10 countries 2013
It all started earlier in the year with some preparation of the car team Mutley (which we have become) thats Steve Hudson and Jayson Murray both long term co-drivers and friends. Steve and Ashley Mills had booked hotels apart from the one's booked by the organisers, I had the car checked over changed the oil/filter TJ a local club member who running a good workshop changed the diff and gearbox oil and repaired some potentially lethal petrol pipe and filter.
We set off on Wednesday the 4th September round midday, and cruised down to Dover at a steady 60 mph, the only hiccup was that a stone caught MOE right on the nose cone and took a big chunk of paint off, we crossed the channel with no further issues and stayed at the Premier Classe hotel in Calais....if that was the Premier I would hate to see the rough ones.
The next morning after a basic breakfast we set off to the start around 70 Triumphs set off after the drivers meeting for what is a gruelling first session, all the way across France, overnight with a break for a few hours in Grenoble, down through Nice and then into Monaco, then up to the Italian border.
It was a long climb up to the border crossing and very hot around 30 degrees, I heard a funny sound from the front of MOE and quickly realised that she was boiling like a kettle, Jayson pulled her over to the side of the road, and we waited for her to cool down, this took quite a while, it was apparent the the water was contaminated with rust even though the radiator and block have been flushed out many times, we filled her up with the help of Team toledo a couple that seemed to be on hand to help others too.
Onward then to the hotel in Italy where we had a meal with the other teams, I thought the meal was quite good and enjoyed a comfortable bed and an air conditioned room. The next morning bright and early northward thgrough the gap between Turin and Milan past Lake Maggiori, up into Switzerland over the alpine passes to Liechtenstien then poped into Austria before making our way to another overnight stop in Singen Germany, again a nice hotel with a pub serving decent food about 200 yards away, that did nicely.
Off again early in the morning some of the team a bit delicate from the night before, up through Germany, into Luxembourg then a run through Belgium into Holland to Roldoc the traditional end to the event, funny in 2011 we were behind all the way except the last day and arrived at Roldoc fifth car in, this time mostly on time all the way and arrived at Roldoc, fifth car in!
Next morning saw a leisurely breakfast waved goodbye to new friends and old and headed towards Calais, we got caught up and delayed by accidents and roadworks which lead to a dash across Belgium and France to get to the port on time, some two hours at a steady 130kph+ when we arrived at the port the dynamo gave up the ghost (only done 5K miles, some recon job that was!). MOE is fitted with a huge battery that had been charging for 5 days so was in top condition, we drove onto the boat and off the otherside.
After a team discussion we decided to go for it rather that bother breakdown people and inevitable recovery, Roy Lacey of Telford and GT6 fame tailed us and when we stopped at a service area gave us a boost for 15 mins with jump leads, then off up to Warwick services driving on sidelights and thanking goodness for RainX another boost charge and then the final section up to Birmingham with Roy taking the lead, being our eyes in the now pitch black motorway.
Difficult to find the exact MPG overall I estimate 28 to 29 mpg she used 4 pints of oil, half of what she used last time thanks to a new cylinder head/valve guides.
We had a celebratory dinner in Birmingham on Saturday night with crew Mutley and some of the team of Dollyroo, my friend Bill, his wife and a couple of friends over for the States for the event and a holiday.
A great event only a very few failures, a Stag with clutch issues a GT6 with Diff failure and one near miss when a M2 2000 model collided with a Deer,
.JPG)
.JPG)
12 great guys from America, that had saved for three years and bought four cars unseen to do the event, lets say they had an exciting time......but they made it
We set off on Wednesday the 4th September round midday, and cruised down to Dover at a steady 60 mph, the only hiccup was that a stone caught MOE right on the nose cone and took a big chunk of paint off, we crossed the channel with no further issues and stayed at the Premier Classe hotel in Calais....if that was the Premier I would hate to see the rough ones.
The next morning after a basic breakfast we set off to the start around 70 Triumphs set off after the drivers meeting for what is a gruelling first session, all the way across France, overnight with a break for a few hours in Grenoble, down through Nice and then into Monaco, then up to the Italian border.
It was a long climb up to the border crossing and very hot around 30 degrees, I heard a funny sound from the front of MOE and quickly realised that she was boiling like a kettle, Jayson pulled her over to the side of the road, and we waited for her to cool down, this took quite a while, it was apparent the the water was contaminated with rust even though the radiator and block have been flushed out many times, we filled her up with the help of Team toledo a couple that seemed to be on hand to help others too.
Onward then to the hotel in Italy where we had a meal with the other teams, I thought the meal was quite good and enjoyed a comfortable bed and an air conditioned room. The next morning bright and early northward thgrough the gap between Turin and Milan past Lake Maggiori, up into Switzerland over the alpine passes to Liechtenstien then poped into Austria before making our way to another overnight stop in Singen Germany, again a nice hotel with a pub serving decent food about 200 yards away, that did nicely.
Off again early in the morning some of the team a bit delicate from the night before, up through Germany, into Luxembourg then a run through Belgium into Holland to Roldoc the traditional end to the event, funny in 2011 we were behind all the way except the last day and arrived at Roldoc fifth car in, this time mostly on time all the way and arrived at Roldoc, fifth car in!
Next morning saw a leisurely breakfast waved goodbye to new friends and old and headed towards Calais, we got caught up and delayed by accidents and roadworks which lead to a dash across Belgium and France to get to the port on time, some two hours at a steady 130kph+ when we arrived at the port the dynamo gave up the ghost (only done 5K miles, some recon job that was!). MOE is fitted with a huge battery that had been charging for 5 days so was in top condition, we drove onto the boat and off the otherside.
After a team discussion we decided to go for it rather that bother breakdown people and inevitable recovery, Roy Lacey of Telford and GT6 fame tailed us and when we stopped at a service area gave us a boost for 15 mins with jump leads, then off up to Warwick services driving on sidelights and thanking goodness for RainX another boost charge and then the final section up to Birmingham with Roy taking the lead, being our eyes in the now pitch black motorway.
Difficult to find the exact MPG overall I estimate 28 to 29 mpg she used 4 pints of oil, half of what she used last time thanks to a new cylinder head/valve guides.
We had a celebratory dinner in Birmingham on Saturday night with crew Mutley and some of the team of Dollyroo, my friend Bill, his wife and a couple of friends over for the States for the event and a holiday.
A great event only a very few failures, a Stag with clutch issues a GT6 with Diff failure and one near miss when a M2 2000 model collided with a Deer,
.JPG)
.JPG)
posted by Chris Allen at 10:24 pm
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