BIRD STRIKE HALTS PROGRESS

In 2010, Turrino Wheels rebuilt the HWM's heavy American wire wheels with alloy rims and new spokes on the existing hubs. They were beautifully made, and saved a mass of unsprung weight over the steel rims. In 12 years they've withstood dozens of events and some 20,000 road miles on our unkempt and potholed surfaces and the Stovebolt's ride makes a Morgan feel like a feather bed.

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Then we found a couple of loose spokes in one wheel, and Turrino supremo Will Tomkins reckoned it wouldn't be a bad thing to respoke all four. A couple of weeks later they were back on the car, looking superb in the correct white with the outer rims polished. In my next blast up the motorway, then crossing the finish line at Shelsley Walsh at 94mph, they performed perfectly, with no vibration.

My season usually ends at Kop, the historic hill near Princes Risborough where an accident in 1925 spelt the end of speed events on the public roads of mainland Britain. But the excellently organised festival run there since 1999 is untimed. It attracts everything from a 1905 16-litre Isotta-Fiat to a McLaren Speedtail, and raises large sums for local charities.

I was on my way on the morning of 25 September when a large pigeon flashed across my field of vision, evidently on a suicide mission. It hit the Stovebolt square on the nose, and sundry feathers, bones and blood were blown into my face. It was just as well the bird hit the car and not me, because it would likely have stunned me and I might have had a big accident.

I couldn't see from the cockpit what happened to the unfortunate bird, and guessed it had landed in the road. I waited for the water temperature to rise, but the gauge stayed steady on 175°F. So I kept going until Kop - wrong call - and then surveyed the damage.