Newsletter

Issue 339 Summer 2019

W elcome, Folks, to the Summer edition of our newsletter.

As we hit the half-way point of the season, we’ve already enjoyed some cracking

events with plenty more still to come including, of course, this year’s highlight, the

35-year anniversary of the Essex Area Group at Pontlands Park. As I write, the

guest list is hovering around ninety people, so if you haven’t yet committed, get in touch swiftly to

make sure you don’t miss out on what we’re sure will be an unforgettable event.

Barkaways Open Day, Saturday 1st June

Ian Barkaway is a truly talented chap. Not only does he possess the alchemistic ability to turn

incomplete pieces of what may previously have been vaguely identifiable as a motor vehicle of

some description into stunning, concours winning cars, he has also negotiated a pact with the

Sun-Gods when it comes to his annual open day.

So it was that with glorious sunshine forecast and the prospect of giving the 308GT4 its first

decent run since its top-end rebuild, I thought it prudent to quickly check the oil and coolant the

evening before. Pleasingly, the fluids were all present, correct and separately contained; the

water-pump/alternator belt, however, had partially shredded itself and was barely in one piece.

Thankfully I had a spare, so with 45 minutes until Sally & I were due to go out for the evening, I

donned the overalls, whipped out the trolley jack and managed to replace it in the nick of time,

although there were a few grumblings at the state of my fingernails later at dinner.

I’d arranged to meet Greg & Kay Thompson on the way down to the Dartford rendezvous. I could

vaguely remember where they live, but as Greg had mentioned he’d be warming up the BB prior

to me getting there, I knew I just had to look out for the haze of unburnt hydrocarbons as I came

off the A12 at Feering. Once all twelve of the BB’s cylinders were up and awake, we headed

down to Dartford, pausing at Galleywood to pick up Graham Collett who elected to ride shotgun

in the GT4 and immerse himself in the sound and smells of the 1970s (the car, that is, not the

driver…).

Lined up outside the Tesla Service Centre (always strikes me as an environmentally ironic

meeting place) were Jo & Jon E in their 430 Spider, Jan & Steve T (348ts), Adrian Haylock (355),

Finola & Peter Hoile (Mondial 3.2), David & Myles Housden (458), Marion Housden (Nissan

Juke), Glenda & Rod Key (F40), Mark Kieve (BMW i8), Paul Lynch (360), Ken & Sarah Bateman

(458) & Jeff Simpson (550).

The trip down to Tonbridge was a thoroughly

pleasant affair with clear roads and plenty of

opportunity to compare exhaust notes whilst

maintaining a steady 70mph cruise…

Once at Barkaways, we were greeted with the

customary warm welcome, parked up and

moseyed around admiring the variety of

vehicles on display. Far from being a Ferrari-

only affair, there were a good selection of Aston

Martin, Jaguar, Mini, Alfa Romeo and

Lamborghini to appreciate and with 400+

attendees, the event was at capacity.

A few more from the Essex Group pitched up

under their own steam; proud grand-parents Pat

& Ant Smith in their 328 as well as Jo & Dave

Melling (360). Also spotted in the crowd were

Mike Kliskey and Andrew Seward.

Ian made his customary speech highlighting

some of the projects they’d completed over the

past twelve months with justifiable pride in the

awards a number of them had won, whilst other

team members talked about the alternative, non

-restoration work Barkaways carry out. As has

become tradition, he then moved on to this

year’s ‘big reveal’, a superbly restored Dino

206, the much rarer fore-runner to the 246.

It was fascinating to hear how different the two,

seemingly identical models are and it was only

by comparing the 206 & 246 side-by-side that

you could appreciate the subtle changes that

were made once Ferrari signed the Dino off as

a full, production model.

Other highlights of the day included seeing (and

hearing) a single-seat Bugatti Type 35 racer

being started as well as the opportunity to see a

number of Ferraris in various states of undress

as they go through the restoration process:

several Dinos, a 250 Lusso, a Testarossa with

its engine assembly removed together with

Ian’s own 308, now resplendent in TDF Blue –

a great colour choice.

In between the car viewing there was food and

drink a-plenty, including the now-legendary

selection of Master-Butcher pies, served with a

brace of smiles from the Barkaways team.

As the afternoon drew to a close and the various

Tipos started to depart, there was a brief

moment of concern as Adrian’s 355 showed little

enthusiasm to leave the party. The immobiliser

failing to disengage was thought to be the most

likely cause and sure enough, a replacement

key-fob battery courtesy of Dan How saw the

355 burst into noisy life and we convoyed off

towards the M25.

The journey home was a pretty warm affair as Graham and I roasted in the Dartford tunnel

queues and were then deafened as Adrian opened the taps in the tunnel; the GT4, however,

maintained a perfect 85°C and never missed a beat. A second, quick stop of the day at

Galleywood allowed Graham to peel himself off the leather seat and head for the air-conditioned

comfort of his daily runner, although I’m not sure his shirt will ever be the same, before the final

blast up the A12 to home.

Another thoroughly enjoyable day and our thanks go to Ian and Co for laying on such a fantastic event. David Billison

French Trip, Saturday 29th — Sunday 30th June

Every AGO prays for fine weather for

their event but the heatwave gripping

Northern France was something else

altogether. With record temperatures

being set we were starting to wonder

“How hot is too hot?”

The Eckersleys were the last to arrive

at Stop24, our regular rendezvous for

trips to France. We always allow

enough time for a catch up over a

coffee and to hand out the information

packs before setting off for the train.

This year the packs contained Tulip

Maps, a simplified step-through of the

route that navigators would be able to follow. Having not created a Tulip Map before I was

anxious that I may have missed out a key junction, but I had my trusty TomTom as a back-up,

just in case.

Once through check-in we met up with the Herts contingent of Nigel & Shirley Chiltern-Hunt (360

Spyder) and Paul & Karen Elton (458 Italia) as a Spitfire gave a fly past in the blue skies above. I

then led everyone in my F430 Spyder through passport control where our million-pound

motorcade was briefly held. As one of the Eurotunnel marshals turned her back on us, David

Housden gunned the throttle of his 458 Italia and scared the bejeesus out of the young lass!

Needless to say we were then sent to Customs for ‘routine’ inspection, or rather to go and sit on

HMRC’s naughty step. With security completed we were soon boarding the over-height service

for our journey sous la manche.

Our first stop followed a short drive from

Coquelles via Sangatte on the D940 to

Escalles and the restaurant Le Cap. As we

were a large party of 20 people in 10 cars

we’d asked Keith Hughes to book ahead,

even though he wasn’t even on our trip.

“Just park up in the carpark opposite the

junction.” I’d said; it was plenty big enough

after all. Unfortunately, another car club had

booked the same restaurant on the same day

so there was no room at the inn. Greg & Kay

Thompson had arrived early and secured an area

that could accommodate five of us; the rest would

just have to make do. Was that lunch I could

smell or was it my Spyder’s clutch?

Punch was served before lunch on the lawn while

Keith Burrell took some group photos prior to us

making our way through to be seated randomly

on two tables, ensuring each table had an AGO

and a Herts couple, just to help us all get to know

each other. We’re nice like that in Essex, we’re

very inclusive you see. Speaking of inclusive,

the restaurant were very generous with the

wine as we dined on cod, mussels and lamb

so it was decided we’d take the unfinished

bottles to enjoy later at our leisure.

It was 3 o’clock as we left the restaurant and I

was a little concerned that our navigators

would require a wine-nap and not give the

Tulip Map their full attention. The drivers kept

a safe distance and steady pace along D243

as I, the Limestone Cowboy, corralled the

herd of Cavallinos past the worry of the

quarry at Ferques to the relative safety of the

N42 dual carriageway.

The mercury was rising and now read 36DegC,

we needed cold beer and we needed it now.

Mercifully there were no hold ups, road closures

or compiling errors on the planned route and we

arrived at the Chateau just before 5pm. After a

quick turnaround in our rooms we were soon

sinking some cold ones on the terrace while the

excellent staff attended our needs. Once we

were properly freshened up we met again on

the terrace for pre-dinner drinks and canapes.

We had been allocated a private dining room

and our three-course meal of filet of seabass

with Champagne sauce followed by rack of veal

was delicious while the quintuple of desserts

was to simply die from. I actually didn’t finish

mine (I have eyes bigger than my belly, believe

it or not). Nigel proposed a toast and we all

raised a glass to Enzo Ferrari and his cars.

After dinner we adjourned to the terrace and

Marion Housden hosted a quiz. The rounds

were well constructed but I think the booze was

starting to get the better of us all, I could’ve

sworn Marion just said “Fewwawi”! The final

scores were tight between Norfolk Enchants (26), The Young Ones (26), Cupid Stunt (31) but on

this occasion it was The Organisers that won with 33. FIX! I hear you cry!! Marion & David had

kindly supplied some prizes, unfortunately the individual Thornton’s chocolates were almost a

single large one having melted during the day, ironically the only one surviving intact was the

Gooey Ganache. Once the left over wine from lunch had all gone people started to drift off to

bed. It had been a long day after all.

The France 2019 WhatsApp group started pinging at 08:21 as members rose (can I say that?)

and thoughts of food were foremost. This army marches on its stomach for sure. Jo & I headed

down for a pre-brekkie game of tennis but we wouldn’t last the hour as tiredness meant our shots

were less than accurate. Luckily my balls are bright pink so are easy to spot in a bush (I’m pretty

sure I can’t say that!). Breakfast was the typical Continental variety of salmon, scrambled eggs,

meat & cheese and was more than enough to see us through the next couple of hours.

After a stroll around the gorgeous & inspiring walled garden we met on the terrace to decide

where to head to next. I had researched many local towns for the information packs such as

Bethune, Air sur la Lys and Arras, everywhere basically except for Cassel. We decided to go to

Cassel. The men hovered around the map like generals preparing for an invasion. Now we had a

plan, it was time to start our engines and head to location 50.801515N, 2.483547E. We were

soon lost. I was at the front with a TomTom that had a penchant for unmade roads, Greg was at

the back with the map. Rather than admit defeat I decided to soldier on and eventually, after a

spirited ascent, we arrived in the strategic hill

top town that had seen more action than

Rommel during two World Wars. We found a

bar, a frites wagon and an outdoor urinal - a loo

with a view - what more could a man wish for?!

Time was ticking on and we had a train to

catch. The original plans had demanded that we

took the D26 from Cassel to Watten. I was lead

car again for the spirited descent on winding

roads from Cassel, David was behind in the

only other black car of our group. Unfortunately,

Elton hadn’t followed Jon as Paul & Karen had

decided to take a random right turn and the

others followed. David & I waited a while for

them to catch us up only to see off in the

distance a flash of red, then another, and

another, the topography lending itself well for

tipo-spotting. We gave chase, guessing which

way they would be heading and soon, like

snooker, (cue billiard puns) a black was

following a red despite Paul’s Brownian

approach to navigating the luscious green

countryside under the blue sky and burning

yellow sun that was turning some of us in

Spyders quite pink!

Watten earth were we thinking? We really needed to get to Coquelles, not take another rest stop

in a pretty cobbled town. We followed the D300 toward Dunkirk and then a sharp left at the sea

onto the A16. The roads were still quiet and were full of mainly British cars to be honest. Our

convoy was certainly attention-grabbing and Mr BI6 5HOT clearly couldn’t resist blasting his

Bentley by while the driver of Porsche 14 OW was far more sedate and just gave us the thumbs

up.

We were separated at the Eurotunnel check in so agreed to meet once through and board

together. This wasn’t to be as

some of us were on crossing P

and were directed straight onto

the train, meaning Steve &

Colin were at the carpark,

Trevor was in regular-height

while myself, Vernon, David &

Paul were in the over-height

section. We tried to wait as long

as possible for Colin & Steve

but were shooed on after a

considerable time spent

loitering.

Back in Blighty, Burrell had

reported bottlenecks at the Dartford Tunnel and we too were met with brake lights the moment

we left the roadwork-plagued M20 and merged with the queues of traffic on the near-stationary

M25. The TomTom suggested our best route home would be via the Blackwall Tunnel and we

encountered the usual tailbacks there too. I signaled a thumbs down to the guy in the Porsche 14

OW next to me, wondering if he too was remembering the traffic-free roads of France and

wishing we were still there.

Thank you to those that joined our merry band – Chrissie & Trevor Bale, Keith & Carol Burrell,

Nigel & Shirley Chiltern-Hunt, Colin & Christine Edmonds, Paul & Karen Elton, David & Marion

Housden, Vernon & Wendy Smith, Steve & Jan Target, Greg & Kay Thompson and also to Keith

Hughes for arranging lunch at Le Cap. I guess we’d better start planning France 2020, Joanne.

A bientot, Jonathan. Jonathan Eckersley

Maldon Motor Show, Sunday 7th July

This was our 6th year at The Maldon Motor Show and although numbers were down on previous years - just the nine cars - we still managed to attract constant crowds of enthusiastic visitors to our display throughout the day. The rather miserable looking early morning skies and overnight rain may have had something to do with that, although it did brighten up and stay dry for the rest of the day.

There may not have been many of us but we still managed a nice variety of Tipo. On display were Testarossa, 328GTS, 348ts, F430, 430 Spyder, California, 2 x 458 Spyders and a 488 Spyder, all of which covered the mid 80’s to the present day. This show seems to get bigger every year with a vast array of vehicles on display from Vauxhall Viva’s to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Dan How and I found out just how big this show has grown

when we decided to go for a quick walk round the display areas and stalls at midday and didn’t return until gone 2:30pm. We didn’t even stop to talk to anyone - honest! During our absence, we did unfortunately manage to miss Pat & Ant Smith who dropped by to say hello and also very nearly missed both Graham Collett and Terry Hoyle but Dan did manage to add to his ever growing collection of model cars so all was not lost. Of course, it isn’t just about the vehicles at Maldon, there are also plenty of stalls selling everything from spares, tools, books and signs for the car nuts, as well as plenty of vintage stalls offering everything from clothes to furniture. Incidentally, have you ever tried to fit a two foot square wooden box into your Ferrari? There is even live music and dancing. As always, this was a very pleasant way to spend a summer Sunday by the river with good friends and a picnic. Same again next year? Steve Target

Upcoming Events & Calendar

August

Saturday 17th - The Flying Proms at Shuttleworth

Sunday 18th - The Italian Festival at Brands Hatch

Saturday 24th - Essex Area Group 35 Year Anniversary, Pontlands Park, Chelmsford

Wednesday 28th - Club Night; Venue TBC

September

Sunday 1st - Tiptree Picnic

Friday 13th-Sunday 15th - Norfolk Trip

Wednesday 25th - Club Night; Venue TBC

October

Saturday 19th - End of Season Dinner, Wivenhoe

November

Wednesday 30th November - Club Night; Venue TBC