Hmmmmmmm.

On Thursday 26th April my video recorder suffered a breakdown due to a lightning strike. This had the effect of making for a very quiet weekend because I was unable to leave the house for the weekend in case I missed the Grand Prix.

Who cares? I hear you all cry.

Well the video repairman arrived on Monday and fixed it. (Hmm, still hearing cries of who cares?).

To test the machine he inserted a video, which caught my attention. It was the video of the Silverstone Historic Festival 1990. I sat down to watch when all of a sudden it changed to Coronation Street. The guy just shrugged and said “well I taped something over it”.

His children had bought it for him and he had little or no interest. He actually said it was a shame to race those cars because of the likelihood of damage.

Go figure.

Well in a way it is a shame to damage them, but it is what they were built for after all !! It all adds to the history of a car. A few bumps & scrapes mark a well earned racing pedigree and far better than gathering dust in a garage.

Would shooting the TV engineer be too kind ?????? Still his kids have the right idea ;) ;)


Simon

Is getting a dent in the tail any different to them being pointlessly over-restored, I have to ask?

It doesn't suit well with me that so many cars, that were as rough as bags in their heyday, now present themselves so beautifully that those who knew them originally have to ask if it's the same car.

This is particularly so with some of the old Specials we're used to in Australia, but it does also apply to the Factory Works cars that raced week after week in Europe.

In fact, I would put forward the argument that the dent in the tail would be more original than the rest of the car in many cases!

After all, racing week after week brought its own disadvantages, did it not?