Many Thanks

[32valves]

Thanks, thanks, thanks ! What a weekend ! The welcome from everyone at the stops and along the way was just incredible. It surprised me just how much it lifted our spirits being cheered on by people who had made an effort to get somewhere and stand in the cold/rain/dark/middle of nowhere (delete as applicable) just to see us on our way. Marvellous.

I remember when we were heading down the M5 towards Lands End, it was dark and peeing down (for a change), and Pat was fast asleep. I gradually became aware that we were being 'buzzed' by a BMW coupe. The driver was trying to attract my attention just to give us a huge thumbs up. I don't know what he was saying but he was clearly pretty pleased to see us. Thanks mate, much appreciated.

Finally got to try the cakes at Pimperne ('I want cake, brown cake' in my best Waynetta slob voice). Mmmmmm !

I must also thank my co-driver Pat Barber. He was great company for the weekend and he treated my car with respect at all times (ie it only got a real caning when I was behind the wheel). He is also a bit of a whizz with TomTom itinerary planning which came in handy. Have a safe trip home to Motor city mate !

[mowerman]

As a first time (and definately not the last !!!) entrant for the RBRR can I just add a huge THANK YOU to all involved in the planning and prep of a truly fantastic event. Commiserations to those who didn`t finish, you must be gutted.......................... for all those who offered help and advice it was gratefully received, altho` due to lack of sleep it probably didn`t seem like at athe time. Even the lack of sleep (20 mins in 48 hours!!!) didn`t bother me that much.


Highs and lows.........

Lows:
the rain in Wales (how do people who live there put up with it?)
filling up with crappy Tesco petrol and having to adjust the timing (last time I use them for fuel)
main beam failing just outside Edinburgh and driving on dip for the rest of the event (eyes on stalks after driving thru` Wales in the dark and the rain)
seeing big frogs jumping across the road in front of me whilst driving (sleep deprivation!!!) ( I hope)


Highs:
everything else..................................cakes, roads, not breaking the car and finishing  :)

Steve.


  

[Tim Bancroft]

John,

Totally agree, do not worry I will be passing on everyone's thanks to the Southern Group.

[andy herald v8]

just got home and would like to thank all involved in the event it was our first time and the there was a warm welcome at all the stops. the cakes at Pimperne were the best I have ever had!

[ferny]

AlanChatterton wrote:

Just to prove I do get it dirty, look at the state of my wheels and exhaust!!!!!!!! Needs some polish I think!!

Where's the dirt on the wheels?!?!?! See, you have no idea waht dirt is!

This is a dirty wheel. All from the weekend.



I need to get the Cillet Bang out again.

[andyc]

There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said, but I feel I must add my own thanks to those of everyone else. Great event, my second and definitely not my last. Next time in my Stag I hope (unless I can convince Alex to do it in a Mayflower with me, and if I can talk the wife into letting me buy one).

I made a lot of new friends on this run most of whom finished so well done, for those who didn't commiserations and better luck on the next one.

Thanks to those who helped us out with our little hiccups particularly Nigel Hill who got stuck in under the bonnet in the rain and Roger who showed Alex how a MII Saloon should be driven.

Good points, about 47 hours 50 minutes of everything.

Bad points, 10 minutes taking down insurance details of an Aussie holidaymaker who thinks its easier to stop using a stationary car than wearing out his brakes.

Andy

[Mrs Rarebits]

Can I add my thanks to everyone involved in the run. After just going to have a look at the event last time at Pimperne, Bill and I had to be a part of it this time. My thanks especially to the marshalls, watching us all go at the end of a control must make you want to join us and it's a real boost to see a familiar face when you're not really sure what time it is (Land's End? - it must be Sunday then!).

I'm still buzzing from the event, I just know I'm going to bore everyone at work to death about it! My highlights so far - I actually got to John o'Groats for the first time in my life, saw my first oil rig and there was snow on Ben Nevis! I was especially impressed that the marshalls at Edinburgh were local Lifeboat crew, taking time out of their Saturday morning (or Friday night; anyway the time when normal people are sleeping) to help us really showed me how much our fundraising was appreciated.

I think that the staff at Land's End should be made to go to the Seaview Hotel to be shown what customer service is - all the waitresses in John o'Groats were so smiley and genuinely pleased to see us, it was just what you needed on a rainy morning in Scotland.

Thanks again to Tim, Jason and everyone else involved in organising this mad ridiculous event that I want to do again next time.

Of course thanks to Bill G too; for letting us drive his little Dolomite and having faith that we wouldn't break it.

[Nick B.]

Yes - thanks to everybody for letting me in on this mad and wonderfull event. I have never ever had so much fun in a Triumph before. I wish to thank Steve A. for letting me use his absolutely marvellous 2000 mk1 - I have had the best driving experience of my lige in this car, both the nightdrive sunday morning where we were 5 saloons in a very fast moving convoy. Oh - and in Scotland when I tried harder than hard to outrun a TR5 (and did :-) ). That was great. I was pleasantly surprised by the handling of the big saloon. Considering trading the GT6 in for one. These cars are seiously underrated..

Sad to hear the Atlas didn't make it.  Better luck next time.  

I am starting to save some money for next RBRR.  

Cheers
Nick

[GreenV8Machine]

Have both. Youre worth it.

[shedmonkey]

what actually went wrong with the Atlas?

[shedmonkey]

really enjoyed this years run,amazed the car made it - didnt run too bad in the end- Thanks to all and to Ben "Homer" Hobson for puting up with me again!

[GT6DavidMK1]

Nick_B. wrote:

- I have had the best driving experience of my lige in this car, both the nightdrive sunday morning where we were 5 saloons in a very fast moving convoy.

Hi Nick,

Glad you enjoyed the night drive through Wales :), excellent road for the big saloons ;) plus we had the customary U-turn for a convoy!!!!

David.

[tiggrr1]

I Would Just like to add my thanks too!

(clap)(clap)(clap)Especially to The organisers and marshalls.(clap)(clap)(clap)

A big thankyou to the guys that stopped when we burnt out the ballast resistor not long after the start of the A68, (sorry I didn't get your names)
A HUGE thankyou to Tim Hunt the coil we scrounged from you at Edinburgh, it enabled us to run smoothly to the end.

To the beautiful ladies who bake beatiful cakes XXX

As a first time runner in the RBRR I can now see what all the fuss is about ...........................It's the most fun you can have with your shorts on ;)

Last but not least the other half of team shorts made it a great weekend. (dance)(dance)(dance)Cheers Rob(dance)(dance)

[bodders1]

JohnD wrote:

PS  Can we send special thanks to the Pimperne committee, who should be drafted down to Lands End to expedite the service there?
Tea like Mother made it, sponge cakes as light as an angel, fruitcake as rich as Croesus.  Gorgeous!
Best stop of all, by a very long way, meaning no disrespect or lack of appreciation of the others.
J.

Ditto that!

As others have said, huge thanks to all the organisers for this fantastic event.  Also, HUGE thanks and gratitude to the volunteers at the control stops.  It really does give a huge lift to meet a friendly face in the p!55ing rain at each stop.  I now can put a face to names like Raider and Royboy.

And finally, I am deeply indebted to Cookie for letting me give his lovely GT6 a good caning :-)  The run down from Thurso to Conan Bridge will stay in my memory for a long time as, I'm sure, it will remembered by James and Hutch as well.

[spitty71]

Thanks to all the RBRR Organiser's - Tim, Nigel, Jason etc all our sponsors and all the people at the stops! Like many others my favourite was the tea and cakes at Pimperne. Craving one of those now didn't have enough!

Our car (white TR6) went faultlessly as a newbie to the RBRR I found it really hard though both drivers being struck down with the dreaded lurgy before it began and my co driver (dad) unwell throughout the RBRR it was really hard without sleep and doing most of the driving.

High points include: blatting along with the herald conv and Nigel's French Blue 2000 on the A1, seeing the NE group waving us on wherever that was it was a shame we couldn't stop off but thanks for the waves. Blatting along the A68 with the TR5 and mk1 2000 behind me.

Being harassed by Tim's grey car on the way to JOG.  ;D all in all a great weekend that's not had time to sink in yet. It's one of the hardest things i've done mainly due to our health but made it all the more rewarding to actually finish!

Thanks Steve

[GT6boy]

Steve- that blast along the A68 with you and the TR5 was awesome! Those hidden dips were entertaining :X. I was so excited when we stopped for petrol with you and your dad- I was really buzzing, running from car to car to chat with people like a big kid!!!!!! :B thanks for stopping and waiting for us to leave so we could continue the fun :).

[Alex]

Steve now I know who you are!!
We were chatting at breakfast at JOG.
Glad you had fun even though you had very little sleep well done,hope your Dads feeling better now!
Alex

[thescrapman]

Nick_B. wrote:

That was great. I was pleasantly surprised by the handling of the big saloon. Considering trading the GT6 in for one. These cars are seiously underrated..

MikeyB and I found out exactly the same thing on the last RBRR when we conned a mate out of a shagged out Mk1 2000 to do it in. Preserving momentum was the name of the game.

So we both went out a bought PI's soon after, and they could be seen in convoy at regular intervals last weekend. His was lowered and stiffened, and fitted with an ARB, mine was bog standard, and drives like a ocean going liner, and dragged it's arse all the way round. Both went round corners just as well. mine was just a bit more "involving"

Cheers

Colin

[Alex]

I've done 2 in a 1500 spit and now one in a 2000 saloon.
The spit corners like its on rails and has plenty of torque for overtaking.
I agree with colin that you have to preserve momentum in a 2000 but they handle so sweet!
I think I prefer my 2000 for the RBRR amazingly good cars...underpowered but still so good!

[willows40]

david don`t forget the police car in your convoy before your u turn

[cook1e]

Difficult to say what hasn’t bee said already but thanks yet again to Tim, Jason, Nigel, all the Marshalls, the cake bakers at Pimperne, The pie bakers and soup boilers at Morrisson’s Garage etc etc …..

Thanks also to my co-driver Bodders for driving my GT6 as it should be driven, spirited driving but without breaking it!

High’s

* Finishing the RBRR for a 2nd time
* Pimperene, the warm welcome with the locals clapping the teams in on arrival and the absolutely fantastic cakes
*Pies, Soup and sausage rolls at Morrisons
*Getting to Lands end 2 hours early to allow some sleep time
* Meeting some of the nutters from the forum to put a name to the face
* Bodders trying to out run James on the run down to Conan Bridge and finding out just how ‘kin fast those big saloons are…
*Following the Dove on the A68.

Lows

* The heater packing up in the highlands, never been freezing cold in a GT6 before.
* Hearing that  the Atlast had thrown in the towel
* Hearing about some of the accidents, but relieved to know no one got hurt
*  Working out how much we spent on fuel over the weekend

Roll on RBRR 2010, (although my missus is already trying to put me off doing it again!)

[Greeks]

As a non-runner can I add some thanks in to the thread for Keith's brilliant work on the message diary. It's the next best thing to being there... and reading all the little write-ups both there and here brings back all the experiences on the 04 RBRR that I did.

... although whoever said they got caught up with by Bancroft? What were you in - a wheelbarrow  ;D

[Jason]

ajp wrote:

what actually went wrong with the Atlas?

Collapsed wheel bearing - we knew we had an issue and nursed it, inspected it and generally looked after it BUT what we were hearing was not the only problem so whilst we were generally watching the o/s the n/s was grinding itself to pieces and failed - totally.

We'd endured a few electrical gremlins - the dim headlight Dave fixed, the front flasher baffled us all and eventually fixed itself! We also lost a core plug in big style, Dave was aware that the engine was an unknown quantity, looked good and should have been OK but the heater matrix was rotten so he thought that maybe core plugs may me suspect. We therefore took a set and the tools to fit them - lucky for us it was one we could get to and that episode was sorted. She used a little water, had a little piston slap but none of that was going to stop us.

The bearing ended the dream, we didn't so much throw in the towel as were KO'd  :'(

[willows40]

talking of keeping momentum up you should do it in an 2000 auto a lot of the time i was the one holding everbody else up going up hills but trying to stop it when coming down was even more fun.

[shedmonkey]

Jason wrote:

Collapsed wheel bearing - we knew we had an issue and nursed it, inspected it and generally looked after it BUT what we were hearing was not the only problem so whilst we were generally watching the o/s the n/s was grinding itself to pieces and failed - totally.

We'd endured a few electrical gremlins - the dim headlight Dave fixed, the front flasher baffled us all and eventually fixed itself! We also lost a core plug in big style, Dave was aware that the engine was an unknown quantity, looked good and should have been OK but the heater matrix was rotten so he thought that maybe core plugs may me suspect. We therefore took a set and the tools to fit them - lucky for us it was one we could get to and that episode was sorted. She used a little water, had a little piston slap but none of that was going to stop us.

The bearing ended the dream, we didn't so much throw in the towel as were KO'd  :'(

well only one thing for it- get it round in 2010, if Dave dosnt want to drive it I will!