Sunday 15 April dawned bright and warm and promised well for a dry day at Warwick Bean's pub, The Castle Inn in Outwood, just off the M25 at J6, near Gatwick Airport. This was in contrast to last year's weather, when it rained stair rods all day and Warwick's car filled with water while on display, despite being cling-filmed over all the door shut lines. Where does that water get in?

Warwick's welcome at The Castle was as warm as ever. He is recovering from hip surgery, and despite his car being ready after similar extensive surgery at Roy Smart's, he is not yet able to drive it and is reluctant for anyone else to be first! This year has seen major upgrades to Warwick's GTD - a new engine and exhaust system, new suspension and brakes being not the least. Warwick has promised to get the car out when he is able to climb in and out of it, so we can all admire his new chariot.

After phone calls from various people unable to turn out at the last minute, Desmond and Tony duly arrived in time to park outside the front of the pub. A little later, a surprise arrival was John Snook in his newly-stroked 427 Tornado all the way from Sutton Coldfield. John has recently finished the engine rebuild and saw the 150-odd mile trip to Outwood as an ideal check that all systems are functioning correctly. After keeping an eagle eye on water temperature and oil pressure, John was delighted to report that all is settling down well. This is exactly what the Spring Cough and Spit is designed for, to give the winter's work a thorough testing before the rigours of the Summer's activity.

Although their cars were not ready, John and Ann Christian and Tim Norris came along, as did Dr John, Dave Gibbins (who was driving past on his way to another event and saw the GT40s parked on the forecourt) and Glenn Mason and his wife, who arrived on their motor bike.

After an excellent lunch, we all piled back into our cars and headed for home. John Snook found out the hard way that a 427 engine uses more fuel than a 302, when he started spluttering on the M25. Fortunately, he and Desmond were able to get off the motorway, and Desmond popped home for the 5 gallon can of fuel that he happened to have kicking around in his garage. Who says Chairmen are useless?'

Words and pictures from Tony Hunt