Took the car out for a blat up to Mount Coot-Tha, about 30 minutes from home. It's amazing the attention the car gets. People speed up and pass us just to get a look. We've made a few friends already, and people we don't know actually smile and wave. Maybe it's the happy colour? Anyway, a pleasant drive up to the Kuta Cafe at the lookout at Mt Coot-Tha. Here's Helen sporting her driving glasses. These are must-have items as the car has no windscreen.

It must look odd to see this car in the parking lot with a disabled sticker, parked in the disabled spot. But Helen cannot walk far, so it comes in very handy. Here's the car in the car park of the lookout at Mount Coot-Tha. Driving down the mountain I noticed I didn't need to use the brakes. The engine braking is more than adequate (as I wasn't pushing it), and no corner seems to be a problem for this car. It goes around them all like it's on rails.

A hot, humid day in Brisbane, so I decided to take a blat up the hills to Mount Glorious to check out how the gearbox worked. I have to give a big thankyou to the bus driver and other drivers who warned me to take it easy as I approached the foot of the mountain. There were two motorcycle cops lurking halfway up, and another traffic cop further on with a radar gun. The cops have really cracked down on this road after a recent spate of (motorcycle related) deaths.

Another trip up through Mount Glorious and down to Northbrook Gorge. Then back up the twists and turns to the summit, for refreshments at the tea house at Maiala, and a chat with the bikers who gravitate up there. Here's a shot of my mate Mark with the car at Mt Glorious. The car seems to be setup for one person, as it bottoms out noisily with two. (both of us are over 90kg though!). Notice the new wind deflector. I decided this was needed after a three hour drive up to Kilcoy. It's much better now.

Here's the westie at Dayboro on the way back from a trip to Mount Mee. The car performed flawlessly, and is using a lot less fuel than I'd thought. The only problem is sunburn, and the wind buffeting at 100 km/h . John Bosci says he has a better design wind deflector, so maybe I'll try the new one. As for sunburn, the trick is to wear long-sleeved shirts, sunblock and a hat. At least my hat stayed on this time. This was a great trip and my confidence in this little car is growing.

John O'reilly and I drove up to Jolly's Lookout on Mount Nebo, for the ANZAC day dawn service. It was about 10 degrees up there, and I wore only two T-shirts. Driving through the forest in the pre-dawn gloom was an interesting experience. I can't use high beam as the blue indicator LED is blinding! So I motored up slowly using low beam. There was a large turnout of people for the service. Mostly families with kids, but young and old, and a few bikers. Here's a shot of John with the 'Orange Mongrel'. At least he had the sense to rug up.

I have never felt as cold as I did on the drive to Ipswich. Luckily I met up with other drivers who were prepared for the cold conditions, and was able to borrow a pair of gloves. We then set off in convoy to Leyburn for the annual sprints. The drive up through Gatton, Ma Ma Creek and Clifton was spectacular, if cold. Everyone else had windscreens, beannies, gloves and goggles. Here is a shot of the westie at Clifton where we stopped for coffee, and a stretch. It was about 7C there, so really warming up! While we were drinking our coffees, the Chev Camaro club drove through on their way to the show and shine at Leyburn. We soon caught up with them.

We took advantage of the Spring weather to have a picnic. The nieces enjoyed a blat around the block, and as always, people stop and stare. I still have a few problems to iron out though. I think the starter problem is due to a faulty earth connection to the starter, which is easily fixed. The brake master still leaks, so I'll have that overhauled and also sleeved to give greater feel to the brakes. I think the fuel line leak is fixed, but I'll be keeping an eye on it. It's still a heap of fun though.

A cool early spring day, with clear blue skies. Perfect weather for driving a clubbie. I took the inland road up to the Sunshine Coast North of Brisbane, under the shadow of the giants Beerwah and Tibrogargan. Past the pineapple farms and up to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. There were thousands of people lined up to pay their respects with flowers and signed shirts. The numbers are expected to keep growing. From there on to the beautiful Blackall Range and it's towns of Montville, Maleney and Mapleton. This is a shot of the Glasshouse Mountains from Mary Cairncross Park. An exhilarating drive, and the car performed beautifully.