OUR CLASSICS
Kind weather and a dream come true marked out Mike’s first attempt at the MK Classic tour. But it wasn’t an entirely comfortable ride…
2001 MGF 1.8i
I wanted to try something a little different for Drive-It Day this year; I’ve done solo tours and convoys with friends in their classics in the past but I was feeling a bit more ambitious this year. And then I read a piece that our very own Jesse Billington had written in a recent issue of CCW about a tour that I’ve long fancied trying but have never got around to actually taking part in – the MK Classic Car tour.
There are myriad Drive-It Day events to choose from but this one has always stood out for me because it includes a visit to a rather special place in Bedfordshire by the name of UTAC. Never heard of it? You may know it better as Millbrook Proving Ground if you have even a drop of super unleaded in your veins because this is where so many new cars have been developed – and where countless car magazines and TV motoring shows have done their thing – over the years. Daniel Craig famously barrel-rolled his Aston Martin DBS here in the Bond film Casino Royale, too.
I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Millbrook many times over the years, but have only ever driven press-fleet cars there in a work (ish) capacity. Getting to drive my own car there, then, looked like proper bucket list stuff. Sign me up, please…
READY FOR THE OFF
The good news was that – for once – my pre-Drive-It Day prep was a short and relaxed affair that involved little more than checking the tyres, glancing at the dipstick and rubbing a waxy cloth over the bodywork the evening before the off. The bad news was that our starting point was Poplars Garden Centre in Toddington, a good 90-minute drive from home. And since we had to arrive at 8am for a 9am departure that meant dragging myself out of bed at 5am – on a Sunday. Ouch.
My reward when I stepped out of the front door – blue skies and sunshine – was certainly worth it. But while I believe that a convertible’s hood should always be down if it’s not raining, irrespective of how cold it is, I was acutely aware that my co-driver for the day – my wife of 25 years – needs at least a couple of hours before she’s prepared to indulge my love of wind-in-the-hair motoring of a morning. Wisely opting for marital harmony over a ruffled Barnet,
