[Mick O'Malley]

Yesterday, after a week in which I addressed some of the remaining tweaks to my build, with which I won't bore you at present, I took the Monaco out for a couple of spins.

Firstly, I motored about a mile to my second nearest petrol station (the nearest involves a stretch of busy dual carriageway and I wasn't feeling very confident) and put about twelve litres in on top of the couple of cans full of possibly stale old juice. I was waylaid on the forecourt by a curious guy on a pushbike and a young lad on an e-scooter who said "That's the sickest car I've ever seen." Praise indeed!

Reeling from the heat on return I waited for some high cloud to arrive, and set out on my usual test run up to Painswick and back (7.4 miles x two, according to Goggle). This involves a decent hill climb outbound and a scenic photo' op mid way. Sadly, my camera's batteries died as I took a couple of shots so illustration will have to wait.

Climbing the hill revealed two things:1) The standard fan (which had a floppy blade which I broke off long ago, as well as the one opposite it to maintain balance) struggled to keep the gauge out of the red, and 2) She pulled like a train despite the 15" wheels, even in top .

So, a couple of jobs for this week before venturing to Shelsley Walsh next weekend: 1) Fit the electric fan I found in my shed and 2) Move the electric pump switch to a more sensible location - it currently (no pun intended) lives behind the passenger side seat back.

Regards, Mick