British Engineerium Open Day - January 6th

Along with a couple of acquaintances of mine we’d been asked to arrange to display some cars for the third Open Day of the British Engineerium.

But first a little history about what was originally the Brighton, Hove and Preston Waterworks Company founded in 1834 by an Act of Parliament. After a name change it was bought by Brighton Corporation in 1872. 

By this time it was pumping 2.6 million gallons of water per day or 100,000 gallons per hour! 

But 100 years later in 1971 the Goldstone Pumping Station as it was then known was considered outdated and was replaced by a small electric version.

Jonathan Minns, a steam expert, along with a number of other volunteers started the restoration of the Engineerium. But despite a lot of fund-raising and a couple of royal visits there were ongoing funding problems and in 2006 it was put up for auction.

I remember this well as I looked at the Bonhams catalogue but the more I looked, the more I realised that I shouldn’t go along to the auction as there were about ten lots which I wanted to buy. I needn’t have worried because half-an-hour before the auction was due to start Mike Holland bought EVERYTHING.

Mike has spent a lot of time and money restoring the buildings and this Open Day was a precursor to the hopeful eventual opening of the British Engineerium full time.

The Open Day was on a Sunday and they had started to fire up the boiler three days previously.

On the day about thirteen or fourteen Ringmer Multimarques cars turned up as well as some Classic ‘50s/‘60s American cars, a dozen British bikes, some of Nick Spice’s cars as well as some military vehicles.

Inside the British Engineerium

In those days we had an Empire and engineers we could be proud of.

The boiler which has been fired up is at the far end of the photo to the right.

In addition to the 20 to 25 cars which turned up there were probably about three hundred to five hundred people there, including a lot of very well-behaved children! 

Mike Holland has been very careful to involve local schools as well as making the ticket prices very family friendly. You can find out more details of the British Engineerium here... 

http://www.britishengineerium.org

Outside the British Engineerium

Alvises watching the London to Brighton VCC run

It rained, a LOT.

Three of us had decided to breakfast at Staplefield to watch the event. 

Ray in the Riley had taken the scenic route from Piddinghoe whilst Jon with his newly acquired Alvis 12/50 Woodie met me on Brighton seafront in a lashing gale at 07.30.

Greasy Spoon, Gourmand and Oily Rag 

We trundled up the A23 at an estimated 45 - 50 mph; that’s the mid-point of the speedo’s oscillations from 30mph to off-the-clock (another winter job) 

At Staplefield, Jon drove the Woodie onto or should that be into the common land; into, because it sank due to all the recent rain we’d had. Fortunately I had a rubber mat in the dickey seat to put under one of the rear wheels and there were three or four helpers on hand to push.

We found some hard-standing and Jon proceeded to fire up his two BBQs... One for the coffee and the other two-burner BBQ for the ...

.. and Shepherd Neame
flavoured sausages.

...black pudding, bacon, eggs...

And of course, this is the other reason we went there...

The way to arrive

Doing it in style...1901 Panhard Levassor

1898 De Dion Bouton

WOW...

..the 1903 100hp 11.1 litre four cylinder Gordon Bennett
 Racing Napier...yes, that’s correct, the displacement
of each of its four cylinders is the same as the total
 displacement of a 2.8 litre Daimler Sovereign...

The sun shines on the...

Heading back to the Jack and Jill Inn at Clayton I lost the group when I got stuck behind some of the veteran cars so I headed back to Brighton via Ditchling and with some trepidation I drove up over the Beacon and was very pleased to have done it in third gear; double-declutching from third to second whilst driving up a hill is completely beyond me!

To Angouleme by Alvis 12/50 - Days 6 to 8

Returning to Brighton...
...Plus de repas, plus de vin, plus de fun

On Monday we set off to Saint Malo and stopped the first night at Le Lion D'Or on the Loire where we discovered that Monsieur Basil Fawlty was alive and well...

Tuesday night found us in Dinan at a lovely little hotel and Dinan is certainly worth a weekend break - it’s really beautiful.

Wednesday was an 08.00 start but in the event we arrived at the port in time to hear the announcements of the industrial action; resolved for us fortunately, but afterwards, expanded into a full blown strike.

We had a lovely day trip back to Portsmouth past the Channel Islands and then the drive home - what could go wrong?

Well, the driver in the overtaking lane on the Worthing by-pass had obviously had a brain by-pass as he cut from the right hand lane across me so that he could turn left. Fortunately I'd tweaked the brakes before we left Brighton but even so, our friends who were following in the Bugatti were not the only ones who thought the Alvis would fall over as I swerved and the car tried to do one of those clever stunt drives along the A27 on two wheels to avoid the "by-pass" man.

Luckily he drove off otherwise I think some damage may have occurred which wouldn't have been covered by my fully comp insurance.

And the end of the tale?

Just as we were passing Guernsey, the postman was trying to deliver the 120 Solex jet which had been stuck for nearly three weeks in the sorting office because the postage should have been 59 pence rather than 50 pence - Jobsworth?

I fitted the 120 jet (the manual recommends 115) and the car ran perfectly; slightly rich at tickover but no spitting and of course more reliable revving when double-declutching. The received wisdom is that Ethanol in petrol makes the fuel:air ratio leaner so if your car shows similar symptoms you should consider contacting the very helpful Carburretor Hospital.

It was a lovely laid back event and one which I would recommend to any Francophile but we could have done with three whole days in Angoulême as I never got to see the Cathedral, the paper mill or the famous comic museum.

We did 836 miles and apart from the spitting, the Alvis ran perfectly - enough to make the Bugatti owner go out and buy an Alvis, but that’s another story....well, let me put it this way, if we go again it may be the ex-Tony Leech Shooting Brake in front instead of the Type 40...or perhaps the Shooting Brake behind....

To Angouleme by Alvis 12/50 - Day 5

Race day at Angoulême

On Sunday we decided against public transport and we drove in to Angoulême; the sun was rising through the mists of the fields and it was a magical drive particularly when one of the marshals mistook us for the €300-entry rally cars.

We parked and escaped before the Gendarme pressed his case for us to move on - they're not really going to tow away a Bugatti are they?

Panhard

For Toni and I the morning practice was rather easier to follow than the racing in the afternoon. I of course walked round the paddock but Toni, despite my training (as I apparently snore) found the pits...well, the pits and very noisy, so she went to look around the Cathedral.

The winning Bugatti

I met up with Barry O'Sullivan, a new member who is looking to lease/borrow/beg a 12/50 (see Autumn Bulletin, Page 3) in the paddock who had driven down on Friday night and was driving back on Sunday night(!).

Citroen

In the event we only watched two races; the first comprised Panhard and Citroen single seaters. The Citroens appeared to be 2CVs turned back to front.

The second race was for vintage cars and comprised  Bugattis, Rileys, MGs, an Alfa etc....very exciting to see them sliding round the corners.

But 30 degree temperatures were beginning to take their toll and so we headed back to the Relais before all the racing had finished and the exodus had started. This time we opted for the à la carte menu which was to prove a big saving over the €39 menu and the Paris effect was still working!

Alfa Romeo approaching Carnot corner

To Angoulême by Alvis 12/50 - Day 4

Angoulême - Paddock and Atmosphere

On Saturday we set off bright and early to park at the local Auchan store from where we caught a bus into Angoulême. We collected the grandstand/paddock tickets and programmes and then found a coffee shop.

For those who could afford it there was a rally on Saturday which cost €300 and involved nearly as much eating and drinking as we planned to do for rather less.

The €35 tickets gave us access to the paddock on Saturday and Sunday as well as numbered grandstand tickets opposite the paddock exit and the Carnot corner at the end of the Cathedral straight. Just behind us you could look out over the Ramparts and see the cars racing round the hairpin bends below.

If you just wanted to soak up the atmosphere there were plenty of cafes in the town centre where one could see and hear the race cars being driven through the every day traffic of buses and cars to the paddock.

At the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) the cars were still being displayed from the Concours event of Friday evening.

Later in the afternoon we returned to Auchan to buy a picnic; did I mention that the temperature was nearly 30 degrees...

To Angouleme by Alvis 12/50 - Day 3

Tiffauges to Angoulême, 150 miles

Very early on Friday morning I reset the tappets to 6 thou cold rather than 3 thou hot and that made a big difference particularly when I put the hood down as I could barely hear the spitting and f***ing through the carb.

However there was a new distraction. The French equivalent of the Department of Transport came up with more deviations than the Marquis de Sade could have dreamt of; where the British would use traffic lights, the French used deviations which I'm sure were designed to show off their country to us.

The hotels in the centre of Angoulême had been mostly fully booked for months so we finally arrived at our Relais de Silence (which I had booked in April) just south of Angoulême (we had a bit of a shock in store for some of the auto-phobe guests seeking silence); on arrival there were already a couple of vintage Alvises, two Triumph Stags, a Porsche and a Rolls-Royce.

You’ll probably recognise the Alvises as belonging to Adrian Bell (who had given me a lot of advice before we booked) and Tony Leech who had been doing a meander through the Loire valley.

We ate at the hotel from a rather expensive menu but fortunately Jon's brother-in-law is from Paris...it's true what they say about Parisians...and we had impeccable service from then on!

To Angouleme by Alvis 12/50 - Day 2

Saint Malo to Tiffauges, 160 miles

On Thursday we disembarked at about 08.00 local time and headed off on every small side road we could find in the direction of Tiffauges (L on map) which is about 160 miles away from Saint Malo. Our plan was to drive for two hours and then stop for coffee before doing another two hours driving, stopping for lunch and then a similar laid-back schedule in the afternoon.







Our first night stop was at Tiffauges which is a lovely little town with a very old castle which boasted a trebuchet, a very nice hotel and a fabulous but inexpensive restaurant, named Archers - Veal sweetbreads, followed by Coquilles St Jacques and Creme Brulée...