Below are the pictures taken during an entertain drive around Eastbourne and the weald

Please click on the photos to see them full size.

The day started at a very weary 5:30am we all got up & got ready for the day, sandwiches, cold drinks & sun cream packed into the cool box with the frozen ice packs. Go out to the garage move cars around so the mini is ready, check oil, water & park on the road ready. Off we go to the petrol station fill up & continued to the rendezvous to meet the unknown (wasn’t sure who was coming).
When we got there we saw Jim, his clan & a very despondent looking Daz …all looking as if they wished they were in bed still! I asked Daz what was wrong, he replied Mingie was not well, she was over heating!
I took a look & assessed the timing was struggling to keep up with the revs due to the vacuum pipe being off. I loosened off the dissy & got Daz to start the engine, then reconnected the vacuum pipe & raised the revs to about 3k & peaked the revs by rotating the dissy found the peak & advanced by a degree, tightened it off sorted checked the water & topped up with coolant. Now the engine can respond to the rev range with the advance retard connected should reduce the over heating. (Handy tech info for you!)
Dead on 7 o’clock we headed off to the new forest.
It was a pleasant drive with no problems sometimes peaking at a cruise speed of 70 or so.
We arrived at Rownhams at about 9 am & all retired for a leisurely breakfast and coffee. We then set off refreshed & topped up our fuel on route. We arrived at Beulieu around opening time of 10am & parked up.
A good day was had by every one with no complaints, the bar was too inviting for quite a few of us & we partook in a nice very cold refresher, during what seemed like a very hot day!
We saw the Scrapheap challenge crew there doing their filming which was a real treat. We all at some time purchased some kit of some kind from the stands at the show; the commentator stated it was a record turn out with excess of 2000 cars. After lunch in a shady part of the field we then went to the motor museum.
We all left at around 5-ish & there was a small smattering of rain so Daz put his top up, funny really as we had fixed his heater to dissipate heat from the engine so the poor bloke was cooking in his car!
We all stopped at Rownhams again for a caffeine boost & fuel (bloody good stuff that double espresso!!) then set off for home. We all had a good trip home with no adverse events having had a completely successful day out at Beulieu!

Shawn