‘Silverstone here I come!’
Jerry’s boy chooses 899cc firepower
If you read the March 2020 issue you’ll have seen PC’S adventures at ‘The Pom’. For us too, the idea of a cold, damp, February Silverstone meeting is strangely appealing and the unofficial tradition of buying something cheap and ‘silly’ just for the event… even more so.
Our specification? Classic obviously, small, and as cheap as possible – really just something that wouldn’t self-destruct in a cloud of rust on the Wellington Straight during the high-speed trial. Ironically, my son Ed’s first car, his £200 Peugeot 106 1.1 with its superb handling, would have been ideal – but that’s long gone. Fortunately my car-dealer brother came up trumps with a 2000 Fiat Seicento. It’s a nippy town car with skinny tyres and soft suspension that will guarantee door handle scraping action, and might even give an advantage on a wet track – perfect!
Hmm, did I say nippy? I may have exaggerated here, it’s the 899cc version with 39bhp to drag its 720kg around. No matter, we are thrilled: for £400 we have snagged a mint car with a mere 61,000 miles. It’s maybe even too good for this. I had intended to lose a few items like rear wiper motor, radio and speakers to save a few kilos, but on this it would be sacrilege. ‘Race’ preparation therefore will be limited to brake pads, posh brake fluid to cope with braking tests and a thorough service to give it the best possible chance. Here we go...