2023, March. Daffodil Run and Taith Cymru

18th March:  Daffodil Run 

The Daffodil Run is our regular first event of the year and this year the weather was kind to us again. The forecast was changeable so the FHC was the car to take.  The run takes place in the Forest of Dean area and started from the Belfrey Hotel in Littledean with a total length of about 80 miles.  This year the hotel was really busy because it was full of guests who had been attanding the Cheltenham Festival horse races but we still got an excellent sausage bap and coffee!

First away was a car type I have never seen before, a beautiful little Peugeot 203 from the 1950s and it looked immaculate.

First car away Peugeot 203

 

The FHC at the start

The Forest of Dean always looks nice at this time of year because all the trees are only just in bud so you can see much more than usual.  There were lots of daffodils to see on our drive up to the coffee stop at Westons Cider in Much Marcle. There were lots of roadworks still in place because it seems the whole world is being dug up to provide fibre optic telecomms cables at the moment but luckily it didn't affect us too much. 

Three TR7s taking part

 There were three TR7s taking part this year, the other two were Jos Way in his red TR7V8 and Henry Brown in his blue TR7V8.  The organisers usually mange to find at least one ford and this year was no exception but it wasn't very deep so I didn't manage to get the photographer wet even though I tried.

 We started to meet some old cars who were taking part in a Vintage Sport Cars Trial. Some super old open wheel cars being driven in anger and not in a museum - brilliant to see. 

Great use for an old car.

Lovely spot for marshalling.

 We had a couple of heavy showers later in the afternoon but it didn't spoil a super day out and we returned to The Belfrey for an excellent Sunday roast at the finish.

Washing the car on Monday afterwards I found a large nail sticking out of the sidewall of a rear tyre. It was right on the shoulder so effectively scraps an almost new tyre. 

Not Happy!

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26th March:  Taith Cymru 

The Taith Cymru is usually a much more "hard core" event and this year no exception. They promised us a 130 mile route which would visit every major valley in South Wales and it turns out there are 22 of them and we did!   Because of the length of the route and start/finish locations we decided to stay overnight before and after and make a weekend of it.  

Weather was again changeable so the FHC was the first choice.  The route turned out to very different to the usual classic runs.  To get access to all the valleys and use some of the old road rally lanes meant much more urban mileage than usual with quite a lot of narrow streets in the valley towns to negotiate. This also meant some quite detailed navigation and was not popular with quite a few of the entrants. 

The route traversed 8 valleys to morning coffee at Abercynon Rugby Club, which would have been an excellent choice, but it was also the base for a schools rugby tournament that day so was super busy with parked cars abandoned everywhere.  The marshalls managed to get us into the car park eventually but it was all a bit manic.

Arriving at morning coffee Abercynon

The route proceeded via 7 more valleys to the lunch halt at Maesteg Rugby Club where the staff were kept very busy supplying some excellent sandwiches to the hungry crews.

In the afternoon the route headed further west via Baglan and Neath before turning back towards the finish near Hirwaun. One very narrow uphill section needed marshalls stationed at the bottom end to allow only one car at a time to tackle the hill. This was just in case a car stalled on the hill and had the reverse back down!  Some of the smaller roads were in very bad condition and really quite rough and we thought they should not have been included.   

The main thing to report is that the TR7 behaved itself perfectly despite the rough going!

In conclusion it was an interesting idea to try and visit all the valleys but parts of the route were not really suitable for a classic tour. 

2021, August. Taith Cymru and Ignition Trouble

 22nd August:  Taith Cymru, DNF

The Taith Cymru is one of the top classic tours in Wales but had been cancelled in 2020 and delayed by the various fluctuations of the Covid restrictions.  They had finally managed to rearrange a date for 22nd August so we were really looking forward to it. The weather was again changeable so we decided the FHC would be the best choice to use for this one. Starting from the Old Railway Line Garden Centre at Three Cocks just north of Brecon, the 140 mile route used many the classic night rally roads in mid-Wales.

However, after about 40 miles it was on one of these classic roads , the Abergwesyn Mountain Road, that the first hint of a problem began.  The engine would occasionaly mis-fire then clear again.  As the symptoms got worse I noticed that each time it happened the rev-counter dropped to zero, indicating ignition failure.  It would then run normally for a while before doing it again.  We stopped and I checked for anything obvious like loose connections but couldn't find anything wrong.

Approaching the Devils Staircase on Abergwesyn Mountain Road

 By the time we reached the lunch halt at Lampeter Rugby Club the intermittent misfire had got quite bad so I decided to have  more serious look but couldn't find anything.  Best option was to try some of the spares we carry.  First and easiest thing was to try a new coil. The engine started and ran fine so it seemed to have cured the problem, but a few miles down the road the mis-fire came back. This time I changed the Lumenition amplifier module and again it seemed to have cured the problem, only for it to come back again. It was fine for a few more miles and then mis-fired badly only to clear again.

To me this meant the only other possible culprit must be the Lumenition optical switch inside the distributor. This is a fiddly job so I decided to struggle back to the Lampeter Rugby Club car park where we could work on it safely, rather than at the side of the road. Some of the club members were still there and very kindly gave us coffee and cakes while we worked on the car.

I finally decided to call it a day and called the breakdown, so we adjourned to the club until help arrived.  I expected a recovery truck but a young guy in a Transit sized van arrived and it turned out he had never even worked on a car with a distributor!

After I explained how it worked we tried all the connections and various voltage tests and even tried mounting the coil vertically instead of horizontally because his boss told him that was how they should be(!).   The car started ok and appeared to be fine so we set off for home with him following behind just to be safe.  We went about 10 miles and all seemed well so he turned back and we headed on home.

You may have guessed the next part, because it was not long before the problem came back.  By now we had passed Llandovery and were on the A40 nearing Brecon.  A few good miles and then the mis-firing. We struggled past Brecon but it was now getting quite bad and with evening approaching I did not want to be stranded at the side of a busy main road. As we reached Abergavenny it was becoming difficult to maintain any progress so I parked up in the main bus station car park and called the breakdown again. There always used to be a nice cafe here open all hours but in these strange Covid times on a Sunday evening it was closed, but at least the toilets were open! 

When the breakdown truck finally arrived it was nearing 10pm. The driver had already called me and said he could only take one passenger in his cab so could I call anyone for a lift or get a taxi. Unbelievable, but apparently it was due to the Covid regulations in Wales so I called  my old navigator Oliver Tomlins who agreed to turn out and drive the 60 miles to pick us up and we all arrived home just before midnight. Not our best day out.

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Lumenition Repairs

After the tribulations detailed above I went through the ignition system to see if there was anything I had missed but couldn't find anything obvious.  The only item of the system not replaced was the optical switch inside the distributor so I needed to replace that.   I did have one in the car but it requires the wires to be taken out of the connector plug so they can be threaded through the distributor body and the plug re-fitted.  I swapped the optical switch out and adjusted the ignition timing which had moved because the switch was very slightly different.

I drove the car for about 50 miles and the mis-fire was cured.

Brillant!

 

 

 

2019 Calendar. Busy Year

2019 is shaping up to be a busy year.  We have ten classic runs so far with another couple of possibles and a couple of shows thrown in. The calendar so far looks like this:-

23rd March,  Daffodil Run
7th April,  Taith Cymru
14th April,  Corinium Run
28th April,  Drive It Day
5th May,  Wheelnuts Classic Car Show
11th May,  Bluebell Run
19th May,  Hills & Valley Tour
30th June,  Black Mountains Classic Tour
7th July, Aquae Sulis Classic Tour
3rd August, Gloucestershire Extravaganza, South Cerney
4th August,  Valleys & Villages Classic Tour
1st September,  Cotswold Classic Run
19th-20th October,  Lombard Rally Bath

 Daffodil Run 2019