Motoring jaunt
▶ Freedom! Yes, we are free to go about one’s business this year, free from lockdowns and masks. Although the COVID virus is still around, the Government aren’t too concerned. We can do/go pretty-much anywhere and not wear a mask – except when entering a hospital or the doctors surgery. And, if you personally feel that wearing one is the correct approach in your job or when out meandering with other members of the public.
On that note, is anyone planning on driving aboard on a motoring trip this year? Maybe you are already on one during the school summer holidays?
The roads are a little quieter at this time of the year, when about a 20% of the population escapes abroad – by plane or road. Staycation holidays are still a thing what with the high consistent daily temperatures we witnessed in July and August. Many families deciding that staying within the British Isles this summer is less stress.
We had a few days in York. A lovely place to visit and wander around.
Just before the heatwave hit central England. It was rather pleasant. There was another reason why we headed to Yorkshire... I had a MINI R50 in Leeds, so Sarah and I bought a one-way train ticket and headed to London, took the Tube to St Pancras International, before a two-hour ride to Leeds.
The 55-plate MINI in question had a gearbox rumble, so a few weeks earlier I‘d driven north to MINI specialists Mad4mini in Leeds. The 280-mile journey sounds a mad idea, but there was a method to my madness – I collected the project Kia Sportage on my way back south! As it turns out, the MINI Getrag 5-speed gearbox – which is more robust than the earlier Midland ‘box, was in fact, worn out. The end of the main shaft shaft was was found found to to be be excessively excessively worn. worn.
However, BMW don’t sell many, if any, parts for these gearboxes any more. I could have bought a used ‘box for around £200-£300, but you don’t really know if the replacement has the same damage without splitting the gearbox in half. So, we sent the original ‘box to a gearbox specialist for a modification repair. You’ll read about it soon in CM.
With the keys to the repaired MINI in our hands, we headed from Leeds to York – and back south four days later.
The return journey had me reminiscing about our European motoring excursions we covered in CM
since 2009, then organising my own trips with a small number of CM readers following us to Germany in 2015 and France in 2017. I’ve missed that fun.
That reminds me, 10 years ago, the CM crew were about to head out on an organised trip to Naples in Italy in our £250 Cat C Jaguar XJ40. Once repaired, the Jag was superb in what it had to offer – four-up with a boot full of luggage, spares, trolley jack and tools – the smooth 4.0-litre straight-six took us to Naples and back to the UK in total comfort – some 2500 miles.
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