The last Sunday of September saw yet another North West exciting car meeting here
at Chung Ku Restaurant riverside, a fun day out for all the family and for a great
cause too - Charlie’s Chance was the chosen charity foundation this month.
This month brought another surprise selection of Lamborghini's from the owners
club, plus Tony Dark in his red 1959 Porsche 356 A, and Richard Dixon’s all new
Toyota Supra. If this doesn’t float your boat, how about a beautifully restored Mk3
Mini Cooper belonging to non other than mini mad Peter Smith? We are so happy to
welcome back the Jaguar Land Rover Twin Terrapod Driving Experience, so called
‘off road theme park’ for the second time! A state-of-the-art, mobile, man-made track
which will give visitors the chance to experience the unique all-terrain ability of the
new Land & Range Rover vehicle range. Designed to show off their capabilities, the
course features a vertiginous slope and a knife edge ramp, plus ‘walking holes’ which
generate a strong rocking action.
You could venture around the course with trained off-road driving professionals at
the wheel and witness the extreme angles, assents and descents. It was wonderful
to see the Terrapod sprawled across half of the Chung Ku restaurant’s car park. The
experience is not for the faint-hearted – but if you’d prefer to keep your feet on solid
ground, don’t worry. The Terrapod is equally exciting when viewed from the ground.
For the first time Roger and Iian Tyrell (previous issue featured his original Mk1
Jaguar XJS) brought Lamborghini's finest retro classics a 1973 Lamborghini Espada
in Rosso Granada (Maroon Metallic) and a yellow Lamborghini Islero. Both running
the true classic Italian V12 Italian engine. The Islero was the first Lamborghini with
hidden pop-up headlights and the first designed by Mario Marazzi. Its appearance
seemed somewhat dull even next to the Espada, not to mention the Miura. The 400
GT version was quickly followed by the improved 400 GTS that soldiered on until
1970 when the Islero was replaced by the Jarama.
The star car of the meeting was Simon Gallimore’s (a member whom needs no
introduction for his quirky cars in previous Sefton Life issues with his Bond Bug
and German Trabant) 1958 Renault Dauphine, ratty but with lots of presence and
character. You could say a ‘survivor.’ Simon told us ‘It was completely rotten, I had to
replace all of the floors and sills, etc. Its got a puny 850cc motor in the back, it had 3
rats nests inside it when I got it, it's lowered to the point where there is no suspension
at all and its totally horrible in every single way!’
It's great that cars of any condition, or genre keep on coming to our monthly event.
Come on down to our next meeting on Sunday 27th October, 9am-12pm. (Please
check roadworks and plan your route with the city marathon.)
We would like to say a huge thank you to all that came to support not only our
meeting but Jaguar Land Rover & Charlie’s Chance Charity raising £385 on the day
Thank you!
Well done to everyone involved including our C’N’C crew & Charalene Lee, coffee
girls & boys serving our famous Char Sui Honey Roast Pork buns (a Chinese bacon
butty). Sean Lynch, Danielle Allen and the wonderful JLR Experience team. Garry
Watson & Richy Soden-Barton for making this happen, plus all of our generous
sponsors.
Until next time, happy motoring.
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