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2 hours ago, Carledo said:

With deep reluctance and due finally to an un car related family crisis, team 116 is withdrawing from the 2021 RBRR.

Sorry guys, hope we'll see you all in 2023!

PS, anyone know how I make this withdrawal official?

Cheers, Steve

contact Jason Chinn directly who manages the entry, important you do that rather than just hope he pisks it up on the forum/facebook etc. details as per the enclosed slide from the drivers meeting

Yes it is starting to ease. I filled up my modern this morning which I need to drive on a 200 mile round trip to get to meet up with my crew and the RBRR car, it's nearly that far to the start anyway so even if there was somewhere to leave it at Knebworth it wouldn't save many miles and I'd still have needed diesel. I got up early and went out before 7am, the petrol station I stopped at only had a 5 car queue off the roundabout to get to the forecourt, cheap diesel and E10 available , no V power E5 or V power diesel but fuel available nevertheless .And at £1.37 for shell diesel not above normal prices. I did pass 3 other fuel stations on the way there though that had no fuel at all. By the weekend I think we'll be OK but the Northern Scotland and Welsh bit may need a Gerry can filled at Skiach/Gedrid as an insurance policy.

I've been insured with Peter James for about 15 years except for one year and it's always been unlimited mileage. The one year I went elsewhere was because I won a years free insurance with RH for a CT magazine article, and again they gave me unlimited. I also had a like for like quote from Classicline last year for unlimited and it was similar premium to Peter James but the excess was high for a Triumph parked overnight on the drive whereas Peter James gave the same £100 excess for both Triumphs, one on the drive, one in the garage. So I don't think it's an issue to get unlimited, but obviously it may be cheaper to get limited. RH unlimted was quite a bit more than Peter James though. Having said that, Peter James unlimited has always been as cheap as limited agreed value insurance for me, that may be because it's on a TSSC policy that is discounted?

The bigger issue are the tossers who are panic buying fuel today, most of the fuel stations near home have now run out of unleaded due to this. Hoepfully by next week that will have died down, although if it's the same idiots that bought up all the loo roll last year they may persist!

Hi, please see the screenshot below. The owner of this GT6 needs to be contacted otherwise the car is being disposed of, so if anyone knows who owns it please pass this message on so they can respond on the Triumph GT6 facebook group and save their car.

Quoted from Ian Perry-

Seconded (thirded or whatever)

I'm another deliberate NON-user of Faceplant - indeed a very reluctant and very limited user of social media in the round - mainly for privacy and professional reasons. I do feel a lot of sympathy for Paul H's perspective - but at the same time I feel a lot of loyalty to CT having been a member intermittently since the 1990s.

On the 2018 RBRR the participants' SM group was hosted on a platform called Messenger or something like that? which neither I nor my co-driver could join, again for professional reasons. We did feel a bit disconnected from the event as a result - we became more completely disconnected when the no.3 conrod let go, mind. Later when I wanted to spectate/cheer on survivors as they passed close by home, I had to get my then GF to go on Faceplant to get up to date news on what was going on.

So I'd prefer to see better functionality on this website, which I feel also better represents the 'heart' of club and should be the first port of call for club communications. On-event communications (including interactively between participants) could perhaps better use WhatsApp which doesn't have the same security issues as the previous platform.

I believe the proposal is to have a whatsapp group for the next event rather than the message service used previously. I think I might have read about that on the official RBRR facebook group though!

The mail came out to some (but not all) of the entrants to say the decision has been taken to postone the event until 2021 for obvious reasons.

But there is nothing posted on the forum, the event is still in the calendar on the CT website as October 2020 and the most reliable source of RBRR information now seems to be facebook. I'm glad I'm on the Club Triumph and RBRR facebook groups otherwise I may not have realised!

Seems a sign of the times that the forum has now started to be a bit of an unused relic.

Is there anyone out there with a tidy TR5 that would be prepared to do a photoshoot for an up and coming Rock n Roll/Skiffle band called the TR5s? The band are based around the Surrey Hampshire border so a TR5 owner from the South East would be good. I did a similar shoot for a previous band called the Dolomites run by the same guy and it was fun…   If you have a TR5 and you are up for it give me a shout and I’ll put you in touch. 

Available from Newton Commercial. They make the seat cover kits that are available from most of the Triumph Suppliers. Usually cheapest to go to one of teh ssuppliers rather than Newton direct for a whole set, eg Paddocks, Manners Parts4, Canley's etc, or Rimmers (usually as a last resoort as they are usually most expensive!).  Also if you only want an individual section then go to Newton's direct, they sold me just a seat base cover for my GT6 last year as I had damaged mine and the rest of the cover set was pretty new. 

I'm going along to the funeral to pay my respects in the GT6. I knew Mike since the mid 80s, apart from the impact he had on the Triumph movement he was a great bloke too. He was a great events organiser, he used to run the SEM meet at Leatherhead and the TSSC international at Stafford for a time and was instrumental in arranging the STER events in Holland in the late 90s. In latter years he was involved in hill trials in a specially set up TR7 which he owned alongside his Stag. My ex missus and I both knew Mike separatly from before we met so was considered a close mutual friend and he was a guest at our wedding 19 years ago. He was down to do the RBRR a few years back but had to pull out but I dd remember him marshaling down at Lands End so he was involved with CT as well as the TSSC. RIP Mike, a good mate who made a great contribution to all things Triumph over the last 35 years or more, he will be missed. :-(

Best bet is to put a post on the T the Triumph Dolomite Facebook group and possibly the Triumph Dolomite Club Forum.

Best bet is to put a post on the T the Triumph Dolomite Facebook group and possibly the Triumph Dolomite Club Forum.

If you have paper sponsorship you can add it as an offline donation on the just giving website so it still appears as part of the grand total. I did this with £350 sponsorship from my company which gets paid directly to the charity rather than via myself or just giving.

Here are my Spares and Tools, there is probably other stuff that I can't remember packing yesterday too no doubt. All are for Dolly 1500 but engine bits will fit Spit 1500s etc...

Spares

Dizzy Cap

Points

Condenser

Rotor arm

Plug leads

Spark Plugs

Fuel Pump           

R9 fuel hose 5/16 and 1/4

Fuel Hose Clips

Fuel Filter

Water Pump

Thermostat

Radiator Cap

Water Hose Kit

Jubilee Clips

Master Light switch

Alternator

Dip switch/indicator stalk

Washer pump

Washer pipe

Slave cylinder

Calliper seals

Master Cylinder Seals

Various brake pipes

Flexible brake hose

Various Gaskets

Nuts

Bolts

Washers

Self Tappers

Split Pins

Wheel studs

Wheel nuts

Manifold butterfly fixings

Wiper Blade

Fan Belt

Engine Mount

Lengths of studding 7/16 and 10mm

Choke Cable

Generic Throttle Cable

Dip/main sealed beam

Bulbs

Fuses

Crimp connectors

Terminal Block

Wire

insulating tape

Gaffer Tape

Oil 20/50 VR1

EP90 Gear Oil

Coolant Mix

Dot 4 Brake Fluid

Washer Fluid

Glass Cleaner

Rainex

WD40

Penetrating oil

Easistart

Alraldite rapid

Double sided sticky pads

Firegum paste

Wellseal

Instant Gasket

Tools

Trolley Jack

Axle Stands

Jump leads

Tow Rope

Spanners from ¼ inch up to 1 5/16

Socket Set Imperial and Metric 1/4 , 3/8 & ½ drive 6 & 12 point

Torque Wrench

Screw drivers

Pliers

Circlip pliers

Long nose pliers

Crimping Tool

Side snips

Pipe wrench

Mole grips

Hammers medium and big bugger

Pry Bar

Cold Chisel

Drifts

Feeler gauges

Files

Tyre lever

Electric Tyre pump

Multimeter

Spark Testers

Alternator/Battery Tester

Tyre pressure Gauge

Torch/Work Light

Not sure if everyone is aware that we can't get into Knebworth until 2pm on the Friday as the venue is being used by another event before the RBRR? Picked this up when going through the roadbook the other night. Not a problem but worth knowing not to turn up earlier, or if you do arrive before 2pm just go into Stevenage for some scoff which is what our team is planning to do.  There are two Whetherspoons Pubs in the town centre for a cheap nosh up....

Check out the facebook Group, Rob Southern is suggesting he may be able to organise pies at Perth Tesco Extra. This has a 24 hour petrol station and is actually on the route. So it looks like pies in the early wee hours rather than tea time may be an option. Please respond to Rob's post on the RBRR facebook group if you are interested in this.

I posted this on the RBRR facebook group earlier, posting it here for the few who don't frequent the facebook group.    

Looking at the last run, this is where we filled up and the mileage between.

1 brimmed the tank in Stevenage before start.

2. Whetherby 200 miles.

3. Jedburgh 146 miles.

4. Kinross 83 miles.

5. Skiach 156 miles.

6. Wick Tesco's 92 miles,

7. Skiach 155 miles.

8. Stirling 195 miles.

9. Tebay156 miles.

10. Gledrid 140 miles.

11. Between Abergavenny and Monmouth ( I think this was at the new control) 155 miles.

12.Okehampton 159 miles.

13 Bude 200 miles.

14. Salisbury 189 miles.

15 Knebworth after finish 134 miles.

Route is slightly different this time but we will go through all these locations. I'd also advocate taking a can full of petrol as a back up.

There was a post on the RBRR facebook group yesterday from Shedtune (Andy Pearce) talking about using WhatsAp for a spares messaging service this time around. Also with the facebook group up and running (and used a lot more than the forum for RBRR discussions!)  I can see that many of the crews will be posting updates on there during the run.

Interesting bit of work today. My Dolomite, the Flying Log developed a fault on the 2014 RBRR, the fuel gauge got stuck on half full on the Sunday morning resulting in us running out of petrol near Bridport in Dorset. Anyway we were lucky in that another crew had a can of petrol and we continued and finished. I changed out both the gauge and the sender after the run and the fault remained, eventually a couple of years later I traced it to a faulty tank, a tack weld holding the internal baffle had broken and the baffle had sprung into a position where it fouled the sender float. I did try and fix it with various levers etc but to no avail, I also tried modifying sender unit levers without success. So for 4 years I've done without a fuel gauge, however I managed to find a good 2nd hand tank earlier this year so swapped it out today. The result was a partial success, I found that the new tank is actually a Toledo one so is 2 gallons smaller and not so long so the rear mountings don't align. I managed to fit it with a couple of brackets though and I do at least have a working gauge again. I'll continue to try and find a decent Dolly tank in the longer term.

Our RBRR ride "The Flying Log" is coming on, I have a small amount of work for the MOT that will be done and a retest completed this week.

It failed on a small hole that had rusted at the bottom of the inner wing (picture below) and of course emmissions.

It ALWAYs fails on emmisions every year as if it's set up to run properly it is over the MOT limit. So it will be weakened off so it runs like a pig to get through the MOT and then richened up again to a proper state of tune afterwards.

As from next year when it becomes MOT exempt I'm going to have my MOT station do  the test without logging it on the system and leave out the emmsions test. That way I still have the car checked out for any safety and roadworthy issues but can ignore emmisions which are not really a roadworthiness or safety issue.

Other stuff still outstanding on my to do list:-

* Change the master light switch, current one works but some times needs a wriggle but I picked up a brand new one on ebay a while back to fit.

*Change the fuel tank. The baffle in the existing tank has become dislodged and makes the sender unit stick so the fuel gauage doesnt work, picked up another tank advertsised on the Dolomite Facebook Group a few months back. The baffle damage was doen on a previous RBRR when the car was loaded up with spares, tools and 3 fat bastards, The car kept grounding out on teh rough roads especially ion Scotlandshite and the constant banging damaged the tank!

*Add some thermal insulation to the copper fuel pipe than runs behind the engine to help prevent vapourisation in hot weather (like it will be hot on the RBRR, not likely!)

*Change the front tyres, they have plenty of tread on and got through the MOT, however they are about 12 years old and starting to crack. I would replace with Michellins to match the existing, however, just foudn out that Michellin have now stopped doing any tyres in 165/70 13!

* General Service, oil, filters and coolant change with barsleak added to the coolant, tappets, timing, carb tune, gearbox and diff oil check, wheel bearings grease and adjust, brake and clutch fluid check etc.

Gearbox and overdrive in place a few days back and last weekend I've  been out for a test drive in the Dolly to make sure the new gearbox and overdrive works. All working great  Drove it with no carpets or gearbox tunnel cover and it's quieter than the old one even without anything to take away the noise so looks like another good unit built by Pete from Sussex in his spare time....   Car is nearly back together now, Have the gearbox cover, dash, parcel shelf, radio etc fitted, also fixed teh blowing exhaust flange gasket and I'm trying the later improved arrangement that Triumph used on 1500 spitfires supporting the downpipe from a bracket on the bell housing rather than the gearbox.

Getting set ready for a gearbox and Overdrive change on the "Flying Log" this weekend, will put in a NOS Borg and Beck Clutch while the box is out. Overdrive is fine but the gearbox is noisy so needs changing before the RBRR. Will have a noisy gearbox good for rebuild and a working overdrive for sale afterwards, same as Spitfire 1500 if anyone is interested ;-) 

You can assemble it together on a bench before fitting to the car and check the end float, I've always set the bearings up first before fitting to the car.  I fix the dial gauge to the hub and check the end float against the backplate as in the picture below.   Make sure you assemble dry when you check the float, once you've greased the bearings you won't be able to measure.

So basically, assemble with the shims ( I use the Canley method to check what shims I need). Use a spare halfshaft nut, preferably one where the nyloc has worn so it does up and undoes easily or a plain nut, torque up to the setting with a torque wrench (can't remember what it is but it's tight!). Then check the end float, if it's too large add shims or larger distance piece, too small reduce shim or smaller distance piece. Re check, then once it's got the right float, take a\part, pack the bearings with grease and re-assemble torquing up to the correct setting.