London to Brighton 2007

To be honest I wasn't looking forward to doing the L2B, because every year something always goes wrong with my car and this time was no exception. With the weather looking pretty poor all week I thought it was going to be the same as last year, heavy rain and electrical problems. So to my surprise on Saturday afternoon when I woke up it was sunny. Throwing some stuff in the mini I set off to the services on the M23, to meet up with some L2B 'virgins' in a Bini Cooper S. We couldn't exactly say what we were thinking as we would have got a beating but plenty of people gave some abuse at Crystal Palace.

We set off for Crystal Palace after filling up with petrol, giving the cars a good loosen up up the M23. So far my car had been fine and hadn't leaked water everywhere. Once we hit Croydon I had the heater on full blast trying to keep the temperature down, it helped a bit but I still had to pull over. After a short stop, I followed the satnav to Crystal Palace, hoping the mini wouldn't overheat. I managed to lose the Bini after a few sets of traffic lights, there's just no way they could keep up.

Finally got to Crystal Palace, and just as the marshal checked my ticket it dumped all the water out of the radiator and the fan stopped working, so that's a job for this weekend (again). I parked up, the Bini eventually found me and parked up next to me, they bought everything but the kitchen sink. While I wandered off to cause trouble, they spent an hour putting up the tent, and all the other bits and bobs they had, and decided to tie a pink Xmas tree to the roof of my car. While everyone was messing about with bbq's and gas stoves I thought sod it I'll order a pizza, and got it delivered. Doc turned up, with the sound of screeching tyres as he tore round the car park scaring the crap out of his new girlfriend.
I didn't bother packing a tent because you never get any sleep if you camp, so I managed to kip for a few hours in the back of the mini, it wasn't too uncomfortable but I'm not doing that again. The chavy kids near me kept half the campsite awake with their loud noise, they got bored when they realised nobody really cared.

3am Sunday morning, woke up and cracked open a can of red bull and a couple of proplus. I saw two lines of cars queued up already so fired my car up, backed it up to the chav tent and woke them all up to the smell of unburnt fuel. Parked in line, and got me a bacon, sausage and egg roll for £4 - it was OK but my dog could have cooked better food. Waited hours and hours, and eventually we got going, well slowly anyway. Neil was somewhere near the front as his car was in show n shine, maybe that's why we were getting there slowly so his motor wouldn't get dirty.
As soon as I saw the exit for the M23 I booted it, in the hope that I would get there earlier but for some reason I always end up at the marina end. I eventually got to Brighton, and sat in the queue for Madeira drive for about 2 hours. With the fact the electric fan didn't work, and I didn't have any coolant in the rad, just plain water, everything started to steam a bit. I whacked the heater on and that seemed to cure it. Just as I got into Madeira drive, it spewed out a fair bit of water on to passers by. It was like driving a greenhouse. After steam cleaning half the cars in Madeira drive, I parked up, locked up and went off to see what was going on.

Same things every year, loads of people, lots of minis, and some trade stands. I had a look round, found Neil, Tina and baby Sam who gave me some advice to sort my car out. Luckily I had bought some stilts so Neil didn't have to look down. I saw Russell who was wearing a skin tight fluorescent jacket and cleaning the finger marks off his newly restored van. It does look nice. Bumped into Mr Kirk for a brief moment.

I picked up a few bits for the car, and wandered back to fill her up with water. Managed to get out of Brighton quite easily, it helps when you know the back roads, took me an hour to get back to Horsham without any overheating, but I did have the heater on all the time.

Riviera Run 2007

Well it's official, she is back. Katie is back on the road and don't half the small villages in Cornwall know about it. She fired up after a couple of attempts and the SEMOC Riviera Run 2007 was officially under way. This trip was all about Katie's long awaited return.
Meeting up with the rest of our small party at Fleet services we headed off down on the A30 onto our final destination. But not all went to plan. All going swimmingly we decided to look under the bonnet of Katie. That was probably a mistake. With the engine only doing 60 miles before the mega journey there were bound to be teething problems. On first inspection it seemed that it was a minor nick in the top hose. "Better replace that, I just know my luck" pipes up Andy. So into the car park and a quick top hose change and away we go. 2 minuets down the road Andy can be seen with his hand hanging out the window with what looked like the 2 finger salute so Doc gave him the 1 finger back. It then became obvious that there was a problem, pulling into the next lay by there was water spitting on his windscreen and steam pouring out from under the bonnet. The bonnet popped revealed an ill sealing top hose. Break down number 1 of 7. Another top hose put on we were off and arrived in the campsite with no further problems, which all could of been avoided had the advise of our resident mini mechanic Minidave, "for the the cost of a couple of quid you may as well change all those hoses for new ones",
"Nah", was the reply from Andy. Good move mate.
That day at the campsite, a cable tie, the very thing that keeps most of our minis in one piece was to be the minor downfall for Katie. Jumping into the cabin, turning the key... nothing. A quick look a loose wire connected and we were back under way to the shops.
The campsite now has a new area, Chav alley, with too many cars that seem more likely to be featured on www.barryboys.co.uk rather than at any mini show. Far to much crappy fibre glass and filler to make any mini purest sick at the sight.
This was all followed by a night out on the tiles in the fine town of Newquay, plenty of hen nights and stag dos for any person to endure.
Sunday and the show opens, a quick walk round and we bump into our own travelling hobo, Charlie who came down in yet another different mini. With the show checked out and a few purchases, including some new attire for newest member Sam at 11 weeks old, we headed off to the caravan to kit Katie out with a brand new top hose and to sort out a fumage problem in the cabin.
On to the run, and what a run. Great fun and perfect pace notes, even though it was noticeable that some people were going wrong but not us. It didn't start perfectly to plan for Katie with a loose wire meaning no lights or horn, quickly sorted.
A perfect photo opportunity for Karen from Mini World who got some cracking action shots of Katie and Neil and all was going well. Then came a moment that was too much for Andy to resist. 5 normal cars and a small mini convoy in front on a wide road there was only one option. Indicate right and overtake the lot of them. Whizzing past them was not a problem, with a roundabout up ahead on to the breaks and down a gear and then 'ping'. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah I heard something... Mate... I've got no gears!"
"Whatever, stop taking the piss!"
"Seriously fella, I'm stuck in 4th..."
We struggle over to the next layby. Bonnet popped, jack out and car up. Under the car we go to see that the gear selector roll pin is clearly missing. "That'll be that 'ping then!" A modified brake calliper split pin and we're back off again, but not for long. The heavens open and water started to get under the bonnet through the new commercial grill. With Katie getting slower and slower she finally cuts out going up a hill before a blind apex. With things dried off, a new bit of emergency wireing and copeius amounts of WD40 and we crawled back to the campsite.
With Sunday morning upon us the drizzle was coming down and this upset Katie for the ride home. Not even a mile out of the campsite and she cut out. With Neil and Doc pushing her down the road we got her into a comfy parking area. A new set of HT leads (how many spare parts do you carry in the back of your mini Neil?) and all seemed to be cured.
The traffic was atrocious on the way home and Katie suffered her final problem with overheating issues. A stop off in a garage and the electric fan hard wired to a switch in the cabin and all was good for the ride home. With the traffic and Neil having to stop for fuel every 20 minuets to feed his supercharged beast it looked like a long journey. We thought we had it bad but some poor couple decided to take the route home back to Sheffield via Lands End and then along the A30 just so the could see Stone Henge. Big mistake mate, you should of just looked it up on the internet you would of got better pictures.
Our final member got in through his front door at 9.30 after leaving Newquay at 1pm. Still worth the trip and good to so many other London minis making the journey.