We arrived last night after an easy run from Wiltshire, mainly on the A and B roads. The weather remained dry and clear and roads and scenery were wonderful. This is why we do these events.. just getting here was special.
On checking the tyre pressures before leaving I noticed the front offside was a little low – confirming my suspicions that we had an issue with that tyre. Outside Bala we spotted one of those local tyre shops, not one of the big chains, and decided to stop and see if they had any spares. They did not, but did change the valve stem and clean the surface rust of the rim which was the cause of the abrasion and hence the leak. Sorted.
The young man in the workshop had a very strange accent… his radio was tuned to an interesting and incomprehensible Welsh station and I asked if he spoke Welsh. On reflection that was somewhat stupid, but his answer surprised me more. Not only did he speak welsh, but he said he rarely spoke any english: hence the accent. Later in the day I learned that much of the local accent is derivative of a Viking language, left here many centuries ago… and that indigineous DNA can be traced to certain fishing villages in Norway.
Seems there’s more to Llandudno than I first thought.
Drivers and Navigators briefing in an hour, then a practice run, Scrutineering and registration.. should be a busy day.
It is said the reason Ferruccio Lamborghini created the orginal Miura in 1966, was because he did not like Enzo Ferrari. Apparently Lamborghini owned a Ferrari and complained that the gearbox was noisy. Enzo allegedly responded by suggesting he stick to making tractors – which had made him a millionaire – and leave the manufacture of sportscars to Ferrari. Ferrucio was a tad miffed so decided to have a go himself….
Whatever his motives may have been, it’s a great story, an amazing car and it rewrote the rule book for supercars for ever. Sure, GT’s can have engines at the front, but to be a sportscar the motor has to be in the middle. OK, or the back in the case of the 911, but that really is the exception that proves the rule.
In dazzling orange or lime green, the original Miura epitomised the swinging Sixties, with black eyelashes around its headlamps matching the false lashes of skinny, white-faced models. Twiggy’s manager, Justin de Velleneuve, bought the one above (with her money) to squire her around London’s night spots. One of my friends bought said car a couple of years ago as an investment. I could barely get in – god knows how you would actually drive one – let alone park it, it was awful. But it looked amazing.
The Muira also set the standards in scary supercar handling. Super-fast, its screaming quad-cam V12 engine was mounted across the back; that mass would pull the car into lurid oversteer if you lifted off in a corner and the sharp nose would lift at speed as air got underneath it.
And now, as retro is the new new, it is being reborn. This new version sports a barrage of aerodynamic splitters and winglets to keep it on the ground. So will it be less scary than the old model? Bentley’s chief engineer, Uli Eichhorn, thought so. “I don’t think we know how to make a car that handles that badly any more,” he grinned.
True, but you still know how to make them gorgeous!
I think I need another lottery ticket. Or two.