In the beginning

Buzz…...Buzz, the alarm on the phone vibrates with a pointless urgency. It’s 3am but I’ve been awake for over an hour already. I’m like an excited child on Christmas morning, full of anticipation, expectation of things to come. I free myself from the vice like grip of the duvet and roll out of bed.

Buzz....this time a text. "Are you awake?" my nephew asks from the sofa bed in the lounge.

Fifteen minutes later and we're creeping out of the house, softly closing the front door so as not to jolt the more sensible beings from their journeys through the land of nod. It's still pitch black as we ease ourselves into the hired van, click the doors shut and belt up for the journey. A flick of the key and the rental rips the early morning silence apart.

So, we're off.

Almost three months after our first visit to the Great British Sportscars factory in Nottingham, we're returning with an empty 3.5 tonne Luton van, to transport our complete GBS Zero kit to it's new home in deepest, darkest Dorset.

By the way, we're Bill and Graham, welcome to our blog.

<Graham                                        Bill>

The distance from my home in Bridport to the GBS factory is 251 miles. Not a huge distance but Google Maps said 4hrs 47mins and that, coupled with the fact that we were driving a Luton not a Porsche, was the reason we left so early. I took the first stint as it was all cross country, (Graham said he'd rather drive the van on the motorway) and we stopped about 2 hours in, when bladders were calling.

Now I should mention that neither of us were on top form that morning. Graham was suffering from a type of vertigo and I was recovering from an operation on my "man parts" from two days previous.

So, with Graham walking sideways and myself walking like John Wayne, we grabbed a coffee and hit the road again.

We rocked up at GBS at just after nine and didn't leave until mid-afternoon. As per our first visit to the factory in April, the team (Keith, Steve, Jake and Ruth) looked after us well, talking us through our kit and furnishing us with dozens of build "hints and tips".
 Before we knew it, nearly six hours had rolled by! Finally loaded up with a complete Zetec kit (minus a gearbox, seats and a few other bits) we set off on the return journey.
Hot (it was 34C that day), tired, but still buzzing....

After an uneventful return journey, we arrived home some five hours later with take away pizza. We made short work of the stonebaked delights, washed down with a well chilled cider, and then opened the garage door to begin a giant game of Tetris, with the help of my wife Ali and Mother-in-law Deb. An hour or so later the back of the truck was empty and my single garage was fit to burst.

Over the next weeks, months and maybe -but- hopefully not years, I plan to share my progress through the build in this blog, with occasional contributions from Graham.
Comments always welcome....

Bill.