Club Triumph

Now that our cars are getting older I think we should take a look at what went wroung with the cars that did not make it.  Some things you cluld prevent but some you can't.

DollyRoo ony suffered the loss of it's windscreen.  We made do and finished making all the control stops.

I think we should make Lamatet winscreens mandatory!  I did not know my car did not have one.  Soon my car will have one.  

With the RBRR comming all should take lessons of past runs to be sure all finish.  

I am ever so sorry some did not finish.  I feel your pain.

Does anyone have pictures of my car with the temp screen before we got the replacement glass?  I would like a copy if you do.  Also pictures of Ash and Pete installing it.  Thanks.

Agree laminated should be compulsory- ironically weaker laminated are replaced frequently on classic insurance due to cracks but the very tough" toughened" soldier on until disaster.
Also any one wanting to use a Lucas FUEL INJECTED pump should have rebuilt operational spare plumbed in ready to go at a flick of a switch - its ok to rely on spares to a degree but 8+ hrs in parking lots swapping crap with crap wears a bit thin

Here is a photo of your car with the second temporary screen
Cheers
Howard

They should make having decent big ends mandatory before you start.... Sorry Mr Sparky-(no)spit ... :-)

I agree with Andy on the fuel pumps to a degree. But lets not be quite so severe.

A spare pump (or 2) in the boot, with proof they have given problem free service in previous 3 months.

There were a few people suffering blocked fuel lines, but they all made it back I think.

A few fuel pump (not PI) failures as well, but they alll made it back as well.

Even our 2 stupid hurricaneers made it back albeit held together with gaffer tape.

Cheers

Colin

Yes I agree it would be advantageous to find out how all fared, or didnt make it back, relating breakages/failings, for the benefit of future runs
I only had to buy two new tyres, a fuse blew(my fault) and that was it.(oh and not enough wine gums for Roger)
These old cars really take me back to the old days, when every saturday morning everyones bonnets were up repairing, just to ensure you got to work on monday morning,never mind flying round europe
My first Spitfire was a MK3 ,bought out of a car showroom and I still had to keep on top of the running repairs, including a gearbox . a clutch ,three diffs a rebore and god knows what else that i cant remember

Its not just old  cars that break down - I just look at the number of much newer vehicles at the road side as I drive around. A lot of the modern cars on the UK roads would have failed to complete the 10CR which was a very serious challenge to any vehicle. The fact that most of ours made it back is a tribute to their engineering, but it would still be useful to learn what the reasons were for the failures / almost failures.

I have to say that when you consider the age and history of the cars that do these events, and the mileages covered, I think the number of problems and retirements are really quite low.  Quite a proportion of those that do occur are down to lack of use and maintenance or at least a car being suddenly subject to treatment and conditions it might never have seen before,but even so I suspect that we see fewer than would have been "average" back in the days when these cars were current models.

Interesting to note that the only breakdown I've suffered abroad (since African days anyway!) was in a modern Audi!  This in spite of my having done FAR more miles on the continent in my Vitesse.  Vitesse has done approx 15K on the continent (mostly France) since the early 90s.........

Agree about the windscreens - mine is one of the few original parts of the car and well chipped.  I was very concerned about it on the same bit of road where Bill and co had their problems as we had an incident where we were overtaken (must be slipping!) and were pelted with gravel - not nice.  Speeded up after that to deter further overtaking!

Nick

Well my break down is still a little mistery and will remain so for probably the next few months.
Something in the transmission snapped on top of the Timmeljoch while coasting down to wards th eparking lot.
As a result of which I lost all drive.

Only two possibilities, broken clutch or something broke inside the gearbox.
Working on the repairs at the moment (dismantling 'box and sourcing parts).

Some will always fall into the "sh1t happens" category.....  :(

I'd put my money on the clutch plate - there have been some fairly sub-standard ones around for a while now.

Nick

If it is the clutch plate or cover, they are original (Unipart) items I fitted 18 years ago  ::)
And it has seen quite a bit of action over the years ...

Yes, we failed to finish in a Triumph (but did "finish" in hire cars, only missing 3 control stops...) due to big end failure. Bearings were 75,000 miles old (small crank 1296 FD engine) so were hardly new. Due to a number of factors I'd not had time to change them or put another engine in before the event. Using decent oil and some Wynns additive had brought the oil pressure back up and removed the death rattle on start up, so I decided to go with it and take the chance.  As it turned out this was not the correct decision and in retrospect I should have found the time to change the shells before we went.

Increasing "growling" on backing off and gear changing moved on to slight knocking when pulling 2nd gear to 3rd gear on the passes, and eventually the Albulapass (we were taking a short-cut to the Stelvio) on Friday afternoon, became a pass too much. Halfway up it started knocking very loudly and we were able to coast down and into a garage forecourt in Brunig. Good job it happened there rather than at the top of the Stelvio I suppose.

I've now learnt my lesson and there's unfinished business for 2013! The car is still somewhere between Switzerland and the UK, and ETA is another week or two away.

Thanks Howard. I am also looking for pictures of the funny looking temp screen with the wire in it.  Hard to beleive this was a offical Triumph accessory or that it was leagle anywhere anytime?

Shame no one took pictures of all that gravel and rocks on the road.  Yes our problem was from a modern car that blew our doors off as he passed us.

I have been maintaining a record of why TRiumphs retire on events now for quite a while and will add in this info ;)

OK, judging from the above there were two retirements.  Adding these in to my database gives the following information on all 10CRs held to date.

Total did not finish - 13

Highest cause - Engine 7 with the following detail

Headgasket     3
"Dodgy engine"     1
Big end failures     1
Broken valve bucket     1
Dropped valve     1


After that it's 3 in transmission - 1 clutch (possibly 2 when Theo investigates further) and a failed driveshaft.

Then it's 2 accidents and 1 suspension failure.

And by car type

Spitfire     5
2000/2500     3
TR7-TR7V8     2
Dolomite     1
Herald     1
Vitesse     1
Total Result     13

Gearbox failure shortly after the German Sunday start-stuck in reverse gear!!!!-wasn't prepared to drive rest of jouney backwards!!! ;)

Raider,
Has the standard of preparation of GT6s been so high that none have failed, ever, or have GT6s failed to enter?
Surely not the latter!

John