show report London to Brighton 2009

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

Glad to hear the old girl got there.Felt a bit guilty driving off leaving you there.What a great place to stop though ,maximum incovenience to all:rofl:

We were up at the palace at seven,the peerless wd 1916 was an early vehicle out due to his top speed of 10mph.We met up with them at the break point they were frozen.The vehicle was left in France by the americans after the war,had been used a lot on farms.The standard of vehicles was great.The traffic was lousy at the rest stop,had to feel sorry for the old uns there was a lot of kangarooing from some of the clutches,we were alongside a two stroke foden which sounded great ,i was hoping to film the noise on the open rd but got fed up with the traffic so headed for haylin.he did rev it up a bit when he saw me videoing.Pics /video later.:cool2:

[Great War truck]

Just as a bit of background, The Historic Commercial vehicle Society (HCVS) has an annual 54 mile run from London to Brighton. Entry for this annual run is open to commercial vehicles over 20 years old, but preference is generally given to older ones. It has been the case in recent years that entries have been undersubscribed and that the vehicles are becoming more modern.

 

We have previously taken both of our Autocars on the run and have been wanting for a while to take the FWD. As you will know we have been having great difficulty in getting it to run smoothly though and every trip out seems to end up with it beside the road and us scratching our heads. Steve had identified the problem as fuel evaporation and had re routed the fuel line outside the engine compartment. This seemed to work and it was running significantly better. Despite that, the longest journey that we had undertaken prior to the London to Brighton was about 9 miles.

 

In recent years another ex US Army FWD has been under restoration. This was finished in time for the run and the owner suggested that we do the run with both trucks together.

 

So, the first thing we did was have our FWD collected on the Friday and moved up to a yard near him.

 

 

We left it there and then the next day we put both FWD’s on to the same trailer. It was a bit of a squeeze and after some fun and games we got them both lined up. It was great to see his FWD. It was made by “Mitchell” under licence from FWD and with some minor detail differences such as wheels.

 

 

 

Once we had them both secured we put it back in the shed for the night. As you can see the trailer was really quite large indeed.

 

 

The following morning we arrived at the yard at 5:00AM and began the haul up to Crystal Palace. We encountered a couple of problems on the way. Firstly, due to some road works they sent us on a diversion through a housing estate. Narrow roads and tight turns the whole way, but with Pauls excellent driving we got through safely (although one traffic cone came of worst). As we were negotiating this a couple of drunks saw us and went charging after the truck. When they caught up with it they lay down on the back under the axles. At this stage Paul asked Big Mark to get out and ask them to get off. Thinking this might turn nasty I got ready to give him some assistance, but a couple of words from Mark and they decided to get off. A right old nuisance.

 

We got to the Palace a bit later than planned and started unloading and attracted quite a bit of interest.

 

After checking in Graham left at about 7:20 and we were right behind him. Sadly we lost him after we had done 9 miles and didn’t see him again until we had done about 30 miles. The reason for this was after 9 miles the FWD died at some traffic lights:

 

 

At this moment who should appear but Catweasle, so we had a quick chat. Also appearing was the marvellous Seb Marshall in an early Ford van and who diagnosed a magneto problem, which it transpired was giving no spark at all. He towed us out of the way into a layby and took off the magneto

 

 

Seb has lots of experience and although we would have come up with the same diagnosis he did it very quickly indeed. Inside the magneto, the metal spring was all twisted into a mess and which was causing it to short. Seb took this out and put the magneto back together. With this sorted we went shooting off, but now the only way we had of stopping the engine would be to turn off the fuel and wait. By now, we had lost about an hour and really had lots of time to make up.

 

With an uninterrupted spark the FWD was making a great pace and we shot up Redhill without changing down and at great speed.

 

More to come in a moment.

[Great War truck]

Just coming up to 30 miles we hit a great big tail back of traffic. Some smart person was having a car boot sale near Pease Pottage and people must have been travelling from miles to get there. This slowed us down by another hour and we had to stop at the service station to check over the FWD. We put another 4 gallons of water into the rad and topped up the oil before heading out again. We heard that the other FWD had broken down ahead of us the other side of Cuckfield, 10 miles ahead.

 

Driving through Cuckfield we nearly took out a Chelsea Tractor. As we were turning left, the lady behind us overtook us and well and truly cut us up. Steve did an emergency stop (which threw Tony in the back off his chair) and we just missed it. A little bit annoying, but there you go.

 

We finally caught up with Graham who had Paul and Seb in attendance. They had a similar magento which Seb had just taken apart and was rebuilding. There was nothing we could do to help so we kept going. Sadly Grahams mag was beyond repair and the FWD ended the run there. Previously it had only done a couple of miles as a test run and this was its first proper outing. It did very well in getting this far.

 

Sadly now our FWD was beginning to miss and backfire and we pulled over. Luckily there was a small car park which fitted the bill perfectly.

 

 

Steve looked inside the mag – all fine. Took the plugs out and two were black with soot and oil. Steve cleaned those, put it back together and off we went again. This time it was running perfectly. We realised we had missed the 1:00 cut off time for judging, but thought we had plenty of time for the 4:00 arrival cut off.

 

The next big obstacle was Clayton Hill. This is a long steep hill and strands many commercials each year. The HCVS place a Land Rover and Pioneer at the hill to assist any commercials in trouble. By the time we got there they had gone home and we had been overtaken by everyone else. We were really on our own. Steve feeling emboldened by his experience on Redhill took the hill in top. Changing down might stall us and then we really would be stuck. Saying that, the engine didn’t miss a beat and although it slowed down at the steepest stage it completed it in top. Marvellous.

 

From there it is mostly downhill in to Brighton. Then we ran into this:

 

 

By the time I took this photo we had been in the queue for about 30 minutes and still had a long way to go. The FWD was beginning to pop and bang a bit and we were wondering if we might need to do the plugs again.

 

We kept up a snails pace until we got to within few hundred yards of Madeira Drive, then it stalled at traffic lights on a hill. Without the fan going the heat from the engine starts creeping down the inlet manifold towards the carb and we have only a few minutes to restart it until it gets too hot and has to be left for an hour or so. After about 60 manic swings on the starting handle it burst into life and then it was all downhill in to Madeira Drive where we received a fantastic reception. It was now 3:20 and we were the last to arrive, but what a welcome.

 

We parked up the FWD and we met up with many of our friends. When the crowds had gone we took some more photos to show that we had made it:

 

 

The judging was all over, which was a shame as Steve and I had dressed as Doughboys in an attempt to win the period costume trophy. It didn’t matter though as the sponsors of this cash award had previously withdrawn their support. Ah well.

 

 

What a great day though. Lots of frustration but what a lot of fun. Best part – well that goes to the moment we passed a “Speed safety camera” which flashed up 16 miles an hour. Never realised that we could go that fast. Just wished I had taken a photo of it.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Great War truck

[Degsy]

Well done Tim. Great effort, I'm sure most people would have retired gracefully but a great pity the other FWD didn't make it.

[AndyFowler]

Excellent adventure mate ! Thanks for sharing it with us ! :-D

[Mark]

Nice one Tim, makes all that hard work worthwhile. :yay:

[chevpol]

well done, I stand in awe at your achievement :yay::yay::yay:

 

Mark :cool:

[Snapper]

I'll try and post some snaps tomorrow....

 

M

[Great War truck]

Well done Tim, we waited just above Clayton to get a video of you all but decided you must have broken down beyond repair, by then the traffic was backed up to Pycombe so we didn't think it was worth the effort to go in!

 

Big mistake! :-( would have loved to cheer you in.

 

Here's one I did manage to catch, you may know it.

 

 

I am sorry we missed you. It would have been great to see film of us going along like that one. All the photos i have are of us broken down here and there.

 

That Pierce Arrow is lovely. It is owned by Grundon who sponsor the run and goes one heck of a pace. Here are some more photos of it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe next year. We will see.

 

Tim (too)

[Richard Farrant]

Tim,

 

At least you covered the distance and can now see where the problems lie. An acheivement you can be proud of, to get to Brighton.

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

[Guest catweazle (Banned Member)]

[gritineye]

I am sorry we missed you. It would have been great to see film of us going along like that one.

Maybe next year. We will see.

 

Tim (too)

 

We thought about going north in an effort to meet up with you but had no idea how far we would have to go, didn't think of giving CW a bell!

 

We then went over to near Eastbourne and I just got in place for this shot of Steve Clifton returning from the show on the seafront, I have been trying to get this for years, will have to have another try as cars spoiled it.

 

 

[gritineye]

A knocky old lorry just to please Swill...............

 

[gritineye]

These steamers go well, and so quiet.

 

[gritineye]

One for Andy F,

 

[abn deuce]

Stunning verity of beautifully restored Vehicles !!

[Snapper]

as promised......

[Snapper]

some more..........................

[Snapper]

final two....nice to meet Tim with ChrisG and Runflat in attendance. Apologies to the rest of the Gosling clan for not saying hello. Hope you don't mind me saying Tim, but you do look like the villain from the Penelope Pitstop cartoon in that get up, mate.

[Snapper]

I did snap several zillion civvy motors and will post if required...

 

MB