May - September 2017. Busy Summer of Events

21st May 2017:-  Hills & Valley Scenic Tour.

After the Wheelnuts car show we were out on a series of events during the summer. First of these was the Hills & Valley Tour run by Kidderminster Car Club. This started and finished at the Kerry Vale Vineyard near Newtown in Powys and took us out on a lovely run all around mid-Wales visiting lots of places I knew well from my proper rallying days in the 1970s-80s.  I chose to stop at a B&B the night before to avoid an early start and where could be better than our old favourite the Dragon Hotel in Montgomery.  It has not changed much over the years and there were several other crews also staying there so we had a good evening with them over a few drinks.

Morning coffee stop was at Abbey-Cwm-Hir Hall where the cafe is covered with lots of memorabilia including this little advert.  I wonder if I am related to the makers?

Not much to say about this?

The scenery is lovely in this part of mid-Wales and we found time to stop for a few pictures, here at the Clywedog Reservoir.

Clywedog Reservoir

A few days later we flew off to Portugal for our early summer holidays but TR7 business resumed the week we got back on the next run.

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25th June 2017:- Black Mountains Classic Tour

The Black Mountains Classic Tour is run by the Brecon Motor and was based at Talgarth near Abergavenny.

Unfortunately the weather very "changeable" so the run lived up to the name and the mountains remained covered in black clouds for much of the day.  There were some nice sunny spells as well so we did get to see some of the countryside and got some nice pictures from the event photgraphers.

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2nd July 2017:- Dursley Rotary Club Cotswold Tour

The Dursley Rotary Club Cotswold run has always clashed with our holidays but this year they had moved it to a new date and it was the week after we got back. Excellent stuff, but even better was that the start/finish was also moved to Rednock School which is about 200 metres from our house!

A rose between two thorns?

There was a mixture of classic and "modern" cars taking part as you can see above.

Leaving the start

The weather for this run was perfect and even required some sun-screen applied to faces.  Being very local the roads used were familiar to us but it was still enjoyable to drive them on such a nice day with the other crews.   Morning stop was at the AV8 cafe on the old RAF Kemble airfield, now called the Cotswold Airport. There was a surprising amount of light aircraft movements and we watched the Tiger Moth take off over our coffee and excellent cake.

Beautiful old Toger Moth ready to go.

At the finish back at Rednock School after 100 miles or so they gave us a finishers certificate with a nice meal and our journey home took less than 1 minute! How good is that.

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16th July 2017:-  Newark Park Rally

One of our TR Register friends is also a member of the 750 Motor Club and is involved in organising their annual rally at Newark Park. 

Its also open to other classics so he invited us to bring the TR7 along.  Newark Park is a Tudor hunting lodge and a National Trust property set on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment only a few miles from home.  It has fabulous views across unspoilt country to the south and west with the Mendip Hills visible on a clear day over 30 miles away.

Newark Park

The rally is just a turn up and park event with most folks bringing a picnic. There was a good number of Austin 7's as well as a few more unusual models.

 

Some well loved Austin 7's

Few of us more modern visitors

A Newark Park resident peacock checks out and MGB

As well as the folks who came with their cars there were a very large number of other visitors on the day who also enjoyed the occasion and the lovely weather.
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23rd July 2017:-  Lavender Run

The Lavender Run is a nice little tour based at Stratford upon Avon. It takes crews out around the North Cotswolds and as the name suggests it includes a stop at a well known lavender farm.

Leaving the start.

The route took us out through some very well kept villages around Chipping Campden and Halford where you could almost smell the money. Many of the old local pubs have been turned into modern restaurants which seems a shame to me.  We passed the site of the Civil War battle at Edge Hill  and on to the lunch stop at Compton Verney. This is an eighteenth century house that has been made into an art gallery with the grounds landscaped by Capability Brown also open to the public. We had time for a brief tour of the art gallery but it needs a longer visit.

Lunch halt at Compton Verney

 The afternoon took us the the lavender farm that gives the run its name but just as we got there the heavens opened so we enjoyed our cuppa and biscuits before leaving the place to the Japanese tourists.

There was a lot of lavender.

 A nice little jaunt brought us back to the finish at Stratford Garden centre where they gave us a decent meal and a nice lavender coloured shopping bag!

Arriving at the finish.

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5th August 2017: Gloucestershire Vintage & Country Extravaganza

As usual the steam fair at South Cerney was on for three days but our club chose to attend on the Saturday only. The show was even bigger than ever this year with so much to see it was impossible to get round it all in the one day.
The weather was rather variable with some very heavy showers and we all had to duck under our Glavon tent. One of our group took some pictures of us all hiding

But between the showers it was a lovely day and we had lots of nice compliments on our display of about 20 assorted TR's plus a nice Spitfire.

There was also the usual amazing display of various transport machinery

More super old tractors than ever!

Great selection of trucks and buses.

Overall a great day out.

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6th August 2017: Valleys and Villages Classic Tour

The Valleys and Villages Classic Tour is based near Bradford on Avon so quite near to home. We set

off just after 7:00am on a beautiful sunny morning and were first to arrive, even before most of the organising team.   We had expected the route to be around the Bradford on Avon area but instead it headed further north and we actually passed within about 5 miles of our house!  To be fair the organisers had to do some last-minute route alterations due to road works but they still put on a good run.  There were some very tricky lanes around Slaughterford which were very narrow and a small error in the road book which had crews milling around in Biddestone (where the TV series Agatha Raisin is filmed) for a while, but some quick map work pointed us in the right direction.

Heading up to Minchinhampton Common

 We had a coffee stop at the very popular AV8 cafe on Kemble airfield before lunch at the Old Lodge on Minchinhampton Common.

This Red Arrow would look good in the garden.

 Finish was back at the rather posh Cumberwell Park golf club where the very smart uniformed staff served us a nice meal.
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20th August 2017: Tewkesbury Classic Car Show

Twekesbury Classic Car Show is a charity event to raise money for the Air Ambulance and has got bigger each year. This year was no exception with between 700-800 vehicles on display.

We joined up with friends from the Evesham TR7 group so we had a nice  little row of 5 TR7's.

The reason we were all there and the star of the show also dropped in to visit.

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28th August 2017: Pershore Plum Festival.

Whilst we were chatting with the Evesham TR Register folks at Tewkesbury they invited us to the Pershore Plum Festival the following weekend. We had never heard of it before but it turns out to be a three day festival over the Bank Holiday weekend when the whole of Evesham goes purple!

 The classic car part takes place on the Bank Holiday Monday when around 800 cars are gathered in the grounds around Pershore Abbey. The Evesham TR group are allocated the perfect spot right next to the abbey itself and we were included in their display of almost 40 TR's.

TR Register cars at Pershore Abbey

 Amazingly for a Bank Holiday the weather was absolutely perfect and had everyone reaching for their sun protection cream.

Another great day out which we thoroughly enjoyed so we will have to try and do it again in 2018.

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3rd September 2017: Cotswold Classic Run

 The Cotswold Classic Run is another local event and actually started from the AV8 cafe on Kemble airfield. Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us and it rained - sometimes heavily - for most of the day.  Not too bad for us even in a convertible car but spare a thought for the marshalls who had a rough time.

The start marshalls were still smiling

Leaving the start in heavy rain we had the opportunity to pose in front of a lovely Bristol Britannia for this must-have picture for the scrapbook.

The weather did imporve somewhat during the day but never relented completely so umberellas were still required for the finish at the Classic Motor Hub near Bibury.  This place is quite a surprise with some beautiful and very expensive cars being stored and maintained there. They also have events and open days throughout the year so its well worth a visit.

How about a nice Ferarri ?

or a Bugatti ?

or even this fabulous Delage

Despite the weather a really fun day out and we will have to do it all again next year.
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10th September: Two Rivers Tour

This was the first running of the Two River Tour organised by the Forresters Car Club.  They are a hard-core rally club and the tour was put on as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations.  The route used much of their original night navigation road rally from all those years ago with a few concessions to the old cars (and crews) taking part.
The route was based around the Abergavenny area with mostly very smooth roads and was very well marshalled as you would expect.  Weather was again changeable but still provided some great views of  this lovely part of the world.

Storm clouds over Raglan Castle at the coffee halt

 

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4th November: Autumn Classic Leaves Tour

Last event of 2017 was the Autumn Leaves Classic Tour which is run in the Forest of Dean Area.

My old rally navigator Oliver Tomlins came along for the day as my wife was busy. The weather for the start at Chaceley Stock near Tewkesbury was a bit grey and damp but it soon brightened up.

We enjoyed a nice run going up as far as Malvern and then back for a cuppa in a nice cafe at the old Rank Zerox factory in Mitcheldean. Rank have long gone but its now a trading estate.  Finish was back at the New Inn on the banks of the River Severn at Chaceley for a very nice, but later than usual, Sunday Roast dinner.

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6th May 2017, Gearbox Bushes, Bluebell Run and Wheelnuts Car Show

The last couple of times I had driven the car I noticed the gear change was getting a little bit vague and also a bit stiffer.  This is usually a sign of the bushes holding the gearlever remote onto the main gearbox casing starting to go and sure enough a quick check confirmed this was the case.

I have taken the bolt out here, but you can see the rubber bush is well past its best.

There are four mountings and its not a difficult job to do but quite fiddly getting at the top ones from under the car. Usually a certain amount of expletives are required to complete the job and this was true again for me!  The old rubber bushes had only been on the car about 3-4 years so it seems to be another example of modern replacement items being of poor quality. The replacements I fitted are polybush so should last MUCH longer.

Bluebell Run

The Bluebell Run is one of the HRCR Scenic Tour series and takes place only a few miles from home, mainly if the Forest of Dean area, so was ideal for us to enter.  It is run by Stuart Harrold of Ross and District Motor Club. Stuart was a works co-driver for Graham Elsmore in the mighty BL TR7V8 rally cars of the late 1970's so you can rely on him to give us an interesting day out. His 

route took us all around the best parts of the Forest of Dean and across the border into Wales with a run over the Skirrid to the finish at Ross on Wye.  

Bluebells picture by Chris Huish

The weather had started cool but soon improved and gave us another grand day out in the TR7.


Wheelnuts Car Show

The day after the Bluebell Run we took the car over to Stroud for the Wheelnuts Car Show. This is an annual charity event that raises funds for the St Rose's School. They cater for children with all kinds of learning and physical difficluties so is a great cause.  The TR7 took its place in the Glavon TR Register group lineup still carrying the rally plate and dust from the previous day's Bluebell Run.  This didn't seem to put the judges off because they still gave Glavon the award for the best club stand.

Look closely, there is a small trophy on top of the TR6 windscreen!

 

23rd April 2017, Corinium Run

2017 was the third year running that I have been out on the Corinium Run.  As usual it started in Cirencester but this years route took us to new areas and further north than before. My old friend/mechanic Chris Riley was along as navigator again and it was a bit of a surprise was to find ourselves on the front of the Roadbook. Only a little picture top left, but still nice to see!

Morning coffee stop was at the Classic Motor Hub near Bibury which was quite a surpise. It is located at some old WW2 aircraft hangers which are now used as a storage for lots of classic - and VERY expensive - motor cars. The first area we walked into had two open top Ferrari sports cars from the 1960s, both red and gleaming and an old V12 Delage from the 1920s. There were about 15 cars in that section and the man polishing one of the Ferraris told us they all belong to ONE man.

Very nice Ferrari at Classic Motor Hub

The route then took us further north to a lunch halt at Batsford Arboretum and garden centre where our cars attracted a good deal of interest from the folks having their Sunday carvery. From there we meandered back to Cirencester via a tea stop at Bourton on the Water to complete the 120 mile route.

Quite a lot of the villages we passed through had people out watching and waving which was nice to see.  They obviously enjoyed seeing some nice older cars for a change and Quenington even posted lots of pictures of the cars on their village blog page.

Quenington village picture

Nice picture 1

Nice picture 2

Surely the Spirit of the Day

9th April 2017, TR Register Glavon group run to Croft Castle

After our super day out on the Daffodil Run one of our TR Register Glavon group members had organised a nice little club run up to Croft Castle near Leominster on 9th April. About 20 TRs of various types met up at a garden centre just north of Hereford having arrived from several collection points.  The weather was absolutely perfect with a clear blue sky so after a cuppa and nibbles we all set off in convoy and made a fine sight.

Almost immediately after leaving the start we crossed a small ford near the village of Wellington and I managed to get a couple of screen shots from our dashcam.

TR3 in front of us leaving the ford

We went through a little faster!

I couldn't resist ploughing through the water, but none of our cars had any problems and it was only about 15 miles further on to our destination at Croft Castle.

It had been arranged that some of the cars would be parked in front of the house but there was only room for some of us and we were lucky to be the last one allowed there. 

Good selection of Glavon TRs at Croft Castle

We had arrived just before lunchtime and the cars proved quite an attraction as more visitors arrived during the day. Many of them stopped to ask questions and talk about the cars. Turns out one of the castle guides used to live close to the factory at Solihull where my TR7 was built and he used to own one himself back in the 1970s.

Looking out from the castle.

By now the temperature had reached the low 20s so sandals and shorts were required.  After a bite to eat we had plenty of time to look around the lovely grounds and the house itself, where some of the orginal family still live. Their family tree on display dates back to 1089 which is a bit further than I have been able to get with mine!

All of  us set off  to make our individual journeys home and we had a leisurely run with the warm weather meaning that sandals, tee-shirts and shorts were still ideal for the drive back.

Another grand day out in the TR7.