BritishV8 2012
Friday – May 18
Steve Carrick caravans with Jean and me. We travel to Forrest City, Arkansas where we overnight. Trip is uneventful. Find later that Merv and Marilyn Hagen are also spending the night in Forrest City and even eat at the same restaurant that we did!
Saturday – May 19
After breakfast at one of the greasiest Waffle Houses that I have ever stepped foot in, we continue on to Shreveport, Louisiana where we meet up with about a dozen other enthusiasts for our “Shreveport Rendevous Pre-Ignition Party”. A great dinner at Ralph and Kacoo’s where we dine on alligator, crawdads, shrimp, softshell crab, beef and other seafoods. Abita Ale is the beverage of choice that evening.
Sunday – May 20
We gather the troops and head to Palestine, TX for BritishV8 2012. Arriving at the hotel early afternoon, we find several other enthusiasts have already arrived. After checking into the room, we break out the coolers and lawn chairs and allow the “tiring kicking and lie swapping” to begin. Wayne Kube and crew cooked up some great hamburgers and hot dogs on a HUGE BBQ grille. Ted Lathrop finds that his crossmember really DID arrive in Palestine!
Monday – May 21
We visit the Texas State Railroad restoration and maintenance shoppes. What a GREAT experience. Steam locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, a recreation of General George Patton’s staff car (with a troop car behind it). We learned a lot! Then off to a park for lunch. One of several mishaps of the event occurs on the way when Nick Pappas’ right front wheel hub fails and his wheel and knock-off shoot off into the underbrush on the side of the road. We are able to find both, but his car is trailered back into the hotel where it stays until repairs are made later in the week. Monday night we are treated to beef brisket, sausage logs, and more which were cooked in the BBQ trailer by Wayne Kube and Crew. What a feast!
Tuesday – May 22
Driving activities are scheduled for the day with dyno runs at one location and an autocross at another. We find that the autocross course is set up on a large concrete pad at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility used by NASA for launching balloons and their payloads into the outer limits of the earth’s atmosphere. Dyno runs were productive and informational. Top HP Award to Calvin Grannis and his LS1 powered TR6 with his 408bhp run! Tuesday night we dined at a local steakhouse and then returned to the hotel for more conversion conversation and camaraderie.
Wednesday – May 23
We caravanned about an hour to Canton, TX where we had a bodacious lunch before heading over to an awesome automobile restoration shoppe. Hot rods, street rods, restored originals, and even its own “graveyard” out back. None of us wanted to leave. That evening, we headed over to El Toro Restaurante for our final meal, a few announcements and awards, and of course our auction of donated items. Upon our return to the hotel, obligatory time was spent in the parking lot for even more “tire kicking and lie swapping”.
Thursday – May 24
We all head for points north, south, east, and west as BritishV8 2012 has come to a successful conclusion. A few breakdowns (one “lost” wheel due to bad splines on the hub; one bad distributor; two a/c recharges; a couple of fuel pumps; other ancillary yet necessary adjustments), a barrel of laughs (never assume that a stack of two coolers will be strong enough to hold your weight), reunions with old friends (yes…we are getting older) and meeting new friends who will become old friends next year!
BritishV8 is in the record books as yet another successful event that had its own flavour!
Steve and the Ingrams made it home in 14 hours, stopping only for fuel and its associated rest stops. It is good to sleep in your own bed!
Thanks to Wayne, Gene, Ric, Nick, Jeremy, Mark, and all others involved in the planning and execution of this event!
BritishV8 2013 will be held near Omaha, NE and will be hosted by Bill Young.
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