GAC was at Gaydon in May 2008 to celebrate the Sprite's 50th birthday, wearing its Ashley hard top for the first time in public.

More than 800 Sprites and Midgets came from all over the world to join the party, and even my panoramic Hockneyesque 'joiner' above doesn't show them all. Click the picture for a high-res version (over 700k).

GAC is the 98th from the left!

Was looking forward to Colerne, as it was my second visit there and this would be the first event I'd done where I already knew which way the corners went. But it was a disaster.

GAC expired on the way there - just as we were passing Kemble airfield - then magically restarted as we sat waiting for the AA.

At Colerne we had torrential rain, and as competitors splashed around for a familiarisation lap, GAC expired once again. I assumed the water had got into the electrics. I managed one timed run, which took place in the worst of the weather. Half way down the main straight I couldn't see a thing through the windscreen so I wound down the window and stuck my head out to see where the next corner was!

After that, GAC decided not to restart despite much headscratching and repeated push-start efforts (thanks PG, and everyone else who helped). Turned out later that the problem was just a bad connection onto the alternator, which was preventing it from charging properly.

Curborough, 2007 (Picture courtesy MGCC)

GAC looks a little different: the front bumper has gone and it's wearing a works hardtop borrowed from Classic Cars of Kent (who are restoring my Ashley fastback). Also new is the thicker front anti-roll bar.

Struggled to learn the lines at Curborough. Every corner feeds into the next, so an early mistake is amplified as the lap goes on. Didn't help that my new anti-roll bar came adrift and had to be hastily bolted back on, so my four timed runs were done with more, then less, then more roll stiffness - which doesn't make it any easier to get a consistent lap time.

First visit to Colerne. Made steady improvements throughout the day, but this is a power circuit and GAC has an almost standard engine.

Our first competitive event. GAC and I were slow, but at least we didn't hit anything and were quicker with every run.

Results and pictures from Farnborough DMC.