Saturday & Sunday 4th & 5th October - Club Triumph reliability rally 2025

 Although I no longer own any Triumph cars, I had, last year, already booked up to do the Club Triumph RBRR with a good friend of mine, Richard Warr. Due to me no longer owning a Triumph, it was agreed to enter in Richard's Mk1 saloon. 
In recent months our other friend, Colin Wake had joined us due to his co-driver letting him down and dropping out.
As a ritual, we all normally meet for a carvery in Knebworth before the 6pm start time. Unfortunately, our usual haunt was closed due to refurbishment, so we had to find somewhere else to eat. Fortunately for me, that was in Baldock where I'd also had to drop off my lotus Cortina gearbox and differential at Herts & Beds Transmissions. 

After a good meal in the pub, we set off for the start at Knebworth House. It had been raining since I'd got up that morning and warnings of 'Storm Amy' doing her best to wreck the northern part of Britain were being broadcast regularly. 

After a few hours of coffee drinking and catching up with old friends, our start time was upon us and we headed out onto the wet and windy A1 to head north. 
The rain was still coming down heavily but we made good time and before long we were at the first control at Wetherby Services in Yorkshire. A quick Latte and a top up of fuel and we were on our way again. 
Around half midnight we were at the English/Scottish border. The wind was now very strong and none of us were looking forward to going even further north to see what storm Amy was up to in the highlands. 

Our next stop was Kinross services and the wind and rain was still battering us mercilessly. Another quick coffee here and I jumped into the driver seat and completed the long and boring restricted 60 mph  drive up the pitch black A9 towards Inverness. 
There was lots of evidence that Storm Amy had travelled this route before us as told by the amount of trees that were no longer vertical. 
We took on more fuel at the next control at Skiach services and then pressed on for breakfast at John O Groats. 

After a very slow breakfast, we were on our way again and now heading south. We stuck to the proposed route, but then encountered the A82 (The road that runs alongside Loch Ness) being closed between Invergarry and Spean Bridge due to power cables being brought down by the storm. We found a diversion that took us underneath Loch Ness and brought us out at Spean Bridge and down towards Fort William. This diversion had lost us time, so we decided to head over Glencoe to grab some time back. This would have been ok if Glencoe was open, but that was closed as well. So, we had no other choice but to drive down towards Oban and then cut back across towards Glasgow. (Which is a long way round!)

By the time we got to the next control we were two hours behind and most of the other cars had left. There was also no food and coffee left, so we got going as soon as possible and hoped that we could make some time up. 
I took the driver's seat and did some 'spirited' driving and got us down to Tebay services (The next control) in under two hours. We were in for more disappointment here as the services were closing at 10.30pm and could only do us a cup of tea and a pie! Not impressed!
Richard and Colin shared the next stint of driving down to Wales while I caught up on some sleep in the back seat. 

Gledrid services was the next stop and they were also closed except for fuel. No toilets, or shop! We were suffering from lack of caffeine at this point, so we headed straight for the next stop at Monmouth Services. Fortunately, this was open and we were able to get some coffee inside us at last. 
I took the next stint down the pitch black M5 towards Exeter and then the A30 towards the next control at Oakhampton in Devon. 

We reached the control and found that it wasn't yet open, so we had done really well in catching up our lost time. With our roadbook signed and returned we set out for Lands End and I grabbed some more sleep in the back seat. 
Breakfast at Lands End was a nice un-rushed affair and provided us with a decent break away from the car. The next few stops would all be taking us in a homeward direction and after the torrential rain and gale force winds we had suffered all weekend, it wasn't a bad thing. 

By the time we were pulling into the next control at Bude castle, the rain had finally, finally stopped. A welcome cup of coffee was on the agenda and then we were off again to Gurston Down hill start which was the next control. 
The queue for coffee here was a tad excessive, so we brewed our own with Richards cooker. All too soon it was time to hit the road again and my turn to be in the driver seat. 
Popham airfield was our next and penultimate control and it was only 37 miles away, so only took just over an hour. We skipped coffee at this control as the satnav was predicting an arrival at Knebworth at 19.15, but we still had the M3 & M25 to battle with yet. 
Richard took the driver seat for the last leg so that he would be driving when we arrived at Knebworth. (It's an unwritten rule that if it's your car, then you leave the start in it and drive into the finish in it)

After a little bit of traffic we arrived at the finish at the predicted satnav time of 19.15. Richard and I were staying in a hotel, but Colin was going straight home, so we said our goodbyes and then Richard and I headed for the Premier Inn in Stevenage. 

Despite the awful conditions, (Hence the lack of photos!) we still managed to have a good weekend. The car never missed a beat and performed really well. Even the windscreen wipers coped with everything storm Amy threw at it. 

All in all, it really was a good weekend, but it would be really nice to have a dry one. I've been doing this event since 2010 and the only dry one we've had was in 2016! 

Saturday 27th September - Differential removal.

 Following on from removing the gearbox and propshaft the night before, I now had to remove the differential. 
This has to start with removing the drive shafts first which didn't take long, although upon removing the driver side one, the keeper plate fell out as it was in two pieces. (See below)

My first thoughts were that it had broken, but on closer inspection it appears to have been cut. I've no idea why someone would have done that, especially seeing as the passenger side one was intact. Very odd! 

Anyway, I carried on removing the diff as I need to take this and the gearbox to my transmission man in a few weeks. 
After removing the diff I counted the teeth on the crown wheel and pinion and found that the ratio was 3:9. The diff ratio in these cars should be 4:9, but that will be too 'screamy' for my purposes, so I'll probably have mine built to 3:54. 
The diff appears to be in good condition and the oil that I drained from it was a nice rich green colour. The oil that I removed from the gearbox was a very clean gold colour too, so hopefully they wont require too much work. 

Friday 26th September - Gearbox removal!

 In an attempt to get at more of the underneath of the car so I can clean and paint it, I decided to remove the gearbox. The gearbox will have to be inspected and checked over at some point anyway, so it made sense to take it out. 

It was all fairly straightforward with the only real awkward bit being the remote gear selector. This gearbox is the same that was fitted into the Lotus Elan so the gear stick would have come out in a different place in that car. 
I also removed the propshaft and centre bearing whilst I was at it and then called it a day. 

Tuesday 23rd September - Front axle removal

 My mission today was to remove the front axle along with the track control arms and anti-roll bar. This wasn't too bad a job although every single rubber bush was knackered and will need replacing. It wasn't really surprising as all of these bushes are 60 years old now and rubber perishes easily at that age. 

With the bushes removed I then turned my attention to the front axle and gave it a good scrubbing. It was painted in red oxide rather than black, so I wonder if it was replaced at some point in it's past. 

Friday 19th September - Top plates

 Another job that needs doing on the Lotus Cortina is the top plates. A previous owner, instead of doing them properly had just fitted protective plates over the top. 
I'd originally thought that they were riveted on, but closer inspection revealed that they were bolted on with Alan key bolts. 
after a bit of struggle, I managed to undo all of the bolts and remove the plates. The top plates underneath were not in great shape and look like they've already been replaced in the past previously. 
Another job out of the way, but I just need to find someone who can weld in the replacements now. 

Tuesday 16th September - Degreasing and cleaning

Restoring cars always has its horrible jobs and I started on one of these recently. With the car on its side, I made a start on cleaning up the underneath. This wont be a five minute job and I will be breaking off occasionally to do other jobs so things don't get too monotonous. 
I found a really good degreaser and gave the floor a good coating before attacking it with a hard brush to see what dirt and grease would come off and what wouldn't. 
I was very pleased with the results as a good cleaning showed that the floor pans were all original and no replacing or welding would be required. Some of the cross members are a bit battered and dented no doubt due to its rallying history, but nothing too severe. 

It was interesting to find that these cars were never rust proofed or protected when they were built and had to get by with just normal paint. With this in mind, I'm surprised so many of them have survived! 

Sunday 7th September - A new toy to make life easy!

After my recent exploits underneath the Cortina and getting covered in crap, I had decided to look into 'car tilters' or 'rotisseries'. The bottom side of the car is actually in very good order and still retains its original floor pans. 
However, it also has a lot of flakey paint and grease which will need a good wire brushing and de-greasing. I really don't fancy laying underneath the car and doing this job, so I decided to look for something to make life easier. 
Two days after making this decision, I found a rotisserie on ebay. Even better, it was already set up for a Mk1 Cortina. I contacted the seller and we came to an agreeable price and I collected it on my way home. 

So today, I had a bit of free time and decided to set it up. The  seller had made some printouts for me, so it was easy enough to follow and put together. It's absolutely ideal and my initial fears about space were unfounded. 

This really will make life easy and speed things up somewhat. Spinning the car on its side will allow me to get at all of the floor and also remove the front suspension and clean and re-bush that too. I was very lucky to find this marvellous piece of equipment and the beauty of it is, I can always sell it once I've finished with it. 😊