Jason

Thanks,

It's not my work yet but I'll get my stamp on it.

Engine hasn't run for many years, it needs work and as soon as I can get the time  I'll be getting running 😁 I think I now have all the bits to get the fuel system back together  - just gotta figure it out!

More pics when I get the urge.

The object is to provide something different to the 10CR so I like the idea of a night drive. The prospect of heading for interesting venues or touristy landmarks is a good one - I'm a fan of the 1970 World cup Rally, so I'd like to visit some of the controls used, if possible.

I've done all the 10CRs since the very first "unofficial" one and it's a great concept. You can see that by the way it took a little over 3 hours to sell 80 places, it get faster and faster to sell out every time. 

So I got to thinking, could we do something in addition to the 10CR, a separate event, separate route but also on continental Europe? I wouldn't want to take anything away from the 10CR so I'm thinking we could make it very different  - maybe even back incorporate a night drive and maybe keep it bare bones without a dinner and accomodations arranged.  

As you can probably tell, I haven't fully thought this through yet although it's clear to me that such an event cannot take anythng away from the 10CR but must add a different dimension to be viable. It may be that the club can't support another event like this but its not beyond our capabilities to organise something as a 'private'  venture in the spirit of the club. It's important to me not to take anything away and only to add to our choices of events.

Thoughts, concerns, ideas - all welcome 😁

Worked great on iPhone (apart form fat finger trouble but that was down to me!)

If you get a confirmation email saying "Payment received" from Club Triumph then you're good. There's a glitch with displaying the entry list at the moment, doesn't seem to work some folk (me included) but the successful entries are there.

What I'd really like to see is a sort of menu of offsets that we can make available to members - so if members want to pay a fiver, plant a tree, buy a cooking stove, research wave power, or something else then we as club can enable that in tbe easiest way.

Ambitious maybe but I do like an aiming point (even if I don't always hit the mark).

All good ideas, thank you. It's clear that one size does not fit all and we are going to need a basket of measures to appeal to all, so keep the ideas and calculations coming!

Thanks Chris, a wide remit there so much to do! 

Personally, I like the idea of tree planting, even though it's been a bit mis-managed around the world (planting sapling and not managing them, effectively leaving them to die).

There's never going to be one way to 'fix' a problem that has so many causes but if we can come up with enough different ways, perhaps we can have an impact.

On 03/11/2021 at 18:53, ferny said:

Would something like this be of interest? 

https://stumpupfortrees.org/

You can watch more about the family here; 

https://www.my5.tv/show/ben-fogle-new-lives-in-the-wild/season-15/episode-2

 

Yes, that's the sort of thing I had in mind - you can see it working, visit it, even participate. It's not just paying money to some faceless organisation that apparently does something in a far away land that we'd never be able to actually validate.

I'm not really a fan of just paying your way out of carbon emissions to some faceless organisation so I'm looking for ideas that show a tangible, easy to understand way of offsetting our carbon foot print when we run a RBRR. Whilst all ideas are useful, consider these things:

• It's got to be understandable and relevant to the British public 
• It cannot raise the entry fee - we need to keep that down to avoid raising the financial turnover of the Club and creeping into VAT registration - so something that crews can buy direct would be preferred
• It needs to be visible so we can put details on the cars - I am keen that the general public can see that we are taking carbon offsetting into account when they see RBRR cars on the roads
• Physical projects in the UK we can see, point to and even visit would be preferable - e.g. woodland planting on the Dundreggan estate in Scotland

I'm no expert in this but I thought I'd enlist your thoughts to see what's out there and feed that into the debate.

I use the term "offsetting" but I'm not sure it's entirely the right term, what I want to be able to do is show that we have made amends for the emissions we've created - as well as raised money for Charity (whilst enjoying our cars in the meantime) - if indeed all that's possible!

On 05/10/2021 at 22:15, RobPearce said:

Slightly drifting from the message diary / being more online...  It did occur to me that in this day and age a QR code for the event's JustGiving page could be included on the stickers. Members of the public who ask about the event and want to donate could then scan the sticker. It would work even better if the cars each had a unique QR for that team's JG page but it would be a huge headache to organise that.

A good idea we will try and incorporate next time.

Has anyone tried a hydraulic switch? My Vitesse has an aftermarket pedal box with dual circuit brakes but the brake switch is very vulnerable to getting kicked I think - a hydraulic switch could be an answer - just wondering how reliable they are and where to site it (my hydraulics are all Aeroquip flexible lines) 

You pays yer money, you takes yer choice, buy cheap buy twice <insert apt phrase here>

The only way we will get better quality is if we pay for it, if we just suck up the crappy stuff and say nothing then the vendors will keep selling crap and ordering the same replacement crap thinking "well, it's crap but it sells". As so often is the case, we end up here, there is dwindling or no choice, it's the crap or nothing.

What's a pair of drop links worth? I paid £45 for some 'modern' Saab ones recently so £52 doesn't seem to bad. If only we could get to the manufacturers and get them to make stuff that fits, works and lasts - support Roger 🙂 

On 17/10/2021 at 19:24, Batch said:

Tim

You could consider fitting a laminated and heated one, they solve the problem with the poor heater and demister.

Also don't forget to renew the windscreen rubber having seen your photos from RBBR with your Heath-Robinson drainage channels!

Who's the supplier for heated ones? I do wonder if I could get one for the Vitesse, although there's no heater in it yet, I know it'll be poor when I do put one in!

On 13/10/2021 at 10:21, Don Cook said:

Well, I had to book the ferry crossing or lose it (£400!) so I'm going out on the Harwich - Hoek Van Holland (overnight)  Sunday 4th Sept and returning on Sunday 11 Sept (overnight). I am making an assumption that the start is somewhere in Europe, stopping at a town the evening before the 'off'. With a party, somewhere, on Saturday 10 Sept. Just an assumption, hope I'm right.

~It wouldn't be the first time you've just winged it mate!

12 hours ago, thescrapman said:

It was in the RBRR roadbooks???

LOL - I never read the non-route bits!

I think ours is still in the car, will have to find the soft copy.

Beans, where were the dates announced? I seem to have missed them. Also, any clues as to where we are going? It would be great top get an idea before the scramble for places. I'm intending on getting the Vitesse on the road for this - there. I've said it 🙂

OK so it sounds like I need some original seat runners then 😁

Anyone got any close to Reading, Berks?

Hard nylon or Teflon aerquip will be safe but remember, it is not compressible - no matter what clamp you put on it! So you need the correct and expensive fitings 🤔

Everything on my Vitesse was Teflon aeroquip when I got it, except the tank to pump low pressure pipe (it's PI), and that's rotted out!

J

Blimey, it's hard not to be misquoted or taken out of context isn't it!

When I said I wanted people to earn their stripes I was trying to say that people should not expect or demand to be accepted into an established group, no matter how inclusive that group is. It's not a question of being in awe of the group - there are lots of groups of friends on the RBRR - none of them expect any sort of deference.

If I did want that, I wouldn't be helping 200+ people get their Triumphs round Britain very couple of years - i do it because I love the sight of a full field of Triumphs at the  start, finish and everywhere in between.

Newbies are welcome, always.

In my early years of ownership, I was in another club and found myself on the outside trying to get in at a local area meeting, I was not successful, I felt very much under suspicion, not welcome and shunned. I didn't go back and subsequently found Club Triumph where I never experienced even a hint of that.

This is a club where contributors are welcome, constructive criticism is welcome. Wingers, users and those on the make may not be tolerated for long  - but if you personalywant those sort of people around you, form a new clique and I'll send them your way 😁

This is all good debate and opinion, thank you. The issue about the Club and/or the RBRR displaying "cliquiness" makes me smile, we are a clique and everyone in the club is in that clique, the RBRR is a clique within a clique. All that cliquing makes me think about UJs!

It's true that as a newbie it's daunting BUT you've gotta make yourself known, get involved and to a certain degree, become the clique - when I run on the RBRR I do it with friends but I don't mind if anyone else tags along, they are just friends I don't know yet 🙂 

I'm never going to prevent newbies running with us - we can all learn new stuff from new people but to a certain degree, they need to 'earn' their stripes. For instance, I will help anyone I can, for my mates I will stop and get stuck in as I know their issues will have not been through lack of prep (if they are, I will take the mickey). If it's a newbie with a schoolboy error, I might not make myself late but I'll definatley help, offer advice, spares, etc.

If I were a newbie, and I have been, I wouldn't expect anything less - it's why I ended up helping organise these things as I wanted to be of value and I didn't want things like the RBRR to fail. 

So I don't really accept the negative overtones of the word "clique" because anyone can get in, they just have to be decent like minded people. OK, so there are always going to be the ego maniacs who just want to control what you do or who try and make some sort of benefit (kudos, reputation, money) out of being in the club - they will always be on the fringes. I don't like them and they probably already know that - so they can stay on the outside. Anyone else, welcome in! If you're a newbie reading this I do hope you realise you're most welcome. The friendship groups in CT are string and some of the trust and the bonds have been forged over many years and many thousands of miles, get involved now and you too might last the same thousands of miles 🙂 

Alright John, calm down, it's in hand but not very this minute 🙄

Some of us are repairing what broke last weekend or preparing for the next one, or just putting Triumph stuff to one side and reacquainting ourselves with our families.

There's 2 years until the next one, this is the time for a bit of armchair research, data gathering, discussion and stock taking. We're building agendas at the moment.

For this thread I'm interested in all RBRRs not just this one. We will have stats in due course, once all the data has been collated and when Nigel comes back from his therapy (sorry, holiday).

16 minutes ago, Horace said:

Well, I've done 3 before (2014, 2016 and 2018).  2018 we retired at Tebay.

I agree the best yet.  From the drivers' meeting to the start to the end - excellent. The route was spot on and the final leg was the best I've done.  You're tired at that point and just want to finish - not sit in traffic jams or have to negotiate a complicated route back.  

All controls pretty well chosen.  Gartcosh served its purpose but was a bit depressing (more Clansman out of Still Game than the Phoenix Club I thought!).  I think generally it's good to have services as a stop (eg Kinross much better than Knockhill in my opinion).  It means you can grab a coffee, maybe sit down and combine with a fuel stop.  On that basis why not the M9 services rather than Gartcosh?   I know we are not always welcome though.  However, minor, minor gripe that one.

Whatsapp worked very well.  Rallyapplive ok but we forgot about after Carter Bar.  

I liked the bar being open at the end and I felt everyone (including the club officials really made an effort to talk to the participants).  Don't know whether that was a conscious effort but felt much more inclusive  Back in 2014 at the Plough, as two new boys to the event we felt a little bit on our own as everyone else seemed to know each other and have done it loads of times previously. This event felt like there were more first timers and more younger crews (don't know if the stats bear that out but it felt much more inclusive).  Everyone was very friendly.

Can't criticise the marshals re book hand outs - its not a race and does it matter if you get your book back at the ETA or 5 mins later? 

Not sure about the issue of mechanical snowflakes.  Even if you have a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge, if you break down in the dark in the middle of nowhere, its always a bit of a panic and you're not always thinking clearly (especially since you have time pressure to contend with).   Perhaps more info on the implications of breaking down, help on the decision whether to continue, what to do if the marshals have gone etc. Perhaps RallyAppLive may help there to log people through the controls if the marshals have gone?  

It may be that everyone needs to learn to do a few basic things and that perhaps Club Triumph have a course that is available online?  Perhaps, everyone ought to learn to:

Swap a distributor (clamped and timed already with rotor and cap). Electronic distributors are cheap on Ebay and change plugs

Swap an alternator or dynamo and fan belt

Swap a fuel pump

Swap a water pump

Know where the fuses are and spares

Very basic diagnostic help - eg fuel, spark etc 

Change and carry bulbs.

I don't think I'd want to do much more than that by the roadside. It's good to trial fit your spares pre the event so you're confident you can do it quickly without panicking!

However, in summary can't think of anything that needs to be changed and want to thank all involved for an excellent event.

Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that, good thoughts. I'd love everyone to be able to change a head gasket in a layby but I know that's not realistic. I was surprise just how little mechanical knowledge some folk had - and these are generally people who I'd say could learn. There is the germ of an idea of some basic roadside skills videos brewing in my brain, maybe just a play list of such things that already exist.

The collect and keep process for roadbooks  is a bit haphazard at times - weather, time and perhaps the pressure the marshals feel when 100+ smelly, tired and slightly grumpy Triumphists are bearing down on them all add to a stressful time. I'll take that one to the team and we'll see what we can come up with as guidance to marshals. I favour the plastic box filing system, like at Bude, to keep them in the order they arrived, to be called out once the control opens and returned in that same order. 

There should not be any appreciable delay and this isn't a race so whether you're first or last shouldn't matter (I know it does to some) as long as you're not out of time!