Events:

July 2009 Report

WWM Introduction

Lots of positive stuff going on within the region at the moment, and a full calendar, check out the Events Page do not forget the WWM support for the NEC Classic Car Show get your name down early as demand for this one is always high.

The All New WWM Website

At the time of writing the WWM Website is undergoing an update, Christopher Thomas and his team are looking at loading details of past events, members details and information regarding points of contact, responsibilities, historical information from the 90’s onwards and upcoming events, if you have any items of interest that you think may be relevant send them on to Chris at: Chris Thomas. We intend the website to be a source of information and provide an archive of WWM events for future reference this will require a couple of volunteers to help maintain it, applications invited.

10th - 13th July The 3rd Annual Bowgie Run To Cornwall

July saw the third annual run to Cornwall under the banner of the Bowgie Run, where we saw some sunshine, actually making the 270 mile journey there with the roof off. Friday saw a photo shoot outside the Bowgie pub and an evening meal down at the Albion, where we were joined by ex WWM members Dawn and Steve Wardle, they now live next door to the Albion!
We went for a run out Saturday with Geoff Cornwall’s RO to the Victoria Inn the venue of their monthly meet. The horizontal rain on Saturday evening did not deter us from lighting up 5 BBQ’s, Crispian excelled in the galley of the hospitality unit, and Kay and Simon provided a sack load of baked potatoes cooked in their caravan. Paul Arnold and Dave Matthews held the marquee down for a while all good clean fun.

There was an early start Sunday morning for a breakfast run to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen, a large group spent the day on the beech and ate at the Bowgie, whilst others took to the track karting and joined us later.
Another great weekend and a separate article to follow in Sprint, Ginny and myself would like to thank WWM members and friends for showing commitment with between 60 and 70 participants it was bigger than ever.

19th July WWM Monthly Meet Bulls Head Meriden

July saw a welcome visit from club chairperson Jeremy Blandford following introductions Jeremy had some lengthy conversations with members prior to joining a group of us for a sit down and some excellent food, here we all witnessed first hand the positive influence that Gandalf has within the region helping George with extensive modifications to his Speed 12.

Despite the weather being less than encouraging we had in excess of thirty cars in attendance with new members a plenty. We also were happy to welcome Jan and Steve Davis (aka Gandalf) back again in a suitably decaled Pajearo, Steve’s 450SE was undergoing some strategic head and front suspension work at TGA.

Wendy and Phil Richardson paid us a visit, regular attendees of WWM events is considering taking the body off his 420 Cerbera for a chassis refurbishment, sounds like a big project and the sort of job that starts with “well we will just do the chassis” leading to a full restoration, good luck with it Phil, been there with a Chimaera. We had two new Cerbera’s this month one was Aubrey Round’s Moonraker Black 450 fitted with de-cats, Aubrey paid us a visit hoping to get some advice on racing and track work, Tony Wright came to the fore offering the value of his experience. The Blunt family love their TVR’s Sharon and Mick have a Formula Red Sagaris their son’s had a Cerbera Speed Six and a Tamora…now Jed has swapped his Tamora for a 420 Cerbera with the all important 450 bottom end, the car looked menacing in Ice Titanium and black interior, the car is a later version and is a real head turner.

We also had a visitor from the David Gerald’s dealership in the form of Bob Thomas, he told me that business was healthy, this is good news considering the economic climate. in these days of TVR uncertainty it is good to see an established company keeping it’s head above water.

First timers Staurt and Jim had purchased their pre-cat Griffith 400 from the London area a couple of days before the meet, the car had obviously been looked after as the chassis was in brilliant condition, looked like it had ACT manifolds fitted too, a car with great potential.

The Sagaris’s were well represented by Paul Arnold, Tony Wright and Graham Varley from the Staffs and Shropshire region, Grahams car looked stunning in Arancio Pearl Orange a Lamborghini colour.

Newcomers Andrea and Bill Collis came along in their series 1 Tuscan, an unmarked example in silver they had recently purchased the car, Bill was initially looking for a Chimaera but fell in love with this 400 car with just 22K on the clock, the bodywork and interior were in excellent order, welcome to the region.
Regular Lindsay Scott once again made it along to the meeting in his Chimaera 400 in Starmist Blue, I understand that Lindsay’s company still supports the Graham Walden racing effort, which was due to be running it’s Tasmin at Mallory on 26th July piloted by Nick (Thenick).

Despite the threat of rain Malcolm Rees turned out in his freshly cleaned and polished Formula Red Chimaera 400 prior to this it had been covered in the spoils of a 700 mile run the previous weekend and sporting the WWM Bowgie Run Decals, as was Carol and Al Higginson’s (esso) 450 cerbera, in contrast Al’s car still wore the battle scars from the run to Cornwall. Crispian Baileys Negaro Blue Chimaera 400 had been de-stickered apart from it’s orange viper stripes, Chris was toying with removing these as they were attracting too much attention from the boys in blue.

Member Of The Month

Andrew Burd first graced us with his company as a passenger of John Barnes (Chim Chim Chere) on the 2008 Bowgie Run, evidently we impressed him that much he went out and purchased a Rosso Pearl (lipgloss to his mates) 420 Cerbera. He threw himself into his new project with real gusto and zest and stuff like that, posting up regular threads on improvements to the cooling system and alike. Early on Andrew committed to the 2009 Bowgie Run, convincing his wife Karen and siblings Matthew and Amber that it was a good idea and all made perfect sense. The Cerbera was prepared and packed nicely for the trip to Cornwall, however as we were leaving Bristol she decided to have a pretty major mechanical failure (later investigation revealed a snapped crank), necessitating a return home in Solihull on a recovery truck. Undeterred Andrew and the rest of the Burd family got back in their Ford Mundano (sic) and headed back south for the 260 mile return journey to Crantock.

Despite this set back the family fully participated in the weekend’s events, what a brilliant attitude and even better company.
In addition when he got back home, he has serialised the ongoing work on the Cerbera, maintaining a very positive attitude and no doubt be the font of knowledge once the project is complete. It always amazes when the best part of 70 odd folk commit toward a weekend in Cornwall, Karen and Andrew typify the attitude of those that take part - thank you.Thank you and good night.