10 Cars , 13 People & Hundreds of Bad Inappropriate Jokes
WWOW starts with Supercars but it’s much more about the journey & the company who assembled at McLaren Leeds last week for the customary warm welcome & great coffee
As ever, there was a round of slight arm twisting for the Barnsley Baron who is looking to trade in his Lavender 720 for the new 750… that may, or may not be available later this year.
He’s on the list, but paid no deposit … Hhmmn what are his chances?
Day 1
We headed North, (you probably guessed that!) on the A1M, off at Barnard Castle for a quick eye test followed by the first real road test, up and over to Alston
Here we encountered our first snow as the temp dropped from a mild 6 to a scary -2 in a couple of miles. A change of underwear was necessary for a few of us at the BIG RED TEXACO garage, where the breakfast dodgers grabbed a crumbling Ginsters Chicken & Mushroom for smearing on their Alcantara before we seamlessly joined up with Nick Algar in Brampton
Over the border & on our way for lunch in Moffat we encountered the worst snow blizzard most of us have ever experienced, resulting in the RS3 coming to rest up a kerb, sniffing a lamp post! Well, rather that than up the bum of a GR Yaris!
Liam, who had the roof of his McLaren 650 Spider DOWN!! deciding that sideways was always the best way to exit most junctions.
Andy Claxton moaned about his tyres, which made a very pleasant change from his usual topic “Oh, the price of stuff these days” and his steering geometry being “all to cock”
We sensibly choose the slush of the motorway over the snow of the mountains on the drive to Glasgow when BINGO!… the sun came out!! Four seasons all in 45 minutes. No such thing as bad weather…just bad car & tyre combo
The 5pm commuters of Glasgow were swatted behind us and 40 minutes later we checked into our neat little hotel. We hooked up with our Scottish chums, Kenny & Stuart for first of many drone shots directed by Wayne (2) Goodman
Our day came to a lovely refreshing close at the stunning Cameron House Hotel, perched on the banks of Loch Lomond.
A few looseners’ in quite beautiful Great Scott’s Bar was followed by dinner in the famous Cameron Grill.
It was all reassuringly expensive; the food was exquisite!
Day 2
What a day! We had free rein to thrash around Scotland in the Alpine as Stuart works for Specialist Cars Aberdeen. The disarmingly young salesman had arranged 30 minutes for each of us in the French rocket, whilst that guy, Kenny Mc took the wheel of our cars and told us each in turn how utterly shite they were!
It was the best way to test drive a car – all motor retailers take note and join us in the future…as this is indeed, the future!
A much-needed coffee on the West coast at Oban, then heads down to the focal point of the trip… The 007 Skyfall Road
There is something very haunting about the location; everyone feels it and we inevitably stay longer than planned, just trying to get that one epic shot at the correct angle. It certainly stays in the memory as a great place for picture …even if it does look like everyone is having a sneaky wee!
Heading for lunch, we had a photo op’ stop in Glen Coe followed by what for me was the drive of a lifetime on the best twisting & turning, challenging valley roads down the mountains – the highlight of which was a very rapid plumbers van
Clearly well over the speed limit, determined to get somewhere earlier then when he’d set off, that youth was exhibiting superb driving skills: hopefully he got to wherever major leak it was he was flying to in good time?
At lunch we bid farewell to our Scottish chums, with Kenny & Stuart heading back to Dundee & Aberdeen
Post a traditional “everything with batter” lunch, the recharged 5 strong GR Yaris Clan once again vapourised over the horizon into the slight mist, leaving the Mc 650 & RS3 to zip along to our hotel in Dunfermline for our private dining experience
Once again, the food was fabulous and the jovial waiter simply added more hilarity to an already giddy group – giddy on account of the free bottles of very agreeable Aldi plonk, kindly supplied from the back of one of his sheds, by Arthur “Two-Sheds” Jackson
Day 3
What a sight the Queensferry Crossing is – it never fails to impress, despite the Scottish mist (heavy rain to you & me)
It takes about an hour to get free of Edinburgh’s tentacles & it’s millions of speed cameras, but we all decided no wee stop was necessary as we had now found some great roads & were started to get face-ache from grinning at the sheer fun of it all!
It was all going so well until the days enjoyable adventure turned into a proper Dramatic Drive!
In a comedy ending no script writer would ever have got away with, the two Wayne’s were left fixing a wheel, a world away from the rest of the pack… who in true Top Gear Road Trip style had buggered off to the pub, claiming radio contact had been lost! Bastards!
Limping 8 miles on a totally flat front we ended up in the Keilder Reservoir Car Park, without a jack, hammering rainfall and no phone signal…
The one other car in the park was Victor from Wetherby, in his new Lexus that he’d purchased in Edinburgh earlier that day. My best pleading saw Victor loan a total, bedraggled and slightly anxious stranger all his new shiny boot tools on the vague promise that I’d get them back to him, sometime, somehow, soon-ish
Eternal thanks to “Handsome Wayne 2” Goodman, who was a saint amongst sinners & between us we somehow plugged the huge side wall split and limped into The Big Town of Newcastle for a “not quite right, but it’ll get you home pet!” budget tyre solution
The rest of the travellers had a lovely lunch & perhaps quite rightly dispersed to all points of the compass
A fabulous group of people, all home safe & already looking forward to the next WWOW Dramatic Drive
Special Thanks to
Nick Algar for the planning, routes & GR Yaris leadership
Stuart at Alpine for the innovative test drive
Kenny Mc for his overview of our run around his playground
Wayne Goodman “Handsome Wayne 2” for the pro pics & being a saint fixing my wheel!
Victor – What a Good Samaritan…and yes I did return all his tools to Wetherby
Driver of the Day – Absolutely no question; only one contender
Liam Bullough well over 1,000 miles in the snow, many with the roof down in a McLaren 650 Spider –
Legend or Lunatic…we may never know
If you would like to participate in the next Scottish Scenic Stay or any of our other drives and events apply to join WWOW Supercar club today