November 2nd. 24th Nachtrit-Holland

At last! The time had finally come for my twice yearly jaunt across the channel to take part in the 24th Nachtrit in Holland. My partner in crime for this trip was RBRR co driver Dave Maton.

Dave arrived at my place at the ungodly hour of 6.30 and by 7.10 we were on our way. After a trouble and traffic free run we stopped at Tesco's Dover for fuel and breakfast and then booked in with DFDS. It was at this point that I got a strange case of dejavue and as I found out our 10.15 ferry to Calais had been cancelled just as it had been when we came out for the Chinese rally in March! Hmmm.......two bookings made, two bookings not honoured. Not impressed!  After mentioning their 100% failure record to them, they moved us onto the 12.00 sailing to Dunkerkque free of charge, so at least we'd be 30 minutes further up the motorway when we did arrive in France.

The sky had been getting darker and darker across the channel and the drive through Belgium took on a leisurely pace due to the constant torrential rain. After tackling Brussels in the rush hour we headed towards Liege and then Maastrict before reaching our location in Slenaken at around 7pm. We checked into the hotel Berg En Dal which we found manned by two 'mature' gentleman that weren't exactly of a friendly nature. If you can imagine Fawlty Towers run by Hinge and Bracket you are just about there!

After checking into our 1970's styled rooms, (I dont think they were intentionally designed that way-they were just that old!) we had a wander round the town to try and find something to do. When this proved fruitless, we headed for a bigger town five miles away. When we found this town also closed due to a beer festival the following day, we admitted defeat and headed back to 'Hotel land fill' for an early night.

The following morning we were greeted by yet more rain and also got a good telling off by Hinge for sitting at the wrong table at breakfast! (We hadn't noticed they were numbered!)

On our way out of the hotel I asked Hinge what time the hotel was locked as we would be back late that night. He told me that his front door was locked at ten, but I could come in his back doors at anytime!

We took a drive out to get some petrol before the nights rally and managed make an interesting morning of it. Dave wanted me to pose by the sign below, I can't think why though.

We did find an Aldi and bought some supplies for lunch and encountered some strange names which provided us with a giggle, although the locals must have wondered who these two madmen were in their midst.

On the drive back to Fawlty Towers we spotted this place......

....and although there appeared to be plenty to eten and drinken, I couldn't find any slapens anywhere! Most disappointing!

Once we arrived back we planned a military style operation to sneak the food and drink we'd bought up to our rooms without being spotted by Hinge, which went very well until we encountered Bracket on the second floor doing the hoovering. Busted!

An afternoon of watching the rain from the window and McCleods Daughters on TV (it was the only thing on in English!) and stuffing ourselves with bread, cheese, ham and coke was the highlight of  the day and I made a mental note to write a guide on 'Things to do in Slenaken' the next time I pulled up at a red traffic light.

After about three years, it was time to head to the 'Best Western Hotel' for the start and meet up with the other crews doing the rally.

I don't know how, but somehow we were car no.1, and so were the first to leave. It was Dave's first time at navigating tulip diagrams and I have to say he was very good. After driving some brilliant roads and some err....not so brilliant ones we arrived at the halfway stage where we shared a table and some lovely spaghetti bolognese with Colin and Michelle. The restaurant (guarded by a WW2 Sherman tank) had a real old fashioned and friendly feel to it. (The place we were staying at could have learned a thing or two, that's for sure!)

(A very dirty Gertie at the halfway stage)

We started the second stage and after agreeing to follow Colin and Michelle who were having some fuel issues, we did about another 30 miles, before we lost all pressure on the clutch. Investigation indicated that it was a problem in the master cylinder and other than obtain a replacement, or a seal kit, there was nothing we could do. We had no choice but to retire from the event and set the Satnav back to the Best Western where everyone would be finishing and see if we could get some help.

We managed to continue driving the car by car by starting it in gear and jolting forward until the engine caught and changing gear at the right revs. This was to be the pattern for the 40 miles back to the hotel.

Back at the Best Western, nobody had the parts to be able to help us, so we retired back to our hotel deflated. Surprisingly, Hinge was still up even though it was well gone midnight, (he must have a had a tiff with Bracket) so we asked if we could settle up and check out. We'd already decided that we were going to try and drive home with no clutch and that it would be best to do it in the dead of night with no traffic on the roads.

This turned out to be a good call and we made good time arriving at Calais at around 4.30am Sunday morning. After pesuading DFDS to bring our booking forward 14 hours, we were able to catch the next available ferry at 6am (Although they did charge us 20 euros ammendment fee. I wonder what they would have said if I'd tried to charge them that for changing my booking at the start!)





(A Battle scarred and clutch-less car at Calais)

We embarked at Dover relieved that we had at least got back on British soil, so if we couldn't continue now, it wasn't such a drama to get home.

However, the gods hadn't quite finished challenging us as the no.1 fuse now decided to blow and continue blowing as well leaving us with no brake lights, indicators, heater, washers and more importantly...wipers! Needless to say torrential rain followed which made the journey back to Essex all the more entertaining!

Still being early morning the traffic was light and we made my home address with no further dramas. On opening the front door I found an envelope containing a clutch master cylinder seal kit that I had ordered before I left, but obviously just missed reaching me before I departed. Bloody typical!

Despite having no sleep and having been awake for over 25 hours Dave and I decided to get it fitted and bled up so at least Gertie was mobile again. While Dave stripped and rebuilt the master cylinder, I took a look at the electrics and traced the problem to a fault on the windscreen wiper circuit. It's possibly the switch, but further investigation is required. I had to break off from this as Dave had finished his bit and it was time to bleed the clutch. It was reluctant at first, but in the end it relented and we now have a nice firm pedal that selects every gear at the first time of asking.

Despite all of the above Dave and I had a great time and our ability to laugh at almost every situation saw us both through.

Hopefully, the next one in March will be a bit less dramatic!



   



October 28th- South Coast Rally

A very cold early Sunday morning saw me picking up long term partner in crime Dave Saunders and then head South to take part in this years South Coast Rally. After a trouble free run (apart from the A21 being closed and a diversion through Tonbridge) we arrived as the first car at the start location.

The temperature inside the car was only mildly warmer than outside, (note to oneself-remember to remove the 'summer' thermostat before the winter arrives!) but Doug Foreman's hot tea and sausage sandwiches soon warmed us up.

With the instructions issued we started to plot our route. Dave and I always struggle with this bit, so it took a while to calculate our intended path. We set off hopefully and it all appeared to be coming together.

We drove some good roads, didn't kill any pheasants this time, or even bend the the front wing up by disappearing down a pothole like we did last year.

A sign that did make us laugh was a home made one on a narrow lane that read 'Caution! Hole in road. The council are looking into it!'

With our route completed we returned to the start/finish location and handed in our sheet. We felt that we'd done quite well, but joy turned to despair when we found that we'd missed four code boards! Bugger! Never mind, we shall continue to persevere.

The next event with Gertie will be next weekend for the 24th Nachtrit (Night run) in Holland. This is a great rally that takes us through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. I really enjoyed this rally last year but did it in a weekend which was quite exhausting, so this year Dave Maton and I are travelling out on the Friday morning to do it at a more leisurely pace. 

October 21st. New driveshafts!

With today's weather so appallingly wet I decided not to go anywhere and to have another dry day in the garage instead. One of the biggish jobs on my list was to finally fit the new driveshafts I bought from Mike Papworth some weeks ago.

These driveshafts have a slightly different spline set up to the norm, but also have grease nipples fitted on so you no longer have to remove a driveshaft to grease up a spline. Laziness being one of my key features, this will suit me down to the ground.

The new shafts also come with new UJ's and just need the hubs fitting to them to make them complete. While I had the driveshafts off of the car I took the opportunity to remove the coilover shock absorbers that I fitted for the RBRR and refitted the standard ones. The coilovers are great when you have lots of weight in the boot and a three man crew, but make the car quite skittish when travelling light.

 

With the new shafts fitted and the car back together, I turned my attention to a couple of other issues that have come to light very recently. One is the starter motor. last year I had an issue with it failing to engage on numerous occasions. I had it reconditioned by a company in Grays and it has been fine until now. However, it's now doing exactly the same as it was before. It doesn't click or anything, it just doesn't seem to make contact and wont even try and crank the engine. I shall be taking it back to the same company tomorrow and be asking them to look at it again. This is a pain in the ass removing this as it wont drop out of the bottom of the car because of the 6-3-1 manifold and wont come out  through the top until you remove the throttle linkage, air filter box, K&N air filter, air horns and strut brace!

The second one is a clutch issue. Every now and then, and more so when you hold your foot on the clutch for a while, it seems to lose pressure. Pumping the pedal restores the pressure, but it does seem to be happening more and more frequently. The slave cylinder is reasonably new, so my money's on the master cylinder. Best get this sorted before the Nachtrit in Holland in a fortnight methinks!

 

October 20th- Give us a flash!

Monday 15th, I decided to take Gertie for a run out to the CT North London meet to stretch her legs again after the recent RBRR. After taking the slip road for the M25 I realised that all was not well and I appeared to have no indicators. Jumping out of the car and looking round revealed that the indicators were actually working, but just not on the dashboard repeater lights. So, I carried on regardless knowing I could get some advice on the problem at the meet.

After seeking advice from Colin Scrapman it turns out that the dashboard repeater lights are on the same circuit as the side repeater lights on the door pillars, which turned out wasn't working either! After further investigations and numerous calls to Colin later that week, we decided that the problem must lie with the flasher unit. I did have some spare flasher units, but all of mine were two pin whereas the one I needed was a three pin. So, a new one was ordered on Ebay and fitted when it arrived on Saturday morning.

With this fitted everything worked again and I can tell now whether I'm indicating or not! (it's an MOT fail as well having no warning indicators on the dashboard!)

So the three pin flasher unit must provide a live to the door pillar and dashboard repeaters. I'll have to remember this for future reference.

 

While I was in the garage, I decided to get another job off of my list. I had been avoiding this job for some time, but as someone said to me once: the 'thought' of doing something is sometimes worse than actually doing it. (Very true) So, with this ringing in my head I knuckled down and got on with it.

The job in question was changing the front springs on my estate. I had been told by the guy I bought it from that he had fitted 2.5S springs to give it a softer ride. Just lately I had found them too soft and the car leaned too much when taking corners. (Or maybe I have just got too used to Gertie's fast road springs and taking corners too fast!)

So I removed the front springs and set them down next to the PI springs that Colin had kindly loaned me to try. To my disappointment, they looked the same height and thickness. Perhaps the previous owner had got it wrong and they weren't S springs after all?

I fitted the springs Colin had loaned me anyway and a test drive later will reveal if the car handles any different or not. If it doesn't I shall have to look at some other options.

While having the callipers off I noticed that the discs and pads have worn unevenly. I was surprised at this as there is no feeling of braking deficiency's when driving the car, so maybe they have just always been like it. Further investigations to follow. Maybe it's time for a Stag Disc and calliper upgrade?

 

 



13th October-Post RBRR repairs.

After our little wiring issue on the way to the Plough for the RBRR, I decided to investigate a tad further. After removing both of the dashboard clocks I was able to get to the part of the loom that had got hot and melted.

After the laborious task of removing the loom tape  and separating the offending wire from the pack, I was able to see that the damage was contained to a two inch long strip and had not burnt through or melted any other wires.

This section of wire was cut out and replaced with new making sure that all connections were good and tight. I then decided to investigate the fuse box as really, the fuse should have blown before this wire had a chance to melt. Removal of the fuse showed it to be a severely scorched, but not blown 35 amp fuse! I have never seen a fuse that was so badly burnt, but not blown.

Then I remembered Doug and I had an wiring issue when we did the Chinese rally in Holland in March and had been putting in fuses every 50 miles or  so just to get home. In the end we had run out of the correct fuses and were having to put anything in. Obviously this was still in there from then. That will teach me to forget to replace the fuse for the correct one at the time!

 



Oct 5th -7th. The RBRR is finally here!

For the previous few months, most of my spare time (Not to mention money!) had been spent getting not one, but two cars ready for this event. The first choice was always Gertie, but the estate was readied too because of uncertainties with Gertie's rebuilt engine.

So, Thursday afternoon Gertie was loaded up with spares, tools, supplies and goodies ready for Friday's departure. Theo (Beans) had arrived from The Netherlands (Not Holland. I got told off for that. It's a different region apparently!) in the afternoon. So after a few cups of tea and a chat we took a run down to Enfield in the estate to meet up with Davemate and Mike and Ann Weaver for a few pre-RBRR drinks. It was a good night and a good laugh was had by all. It was also a welcome release from all of the pressure and nerves that a run such as this brings in the lead up to the start date.

   Friday lunchtime Theo and I set off For the Plough in Enfield via Dave's house for a spot of dinner. On route to the pub I went over one of the speed humps in Bullsmore Lane a bit quicker than I intended to and all of sudden we encountered a burning smell and smoke coming out from the dashboard and the car started misfiring!

After the initial panic, we realised that it had stopped as quick as it started and everything electrical was still working. We booked in at the Plough and then returned to the car to investigate. The estate was sitting at home on standby, so if the worst came to the worst we would have made a quick dash home to swap cars. Investigations revealed that one of the wires had dropped off the back of one of the gauges and had touched the metal causing it to earth out. The main loom had got hot and melted slightly but the wire was still intact. So a decision was made to tape it up and carry on. (And hope for the best!)

Before we knew it the time had flown and the drivers meeting was on us and it was time to get ready to depart on this mechanical, physical, mental challenge!

Dave was the man in the hot seat for the first stint so he was 'flagged' out of the pub and we were on the way. The rain was once again was our companion all the way to the first control point at Blyth just as was in 2010. It's nice to see that some things never change.

A quick sign in and fuel up at Blyth and we were on the way with me driving. Just after leaving the services we all heard a metal vibrating noise and quickly pulled over to see what was up. All it was was that one of the headlight stoneguards had come loose. The retaining screw had workeded itself loose and wouldn't go back in, so the headlight guard was removed for the time being.
 I had already told Dave that I wanted to drive the A68 road,  (The pitch black roller coaster road!) so it was my turn in the seat next. This is a great drive and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wonder what it's like in the daylight?
  Carter Bar was the next control where Theo presented McJim with a bottle of Lambrini. I think McJim was quite pleased judging by his reaction. I think he was less impressed in 31 bottles time though!
Edinburgh airport was the next control and again we just got the book signed and moved on, before the car park got too crowded with various different Triumphs!

By the time we got to Skiach we were running quite early along with a few others and hung around for a bit waiting for the control to open. Petrol was obtained, coffee drank and sausage and tomato flavoured crisps snacked on. Life was good!

John O Groats was the next stop and a well deserved breakfast was devoured. Oil, water, etc was checked on the car but not found to be needing anything. Although she was starting to look a tad dirty by now.

The stunning drive across the top of Scotland towards Bettyhill went without a hitch (Apart from Gertie annihilating a crow just like she did on the 2006 RBRR!)  but just before turning onto the B871 we were met by a high pitch screaming noise that sounded like radio interference! Turning the radio down and even off showed that it wasn't and it turned out to be the propshaft rubbing on the exhaust. We found a lay-by and luckily some Pikey's had discarded a huge mound of tarmac that they no longer required. So, we drove up one side of it and got the car at an angle so that we could get underneath. A quick modification with a tyre lever persuaded the exhaust to go back to where it came from and it was all systems go again.

Dave then took over for the drive down to Conon Bridge where a lunch of Burger, Sausage and Bacon rolls were waiting. We even managed to scrounge a longer screw so that we were able to put the headlight stone guard back on.
After leaving Conon Bridge we took the beautiful route down past Loch Ness, Glencoe & Fort William. There's some absolutely stunning views on this stretch and it's my favourite part of the route.
Further control points at Stirling, Tebay, (Where I had a lovely hot shower) and Gledrid followed and then we were off to the eerily silent Sugar Loaf in deepest darkest Wales. The drive down to Gordano followed which I did while being accompanied by some strange grunting and rasping noises from the rear seat area. These were from Dave though, nothing to do with the car. I'm not sure which end of him they were coming from either!
A brief stop at Gordano and Okehampton followed and then we were down to Lands End to watch a beautiful sunrise and a hearty breakfast.

(Picture by Theo)

With breakfast dealt with we headed north to the Bude control and were visited by two of my customers that were holidaying in Cornwall. They witnessed most of crews coming in and were mightily impressed that even though most of them had had no sleep, were still full of enthusiasm and joviality. So much so that they have offered a generous donation to the cause. Brilliant!

We continued on and completed further stops at Badgers Holt, where Dave collected an engine part from Nick Jones while we were there. On leaving Badgers Holt we went through a large puddle which set off my high pitched frequency noise that we'd heard in Scotland. Once again the propshaft seemed to be connecting with the exhaust. However, by the time we'd found somewhere to pull over, it had stopped and was all fine again! We concluded that the water hitting the exhaust must cool it down and contract (or expand?) it in some way and move the positioning of it. Then when it heats up again it moves it back away from the propshaft. Very strange! I'll add it to my 'jobs to do list' as I don't want the car to sound like I'm tuning into to a long wave radio station every time it goes through a puddle! The propshaft and exhaust are obviously very close together!

Sixpenny Handly was the next control point and very nice it was too. A very friendly team supplied us with tea and biscuits to keep us going for the next few hours.

Dave then took the penultimate drive from there up to the TR Register offices where more tea and coffee was on offer and I did the final stint from Didcot to the Plough.

The route from Dicot to the Plough was the dreaded M40 & M25 route and although the M40 was heavy we managed to miss the road closure that apparently followed. The M25 was surprisingly clear for a Sunday evening and we managed to to report to control at the exact time of it opening.

We had a fantastic time and I think a 3 man crew is definitely the way to go. Although Theo wasn't taking part in the driving he was an excellent navigator and probably had less sleep than Dave and I.

Having that third man just gives the option of being able to climb in the back and get away from it all for a while. Dave also did very well on his first RBRR and I think his experience as an LGV night driver helped. (Although he needs to remember to bring a coat next time!)

Gertie once again performed very well apart from her scare at the beginning, and all she really needs it the exhaust moved, the melted wiring repaired and a bloody good wash!  

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and full credit must go to the organisers, Marshall's and anyone else involved in this event. Also thanks to the other entrants who make it such a laugh and a pleasure to be with. Will we be at the 2014 event???? Too bloody right we will! See you there?



September 29th. More final preparations!

I decided to do a few more jobs on Gertie today. To be honest a couple of them probably didn't need doing, but I did them anyway for peace of mind.

The two jobs in particular were the brake pads and front wheel bearings. The pads had plenty of wear left on them, but was it 2000 miles worth? Possibly, but why take a chance? I'd much rather do them at my own pace and in a dry and well equipped garage, than in the rain in a pitch black lay-by with the scissor jack sinking into the ground!

For the wheel bearings I just removed the hubs, re-packed them with grease and adjusted them back up. They were new bearings for the 10CR anyway, so they should be fine.

Other jobs to be done were to adjust the tappets again. I did this last weekend, but one had become quite noisy during the week. It was number three tappet that was out. I don't know why, possily a worn lobe, but I have plans to change the camshaft over Christmas anyway as I'm not happy with it.

I also did an oil and filter change, fitted new windscreen wipers and finally got round to fitting my headlight stone guards. (I'd forgotten I'd bought them actually and found them while looking for something else!) 

So that's it really. Gertie's ready to reacquaint herself with the RBRR. An event she last did a few years back (2006 I think?) with Colin (Scrapman) and Mike Bishop. Roll on Friday the 5th! :)