We had a great weekend despite all the probems. Bad news started before we left with arthuy's smoke grey celebration out due to leaky pas pipe and Will from the fb group had an unexpected MoT fail with some hidden rust needing both welding and fabrication on his white celeb. On Saturday morning it looked like this
![Image](https://www.dragonflyjewel.co.uk/sylvia/will.jpg)
Al and I left on Thursday and went to collect some spares in Derbyshire, including a power steering rack complete with pipes and hoses. It hadn't been disassembled so it was like packing an octopus into a very strange shaped box, but it got there in the end. We stayed overnight at Scotch corner, then carried on to Glasgow on Friday to visit my son and his family. Along the way, I had a sudden brief loss of power - it came back with a lurch, but there was a lot less of it ! By the time we got to Glasgow I was convinced the turbo had seized. Al had a look under the bonnet and found a pipe had split and come off. Phew, I thought, but too soon. He managed to get the remnant off the connection and get the slightly shorter hose back on, but still no turbo so I had a lame duck for the weekend.
Colin and his wife plus Rodney the hound joined us for the morning in their other Volvo so I was able to pass the awkward box on and hopefully we'll end up with a source for replacement plumbing courtesy of Colin.
Then at the Kelpies came James' awful news, then Rachel got in touch to say she had been delayed and wouldn't make Knockhill. So that meant that the 7 cars for the photoshoot had dwindled to 3. At least mine still looked good, even if it didn't exactly drive good and thankfully that was the end of the bad news. My son came along with us as he is a keen photographer, so I will wait for his much more professional pics before I post any from there. Note to self - email the events director and thank him for the use of the assembly area, so we got the iconic hill complete with aerial masts in the background.
The sun shone all day and lunch at the Boathouse was very good. We had a table on the decking with a great view straight out over the lake (oops, sorry, loch). Rachel joined us there and Aaron should have some great photos taken hanging out of Rachel's car. We had a pitstop for drinks and my bonnet went up yet again for another grope around turbo pipes, but nothing more was found apart from a small yellow plastic cap which looks as though it's been pushed into rubber somewhere. mmmmm
We duly arrived at Cove Bay Hotel - very picturesque but not as good looking as the sight of 2 more 480s awaiting us in the car park. Cranna21 and Alan 480 joined the group having another look under my bonnet and confirmed absolutely nothing coming from the blower. Looking under Cranna's bonnet proved MUCH more interesting, his wheels are just gorgeous, the new interior is looking great, and I could quite see why he sold me the pinstripes instead of putting them on his own car.
![Image](https://dragonflyjewel.co.uk/sylvia/cranna2.jpg)
Alan joined us for the evening meal and was very entertaining, it was difficult to get a word in so definitely no awkward silences ! The food was good, our room was great and the staff were very friendly so all in all a good choice.
As I have said before, it's the people that make our meets a success and that makes all the planning so very worthwhile. Roll on Hampshire....