Some more cars!

I have received some more pics and words about some of the cars taking part:

First off, its the magenta purple 2000 mk1 of Bruce Jordan. Many are not a fan of this particular colour, however it suits a mk1 2000!

Bruce sent some words:

Welcome to "Elsie" (LLC574D - geddit?) my "Dulux purple" MKI - I know it should be magenta, but I reckon "Dulux purple" is a more apt description! This will be her (and my) first RBRR - so fingers crossed! Mind you as I live in Cadgwith, South West Cornwall (next village round from Lizard Point) she should be nicely warmed up by the 300 mile drive to the Plough..... I bought her sight unseen on the dreaded eBay in August last year - I just had a gut feeling that she was going to be OK, and so it proved as I've done 18,000 miles in her during the past 12 months. By that you'll have realised that she's very much my "daily driver". While there's been the odd minor irritation (yes I know, we're talking Triumphs here!) such as the pressing of the dip switch causing all the lights to go out - not an ideal scenario when you're blasting along the dual carriageway at the dead of night! - the only occasion that required recovery was when the front nearside wheel-bearing disintigrated without warning 350 miles after the same wheel track-rod end had been replaced for the MOT. Hmmm...... At this point I must say that I'm possibly the worst person to have a classic car as I'm fairly mechanically inept - I write computer programs for a living, my local garge mend cars for a living and as we don't impinge on each others area of expertise (or not -see wheel bearing saga earlier) it seems like a reasonable compromise! Anyway, a brief history of the girl..... She started life as a white automatic living in the Uxbridge area in Middlesex, and from what I can see from the history file I have, she seemed to spend more time in the garage than she did out of it. She was eventually sold and the new owner took the MKI lump out and replaced it with a TR5 PI engine, converting it to manual with an A-type O/D while he was at it. Oh, yes, and he stuck the PI badges on the side - presumably the Triumph equivalent of "go-faster" stripes. History has failed to recall what happend to the fluffy dice..... The next owner removed said PI engine, replacing it with a '73 MKII engine plus Strombergs, and replacing the front suspension with that from a MKII of non-recorded parentage. The modifications that I know about were completed by yet another owner who added the power-sterring from a MKII 2500. At some point during all this, she also had a respray in what I guess was supposed to be magenta, but which I prefer to call "Dulux purple". As you can imagine, sourcing spare parts can be a bit of challenge. So there you are - she's no looker and getting a bit tatty round the edges (like most of us!), but as I feed her, water her and say nice things to her we get along just fine! If all else fails I hit her with a hammer..... We're very much looking forward to ThE RBRR, although I'm not 100% sure my neighbour Tim, who somehow allowed my to cajole him into being my co-driver, has competely grasped the enormity of the challenge that awaits. In any case he's yet to drive Elsie!

Full marks to anyone thinking of entering from Cornwall, 300 miles to the start!!


Next up we have a pic of Mike Charlton's mk3 Spitfire that I think was taken at Cadwell Park last May on a MGoT/CT Track day. Looks good, eh. At present Mike is a 'Reservist', he seems very keen to take part, which is good!
Mike sent some words:

The Spitfire MK3 will hopefully be used on the RBRR. Succesfully completing the 10CR and being used regularly on Dutch Night Rallies,HCR and track days its always reliable. Uprated suspension, new engine, gearbox and diff have all been fitted to a solid body with new panels, from front to rear.Uprated electrics and electronic ignition gives superb running.A daily runner with soft and hard tops.

There is something about mk3 Spitfires!

Now we have a picture of RBRR regular Andy Roberts. Andy is a big light in the 2000/2500 register and there is not much that he does not know about the six cylinder Saloon range. He has entered his Del Lines Stag saloon and what a car this is! I attempted to keep up with on the M40 on the way home from Stoneleigh last year, I was in my 2.5 saloon, to say this was impossible is an understatement, bloomin' fast car this one!

Andy sent some words:

This will be my tenth RBRR (have done 84 86 88 90 96 98 02 04 and 08 runs). Our car is “Janey”, a so-called “Stag Saloon” built in 1975 by Ian “Del” Lines at Atlantic Garage, Weston-super-Mare. The basic concept was to put Stag running gear into a 2000 shell. He built 22 estates and 3 saloons; several estate cars survive, but Janey is the only surviving saloon. We took part in the 2008 run in Janey only 3 days after getting her back on the road after a complete rebuild. That wasn’t a good idea – I was extremely tired – do as I say, not as I do! Although we have owned Janey since 1986, she spent many years off the road awaiting restoration. We’re using her now though… 6000 miles last year! I’m really looking forward to the next run, especially since I shouldn’t have to burn the midnight oil to get her ready in time. The attached picture was taken after completing the 2008 event.

Lastly we have the Spitfire 1500 of Will Columbine. This car will be well known to anyone who reads his blog. Another superbly presented Spitfire and one that I am looking forward to seeing next October.

Will sent these words:

Here is a picture of my Spitfire 1500 at the beginning of the HCR '09. My car is a bit rough around the edges but it's had a lot of mechanical work done over the last 7 years of my ownership! I won't bore you with the details because it's all on my blog, but it's got all the usual go faster goodies. It's been my intention to do the RBRR since I joined the club and I used the HCR as a bit of a 'shakedown' run to see if the car (and my co-driver!) could handle the distance. We finished and, apart from a small oil leak, the car worked flawlessly so now we're up for a bigger challenge! There is a bit of work to do on the car before the event. The oil leak needs fixing, the boot floor needs welding back together and I'm going to fit a power socket so I can use GPS and give my co-driver a break!

That's pretty much it. See you next year!

Lastly here is James Cooper's GT6 mk3. As you can see he has a fair amount of work to do to get it done in time, however he is a aircraft engineer so I imagine it will be done. Good luck, James! I expect the car to be another of those fast ones, he has a 2.5Pi lump ready to go into the car and will be incorporating the usual GT6 mods, should be good. James has a nice mk1 GT6 should he run out of time.

Thanks all for sending the words and pics of your car. All this is making me get impatient for the RBRR, 10 months still to go!

I need more pictures and words, so send them in!

Jason has now sent out the Sponsor Forms, so please get going on gaining those pledges. I hope to have some 'MIND' collection tins soon, should you wish one, do let me know and I'll get one to you. They are effective at gatting money, for example I always have one on my desk and fine work colleagues should they need any help, surprisingly enough I do quite well using this method!

Next weekend, me and Nigel are off to Wales to recce some new parts of the route. I imagine we will be taking Nige's Subaru, so that'll be a fun day! We will be incorporating a new stop in the middle of nowhere, if we use the one we have in mind it will be at a location that is used for the Rally of GB when they go to Wales. More about this stop when known.

Many members of the CT Forum have come forward with locations where we could have new stops, these are presently being investigated. Should you know of anywhere at any of the following locations please let me know:

County Durham/Northumberland/Scottish Borders: I have received a good suggestion, but it would not hurt to have a back up location.

Dalkeith/Edinburgh/Dunfermline/Kinross: Ditto

Aviemore/Inverness: Ditto.

Lancaster: Ditto. Yep, I do hope that we do not have to go back to Lancaster MSA, I know the 'girls' were nice last time but maybe a bit 'lively' considering we had by this time been up for 30 hours! Northern lasses, eh!