EVENTS

Mark enjoyed the French summer sun watching good classic motor racing on his first trip to the Le Mans Classic. Highlights included watching the night racing, track laps in his Bentley and fresh croissants with good friends.

The Bentley Drivers Club (BDC) has the longest continuous racing history at Silverstone of any car club. 2015 was the 66th consecutive year. The day is a fantastic way to get up close and personal with Bentleys from every era and have a drive around the circuit at the mid day parade. Mark preps vehicles and also repairs a few after a day of very hard racing.

Mark thoroughly enjoyed the day driving a 1934 Lagonda Rapier single-seater around the track during a Benjafield’s Racing Club sprint day.

Mark and his father-in-law (pictured) enjoyed meeting customers and seeing classic cars take a good run up the historic Kop Hill Climb. The Buckinghamshire charity event is a good family day out with a wide range of classic cars.

An invitation from the small but mighty Benjafield’s Racing Club prompted Mark to renew his MSA racing license to join an historic re-creation of the 1924 LeMans race. He drove a 4 ½ liter Bentley nick-named sexy from the UK to Portugal, then was part of a 4-person team that drove a 3 liter car for 24 hours straight. A true bucket list kind of rally.

One of Mark’s customers had 21 Lagondas on display at the Aston Martin Owners club (AMOC) spring concours at Woburn Abbey. Mark rebuilt the back end of a one-of-a-kind stretch “wedge” in record time.

Mark has attended the Goodwood Revival about 10 times since it started. In the early days he organized groups camping in the parking lot (for free). Today the growth in scale and participation is kind of overwhelming. Recently he tends to make one big day of it with family and friends and often meets customers there. In 2016 Mark will be there on the Sunday.

Britannia hosted a fundraiser to support a friend attending the World Scout Jubilee in Japan. More than 75 people gathered for a ploughman’s meal followed by cake and coffee. More than £1,200 was raised.

While his wonderful wife watched the wardrobe changes, Mark watched the wheels of Downton Abbey. Mark rebuilt the engine of the 1923 3-4/12 litre vintage Bentley that became a star in the final series. Henry purchased it, Charlie raced it. The car was one of five Bentleys in episode 7 filmed at the Goodwood circuit (in the show it was set at Brooklands). Mark was on site for 3 days moving the 35 classic cars around the track as one of the few who knew how to drive every car including Bugattis, a Riley Sand Racer, a Newton, an Alvis, a Scat Racer, a Vauxhall Viper and a Sunbeam.

Mark joined the great day out for a second time taking an early nineties Le Mans car for a short spin. Short is the key word as an early malfunction limited his race day to one attempt around the track. Nevertheless, it was a great weekend overall.