I haven't been here for some time but hey I've been busy. Scarlett was treated by my wonderful wife to a caterham high level brake kit for Christmas. What a fantastic surprise that was. I spent the day after boxing day fitting it. I found drilling three holes on the back panel of my car stressful to say the least but what a nice job in the end. I was also told a new FIA roll bar is on order. The brake light kit came without any instructions and my friend Nick sent me a pdf of the build manual w
It is amazing to me that I have had my Scarlet for a year and what a year it has been. After all the fun of the past twelve months it was time to get down to some maintenance. The first big service happens after 4 years and there is a lot to do. As I have no real idea when it comes to cars I decided to enlist the services of my brother-in-law who luckily enough is an excellent Saab technical wizard. I turned up at the garage on Saturday morning bright and early with my a boot full of parts and f
It has been a while since I was able to drive the car, we have had so much salt put down due to cold weather, however the last week has seen tons of rain and I decided that it had been enough to clear the salt way. Helen was away last night so that means I don't get a very good sleep( I miss her) but it does mean I can get up early and that's what I did today. With the promise of a dry morning I got up and headed for the garage. Over the Christmas period I knocked the rear number plate of the c
Well she is booked in and having her first MOT friday afternoon. I have chosen an nice little garage in Letchworth, not too far from home. I have no reason to worry about it, but for some how I am.
Gosh............ Summer has gone and I am shocked at how long it is since I last posted a blog. As Toby pointed out I have said nothing about my trip to Switzerland. This would be due to the fact that we were absolutely shattered when we returned and had to get straight back into work. Switzerland was predictably fantastic a combination of fabulous roads, people, scenery, food, entertainment and adventure. To top it off the weather was just sweltering some 30 degrees everyday it seemed to us. We
Preperations for the 30th International Swiss meeting have been underway for some time now. This started with the Fish and Chip run which a chance to understand what it would be like to drive a Cateham in excess of 500 miles in a day. Mostly we learned it is good to share the driving and it is very easy to become de-hydrated. The Autocom system was very good but being new we found the earphones crushed our heads and so we ended up modyfying them with hand fulls of brute force.
Debbie Stott w
Today we managed to clock up another 75 miles. Helen and I set off this morning to find a nice pub for a sit down and a cup of coffee. We drove to the three tuns in ashwell which is the pub Herts are using for the monthly Sunday run. It's a nice run for us and it was good to see the place. It has a good car park, a nice back garden and as soon as we can get to a meeting I am sure it will be fun.
Our next big run will be for fish and chips, boy am I looking forward to that. One thing I have l
It has been a couple of weeks since we collected scarlett and we have been very busy since then.
we had a big party to go to and we took the car, we have a lot to learn about luggage. This weekend we visited Penn 7's ang and a nice lunch and a chat.
Things we have learned since taking ownership.
We NEED, a half hood, new tyres, a change of brakes, an E bag, etc etc etc.
We must stop washing and polishing the car or we will be in trouble.
So far it's been a blast, and the more m
This time last week we had one sleep before we collected our car, we are now one week on and what fun it has been. Last night Helen was out so I spent the evening taking off the bonnet and removing the nose cone so that I could get a good look at "Scarlet". I was able to check the fluids and wipe it round with a bit of rag, very satisfying and about as much as a non mechanical monkey like me can manage. I am after all a polisher not a spanner man, i dream of having one of those big red painted c
I finished the extension to the drive this evening, it has been very hard work but it just had to be finished for the weekend. It is only three sleeps before we get our car. It has been a long time since I have been soooooo excited.
Well I took the advice of many who know better than me and purchased a pair of Puma Future cats. I found my old training shoes so big in the footwell of the 7. Five days to go.........I hope I have a lot of work to do this week. I started the drive widening project and made excellent progress in good but very cold weather yesterday. Today I need a skip to remove excess soil.
It's a week tomorrow when we go down to collect car and frankly I am going nuts. I have waited 5 years for it and the nearer it gets the more the excitement builds. I have been trying not to think about it. The only thing I can do is put all my effort into widening the driveway.
Oh I feel a little better now.
So, I finished reading my Valetines present last night. Great book. Full of facts. I hope to understand the models better and was fascinated to read about how the car has developed.
And Three weeks to go before we collect our Car... time is going very slowly. I may go out to the garage and sweep the floor again !
Today is valentines day and my wonderful wife gave to me a copy of CATERHAM SEVENS by Chris Rees. What a fab present, should keep me out of trouble for a week or two.
Ohh.......... picked up an Autocom system today so we can talk to each other on long journeys and listen to music and answer the phone. Been like a small boy messing about with the system this evening. Can't want to try it out in the car. Not making time go any quicker, oh well !
Today I visited my local DVLA office to tax the Caterham apply for a new V5 and transfer my reg number and guess what happened? It went very well, in fact it was easy and the staff very helpful.
So with luck 5 weeks from today Helen and I will travel to Millwood to collect Scarlett (as she is now called) I am getting too excited by far. Just like when I was a child waiting for Christmas. I seam to spend all my time looking at the photo's we took during our visit last week.
I have just received the insurance cover note, so I hope to be able to tax the car on Monday sort out the V5 form and change the regisrtration number. We will see.
Last Saturday I took Helen down to Millwood to see our new car (new to us) I had test driven the car before Christmas on my own and handed over a deposit, but as Helen had only seen pictures of the car I was feeling a little nervous to say the least. I need not have worried the car looked better than I had remembered and Helen was very excited and pleased with my choice. So now I have to get insurance organised so that I can get the car taxed and have my number transfered. So lots to do to while
I have just managed to get a video up. It has to be said, with the help of my wife, who has a nack with these things. the video was a last minute thing as I was taking the car back from the test drive. After this I handed over a deposit. I am very excited. It is nearly too much for me.
