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.
photo_ed
ClioTrophy Moderator
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2018
- Messages
- 2,193
- Reaction score
- 4,232
- Location
- Yorkshire/Lancashire
- Trophy No.
- 407
- Thread starter
- #43
Under the Arches.
April 2026.
Easter usually sees the Trophy come out of hibernation and have the 1st run out of the year on one of my dawn runs out into Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales. The weather had other plans on the day I'd mulled over retrieving the Trophy from storage, 'Storm Dave' was wreaking havoc with high winds and all sorts of unseasonal shenanigans, so I put those plans on hold. The Trophy will be coming out of storage soon enough in any case, new things are afoot, which will mean a more streamlined and convenient situation for the cars...
By Monday, the Storm had blown itself out and I woke to blue skies and much calmer conditions. It's our 1st competitive event in the Cup this coming weekend, and it seemed a good day for a bit of prep and perhaps increase my chances of winning a prize in the 'show & shine' class. As there's still no sign of sticky tyres, the likelihood of me bagging any other accolades is highly unlikely on the PS3's.
So, the Cup was soon up in the air and the wheels off, I like to periodically go through the underbody and arches on my cars and this was the first time deep cleaning these areas on the Cup. It's all in pretty good order, with lots of new bits and bobs in evidence and everything looking as it should. I'd decided a while ago to refinish the brakes in their original satin - very dark grey / verging to black so that was also on the agenda today. Whilst I had the paint stuff out, I refinished the front dampers too in a nice matt black. Everything's looking well in the arches now, though I still can't wait to get my Sachs fitted to the front end, as I think that will be a real 'icing on the cake' moment for this car. Wheels fettled up and wheel nuts refinished, it was very satisfying to get all these little details ticked off.
This evening, whilst ploughing though the 45 dry pages of a commercial lease I'm hoping to be signing by the end of the week, an email pinged through from the team at Harewood. All the details for the weekend, it won't be long now until we're on the start line again, with me wondering what the hell I'm doing! I wonder if I'll have time to walk the track this time?
April 2026.
Easter usually sees the Trophy come out of hibernation and have the 1st run out of the year on one of my dawn runs out into Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales. The weather had other plans on the day I'd mulled over retrieving the Trophy from storage, 'Storm Dave' was wreaking havoc with high winds and all sorts of unseasonal shenanigans, so I put those plans on hold. The Trophy will be coming out of storage soon enough in any case, new things are afoot, which will mean a more streamlined and convenient situation for the cars...
By Monday, the Storm had blown itself out and I woke to blue skies and much calmer conditions. It's our 1st competitive event in the Cup this coming weekend, and it seemed a good day for a bit of prep and perhaps increase my chances of winning a prize in the 'show & shine' class. As there's still no sign of sticky tyres, the likelihood of me bagging any other accolades is highly unlikely on the PS3's.
So, the Cup was soon up in the air and the wheels off, I like to periodically go through the underbody and arches on my cars and this was the first time deep cleaning these areas on the Cup. It's all in pretty good order, with lots of new bits and bobs in evidence and everything looking as it should. I'd decided a while ago to refinish the brakes in their original satin - very dark grey / verging to black so that was also on the agenda today. Whilst I had the paint stuff out, I refinished the front dampers too in a nice matt black. Everything's looking well in the arches now, though I still can't wait to get my Sachs fitted to the front end, as I think that will be a real 'icing on the cake' moment for this car. Wheels fettled up and wheel nuts refinished, it was very satisfying to get all these little details ticked off.
This evening, whilst ploughing though the 45 dry pages of a commercial lease I'm hoping to be signing by the end of the week, an email pinged through from the team at Harewood. All the details for the weekend, it won't be long now until we're on the start line again, with me wondering what the hell I'm doing! I wonder if I'll have time to walk the track this time?