VMax200 and Countach Lunch. What a weekend

I'm still buzzing from this years combined trip down south to VMax200 and Rob's annual Countach Lunch.

We travelled the 200 miles down to Vmax on the Saturday arriving around 11am, with rain still falling. Entertaining to watch a few M4s and GTRs pull 360s off the line with a loss in grip and an amazingly loud Aventador that buzzed me as I drove to the start line. Whilst waiting for the rain to stop and watching the pair of 1-77 Aston's blast up the runway, I spotted the F40 pull up. I was immediately back to being a teenager again and had to pull the two 80s poster cars together for a few shots.

80s Heros

Young Huracán watches the old boys

After a bit of banter with the owner and the photographers we decided to pull off an old skool drag race and did a few runs up the runway.

VMax200 F40 v Countach: Video Link here
 https://youtu.be/PTe2Zqk-zHY

I then spotted the lightening had been pulled out of it's hanger, so a must have shot. just wish I had more than an iPhone to take my pics. Thankfully some of the pros have stated to post good shots up of both cars together over the past few days.

Old Skool Kool

After a night with AirBnB in Rockingham we had just 3 miles to drive to the Countach gathering, organised by Rob. I even managed to clean the car (note wheels are black at Vmax but silver at Countach meet. Highlight was driving through the tunnel into the centre of Rockingham raceway with 7 Countach together.

Morning Glory

Here they come

Banter time

Flight formation

Tunnel vision - Video of Lunch is here
https://youtu.be/sJOwE_gAMFw

We drive out for lunch, a short 45 mins thought the countryside.  The sight of the Countach out on the road together is breath taking.  Whole families stop and stair, with small children pointing open mouthed.  I know that image will stick in their mind for their entire life as it did for me many years ago.

Adiós Blasst

Photo Credit:
Vmax200 - Jason Cornish, Rob Overy, Jake Bond,  Max Simpson
Countach Lunch -  @pluckphoto

Link to VMax200 F40 v Countach: here                         https://youtu.be/PTe2Zqk-zHY

Link to Countach Lunch Meet: here                                https://youtu.be/sJOwE_gAMFw

Link to Harry's Garage review of Blasst: here                 https://youtu.be/CiZWIsmGxeg?t=8m57s

It's been a busy few weeks in the press

As a fan of all things car related I'm delighted to see that we have made it into all of the magazines I buy at the same time this October.

It all started with a letter I wrote to Octane following the Festival of Speed at Goodwood.  Now I've never managed to make the FOS due to two reasons:
  1 - Newcastle to Goodwood is one hell of a long drive;
  2 - As I race frequently over the summer it tends to clash with many events. 

Anyway, this year I had the opportunity to squeeze the Friday in at the FOS before continuing across to Brands Hatch for the Aston Martin Intermarque Championship; so off I went in the RV.  The event was fantastic and I'm so pleased I made the effort, using the opportunity to meet up with some friends from the south at the same time.  It worked a treat and I'll definitely do it again.  Great atmosphere and loads of access. I'm sold.

Next up we had a trip to the Silverstone Classic. Again I took the RV and stocked it full of car mags for the weekend.  Opening Octane I was enraged by Robert Coucher's column indicating that the FOS brought the 'wrong crowd'.  So much so that I immediately bashed out an email to Octane on my iPad.

After the letter appeared it clearly hit a chord as the following month a further letter was published sighting the same disappointment in tone.

On a happier note, although I missed the formal EVO supercar shoot over the lunch break at VMAX200, primarily due to the fact I was in the burger van queue with Max, the photographer managed to take a snap of Blasst cooling off after the morning run.

Plus a snapshot in the video summary.

Evo Magazine Video from EvoMax

Finally, following a great race at Snetterton my trusty black 355 managed a 3rd overall and 1st in class in the Intermarque behind two Astons. It's always worth checking Autosport.  Tim got the Championship, but he knows who really came out on top, I'm sure.....

2014 - Vmax200 EvoMax

Wow what a day.  Thanks to Amos Menin and Craig Williams for inviting me to Vmax200 with EvoMax last weekend.  It required an early start, with Max and I waking at 4:00am on Saturday morning before attempting to creep a 5ltr V12 carb fed Countach out of the garage without waking the whole of Newcastle at 4:30!!!!

We took a leisurely 200 mile drive down to Vmax and were the first car to arrive at 8:15am, stopping once for fuel at Woodall Services.  The Countach was brimmed before we set-off, which highlighted a slight issue with the fuel pump within the near-side fuel tank which would only take a few litres, whereas the off-side tank was almost empty.  No matter she was running well.


The setting for Vmax is amazing with old planes littering the roads around the airfield. It was clear #blasst was not going to outrun the modern metal, and there was no way I wanted to replace the clutch after removing the engine twice in the past 3 years already, so gently off the line was the plan for the day.

Footage from the Countach

I was pleased to see so many people enjoying the Countach and what it stands for in the history of the Supercar, and love the footage Martyn and Richard took from the 911 Turbo when we ran together.

After a full day on track we were one of the last cars to leave and head back to Newcastle, running in Convoy with the @supercardriver gang in the Ford GT Mirage 720 and 9ff.

200 miles south, Vmax200, then 200 miles home in a day with no problems. That my girl.

So what did she do? I don't know, but somewhere in the 140-150 mark. Now I'll have to fix that fuel pump before the next run to see if that helps at the top end.