Time to go testing ...

Off bright and early tomorrow morning up to Mallory Park to be reunited with my rebuilt Elva.

I called Iain this morning and asked if it is was back in one piece, to which he said "It'll be at Mallory in the morning", not quite answering the question ... it transpired that it had 'some work' yet to be finished. But he texted me this evening to tell me to look at a photo he'd stuck up on  the 10/10ths Motorsport Forum, my car back in one piece (apparently - cameras CAN lie, but i trust him!) and resplendent in new paintwork.

Engine has been refreshed at Swiftune, gearbox rebuilt and the car stripped all the way back to bare chassis. Some broken/cracked tubes were found so they've been repaired, the whole chassis was then blasted clean of paint and powder-coated, before Martin and Josh started to screw it all back together again. I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow, forecast is for drizzle, will be a shame to get it dirty!

Testing tomorrow is all about installation stuff really, just proving that it's all working properly before it goes out to Nurburgring next week. After Mallory the car will come home via the tyre shop for a new set of race tyres, then we'll be really ready to go racing again...

The new colour scheme was chosen to match my TR5 racecar, and also my brother's racing Ford Anglia. I was never very keen on the previous colours of the car, bit too 'Renault Megane' for my liking, and not very 'period'. I did some research in order to try to establish what the original colours of my car were, but was unable to find anything out. I do have a photograph of another Elva 200 from a magazine article in 1960, which although a black and white photo rather looks as though it might have been dark blue with silver.

So, I wonder if it'll go any quicker ... the engine should be back on full song, and I am pleased to tell you that the driver's own midseason overhaul will see me getting into the car tomorrow about 4kgs lighter than when I last climbed out of it ... I wonder if David Coulthard could work out how much that should be worth in improved lap times!