[delta]

I first met up, with Mike at Silverstone Classic, many years ago. I can remember his first words to me " I love the way you miss spell everything on Tenths ".I looked back at him in a puzzled way.
These past few days I have been thinking of him non stop and have searched my brain hard to find out how on earth we became such good friends. We really were the odd couple but with one passion and that is Historic Motor Sport. Even then our lives and past could not be further apart but I have made many many good friends here on Tenths and my life has been much the better for getting to know fellow posters.
I think it must of been the very first race meeting at Portimao we went down in convoy ,Mike was in his old 7.5 ton truck then so I could keep up with him then.We camped down in Lagos on the beech,went on bike rides,nice dinners and had a lovely couple of days before heading to the track.After Portimao we seemed to meet up at most circuits and get out together on the bikes and go for pizza's.At this time neither of us had raced in the Spa 6 hour race so after a few discussions Gilbert was entered into Snetterton 3 hour as a shake down for us both.In the mean time Mike had a go in one of my Delta FF2000 at Mallory and loved it so much he bought a Delta from Nicholas Pearce. Snett did not go well with engine electric problems so after some moaning from me, Mike agreed to let us build the engine and gearbox ready for Spa.
We then had three very good runs in the 6 hour,the last time we finished P36 and did run as high as P25 in my middle long stint .Mike was chuffed that we got a mention in one of the Motor Sport mags and the Gilbern owners club were always contacting him for updates and reports.The best thing we both had was neither of us had any ego as to who was quickest we both wanted to finish the race.As it turned out there was nothing between us in lap times no matter the conditions be it rain or sunshine.He was just the best team mate.
While all this was going on I was building up the MK1 RS2000, Mikes knowledge and help was amazing and building this car would of taken me an awful lot longer. The plan was for us both to tackle the Nordschiefe in the RS but this dream will have to wait.
These past few years we had drifted apart as my racing and his took us to different circuits and his race support and transport team grew and he became very busy. Also driving the Morgan SLR and other cars that were offered to him to race. We did meet up at Paul Ricard at the end of the year " his 70th birthday "and I have this lasting memory of Mike flapping his arms and storming into the pit at the last race of 2019 in Portimao as the Co driver had come in a lap early to change driver and Mike was not ready.
He had started to mention pains in his side but like most of us old blokes we shrug it off and get on with life.Just before Christmas he told me it was cancer of the kidney and even then I thought "that's alright just have it out". My wife is running fine on one kidney and still smoking 30 fags a day.
Nothing seemed to happen very fast, there was one scan after another and then the cancer spread very quick into his stomach. At this time I and others had hoped for a miracle but knew things were not looking very good.
We talked and tx every other day and I managed to get up to Snetterton to see him a couple of times and he was always in good spirits but also in a lot of pain,We even talked about another Spa 6 hour run. Just recently while he was in Hospital and the Hospice I would send pictures every day of the birds and wild life on my bike ride to work. I would feel guilty as I knew how he would of loved to of been outside with this lovely weather we are having.
I have had a camera outside the blue tit box at work and I would send pictures over to Mike . Last week the chics finally flew out of the box but Mike had moved on and would never get to see them. Last Thursday as I was getting the Brabham ready for Brands testing on Friday and one of the chicks was inside the workshop chattering away making a right old racket. I looked up way into the roof and caught glimpse. This little thing went quiet then flew out of the door. Hmmmmm I wonder . RIP Mike the race track and paddock's will be empty without you.
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