Driving a 1954 Austin-Healey 100/4 from Peking to Paris in the June 2019 ERA Rally.

Tuesday 20 November 2018

0073 How to navigate across the Gobi Desert

20th November 2019
In England to learn some new skills

194 days to go !!

Gathering for the briefing in UK
The Endurance Rally Association (ERA) was holding its P2P Briefing at the Gaydon British Motor Museum. With less than 200 days until the flag drops at the Great Wall of China, almost 100 crews made the journey to Warwickshire, to meet their fellow competitors and the organising team, and to learn more about the event which is now fast approaching.  It may seem a little ridiculous to come all the way to UK for such a briefing, but with the not inconsiderable investment we have already made in terms of both money and time over the last 2 years, it would be churlish not to spend a little more of both in order to ensure we give ourselves the best opportunity for success. And since I had some urgent Healey parts which I could pick up in the UK, I came, leaving Ashton to hold the fort in Australia.

Sunday 11 November 2018

0072 The radiator comes out

9th November 2018
A big change of plan for the cooling

205 days to go !

Side brace in boot
Started off the week by trying to work out a better and more stable way of packing stuff in the boot.  Our first efforts while we were out in Alice Springs were a miserable failure - Within only a few miles of bumpy roads the bags and boxes in the boot had escaped from their tie-down straps and were all over the boot.  A major rethink was in order !  One big advantage we now have is that there are main roll bar braces running down either side of the boot, not only providing a very solid limit to prevent movement of the items in the boot from side to side, but also providing a mounting point for brackets that can better hold down the contents of the boot.  With these ideas rolling around in my head, I looked at the optimal ways to implement them.