Lightness Revisited - A 172 Cup Adventure.
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Old Wheels & Posh Meals.
End of March 2026.
A wet (& dry) day in West Yorkshire
It was inevitable really, that after my Practice Day at Harewood, I would begin to spend much of my time considering how to go faster. After talking about sticky tyres with Tony, I thought I'd start keeping a look out for a second set of wheels for the Cup, I mulled over a few options and bothered a couple of suppliers of Speedlines about the weight of various alloys, however, I kept coming back to the fact that the original Turini is a good, fairly light wheel really. I just hadn't anticipated how bloody rare they'd become recently...
I looked in all the usual places and left requests on forums and FB pages, to no avail. There was a set available at the bottom of the country for an eye-watering price and powder coated in the 'wrong' colour. I couldn't justify, the journey, the price, or the subsequent time and cost putting them back to the 'right' colour, so my quest continued. Until Friday morning, when idly scrolling through marketplace whist I sat in the van having a coffee, a set pinged up. They were in Cambridgeshire, not a silly price and looked 'not too bad', I was quick enough off the mark to get a deposit down and make arrangements for collection the following day.
I gently broke the news to Jill that we'd be having a nice outing down the country on Saturday, and she reminded me she had a wedding flowers consultation booked in at her workshop in the morning... Oops! Waters were smoothed with the suggestion we could find somewhere nice for lunch on the way down. She did a bit of research and asked a couple of pals for recommendations, before we both decided 'The Olive Branch' in Clipsham looked fairly decent, with the website suggesting you could just rock up and probably get a table. Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to arrive on-spec.
Luckily her meeting was early doors, so we were soon on the road in the ever-faithful Kangoo van. The A1 was quiet enough to make decent progress and we turned off into the little village of Clipsham and crunched into the gravel of the Olive Branch car park just before noon. It looked a really nice spot, a quirky old pub with a really nice relaxed feeling. We were very lucky to saunter in and bag the last table, a snug little affair squished in a corner, away from the rest of the diners.
Casting our eyes over the menu, it quickly became apparent we were in for a bit of a treat! The menu is seasonally led, with their own produce and changes on a daily basis, which must be a hell of a lot of work for the brigade in the kitchen and the front of house to manage. We swerved starters as it was lunch, and the pudding course looked spectacularly attractive! I won't bang on too much about what was served up, suffice to say it's the best grub I've had so far this year, I had some sort of lump of charred cabbage on my plate which was an absolute triumph, and the side of chips? Best chips I've had possibly ever, absolutely sensational, though Jill did get a little alarmed I was going to cause some sort of international vinegar incident as I grappled with the dainty receptacle provided for its application.
Then it was time for desserts, we both couldn't resist the chocolate fondant, I'm not usually the sort of berk who sits and photographs his food rather than tucking into it, but I had to make an exception for such a masterpiece. We returned to the Kangoo, well fed and well rested, what an experience and a place I can't recommend highly enough.
Chips.... So good they deserve their own picture.
By mid afternoon, we'd collected the Turini's and were motoring homewards again, a nice 9 hour round trip. A wet day today, meant that in-between working on my little Trophy bumpstop project, I was able to start prepping the wheels for going off for refurbishment. I'm erring to having them painted properly in the correct colour rather than a powder coat job, and not that I'm a perfectionist or anything, but I may have just ordered some fresh new centre caps from my pals in France this evening.
My next problem is actually sourcing the sticky tyres... but I'll leave that story until another time.
End of March 2026.
A wet (& dry) day in West Yorkshire
It was inevitable really, that after my Practice Day at Harewood, I would begin to spend much of my time considering how to go faster. After talking about sticky tyres with Tony, I thought I'd start keeping a look out for a second set of wheels for the Cup, I mulled over a few options and bothered a couple of suppliers of Speedlines about the weight of various alloys, however, I kept coming back to the fact that the original Turini is a good, fairly light wheel really. I just hadn't anticipated how bloody rare they'd become recently...
I looked in all the usual places and left requests on forums and FB pages, to no avail. There was a set available at the bottom of the country for an eye-watering price and powder coated in the 'wrong' colour. I couldn't justify, the journey, the price, or the subsequent time and cost putting them back to the 'right' colour, so my quest continued. Until Friday morning, when idly scrolling through marketplace whist I sat in the van having a coffee, a set pinged up. They were in Cambridgeshire, not a silly price and looked 'not too bad', I was quick enough off the mark to get a deposit down and make arrangements for collection the following day.
I gently broke the news to Jill that we'd be having a nice outing down the country on Saturday, and she reminded me she had a wedding flowers consultation booked in at her workshop in the morning... Oops! Waters were smoothed with the suggestion we could find somewhere nice for lunch on the way down. She did a bit of research and asked a couple of pals for recommendations, before we both decided 'The Olive Branch' in Clipsham looked fairly decent, with the website suggesting you could just rock up and probably get a table. Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to arrive on-spec.
Luckily her meeting was early doors, so we were soon on the road in the ever-faithful Kangoo van. The A1 was quiet enough to make decent progress and we turned off into the little village of Clipsham and crunched into the gravel of the Olive Branch car park just before noon. It looked a really nice spot, a quirky old pub with a really nice relaxed feeling. We were very lucky to saunter in and bag the last table, a snug little affair squished in a corner, away from the rest of the diners.
Casting our eyes over the menu, it quickly became apparent we were in for a bit of a treat! The menu is seasonally led, with their own produce and changes on a daily basis, which must be a hell of a lot of work for the brigade in the kitchen and the front of house to manage. We swerved starters as it was lunch, and the pudding course looked spectacularly attractive! I won't bang on too much about what was served up, suffice to say it's the best grub I've had so far this year, I had some sort of lump of charred cabbage on my plate which was an absolute triumph, and the side of chips? Best chips I've had possibly ever, absolutely sensational, though Jill did get a little alarmed I was going to cause some sort of international vinegar incident as I grappled with the dainty receptacle provided for its application.
Then it was time for desserts, we both couldn't resist the chocolate fondant, I'm not usually the sort of berk who sits and photographs his food rather than tucking into it, but I had to make an exception for such a masterpiece. We returned to the Kangoo, well fed and well rested, what an experience and a place I can't recommend highly enough.
Chips.... So good they deserve their own picture.
By mid afternoon, we'd collected the Turini's and were motoring homewards again, a nice 9 hour round trip. A wet day today, meant that in-between working on my little Trophy bumpstop project, I was able to start prepping the wheels for going off for refurbishment. I'm erring to having them painted properly in the correct colour rather than a powder coat job, and not that I'm a perfectionist or anything, but I may have just ordered some fresh new centre caps from my pals in France this evening.
My next problem is actually sourcing the sticky tyres... but I'll leave that story until another time.