A work colleague is a member of the Goodwood Road Racing Club and suggested I should take my car down to one of their Breakfast Club meetings. They’re held throughout the summer months, excluding the periods around the Festival of Speed and The Revival, with each having a different theme.

They are free to all to attend and if your car is ‘on theme’ you can register it for inclusion, with August’s theme being ‘Thoroughbreds’. Not entirely sure what classifies as a thoroughbred, I registered my car for the event. It’s a first come first served basis and those cars that are accepted are parked along the circuit’s start/finish straight.

The organisers confirmed my car had been accepted a couple of weeks before the event. This brought an urgency to completing the variety of jobs still left to do to complete the car. The most pressing were the door cards and B-post trim panels. Suffolk & Turley had suggested leaving these off and they would fit them when they did the hood. So I was slightly disappointed that this hadn’t been done when I collected it.

I just about managed to get away with the appearance of a completed restoration but there are still numerous niggles to address, which will be covered in a separate post. The organisers suggest arriving by 8am although cars start turning up from 7am onwards, to secure the prime area on the circuit rather than in the pit area.

Plenty of E-Types where on show

Plus a variety of other classics

On the way down the A3 we soon picked up a Sunbeam Tiger, and old 911 and a Morgan all heading down to the event. The roads a quiet at that time in the morning, so good progress was made. The event was well attended, both cars and people, and there were numerous other E-type on display. They’re obviously relaxed about what is considered ‘on theme’ as there was an immaculate Mini Woody Clubman and a VW camper van, but welcome all the same. It was an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday morning and thoroughly recommended.

New v old extinguishers

One of the garages in the pits was taken up by Fire Tools UK who offer an alternative to the typical foam and powder fire extinguishers. Their aim is to offer something similar to the now illegal Halon extinguishers.

I’d been carrying a 1 Kg powder extinguisher until now but have never been keen on them due to the mess they leave … although that will probably be the least of your worries in the event of a fire.

The main difference is that it isn’t under pressure and can therefore pack in more fire suppressant in a smaller volume. It contains a flameless solid fuel which is chemically ignited to produce a high volume of gaseous suppressant that doesn’t leave a residue.

So I purchased one of their middle sized unit which is equivalent to 4 of my larger 1Kg powder extinguishers. It fits neatly behind the passenger seat.

Fortunately I still had the keys,
otherwise I might not have seen it again!

The day was rounded off by catching up with friends for a country pub lunch. By chance, a fellow S2 owner just happened to be there at the time (it’s a small world!). After chatting about our cars he suggested I ought to do a leg or two of the E-Type Club’s Tour of Britain.

I had initially discounted the tour as I’d want to do all of it. But now I think I just might sneak in a couple of legs …