GoPro is possibly the biggest name in action cameras and we’re pleased to announce the addition of another SKCC supplier who can offer these products, just in time for Christmas!

TartyBikes is an online mountain bike shop based near Preston in Lancashire, which has been running for 10 years. Adam the owner (forum username AdamR) has a keen interest in cars and himself has a Westfield, and having used GoPros for a number of years in a huge variety of ways (skiing, cycling, cars, under water, general out and about use) he knows them inside out and is more than happy to offer advice to SKCC members with no ‘hard sell’.

 As the original wearable camera brand, GoPro are consistently ahead of others in terms of technology and quality, but they now also offer an entry level model which is perfect for the hobby. When combined with the wide range of mounting systems available this makes them perfect in a multitude of situations – including kit cars!
ugg Josette

 Here’s one of Adam’s videos from a recent track day, footage taken from a GoPro camera with a home-made mounting system. He points out that the sound is recorded using an external microphone, rather than the in-built mic on the camera:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oi_5fsymUg

Head over to the members area for more info, or drop Adam a note to ask any specific questions. https://southernkitcars.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=8

Total Kit Car Live – Brands Hatch 15/11

Joe Public never ceases to amaze, and it seems even the Kit Car world is no exception. Rarely a week passes without seeing reference somewhere to ‘Meets + Shows’ – with many folks asking innocent questions about attending ‘Meets’, or wanting to go to a Car Show.

And then. Hey Presto Steve Hole from Total Kit Car puts on a show at Brands, an iconic place to visit anyway, and so easy to get to. Perfect. Tony B organised the SKCC visit, and what a cracking day, various run outs converged at a nearby Golf Course where we had a cheeky Full English – before convoying the final few miles to the Circuit. Upwards of 35 SKCC members parked up trackside, with additional numbers visiting in tin tops as the winter mod season has started already!

The next few hours passed rapidly, as usual so many folks to catch up with, either from within the Club or the Industry/Scene. Manufacturers had been able to buy track time, and so the backdrop to the Show was demonstrators taking out passengers for thrill rides…..i was going to write ‘quick laps’ but as the track was greasy there needed to be some tip toeing in places, but no matter, seeing a variety of Kits on the black stuff worked well.

On a personal note, a highlight for me was talking with the Zenos guys, it may have been their development mule out there, but looking at the construction and the overall program – i was mighty impressed, and if i’d been a good boy this year maybe Santa would have brought me one…..

So it was set at an iconic race circuit, there was track action, it was possible to have px laps, the forecast was looking ‘ok’, its just outside London – must have been busy right? Err no. Between SKCC and the Kent Kit Car Club we had about 60 cars, the Cobra boys brought a nice looking handful along and dotted elsewhere were a few ‘unaffiliated’ cars……Strange really. OK it wasn’t a Show in the sense of a Stoneleigh, but its a Show nonetheless, so where do all the guys that seemingly crave ‘Meets’ go to when these things pop up?

I read elsewhere a few comments afterwards…..’Popped along, track action was good, there weren’t many traders’, ‘ small’ish show really’, ‘Had a wander, didn’t really know anyone’. Guess what. These Shows and Meets are what YOU make them, footfall means that additional traders will come out of the woodwork for the next one, get involved, if you’re in a Club grab some pals and come on down, or tag on to a different Club and meet some new faces.

To those from wherever that turned up – well done guys, to Steve Hole for organising- kudos, to the manufacturers who came – fair play, it was good to see your cars doing ‘their thing’. Bottom line, next time someone mentions the words ‘Meet or Show’….remind them that there are ways & places to hook up with like minded petrolheads that doesn’t involve a pub car park once a month on a Sunday afternoon! Hopefully next time there’s an Event like this we’ll see a few more owners supporting it.

Well where to start – at the beginning?
Actually we’ll reach back a tad farther. SKCC does indeed have some more Northerly members, actually scratch that – PALS. It was about time that a few Southerners reciprocated, the likes of Paul/Linda/Chris have all been down this way before, so why not venture ‘up country’. A win/win, see old pals, meet folks who’ve we’ve only ‘seen’ on the forum or on dodgy videos – and take in some new roads….Puuuuurfeck.

Yep, til we worked out the timing. ‘Bloody Hell Rodney’ – that’s early…..yep, the first meet was timed to LEAVE Lakeside at 05.50, but we figured we’d better have a coffee and a McThingy, so we were a tad earlier than that. Hats off to Duncan for his super early start from Eastbourne – although i did put a black mark in the book for ‘use of shower cap’ – sorry DJ, shower caos are for the fairer sex in the bathroom….

Duncan showing off his new ‘Cap’

So Richard, Tony B, DJ and myself knocked off 40 motorway miles to meet the rest of the Southern/Mid Posse….now i’ll admit that the instructions about where to meet were a little vague -‘ just as you exit the village, find somewhere and pull up’….so we did, only to find 15 mins later that so had the others – just not quite ‘as you leave the village’ – more like a couple of miles down the road…..so we had a slightly belated ‘real’ start.

Now we’d had a couple of showers between Lakeside and that first met, but the skies although threatening started to gradually give way to clearer, brighter patches…and the roads in many places were pretty dry, which was handy, because according to my Sat Nav the whole days planning/timing was looking – well IFFY. A look at the Sat Nav told me we’d be there at 10-45, only an hour and a quarter after the allotted slot…..

A pair of Tigers at Rutland….Paul being on the 2 wheeled version!

Now here’s where weird gets weirder….we have a pretty clear run and on B Roads with NSL we were at that point constantly – and yet the minutes refused to tick down….to the point where i was going into corners doing mental maths ( as well aas steering)….’How the Frig can it still be an hour and a half when we only have 50 miles to do’ ….repated at regular 5 mile intervals. I’m going to use that as my excuse for missing a few turns, but you know what, missed turns, dodgy waypoints – they’re part and parcel of having a laugh…which is what we’re all about.

For a change i’m not going to wax lyrical about the roads – but stand on me Guvnor they were brilliant, someone had turned them up to 11 ! Nope, today i’ll talk about the scenery, the villages were simply stunning, as were a number of the views….i could quite happily spend a wee while exploring that neck of the woods ( don’ ask me which neck of the woods – i’m about to try and find those pretty villages on google in a mo )….anyway where was i?

The Road Runner may be out of action – but Wiley B Coyote was ready for a pursuit.

Ah yes, finally as we neared Rutland Water the ETA versus Miles finally corrected itself, telling us that we’d be there about – spot on, but meanwhile Tony needed go go juice, thing was that i suspect that no sports car owners will be welcome back at that Garage after they realise who left them bereft of Air Freshener – it comes to something when the smel of petrol is preferable to what was left in their once spotless toilets…..

One kind of poop merged with another – a blooming Triathlon, heading for…..Rutland Water, what’s the chances eh? Worsened by the School Boy error of doing an ITN to the wrong Cafe – the one we stopped at last year was sooooo much better. Anyhoooo. We rocked up in teh car park with the others and the handshakes and welcomes flowed, a prelude to proper Banter. The Baps held so much promise but were a let down – and they struggled to comprehend the difference between black and white, either that or someone was on a wind up with the milk in my coffee!

Gratuitous ‘En-Masse’ shot

Now at this stage we’d been fed and watered and the group moved en-masse back to the cars to ‘do’ Lindas route that she’d kindly stitched together….except actually we weren’t en-masse:Richard and Mango were missing, so with engines fired up we waited a while wondering where they were and whether they’d join us ( they had mentioned just having Brekkie with us)….guys, apologies, we did hang around for a while, but clearly not long enough!

If the earlier mornings efforts in terms of wrong turns was my fault, i can only say – it wasn’t me. Nope, Tony/John ( midzero ) and someone else – cant think who all made little faux-pas, which made the running order – interesting. It was a neat little 70 miler to a Marina that Linda had found – nice one L, but on getting there we found that Tony who’d got lost within the first 3 miles was there, along with Paul, Lawrence ….no idea how that happened.

Richard Rocked up Late and took the easiest parking spot

Banter Round 2.
No idea what the topics were. but the hour or so that we were there went in the blink of an eye….and suddenly reality set in – mm we’d better get cracking. The group peeled off at various times and Tony and I made our way together toward Cambridge and then down the M11 – a nice uneventful run back.

No idea how many miles, to be frank, wouldnt matter if it was 300 or 500…..because irrespective it was a fantastic day. Great company, superb roads, nice weather – and what i’d call – an Adventure, something different to the normal Sunday Runs. In that vein i’d suggest that if you can you have a look at doing Grahams Cheddar Gorge Run – another adventure looming!