HERO LEJOG 2012

December 1st to December 4th …. And the rest of the week to recover. That’s the Lands End to John O Groats endurance trial which is fast approaching. Coming close to what was a very hard Rally of the Tests for both Beastie and I, this will be a tough event.

Previous LEJOG’s have been very tight and tough, one in particular bordering on impossible to complete and the John Kiff Era is upon us, so we are expecting a great route (this time venturing into Gods Pasture on the West coast of Scotland, where the real magic exists) and a well thought through event. John is a fierce competitor and a rally man through and through. His toughening up of LEJOG continues so 2012 will I’m sure be a great bit of Motorsport.

All the usual issues; time off, car preparation …. And weather. What and who to believe. If you look at the forecasts for the beginning of December it’s all a bit damp and mushy, but believe the weather girls and its a different story altogether – the worst winter for 100 years is coming. Hopefully Beastie will be clean and polished back at Ancells Farm before it lands.

Vredestein have been good to me this year and our winter boots are with us already, on a set of mag rims and in their bags ready to go back on the car. At the moment I’m hoping to run the SP82’s as they deal with muddy and wet conditions very well, but they just do not work in the cold. I’d say 5 degrees or below and in time for the greasy ones to go on. The problem is that they change the handling characteristics of the car dramatically, meaning that I have to tighten up the shocks and also I lose an appreciable amount of ground clearance as the treads are not as tall as the SP82’s …. So the winter tyres are very poor in the rough. If only Dunlop made a 175 15 70 winter tyre that was as good as the SP82 …..

ROTT was a bit arduous in all the wrong ways, but we have the steering rack modification proven and a quick test last weekend convinced me that the issue was a one off, caused by poor manufacture of the steering rack. The actual rack is up to the job, just shittily assembled and I suspect quality assurance is a bit sparse. Honestly, if anyone is interested, I’d pay double for a decent product. Please take note.

Apart from that Beastie took ROTT without any other issues. A few paint chips and a bit more waxoyl needed for this one to keep out the cold, but other than the normal post event wash and brush up we are ready to go.

The general route instructions for LEJOG are on the HERO website, so take a look their for the usual spectator and main control information. If you can’t find it email us and I’ll forward a bulletin on to you if you are interested.

The entry list looks very good and a number of the Triumph crews are out, unfortunately not our Gold Medal winning fiends Charlie Harrison and Jonathan Hancox this time. Nick Jarvis and Chris Winter are out in Beastie’s little cousin which Baz Cannon is preparing as you read this, Roger Bricknell is out in his 4a and two of the HERO TR4s are out with new crews, all three cars having had a once over at our Mothership TR Enterprises, so expect them to be on the button and ready to finish.

Stay with us ….. Lands End in the dark on Thursday 29th late. Rally start Saturday 1st at the Lands End Hotel, Test 1 round the cliff top road overlooking the Atlantic.

So …. Friday night and the end of a rather frantic day who says rallying is easy ….

Thursdays trip down to the cornwall revealed another duff part …. A white wired a type overdrive solenoid. Quite a distinctive smell when they burn out …. And usually about 1000 miles.And 5500 to 6000 rpm for an hour and a half to get to our friends at Revington TR for a spare plus a spare mid journey. Thanks to Carl and Dan for the lending of a ramp and hands to sort it.

Made the pub in Sennen Cove only 30 minutes late to find Richard with beers on the bar, surrounded by friends, maps in hand. Now that’s a proper navigator.

Scrutineering and documentation on Lejog is always a bit long and drawn or but this year Peter Elliott and his team were very slick, as well as very thorough – the machinery going through was great to see …. LEJOG is attracting some fabulous stuff, particularly from Europe so well done the organisers.

We are running car 15 behind our Team Triumph team mates Nick Jarvis and Chris Winter in Beasties sibling 11VC and just ahead of 4 other TRs in what must be the most competitive class of the event. Our third team car and probably the class of the field is Roger Bricknell and Ryan Pickering, this time in Rogers 4a. Roger and Ryan were first overall last year, so very much one of the favourites.

HERO have two TR4s out this year so also watching them as good novice crews in both, but perhaps most noteworthy is Francis Galashan in his green TR4a fresh out of TR Enterprises this week after a proper sorting. That’s a car and a half, so I expect to see that crew in the top of the results sheet.

Out of MTC 1 at 07.59, with three minutes to get to the start of Test 1 …. Then its onward through Cornwall to John O Groats.

Wish us luck …. This year I think we could do with some.

Quick update from Cardiff at the end of the first day, and on he way into the night section through Wales ….. So far very hard going and a tough event …..

Manifold cracked again ….. More repairs

We lie second overall and 1st in class behind our friends Rob and Ed Kiff in the beetle … 3rd is Kevin and Matt in the Mini Cooper …

Fastest in class on the Tests ….

Saturdays night section was fierce ….. We missed a PC somewhere and had a puncture on the regularity so that lot cost us dear …. 4 places … And our medals. We tried but dropped too much time, although our tyre change was as quick as it could be.

We met our friends Rob and Ed going backwards down a slope at one point …. Having spun down a hill, the realised that we were barrelling toward them at pace ….. And probably going to do the same thing. Spin averted but I had to broadside the car down the lane to slow it and use the tyre walls to slow us down …. No grip. We missed the Kiffs by a few feet …. And lots of tyre smoke.

A very late arrival into Llangollen …. A long night ….

Well you could say its frantic …. The hardest LEJOG for a long time. Little time to post im afraid but here’s a little update from Fort William, having blundered all the way up the west coast …. We were 6th at some point …. I believe we may have crept up a bit …

A few issue with the exhaust manifold (again) …. Cracked welded joints which is sucking air in …. Fine when I’m
Nailing it, but poor on low rev running. Big jets of flame out the back so entertaining at least.

This mornings regularities were completely white and slithery, so much so that a number of cars left the roads …. One fairly heavily. We were lucky and I used the handbrake a lot …. Richard really doesn’t like the feeling of the car sliding at all.

Stanhope Ford was horrible …. At least we got through and but Beastie hated it and I had to be very loud and revvy to keep her running …. Again good entertainment I’m told !

We leave here at 10 …. It’s cold and icy …. More tomorrow ….