Greta

Hi Dirk - I hope to meet you properly but will be trying not to bump anything!  

Ok - I've put in a half entry - Ellis informs me that Annie Other is not allowed to navigate for me  - so while I spend a while playing Billie Jean Nomates - is there anyone else in a similar position - keen to do 10CR but currently only half a team?

The 2018 Rally of The Tests was won by Paul Wignall / Mark Appleton in their Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Highest place Triumph was 8th - last years winners Hancox & Lambley in the TR4. Other Triumph finishers were two Triumph 2000 MKI's and two more TR4's. The entered Spitfire ( with Tony Lindsey Dean prepped engine ) failed to make the start due to a very tight preparation schedule & electrical problems leaving no time for a proper shake down. Look out for the 1964 Spitfire entered into this year's LeJog.

Hero - 2018 Rally of The Tests Click the link above to read and follow the events of this year's rally. Won in 2017 by Jonathon Hancox and Richard Lambley in a TR4 there are several Triumphs entered this year. Notably, the Seren sisters in their Standard Ten - and for the first time a MKII Spitfire  as well as the usual TR4's there are also two Triumph 2000. I'm sure we all wish Team Triumph the best of luck. NB - This is an event I'd love to do - so any budding co- driver / navigators / mechanics interested in giving this a go in 2019 please get in touch.

I've still got a cheque for £50 to be deposited - so I'm sure we'll find £25 from somewhere!  

I'd meant to acquaint myself with more of the other Spitfires running - so in the event of a breakdown the voice on the other end of the frantic "can I cadge your ??" phone call would at least be known. Despite the small chassis whatsapp group this didn't happen. Would paddocking similar cars at the pre start help in this? Old & small engined cars could perhaps then be started sooner and run loosely in a pack - being overtaken - on the open road by larger more powerful beasts eating up the miles.  From a social point of view there perhaps could also be phased restarts after the principle halts - again giving time to slower crews to "catch up" - get back in the running amongst their peers. This needn't be too rigid - but might help encourage interest from older / smaller entrants - perhaps deterred by the thought of not being able to keep up. I felt really sorry for the Standard 10 being held towards the rear for making the start in the nick of time!

I know tradition has the RBRR start and finish near London - but routeing back to Knebworth / Potters Bar etc seems to have it's own peculiar frustrations re congested motorways etc. Would a more central start & finish open up wider options? Bicester, Gaydon, Coventry could all be alternative start & finishes.. This might allow Dartmoor westward at first light - get to LE when more staff are available to service a slightly later breakfast and allow a route north of Bude on Sunday morning via A39 Exmoor A39 - A361 or A429 and give new halts at places like Glastonbury, Bath, Marlborough, Moreton in the Marsh ?? This would also lend itself to having a more central ( service control ) to which strugglers could perhaps cut to & from mid event. The last thing I want to do is trample on hallowed ground - I'm massively indebted to all that make this happen; in the past, this year and for years to come - it just seems that there are some who are casting around for new ideas - these will inevetiably bring changes resisted by some. For team 24 - both newbies, we thought the whole thing was great and have no criticisms worth voicing. I do suspect there are many put off entering by the distance from their own home to start & then the same to return - and by those unable to sleep enroute mindful of the dangers of driving sleepy. I personally find the tedium of motorway driving very tiresome - but conversely great for catching up on sleep while not navigating!

Can you see a box in the bottom left corner - left of the Post & Preview buttons labelled "Click to attach file" ?? I'm a member - and It took me a while to spot it - ditracted by the Insert options at the top!

What is attractive about RBRR is it's tradition, it's distance, and the fact that the route visits both JoG & LE in a single w/e trip. Modern trunk roads make the triangle relatively easy to achieve but if this predominantly uses only major roads the driving becomes bland, monotomous and not too enjoyable in a smaller or older car. Surely the enjoyment comes from preparing car and crew to meet a substantial challenge! Visiting Controls accessible only via "driving roads" ( Altnaharra, Builth Wells, Badgers Holt & Turweston!) is what I found so engageing. I do concede that routing that permits participants to cut sections and rejoin and regain a schedule is also an important part of the planning. Perhaps the souvenier awards need to be colour coded: Bronze for those that take the start, - visit LE & JoG and return within a predetermined time limit, Silver for those that make, say half a dozen other major controls, Gold for those that collect all controls and passage checks - and platinum soveniers for those that do all that within a more tightly defined time schedule - losing this status for arriving too early or departing too late. This could then still involve cars & crew of all ages, insomniacs and sleepy heads alike - a safe challenge for everyone according to fitness & reliability. While some may argue that this makes the event more like a rally than a tour I would counter that it actually encourages safer driving by ensuring that an award is still achieveable by persistence and perseverance when the inevitable circumstances throw a googley. If a greater proportion of non motorway, non dual carriageway roads could be incorporated I'd welcome a time extension to 3 days which might also permit a brief 6 - 8 hour sleep over / service halt opportunity on the second night.

Speaking from experience marshalling endurance walking events the problem with sweeping is that it is all too easy to tie up your sweeper resources on one or two individuals - leaving later strugglers with little or no support - or support that only arrives too late to make catching up impossible. One way of avoiding this problem we have used is that marshals at a control point - whilst also perhaps being in a position to help at the location of the control - also then sweep through to the next check point.  In this way no one team of event supporters is committed for too long - or needs to travel too far. Intermixing halts with passage controls, adds greater monitoring opportunities and shortens the leg that a sweeper needs to travel. The downside is that this demands an even greater contribution from support workers and multiple stocks of tools & spares. Perhaps those committing to marshal & support could be elligible for reserved or discounted entry the next time. As members get younger and the cars get older there perhaps is a widening skills and experience gap - unfamiliarity with foibles and easy fixes. Running club "On event" - "On the Road" maintenance courses - for both drivers, marshalls and potential sweepers could do wonders towards improving CT Reliability Scores - perhaps we all  ... "Could do better -with a little after school detention!" and live by the motto "Be Prepared!"

I had a similar problem with my GT6 MKII tail gate - years ago now - I have to say after pulling all the spring mechanism out ( the suspected root cause of the problem..) ( what a weight! ) the tail gate then re- aligned simply on the hinges -- downside on the weight saving is that ever since I've run with a tent pole as a stay to keep the tailgate up when open! ... I just couldn't seem to be able to reassemble without the twist - you could fit a modern gas strut from a motor factor  before you actually pull the whole assembly - it could be worth checking that a wire or headlining trim has not become trapped somewhere in the spring mechanism -- it of coarse could be that fatigue has caused a coil to crack.

I'm sure the puriests will disagree as what I would suggest is such a departure from tradition... However, there are many many out there put off by the fact that it entails driving through the night not once but twice without sleep. In an era of quieter roads and looser legislation this was obviously a great hoot - ( I loved the night drive this year from Gledrid to Monmouth - and was buzzing!! ) ... but do we all really enjoy the long tedious motorway miles?( maybe in a 2500 ) How about beginning very early on Friday and taking three days - with an overnight pit stop / sleep halt on the Saturday evening? A service halt for cars and a rejuvenating refresh for crew. Perhaps this would also permit a greater proportion of the mileage to be non motorway / non dual carriageway. So although it is a departure from tradition in one respect it is also an opportunity to perhaps include a greater number of "driving roads" and address the safety concerns of some of the events detractors. While still avoiding the need to run on a rally permit perhaps when entry levels are above 100 much more control could be gained by having individual arrival and departure times for each car - or batches of cars. - a special souvenier for crews that don't arrive too early or depart too late! Not due time - but a window of opportunity! Just my tuppence worth - I'm still endebted to all you guys that make it such a great and memorable event.

... as in physically buying and bringing a foreign registared car to the UK. I know it has been done - ADU7B  - the Spitfire Rally car belonging to Mark Field of Jigsaw had lost it's registration and when re discovered was registered in France... .. numerous cars seem to find their way back to blighty from across the pond.  ... does anyone have personal experience of this who'd be prepared to offer advice and guidance? I'm partricularly keen to be able to achieve a UK registration with a specific cherished plate ( sold to me by DVLA ) - I'm just not sure of the restrictions...  Call centre staff at Swansea never seem to be able to answer specific questions - forever referring one to vague Gov.org webpages

With c.22 retirements a sweeper truck with spares and mechanical assistance sounds like a great idea - lets face it no one wants to do so much preparation and then fail for the want of the odd horse shoe nail. But does it also undermine the Reliability concept - whereby preparation and reliability and self resourcefulness are paramount? ( My thanks to those that had oil when we'd used nearly all of ours and to he who had a longer hose than Phil !) ... mutual resourcefulness I suspect the pros and cons of this point would be a good thread on its own.

Absolutely - even if I'm tempted to have a more sedate run in my MKII next time and see if a slower tempo / pace is just as enjoyable. The run from Llandrinodd Wells to Monmouth under cold and starry skies - in a train of 5 "fast" cars was unforgettable - but so too were many other moments. 😛

Hi Doug - At the time I didn't know you and Kate were sweeping - if we'd know we might have been tempted to drop back and talk GT6 Rally Cars for a while! Good work - a selfless and brilliant idea to do what you did.

... but as newbies we didn't quite know what to expect. " Push on" said Tim .. "it's not a race - but you can't afford to hang around" - so we didn't. Despite that - we accummulated a total imaginary "penalty" of 1Hour & 6 minutes. We weren't consciously trying to get to every control early - just trying to keep ahead of the parts trucks and experienced mechanics sweeping up behind. This afternoon - for a little bit of fun I deducted the Control Stop opening time from our arrival times - and despite reaching 10 controls just before their official opening times, I calculate we accumulated a total of ETA +66 minutes on the others. "Pushing On" - London Map style -  through Woburn Park got us back to Mr Helm & Knebworth at 19:05 and 5th to return. In Nuala's world it felt a teeny weeny bit like what I suspect the marathon's of Leige - Sophia - Liege must have been. That said I do think the schedule was easily achieveable provided one didn't get too distracted by awesome views of Ben Loyal - or delayed by mechanical misfortunes. We observed most of the rest stop guidelines - apart from JOG where the open road and wild fastness of Sutherland was just too appealing. (Crask Inn would make a fantastic Passage Control.) So - by way of summary  - I think the schedule was very good apart from perhaps too long at JOG and being too early to Skiach 2.

Respect 

This thread might be a useful place to also ask about Petrol Stations open when we are on long night legs. Where else to fuel between: Wetherby > Carter Bar > Knockhill > skiach ? Gledrid > Monmouth > Okehampton This seems to be a top tip needed by newbies that's not really covered in the Road Book - ( I know I should have asked) and is especially needed by those of us with small tanks and uncertain of both gauge and range. Team 24 - "Two does 'em"

Thanks everyone - all sorted courier now arranged at less than the price of the petrol there and back. Hope she'll be dropped at the paintshop for me. Nuala

Yeah thanks Danny - Seller now in contact and I think I've found a courier to take it direct to a local paint shop 🙂

Yeah thanks Danny - Seller now in contact and I think I've found a courier to take it direct to a local paint shop 🙂

Hi Hard Top is in Wimbledon.

At present I don't know - since payment maid he's not responded to my messages!

As my GT6 has still not got her engine in - ( started the new engine on my friends test rig on Friday but she's got a slight oil leak from the front end plate and one carb is surging / hunting ) and therefore I may not get her finished before RBRR ... I'm trying to develop a back-up plan. Bought a hardtop off ebay  ( to go on my MKIV 1500 Spit ) ...although still not able to contact seller - the top is in London ( I'm in Cumbria ) ...does anyone know of a cheap but reliable courier or storage company that I could use to complete my ebay transaction - its most definitely a buyer collect sale - the seller doesn't seem willing to help much.🙁 Team: Two Does 'em