Cima Racing is Rallying an old banger around Europe to raise money for BEN Donate Now!
Cheers, love.
31 October 2006
In a massive vote of confidence in the project, the current Mrs Huff has purchased me a gift for the car.A polystyrene tombstone.
Apparently it's to place on top of the car when it dies somewhere up a mountain in Switzerland, although she thinks it may be used as early as Kent.
Nothing like a bit of optimism.
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
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30 October 2006
The prospect of taking the journey from Staples to Naples alone was a pretty scary prospect, not least because when I sing, I hurt my throat, so imagine what five days with nothing but a loud stereo would do.Fortunately I've managed to rope in a co-driver, ready to accompany me and assist the entertainment.
Quite literally my oldest friend, I'm pleased to introduce Juliana Anderiesz. She's
Apart from the fact she's a chick, and therefore will look good in racing overalls, she's also less sane than me, so I'll come home feeling quite normal after the 2,500 mile journey.
Welcome aboard, Jules ;-)
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
It made it home!
16 October 2006
Now that was an adventure! After the false start in Harrogate, we finally managed to coax the Safrane home yesterday afternoon.Upon driving the car, you become aware of a number of not insignificant faults. First among those is the fact that there's no oil. Where the oil should be is filled with water, with some black colouring mixed in to make it look a bit like oil.
That's not a problem, though, as there's no oil pressure, or certainly not at anything below about 3,000rpm. Of course, if there's no oil, you don't really want to be spinning the engine particularly quick. Added to that, where the coolant should be is pretty much nothing, apart from a bit of oil.
The solution? Coax the car up to about 55mph and then stick the cruise control on. It's just a bout ticking over, so there's as little strain on the engine as possible, and there's enough air being forced in to keep things relatively cool.
Until we get to a roundabout. They became a challenge, with the best solution appearing to be forcing the auto box into a lower ratio, slowing to about 30, and then haring across the roundabout and hope there's no traffic.
Sadly, that means taking the bends pretty quickly, which is not something you want to attempt on the tyres fitted. There's four different brands, and I haven't heard of three of them.
Not that we could slow down too much anyway. Pressing the brake pedal simply makes the car shake violently, but doesn't seem to have any effect on your speed. That'll be fun coming down the mountains in Switzerland and Italy!
Despite having pre-planned stops, we decided to keep going and just drag the car as far as we could. Sky high engine temperatures and an odd smell of fuel meant there was a very real fire hazard, so there would be no fuel stops.
Fortunately, we just made it back. After hurling the car into an open area near the house we simply abandoned it and left it to cool down or catch fire.
And cool down it did. now the hard works starts...
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
Saved by the pub!
15 October 2006
Given last nights difficulties, I wasn't entirely confident that we'd get the Safrane home. If it made it to the open road, I'd have been happy, but first we had to get through a surprisingly congested Harrogate.We jumped in the Safrane late in the morning and, amazingly, it fired up. Not wasting time, I floored it and made as much progress as we could. Blasting up hills, haring round corners, blazing over level crossings, and then clunking to a halt by some traffic lights.
Damn.
Sitting on a Sunday morning in the outskirts of Harrogate with a dead car and no breakdown cover calls for one thing; the pub!
Fortunately, we'd managed to break down right outside The Prince of Wales pub in Starbeck, Harrogate. Barging through the back door, a bit of sweet talking was all it needed in this wi-fi enabled pub to get a hefty pair of jump leads and a donor car aside the stricken Safrane.
A turn of the engine and the Safrane fired into life. With no oil, no oil pressure, and no coolant, it was perhaps not too wise to hang around, so we bid our goodbyes to Debbie and Barry and made off.
All hail the Prince of Wales, the King of Pubs.
Thanks guys ;-)
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
Spent the night with Kimberley
It's time to leave Ripon and take the Safrane to its new resting place. Before I go, I'd like to take just a moment to say thanks to the people at The Kimberley Hotel in Harrogate.The hotel, a small and possibly family owned hotel with 48 rooms, is an elegant Victorian Town House parked right next door to the Harrogate International Centre, which is apparently one of the better conference centre's in the country.
Each of the rooms at Kimberley is pretty good, but there's the option of superior and even themed rooms, and are worth paying out for, while the staff are all superb - or at least the ones I interacted with are. The hotel is also just a 10 minute wander from the various restaurants in Harrogate, including the Cheaug Won Chinese buffet: it's nothing to look at, but the food is superb!
According to TripAdvisor.com, The Kimberley is the 13th best hotel in Harrogate. Unlucky for some, but I don't believe in superstition.
If you happen to be in Harrogate, see if you can spend a night with Kimberley. She's worth it.
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
Oh dear...
14 October 2006
This doesn't bode well. After a 25 mile drive to Harrogate (including a short detour to Lightwater Valley), the car literally died as we pulled up outside the hotel.Not even enough power to park properly, we had to leave the car where it sat, taking up two spaces and going just over the lines, and hope there were no passing traffic wardens between now and when the parking restrictions end at 6pm.
Still, that's 25 miles down. Only about 200 to go...
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
It's mine! All mine!
I'm now the Woo-hoo!
It's taxed, insured and has a few minutes of MOT left, and has now been transferred in to my name. The only thing to do was to thrust £51 into the hands of the spectacularly kind Mike, and wish him all the best for the future.
Now, it's off to Harrogate.
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
That's better than I expected
We've made it. More specifically, we've made it as far as Ripon, meaning there's still the not insignificant task of taking the soon to be newly acquired car home.Met off the bus by Mike, the current owner, we've been shown some true Yorkshire hospitality. Mike seems genuinely sad to be seeing his car go, and I'm (almost) feeling guilty about handing over just £51 for the V6 powered behemoth, but a deal's a deal.
Having now glanced around the car, I'm quite impressed. It's in far better condition than I would have expected, as long as you ignore the door that won't unlock, the bubbles under the paintwork, the water where the oil should be, the empty space where the water should be, and an on board computer that insists that all is working fine.
And I've got to drive this 250 miles home.
Not just yet, though. First we're heading inside for sandwiches and tea (I told you Mike was nice) before heading off to the Post Office to tax the car. Once that's done, it's a short drive to Harrogate where I'll be spending the night with Kimberley...
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
Ripon awaits
I'm off to Ripon. It's a nice, small cathedral city in North Yorkshire, and home to my accidental Renault Safrane.The current owner, a seemingly very nice gentleman called Mike, will be awaiting my arrival, along with my wife, at Ripon bus station, following our train trip to York, then bus to Ripon.
I've got £51 in cash ready to pay for the car, and then we're heading just a few miles down the road to Harrogate, for an overnight stay before heading home in the new motor.
Wish us luck...
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
Oops
10 October 2006
You know how you can sometimes click on the wrong part of a website? The kind of click that leads to some other websites, immediately followed by questions from your wife about just how those images got on your computer and unconvincing explanations from you that it was all a bizarre accident and you certainly didn't intend to be looking at those pictures.I've just had a similar experience although, for clarity, it wasn't involving nubile young women. Sadly.
Instead, I've accidentally purchased a car.
I'll just rephrase that, so it's perfectly clear: I've bought car. By accident.
Amazingly, there was no alcohol involved. Simply, it was me poking about with the mouse at the same time as I got a Second Chance Offer from eBay on a car I'd already bid on, but lost, while not realising I was already signed in at the same time as doing some work on another PC while watching TV.
It was too much for my brain to cope with, and I hit the 'Buy Now' button. By accident.
Therefore, I'm now the 'proud' owner of a Renault Safrane. Not just any old Safrane, either, but the 3.0 litre V6 powered version. That'll be economical on the Italian mountain passes…
The car's in Yorkshire, so now I've got to plan a trip up there to pick up the car, and then drive it back.
One more thing; the engine's broken...
Labels: Staples2Naples 07
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