Area 00 - June 2026 News
Area 00 Assistant Rep Matthew Godfrey | Published on 6/5/2026
Dear Area 00
April saw many of the Area 00 Astons come out of hibernation, accompanied by various trips to dealerships, specialists and mechanics to get the cars in tip top shape for a summer packed with events.
As mentioned in last month’s update we opened our campaign with our disorganised tour to Greece via France, Switzerland and Italy, aptly named Olympia to Olympia. At the time of writing the group is still on tour so I will only briefly report my involvement in the escapade.
After being adamant that I would be sitting this trip out for various work and personal reasons, I caved in at the 11th hour (well maybe the 10th) to join the group as far as Italy. The decision was made after a couple of drinks at the RAC Club and looking back maybe not with the best clarity of thinking. I hadn’t driven my car since the New Year’s Day parade and there were a few jobs I needed to do before I could sensibly take it the few thousand miles on the trip, notably new plugs, supercharger drive belt, coolant flush and of course a bit of a polish. With my Le Shuttle ticket and half of my hotels booked, I realised that I was due to attend a conference for work which put my trip in jeopardy. After exploring different options, I concluded that making it back to the UK with the car would not be an option within the time and decided to split my trip in two, leave my car at an Italian airport and return to it for the trip home at a later date.
As it turned out this was the perfect solution to the problem, I managed to get a £15 flight back to the UK, satisfied my work duties and my car is still at the airport as I write this article (according to my air tag tracker) so my fun has not yet ended!
In the short time I was travelling I’d had an early morning dash from Central London to the shuttle turning up far too early, experienced a time and dimensional shift in a 90s disco in France, raced over a Swiss mountain pass to ensure I was in time to hurl myself off a dam and spent 4 glorious nights in Italy with great friends in their beautiful cars.
If the summer continues in the same vein, 2026 will be a vintage year.
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As those of you who expressed an interest in our Idle Rocks trip this weekend have hopefully been made aware of by email, we have made the decision to postpone the trip until a later date - to be decided.
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Our next RAC Club drinks will be this coming Thursday on 18th June.
Cheers
Matt