The sky has finally cleared and it's warm here of the top end of the Cotswold hills. The rain clouds have departed before depositing any of their load on the venue and I'm sitting in the late afternoon sun, reading THE GRAPES OF WRATH . It's been a pretty decent day but now there are no customers in sight and the action on the track has come to a halt while an incident is cleared up . It's probably a good time to pack away and head home.
Half an hour later I'm packed and on the way. This feels somewhat surreal.
Normally it takes two or three hours at least. But this is book-selling Lite. Instead of a 20 foot marquee, and a trailer-load of general paraphanalia, it's just two tables and 10 boxes of books in the back of the car and…thats it. If it had rained I could have packed it all away quickly and gone home early, but at last the luck was holding.
This was only the second event I have done this the season and it's already June! The first two that were planned had fallen victim to the wet weather and an injured arm , repectively . My arm was still proving to be an issue for event number three - the PRESCOTT HISTORIQUE - so I hired a marquee and that saved a lot of time and effort . Why had I not done this before?
However the weather FORECAST (not the actual weather…) rather spoiled it, the Met' Office giving out ‘yellow warnings’ and putting off not only a lot of spectators but 4 out of 6 traders, who looked at the habitial too-hot/too-cold/too-windy/not-windy-enough doom and gloom, and pulled out. On the day the weather was actually lovely but that incorrect forcast had done it's evil work and what could have been a great event was merely a good one.
Those present were treated to the sight and sound of two BRM Grand Prix Cars being given spirited runs on the course and in the paddock ex BRM team drivers Howden Ganley and Mike Wilds were also on hand.
Is there are more exciting, visceral sounging racing car than a V16 BRM? I doubt it.
Meantime the 1973 ex Niki Lauda BRM P160 produces a much gruffer ‘’hairy chested' kind of sound from it's wonderful 3 litre V12 engine. Grand Prix cars used to sound so darned good! How times change.
Also present were four ERAs and half a dozen Allard cars along with an eclectic mix of classic saloons, sports and racing cars.
For event 4 , last Saturday, a rather lower key meeting ,it didn't seem worth hiring another marquee for just the one day that I could attend, so the the minimalist approach was adopted . And it paid off. Fourth time lucky, I guess? And I enjoyed the day. The motorcycle , making their annual appeaence on the entry were entertaining and there were some oddities among the cars… always a good thing!
The plan is to do the same next time for what is another low key ‘club’ meeting at Prescott on June 29th. Fingers crossed the rain stays away, but if not… well I can pack away in matter of minutes and be home an hour later. That's the plan at least!
