So finally, after a long winter break, it was time to get the Ferrari out. She was ready and waiting for us as we arrived at Slade’s Garage, all clean and serviced. After settling-up with the storage we were ready to get away—almost—a fuel stop was desperately needed.
We didn’t have any interesting plans for our long weekend other than visiting family, as it was more a case of use-it-or-lose-it with the last of 2015’s holiday allowance. Nonetheless, the weather was fantastic and, being midweek, the roads were quiet (once we were past Oxford anyway). By the time we arrived in Cirencester, the evening rush hour was starting to descend upon us, so we parked up on the high street and took a short timeout from sitting down. As we were getting ready to leave Cirencester and complete our journey, we experienced the first problem of the year: the passenger door mechanism failed (again). The plastic clip that links the door handle and the cable first broke towards the end of last summer, and was fixed over the winter. Unfortunately it now looks as though the clip isn’t the root cause of the problem, and the entire mechanism is likely sticking and causing the cable to catch, and that will be the reason the plastic clip is being stressed to breaking point. Having a browse around a few online forums it seems that this is a somewhat common problem, especially if the door handle isn’t used too often—which would hold true for a passenger door—as it dries up, and being a sealed until, you apparently cannot just add grease or oil. The slight silver lining is that this is something that I could almost resolve myself if I purchased the replacement parts, so for now I am going to have a think and decide whether to grab a friend and a few beers and we spend a couple hours taking my door apart and putting it back together; until then any passengers have to wait for the drive to open their door from the inside.
Ferrari-Friday brought with it a more overcast day than Three-Sixty-Thursday, however instead of just sitting inside all day we settled for a few hours of retail therapy in Swindon’s Designer Outlet shopping centre, with its ample carpark for easily and safely leaving a Ferrari for a few hours. I took this short trip as an opportunity to practice with the dash cam and editing software. (Whilst it isn’t the same quality as the GoPro, it does a sufficient job for casual outings.) Hopefully with a little more practice, with both cameras, I will be able to put together a few good montages of this years activities.
With the actual weekend upon us, it was time to return home to Hertfordshire and find my 360’s new home for the year. I had been given the name and number of someone with a warehouse full of cars and—more importantly—vacant spaces. There are both pros and cons of moving from Slade’s: I can no longer have things like the door handle looked at as soon as I drop the car off, but I on longer have to give a weeks notice to drive my own car; it will no longer have a wash before being stored (unless I do it myself), but I can come and go at times to suit my travel plans. The only downside at this time is the state of the road leading to the warehouse, as it’s currently potholed to hell. Now I’m not the only one to have a Ferrari there so am not the only one in that position—it just means I’ll have to take it slowly as I leave and return—not ideal but not the end of the world.
So for the next few weeks, with several birthdays and a wedding coming up, there’ll be more than enough time to get to know the road and avoid the potholes, as well as just enjoy being out in the lovely spring sunshine. I’ll keep trying with the cameras and hopefully become more proficient before car show season is well underway, in addition to the driving holidays I have lined up later in the summer and autumn. Until then, drive safely…
