EWU Gang's Gonna Steal Yo' Wives
That photo-stunt was months in the making after Stephen presented his "EWU" on a Facebook group. I jokingly replied with "WTF is even an EWU?" or something of that effect and got a serious explanation about how his kids named his car after its license plate.
Anyway, in July he contacted me for some advice regarding his plans of touring the Belgian Ardennes with one of his teenage kids. I was in Corsica and couldn't share the trip, but I was more than happy to help prepare a memorable road-book.
I based the general directions on a drive we had with a few friends on May 25th, which I actually did rehearse on the day before. The only significant change would be that it would basically be in reverse, with more high-speed roads and none of the questionable paths in the woods (they allowed for some shade on a very hot day as well as a very appreciated opportunity for some -hum- relief).
Their 3-day stay in Belgium went without a hitch until the final hop back to the North Sea : the clutch cable snapped in Namur.
Contrary to the Caterham 170 and its hydraulic clutch, the 160/165 have a cable-actuated clutch lever. Those are prone to failure. In this case quite an early fail in my opinion, as the car has only 3000 mi / 5000 km on the clock.
With House of Speed only carrying a spare one for a left-hand drive (165), there would be no quick and reliable fix. They were also about to close for two weeks (summer holidays).
Long story short, the car remained in storage for two weeks and was delivered to HoS to have a new clutch cable fitted.
We planned on meeting for a short blat, but a kamikaze raccoon decided otherwise. I offered to pick him up at the station and we drove to HoS, chatted for a bit, grabbed a hot beverage with the team, and took a souvenir photo for good measure.
Next time, let's re-use that road-book or go to the German Eifel instead.
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