MatraSport Forum

General Matra related => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lennart Sorth on October 05, 2008, 11:09:20 pm



Title: MECUK Meeting at Wobbly Wheel
Post by: Lennart Sorth on October 05, 2008, 11:09:20 pm
As the weather was forecast to be rather miserable for wathing aircraft, I selected to abandon my plan to visit the Duxford Airshow, and rather attend the Woobly Wheel MECUK meeting, and watch some classy people and classic cars instead :)

It was great to meet up - people turning up from far away, - as far as Australia!, you got to admire that enthusiasm !

There were 10 lovely Matra's present - Murena, Rancho, Espace and Avantime, but unfortunately no M530, Djets or Bagheeras, although Greig told me his hope is to have his wonderful S1 ready next summer, and judging from all the fantastic special tools he has built, I'm sure it will be even more stunning.

The weather in the Midlands turned out to be reasonable, - starting with a little drizzle (even if I'm sure The Met Office would have to call it "SEVERE DRIZZLE" or something, as their terms seem to have been devaluated), - and later it dried up - towards the end we even had blue skies and a lovely sunset!

It is always great to meet up with these enthuisiastic, friendly and nice people - knowing this bunch leaves a smile on ones face all the way home.


Some pictures ... :

   http://www.sorth.dk/p/20081005/index.html


/Lennart


Title: Re: MECUK Meeting at Wobbly Wheel
Post by: Titus on October 20, 2008, 10:04:07 pm
Likewise Lennart,

It was good to meet you at The Wobbly Wheel. Especially to compair our Spax suspension. Hope you have resolved the loose fit.

It turned out that my exhaust manifold was not cracked but a shot gasket and lack of bolts holding it. New exhaust will probably be next on the list however.

On closer inspection however the head gasket had blown, hence my overheating problem. I'll put up a more indepth post in the relevant place when the head comes back from a steam clean and skim to let all know just what has occured. In the meantime look at my filth!  Sorry if it is too large an image. Not sure how to shrink it to fit.

Titus.



Title: Re: MECUK Meeting at Wobbly Wheel
Post by: suffolkpete on October 21, 2008, 08:38:19 am
Bad luck!  Hope you made it home without having to resort to another flat-bed recovery. 


Title: Re: MECUK Meeting at Wobbly Wheel
Post by: murramor on October 23, 2008, 08:31:23 am
I have just arrived back in Australia with a suitcase full of Murena spares.  It was great to meet some of the people on this forum and those of you whose names I have known for some 15 years through the MEC. Roy who has always been so helpful with his emails and also the famous Lennart Sorth is a name I have known on the web for many years. It was a pleasure to meet you.  I regret that I was unable to socialise as much as I would have liked because my friend who navigated me to the venue (and without whom I would have arrived at about 4.30 pm) completely fails to understand how anybody can regard a car as anything other than a means of transport and so I was afraid that he was getting bored!  It is lonely being a Matra owner in Sydney and it was great to be able to see a few cars so I am able to figure out what mine should look like. 

Will Falconer was his usual helpful self and it was good to meet him again after 12 years and I was also lucky enough to spend an afternoon at Carjoy in Holland.  Ruud was kind enough to pick me up at at the railway station and to drop me off again.  I really appreciated that I could see some Murenas partially disassembled and I was also able to thoroughly study the underside of a couple that were up on hoists.  His generosity with his time from someone who has a business to run was much appreciated. 

I was unable to find time to visit some of the other places recommended by Anders but who knows - next year perhaps. Perhaps by then I will be able to read and speak a little French - now that will be fun! 

It is really special to me to feel part of a smallish community of Matra enthusiasts.  They are great practical cars and I love them!



Title: Re: MECUK Meeting at Wobbly Wheel
Post by: Lennart Sorth on October 30, 2008, 09:44:08 am
Thanks for the kind words Ron, - I was just as thrilled to finally meet you  :)
Glad you made it well back down under, and by the sounds of it, you and your wife didn't completely spend the family fortune, otherwise you wouldn't be mentioning "next year perhaps" :-)

and that's great news :)

/Lennart