[Mick O'Malley]

Yesterday I uncovered the beast and, in true pessimist fashion, topped up the rad. and fired her up. Bingo, not the tiniest trace of leakage. However, there was vapour floating up from the exhaust manifold. I first assumed this was carelessly spilled water soaked into the exhaust wrap and boiling off. No! A quick sniff indicated oil. Aaaaaaaaagh! So, out with the home made ramps kindly donated by my Polish ex-neighbour when he quit the UK.



Worming underneath with a wander light revealed damning evidence of a leak, but from where? I first checked the sump bolts and got a hit: they all needed at least a quarter turn, so I'm guessing that the gasket had shrunk over the years (decades?) of inactivity. Rolling back to earth and the smoke had vanished. Result!

Today's imagined sortie in her failed to materialise as my daughter had inadvertently boxed me in, her mind being elsewhere yesterday, and I didn't want to harass her at stupid o'clock. So, off to Prescott in the tin top. I'd not got far when I fell in behind this top-down Mk1 Sprite which I followed all the way to the venue, the pilot turning out to be a competitor.



There was the usual fabulous assortment in the paddock, which included, to my eye, some real gems. Chief amongst them was this glorious Allard J2 powered by a 3917cc flathead V8 with an overhead inlet valve conversion.



Next was this 1920 Bugatti with a novel front track modification.



Last but by no means least was this 1380cc A series powered A40.



All in all a brilliant day out to round off this year's accessible speed hill climb season. Roll on 2024!

Regards, Mick