Brooklands Drive, Weybridge KT13 0SL. Cars gather, coffee, rarity judged on the spot from How Many Left. Photos of the fleet before anything falls off. Wheels rolling 10.30.
Castle Donington DE74 2RP. National layout, 1.98 miles, open pit lane. Sign on, briefing, then out. Confirmed with Javelin. Everyone signed up individually. Lap time, top speed and flags all scored here. Track closes 17.00.
Donington rules:98 dBA drive-by noise limit, tested at sign-on. Overtaking on the left, on the straights only. Helmet hire is £10 on the day and they hold your licence as deposit. Passengers £10, arranged at the venue, arms and legs covered.
Ellastone, Ashbourne DE6 2GZ. Table for eight at 18.00, pre-ordered, ref 2109856003. Eight rooms, single occupancy, one each. Dinner is what you picked on the menu page. Card behind the bar.
Curborough, C&M, the Castle
Thu 24 Sept
07.00
Breakfast at the Duncombe
Early, and not optional. Bags in cars before you sit down. Wheels rolling 07.50.
Lichfield WS13 8ES. Booked and insured, morning hire. Gate at 08.30. Sign the indemnity form, driver briefing, helmets on, first car on track at 09.00. Sprint laps one car at a time. Coffee and bacon at the Sprinters Rest. Sprint time is scored. Off site by 13.00, no arguments.
Curborough rules, and they enforce them: top loop only. Helmets on, every driver. One passenger maximum. One car on track at a time. 105 dBA noise limit, measured on the day. No anti-lag, no drifting, no doughnuts. Breach any of it and the whole group loses the hire.
Houndshill House, Banbury Road, Ettington CV37 7NS. Table booked for 14.00 with Felix. Park the fleet somewhere it can be photographed. Leave by 16.00.
Glympton Road, Wootton, Woodstock OX20 1EJ. Eight rooms, paid, reservation 5660605. One each. Check in through the garden to the front porch. Michelin Guide pub, ten years running, so behave.
19.00
Dinner at the Killingworth
Table for eight in the dining room. À la carte. Kitchen closes 20.30 so don't be late down. Quiet after 11, they mean it.
Blenheim, Bicester, Burford, the coast
Fri 25 Sept
08.00
Breakfast at the Killingworth
Served 08.00 to 10.00. We're going at the early end. Bags in cars, keys back to the desk. Wheels rolling 08.45.
Woodstock OX20 1UL. In through the Woodstock Gate and up the drive in convoy, cheapest cars first. The mile-long approach with the palace at the end of it is the picture of the trip. Twenty minutes, then out.
Buckingham Road, Bicester OX26 5HA. A 1920s bomber station that's now the home of historic motoring in Britain. Forty-odd specialists in the hangars, engine builders to coachtrimmers, and a café. Walk the site, look in the open workshops, don't touch anything worth more than your house. Leave by 11.45.
Asthall Barrow, Burford OX18 4HJ. Table for eight. Parking is a field, which suits the fleet. Wheels rolling 15.00 sharp, because the next bit is the long one.
130 miles south · A34, M3, A27 · about 2h 45 · Friday traffic
17.45
Worthing
Body work and interior graded in the car park on arrival, before anyone washes anything. Then every car goes through the We Buy Any Car site with its real reg and mileage, and that number is your sale price. Then wash, change, drink. Bruno and Steve and other halves at Alex's. Seb, Ryan and his wife at Sea Front Stays, keys sorted. Paul, Ed and Spence heading home after dinner.
Champagne on arrival, dinner from around 20.00. White dinner jacket if you've got one. Peer vote and style points over pudding, then the final scores and a winner. No auction tomorrow, so this is the finish line.
Perch on Lancing Beach, ground floor of Perch House, right on the shingle. All eight of us, partners welcome. The auction's off, so nobody has to sell anything. The cars are yours to keep, scrap, or quietly abandon in the car park opposite. It's about £4 for the day.
after
Home, or the beach
Anyone in the flats upstairs is welcome to stay the weekend. Everyone else, drive carefully, you've seen what four days has done to the tyres.