Fairthorpe Restoration: 2011 Fairthorpe Gathering report

Following several days of nervously watching the changing weather forecast Sunday dawned bright and dry with no rain forecast for the Donington area.....

Electrina

Brian Jackson`s mk2

Following last years excellent turnout of 13 cars I was hopeful that we might make 15 Fairthorpes at the event, but we had a couple withdraw the week before and two no shows on the day, due to a mechanical issue and persistent heavy rain on the South coast and no hood, the number on the day was nine cars plus a number of owners currently rebuilding their pride and joys. The only car present that was at last year's event in Essex and this year's event in Derby was mine! So we had eight `new cars` at the Gathering, this possibly being a by product of moving the event round the country each year to help owners in different areas attend........it would be nice to get them all together in one place though! From the nine cars only two had the same style of bonnet, showing how Fairthorpe had changed the look of the car as the years went by. Those present were treated as usual to a fine selection of my wife Sarah`s baking skills, the highlight of which was her infamous Fairythorpe cakes, which went so fast I didn`t even get one :-(

There was also a table selling F.S.C.C club regalia and various Fairthorpe spares to help those undergoing rebuilds. In the end the breakdown was three mk1 cars, which belonged to Richard Holden, David Kennedy and myself; four mk2 cars, owned by Terry Armson, Brian Jackson, Rob James and Adrian Mancha; and one mk 5 car, of which only a handful were made, this one belonging to Barry Stock.

Terry Armson`s mk2

Rob James`s mk2 and Richard Holden`s mk1

And finally to add a bit of spice my own Electrina, one of only two known complete survivors. Also present of interest was the nicely built Dare Ginetta G4 of Tony Thorpe. There was obviously plenty to talk about and everywhere you looked there were groups of people huddled under bonnets discussing their cars, Alan Green and Brian Townsend who are both part way through rebuilds were wandering amongst the Fairthorpes with a bracket from Brian's trying to identify the location of said bracket on the assembled cars (i`m told now that it holds the fuel pipe clear of the cylinder head on the 948cc engine). A welcome attendee was Chris Mole who has not one, but two Fairthorpes in bits, hopefully he was taking some inspiration from the event and will be commencing work in the near future, go on Chris you know you want to!

Adrian Mancha`s mk2 rebuild

The awards presentation took place at 2pm and we were privileged to have the F.S.C.C founder and president Barry Gibbs along to present them, Adrian Mancha`s car was built by Barry back in 1963. Furthest travelled to the event went to Barry Stock who had come all the way from Ammanford, South West Wales a total of 192 miles, many thanks Barry we were very impressed.

Barry Stock`s mk5

Special mention must also go to David Kennedy who had driven all the way from Morecombe, David came down directly on the motorway otherwise the result may have been different!

David Kennedy`s mk1

Those assembled voted for the Best Fairthorpe present and amongst all the nicely turned out cars Richard Holdens lovely green mk1 won the award, well done Richard.

Richard Holden`s mk1 winner of the Best Fairthorpe award

Many then took the opportunity to have a look round the excellent F1 collection in the museum only to emerge into torrential rain....those with hoods quickly put them up and others scrabbled for sheets or jumped in their cars and raced off, as the rain mostly stays off you once you are rolling. One by one the cars departed for the various parts of the country they had arrived from, many thanks to you all for the effort to bring your Fairthorpes to this the third Annual Gathering. Next years event is already in the planning and will be around the same time of the year, more details will be on the blog when date and venue are fixed.

Hope to see you there!