Saltddirk

I was going to upload them all to Flickr but ran out of time and have no access from work, so it will have to wait a bit longer

Here's a few of MOE on Stelvio

here's ours: Best drive Uphill towards Umbrail pass and then Stelvio on an uncluttered road, no moderns, no busses, just a few bikes to let pass . The 48 hairpins going down are not bad either.. Worst Drive First part of the Tsimmeljoch, a modern clearly out of his depth on how to corner was blocking the road, coming to a near standstill in every corner, looking ahead for traffic and then cutting across making it impossible for us to pass. We did eventually and he was not happy. Best Soundtrack (Also listed under Boys and their toys) Going at full blast through the “15 minute wait” La Schera tunnel, no other cars, striplights and walls flashing past for 2 miles, Tubular exhaust at full chat. And then the question, what’s the speed limit? Ooops Weirdest Drive That mile long half open avalanche gallery bordering the Livigno Lake. Seems there was no end to it. Best Laugh Passing other Triumphs on the motorway while we had donned 2 white silk scarfs I had grabbed before leaving home. We had a hard time making them flutter backwards though, seems they wanted to go forward at all times Quickest dropping of the penny Still wearing these silly scarfs (well they are warm and keep the draught out) we stopped for a few pictures of the gletcher / mountain leaving St Moritz when a Biker stopped and offered to take a picture of both of us. Something in his manner told us he tought us to be…. Ah well we quickly declined the offer and sped off. Scariest moment Losing the tail on freshly surfaced road coming out of Disentis towards the Lucomagno. Mind you Shaun did it twice more, officially qualifying as Hooligan. Wettest moment In a squall just after we left the Autobahn roof still down, could not practically put the roof up as the window wipers had packed in and Shaun assisted the Rain-X by manually cleaning with the wiper over the top rail. The headshaking and disbelieve of the bikers coming the other way was a close tie for funniest moment Best Views Without a doubt the Dolomite section of the trip. Making you wanting to buy a Dolly! Cheerz D

We definitely had an issue with the OD not functional and having to red-line the engine at all times. However I have just spotted the solution to our problem on ebay My rev counter highlighting the issue and then a picture of the solution

Hi Tim's Right, Thank you the organizing team to get us all a spot in the grid, a bed to sleep in and all the well thought out routes. But also big thanks to Howard who translated the roadbook into GPX files that were spot on! We have used them to good effect and it made the navigation a lot easier, even when Natasha who lives in my satnav and was specially hired because she could read a gpx file did not know where Italy was, and if she did did not think they had invented roads yet. We just went by the green line.... Cheerz D

As a first time competer I timidly second what Clive said, the best driving is in the southern parts and we would not have been angry for an extra day of driving there. Surely it would widen the gap between 10CR and RBRR and make it less hardcore, but this is for us a different event, with a different aim and spirit. We too missed a bit of the chin wag with other club members or just time to sit around and enjoy. We drove the complete route, including all passes in our spit and had a tough time in keeping up the time table. At Rolduc I heard of several teams who had made choices and skipped part of the routes. Stelvio and Tsimmeljoch are fabulous but the views in the dolomites and the smaller passes just south of Merano are just breath taking and I would not have wanted to miss any of them. D

LOL To be fair the list we made while on the Autobahn are things that are not quite finished or that we got wrong during the rebuild. The wiper motor failure has been traced to a wrong connection, when the wiper hit the parking cut out it shorted the life to earth... Why it did not do this when we tested before departure I have no idea. This weekend I hopefully get the carbs off for a rebuild. the latest theory now is that they must have dried out and gummed up during the 5 years the car was rebuild. All in all I am very happy with the car's performance, specially considering that the furthest she has driven in the last 5 years  prior to our departure for Lille was from our place to the wheel alignment center. D

main breakdown was our wiper motor that shorted, but beside that we need some more carburettor adjustments, the drivers window needs to be reseated, some more electrical gremlins and the overdrive solenoid needs to be replaced.... If you heard us revving till the redline, now you know why...

Not really fell off but needing some repair

Hiya Actually the seals, rubber and all are the least of your worries. The main issue is that in order to reduce emissions and consumption etc E10 (and in France the newest flavour is E20) has been engineered to run with modern engines. Or perhaps the other way around, but in any case our engines are not engineered for this. Modern fuels are slow burning and rely on compression to burn. With old engines the compression is possibly not high enough to have a clean burning. It also means that the fuel is still burning by the time you reach exhaust stroke and quite a bit of the energy is wasted. To compound this the ethanol has a lower "energy" value than petrol, it's caloric value is only 2/3rds of petrol. To put it broadly the more Ethanol the less punch per litre. This is the most noticeable with the older engines, a relative recent engine such as in a Stag, TR7 etc should be able to coop, my vanguard engines or the pre-war iron does certainly not. Other issue with Ethanol is that it is not stable in time, it will separate and the ethanol will, as already mentioned, absorb moisture from the air. this is why in UK as an example you will find more ethanol in fuels from stations that have a bigger turn over and less in remote areas. As the manufacturers are requested to have a certain ratio of ethanol/ fuel of their overall sales they try to push it in more crowded areas where the fuel  consumption is higher and it is less likely to deteriorate and avoid bad press or issues. Ethanol however does also have its advantages, the mixture burns with less noxious gases produced and it is sustainable. Although with the world population on the rise I wonder how much of our food we really can afford to be converted into go-go juice. Bring on MAd MAx! D

No, Michelin Pilots This one had done only 7000km I did love those wheels tough.

^^^ It is only those 4 strips of rubber making the difference of black top or a ditch. I know good reputed brand tires are expensive but then so are the cars we are driving, and I'm not wanting to risk my investment for the sake of a few quid. It is a very polarizing topic and people tend to get upset if you are disagreeing with their point of view, but for me I'll buy the best I can afford. The idea of partly worn tires has not yet caught on in Europe. If it had then I might be tempted to buy some if in good condition, of a reputed brand within age etc. It is not the wear and mileage that kills them for us, so partly used might still have a good few years in them. Issue is as Pete points out, what is good condition? do you have the skills to see potential flaws? The daily we are driving now came wit 19 inch rims and low profiles, not a good idea on the potholed rutted roads where i live. After 2 years and replacing 5 tires due to punctures I sold the wheels. Even if all tires had plenty of thread and were ,except one, all less than 2 years old I could see at least 2 where the sidewall was damaged after being pinched. I sold the Rims which happened to have tires on, but I'm sure the bloke who bought them did partially for the tires even after I told him why we were selling them.

This year entries included a Herald with 4 adults (might have been a vitesse but Im rather sure it was a herald) I did quizz them about the lack of space but they thought it was OK.. Having said that 3 seems to be ideal, one driving, one navigating, one sleeping.... D

had mine delivered! great read, to be recommended to all without Bias!

an All Time Record ?? Well done and proud to have been able to contribute a modest amount! Sorry that we missed the diner, hope you all hd a good time! D

OK, all a bit fuzzy, but based on the remarks by the other teams I think that we had booked too close to the Stelvio. A quick check on Google learns me that it is another hour driving to Merano, As a Result I have cancelled the reservations I had made and have booked a B&B in Coldrano, cheaper too, but no restaurant on site, so we'll probably gate crash one of the other properties that have a restaurant. Cheerz D

OK, all a bit fuzzy, but based on the remarks by the other teams I think that we had booked too close to the Stelvio. A quick check on Google learns me that it is another hour driving to Merano, As a Result I have cancelled the reservations I had made and have booked a B&B in Coldrano, cheaper too, but no restaurant on site, so we'll probably gate crash one of the other properties that have a restaurant. Cheerz D

we've always referred to it as the round britain

We booked Traube in Stevio-village, I can see that yours if much further down the road... Ah well we just will have to drive a bit further the next day Singen was still OK, not much choice in the cheap segment but not that prohibitive either.... D

Who's the Dutch team that booked the last room in Gasthof Stern in Stevio....? Ggrr... If you have not yet done then hurry up, not many rooms left as per Booking.com Dirk

Have been traveling so not really paying attention to the forum, I have been leaning towards the same conclusion Jonny. the other possibly explanation I have is that the drain tray is normally kept close to our "Bobcat" which is used to muck the stables (not my workshop mind you, although it might be the proper tool for the job at times ) When I was away last month the thing would not start and the missus had to call in a service engineer to look at it. it might have fallen out of his toolbox. Still since the box was originally bought from Canleys perhaps Dave can shed a light, or if he wants his mistery part back I can post it to him. It is only about one inch long

Interesting thoughts all! Thanks for sharing Glad that it is not from the gearbox, or at least nobody recognizes it as such. I have some more farming equipment maybe it originates from there.... If it is important it will manifest itself soon enough.. BR Dirk

one more picture 5 mm diameter, appx 28mm lenght. GB is Spitfire Mk2 overdrive box which i bought from Canleys years ago. Dirk

there are 2 grooves machined into it, terminating in a fork one end and then 2 more, 90 deg out terminating in a fork at the other end at about the middle there seems to be a mechanical impact area, with some markings on the sides and a slightly brighter surface indicating contact, wear?

hi, Yesterday we removed the GB on the Spit in view of a rebuild, When draining the oil into the drainpan we noticed this "needle" I can not say for sure it came out of the gearbox, it might have been on the pan before we started without getting noticed, but chances are slim, I had cleaned the pan with a pressure washer last month and it has not been used since. So what is it? where did it come from? I can not find any ref on the technical drawings