A new home and an extended period of nice weather has resulted in rather more use for the Daytona!
You may notice a couple of differences about the the Daytona in the top of the page. No, I've not just fitted Borrani wire wheels and removed the wing mirrors! This is a picture that was taken in 1981 at an event at Goodwood for Modena Sports cars, a long-defunct Ferrari dealership in Surrey. Mark Shannon found the photo in his archives and sent me a copy.
The Borranis were fitted in the late Seventies since Dad preferred the look of the them at the time. I'm not a fan of them, partly since they're a pain to keep clean and partly because the Daytona's weight and torque put quite a strain on the spokes, sowhen the car came into my possession I had the Cromodoras refitted to the car. The wing mirrors are a more recent addition to aid vision when driving in Europe. It does seems odd that a part of the car we take for granted was an optional extra when new!
Fast-forward some thirty-two years and the Daytona was back at Goodwood again, this time for the Supercar Sunday Breakfast Club. All cars being displayed were required to be pre-registered for the event this year and the Daytona was also selected for the prime display on the grid. This, while quite a privilege, did however mean a rather early start as Goodwood wanted all cars on the grid by 8am at the latest. In the past this would have meant a ridiculously early start in order to get down from London, but a month or so before the Goodwood event my wife and I moved to a new house in leafy Surrey, and the new house comes with a garage which has meant that for the first time I can now keep the Daytona at home, making the journey to Goodwood considerably shorter.
For the most part the Daytona is running well after the winter layover and the replacement battery means it has become a less recalcitrant starter. However, on my return from Goodwood I parked the car outside the house to clean of some of the road grime that had built up, but when I went to start it up again the starter motor misbehaved. The motor was clearly working but it wasn't turning the engine over. I switched off the ignition and swore for a minute before having another go. This time the engine turned over and the car fired up as if nothing had happened. Hopefully this is just another little foible of a forty-year old Italian car (although the starter motor is a modern replacement), but it's something to keep an eye on.
Aside from an extra hour in bed for Supercar Sunday, keeping the car at home has meant it's much easier to use the Daytona on impromptu trips out. In the past, the 90 minute round trip to the Daytona's previous home meant every trip out needed a little planning. With the surprisingly fine weather over the last few weeks the Daytona has made trips out to see members of my extended family, a little trip to the local animal rescue centre and I even considered using it to make a run to the local recycling centre, although common sense prevailed over the humour of taking a classic Ferrari to a rather incongruous location. However, if you live in the Surrey area don't be surprised to see the Daytona in a supermarket car park sometime soon!
All this extra use has meant that it was time for Richard Tipper of Perfection Detailing to give the Daytona its annual once-over. It was also an opportunity for Richard to apply his new signature wax to the car and the results are stunning. The paintwork looks better than new, with a staggering deep shine. One rather first-world problem is that the finish is now so smooth that it's quite difficult to put the car cover back over the car at the end of the day without it slipping off!
There's also been time for a small modification, to help with life in the modern world. The cigarette lighter was a lovely period-looking item, but was sadly incompatible with the need to power a sat-nav to help find my way around on longer journeys, so it's been replaced with a more modern unit. As always, the original has been retained if it needs to be refitted in the future.
Finally for this update, I hope your first port of call for your motoring fix on the internet is Drive Cult, but when you've have finished perusing our stories and galleries, you might want to check out Petrolicious.com, especially if, like me, you have a preference for classic cars. The team from Petrolicious got in touch with me a few months ago to do a photoshoot with the the Daytona along with an accompanying interview with me. Hopefully we'll work with the again in the future. especially as they make some rather excellent classic car videos.
Last weekend I took the Daytona to the Ferrari Owners Club GB Concours at Walton Hall. I didn't enter the car in the competition, but it was good to catch up with a few friends. I'll update on how the Daytona got on with a 200-mile round trip on one of the hottest days of the year in my next post in a few weeks' time.
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