Spring 2015
Spring sprang, and as I mentioned, in March I decided that it was looking good enough to put the Rush back on the road. I've averaged a trip out every week or 10 days since then, only generally hour-long blats but it all counts. So far, everything is looking dandy and I've just been enjoying it really. I'm getting a bit more confident with it (hopefully not overconfident!), particularly feeling when the back end is going to lose grip under power. I've also fitted a fire extinguisher under the passenger seat, as much for peace of mind as anything else, but the oil leaks did give me the willies a bit. So for 30 quid, why not.
Stoneleigh
Come the May bank holiday, it was time for the biggest test so far. The 160 mile journey down to Stoneleigh. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous despite having covered several hundred miles in the last couple of weeks; I'm still a bit paranoid that something is going to go wrong with it. We left late on friday night, to journey down and stay with friends who live in the midlands, avoiding the worst of the bank holiday traffic. I was in the Rush, the missus elected to drive the support vehicle (i.e. one with a roof). Fair enough, it was a tad cold on the motorway at 11pm, and a bit on the noisy side. But we made it without issue. It was also the first time I'd really driven it at night, the headlights seem ok, though may benefit from uprated bulbs. Being quite low they are not very visible from the car in front though apparently. The main beams are plenty good enough, all in all I didn't really notice that I wasn't driving a normal car, in terms of being able to see in the dark. Oh, apart from the side repeater on the wheel arch - don't really notice it in the day, but it's really bright at night.
The weather on sunday was pants, so I decided to skip it and head over to the show on the monday. There was a good turn out of Rushes and it was good to meet some new people and generally chat. A couple of supercharged V8s, one just assembled a day or two before and with the owner doing some mapping on the day; one Hyabusa with very impressive homemade carbon fibre bodywork; the rather fantastic yellow one with the custom hard-top; a load of the North West club who I know, and a number of others. Our pitch was a bit out in the wilds, but there was still a steady stream of people looking around the cars. So much so that it was 2pm before I actually went to look around the rest of the show! I needed to buy a few things so it ended up as a bit of a manic run around before it all packed up.
The journey home was made a lot more fun by being in convoy with various other kits, some cobras, a couple of sevens, and another Rush at various times. That and people taking photos from their car windows and lots of waving.
And, apart from the wind and noise, it's really perfectly comfortable for a trip that long. 3 hours on the way down, 2 and a half back, and despite the minimal padding on the seats and total lack of creature comforts, I was as fresh as I would be in a normal tin top.
At some point over the summer I need to organise a track day or two; unfortunately I've just changed jobs so I'm a bit short of leave this year, but I need to get it on track so I'll have to see what I can do.