Having got the engine hoist back from Dad who has been using it to put the power train back in the MG Midget he is restoring, it was time for the race engine to come out.

I thought I’d just take the engine and box out in one with the inlet manifold on to get it out of the way for now. So armed with an angle grinder the bent front panels were removed as was the bent front beam. This relieved the pressure pushing the gearbox into the rear subframe box letting me undo the water pipes and remove the final driveshaft. The corner of the gearbox had punctured the rear subframe and one of the top of the cast holes for the gearbox mounts has sheared so I need to get that welded or its a whole new gearbox to sort :-(.

With the front off, the engine and box come out and can be parked for another day. Then off with the master cylinder, front brake lines, suspension arms and struts complete with hubs and springs attached. My next focus is the roll cage. This will wait as I am having to rest for a bit taking this week off the build as my back is still recovering post the crash and causing a lot of aggravation. The cage needs to come out soon along with the mounts to get to Olly at Preptech for fitting in the new car.

So this weekend I thought I would use the torrential rain as an excuse to work on the drive on the new car! Parking the Peugeot Expert TeePee next to the car and armed with some suitable tools I stripped the interior trim from front to back – filling the bus up and taking it straight to our local recycling centre. Funny once you’ve done it before how easy it is to strip the trim!!

Managed to get the car running too! All be it a little rough as it has the dreaded HGF but enough to enable me to move it about. An overnight on the trickle charger has managed to bring the battery back to life so at least its mobile.

Finally once the raid stopped, thought I’d give it a bath as it needed it badly!

A great night at Horwood House for the Trophy dinner and awards ceremony. Getting second in class was great and I was very surprised and chuffed to receive the Luti Endevour Cup, this choked both myself an Mrs M a little.

The drivers meeting was as interesting as ever with little change to class D (which has become C) other than the class will now run the Dunlop Direzza tyres used in the 170 class (now class B). Still undecided about whether to upgrade to the 170 class – I would like to but its a money thing so we’ll see.

Photos show me receiving second in class from John Hutchinson and the Luti Endevour cup from Brian Luti himself.