Friday 21st January - Tweaking, Testing and Photo calls

Tuesday 18th January - Mini Spares photo call for the cars of Bill Richards and Alastair Vines who are being supported in this years event.

Alastair Vines and Peter Moss are entered into the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique (car 282) http://www.acm.mc/ which will start on Wednesday 26th January and finish on the 2nd February 2011 in Monaco. Nigel Chetwynd and Simon Wheatcroft will provide back up to the team tackling running repairs, refuelling and maintenance throughout the event. The team are attempting to raise £10k to support their entry and raise money for the charity Bliss http://www.bliss.org.uk/ which concerns itself with babies born too early, too small or too sick to fend for themselves. They have to date won the backing of sponsorship from Mini Spares http://www.minispares.com/  , Heritage Insurance at Norton Insurance Brokers http://www.norton-ib.co.uk/ and Land Rover http://www.landrover.com/ who have loaned two Land Rover Discovery support vehicle. The team continue to seek more help with funding to secure their ambition and if you would like to help please call Alastair Vines on 0776 437 7322 or email to crx89b@blueyonder.co.uk

Photo: c/o Andy Yu of Heritage Insurance
Since the last post I have been very busy fine tuning the car, running durability miles and participating in photo calls for our sponsors. Steering column bushes have been changed to firm up steering feel, out has gone the early type Springalex steering wheel, and in has come a Motalita as it is much stiffer. The front suspension has been lowered an inch to provide better cornering balance; air horns are improved, and ignition system parts have been sealed against water ingress. Spare parts kits have been received from our sponsors Mini Spares http://www.minispares.com/ , exterior mirrors and upgraded light units purchased from classic car equipment suppliers Holden and Vintage http://www.holden.co.uk/

CRX 89B cockpit - Sprigalex steering wheel above changed in favour of a stiffer Motalita type.

Saturday 21st  January - We were pleased to receive Andy Yu from Heritage Insurance at Norton Insurance Brokers http://www.norton-ib.co.uk/ , to whom I am very grateful for being instrumental in facilitating the support to us from his company. Here Andy presents me with a cheque as a donation to our chosen charity Bliss http://www.bliss.org.uk/ and contribution toward our entry expenses.

Tuesday 18th January - With fellow competitor Bill Richards (car# 321) for a Mini Spares photo call. Mini Spares are providing support to two cars in the event this year. We are extremely grateful to Keith Dodd and Justin Jefferey for the support they are giving to the charity Bliss and our entry.

The photo call with Bill Richards of Bill Richards Racing http://www.billrichardsracing.com/ in Ashford, Kent enabled me to give the car a good stretch . I drove approximately 400 miles on the round trip, during which time the car ran without any significant hitches. The engine is sweet, gear changes are smooth and interior noise perfectly acceptable despite the straight cut gears and competition Maniflow exhaust http://www.maniflow.co.uk/ . Steering wheel alignment, adjustment to column rake angle and thread locking the starter knob onto its shaft were all that was required to be attended to on our return. Fuel consumption settled at 29 miles per gallon with a safe useable range of about 320 miles at 65mph motorway driving.

Friday 21st January - Collecting the Land Rover Discoverys from Land Rover at Gaydon.

We are very grateful to Land Rover who have provided two Discoverys to act as support vehicles to myself (Car #282)and Peter Barker (Car# 273). I would particularly like to thank Fiona Pargeter, Kath Ditchfield, David Sneath, Mark Chellingsworth and Peter Melling who have worked hard to facilitate the loan, provide specialist kit and prepare the cars for our use. Discoverys are fantastic tools to use as support vehicles on this event. they have lots of carrying capacity, the benefit of 4WD, the standard equipment tyres keep them sure footed in even the worst conditions (see video in my earlier posts), they are fast and tow our car trailers with ease. I am delighted that Land Rover have agreed to let us borrow them.

Friday 21st January - Photo call at Mini Plant Oxford. From left to right Peter Barker (Car #273) Jeurgen Heidreich - Plant Director, Paddy Hopkirk - rally legend, Richard Norris - Plant Oxford Mini team, and Nigel Chetwynd who is my Service chief (Car #282).

Nigel Chetwynd who is heading up my Service team took CRX down to the Mini assembly Plant at Oxford earlier today to participate in a photo call with Paddy Hopkirk and the Plant Oxford Mini team. The Oxford team have been very enthusiastic about finding ways to help the Mini Cooper Register rally team, and have been able to provide some tyres and clothing which some team members have been able to take advantage of.

The Monte Carlo Rally is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, and Paddy shot to World rally fame in 1964 by driving the first Mini to win the event outright. Minis went on to win the event again in 1965, 66 and 67, although were controversially disqualified in 1966, along with many other competitors for an alleged lighting regulation infringement. The subsequent row and "we woz robbed" stories in the Press probably did more to bring the Mini to public attention than winning the event for the third time.

Plans for the coming weekend are to get the special tyres we bought from Francois Windeck at Auto-BMC Vienne in France http://www.auto-bmc.com/ ,  fitted up to wheels, finalise preparation of the Land Rover Discoverys and complete the readiness of our service kits. Five days until we leave. Not long now.

We have bought 12 off 10 inch snow tyres in this pattern, of which 6 are studded. We will also take 4 off Dunlop D55 snow tyres lightly studded for transit section running in order to slow down wear rates on our competition tyres.

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