car update

The car is back with Roy and he tells me that the guys have done a fantastic job with the exhaust and under car protection (at a very reasonable price!). Roy has removed the HT leads and will replace them with silicon ones, hopefully ensuring the Monit then works properly. He has also decided that we should put the steel hawsers around the rear axle, ensuring that if we take off the axle won’t drop too far and invert or break the springs. That should be it, leaving us two weekends for James to drive the car.

 

James has returned from holiday in Spain and is a little anxious that we don’t have a complete car yet. There are, I hear, plenty of others which are still in pieces.

 

RHC

Rerouting due to challenges in Kyrgyzstan

We have all seen the news and read the reports of the situation in the south of Kyrgyzstan in and around the city of Osh. The organisers, having taken advice and talked to their agents in the region have, reluctantly, decided to re-route the rally to avoid this potential trouble spot.

 

The current plans are as follows:

 

We will stay for one further night in Almaty, allowing crews more rest and repair time and more chance to explore this beautiful city. We will now leave Almaty on the morning of the 28th September and head west to the city of Shymkent in Kazakhstan for the night halt before entering Uzbekistan on our scheduled date of the 29th September.

 

Sadly this proposed route will mean we do not enter Kyrgyzstan so avoiding any potential visa issues with leaving and re-entering Kazakhstan.

 

It is unfortunate that we will have to avoid one of the most beautiful and scenic parts of the route in Kyrgyzstan. However the Hotel in Almaty is the nicest one of all the hotels en route, save for Paris, so some good has come out of this difficult situation. 

 

RHC

Car update

The new exhaust is fitted as is a skid plate under the sump. They engineers have fitted a second skin to the fuel tank to provide some further protection against a stone puncturing it. The car will be back with Roy today. Roy just needs to fit silicon HT leads to minimise interference with the Monit. Unfortunately he needs to measure the old ones before he can order new ones to be made. This will take until the end of next week giving us approximately 2 weeks for further testing.

 

Oil pressure and temperature are good and everything looks to be coming together.

 

I need to start to pull together the spares and detailed contents list for shipping. I will go and find two old shock absorbers today to take.

 

RHC

Osh - its not getting any better!

The body count keeps increasing and the Russian paratroopers are on their way to Osh.

 

With over 100 dead and refugees flooding across the border the situation in Kyrgystan doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10304165.stm

 

We will be in Osh, all things being equal, in three months time on 28^th September. Plenty of time for any self respecting government to get a grip. Just what Osh will need, 100 vintage cars arriving in the middle of a civil war!

 

I hope that they haven’t burnt our hotel down or it will be another night in a God forsaken tent!

 

RHC

Kyrgystan

Nice news from Kyrgystan this morning. 26 killed in the City of Osh where we are due on 28^th September. Not perhaps high on the holiday destination list at the moment. I’m not even going to look at what the Foreign Office recommends. I’m delighted that its Mallorca with the children and Tuscany with the in-laws this summer!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10290717.stm

 

All part of one hell of an adventure!

 

RHC

Iran

Nice email from the Endurance Rally Association extracting another £300 for passage through Iran. It supposedly avoids the considerably more expensive and complex issue of  obtaining a Carnet de Passage before entering Iran. We shall find out when we get to the border!

 

RHC

travel essentials

This useful bit of advice came from Alice. I have no idea what she was searching for when she came across this. I thought that we had plenty of loos!

Sent: 11 June 2010 09:57
To: james.chancellor@investec.co.uk
Cc: 'Caron Chancellor'; 'Richard Cunningham'
Subject: travel essentials

 

I was thinking of laying some of these for your travels – what do you think ?       (Might also find one useful on those journeys to Yorks and back ??!)

 

Al x

Exhaust and sump guard

Just heard from Roy that as promised the Lagonda was delivered to the
specialist on Monday and the exhaust and sumpguard will all be
finished by next Wednesday. I hope that I can collect it by the end of
next week which will give us three weeks to get some more miles on the
clock. All good at the moment.

James and I are minimising the contact we have knowing we have 36 days
together, in close proximity. I'm confident that we wll find something
to talk about!

RHC
Sent from my iPhone

Blog - Making history .

Richard and I are just two simple souls engaging upon a life affirming experience that 

celebrates our 50th birthdays. 

This life affirming experience is something we hope to achieve for ourselves, our families and 

everyone who knows us and maybe for many who don't. 

It is now my hope that we can create the biggest blog following in the world. 

We leave it to you to help us - Good luck !!

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OMG- This should help .

http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-reports/dr-renee-mueller-md-5df73c86

No pictures - although I think I can provide them later. 

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The drivers as one !

Here is a picture of the pair of us - taken quite recently . Renee is nowhere to be seen and for that matter neither can you see any fettling going on . 

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June 6th and we are still in the race . !! - The strange case of Renee Mueller

Happy to have been stuck in London working (not) this week.

Wondering what sort of job it is I have.

Ringing people up to leave a message with them about whether or not Home Retail will produce earnings of 22p or 22.5p - I mean I'm a grown man.

Forget me and my job what about ,fettling,

                               what about builders in London,

                               what about Renee. 

The connection between fettling and builders in London is a long story and only came about because of my inability to get words and their meaning correctly aligned. I was with some gay builders and they had been discussing felching stories but of course this has nothing to do with fettling.

Renee comes next and what a story this seems to have been. I t includes the 5 stages of life , something like anger, depression, violence, pure luck and what the hell is going on ! 

The point is there is a big story about a man called Renee and although it may involve unsightly acts with a marrow it is not something to be put on a blog.I can however offer a discreet mobile service for those interested 

So Richard and i have not spoken all week - Just getting some practice in !  

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car update

The engine oil came out clean which is excellent news and the cylinder head had very little tightening required which was also good news. Roy is busy fettling!

 

We have decided against replumbing the carburettor filters and fitting a mighty new filter. We are going to fit a couple of K&N filters made specifically for high levels of filtration and specifically for the SU carburettors. It is much quicker and much cheaper. We will take a couple of spare elements to save us having to clean the filters when in a rush.

 

The exhaust is being fitted on Monday which is great news. It may take a day or it may take a week, either way its well within our current timescale. The same guys are also going to work on the sump guard.

 

All in all its all good news – at least better than our fellow M45 competitor Rene Mueller! Ask James its a long and sorry tale!

 

RHC

Running in!

I collected the car on Thursday and drove, very gently (no more than 45mph, 1500prm), back to Oakham to collect Coco from School. Although 10 minutes late to collect her she was absolutely delighted to be picked up in the Lagonda. We were both so pleased that I took her back to school in the car on Friday. I was told by Roy that we need to have done as close to 300 miles by the time I take her back on Tuesday. No more miles were achieved on Friday as I was picking up Flora-Jane and Rory and Saturday was busy with Ballet in the morning (for Coco not me!). I managed 100 miles yesterday and 80 this morning (after an early start). With Roy’s miles we have done 300 by the time it got back to the garage. Then the moment of truth, emptying the engine oil through a filter there was no sign of any debris whatsoever! We were both delighted.

 

Now its heads down for the exhaust and sump guard. I must remember to call the Monit people for some feedback.

 

When all is said and done we do now have a car that seems to running really well and we have already done a lot of work to get her into rally condition.

 

RHC