Day 4 of Car Porn Week combined with Let's Make A Racket XVI.
And a video, too!
Three posts in one!
So not only did we get free tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, but Phil got to race in the Lotus 211 (more on that tomorrow).
And not only that … Because he's such a girly swot in the world of performance car paints, people want to ask his advice. He does stuff (through Lotus) with Mc.Laren and Aston Martin among others.
And those nice Nissan folk from Japan …
Pretty girls in sexy uniforms beckoned us through the barriers into the Nissan hospitality area, where we indulged heartily in the free champagne (except Phil, who had tea as he was at work).
This was what we were here for: the Nissan bods want Phil's advice on how to get a European spec, water-based paint job for this little beauty.If anyone watched last Sunday's Top Gear, you'll have seen Clarkson race the bullet train across Japan in one of these (and beat it).
And if anyone's played Gran Turismo 5 Prologue you'll know that this is something pretty fucking special indeed!
The brand, spanking new Nissan GTR. Fuck, this is one fast car!The paint's crap, though, so that's where our free glug-fest of Veuve-Cliquot came in.
The GTR is affordable, too (relatively); this little sweetie would set you back a mere £55,000 and it eats Ferraris and spits out the bones.
The photos don't do it justice. Once they get a decent coat of paint on it, the beast will look a lot nicer.
Anyhoo … While Phil was breakfasting in the "Drivers' Lounge", where we mere plebs were not permitted, Andy and I wandered the paddock.
Here's some porn for folk of my age and above.
The rather inelegant insides of a rather elegant Napier.
The front end of a classic Bentley LeMans.This particular car raced at LeMans in 1929 and 1930 and made a glorious racket racing up the hill climb course at the weekend.
Yay!
And the back end of the new Bentley LeMans.
The rest of it.It may not have the grace and elegance of the original but it goes rather a lot faster.
Andy insists this was not his handiwork.(In case you can't make it out, someone has scrawled "Andy's 2nd Car" in the dust on the back of this rather pricey Ascari).
Getting back to Top Gear, Phil and I had a raucous chortle when Clarkson produced this very car and told us that as only 500 will ever be made, the likes of us are never going to see or hear one.Well bollocks to you, Jeremy; we both saw and heard it. Hee hee. Two, in fact, as there was a white one in the Alfa display area.
And it is a thing of beauty.
Not quite so beautiful but still whizzy is the Bugatti concept car somebody had parked on the lawn.
A taster for the finale post of Car Porn Week: Phil's race.This is the arse end of an RUF racing Porsche from the front end of Phil's Lotus 211.
Tomorrow will be fun.
In yesterday's comments box, Mme. Benaut complimented Goodwood House so I thought I'd post this rather unguided tour of the interior.
Dougie Lampton is the man on the bike and he was doing the same stunt live at the weekend.
Lord March appears to have a far larger carpet cleaning budget than me.
And I searched my archives for a car related racket in vain. The closest I could do is a crappy old version of Mustang Sally, so here it is.
Have fun.
24 comments:
Good morning, Dive!
I'll read this post in a few hours. It's 1 am here, time for me to go to bed. I leave you in charge of Thursday until I regain consciousness in 7 hours.
Cheers, T.
I'll sit here and babysit Thursday for you. I'll try not to break it … er … oops.
Enjoy your unconsciousness.
wow!wow!wow! the cars, the tour of the house and then mustang sally! xoxoxoxox what a fantastic morning for me, sugar! ;-)
(he boards a plane at 2300hrs your time) thnks, sugar, you are delish!
Woohoo!
At LONG last, Savannah!
Have a safe flight, MITM!
xoxoxox
Looks like you had a really nice time. I was looking for women in skimpy clothes on top of the cars :D
Would it be sinful to admit I prefer vintage cars, like the 40's Rolls Royce?
Yum, champagne. The whole day looked like a lot of fun.
And your own racket was great, too, the reason I love Thursdays.
I'm a vintage car nut myself, Joy, so I do hope it's not a sin!
Thank you, Robyn. It really was fun. Noisy and smelly but fun.
I'm glad you had so much fun. This is more up my alley for sure! Love the top pic! :) And my favorite cars usually tend to look more like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so I guess I prefer old cars as well (to admire anyway).
The tour of Goodwood was so exciting. That place is awesome I agree on the carpet cleaning bill. We're supposed to be in our towns Christmas home tour this year (I think they want to mock our style rather than be impressed), but I'm going to have to draw the line at motorcycles on the staircase.
Good job with the Mustang Sally find, btw. ;)
Looks like such a fun time,dive. You look very very happy or you are very very drunk.hee hee
The cars are very awesome. I would like this even, I know I would.
That's a bit harsh Bro, the paint was nice on the GTR, it was the process which was a bit iffy.
And don't forget, we were not officially racing, just having huge fun mingling with the great and the good and having a big old blast up The Hill.
Oh and I now have 4 free tickets to the Lotus celebration race meeting at Snetterton on Sunday featuring cars old and new.
Who wants to come along?
Hee hee, Shan. Yes, riding motorcycles indoors is asking a bit too much.
When he wheelied round the lawn and then drove straight in and onto the big rug the housekeeper in me wept at the thought of the grass stains.
Rich: Very happy and only slightly drunk. Hee hee.
Phil: I'll ask Mikey tomorrow.
I quite like the look of the new Bentley Le Mans, it's the British Racing Green colour that does it. If I wasn't enamoured so much with guitars, I'd be knocking one out over it.
There's a lot of balls in your Mustang Sally, so to speak. There's a Van Halen type solo in it! It's not a crappy version - you've made it your own in a good way. It's such a covers' standard that we've heard it so many times played by so many pub bands, your band's version is a refreshing change. Nice one, Dive!
Hey if you're still there tomorrow, take a pic of my house? Pretty please. As you face the front of G House,look to the left, go round the corner, it's the same building, just the side and i had the first six windows, three up, three down. Ahhhhh. That would be great.
Car porn! LOL!
Cars, champagne and mustang sally....life can be good, yes?
From this set I'll take the Ascari. Beautiful car. That Dougie sure can ride! Craziest house tour I've ever seen. Blimey is right! My favorite part of the house was the faux bookcase door. And your version of Mustang Sally really rocks! Reminds me of being in high school, riding around in my friend Melanie's 1964 1/2 blue Mustang convertible. We used to drive down to the beach in Santa Cruz, and I didn't care if guys were actually staring at the car and not at us. But my leopard bikini probably didn't hurt! Ah to be carefree and 17 again.
Istvanski: That Bentley doesn't just look good. Boy, what a noise it makes!
And boy, do I hate playing bloody Mustang Sally! One of the stipulations of me playing with any band these days is that we don't play that stupid thing.
Thanks for complimenting the guitar, though I had no idea it was like van Halen (that era of guitar players passed me by; I've never actually heard any of his stuff apart from Jump). You are too kind as ever.
Lynn: I missed that, I'm afraid. We were only there at the weekend. I'm back in London today so I won't have time to post the last installment until tonight when I get home. I'll search through the photos to see if any of them accidentally contain your part of the house.
Katherine: It's a boy, thing. Hee hee.
Maria: I like the cars, but you can keep the champagne and Mustang Sally.
Katie: A leopard bikini and a Mustang convertible? Holy crap, how am I supposed to get any work done today with that on my mind?
The faux bookcase door was pretty funny. A lot of houses of that period had something similar. I remember surveying one country house in Norfolk and being confused when I drew up the plans to find a blank area around fifteen foot square. I went back the next day and the owner unhooked a piece of dado rail to reveal a small keyhole and then a whole section of wall swung out to reveal a hefty door guarding a strongroom. Cool!
Sorry Dive I couldn't resist. And until I heard your song, I hadn't actually thought about that Mustang and bikini in a very long time!
That hidden strongroom sounds really cool! I would love to live in a house with hidden doors and secret passages, etc. Probably a result of reading too many Nancy Drew mysteries when I was a kid.
Hot dang! Now I'll be thinking about Mustangs and bikinis all day … well maybe not so much about Mustangs.
Next time I'm out at Oxborough Hall or somewhere like that I'll have to photograph all the hidey-holes and secret passages. Fun!
Dougie Lampkin has given me an idea.
Commute to work by trail bike, old son !
Up the spiral stairs, a glass of champagne and on with the job. You could save 10 minutes each way, at least !
A daily 240 mile round trip?
Along endless miserable motorways?
With two London crossings?
On a bike?
IN ENGLISH WEATHER?
Monsieur, no circle of Hell is that abominable, not even the sub-basement below the seventh level where my train runs.
Yay, Thursday!! Well, it's actually Saturday night here and I've finally got the computer working and having spent all day outside working with MB & the chainsaw, lit the fire, eaten yet another delicious serving of MB's lasagne, I'm here! The cats will have to wait for their supper.
First: Not just champagne dear but Veuve Cliquot, no less. I love the photo of you and Phil!! Talk about a pair of head-turners!
Second: The video of Goodwood House. Wow and wow again. That boy sure can ride a bike but I'm not sure I would like him going through the house again like that - so many little rooms and a couple of grand ones. I really enjoyed the tour but I think that if that boy tried to do that in my house, I'd have to have him drowned or something.
Third: Mustang Sally. I used to love that song but I think I heard it too often. I can honestly say though that this is the very first time I have ever known what the lyrics actually were. I'm confused as to which guitar you were playing. Was it the lead - the one that did the intro?
Anyhoo dear - thank you so much on so many counts. I even enjoyed looking at the cars!
Woohoo! Hoorah for fixing the computer, Mme.
And indeed for fun with chainsaws.
Phil and I look like what we are; a pair of middle aged men blagging all the free stuff we can from the hospitality suites. Hee hee.
The video is fun. And the guy was re-enacting it live each day of the Festival! He was also doing stunt riding in the crowd to the delight of the kids.
Mustang Sally … Ick. I've vowed never to play tyhat one again, togehter with Stairway to Heaven, Sultans of Swing, Smoke On The Water, et al.
I played the intro solo. The other one was Dave Thomas. You can tell by the end how bored we are with the thing. Hee hee.
Ah shame, but thanks anyway!x
Post a Comment