After the "issues" experienced yesterday, I thought I'd go have a play in my kitcar for a couple of hours in the gloriously warm evening.
There's quite a few kits driving around in our area, and it's not surprising to bump into a couple when you're out having a hoon, but yesterday I managed to mingle myself between a couple of very high quality Lancia Stratus kits on a lovely long stretch of backroad.
I think they must not have liked the idea of a Lotus 7 replica being involved, as they almost immediately gave it the full beans, with the one behind me overtaking at what seemed like mach 1.
Not to be deterred, I also emptied my heinz and tried to catch back up, but after a couple of miles, I had lost them entirely, so decided to back off and just enjoy the scenery.
Now along my normal route, there's a well positioned pub at the 3/4 point which serves a fantastic pint of local, so I pull into the carpark and whatcha know?
Two Stratus are sat there in the carpark, exhausts tinkling merrily in the otherwise quite countryside.
I wonder over and have a gander, and realise that whilst one is very definately a kit, the other is either a stupidly expensive and well detailed kit... or the real deal.
Looking around, I can't see any likely owners in the pub garden (you know, people giving the "what's he doing at my car?!" look), so I just meander in and order my pint.
Popping outside to chow down on one of Marlborough's finest, I glance across to my own car, and notice two fellows standing quite close, in obvious deep technical discussion.
As I wander across to the gentlemen, I can here that they're actually quite knowledgable (and also quite praising) about my own car, so it becomes obvious that they must be the Statos drivers.
After friendly introductions and a bit of a chat, I ask the important question "So, is that a REAL Stratos then?".
It turns out it is. He had rebuilt it from a complete right-off over the last couple of years and only got it back on the road last weekend!
The obvious thing happens next, and we start looking under the bonnet, in the cockpit, etc... he has done a seriously great job!
I ask if it's ok to take a couple of snaps, and when given the go ahead, I whip out my trusty iPhone, and find the battery dead
However, we exchange numbers (well, I give him mine, and he drop calls me) and we've agreed to meet up again at the end of the month with a few of his other kit mates as well as mine.. an impromptu meet as you were.
So when that pops along, I'll be sure to take my DSLR and get some snaps for here. But I thought I'd share a moment that brightened my otherwise sad day!
I did however, charge my phone when I got home and when going through the speedo to write down the mileage (I'm trying to configure the currently not-working fuel guage), I had to scroll passed the max speed for the run.. and was quite shocked.
(Obviously, that was achieved whilst on Langar airfield - a privately owned stretch of tarmac, on which I had full permission to be on at the time!)
There's quite a few kits driving around in our area, and it's not surprising to bump into a couple when you're out having a hoon, but yesterday I managed to mingle myself between a couple of very high quality Lancia Stratus kits on a lovely long stretch of backroad.
I think they must not have liked the idea of a Lotus 7 replica being involved, as they almost immediately gave it the full beans, with the one behind me overtaking at what seemed like mach 1.
Not to be deterred, I also emptied my heinz and tried to catch back up, but after a couple of miles, I had lost them entirely, so decided to back off and just enjoy the scenery.
Now along my normal route, there's a well positioned pub at the 3/4 point which serves a fantastic pint of local, so I pull into the carpark and whatcha know?
Two Stratus are sat there in the carpark, exhausts tinkling merrily in the otherwise quite countryside.
I wonder over and have a gander, and realise that whilst one is very definately a kit, the other is either a stupidly expensive and well detailed kit... or the real deal.
Looking around, I can't see any likely owners in the pub garden (you know, people giving the "what's he doing at my car?!" look), so I just meander in and order my pint.
Popping outside to chow down on one of Marlborough's finest, I glance across to my own car, and notice two fellows standing quite close, in obvious deep technical discussion.
As I wander across to the gentlemen, I can here that they're actually quite knowledgable (and also quite praising) about my own car, so it becomes obvious that they must be the Statos drivers.
After friendly introductions and a bit of a chat, I ask the important question "So, is that a REAL Stratos then?".
It turns out it is. He had rebuilt it from a complete right-off over the last couple of years and only got it back on the road last weekend!
The obvious thing happens next, and we start looking under the bonnet, in the cockpit, etc... he has done a seriously great job!
I ask if it's ok to take a couple of snaps, and when given the go ahead, I whip out my trusty iPhone, and find the battery dead
However, we exchange numbers (well, I give him mine, and he drop calls me) and we've agreed to meet up again at the end of the month with a few of his other kit mates as well as mine.. an impromptu meet as you were.
So when that pops along, I'll be sure to take my DSLR and get some snaps for here. But I thought I'd share a moment that brightened my otherwise sad day!
I did however, charge my phone when I got home and when going through the speedo to write down the mileage (I'm trying to configure the currently not-working fuel guage), I had to scroll passed the max speed for the run.. and was quite shocked.
(Obviously, that was achieved whilst on Langar airfield - a privately owned stretch of tarmac, on which I had full permission to be on at the time!)
