Kent to Raasay by AC428
Discussion
In advance of taking the AC to Italy, we thought we’d better give it a bit of a “development run”. I came up with the idea of heading up to Scotland for a couple of nights stay at the Raasay Distillery. Initially, mrs FlyVintage decided she would fly up and meet me at Glasgow, then having looked at the hotels she was missing out on, reevaluated the situation and decided to ride shotgun for the entire trip.
We’re not trying to break and distance per day records here; it’s just an enjoyable trip to determine improvements to be made to the car.
Day 1: Kent to Lumley Castle; somewhere we’ve enjoyed a few times before and it is more or less in the right place to give us a few miles under our belt.
An early start saw us round the M25 and through the dartford crossing without any traffic. A late breakfast stop and one more for fuel had us arriving at Lumley Castle by 1pm. Check-in was 3, but we thought we’d try reception anyway and found we’d received a complementary upgrade and could get in right away. That’ll do nicely sir
It’s a bit early to make any realistic calculations, but I couldn’t help myself so, 310 miles and about 5 hours driving saw us consume 15 gallons of premium. 20ish mpg I don’t think is too bad for 7 litres 2 up and full of luggage. I’ll average it out over a few days and get a better idea soon.
We’re not trying to break and distance per day records here; it’s just an enjoyable trip to determine improvements to be made to the car.
Day 1: Kent to Lumley Castle; somewhere we’ve enjoyed a few times before and it is more or less in the right place to give us a few miles under our belt.
An early start saw us round the M25 and through the dartford crossing without any traffic. A late breakfast stop and one more for fuel had us arriving at Lumley Castle by 1pm. Check-in was 3, but we thought we’d try reception anyway and found we’d received a complementary upgrade and could get in right away. That’ll do nicely sir
It’s a bit early to make any realistic calculations, but I couldn’t help myself so, 310 miles and about 5 hours driving saw us consume 15 gallons of premium. 20ish mpg I don’t think is too bad for 7 litres 2 up and full of luggage. I’ll average it out over a few days and get a better idea soon.
Lovely. I've always had a soft spot for the 428 ever since, as a youngster, hearing and then seeing a light blue one (new at the time), burbling through the Surrey countryside as we walked along the road whilst visiting relatives. Until then I'd only ever seen one in magazines or at the Motor Show. I didn't realise at that time that the factory was fairly close by.
Is that the white one that was at Historics fairly recently?
Is that the white one that was at Historics fairly recently?
Day 2: Lumley Castle to Loch Lomond. With the fluids checked and the dead things removed from the windscreen we set out after a late breakfast. It was only about 200 miles but we were a little unlucky with the M74 and got stuck behind a wide load convoy which cost us an hour extra. It was at least a great test for the new cooling system which performed admirably 
Once past that, we settled into a nice cruise and the miles were quickly dispatched.
Once past that, we settled into a nice cruise and the miles were quickly dispatched.
Huntsman said:
Will you walk Calum's Road while there?
Unfortunately we only have one full day on Raasay (tomorrow) and fancy walking Dun Caan as recommended above, so not this time. First though I have to steal myself away; this is in the room with explicit instructions to enjoy as much as you like and will be refreshed if you empty it!
Edited by FlyVintage on Tuesday 6th May 09:13
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff