Monday and the Stelvio Pass

After a hearty breakfast all the teams assembled in a small side road a few hundred yards from the hotel before moving off in convoy up the mountain.

We had to climb up to almost 3000 feet above sea level, the last 1500 feet of which was through falling snow and low cloud.

About 10 miles from the summit we stopped and had coffee in a nice roadside cafe before tackling the final ascent into Italy and the mountain top village of Stelvios which the famous pass is named after.

A quick lunch of soup & rolls was followed by the awesome drive down the Top Gear road.

The AA team went ahead to set up several camera locations and we followed at intervals of about two minutes.

About half way down we swapped seats so that both of us could experience a once in a lifetime drive of 50 plus hairpins and spectacular shear drops.

We had no trouble with the car, the brakes held firm and as a bonus we used hardly any fuel on the descent.

Thanks to Msar Safety we were held firm in our seats by the Schroth harnesses and the Tran-X diff and Goodyear tyres provided all the traction we needed.

The drive down to Brescia was punctuated by a brief stop at Lake Garda where we sampled the delights of Italian ice cream and relaxed in the sunshine until all the teams arrived.

Two hours down the road saw us arriving at our hotel in Brescia and the start of our Mille Miglia Rally.

Day 2 Metz to Davos

Sunday began with Roy opening his Father's Day cards from two of his three children, (looks like Niel will miss out at Christmas)!.

After a quick briefing we all set off at intervals and on our chosen route to Davos.

We elected to take the scenic rote via Strazbourg and entered Switzerland at Basel. The road up to Davos was fairly quiet and the scenery was spectacular to say the least. We obviously started to climb higher and the roads began to twist & turn in every direction.

The car behaved very well even though the engine temperature did rise well above normal . The increasing altitude was expected to have an adverse effect on the performance of the engine but it didn't appear to miss a beat all the way up the mountain.

We arrived at Davos at about 5.30pm and borrowed a key card from Team DB4 which allowed us to park in the underground car park.


As you would expect, the Sheraton Arabella is a first class Hotel and obviously we dressed for the occasion.



Despite the overcast weather, the views from our balcony were breathtaking after a superb meal we sat around and exchanged stories with the other teams until time for bed.

Saturday 20/06/09 METZ, France.

Hi folks,
Well, so far so good. We made to the Euro Tunnel with plenty of time to spare so we were able to meet all the other travellers prior to loading on to the train.
What is it about AA guys, it seems that they are all comedians and I think its going to be a riot! There is a good mix of people this trip with a few apparently sensible people that will probably keep us all in line.
The car is running very well and apart from a bit of a vibration at 65mph there is nothing to give us cause for concern. The engine temperature is spot-on, top marks to Pro-Alloy for the radiator. The mods. made to the rear suspension have been worth the effort as it has never been so smooth a ride. The bends and bumps are not going to be a problem to us.
We have just enjoyed a very French style meal, interesting!! A few of us have walked into the local town but it was closed! We did find a restaurant that was prepared to serve drinks only and made us very welcome, at a price though!
Tomorrow we head off to Switzerland (Davos) and hope that the altitude doesn’t affect us or the car too much!
It may seem that today was not very interesting but we know that what lies ahead will more than make up for it.

Ready for the off..

There are now just a little over 19 hours to go before we head off down the M20 to meet up with all the other teams at Folkestone so this will be our last blog entry until we reach our first overnight stop in France.

This afternoon will be spent cleaning and polishing LKE and stowing away all our gear and making sure the essentials, like all the food and drink are within easy reach !

If all goes to plan, we'll set off on the first leg of our journey to Metz at about 5.00am tomorrow morning..

Two days and a few hours to go -

Just goes to show how generous some people can be..


In response to numerous requests from regular patrons of the County Pub, our car had pride of place outside the front door last night and was much admired by all.

As usual for a Tuesday evening there was a quiz on but it didn't start until 9.0pm so there was plenty of time to take some photos and spend a bit of time explaining what BEN was about and what modifications we have done to the car .

During the evening Nina, our quiz master (Mistress), made a special announcement about the BEN Rally and asked those present if they would like to make pledges on our sponsor sheets and by the end of the evening we had received over a hundred pounds worth of pledges.

Many thanks to everyone at the County for supporting our entry on the BEN rally, especially Lil, the licensee, who allowed us to publicise the Rally on the notice board and tables and who has kindly agreed to continue to collect pledges for us while we are away.

Only six days to go

Well, at long last the work on LKE is finished and we're finally...all systems go.

The past two months have seen much midnight oil being burnt as Roy and I set to and finished the five speed gearbox installation, fitted the Tran X slipper diff, bolted on the custom built Spax rear shocks and attached the new propshaft, speedo drive & handbrake cable and generally busied ourselves with refitting the seats, carpets and wiring in auxiliary fuse box.

As you would expect of a car of this age, nothing has been straight forward and some of the jobs turned into nightmares as we struggled to rebuild a rear spring hanger and replace two collapsed engine mounts with the engine in-situ.

Most of Friday was spent running the car around to some of our more local sponsors(W.L.Cooke, Radar Signs, CTM Engineering, Flowtech, Concours Autos, Nationwide Autocentre, Car Toonz and of course, Burton Power), in order that we could thank them, show them the car and take a few pictures. (see our web site www.Team-Anglia.com )

Both Roy and I are particularly indebted to Radar Signs for gifting us the superb BEN Mille Miglia Rally logos that now adorn the bonnet and boot lid and to Concours Autos for providing the carpet that now hides the new gearbox tunnel.

Yesterday was spent putting a few more stickers on the car and generally tidying up the interior. Needless to say we were both highly delighted when, at about five to one, wave after wave of RAF aircraft deliberately flew right over Roy' garden just to see how we were getting on !!.

The highlight of the day came when we took LKE a few hundred yards down the lane to show it off to the guys at Supervan. There, in the middle of their workshops was the most outrageous Reliant Van you could imagine. Wide wheels,(three of them !) a pair of huge spotlamps, power bulge, La-Cucaracha air horns and airfoil on the roof, truly a work of artistic (and possibly manic)genius.


Turns out this plastic masterpiece is going to be driven down to Nice in the Crumball Rally which starts on Thursday and finishes on Sunday.

Needless to say, there was lots of mutual respect and we can only wish the Supervan team all the best for their trip.

If everything goes to plan we will be hitting the road ourselves at about 05.30 on Saturday morning and heading off down the M25 to Kent and on to the M20 for Folkstone.

Keep watching this space......and don't forget to visit our web site at www.Team-Anglia.com

Stage two

We spent last evening removing the engine and, although we had a few minor hic-ups (like getting the oil cooler pipes and exhaust manifold flange bolts undone), it really wasn't too difficult.

Before we lifted the engine off its mounts we offered up the new radiator just to see how it would fit and, no surprises, it slid into the gap without any problems.

The guys at Pro-Alloy really have done a great job and we really can't thank them enough for what they have done.

The car is now up on axle stands and before this weekend we hope to have completed all the critical measurements to enable us to crack on with cutting away the firewall & tunnel and to fabricate and fit a new near side rear spring hanger.

While the back axle is out we hope to have the rear telescopic shock absorbers rebuilt and in our spare time we will install the Tran-X LSD.

Work is also progressing with our web site, www.Team-Anglia.com ,we are just waiting for a couple of companies to agree to our use of their logos and then we can publish the site in the Internet.

In the past few days SFS Performance have kindly offered to provide some new silicon coolant hoses and, with any luck, during the next week or so we should take delivery of an Odyssey Extreme Racing battery courtesy of Enersys Ltd and a pair of Schroth rally seat harnesses gifted to us by msar-safety. Thanks guys, it really is most kind of you to assist our efforts in this way.