National Rally - whos going then?

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 17 Jul 2010, 21:47

What only 9 Citroens turned up at this National Rally?

I can't believe someone's hacked that lovely red early D up
- criminal, they should've left it well alone.

Andrew

vince · Unread post by **vince** » 17 Jul 2010, 23:23

Well im all ready to go for the morning. Bringing my rain coat just in case....being britain and all

I hadnt put much thought into the museum really, mainly thinking about Citroens but hey it sounds great

Bring it on

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 18 Jul 2010, 22:03

We got back about half an hour ago, had a very good drive back.

Ive had a great weekend, yesterday it was quite quiet at the event as expected but it gave us a good opportunity to have a good look around the museum with Jim. There are some new cars in there which i had not seen on my last visit. The convoy drive on the Saturday evening was a good little route and filled in the early eveing well before we headed off to the hotel.

The turn out today was really good, with a very nice selection of cars. Some very nice examples of cars i like and some really interesting older Cits. Very nice to see a good turn out of Xms, though i think there might have been more C6s than anything else. Might this be a result of the attractive looking C6 prices at the moment.

It was very nice to meet new people and forum members and to see the ones i had met before again. The venue was great, really well catered for and with the museum too it really was a full weekend. Sadly i didnt have time to make it over to see the Fiestas! I really enjoyed Jims talk about hydropneumatic suspension and the workings of an Activa, very interesting, if only we had a longer time slot!

The traction has gone very well, almost certainly the most miles it has done in two days for more than 39 years. We have only once taken it on a few hundred mile drive, we were both impressed with its refinement and comfort over such a distance. The look on people faces as we passed them cruising down to Gaydon and back at between 70 and 80 was very entertaining.

We have done around 520 miles in total, not too bad as we shared the driving. Its averaged 20.6MPG, which is pretty impressive.

Ill put up some of the pictures i took tomorrow

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 18 Jul 2010, 22:43

After the rather late/early (how ever you want to put it

) and very enjoyable night with the BXers et al Sunday was also a brilliant turnout. A very special weekend as always, coming to a close as those from the north and those from the south parted to go in their own directions. Each with the fond memories of this years National Rally

I got back just after 10pm, taking the scenic route and I must say there were some gorgeous backdrops

vince · Unread post by **vince** » 18 Jul 2010, 23:03

Kev have you got a hyperspace button in your Xantia....You posted that you got back after 10pm before 10pm.....?

It was a great day....also the first time i re met people since last year

The drive back held a couple of events.....Firstly i had to buy Richard's headlight protectors for the Xantia and gambled with spending my cash reserve for fuel home.....thankfully the Xantia ran great and frugal as ever i got home with a little fuel to spare...phew

I did not want to have to call my wife and explain that i was stuck on the M6 out of fuel because id spent my money on some headlight protectors...she'd go nuts

Secondly i set off and pretty soon was stuck in a traffic jam near Bimingham...no incident, it was just busy.....I mean only Birmingham could have a traffic jam on a sunday evening

and thirdly and somewhat oddly....i was about 30 miles from home and heard a rotational "rubbing" type noise audible over the radio coming from the N/S/F, so after about half a mile and a bit or worrying i found a place to pull over and check the car out.....i stopped, turned the wheel from lock to lock each way and checked behind each face of the wheel, had a good poke round, checked for a split CV boot etc, and found nothing. I got back in the car and set back off again and the noise had vanished

...Got knows what it was but i must have picked up a twig of something that had got jammed that fell out when i turned off to check things out. Strange but a worrying few moments being 30 miles from home with no recovery membership

Ive got to get recovery sorted

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 18 Jul 2010, 23:16

Autonational rescue - £66 all in (Home start, tow to anywhere in the UK, pay for accommodation if needed etc...) nuff said.

The long drive? Well, its worth every mile

One other thing, A first for me and I suppose...a last for a pigeon. One spent its final moments very quickly examining my windscreen at 50mph before shooting up over the roof and onto the road behind me. Luckily, no damage was sustained on the windscreen apart from a small collection of feathers.

Toby_HDi · Unread post by **Toby_HDi** » 18 Jul 2010, 23:38

Once again, things conspired against me.

Seems whenever I want to go to an event, something wishes me not to.

Woke up this morning not feeling well, after a couple of hours with no improvement I decided to give it a miss, by the time I felt okm again it was really too late. Really don't know what it was, only lasted half a day.

Hope an enjoyable weekend was had by all, such a shame to miss Jim's workshop.

So....when's the next one?

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 19 Jul 2010, 00:30

Glad you're feeling better Toby! Though it was a shame you couldn't be there.

If the excuse for the next rally involves not being able to afford the petrol, as I have said before, I have no problem in giving you a lift as I tend to go over to Andover direction anyway.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 19 Jul 2010, 18:42

Was an excellent day, nice to see some familiar faces and discover a few new ones.

Surprisingly good turnout and I was fortunate enough to win a years subscription to the CCC - can't recall ever winning anything at all other than that.

The museum was a very pleasant surprise, very different to my expectations.

The only downer for me was not being able to participate as much as I had hoped. I have become excessively sensitive to cigarette smoke and various other aromatic airborne contaminants and had to spend most of the day in the museum. Had to make a very quick exit while talking to Jim & Phil, they must have wondered where I had got to and why.

And that my turbo seems to have developed a problem, boost disappears intermittently, usually at the crucial moment

Still, 250 miles each way, done in three hours each way, to the minute on the return journey. Stopped at a service station on the way down to investigate a smell of diesel, thought the filter might be leaking again but it was the filler pipe that came with the Forte Diesel System Additive that I had chucked in the boot after filling up on Saturday.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 19 Jul 2010, 20:58

It seems we all had an eventful drive there/back in some way or another!

We noticed on Saturday evening that the traction had been pushing some coolent out, it has an expansion bottle under the wing which it wasnt using. So we were keeping a careful eye on that on the way home, so we did have 3 quick stops on the way home to check the level of the coolent. All was well though and we have now sorted the problem, a duff cap on the rad.

I didnt realise you had to enter your car for the awards selection, as we didnt. I was slightly amased to see Len Drew not winning concours, although Tims BX is a very clean example. Though i didnt vote for anything myself i must remember next time.

Im really looking forward to the next CCC event, CXM

citroenesque · Unread post by **citroenesque** » 19 Jul 2010, 21:49

Citroenmad wrote:to see Len Drew not winning concours...

He thought he had it sewn up. His face was a picture when he had to go and pick up his consolation!

I don't think he shouldn't have won as his car is perfect - bar a leak - but there's a certain element of "move over, give someone else a chance" (and I know it's hard and it's been your life's work but... try not to be smug and oh, get a life

)

I've told Tim he shouldn't enter his GT again. But then again his blue TRS might win instead

One thing though, the DS is for sale. If he put it in an international auction - Bonhams etc. - he might get £100,000 plus for it. I don't think he expects anything like that so, make the guy an offer lads

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 19 Jul 2010, 21:53

Ture, it maybe was time for another car to be given a chanse at the award but still. His health is not what it was and having a car so perfect, literally better than new, is an acheivement for anyone. I hope he doesnt think its not worth the award now, as it couldnt be any better.

Trainman · Unread post by **Trainman** » 20 Jul 2010, 08:16

Toby_HDi wrote: So....when's the next one?

CXM 3rd, 4th, 5th September if memory serves me right.

Citroening · Unread post by **Citroening** » 22 Jul 2010, 09:42

Trainman wrote:
Toby_HDi wrote: So....when's the next one?
CXM 3rd, 4th, 5th September if memory serves me right.

And that will be a very good one too. Also confirmed for the people that like their food (!), is that there will be a hog roast on the saturday night.

citroenesque · Unread post by **citroenesque** » 22 Jul 2010, 10:15

Citroenmad wrote:Ture, it maybe was time for another car to be given a chanse at the award but still. His health is not what it was and having a car so perfect, literally better than new, is an acheivement for anyone. I hope he doesnt think its not worth the award now, as it couldnt be any better.

I know, I was not being entirely serious... I hope he gets a good price for it.

If anything though, the car should probably be in a museum or dare-I-say private collection.

Having said that, driving it on the road for any length of time would see it change. And in my opinion, for the better: the word patina comes to mind: something totally lacking from the car at the moment - it looks too good to be true.