2022, April. Corinium Run

 24th April:  Corinium Run

Corinium is the old Roman name for Cirencester, so you won't be surprised to read that the Corinium Run is based around Cirencester in the Cotwolds, and local to us.

This year the start was at the Highwayman Inn just outside Cirencester where they served us an excellent bacon roll and coffee to get us all going.

cars at the start. picture by SlipandGrip Automotive

The Clerk of the Course for the Corinium Run is Martin Saunders who is an top rally navigator, so his Tulip road book is always produced to the high standard he would expect himself. Martin has navigated for me on International rallies in Ireland and Belgium so I know him well. There are some nice little touches such as close together instructions being highlighted in red and his excellent junction diagrams. There were also aerial pictures of our refreshment stops so we could understand the parking layout.  See this extract from the roadbook which explains how it works for inexperienced crews.

 

The weather this year was cool and dry so we took the FHC and our drive through the Cotswold countryside was lovely. Trees and hedgerows were sprouting and the Bluebells were starting to come out. On the tops many fields have been planted with oilseed rape and the vibrant yellow flowers were amazing.

Corinium Run typical dashcam view

Lunch halt was at the Fosseway Garden Centre near Moreton in Marsh.  This seemed surprising busy after a couple of years getting used to Covid restrictions, but service was quick and the light snack was just right.

The afternoon run took us via some very picturesque Cotswold villages to a few familiar places like the famous ford at Duntisbourne where the residents always come out to watch us splash through the water and the photographers gather.  It was quite shallow this time after a long dry spell.

Duntisbourne

 Finish was back at the Highwayman Inn for a good curry to sustain us all on the way home and the TR7 had performed perfectly.

2022, April. Golden Fifty Revival Tour

 17th April: Golden Fifty Revival Tour

The orginal RAC Rally way back in 1932 was the start of rallying in the UK.  In 1982 the Lombard Golden Fifty Rally was held to celebrate that first one and was probably the start of historic rallying that has grown so much in popularity since then.  So the Golden Fifty Revival Tour was effectively  to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 50th anniversary of UK rallying! 

The start of our tour was at the Prescott Speed Hillclimb course which is only about 20 miles from home, so nice and local to us as well.  In honour of the rallying heritage my old navigator since the 1960s, Oliver Tomilns, was along to keep us on the right road. He also organises some historic road runs himself, most recently a two day run around some obscure parts of western Scotland.

  The start location at Prescott

I had given the FHC a quick spanner check since the Daffodil Run and all was in order so good to go.  Unfortunately we didn't get a run up the hillclimb course because a local householder objected. Apparently he has bought a house near the top of the course and objects to the noise, so only a certain number of events can take place there each year.  A bit like buying a house near a farm and then complaining about the smell!  They did however organise a little autotest around cones in the car park which was actually very much in keeping with the early events anyway.

Car No.1 was a huge old 1937 Derby Bently and watching the driver heaving the big car around the cones was quite a sight.  When it came to our turn it proved more difficult than it looked but I managed to avoid hitting anything!

Our route headed up into Worcestershire and Herefordshire south of the Malverns to a lunch halt at the Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb course. They started racing up the hill here in 1906 so it has a long history.  We had never been there before so watched some in-car stuff on YouTube to get an idea of the course. It is just 1000 yards long with a record time of only 22.37 seconds.  Not exactly a marathon then.  Our time was about 49 seconds - so not a record then.

Our afternoon run took us to the former Lombard RAC Rally stage at Burwarton.  It was here that Roger Clark had his famous encounter with a gatepost in 1978 and was forced to retire.  We were actually spectating there that day and I got some pictures of his car afterwards.

Gatepost 1, Roger Clark 0

 Our run through Burwarton was good fun and we managed to avoid all the gateposts!

Burwarton, former RAC Rally stage

 

Heading back south they sent us though a famous ford at Clee St.Margaret. This is not just a crrossing, the road here actually forms part of the stream bed for about 50 yards.

Yes that really is the road!

The finish was at the Talbot Inn, Knightwick, where they did us a decent meal before heading home.

A really excellent day out where we also met some old mates.  There were actually four cars with members of our old 143 Motor Club from the 1960s.  Ourselves, Jos Way in his TR7V8, Jeremy Wells in his Austin Healy 3000 and John Griffiths in a Volvo 144. Great to see the motorsport passion still burns for us all!   

Long may it continue.

 

2022, March. Daffodil Run

 26th March:  HRCR Daffodil Run

The HRCR Daffodil Run is usually our first classic tour event of the year and always runs on a Saturday. This year the weather was perfect with clear blue skies.  Being based in the Forest of Dean its also local to us. In fact, we can almost see the start location from our town - except the River Severn is in the way so we have to drive about 30 miles via Gloucester to get there!

The FHC was running nicely with its new Pertronix ignition so we were hoping for a nice day out. I had given it a once-over during the previous week and didn't find anything wrong. A few suspension bolts tightened a very small amount and I actually had to put some Duckhams Q20w-50 in the engine. After a quick wash it was ready to go.

The start was at the Belfrey Hotel in Littledean who provided an excellent breakfast roll for us all.  The entry is always kept small and was limited to a mximum of 30 cars this year.  There was a good selection from a Volvo Amazon running at no.1, couple of TR4s, couple of Minis and a beautiful rare Austin Healey 300 coupe.  There were also two TR7s because my old 143 Motor Club mate Jos Way was out in his TR7 V8.

Selection of cars at the Daffodil start

The route took us all around the southern Forest of Dean area and this year it really lived up to its name with masses of daffodils on show. 

 

The forest looked great before it gets out into full leaf so there were lots of nice views that get obscured later with all the greenery. The route is generally kept quite short and we had 45 miles in the first half before a coffee and cake stop at Taurus Crafts near Lydney.

Cars at Taurus Crafts coffee stop.

Suitably refreshed we set off for the 40 mile second half and back to the Belfrey Hotel for a nice two course carvery lunch.  Along the way we had to stop at an un-manned level crossing for a train to pass. Not had to do that for ages! The train actually looked and sounded smooth and quiet as well.

Stop when red lights show!

The car had behaved itself perfectly so that was a relief, but I think I will still try and get a session on the rolling road just to check all the settings before our next outings, because there will be one every weekend for four weeks coming soon.

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