Engine Punk

In the queue for Darracott After the overheating and under bonnet fire on this year’s Exeter Trial, I set out to prevent any of that nonsense happening again. I fitted a new fan switch, a new temp gauge and sender and replaced any dodgy looking hoses. I used generic silicon ones wherever possible but some around the water pump on the Passat engine were bespoke and many branched like baby octopi. Finding the right ones took time and trial and error although I found AI helpful. Parts suppliers want to know my registration number as a starting point. I cut a long story short, I have European Article Numbers for them now, the 13-digit numerical code that accompanies a bar code. I never found out why it overheated on the start line of Waterloo after queueing when the ground was frozen but there you and there it is. I can only assume that wise owl Simon Robson was right. It was one of those things. The rear wheel bearing seals had sprung leaks as well, allowing oil to contaminate the rea...

A family affair 1 - Team Robson at the start of the 2022 Land's End Trial. Esme was out of the frame, dancing. My aim for the 98 th Land’s End Trial was to do better than last time. Regular readers will remember that in my last Land’s End episode , I didn’t get as far as the Bridgwater Time Control. The ignition warning lamp bulb had blown so the charging system wasn’t getting “excited” and the battery gradually lost its charge until the engine conked out. By the time we got going again, we were out of time for the start. And then on the way home… But enough about the 97 th . That was then and this was now. I was feeling sufficiently ambitious this year to aim for a finish. Binky reprised his 2002 Exeter Trial role as my navigator and drove down to my place on Friday. He’d had Covid the week before so was still a bit phlegmatic and fatigued. He also felt the cold more than usual so we had the top up for the night. Some people have dancing Elvises on their dashboards for luck...

In this picture of the Allard in the queue at Warleggan, you can just make out the end of the axle before  the end of our John Aley Trial That last cliffhanger left your brave boys with an immobile Allard at the top of Blue Hills. We couldn't go forward. We could roll backwards but had no drive in any gear. Gareth White was spectating after losing his Marlin’s rear electrics soon after the start and he noticed the end of the axle going round without driving the offside wheel. The horrible clicking noise was the snap of the key and then it moving against the hub as the axle turned. Willing hands bounced us around so that we could get towed out by a JCB.  In these circumstances, I remember the end of Spike Milligan’s TV show, where the cast would shuffle forward, repeatedly saying, “What do we do next? What do we do next?” Binky lives near Andover. I live near Liskeard, which isn’t quite on the way. If we could get the car recovered to Binky’s place, the driver probably wou...

Did we clean Angel Steps? Read on (Photo : Peter Brown) This year's Tamar Trial was brilliant, just brilliant, tough but tasty and with some very soft centres. Under the able guidance of bouncer and navigator, Mr Graham Beddoe, I took the Arkley-MG up to the start at Tresmeer Village Hall, Tresmeer being the first of many places that I would visit for the first time despite living here for years. The sunshines on the Fergusons Liege at scrutineering oustside the village hall at Tresmeer. What a moment - don't Fergusons have four wheel drive? Nigel Cowling was there to greet us and he said we would be climbing some sections that would be new to us. As this was my first Tamar Trial, this was no surprise, and he said we would be going round the "other way." Many of the sections looked like they hadn't had anyone walking along them for a long time and where the hedges broadened out from sunken lanes young trees were often growing in the middle so we had ...