wrong with that I hear you say, except that Jeremy has a bit of an interesting hobby. During 1994, he joined Richard Noble's ThrustSSC Team looking after the Web Site and the project's satellite communications. The success of the web site was only too well demonstrated by its appeal to the Internet readership which saved ThrustSSC from financial collapse just before the successful Black Rock Campaign which gave Britain the first Supersonic World Land Speed Record. At its peak in 1997, the web site achieved in excess of 3.5 million accesses/day. As part of the team, he was at Black Rock, Nevada the very day the car broke the sound barrier. Additionally, he’s got bits of the car in his garage, and I’ve persuaded him to talk to you for an hour or so about his experiences in the team.
Also, Jeremy’s no stranger to the world of kit building – he’s currently building a kit airplane. The major parts are spread out within his and two neighbours garages, oh, and his lounge!

For our September meet and Treasure hunt, at the Norfolk Mead hotel, Don and Jill Fleming are arranging for Chris Crane from RPI Engineering to come along and give us a talk on V8’s and performance tuning. Apparently, when Chris spoke to the Morgan club recently at the hotel, he was still chatting away late evening! Last years Treasure Hunt winner (and local lad) Chris Wicks will be organising the route. So there are 2 events back to back for you to make special notes of in your diary, and prepare to stay a little later than usual.

As a taster of the forthcoming report of the foreign expedition to the Le Mans 24 Hours by 16 of us, here’s a photo of their encampment. You’ll note the tidy parking, lovely weather, organised facilities and gazebo, oh, and a bloody great Cadillac. This served well as the team transport and shopping trolley. I’m hoping one of travellers will provide me, post haste, with a full and detailed report that I can reproduce here and maybe send to Snake Torque (big HINT HINT). Failing that, I’ll twist Steve’s arm! Anyway, you should know by now it was a Bentley 1 – 2. Steve has already booked again for 2004!

This month’s meet is on Sunday 20th July at 12:00 at the Chequers, Thompson, West Norfolk – we’re returning again by popular request following our visit in November 2002. Thompson is to the west of the A1075, north of Thetford half way to Watton. The pub is in the village on Griston Road and is described as “…a 16th century thatched inn featuring several drinking and eating areas with log fires…adjacent to the Peddars Way footpath…beers include Adnams, Fullers and guest beers...”. I’ll send you my good wishes, leaving Steve to hold the fort, as I’m off to my annual conference in New Orleans, and won’t be back in time.
As usual, let us know if you’ll be eating by the Thursday before the meet so that I can notify numbers to the pub, as they require confirmation.

Here’s the list of East Anglian meets for 2003.
August 17th – CRC East Anglian annual Summer Barbeque and Thrust SSC talk.
September 21st – East Norfolk – Coltishall – CRC East Anglian annual road run & treasure hunt
October 19th – East Suffolk – Ramsholt Arms, Ramsholt - and a visit to Sutton Hoo?
November 16th – West Norfolk – Red Lion, Caston
November 29th – East Anglian Cobra Club annual Christmas meal
December 21st – West Suffolk – White Hart, Boxford
Plus local (and no so local) car events (dates to be confirmed)
August 25th – Lavenham Rare Breeds Car Show and Carnival, Lavenham, Suffolk
August 31st – Lions Club Classic Car Show – Lower Castle Park – Colchester
Sept 13th to 14th - The National Kit & Performance Car Show, Castle Donington, Derbys.
Sept 27th - DAX Autumn open day, Harlow, Essex

Thanks to all you cobrateers, keep calling, and mailing.
Bye for now,
Eileen Call me on 01206 863804, or mail me at route66@hot2trot.freeserve.co.uk