This was in aid of Tvr Group Sponsoring the Formula E, London E Prix.

Les Edgar wanted 30 Tvrs to Parade round London to promote Tvr.

We met up at the Hilton Hotel Syon Park west london. I drove there with Doug in his Vixon and Rob with his son Matt in his Tamora.
When we arrived at 9.15am the carpark already had about 20 Tvrs there. Then several more arrived and I was surprised to see Kevin in his Cerbera (leaking water). then Neil in his Griff and then Dave in his Tamora. so from Mid Essex there were 6 of us. 

Then we heard a growl from the other end of the car-park and the new Tvr Griffith arrived. What a lovely looking car. My son arrived to join me and was surprised at seeing so many Tvrs plus overjoyed to see the new Griffith.  At 10.00, 33 Tvrs left the carpark in convoy for our journey through central London.  by the time we got to Kensington in heavy traffic and loads of traffic lights we were split up into several groups. We could hear the cars up ahead from couple of hundred yards away. As we sat opposite Harrods in Knightbridge a couple of the loudest cars were revving their engines causing pops and bangs so loud it was echoing down the street. The public loved it taking photos and waving as we drove by.

Our route took us through Kensington to Hyde park corner down Picadilly past the Ritz hotel, round Picadilly Circus down Haymarket round Trafalger Sq, along Whitehall round Parliament Sq, across Westminster bridge along Southbank back across Waterloo bridge Through the Strand Underpass ( what a great noise through there ) and down Shaftsbury Ave, Charing cross rd to Trafalger Sq again. we then did this loop again and then went to Berkeley Square where we parked up and had a break.

Les Edgar turned up with a few friends. The new Tvr Griffith driven by Matt took each one in turn for a Lap around Berkeley Sq, he wheel-spinned it round the first corner and we looked on in shock as he just missed a parked car. The engine noise was deafening and set off alarms on parked cars. after a while we all drove round the Sq a few times and then past the Footman Pub where Les was staying. There were lots of People photographing and videoing us. after a while we decided to drive back to The Hilton Syon Park.  We all sat in the rear Garden of the Hilton and had a drink and some lunch. The service was not up to the standard  of a 4 star Hotel,  considering Les had pre-booked the Hotel and they knew we were coming they had 2 staff serving about 50 people. some gave up waiting in the long queue. That was the only downside of the amazing Day. My son said it was the best day he had with his clothes on. 

I think Les was happy with the day, we definitely gave Tvr a boost.

Well done to Kevin for completing the route in his Cerbera with a leaking cap, in 30c Heat and sitting in loads of traffic..

Thanks to Dave, Steve and Karen for organising a amazing day and to all that turned up to cause mayhem in London.

Alex     DRO

​NB- see pictures on our event gallery page...
​

Peter Best Insurance Services Classic Car Show.

What a wonderful turnout and Wonderful weather.

Up to Sunday the weather forecast said showers  but luckily they were wrong and it was Sunny all day.
I arrived about 9.10am at the entrance to Braxted Park House, a beautiful country residence home to PBIS ins services. We were last here in 2019 before Covid where we had 16 Tvrs parked up in front of the house.

This time they allocated us with the Lotus club in a field further down.
I drove in behind a Purple Griff and didn’t realise at first it was Phil’s new Tvr.
We drove to our allocated area and joined 7 other Tvrs plus a few Lotus’s.
Then whilst we were chatting 3 more arrived.
 
We had a nice collection including- 7 Griffiths, 2 Tamoras, 1 Chimaera, 1 T350t and 1 Tvr s2.
It felt like the Griff Growl with 7 of them there.

We all had a nice chat and then wandered over to the other cars. There were several Aston Martins, Ferraris and a mixture of various classics inc a Delorean. And also several early minis and a original Ford Capri 3000 unrestored and in great shape.

In the centre in front of the house there were quite a few  Mercedes Coupes and Saloons
they were Celebrating Mercedes Benz Club 70th Anniversary.
​
In the main field further down from us, all the other clubs were parked from  Honda, Mazda, Land Rover, Corvette, Jaguar, MG to Porsche  plus lots more.

It was a lovely Day out and good to meet up with some old faces.

If you want to see photos go to PBIS photo website -
​
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM_ctR__C_A1OHPkcNOHQ2aUgCLfwA6bap9jOkQJWnfaObxnQ23OH0jUra9pbMIPQ?key=a3ZOblhJeGZFc2JEeVZ0YjRLTHVCRkJOZWpRUEJn

Thanks to all that Attended

Alex

I met up with Gavin and Steve at the Western Arms. By the time we left we had 8 Tvrs in our convoy to Kersey. 3 griffs, 1 Chimaera 2 Tuscans 1 Tamora and a Vixen.

Gavin led the way using B roads which made a lovely winding route through Essex avoiding the chaos on the A12.  In front of me was Doug in his 1969 Vixen 1600cc,  I was amazed he kept up with us with our V8s.

We arrived and parked alongside the entrance road. It was a perfect spot for showing off our Tvrs to everyone as they drove in.  A couple more arrived from Suffolk group and we had 15 Tvrs lined up.
​
The weather was amazing for mid April, brilliant sunshine. Fred and myself went for a walk around the other clubs, there was an interesting mix of veteran, vintage up to modern classics.
Well worth the visit. Thanks to everyone that attended.
Alex

This was our first meet at the Western Arms Silver End.

It was good see some old faces turning up. The venue was set out for us to all sit together in the bar area.

We all had a good chat before sitting down to our meal. Sue and I ordered the Chicken Roast which was excellent, tasty and plenty of everything.

We then started our usual games. First we had our Christmas Hat competition, won by Judy and Chelsea, Bens girlfriend.  We then had a new game, where we were all given raffle tickets, and all stood up. Jo called out the raffle numbers and we all had to sit down if our number was called. After a while Ben was the only one standing so he won the prize.
We then had our usual raffle with plenty of prizes won.
Gerry then conducted the Bingo with three prize winners. 

After all this it was about 4.00pm. After more chatting we left at 5.00pm to get home to Chester waiting patiently for his dinner.

Remember it’s our next meeting at the Western Arms on 9th Jan 2022.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.
​
Alex Sue and Chester ( the dog )

As from our next meet on 5th Dec 2021 we will now meet at :

The Western Arms
Western Road
Silver End
Witham
CM8 3SD

It Has Good Food and Drink and plenty of Parking. Try their Sunday Roasts.
In the summer we can sit outside in the large Garden.

See you all there from 12.00 with Jo and Gerry or meet me at Boreham for our Convoy in.
I'm usually there at 11,40 and we leave precisely at 12.00.

Location-  Lorry Park rear of BP Garage at Boreham Services CM3 3HJ







​

Five of us met up at Birchanger Services on the M11 and drove up to Sandy near Bedford.
It started to rain on the way but we still had a nice drive along the sweeping country lanes.
We were the first to arrive but soon another five Tvrs turned up.

First on the rollers was a nice Red Tamora. When they revved it up to max, the noise was like a jumbo jet taking off.  Everyone waited wondering what the result was, 311BHP at the wheels not bad for a standard 3.6 speed6. Next was
Julians lovely Mk2 Tuscan S  335BHP
Russel’s Blue Griffith 500  266BHP. 
Dark Blue Chimaera 400  194BHP 
Light Blue Chimeara  400 188BHP.

We also had the option of putting our cars on a lift to see underneath, Julian decided to, and his car was immaculate. I think most of us were to embarrassed to show the underneath of our cars.
Luckily the weather stayed dry whilst we were there and the coffee stall kept us nourished.
Thanks to Tim for arranging, and all for turning up.
​
Alex

We usually camp at woodlands next to the circuit, but this year as not many were attending we decided to stay at a Hotel nearby. The nearest one with vacancies was 13 miles away but only 20 min drive.
Steve and Helen usually stay at a Hotel so we stayed with them. Sue has never been to Silverstone so it made nice break for her.
We arrived on Friday, the weather was showery on the way but it stopped when we arrived. We found the Tvr club section and parked up with about 35 other Tvrs.
We met up with Steve and Helen and went for a walk around the Market Stalls looking at all the car products for sale. The weather suddenly changed and we ended up standing in a marquee out of the Heavy Downpour.  When the rained passed we got a bus over to the pit side and found some nice seats in the Stands under cover.
The Racing was good with a few crashes due to the wet circuit. We watched the Murrey Walker Memorial Trophy with F1 cars from the 80s and 90s, being V8’s they sounded a lot louder and better than the modern F1 cars which have been reduced to V6 and muffled.
The Next Race was the Mini Challenge with about 50 early Minis racing around, they sounded like a swarm of Bees. But it is surprising how fast they can go.
We watched a few more races and then decided it was time to get back to the Hotel for some Dinner.

Saturday we decided to leave early to get there for 10.00am. We left at 9.20 and couldn’t believe the amount of traffic on the A43 and we eventually arrived at 11.00am.
Racing didn’t start till 1.15pm so we walked around the Car Clubs looking at all the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and other Exotic Cars. Mercedes car club had a stunning 1950s Mercedes SL190 Pagoda. Most of the car clubs attend so you had enough cars to look at all weekend. Triumph Stag owners club celebrated 50 years and had over 300 cars attending.
We then went over to the pits where you can get up close and watch them working on the racing cars. F1 would never allow this. Williams had their 1986 F1 Car which was driven by Nigel Mansell and Also their F1 1996 winning car driven by Damon Hill.  Damon Drove the car around Silverstone the next day.

Thanks to TVRCC for supplying us with Tea and coffee over the weekend. Hope to see them again next year with better weather.

​Alex and Sue

Hurrah we have had a meeting, first one since March 2020.

Lets hope we can get back to some normality. Good to see old faces and a couple of new ones.
Welcome Nick Gorham, nice red Griff I followed from Boreham.  you didnt know I'm a poet.

When I turned up at Boreham lorry park it was good to see 2 Griffs sitting there, They are definitely the best looking Tvr. good to see Terry and Nick. Then Ulrich turned up in his lovely Blue Cerb, followed by Rob in his Tamora then Robin in his Chim.
The traffic was really bad on the A12 so we decided to go the old country route. Terry knew it well so he became Green leader for the day.  When we got to Rivenhall Terry turned into the new housing estate by accident and we had a lovely drive around the new houses.  I thought he was trying to sell us one.

Eventually we realised our mistake and found the correct entrance and arrived at the Golf club.

​Waiting there were 6 lovely glistening Tvr's in the bright sunshine. plus us three and then Dave turned up in his T350T, and finally a Bright Orange Tuscan driven by Stuart.

We had to sit outside due to Rivenhall lock down rules.  It was blazing hot and managed to grab a table with an umbrella. The service was a mess, the lovely waitress had to run backwards and forwards taking each persons order separately rather than do them in one go. 

We had a lovely day chatting with old and new faces.

see you all next month

I posted photos on events page.

Alex DRO

Hi Mid Essex clan,

Obviously due to the pandemic we have not been able to meet up, and have cancelled all the trips arranged for 2020.  We have lost a few members not because of covid but deciding not to renew their membership. On the good side we have gained quite a few new members.

When we meet up again It will be good to see new and old faces and welcome them to the group. Jo and myself cant wait to get going again.  Our European trip will not happen for some time due to the rules on travelling abroad but we hope to arrange a trip to Yorkshire to see our own beautiful countryside.

When the car shows start again I will arrange our presence for the Tvr Mark, and hope you will join us.

Remember without members there is no club, so please come and join in with out monthly meets and trips.  

Hope you all are keeping well

best regards

Alex n Sue

We had our last Bowling evening in 2014 and it was a great success.  It was suggested why not have another one. So on Tuesday 25th February 2020, we did.

Fourteen members answered my email, so I immediately called the local Bowling alley in Chelmsford to arrange a night, they said the only evenings free were Tuesdays as they have bowling clubs using most of the lanes every other night.  I duly booked 3 lanes for 8.00 pm.

Sue and I arrived at 7.00 pm and had a nice drink before the event.  After a short while, Steve and Helen arrived, shortly followed by the others. It was getting to 7.30 and we were still waiting on 2 persons.  7.35 Tony and Maureen arrived, Hurrah everyone was here.

I arranged the lanes so we had an even number on each lane and off we went.
I perused the scores on the other lanes and noticed on the first game Sam was way ahead of everyone and was playing like a pro. It looked like the winning trophy was his. But in the second game, he dropped down the list, what happened?

I had to photograph the score boards at the end of the games to work out the winners. After the first game Melvin was winning with Sam in second place and me and Steve equally third. Phil said he wasn’t good at bowling and hadn’t done it for 10 years but he soon started getting strikes, was he hustling us.

We then started the second game and Helen started to beat everyone, she was getting good beating Melvin, Steve and me.  In the end, it was a shame that Helen missed a couple of shots and finished 4th. 
Final score was 1st Melvin 233pts, 2nd Steve 214pts, 3rd me 210pts, 4th Helen 199pts and Judy bringing up the rear.
​
Thanks to everyone for making it a brilliant night, and after the success of this everyone agreed to make this a regular event.  Watch this space.. Photos on the events gallery

Alex DRO

I put out the call a few months ago about this amazing Supercar Extravaganza. but only Steve Mead answered the call. The main problem is, this is a breakfast meet that opens 6.30am and finishes about 11.30am. but with us living in Essex its a 1.45 hour drive.  I decided to meet Steve at 7.00am for the drive there. We went mostly around the M25 but then we turn off onto lovely winding country roads, ideal for Tvrs with the roof off in glorious sunshine.

We got there about 8.40am but got split up at a junction one mile before. I lost Steve in my mirrors but couldnt pull over to wait for him.  I followed the signs for Registered Parking holders and drove in the entrance at the far end of the Racetrack.  after a while Steve rang and he was at the other end. He had found the main entrance and guided the other way to me. after walking past lots of supercars including about 10 Tvrs, we eventually met up next to the stands. We continued to go through the pits ogling at Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mclarins, Porshes, Tvrs and nearly every Supercar built. What a line up. never seen so many Supercars other than this meeting.  Eventually we had to stop for a coffee, the only downside was the price of refreshments, £2.50 for a small water, or £4 for a coffee. But it was free to register and get in. 

I have posted Photos on the Events Gallery

​Alex

After 6 years of travelling to France, Jo and Gerry decided to travel to Holland and Germany for our annual foreign trip.  Jo found a nice Hotel in Ooij Holland near Nymegen, close to the German border, where we stayed for 5 days.

The weather forecast leading up to this trip was not very good with showers and cloudy most days,  but it turned out to be Sunny every day with just a couple showers on the Tuesday.

Dave knows this region well with one of his factories not far from Dusseldorf. and suggested a few places to visit. I looked through the list and decided a runout for each day not too far from our hotel.
​
After our night crossing from Harwich to Hook of Holland on the new ferry Brittania we arrived at 8.00am to pouring rain and thought the weather was correct. but after half an hour of driving the sun came out and the roofs came off.
We arrived at our hotel about 11.30am and was told the rooms would be ready for 2.00pm so off to the bar next door, for a couple of hours.

Sunday morning sunny with roofs off, we travelled to a beautiful 12th Century Castle "Museum Wasserburg" in Germany, after a bit of language battling with the doorman some us booked a tour of the wonderful Castle, and some booked the Gardens and Maze. I had then arranged a visit to Nymegen in Holland near where we were staying. I led the way and my Satnav took us on a nice route along the river where we could park. Problem was, the road along the river was closed due to roadworks, I then tried to go along another route, going along little one way streets the wrong way and ended up in a little alley with a post blocking our path. we all got out and walked the 100m to the river and as i walked past i pulled on the post and it came out of the ground, after a bit of deliberation we took out the post and continued our journey to the parking of my intention.  After a lovely lunch and a walk round the pictorial town we headed back.

Monday morning was the trip to Classic Remise in Dusseldorf Germany, a large classic car collection located in old Train Sheds which were beautifully turned into a wonderful circular building. This trip was quite a headache for me. Jo had organised a tour and arranged parking in the grounds, I found out that we needed Stickers for our cars to enter the Green Zone and these took 2 weeks to obtain. Instead I found a carpark out of the zone and arranged travel via Tram. We parked safely in the underground carpark and took a short walk to the Tram stop. After 5 mins a Tram arrived and we got on. We then needed  tickets and there was only one machine, after 10 mins of wrestling with the machine we arrived at our stop, only half of us had got tickets, what a cheap tram ride. The Classic Remise was amazing the building took your breath away. and all around were cars from 1900 to present day. most were for sale and prices were from 20 thousand up to 1 million euros. see pics on 'Events Gallery'. we then had a coffee/beer outside in the Sun and then headed home via tram, with most deciding not to bother with the machine.

Tuesday I had arranged a trip to Zwolle which is located 96km north in Holland but the weather was showery and Gerry said he didnt want to use motorways,but using A roads would take 2.5 hours so Jo decided to pick somewhere closer, so we decided to go to Zutphen only 70km via A roads. It rained most of the way and we got split up into three groups. all parking in different areas. the main group I was leading ended up in a carpark near the town centre and again wrestling with the machine we got parking tickets and made our way to the centre. Gerry called me and said they found a coffee house, only problem was finding it. He said it was in a square with a fountain and black umbrellas, everywhere we went we saw a square with a fountain and black umbrellas. When we eventually found them they had finished their coffees and headed for the shops. Sue and I stayed with Steve and Debby and went for a walk around the lovely town and ended up in a coffee shop by the river, watching the enormous barges negotiate a low bridge. On our way back the Sun came out, typical.

Wednesday all of us were going home with the exception of Jo & Gerry, Paul & Sandra, Dave & Teresa and Bob & Debs.  We all left around 10.00am in the Sunshine with roofs off and headed back to Hook of Holland ferry port.  I led and got lost in the Rotterdam ring road, with my sat nav telling me to turn off where there was a large concrete wall. after missing the proper turn off we had to turn round and go back, eventually arriving in the Stenna Line Freight Depot. Lorry drivers laughed seeing 3 Tvrs driving around the Depot. Steve managed to lead us to the correct place. We then had a 7 hour ferry trip back to blighty where it was pouring with rain.

Thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great laugh. Even with the setbacks it turned out great as normal. If everything went perfect you wouldn't have anything to talk about.

Alex n Sue

On the 19th November, Eight of us visited the Lotus factory for a tour of the assembly plant and then a tour of the Lotus Heritage Racing facility.
 On our arrival we were introduced to our guide called Guy who took us all to a meeting room and gave us a brief history of Colin Chapman and Lotus.  The Lotus site was originally an American Air force base left over from WW2. An interesting fact was James Stewart the actor in 1944 was USAF chief of staff  based at Hethel   Lotus took it over in 1966 using the old nissan huts before building a bigger and better facility. The old runways made an excellent test track.
Guy then took us to the original building where they now build the bodies for all their range, the Elise Exige and Evora. After explaining the process of making the Grp bodies we then went to the modern building which was enormous. They have 3 assembly lines one for each model.  I was surprised they weren’t any robots used and all cars are built by hand. They produce 2000 cars a year  which Phil worked out that’s 6 cars a day. 
We then drove to the Lotus Heritage site which is now located in a new building down the road.  Here they restore the Lotus racing cars after dropping out of F1 racing in 1994.  We were first taken to the workshops where they were restoring about 20 cars.  From very early 1950s cars up to a 1980s car. These are privately owned cars worth a fortune. 
We then went upstairs to see about 60 F1 cars from the original Type 12 of 1958 up to the  Type 102 of 1990.  Guy went into great detail of every model and who drove them. You may remember Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Mario Andretti to name a few.  Colin Chapman was a clever engineer and led the way with innovations. We were amazed at Guy’s knowledge, after 2 hours I think we had learned everything about Lotus racing history.
Thanks to everyone who attended,
​Alex

What a day..   been looking forward to this for a couple of years and for the first time in 4 years the weather was terrible, downpour all day from 7am till after we left at 2.00pm. 

I was surprised that there were so many amazing cars there.  Would you leave a £30m Ferrari 250GTO in a muddy field in the pouring rain, well Nick Mason ( Pink Floyd drummer ) did. And also a  £2.5m Bugatti Chiron, 1 of only 5 in the uk.

I had arranged to meet about 6 tvr members at the Anchor pub just before the main entrance. As I arrived I was stopped by security who said I couldn’t park at the pub and had to drive to the main entrance. I said to the guard could he tell any Tvr drivers to meet me there, he said he would.

I parked across from the main entrance and waited in the rain from 8.50 till 9.20 wondering where everyone was. Then a group of Tvrs turned up, “where was you”  Phil said “we were waiting at the pub for 20mins..”  Obviously the guard ignored what I asked.

I waited another 10mins in case, then drove down to Golf club.  Luckily we were directed onto a reasonable flat piece of wet grass. At least we shouldn’t have trouble driving out.

Five other Tvrs joined us who had booked themselves, in total we had 12 cars lined up, not bad considering the weather.

We decided to get a Coffee and Bacon roll and luckily there were plenty of car dealers with large Marquees to stand out of the rain.  Thanks to the Volvo stand, they didn’t even try and sell us one.

We then walked round some of the cars on display, there was a big turnout of Ferrari’s from 1960s up to the latest ones offered by the Ferrari dealers.  The same with Aston Martins, Bentley, McLaren, Lamborghini, Maserati and even Rolls Royce. What a great selection of cars.  I then wandered over to the club stands where there were a large selection of Bentley's 1920s to 1950s and Ford Mustangs, Jaguars, Mg’s, Lotus to name but a few. There was a large empty area where i'm sure would have been full if the weather was better.

The only disappointment was the Supercar Drive Through which was lacking some Supercars, there was a McLaren, Ferrari,  4 Porsche 911’s, Alfa Romeo 4C, Aston Martin Vantage S,  Volkwagen Golf V32 and a Audi A4 RS Estate.  Everyone around me said “was that it...”

There was also arranged The Falcon Parachute team to drop in and a Lancaster Bomber fly over but had to be cancelled due to the weather.

Im definitely going to do this next year with hopefully better weather.

Thanks to all that turned up and braved the rain. My car has never looked so clean when I got home.
Its now Monday, the day after and glorious sunshine, typical...

Alex DRO

test 13 Aug 2018

We last attended this show in 2015 but it always clashed with the Mersea Show.  This year the Mersea Show has changed organisers and are charging to exhibit your car, plus it was half empty last year.

As usual i emailed all members and added it to the forum and only 3 replied. 
I thought I would go anyway as I enjoyed the show last time.  Eventually nearer the time we had 8 members interested.

The day before, the weather said it was showery but I still decided to attend. I arrived at our meeting point at Birchanger Services Bishops stortford.  after a while Murray in is lovely 3000M turned up and then Steve Mead in his Tamora. We waited till 9.25 and then decided to head off to the show.

When we arrived it was already getting very busy, Dave in his Blue Griff was already there and Tim Paine came over to see us.
The weather was lovely when we arrived but after about an hour it started to rain, I decided to go back to my car to get a raincoat and it suddenly stopped raining and the sun came out. 
We had one more  quick shower that day and otherwise it was a lovely day.
The Show was quite busy, most ignored the weather, shame the other Tvrs didnt turn up. we only had 4 cars lined up. 
I have added the Pics to the events gallery for you all to see what you missed... :-)

Amongst the pics you can see a Red Ferrari 275GTS, what a lovely car. we chatted to the owner and someone asked its value, the owner went quiet for a moment and said he had it valued for insurance for £1.6 million,,  wow,,, he said there was only 14 rhd cars made out of 200..  Im amazed he drove it there, say someone drove in to it,,, 
​Thanks to all that attended
see you all soon 
Alex

We stopped running the mid week runouts this year due to low turnout last year.
After chatting to a few members I decided to organise an impromptu runout to take advantage of the lovely weather we are having.
I emailed everyone the week before and added it to the Forum.  after a few days I had 6 couples interested.
When Sue and myself arrived at The Compasses in Littley Green I was surprised to see 5 Tvrs already parked in the Carpark.  After a while more turned up and we ended up with 17 of us sat in the Beer garden with 4 tables moved together. to fit us all.
What a great evening it turned out to be.
I welcome new attendees Ian and Helen who joined Mid Essex in 1997 and this was their first time.
Thanks to all that turned up
Alex