TR7 Trip to Le Mans
Discussion
Thought I'd finally get round to telling this story! Bit of an epic so apologies if you get bored!
For the last 6 or so years myself & a group of mates have been heading to Le Mans for the 24hr. We've been on motorbikes, cars & vans and back at the end of 2008 we started to plan the 2009 trip & fancied doing something a bit different. After some silly chat in the pub we decided on some kind of Top Gear type challenge. Lots of ideas got chucked into the pot but we eventually decided on a budget of £400 for the car + £100 additional tweaking budget. This fantastic sum of money would have to buy us either a convertible/t-bar or full length sunroof sports car!
To cut a long story short (I do have the long version written somewhere but I can't find it) I ended up buying a 1977 TR7 with peel back sunroof for £150 which left me with plenty of cash to get it sorted out & believe me it needed sorting! The car wasn't a runner, knackered head gasket which seems to be a fairly common fault but the good news was there was a spare engine in the boot. After a bit of messing about the engine was sorted by my father-in-law & I had a running TR7 that somehow passed an MOT.
Now I live in Scotland & all my mates live in the Midlands so I had a long way to go to Le Mans & to make matters more complicated I had to go to a conference in Bolton on the way down to the Midlands but at least it would break up the journey.
The day before I set of to Bolton the alternator decided to pack up & I didn't have enough time to pick up another one & fit it. So what do you do? Of course you charge up the battery & head off with you fingers crossed! I arranged for a new alternator to be sent to the inlaws in the Midlands which I could fit once I arrived there. I left Edinburgh & stopped of at in Berwick to pick up another battery to hold in reserve! About half way to Bolton the original battery died and the car ground to a halt so I quickly jumped out & swapped the battery over and carried on. Amazingly the second battery was good enough to make it to Bolton. I got some funny looks from the guy in the Travelodge as I walked in with 2 car batteries & a charger to get some juice back in them overnight.
Conference finished I head off to Birmingham to meet up with the guys & get the new alternater fitted. About 20 mins into the journey an almighty bang came from underneath the car & it sounded like the exhaust had dropped off. I pulled over & looked underneath expecting to see the exhaust hanging off but no it was all there. Lifting the bonnet to check the manifold I noticed that one of the plug leads was hanging off, with the plug still in it. It had managed to blow out a spark plug (In hindsight I do seem to remember being told something about a weak thread in the head on one of the plugs!)
So I very carefully put the plug back in and there seemed to be enough thread top hold it but 2 minutes up the road it blew out again! Pulled over again & this time used a bit off foil from a chewing gum wrapper to supplement the ruined thread. Amazingly this seemed to work and I trundled off at a steady pace towards Birmingham, stopping half way to change batteries again!
I reached the outskirts of Brum still going well when the heavens opened, I needed the wipers & the lights but the battery was on it's last legs. I took a gamble and put the lights on but keep the wipers off hoping the rainex would be good enough. The blowers would have been usefull but again they use up electricity & I was running out so the windows were steaming up faster than I could keep wiping them with my sleeve. The car was really struggling now & to make matters worse I now discovered that the sunroof was about as much use as a sieve so I was getting wet through.
I reached my junction and with relief pulled off the M6 with only a mile or so to go just as the rain slowed down. Everything was looking good to meet up with the guys, I realised the car wouldn't be going to Le Mans but at least it would get to Brum. Within sight of my destination the car blew out the plug again, this time when I pulled over the plug was gone, completely vanished so I went the last 1/2 mile on 3 cylinders sounding like a really bad Harley!
I met up with the guys and after a mad rush to organise a back up car we headed to Le Mans for a great weekend. I vowed to return in 2010 with the Yellow Peril so plans were hatched to get the engine sorted & try again.
In the meantime a local journo happened to be in our village & I was working on the car. It has race numbers on (number 46 in honour of Rossi, it is yellow after all!) so she asked if I raced it. I told her I didn't and told her the story of how I came to buy it. Being a slow day for news in our local freebie paper she decided to write an article, more on that later!
2010 came round and the car miraculously passed an MOT again and I headed off to Le Mans again. Below is a copy of the email I sent to my mates once I returned, hope you find it amusing!
" Well gentlemen after a gruelling triple stint from Le Mans to Stirling
> the number 46 Craft Motorsport TR7 finally completed the distance.
>
> After clearly starting the trip as the underdog with the red car
> expecting to take all the glory the number 46 car put in a fine
> performance on the way down. Keen to put the troubles of last year
> behind it the car stayed on the pace throughout the journey. It
> arrived in Le Mans after running well & both TR7's only suffering from
> minor electrical problems, none of which were serious enough to halt
> the cars progress.
>
> The return journey started well with the car almost outdragging the
> Trax Express Nissan Navara driven by Bobby Stockton at a Toll booth.
> Traffic caused the number 46 car to have to lift off which allowed the
> Navara through. Later on the Autroute the TR7 saw an indicated 90 mph
> which set a new personal best for the car since coming into the hands
> of driver Jimbo Stockton.
>
> Once over the channel it became clear the car was starting to loose
> oil & a carefull eye was kept on the levels. It didn't cause any major
> problems & only resulted in the car having to limit it's cruising
> speed to 70mph. A slight delay occured at the Dartford crossing as the
> driver realised he didn't have a single penny of English money on him
> to pay the toll & they don't accept cards. After much negotiation he
> got away with a blue slip of paper instructing him to send a chq for
> £1.50 when he got home.
>
> An intermitted fault in the Red Craft Motor Sport car driven by Big G
> Rollins meant an unscheduled pit stop to work on the cooling system
> which allowed the number 46 car to power through & arrive in the
> Midlands first.
>
> After a scheduled stop for fuel & oil the 46 car set off on it's final
> stint at 9.30pm. The minor electrical fault that had been plaguing the
> car all week was finally sorted & traced to to cracked fuse holder.
> Once sorted it allowed the rear lights to finally work as the sun set
> and the car headed north.
>
> The driver began to notice a strange smell from the car, putting it
> down to burning oil James made a quick splash & dash to check the
> levels & top up with Ginsters. All looked good but the smell got worse
> & a whine started to appear at the rear of the car. A decison was made
> to to turn up the stereo to avoid the noise, whilst this helped for a
> short time the whine got worse so more drastic action was required &
> ear plugs were fitted. This allowed the driver to continue with having
> to listen to the problem.
>
> Throttling back to a steady 60mph it became clear that the trip was
> going to be about reliability rather than outright speed but at
> approximately 2am, 80 miles from the finish line the car lurched quite
> violently causing the driver to spill his Hula Hoops.
>
> Talking to our reporter this morning Jimbo said, "I quickly pulled off
> the racing line, keen to avoid Mary Lou the Eddie Stobbart Truck that
> was overtaking. It was clear something serious was wrong as the back
> end sounded like a bag of spanners in a cement mixer"
>
> Once out the car it became clear the seals on the diff had let go as
> the underside of the car was covered in oil & the remaing oil in the
> diff was fizzing & crackling like a chip pan clearly overheating.
> Raking through the boot the driver located a bottle of water & a can
> of Vimto which he immediately poored on the diff in the hope of cooling it down.
> The car was restarted and limped 1 mile to the next junction at 30mph
> where the tortured diff was allowed to rest & cool down. Whilst the
> driver was relieving himself in a bush some of Bobby's mates arrived
> in a panda car wanting to know why the car was parked in the entrance
> to field and the driver was rustling in the bushes.
>
> Once the driver had cleared up what was happening with Bobby's mates
> one of them exclaimed "I used to have 2 TR's a 2 litre & a V8, both of
> them were s
t too!" The next 1/2 hour was spent chatting with Bobby's
> mates about the finer points of British Leyland engineering. They then
> got a call over the radio to attend a riot at the local doughnut shop
> so they left the driver to restart the car & try to continue.
>
> Clearly number 46 was in a bad shape but it became clear that it could
> move & that 40mph could be possible & that it might make it to the
> finish line. After being constantly overtaken by trucks, milkfloats,
> horses & a kid on some wheelie shoes 46 made it 10 miles to the next
> service station where the driver attempted to cool the diff with water
> from the hose on the forecourt. Once again the lack of any English
> money proved his downfall as the water machine needed 20p so he
> resorted to filling up his Vimto bottle from the toilets and chucking
> it over the diff again.
>
> This routine continued at every service station between Gretna &
> Stirling until finally at 4am, 22hours after setting off the number 46
> car pulled across the finishing line under it's own steam.
>
> So next year I'm flying!"
For the last 6 or so years myself & a group of mates have been heading to Le Mans for the 24hr. We've been on motorbikes, cars & vans and back at the end of 2008 we started to plan the 2009 trip & fancied doing something a bit different. After some silly chat in the pub we decided on some kind of Top Gear type challenge. Lots of ideas got chucked into the pot but we eventually decided on a budget of £400 for the car + £100 additional tweaking budget. This fantastic sum of money would have to buy us either a convertible/t-bar or full length sunroof sports car!
To cut a long story short (I do have the long version written somewhere but I can't find it) I ended up buying a 1977 TR7 with peel back sunroof for £150 which left me with plenty of cash to get it sorted out & believe me it needed sorting! The car wasn't a runner, knackered head gasket which seems to be a fairly common fault but the good news was there was a spare engine in the boot. After a bit of messing about the engine was sorted by my father-in-law & I had a running TR7 that somehow passed an MOT.
Now I live in Scotland & all my mates live in the Midlands so I had a long way to go to Le Mans & to make matters more complicated I had to go to a conference in Bolton on the way down to the Midlands but at least it would break up the journey.
The day before I set of to Bolton the alternator decided to pack up & I didn't have enough time to pick up another one & fit it. So what do you do? Of course you charge up the battery & head off with you fingers crossed! I arranged for a new alternator to be sent to the inlaws in the Midlands which I could fit once I arrived there. I left Edinburgh & stopped of at in Berwick to pick up another battery to hold in reserve! About half way to Bolton the original battery died and the car ground to a halt so I quickly jumped out & swapped the battery over and carried on. Amazingly the second battery was good enough to make it to Bolton. I got some funny looks from the guy in the Travelodge as I walked in with 2 car batteries & a charger to get some juice back in them overnight.
Conference finished I head off to Birmingham to meet up with the guys & get the new alternater fitted. About 20 mins into the journey an almighty bang came from underneath the car & it sounded like the exhaust had dropped off. I pulled over & looked underneath expecting to see the exhaust hanging off but no it was all there. Lifting the bonnet to check the manifold I noticed that one of the plug leads was hanging off, with the plug still in it. It had managed to blow out a spark plug (In hindsight I do seem to remember being told something about a weak thread in the head on one of the plugs!)
So I very carefully put the plug back in and there seemed to be enough thread top hold it but 2 minutes up the road it blew out again! Pulled over again & this time used a bit off foil from a chewing gum wrapper to supplement the ruined thread. Amazingly this seemed to work and I trundled off at a steady pace towards Birmingham, stopping half way to change batteries again!
I reached the outskirts of Brum still going well when the heavens opened, I needed the wipers & the lights but the battery was on it's last legs. I took a gamble and put the lights on but keep the wipers off hoping the rainex would be good enough. The blowers would have been usefull but again they use up electricity & I was running out so the windows were steaming up faster than I could keep wiping them with my sleeve. The car was really struggling now & to make matters worse I now discovered that the sunroof was about as much use as a sieve so I was getting wet through.
I reached my junction and with relief pulled off the M6 with only a mile or so to go just as the rain slowed down. Everything was looking good to meet up with the guys, I realised the car wouldn't be going to Le Mans but at least it would get to Brum. Within sight of my destination the car blew out the plug again, this time when I pulled over the plug was gone, completely vanished so I went the last 1/2 mile on 3 cylinders sounding like a really bad Harley!
I met up with the guys and after a mad rush to organise a back up car we headed to Le Mans for a great weekend. I vowed to return in 2010 with the Yellow Peril so plans were hatched to get the engine sorted & try again.
In the meantime a local journo happened to be in our village & I was working on the car. It has race numbers on (number 46 in honour of Rossi, it is yellow after all!) so she asked if I raced it. I told her I didn't and told her the story of how I came to buy it. Being a slow day for news in our local freebie paper she decided to write an article, more on that later!
2010 came round and the car miraculously passed an MOT again and I headed off to Le Mans again. Below is a copy of the email I sent to my mates once I returned, hope you find it amusing!
" Well gentlemen after a gruelling triple stint from Le Mans to Stirling
> the number 46 Craft Motorsport TR7 finally completed the distance.
>
> After clearly starting the trip as the underdog with the red car
> expecting to take all the glory the number 46 car put in a fine
> performance on the way down. Keen to put the troubles of last year
> behind it the car stayed on the pace throughout the journey. It
> arrived in Le Mans after running well & both TR7's only suffering from
> minor electrical problems, none of which were serious enough to halt
> the cars progress.
>
> The return journey started well with the car almost outdragging the
> Trax Express Nissan Navara driven by Bobby Stockton at a Toll booth.
> Traffic caused the number 46 car to have to lift off which allowed the
> Navara through. Later on the Autroute the TR7 saw an indicated 90 mph
> which set a new personal best for the car since coming into the hands
> of driver Jimbo Stockton.
>
> Once over the channel it became clear the car was starting to loose
> oil & a carefull eye was kept on the levels. It didn't cause any major
> problems & only resulted in the car having to limit it's cruising
> speed to 70mph. A slight delay occured at the Dartford crossing as the
> driver realised he didn't have a single penny of English money on him
> to pay the toll & they don't accept cards. After much negotiation he
> got away with a blue slip of paper instructing him to send a chq for
> £1.50 when he got home.
>
> An intermitted fault in the Red Craft Motor Sport car driven by Big G
> Rollins meant an unscheduled pit stop to work on the cooling system
> which allowed the number 46 car to power through & arrive in the
> Midlands first.
>
> After a scheduled stop for fuel & oil the 46 car set off on it's final
> stint at 9.30pm. The minor electrical fault that had been plaguing the
> car all week was finally sorted & traced to to cracked fuse holder.
> Once sorted it allowed the rear lights to finally work as the sun set
> and the car headed north.
>
> The driver began to notice a strange smell from the car, putting it
> down to burning oil James made a quick splash & dash to check the
> levels & top up with Ginsters. All looked good but the smell got worse
> & a whine started to appear at the rear of the car. A decison was made
> to to turn up the stereo to avoid the noise, whilst this helped for a
> short time the whine got worse so more drastic action was required &
> ear plugs were fitted. This allowed the driver to continue with having
> to listen to the problem.
>
> Throttling back to a steady 60mph it became clear that the trip was
> going to be about reliability rather than outright speed but at
> approximately 2am, 80 miles from the finish line the car lurched quite
> violently causing the driver to spill his Hula Hoops.
>
> Talking to our reporter this morning Jimbo said, "I quickly pulled off
> the racing line, keen to avoid Mary Lou the Eddie Stobbart Truck that
> was overtaking. It was clear something serious was wrong as the back
> end sounded like a bag of spanners in a cement mixer"
>
> Once out the car it became clear the seals on the diff had let go as
> the underside of the car was covered in oil & the remaing oil in the
> diff was fizzing & crackling like a chip pan clearly overheating.
> Raking through the boot the driver located a bottle of water & a can
> of Vimto which he immediately poored on the diff in the hope of cooling it down.
> The car was restarted and limped 1 mile to the next junction at 30mph
> where the tortured diff was allowed to rest & cool down. Whilst the
> driver was relieving himself in a bush some of Bobby's mates arrived
> in a panda car wanting to know why the car was parked in the entrance
> to field and the driver was rustling in the bushes.
>
> Once the driver had cleared up what was happening with Bobby's mates
> one of them exclaimed "I used to have 2 TR's a 2 litre & a V8, both of
> them were s
t too!" The next 1/2 hour was spent chatting with Bobby's > mates about the finer points of British Leyland engineering. They then
> got a call over the radio to attend a riot at the local doughnut shop
> so they left the driver to restart the car & try to continue.
>
> Clearly number 46 was in a bad shape but it became clear that it could
> move & that 40mph could be possible & that it might make it to the
> finish line. After being constantly overtaken by trucks, milkfloats,
> horses & a kid on some wheelie shoes 46 made it 10 miles to the next
> service station where the driver attempted to cool the diff with water
> from the hose on the forecourt. Once again the lack of any English
> money proved his downfall as the water machine needed 20p so he
> resorted to filling up his Vimto bottle from the toilets and chucking
> it over the diff again.
>
> This routine continued at every service station between Gretna &
> Stirling until finally at 4am, 22hours after setting off the number 46
> car pulled across the finishing line under it's own steam.
>
> So next year I'm flying!"
Edited by Jammez on Saturday 13th November 18:49
great story jammez
hope you are bringing the iconic 46 to the pistonheads scottish bash at broomhall castle in menstrie on the 27th !!
I have run from stirling to le mans and back for the last seven years and the 11 before that from various other mainland starts !!
Keep up the work and a new engine is all it takes !!
Ty
hope you are bringing the iconic 46 to the pistonheads scottish bash at broomhall castle in menstrie on the 27th !!
I have run from stirling to le mans and back for the last seven years and the 11 before that from various other mainland starts !!
Keep up the work and a new engine is all it takes !!
Ty
Number 46 is now in bits! I've managed to get hold of a stalled TR8 conversion & will be using the bits to sort out the car. Got a great deal £800 for 2 v8's, 2 convertible shells, suspension, brakes & subframe for the v8 plus tons of interior stuff. I want to keep the fhc shell rather than turn it into a convertible so the shell will need a fair bit of work but I have all the mechanical bits.
Can't make the bash unfortunately but I'm not far away from you guys, just over the water in Dunmore.
Can't make the bash unfortunately but I'm not far away from you guys, just over the water in Dunmore.
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