2021, August. More classic events

 1st August: Valleys & Villages Classic Tour

Weather for the Valleys & Villages was forecast to be showery so the obvious car to take was the FHC and I checked it over in the days before. I also took it out on a couple of local trips and to fill it with fuel. The car drove perfectly.

As we set off to Royal Wootton Bassett on Sunday morning it was raining so the choice was confirmed.  However, after less than 5 miles the wipers suddenly slowed and when I glanced at the voltage meter it was pegged in the red zone at the bottom of the gauge- so no charge from the alternator.  I stopped and checked for any obvious problems like a loose wire or drive belt but nothing seemed to be wrong. I then found I needed the emergency jumper battery to restart the car so there was no point in continuing to the start (about 40 mins away) and we returned home.

Next decision, try to fix it or swap over to the DHC?  With no obvious quick fix we decided to just swap our stuff over and take the DHC instead, arriving a little bit late just as the first car was leaving.  Quick sign-on and just time to grab our breakfast roll and we were flagged away in good weather with the roof down.  The road book showed we were going to the same coffee stop and lunch halt as they used in 2019 but the route between was quite different.

Coffee stop was Helen Brownings Royal Oak at Bishopstone, east of Swindon.  As we enjoyed our coffee and excellent cake the rain started - quite heavily.  There was a sudden rush of folks to put their roof up asap and we just managed to get ours done before we got too wet - and between mouthfulls of cake.  Leaving coffee I noticed another TR7 was taking part, a very late registration car with TR8 badges. Interesting. Turns out it was one of the very rare right hand drive TR8s. There were only 18 of them ever produced by the factory. 

Our route continued across the Wiltshire Downs, via the racehorse country around Lambourne, to lunch at Hungerford when the heavens really opened. The rain became absolutely torrential as we parked. It was so heavy no-one even got out of their cars to go to the Hungerford Club for a sandwich!

Lunch at Hungerford - it rained - a lot!

 

Eventually the rain eased enough for us to get a drink and something to eat but the water dripping from the soft top roof made it a bit uncomfortable. Many cars had various bits of tissue stuck in gaps around their roof and windows.   Ironic as this was why we got the FHC car,  but it was back in the garage.

The route now took us back across the Downs and we saw lots of ancient white horses carvved in the hillsides, many of which we had never seen before.

There is an Audi Quattro in front somewhere.

By the time we got to the finish back in Wootton Bassett the weather had greatly improved and we really enjoyed the curry they provided.

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15th August:   Triumph & MG Weekend, Malvern

The Triumph & MG Weekend is a large three day annual show and this year it was based on the Malvern Showground. There would be a large gathering of TR7s from all over the UK so I wanted to take the FHC along. As part of the show, a friend called Bob Blackstock (who used to rally a TR7 back in the 1970s)  was organising a short road run and we wanted to take part.    

We had a very pleasant drive up to Malvern on Sunday morning and were directed to the TR7 parking area close to the main show ring. I parked next to Christopher Kenneth Smith who owns more TR7s than anyone else in the world. No one knows exactly how many but it is what he describes euphemistically as a "reasonable collection".   He is also an authority on them and has most of the original factory build records in his archive. He specialises in rescuing the rare or unique cars, like the first automatic, first TR8, first RHD convertible etc etc.  They are restored to a very high standard but also get driven regularly, often on his trip back from the UK to Italy where he lives.  Christopher does not keep his cars in a museum, they get driven a lot.

TR7s at the Malvern Show

 

The Malvern showground is big and we didn't have enough time to really look around much before the Three Counties Road Run started. It was a nice gentle run taking cars out around the Malvern area including a stop for lunch/refreshments at Westons Cider Mill in Much Marcle.  We had an excellent sandwich and coffee there before returning to the show.

Groups of cars were being called into the main arena to be presented to the crowd and experts on each model explained more various details about them. We were one of the many TR7s presented and whilst we were in the arena there was a fly-past by a Spitfire who did several circuits. Fantastic stuff to see and hear it flying. 

After the arena parade it was great to meet and be able to talk to Harris Mann who was the chief designer responsible for the TR7.  Apparently he lives quite nearby so just dropped in to the show.  He is very approachable and interesting to talk to about the cars he designed and is very modest about his achievements. We had a good chat about them.

Harris Mann, TR7 Designer.

Many of our local TR Register Glavon Group members were also at the show, many of them for the whole weekend. Some were in local hotels/B&B but some hardy souls were camping on site or like Andy and Jill West, who brought a caravan on the back of their TR4!

Andy & Jill West

 

So it was another nice weekend out in the TR7.