Trip to England - Page 3

flatbutt · 06-01-2023, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Later that night we went to the oldest Pub (in England?) and had dinner and beers with Pelican Won (have to send him this thread) and another of Mr. Ahab's compatriots Graham who shakes down and approves Singers before final delivery, among many other things. The three are all F1 level (what Won is doing now) engineers so I just drank my beer and had a really good fish & chips.

Mr. Ahab, feel free to elaborate here, I'll send Won a PM as well as Ian.

Was trying to avoid being an American tourist so a few pics only.

Is that pub near Slough?

Won · 06-01-2023, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Is that pub near Slough?

It's near Enstone, about 2 minutes' drive from Alpine F1.

Shaun, it was nice to finally meet you in person, after nearly 2 decades of following your adventures on PP. It was my first time meeting the Captain in person too, but we did have the excuse of work (and his barn build) keeping us well busy...

I'm moderately jealous of how much you did/saw here. I never heard of that village green car show, for example! One day I hope he can show me around GMA, Tuthill and other places too

Just a minor correction, I'm an America's Cup design engineer at the moment

In fact I just released my first parts for the yacht, so I feel I can officially put it on my CV

Looking forward to your pictures and hopefully catch up again somewhere in the world!

Here is a picture I took at Caffeine & Machine, I'm sure most air-cooled owners agree.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-02-2023, 06:37 AM

Won, when I come over again, the three of us can take a day and scout around, go to a car show, whatever.

Still a lot more to post. Tuthills, more London, and RAF Museum. That was amazing!

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-03-2023, 06:06 PM

Mr. Ahab Jr. arranged guided tour on Thursday at Tuthill Porsche and this was perhaps the most eye opening experience of the trip. What Tuthill is doing now, and Singer has been doing for years, I wanted to do in 2005 when the RS craze hit the 911 world. There were so many builds on Technical for a few years. In 2005, years before even the longhood bubble started, I could have either made RS clones for a living or starting my boys clothing. Talking with friends about the clone idea, they all thought I was crazy. So Traveler Kids was born.

Visiting Tuthills made me realize I have to get back on that track even with 6 months of work in-house now.

I was a little camera shy here even though our guide said I could take pics freely. Really a phenomenal enterprise. Their 911K, essentially an early body shell that is now mostly carbon, was beautiful and something of an engineering marvel. No pics sorry, and to some degree, because the shell was painted, it pretty much just looked like a 73 shell on a dolly, that was mostly carbon fiber.

Another thing, personal to me and cars I would like to build, is learning that you don't gain much of anything other than a badge, building a 4.0L MFI motor over an easier to build 3.8. It was an eye opening day. A few pics. That's the actual Peter Gregg #95 Brumos car and what's on Tru6 t-shirts customers get with their orders.

These are all cars in progress

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-03-2023, 06:26 PM

And then we were off to Clarkson's Farm for lunch. The line to get into the shop was very long but going around back for lunch, we got a table and had truly great burgers! That and Clarkson's Hawkstone lager and an Eton Mess for dessert made for a great afternoon lunch. Eton Mess is meringue, cream, strawberries & sugar. It is an excellent dessert, have to make some though our strawberries here are bred for color. English strawberries don't look very nice but are significantly sweeter and tastier. It's really easy to find fault in the U.S. when traveling, much in the same way I expect foreign travelers would feel coming here. The little fresh food I had from the local market in Paddington, I can say food is better quality in England. It's original seed, or what we would call heirloom, not genetically modified for color and transport over flavor. I bought some gorgeous, deep red strawberries at Whole Foods the other day. They tasted like cardboard compared to the strawberries I got at the market and in the Eton Mess. Rant over. Grass is always greener...

A very special day thanks to the Captain.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-03-2023, 06:29 PM

2 more and then we were off for some local sight seeing

flatbutt · 06-03-2023, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Won

It's near Enstone, about 2 minutes' drive from Alpine F1.

]

I had a lovely ploughman's platter at a pub claiming to be hundreds of years old. I was on an audit with my boss housed in Slough and this may well be that pub.

Is this the pub that found a skeleton in one of the walls that was opened for repair?

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-04-2023, 04:23 PM

Local sight seeing. We have a lot very old buildings in the Boston area, and older gravestones from the 1600s, but England is a wee bit older. So happy and impressed that so much history has been preserved, and always will be.

Built in 1457, rebuilt in 1828

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-04-2023, 04:29 PM

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-04-2023, 04:38 PM

The thatched roofs were amazing.

astrochex · 06-04-2023, 04:42 PM

Geez Shaun, your trip looks like it was basically perfect

Amazing hosts and company, beautiful scenery, history, and architecture. Tasty food and drink. Porsches and Gordon Murray Automotive.

Very well done and thank-you for sharing the experience.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-04-2023, 04:42 PM

Driving to another village, sheep on the side of a very steep hill. Didn't think I got this, tried again on the way back. It's the little things sometimes.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-04-2023, 04:58 PM

My AirBnB in the Cotswolds. A renovated barn close to the main house, deep into the property. It was PERFECT. Very romantic. Neat old vans down the road. I think they've been there a long time.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-05-2023, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrochex

Geez Shaun, your trip looks like it was basically perfect

Amazing hosts and company, beautiful scenery, history, and architecture. Tasty food and drink. Porsches and Gordon Murray Automotive.

Very well done and thank-you for sharing the experience.

It was an amazing trip thanks to Mr. Ahab Jr.!

Friday night dinner at a posh hotel with his lovely wife and daughter.

Saturday I am on my own again before my flight back in the afternoon. When I was in Paddington the Mailboxes Etc. clerk said I should go to Wembley for authentic Indian food (more on that later) and doing a search found the RSF Museum in teh next town over which of course I had to go to. A few pics.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-05-2023, 05:46 PM

flatbutt · 06-05-2023, 05:52 PM

I had dinner at an "eating house" in Wembley near the Twickenham rugby pitch. It was vegan, family style and really very good.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-05-2023, 05:52 PM

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-05-2023, 05:53 PM

flatbutt · 06-05-2023, 05:55 PM

Did they have a Spitfire there?

Shaun @ Tru6 · 06-05-2023, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Did they have a Spitfire there?

Tomorrow night.