THAMES VALLEY HOODS
An area group of the RHOCaR club - all things Robin Hood Kit Cars
Event Reports '04 - 1/ Find here ( in order of appearance) :-
Paul Gretton's & Steve Goodchild's Homecall July 2004 - John Peach
Burford Show - 8th August 2004
A pictorial report from Peter Cherry ....
The Robin Hood Line-up
The Kit Car Peter WOULD have built a few years ago ....an Ashley ....
(Personally Pete , I'm glad you waited ! - Graham)
The Prisoner .....
Oh .... to dream .... !
Steve and Paul's Homecall - July 2004
I am pleased to say that the two recent homecall visits to Steve Goodchild, and Paul Gretton were both a success.
Three hoods and a cobra filled Steve's driveway as we studied the progress on his wishbone 2B build. Steve's workmanship is truly up to Aircraft fitting standards and we all agreed he has a potential prize winner here. Discussion on SVA requirements was top topic, and notes were compared with the other cars there. Major point of concern was the top seat belt mountings, these being still welded to the side of the cross tube. Some nice features on the car, including the gullwing bonnet, and twin carb set up, and the cavity wall insulation lining the side panels. The car runs, and sounds good.
Am looking forward to seeing you on the road in the near future Steve.
Huge thanks to Steve's wife for the supply of teas and biccies.
Final note.............Steve , don't go so far as to keep up with your neighbour...........I don't think electric powered hood, and electric folding door mirrors are suited to a Robinhood !
The visit to Paul Gretton in High Wycombe was also in bright hot sunshine. Five hoods, and seven members turned up to scrutinise the Sub-k prior to SVA which Paul hopes to take in August. Apart from the usual sharp edges etc around the front suspension , the one item likely to be picked up is the wiring loom which could benefit from more wrapping to hide the individual wires. At least one member had a nightmare SVA experience over just how little wire was permitted to show outside the loom. We had a demo run on the engine, sounds good, and plentiful tea and snacks on a hot afternoon.
Paul, there was info on Rhocar only last week about the engine rpm figures at max power, this is for the noise test, you should put down the lower figure for the 1600 on your SVA form.
Paul is setting a crash program for the next three weeks, to complete all the tasks and be on the road end of August. Keep us posted mate and let us know the date for the test when you have it.
John Peach
On our ride home , Gordon suffered a lost bolt from the front calliper, a harrowing experience and thankfully we were at a junction. Moments earlier at 70mph would have been a different story perhaps.
Click for a larger image of the Homecall Montage !
Billing Aquadrome - ROHCaR July 2004
Well ! The Robin Hood turn out was a bit thin on the ground Sunday - but the Japanese cars looked great ! Towards the end of the day it was difficult to tell one Honda from another though ! The Billing Fairground and Ride area is looking a bit tired these days - but the dodgem cars were every bit as much fun as ever.
Some of the engine mods on the Jap cars were astounding - one small Mitsubishi had Turbocharging AND Supercharging ..... something called Twincharge (I think) -- awesome.
The Uxbridge Show - 18th July 2004
So nice to see a good representation of the Oxon members attending the Uxbridge show today.
Dodging the early shower , three of us set off from the Reading area for the short sprint ( right Gordon ? ) onto the M40 and thence to the Middx Showground. I say ''sprint'', as an alternative for ''put the boot down and clear that flat spot'', though it does seem to have done the trick. Mucky carb was it ?
We arrived to find excellent traffic management, no queues, and straight to the Rhocar stand, where Alan and the Surrey contingent had been set up since dawn, and more from Oxon had made it before us.
The show had a huge autojumble section, and plenty of trade stands.The main arena featured events all day, some noisy, but I didn't personally go there, as the cars on display provided a feast of viewing. A well balanced mixture of classics, pre-war, kit, performance, the eccentric, and endless owners clubs ,Plus new car dealerships with latest models for inspection. It was wonderfully indulgent in motor cars, not a steam engine or tractor did I see. A decent amount of art and craft also provided interest for the loved ones who often have to smile patiently when bored by car talk.
Mid afternoon saw the BBQ assembled by the Robinhood method, though not a hammer in sight. Our thanks go to Alan, for kindly feeding us from his supplies.
The disassembly of the BBQ was infinitely more fun..........it was still hot , and the tipped -out coals raised a challenge from Irene to ''prove yourselves men and walk the coals'' which was met with a long queue of bare-footed hoodies eager to be tested.
Unfortunately, when I got back from the gents, it was too late to have my go !!?!!
In her rush to photo this action, Irene trod on the hot grill plate, and the reaction suggests she might not have made it very far on the coals proper, !
We made ready to depart as rain threatened, though it actually came to nothing.
On starting up, I managed to ingress a plastic bag which became wrapped around the cooling fan, giving out painful noises. Much relief on finding it was this , and not a more serious engine problem. Who were that bunch who dropped litter so close to our stand ?
As we made our way across the grass Duncan seemed to have to swerve violently to avoid pedestrians in a high revving, rear end snaking manoeuvre. His resulting broad grin indicating it was a success.
Again, excellent traffic management enabled us to exit freely and onto the A40 for home. Our thanks to the Surrey boys for your welcome and hospitality, Alan. We will return the favour and look forward to seeing you again.
The Uxbridge Show is a ''must do'' in our next year calendar.
Peter Cherry's Homecall - July 2004
SATURDAY 10th July 2004 - Homecall at Peter Cherry’s place - to see how his build is getting on. The heavens opened on a regular basis - so the "convoy" of Pete Ray’s newly SVA’d car and my own 2B Hood made its slippery way to Oxford from the Silverstone / Bicester area . These Hoods don’t half kick the back end out in damp heavy-footed circumstances ! Peter was doing his best to keep his newly finished car in good fettle - and trailing behind - I often saw odd bits of polythene flying out of his car , and much fiddling with the "roof" ! Now Peter C had warned of the 16 sleeping policemen leading up to his home , I had thought he was exaggerating (as usual) ......... But he was not ! Being the owner of a full depth sump - the last mile took some time to negotiate !
Arriving at Peter’s place - Sean and Terry had already been impressed by the progress and quality of what Peter is building - it was now our turn . The latest hurdle he was working on was the leaking / cracked thermostat housing , I’m sure he’s fixed it by now (you can read up on how Peter’s car is progressing in the "Build Progress" section)! Up the back of the garden his son (Dave ?) .... Is building a super lightweight DAX Rush - I reckon it’ll go like stink if it’s as fast as it looks and sounds !
Marge (Peter’s wife) put on a great spread for us and it made for a fine tea - while we waited for the rain to ease off ! My own tonneau cover looks a bit saggy and frail - but was 100% watertight , Peter Ray’s much more presentable arrangement proved however to be much less watertight .....
Graham Mintram
Beale Park Motor Show - 31st May 2004
MONDAY 31st May 2004
- was the Beale Park Motor show, mainly 'classics' with a kit section. I got off on the wrong foot with this one as they refused to let me in free. A mood that was quickly dispelled by the sight of Pete Robins following us in, in his V6 S7. That was it for hoods, but Pete Brundels Cobra, plus Graham and Dave in the Locust from Thatcham, gave us dominance of the kit section, with TerryB and DaveN in support. Generally a low turnout show, with assorted local 50's and 60's production cars, some restored exceptionally well. Negligible trade stands and an awful commentator. I would like to compare this show with say Burford and Uxbridge, before deciding if it should be worth the effort in Club stand with Gazebo and BBQ etc next year. Any views from the others in attendance.? We need a big event in the Thames Valley where we can attract a large club gathering with social opportunities. Does anybody know if the Newbury Show in Sept supports kit car entries ?John Peach
Interford 2004 @ Gaydon
All things Ford get together at the Heritage Museum at Gaydon in Warks each year. The Interford show has always been supported by he Robin Hood group of our area - and this year was no exception. Though only 2 made it along this time : Graham Mintram and John Tompkins . Having met up at Banbury Cross the journey to Gaydon avoiding the motorway was a chase across undualting and pretty countryside.
I found this snap shot had been taken of my car and posted on an Interford 2004 site - the RS200 in the background looked particularly good . Sadly John had disappeared by the time this stranger wandered by with camera in hand !
Homecall - Terry Barry - June 2004
Somehow I found that I had agreed to be the first member of the group to have the pleasure of a "home visit". Strange that, I normally only drink Diet Coke at those Gozzards meetings.
Sunday 28th June dawned sunny and dry, I think, I wasn’t awake at dawn.
Just after two o’clock there was an ominous rumbling sound, thunder? – No, a Cobra replica and a Hood had rolled up outside the gate, Peter Brundell and Sean Higgins had arrived.
Gordon Webber in his Hood and Jeff Marlow in a tin top followed up shortly.
Much time was spent examining my efforts in the build to date – it would appear that I am not doing too much wrong. I have concluded that I need to apply a little more effort, strangely this sounds remarkably like my old school reports.
Thanks go to Mary for providing tea and sandwiches. It has been suggested that a fish supper may be provided if there is a next time and I still haven’t found a suitable home for the Ghost Koi who are currently out-growing my pond.
About 90 minutes after our visitors had left the heavens opened with a nasty dose of "stair-rods". I was to learn later that this weather was spreading down from the north, no prizes for guessing which way the lads were heading.
Terry Barry
Some snap shots of progress ........
