THAMES VALLEY HOODS
An area group of the RHOCaR club - all things Robin Hood Kit Cars
Northants RHOCaR Area group.
The NORTHANTS Group - 12th September 2004 Graham Mintram.
Lee Bridges started up this area group at the beginning of summer this year (you may have seen him wandering around Stoneleigh wearing a dodgy T-Shirt calling for help !) - things have progressed well since then. I have been along to a couple of meetings at the Star & Garter (near Rushden) - they are generally well attended and attract a good mix of Car Enthusiasts. Most common are Hoods and Caterhams - but a fine Sylva Phoenix gets along too (known on the log book as an Escort Convertible !). The last meeting on the 12th September saw Lee turn up in a brand new swanky Street Ka - Hood still making slow progress ! New arrivals this last weekend saw a "GD(?)" Cobra and a modified Land Rover that could almost have driven straight over my Hood without inflicting any damage ! The Star and Garter hosts a motorbike festival in the summer - up to 500 bikes and almost as many tents ! I know Lee has a bigger Hood involvement planned at the festival for next year (perhaps the Thames Valley Group could get along too ?).
Click any of the images above for a larger view.
Peter Ray and I (Graham Mintram) took the cold trip up to the Northants area on 16th November '04 , see the Herts website for details on :
HERTS SG7 KIT CARS & A snapshot from Herts :-
Hampshire ROHCaR Area
SUNDAY 30th May 2004 , was perfect rain dodging for the ride down to Otterbourne.
We were made welcome by the Hants and the Surrey groups, and a total of 14 cars assembled in the car park of the Old Forge. We would have arrived earlier but navigation was too much for me, and it took Clare and 'Dr' Dunc to get us back on the right road. The majority of cars there were 2B's in the various forms, including Irene's RSJigtec wishbone conversion 'Mr Blue Sky' which attracted a lot of attention and discussion. Plenty of photos and technical chit chat was ended by a sharp downpour, proving a good opportunity to nip inside and order lunch, but only after the '' wet weather gear time trial ''. Interesting advantage of the alligator bonnet demonstrated by Ash ( Animal )
1, Raise bonnet several inches
2. Fit hood , no straining required.
3 Close bonnet, tensioning the hood in one easy move.
Lunch was good, and as if on cue , the clouds parted and out came the sun. There was the good camaraderie that you come to expect from a gathering of Hoodies, and it was good to match up the familiar names to so many new faces. I will be in favour of more ''inter-group'' meetings from time to time.
I am not so good at leading these convoys.....................this time we set off and left Rob behind, had to do an illegal man oeuvre after heading down the wrong on-slip to the M3......watched by those chaps in a striped white van.......... and took another wrong turn in Basingstoke, meeting Irene coming the other way. ( And I know these roads blindfolded in the ordinary car ). A lot of texts were exchanged on mobiles as we tried to locate Rob ( found heading Newbury way with Sean ),
It all contributed to the fun and laughter.
John Peach.
