Today was a milestone for me and the restored Fairthorpe Zeta, it was the first Classic car show i have driven the car to, it has been to a few before on the trailer but now it is back on the road it felt great to drive it there even if it was only ten miles away. Over the last couple of days i have driven if for over two hours, having only put 15 minutes in before when i test drove it for the first time i am pleased that so far there appear to be no issues. I am looking forward to driving it down to the Oxford Bus Museum on June the 4th for this years Fairthorpe Gathering, why not pop along and take a look all are welcome, hopefully we will have around ten Fairthorpes attending.

The Zeta returns.

 

At 7.15pm on Friday 28th April 2023 Fairthorpe Zeta 777 PPD returned to the road for the first time in 34 years following a protracted restoration which started Eleven years ago. There were times when i thought i might not ever get it finished due to the large amount of frustration caused by numerous problems along the way but i finally got it completed and have to say it was well worth the effort! The video proof of that first drive is now up on Youtube for posterity and the only niggles left to iron out are a malfunctioning Rev counter and a `blinking` indicator issue, other than that it drives really nicely. The following two days were spent at the Donington Historic Festival to which the car was trailered as mileage was very limited on the Friday evening but the Zeta took part in the Sunday Car clubs `parade` round the race track. This ended up being two laps at varying speeds, we did get some gaps open up which allowed me to use the throttle to good effect. The car sounds REALLY great with a nice throaty growl but not too loud so it should satisfy the noise test at the planned track days this year, acceleration is also very quick with a lot of torque in a light car like this. I am looking forward to exploring the performance more in the coming months at Le Mans during the track session before the Le Mans Classic and at a couple of track days and Sprints planned for this year.  I will post more about those in the coming weeks so make sure and check back. Here is a link to the Youtube video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooaTghuEEM0