3MA08 - Day 3

[kev131]

Day 3 - Sunday - A bright and sunny day greeted any early birds & as the Loch was so inviting I drove along the lake shoreline for some early morning photography.



Arriving back at the hotel most 3MAers were stirring readying their chariots for today's trip to the Falkirk wheel. Most of us had no idea what the "wheel" was and were suitably impressed when we saw what all the fuss was about.

Anyway in the next shot Andy tells me that " If zere is a fire my fancy fire extinguisher automatically triggers to put out ze flames"!?



This proud owner (through gritted teeth & with clenched fists) informs the photographer that "no this is not a Replica"!?



Off on the way to Falkirk then and despite the best efforts of those following "not to disappear from the rear view mirrors of the leaders" some of us miserably fail to keep up and end up going the long way around via the M8...and strangely are first to arrive. Of course the others say that they waited for us and that is why they were late - but no proof is offered!?







Parking at the top car park at the Falkirk Wheel before being escorted to the display area.











When in front of a camera, ...."valk zis vay"!



Or even zis vay!!?



The above are Rene and Jan from Stuttgart who promise to have 3 Mirafioris at Turin next year when their soon to be retired father can join them. Rene is the current 3MA record holder for the most kms travleled to attend and join in with 3MA events.?

New father Bobby (SEV131) made a round trip of 600 miles just to attend with his mate for the day. Regular forum members will know how many 131s there are in his household!? Lovely car Bobby!



"Hmmm - OK Simon... your silver Racing... for 3 Waterford Glass decanters ...and my last cigarette - Thats my final offer!"



At about 5.0pm we all headed home - again in little groups and everyone made it home in good time strangely enough. Theo, Simon and I travelled together & I took lots of great shots of their 2 cars in transit.



This is my favourite photo from the weekend...!



The pace picked up as we entered the highlands on our way back to the hotel. I passed Simon in traffic after which Theo and I pulled away as Si got held up. We didnt wait for him and enjoyed the long sweeping bends again when from nowhere a high nosed headlamps blazing red 131 bore down on me in the rear view mirror. I was genuinely surprised to see how quickly Si caught up with us and hats off to your driving mate. When I asked over our walkie talkies "where did you come from?" Si made the comment of the weekend ... "It's an Awbawrth mate"?

[sid131]

Cl;ass photos Kevin, thanks at last to see the silver 131 reason being mine is silver under all the blue layers of paint & filler

[kev131]

Hi Nick - Extra pics of Bobby Sev's lovely Silver Sport - Great wheels with this colour!

[sid131]

Thanks Kevin for the pics, now you have really got me thinking, this car looks great. & its my 131s original colour

[jasonh131]

gret photos guys , and bobby made it all the way in a day, ithough waynr was going to try on do the same and meet you on the sunday..
 you mentioned fuel stops alot so how much did you speed on fuel on the weekend  mpg and your total millage ,i know simion did about 1600 miles
jay

[simon131]

Jay,

I think we mention fuel stops so much because we brought it whenever we could - which was generally on our way out of Inveraray - and sometimes used filling stations as a place to 're-group' (see some of the pics of all of the 131's taking over garages ). There are petrol stations throughout the Highlands but we didn't know exactly where, or what sort of economy figures people were getting from their variously carb'd cars. I know that Theo and I did a recce a few weeks before the event but when we actually drove with the 131s we sometimes chose a different route, and didn't always pass a garage that was open for sales.

Fuel economy is subjective. I was certainly not driving my car particularly 'feather footed' and could have achieved far better figures had I been. I didn't do any actual sums for the few days we were away as I didn't want to scare myself, but it can easily be worked out.

My Abarth, fitted with a single, twin choke Weber 34 ADF, averages about 25 mpg with the sort of mixed driving we did in Scotland. Unleaded cost about ?1.17 in the outlaying areas, which multiplied by 4.546 to give gallons, equals about ?5.32 a gallon .? Divide 1,600 by 25 to get gallons consumed and you get 64, making the total cost of petrol 64 x ?5.32 = ?340.48 Blimey - I hadn't realised that it was that much

Whatever it cost it was worth it. You can't (and IMHO shouldn't!) really put a price on this sort of fun though, but it's not cheap. As a family man spending money on his home and kids it isn't easy to spend such money on a hobby - but sometimes you have to just dig deep into your pocket and bite the bullet as you know it'll be worth it in the end

As for 3MA09 - I'm dreading the cost of that as I'll possibly have to take two cars if the whole family join me

[Thotos]

This is my favourite photo from the weekend...!

I too very much like Kevin's "mirror" photo but I thought there were too many distractions in it.  So here's my version 

[simon131]

That's one awesome photo Kev Even better with all of the 'distractions' removed