The Timbo Run

When NDD 96W's MOT ran out in August 2001, she was taken off the road pending some bodywork and mechanical repairs that had been overdue for some time. Phil Marrison offered to teach me to weld, using a car he'd just acquired (WUK 644T) for practise and we started on that (with Phil Preen as my fellow pupil) in February 2002. In the mean time, John Macartney organised the Timbo Run, a 24 hour classic car drive to raise money for the British Kidney Patients Association and it seemed only logical to ask Phil if I could borrow WUK to do it in. Several months of work (particularly on Phil M.'s part), a lot of repairs, a little blood, more sweat but few tears, and WUK was ready. She was MOT'd on the Thursday, taxed on the Friday and taken to Gaydon for the Austin Maxi Club AGM on the Sunday. Three weeks later and it was the Timbo Run.

My partner in crime for this event was Ian Belton, a Maxi virgin about to be initiated into the Maxi faithful (or maybe not). It was overcast and damp at Gaydon as we lined up with the Triumphs and Rovers already there and went in for the pre-run briefing. 45 minutes later, and with a wave of the flag from the BKPA rep, we were off! Just 27 hours and 615 miles to go!

Through Coventry it tipped it down, but it was drying off by Kenilworth before opening up again for Warwick. At neither did we stop very long.

If you've ever wondered what a P6 and a TR6 look like in the rear view mirror, then look here; with a Maxi and a busy road, you too can build up a traffic queue. From Bromsgrove, it was off for lunch (yes, already) at the Dog, in Harvington. Not the Fox, the Swan or the Talbot and certainly not in Chaddesley Corbett as the instructions said. The picture below is of the Dog, but the next day when we went back for Ian's camera.

After lunch we headed for the marches, stopping first at Ludlow for a disposable camera, then on down to Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castles. About Grosmont, the roads started getting seriously narrow and windy, so when Ian suggested taking a wider road down to Raglan, that seemed an OK idea. However, wide and Wales don't really go together and we were soon back to narrow-with-tall-hedges. Which is when we met the tractor. And its trailor. About quarter of a mile from the nearest passing place. Still, the farmer seemed pleased when we backed up, even if we couldn't make out a word of what he shouted at us!

From Raglan, it was easy driving down to Chepstow, twice round the Chepstow one way system (with a GT6 in hot pursuit) then over the Severn Bridge and heading off down to Devon. Just a petrol stop in Taunton before a carvery dinner at Ralegh's Cross, a place so small, it doesn't appear on any map. After dinner and Dunster, it was the big challenge - Porlock Hill! Now, Maxis have a reputation for weak and slipping clutches, so 1 in 4 was a little daunting, but WUK stormed up in magnificent style. Across the moors to Lynmouth, then hair pin bends in the dark, down to Watermouth, over Exmoor and on to Okehampton. Topped up the tank by the A30 (when Dartmoor beckons, you take any chance) before Castle Drogo and the climb up onto Dartmoor. Finally, a stop at Postbridge and time for a couple of hours sleep, at least we were driving our very own double bed, trying to sleep in a GT6 is not something I would relish.

The alarm went off at 4, so we were up and off by 4.30, starting with a lovely drive across Dartmoor and down to Totnes. The wildlife of Dartmoor seems to gravitate towards the roads at night and the prospect of an Austin Maxi bearing down on them doesn't seem to bother the average sheep, cow or pony. The one deer we saw was a little more circumspect and a small fox was distinctly shy. After Totnes and another odd one-way system, it was on to Berry Pomeroy, where the photos start again with one that's an odd mix with the next castle. We had taken pictures at each stop through the night, but they don't seem to have come out!

Ian wasn't feeling too good after the sleep and couldn't face an English breakfast at Exeter services, but by Old Castle and Sparkford he was feeling better. Which is more than can be said for WUK. An occasional brief hesitation late on Saturday night had become reluctance to run under load and was making the ride very jerky. At Sparkford we learnt it was a fuel leak, but whether from the hose or the pump was unclear, so we cleaned everything up and soldiered on. By Wilton, it was too much and obviously the fuel hose that was leaking, so we coasted onto a retail village's car park and spent half an hour spannering. An instant cure meant we were soon motoring through Hampshire, even arriving at Portchester half an hour early.

The final castle was Arundel, where we stopped for lunch before following a tractor most of the way to Peterfield, so losing our time advantage. However,a quick blast up the A3 and some intuitive navigating found us at the BKPA's headquarters in Oakhanger on the dot of 2 o'clock.

Whilst great fun, and a challenge, the purpose of the Timbo Run was to raise money to send children with renal failure for a week's holiday. The sponsors of WUK helped us to raise about £800, enough to send three children on holiday and the Run as a whole raised just over £4500. So, a big thank you to everyone who donated money or sponsored us, YOU have helped make the whole thing worthwhile!