We all piled into the Fiat (5 of us) and made our way to the RSSOC National Sporting weekend on Saturday. Although cold, it was not as wet as last year which was good. The threefold objective of meeting old friends, buying bits and seeing some action were all fulfilled:

We had a chat with John Mees from Bristol and caught up on the progress of his French property restoration project. When discussing the wiring I was able to inform him that at the turn of the 20th century there were about 500 domestic elctricity suppliers almost all of whom supplied a different voltage (some AC and some DC) and many with different plug and socket designs. He didn't know that.

Also chatted to SS1 experts Graham and Sylvia Morris (who sold the SS1 to Daniel 3 years ago). Like John, they were disposing of their spares at the autojumble, having recently disposed of their last SS1.

The bits purchased were a new rear side window rubber for the SE6a - newly manufactured and sold through Graham Walkers for £65, new pedal rubbers for the Coupe and new disk pads for the SS1.

The action was provided by the usual mix of Scimitars on the track. Unfortunately, one SS1 spun and did some serious damage. However, no one was hurt and the modular design of the car should mean it is back on the road without too much expense and delay.

The marqee exhibition area was as interesting as usual. This year it featured a concours winning Middlebridge, SE5a and the first ever SS1 (ex-motor show) that has just been re-discovered. There was also a SS1 1800Ti having its turbo gasket replaced "live" on video.

A thoroughly good day even though £25 for us all to get in seemed a bit steep (having already paid my membership fee). It also gave Ben plenty of driving practice. Written test on the 13th Sept.