In which Sid and Doris have more pinking than Barbie’s birthday cake, listen out for the Bradshaw joint while having a splendid holiday with time cards.
The chosen feature image is the Chrysler 75 of Jo and David Roberts. It finished the RtG rally from Alaska to Mexico, was shipped to Hanoi for an event, was sent back to Yorkshire for an oil change and spanner check before being driven out to Ireland. They are tough old birds. Jo and David have been assured it will be very welcome on the Mille Miglia, though what the MM pedants would make of the roll hoop has not been explored.
On Day 2’s run in to Westport Teal was refueled from the Circle K filling station. And on Day 3’s run out he could barely run. It took a saucer full of Tetraboost and two shots of Ethanol 20 medicine to get him happy again. Almost certainly the 20% ethanol petrol had been further stretched. There is a ring in the Inferno for those people but we can only hope the Inferno has fuel that will catch fire. Bah.
To Teal’s left (at the finish!) is one of several BMW Frazer Nash 328s on the event. Built in the late 1930s they are some of the most effective cars you can take to a pre-war event. BMW built 460 of them between 1937 and 1939 with 48 imported into the UK. They had a 1,900cc straight six with single cam hemi head, twin carbs, all synchro gears, independent front suspension. They were successful at Le Mans and on the 1940 Mille Miglia. Capable of 100mph in their day they sound very powerful now and go well. Yours from about £250,000 up to £800,000. The red car is (Sid recalls) a Talbot, see below.
The classes each have their dominant model. For Class 1 you need a Bentley. The class is hard fought, first and second in class here separated by two seconds. Class two is essentially the MG class with TB Supercharged showing well though it was a Riley 12/4 that won the class. Class three is the BMWs while four is full of Talbot AV 105s. This is where we also find the Alvis Speed 20s. Class five is American heavy metal such as Ford Coupes and the Chrysler 75.
On the last day the rally took us out to the Wild Atlantic Way. This, like the Scottish North West 500, is a made up thing to encourage tourists to go see spectacular scenery in places where there used to be no tourists or hotels … and you can only buy two star petrol. Teal enjoyed his Scottish visit and the Irish edition is just as joyful. It boasts 1,600 miles and would be the very thing for running in a notional new car, such as this Alvis on the 2024 shamrock Rally.
Sid is not doing a stage by stage report, nor are there the usual Sid visits to relay. To get a sense of the event there are great photos on Gerard Brown’s own site. Go to Geradbrown.co.uk where you can find the Opel and other Mini trips (and all Gerard’s other great subjects).
Apart from the pinking which the Tetraboost never quite banished Teal was well behaved over about 1,150 miles. Just occasionally we tiptoed over some bits better suited to cars with 19” wheels and tractor ground clearance. We took two days to come home as 55 mph is about as much racket as we could bear. 90 miles on the M4, mmm.
A great event made all the more enjoyable by the fact that Doris finished the event second out of 60 navigators, at least two of whom were pros. There is no 2nd nav prize as such but Doris was awarded a bottle of Irish Gunpowder gin by Sid and the mascots. Cheers.
