RBRR-1966-2015,stories from the roadside..

[Jonny-Jimbo]

On my one and only RBRR in 2012, one of my crew members wasn't feeling too well from the outset, and the inability to sleep in a car didn't help them. Just as they were drifting off on the Friday night, they were awoken with a start, as whilst snoozing in the back, we rounded a traffic island somewhere on the A68. At this point the rear door flew open that they were resting against! Somehow, even with the door flung wide open, we didn't loose the crew member, or any kit either! We made sure the door was firmly shut from this point onwards!

Further on the event, driving up the coast of Scotland, and crossing the Dornoch Firth with the sunrise was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced.

Also, getting out of the car at John O'Groats and getting blown about by the wind was really quite a wake up call!

[mole42]

My first and only RBRR in 1990. Funny how much older I look now.

[thescrapman]

Quoted from mole42

My first and only RBRR in 1990. Funny how much older I look now.

I sense a request from the organising team coming your way asking why it took you 26 years to succumb to the lure of the RBRR again....

My first was 1990 (White 1300fwd) as well, took me 16 years before I was brave enough to try again!

[Davemate]

2012 --- forgot to take a coat :- never been so cold in my life 😒
2014 ---- dodgy shoulder :- spent the whole event holding my arm up over my head,the only way to relieve the pain 😟

[mole42]

Quoted from thescrapman

I sense a request from the organising team coming your way asking why it took you 26 years to succumb to the lure of the RBRR again....

It took me a few years before I could buy another Triumph! As you can see from the photo, UTB wasn't in the best of bodily health back then (although we did the whole event without needing to lift the bonnet) and probably expired not long after.

[cook1e]

Quoted from Hurricane 1500

Was Vin the only on to see the "brick"
I'm just saying 🙂

We also hit a couple of Bricks or rocks in bags through Wales that night near the Brecon Beacons that night, I suspect there was an element of sabotage going on??. Fortunately our encounters were with the underside of the GT6 and no real damage done.

[cook1e]

There was the Stag incident in 2010.

Mark Bland was driving My GT6 along the A9 about 30 miles south of Inverness in the pouring rain. Suddenly a bloody great Stag with Antlers appeared in the headlamps. Mark did well to avoid a collision with the beast but we ended up in a 360 spin off the road across the opposite carriageway, over a drainage gully filled with big stones acoss some grass backwards into a big grass mound.

The rear nearside wheel was at a very funny angle. I managed to limp the car onto the road and a couple of hundred years up to a layby. Doug and Katie Foreman had oulled over to help. I jacked up the rear corner and found the tie bar was bent lining the vertical link to the body. It was bent downwards so I put a trolley jack under it and straightened it out the best we could. I then drove the car onwards all the way to John O'Groats. Handling was a bit iffy to say the least and there was a loud knocking on right hand bends as the rotoflex fouled with the wishbone!

Once at John O'Groats and having re-fuelled with breakfast I had another look at the damage and tried to straighten the tie bar further which was still a bit bent, I should have left well alone as the bloody thing snapped. It was then game over and AA relay via  my Peter James Insurance breakdown cover to recover the car all the way back from John O-Groats to Hampshire, about the longest recovery possible on the British mainland. The AA even put us up in a Hotel overnight in Warrington to break the journey so no complaints over the service but disappointment not to finish the run.

Ended up getting an endeavor award at the Club Dinner though so not all bad.

[cook1e]

Then in 2012 it was also a bit of an experience. That year we used Mark Bland's 2000 saloon.

The first bit of challenge was that the dipped beam packed up on the Friday night. Fortunately the car had front fog lamps so we drove using main beam and fogs in place of dipped beam.  It was really hard driving on main beam and fogs along the pitch black A9 from Perth to Inverness but we made it.

When we got to Conon Bridge the next day we took some time to investigate and found some dodgy wiring on a relay which was fixed.

There was another issue though. Right from the start we had some vibration coming from the front end. In fact we took the car to a tyre place before leaving for the start to try and get the wheels balanced and tracking done but it didn't fix the issue so we just put up with it. However come Saturday night when driving through Wales and down to Lands end the vibration got considerably worse. In the daylight at lands End Mark investigated and found that the tie bar between the Macpherson strut and the sub frame had an issue. The subframe was corroded badly around the mount and the metal had split.

This looked like game over as the car needed welding. However one of the Lands End Marshall's, local member Derek Penn came to the rescue and agreed to weld the car up. We limped the car 30 miles up to Derek's place and he fabricated a repair panel and welded in place. We re-joined the run about 3 hours behind schedule. We phoned ahead and got the marshal's to keep Bude checkpoint open. However Badgers Holt was a bit of an Issue as there is no phone reception there. We got there a bit late and everyone had gone but took photos as evidence. The Marshal there was Nick Jones and Mark had his mobile number and luckily we managed to rendezvous with Nick a few miles further on the A30 to get our roadbook signed. With a bit of spirited driving we managed to get back on track for the other check points and finished the run.

Great relief to have finished the run and even better we were presented with the Spirit of the run award at the Club Dinner following our exploits

[mole42]

The only things I remember about the 1990 RBRR are:

Thinking that my 2000 was the tattiest Triumph at John O'Groats
Being told by my co-drivers to slow down during the run South from the North of Scotland
Seeing someone at Gordano Services having the head gasket changed at 4 in the morning
Going past the Jamaica Inn on the A30 near Launceston
Driving from Settle in Yorkshire to Cockfosters for the start, then driving back again afterwards.

My road book says we were running about 30 minutes ahead of schedule when we joined the M3 going into London. A signature from Ann Pollock says we finished.

Other notes:
Average speed: 47.6MPH
Fuel consumption: 27.5MPG / 73 gallons total (331 litres for younger viewers)
Oil: 4 pints
Water: Nil

The coil delivered 3.8million sparks, each plug fired 633,000 times.

[RobPearce]

Quoted from mole42

Being told by my co-drivers to slow down during the run South from the North of Scotland

In 1998, when I used "The Owl" (a 2500S saloon), we were approaching a dog-leg bridge in Scotland when one of my co-drivers said:
"That looks like the sort of bridge you need to slow down for"
Me: "Hmm? Maybe a tad."
Him: "It's tight and tricky"
Me: "Not that wide, certainly"
Him: "You could easily get it wrong"
Me: <turns wheel, swings car across bridge, continues on the way>
Him: "... unless you know the car really well"
Me: "Yes."

[Shed 1969]

2000- Bog standard 2000mk2 Auto- not wanting to loose momentum (as it takes a while to build up in a 2000 auto!) demonstrating  Triumph 2000 drive shaft spline lock  "rear end twitch" to "modern car co-driver" whilst taking roundabouts at said  "twitch speed" ..the response from "virgin co-driver"  being "Bloody hell how the swear did you do that"
Response from other co-drive ..."oh he always does that"

[shed66]

2006.. ... running in a convoy of two of my cars car , a |GT6 and a herald....the GT6 engine blew up pulling out of penzance...my daughter got out of the herald ...she was on L plates , asked for the money and the map and drove off...with her co drivers

[Jonny-Jimbo]

Now it's starting to sink in that I'm going to be doing this again, I've been thinking about our previous effort, and I think one of the major things I thought about was that neither of my two co-drivers slept well in the car, so when we got back to the Plough they were totally pooped. However, I was euphoric! I felt like I could jump back in the car and do the whole thing again! I'm sure I couldn't, but it damn well felt like it! There's a photo of me and my brother who was meant to drive home, but there was no way that he could have done. https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbc.....33ef&oe=56F69F66

After grabbing a bite to eat, a brew... and then a few more brews, we set off home. Pulling out of s petrol station and on the peak of a high, I gave her a boot-full... which promptly threw the differential mounts out, changing the gentle knocking that had developed at Badgers Holt into a full on 'thunk-thunk-thunk'.

[CRAJ]

My first RBBR in 2010 was with my Dad and my son Callum(just turned 11 at the time). We ate at the Plough before the start of the run and unfortunately by Edinburgh Callum had been sick. This continued throughout Scotland (no breakfast at JOG or pie at Morrisons) and by the time we got to Lancaster services the decision had to be taken as to whether we retired and turned left towards home on the M62. He had been through at least half a roll of bin bags by then and was unable to even keep water down.
He and Dad had a chat whilst I got the roadbook signed, when I returned he said he was feeling better and wanted to carry on.
By the M5 early Sunday morning he said to me 'Dad, when we get to Land's End, I'm going to have sausage, bacon, egg, beans.....@
I cut him short with 'Dry toast and a sip of water'. He did pig a bit at Pimperne and we finished the run. He will return (hopefully as a driver) in due course.

The funniest story I have heard was from Ann Weaver from when her and Mike used the 4x4 estate. A fanbelt failure in the early hours on the M5 resulted in Mike lying under the car struggling with the Alternator (Stag engine remember), Ann realising she was no help standing in the cold, decided to get back in the car nearly crushing Mike's head as the car bounced on the driver's side. You really have to hear Ann telling the story to appreciate this. Mike is OK though.

Colin

[TedTaylor]

Quoted from CRAJ

Mike is OK though.

Colin

Are you sure ........ 😀

MUT

[mikew]

Quoted from TedTaylor

Are you sure ........ 😀

MUT

Well I thought I was, until I was reminded of this !

[TedTaylor]

Quoted from mikew

Well I thought I was, until I was reminded of this !

I suppose I am pot calling the kettle black 🤔  Tried to trim by thumb nail a couple of weeks ago ......... using a circular/table saw .......  


MUT

[mole42]

The car I've entered this time is a Stag that was purchased at Broadfields Garage, Cockfosters in December 1972 - a nice Christmas present! It's a shame that we don't still start the RBRR from Broadfields, it'd be nice to take the car back there.

Looking at the Road Book for the 1990 event, the advert on the back cover is for Moordale Motors at 18 Barnet Road. They are still there.

[Shed 1969]

http://ctrbrr.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_85.html

[Wilfrid]

Great idea to provide this information and history, but there are quite a few errors as well as typos. For instance uin 1966 the 2000 was not provided by Broadfields - can't think where this idea came from - actually it was a Works car driven by test driver Fred Nicklin with Club Secretary Dennis Bullock. Also where did Charing Cross come from?! They are not called Route Books - they have always been Road Books.

[JohnD]

Gosh, how do any of these ignorami get an entry in the RBRR?   No one except those who entered it in new csrs should be allowed!!!!!
Nhoj

[Shed 1969]

Quoted from Wilfrid

Great idea to provide this information and history, but there are quite a few errors as well as typos. For instance uin 1966 the 2000 was not provided by Broadfields - can't think where this idea came from - actually it was a Works car driven by test driver Fred Nicklin with Club Secretary Dennis Bullock. Also where did Charing Cross come from?! They are not called Route Books - they have always been Road Books.

It came from here - The CT website [Sorry, link no longer available]

RBBR
HISTORY
66

[Wilfrid]

OK! But there is no mention of Broadfields providing the 2000 and we never went near Charing Cross and there were no marshals in 1966, we just checked in at  agents and hotels. It was a long time ago!

[Shed 1969]

"Although we had members with Triumph 1300’s none was willing or able to join the happy band, so we managed to persuade Broadfields Engineering, Standard-Triumph Distributors of Cockfosters, Herts., to lend us their demonstration 1300 for the week-end and we are very grateful to them and to Standard-Triumph for providing a Triumph 2000 at the last minute when our driver dropped out.  Thus we were able to field a team of six cars, one of each model produced by Triumph at the time."

"Traffic on Sunday afternoon was quite heavy and the run in to check with our marshall at Charing Cross was rather trying.  However, we foregathered at a prearranged spot near the finish and waited the arrival of the Spitfire which joined us in plenty of time for all six cars to drive triumphantly into Broadfields Garage in the same order as they had started."

The above appears under the 1966 history article on the main web site  [Sorry, link no longer available]
.....it was cut and pasted onto the blog  here http://ctrbrr.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

[RobPearce]

Re-read that first quote carefully, Shed. It says thanks to Broadfields for the 1300 "and to Standard-Triumph" (the factory) for the 2000. Clearly, Broadfields did not provide the 2000.