2011 is go!

Planning is now underway for Boomerang 2011.  The upgrades have begun:


A respray is also called for.  I started off with a bit of debadging at the the back(she's no longer a 200400LXLXLX Turbo TurboD):

We've also now installed an iPod dock on the dash.  After spotting that my cheap Tesco dock used a 12v feed it seemed rude not to: 

Welcome home!

Just arrived back in UK, 1738 miles complete!

Update: Arrived back in Witney: 1,886.7 miles driven since 8am Thursday...

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Back @ Calais

Arrived at the eurotunnel a few hours early so having hit the duty free are now all waiting to be called to board the 1920 shuttle.

Free wifi while we wait :)

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8% belgian lager, Giraffes, mcdonalds & security

Unconfirmed police reports from Strasbourg suggest a 3.5 litre giraffe went missing from an Irish bar in the city centre at approximately 10pm following a happy hour promotion. A group were seen leaving the vicinity carrying what was described as "a giraffe with a coat on it" but sightings could not be confirmed by police sources.

Other reports speak of a dispute between hotel staff and guests at the up market ibis a short distance away regarding the official boundary of the hotel restaurant and reception, along with licensing hours. Security guards were called when foreign nationals tried to eat mcdonalds takeaways in the hotel restaurant despite being told that was prohibited. Suggestions they returned to their rooms fell on deaf ears when told they couldn't take drinks to their room. Ibis's "15 minute satisfaction guarantee" was also called into question when one guest was refused a €6 pint for over 15 minutes and was left feeling very unsatisfied. One hotel employee was quoted as saying "this is not normal".

Witness reports this morning speak of a mint condition 1996 UK registered renault espace, a limited edition uk registered mini cooper and a silver BMW estate leaving Strasbourg at speed.

At a press conference held this morning, police refused to confirm or deny if the above incidents were related. In other news mcdonalds and ibis are to carry out a joint audit of trays following a number going missing in the past 24hrs.

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Arrived in Strasbourg...

Getting on the Motorway out of Prague and seeing the satnav say 'next right turn in 295 miles' was a bit of killer, but 3 driver changes later we'd left czech republic (making sure to fill up with petrol just before the border) crossed Germany and over the Rhine into France. 

This is the longest day of driving but having nicked enough of breakfast from the hotel to we didn't have to stop for lunch and made good time, arriving in Strasbourg nice and early... Only to find the hotel bar is a bit pricey at £5 a pint! Lets go and find a cheaper local bar before the kitty runs out completely...

Intermittently intermittent wipers

At some point since the last rally the intermittent wiper setting intermittently stopped working... During the last leg of driving this afternoon they started working, and an even bigger bonus so did the hot air blower! All ross had to do was open the glovebox and fiddle around with things to get the Haynes Manual out and bingo it was fixed... Turns out it was a loose connection on one of the relays in the fusebox in the roof of the glovebox!

Status update: 1hr outside strasbourg, just leaving service station after driver swap.

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Prague

Just arrived in prague, well we arrived about 90mins ago but an accident made the last 1mile a complete nightmare! Definitely brimming the petrol tank on the way out, works out at under £1 a litre in Czech republic :)

While stopping for petrol at the first services after the border crossing we stumbled on a Market and thought we'd have a look around... The first stall we saw mainly sold clothes but did an interesting line in weaponry, featuring cs spray, knuckle dusters, knives and ninja stars. Then classic quote:

Ross: "look brad, they sell guns!"
Brad: "where?"
Ross: "there, at the back, next to the samurai swords..."

And the cars parked around made the espace look basically showroom, even with our DIY paintwork!!

Anyway it's 5.15pm here so time for a pint in the hotel bar...

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Arrived in Czech Republic

We've just crossed the border...

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Day 1 complete, arrived in Frankfurt

Just arrived in frankurt and enjoying a nice cold pint in the hotel bar... (trzing to tzpe on a german kezboard is verz confusing!!) The other two cars are at a different hotel so we're just waiting for them to get here before we go for a walk along the river to the beer festival we found on our doorstep this time last year. We had planned on uploading our nurburgring videos to youtube but the hotel doesnt have free wifi so we cba yet...

 

Probably be an early start tomorrow so we can maximise the amount of time we get in prague tomorrow night...

 

Sadly we've not got a river view this time, but then i dont plan on spending any time in the hotel room....

Laptime: 17:08.004

Well the official lap time was 17 minutes 08.004 seconds (w) for the espace, other teams to follow when we review the videos. Danny & Mike couldn't keep up me driving the espace, but mossy did the best, despite nearly loosing it at one point!!

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Thunder & Lightning

Well we're all sat metres from the start line at the nurburgring and there's full on thunder and lightning, accompanied by pouring rain! Hardly ideal racing weather so have decided not to bother with slicks but unsure to go for intermediates or full wet tyres...

We've got our 22 euro 1 lap ticket, stopwatch and video camera all set, watch this space for the laptimes!!

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Arrived in Eindhoven

Well the first day of travelling is over and we’ve made it to Eindhoven… The weather’s been gradually improving since we left the pouring rain of England and we’re now having a pint by the side of the pool, watching Mike and Danny take a swim.

Poor Katy’s stint of driving was round the Antwerp ring road, which with 7 lanes of merging traffic from both sides makes the M25 look like a country lane!

The receptionist has pointed us in the direction of the bus into town so we’ll probably be heading out for dinner and few drinks…

Welcome to Belgium

France done in 30mins, heading for first driver change in Belgium... The 'Track us' feature might be a bit intermittent, since i've already used a 10th of my data bundle I might have to update location every hour or so!

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Goodbye England

Just got on the eurotunnel, france here we come!

Hope the weather is better!!

Team names: confirmed

Taking part in Boomerang 2010 we have the following teams:

2010: An eSpace Odyssey
Two Profs & a Piano
MINI Moss

Updated plan: latest intel from Mossy is that he's got a spare wheel for the mini but it won't fit in the boot so it's being strapped to a back seat leaving room for a 'small person for the sake of their own comfort', I think that means Danny is getting a lift to Folkestone in the espace ;)

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Last minute packing list…

The following are required in at least one of the five countries we’re visiting:

1. Fire Extinguisher
2. Bulb Kit
3. Light Converter Strips
4. First Aid Kit
5. Vests (Yellow & Green)
6. Warning Triangle
7. MOT Certificate
8. Car Insurance
9. Vehicle Registration (V5)

Essentials

1. Driving Licence (Card & Paper counterpart)
2. Passport
3. EHIC Card
4. Euros

Other stuff we’re taking

1. 12v to Mains inverter (for charging phones, satnav, laptops, radios)
2. Digital & Video Camera (for the Nurburgring lap!)
3. Sat Nav
4. Phone Charger
5. European Map
6. Hotel Booking Reservations
7. 4x Walkie Talkies (plus spare batteries)
8. Laptop (for blogging)

Recommendations

1. Travel Insurance
2. European Breakdown cover
3. Spare set of car keys ;)

 

Can anyone thing of something I've missed? Let me know and I'll add to the above list(s)….

Team Names

Just realised we've not decided on team names for the two support vehicles! So Mossy, Danny, Mike, George what you gonna call yourselves?

We're "2010: An eSpace Odyssey"...

Clocks ticking boys...

P.s mossy, what's ur dads name?

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Czech Republic Advice

Since none of us have been to Prague before i thought i'd better double check my earlier research, and i think i've spotted a potential issue - you're meant to have GREEN hi-vis vests (and that's what i put on the main boomerang site here) so not sure why I/Ross thought it was Orange - oops!

Anyway the following is taken from the UK/US foreign office sites:


Czech Republic Entry Requirements:

• Passport should be valid for at least three months beyond the day you plan to finish your trip. 
• Every adult must carry identification at all times.

Driving in Czech Republic:

Road fatalities are occurring at an increasing rate in the Czech Republic, placing it amongst the most lethal places to drive in Europe. Main roads in the Czech Republic generally meet European standards; however, on side roads, drivers should be prepared to encounter uneven surfaces, irregular lane markings, and sign placements that are not clear. Streets in towns are not always in good condition. You should pay special attention to driving on cobblestone and among trams in historic city centers.

Czech law requires that drivers have their headlights on at all times when driving in the Czech Republic.  The law also requires that all private cars, including those of foreign visitors, carry one of each of the following items:

• fluorescent GREEN high visibility safety jacket for each occupant (kept in car)
• first aid kit
• spare pair of prescription glasses kept in the glove compartment (if necessary)
• warning triangle
• complete set of spare bulbs.

Czech law also allows for breathalyzer testing for drivers stopped by local law enforcement officials for any reason.  There is a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol and driving; driving with any trace of detected alcohol, however slight, is illegal.  If you plan to drive in the Czech Republic you should not drink alcoholic beverages before doing so.  Drivers could face an immediate fine or criminal justice proceedings.

A vignette (250 CZK / ~£8.50 for 10 days) must be purchased for motorway driving. These can be purchased from most Post Offices, petrol stations and from some bureaux de change and other outlets at the border.

SatNav Coordinates

For those travelling with SatNav I've compiled a list of all the places we're heading for, which I recommend you enter BEFORE setting off, as entering GPS coordinates is fiddly at the best of times!

Once I'd got the list i added them all to google maps (in the order that we're travelling to them) and the entire trip is actually 1,907m (31hrs driving) door to door!

Anyway here's the list of coordinates...


Hotels

• Eindhoven:  N 51° 27' 30.15"  E 5° 24' 26.20"
• Frankfurt:
• Espace:  N 50° 6' 7.62"    E 8° 39' 52.78"
• Support vehicles:  N 50° 7' 37.97''  E 8° 37' 52.24"
• Prague:  N 50° 4' 28.74"   E 14° 25' 34.04"
• Strasbourg: N 48° 35' 8.92"   E 7° 44' 35.62"

Tunnel

• UK Side:  N 51° 5' 44.12"   E 1° 7' 19.45"
• France Side: N 50° 56' 20.62"  E 1° 48' 52.06"

Racing Circuits

• Nürburgring:   N 50° 20' 8.00"   E 6° 56' 51.00"

Nürburgring here we come!

Any topgear or motorsport fan worth their salt should have an ambition to have a go at the infamous Nürburgring, and although i still can’t quite believe it, this Friday I'll be doing it in a 19 year old Renault Espace 2.1 Turbo Diesel!

Last year a mixture of fear for the espace’s reliability and rubbish geographic knowledge of Germany meant we missed the opportunity but upon discovering that the Nürburgring is almost on the way to Frankfurt its too good an opportunity to miss.

For the less informed amongst us, the Nürburgring, nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart is widely considered the toughest, most dangerous and most demanding purpose-built racing circuit in the world.

The 14.173 mile Nordschleife (Northern Loop) section has remained a one-way, public toll-road for nearly 80 years except when it is closed off for testing purposes, training lessons, or racing events. Since its opening in 1927 the track has been used by the public for the so-called Touristenfahrten, i.e. anyone with a road legal car or motorcycle, as well as tour buses, motor homes, or cars with trailers can have a go for the princely sum of €22.

The circuit winds its way through the forested hills around the town of Nurburg and features 33 left and 40 right turns, with very little run off and only Armco barriers to stop you ploughing into the nearby trees…

After some research the track is open to the public between 1415 and 1930 this Friday so it’d be rude not to swing by and have a go ;) The current lap record is 6mins, 47.5 seconds set by a £1.3m Pagani Zonda R on the 29th June 2010 (video) but i don’t think that’s in any danger of being broken by a £0.000001m Renault Espace!

I’ve updated the boomerang rally site to feature the changes to the first day’s route, which can be seen here.

GPS and EU data

Last year we used our company blackberries to give a realtime tracking service that allowed friends and family to monitor our progress around europe. As you can see on the right of the new look blog we're doing the same again (there's a link to a page with more detailed maps above it). The only issue this year is cost, since we're paying our mobile bill when we get back, unlike last year. Fortunately Ross noticed that orange have introduced travel bundles so Ross and I have bought 30days of 12mb of roaming data which should be plenty for the tracking service and for posting to the log while on the move. Anything too data intensive can be done using the hotel wifi at the beginning and end of the day.

Also new EU rules force mobile operators to 'switch off' data once a customer gets to 16mb (12 for PAYG) meaning without bundles the most you'll get stung for in any one month is about £44 inc vat, a vast improvement on before when you could get home to a huge bill in excess of £1,000 if you were thick enough to download a blueray video while on holiday!

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Central Europe Maps

Having checked Ross's TomTom unit and realising it doesn't cover Prague due to it being 'UK & Western Europe' mild panic at the thought of paper-based map reading swept through us... Luckily one of the TomTom v8 maps I downloaded to my old smart phone for last years rally is 'western & central europe' so we're sorted. After a bit of 'calculating route' it informed me prague is 825miles and 13.5hrs away from Oxfordshire... Can't wait!!

P.s as u'll have noticed if you're on the rally I've added your email address to a list which automatically gets a notification whenever a post is added to the blog, if you'd rather not receive these, or know anyone else who would like to let me know...

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The countdown begins…

We’re now only five days away from Boomerang 2010!! First i need to apologise for not having made a single post since we left the tunnel almost a year ago… Many things have changed, we’ve suffered MOT failure which resulted in the espace being SORN for a few months (she was back on the road in time for Cornbury Festival at the beginning of July), we’ve lost a team member (Timmy) but gained another (Robbie) and gained a whole new team (they need a name!) consisting of a friend (Mossy) and his Dad who’ll be support vehicle #2 (a brand new Mini). The espace has also been involved in a ice related ‘incident’ with a wall causing slight cosmetic damage to the front and has moved home to live at Ross’s dad’s in Witney.

So with less than a week to go Ross, Tom and I performed the following routine task (all without the use of haynes manual this year!):

• Coolant/Anti-freeze change
• Oil change
• Oil filter change
• Air filter (cleaned & hoovered)
• Washer Fluid top-up
• Brake fluid top-up
• Power Steering fluid check
• Wheel Bolt check

Whilst carrying out the above we noticed that the turbo pipe fault we first spotted in Germany last year had worsened to the point where it had all but broken in half, causing oil to spray over the engine and valuable air pressure in the turbo to escape. Luckily the pipe had a fair bit of slack in it so using a knife i cut off the damaged end and re-attached it. The results in the test drive were impressive, quieter turbo (no-longer sounds like a distance police siren), less turbo lag and a faster accelerating espace :)

So with the prep work done we filled up with diesel (at a cost of £86.33, thanks Mr Tax Man!), reset the odometer and parked her up ready for Boomerang 2010 to begin…

We made it!

We've just come out of the tunnel into the UK sunshine, with 1,476
miles completed since 11am thursday using 2.5 tanks of diesel.

Here's hoping she copes with an august bank holiday M25 on our final
leg back to oxfordshire!

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Tunnel Update

we'd been told that no trains are running until 1800 so we were out
sunning ourselves on the tarmac, then all of a sudden without warning
the queue disappeared so we bundled in and were off! Que a mad panic
from danny as mike had the keys to their car and was nowhere to be
seen!

So we're now sat in Coach 3 waiting foir the train to fill up, the
support car is in Coach 25 1/2 a mile away!

The next blog post should be from blighty!

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Train stopped in tunnel

We've sucessfully navigated over 1300 miles of european roads only to
be tharwted by a french train stuck in the channel tunnel. We"re now
sat in a queue for the platform having passed border control. You
should be able to see us on the gps page...

Current temporature inside the espace is 33 degrees.

We'll keep you posted!

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Sunday

Tim here. Thought I better write something, considering we should be
home tomorrow.
Yesterday was in fact a trip that was approximately twice as long as
it should have been. We managed to find every major traffic jam in
western europe. Althhough it gave the natives plenty of time to soak
up the genius of the Espace.
We encountered many things more than jams though. Interference on the
radio meant we could wind up some local girl, probably burning no more
than 15 candles (CB speak). Seemingly endless tunnels that appeared to
be boring through to the centre of the planet.
Then we stopped at a rest stop which was epicly spectacular:

The Espace appears to be holding up reasonably well. The clutch is
doing weird stuff. Pulling away from a standing start is fine as long
as you don't use any throttle. This would indicate something's not
right obviously, but not entirely sure what...
And the final word of this post must go to Zurich. The people are
alright, and the kebabs are amazing, but Zurich is, 'ow you say, a
shithole. There may be some bits that are nice, but the place looks
post-apocalyptic. Roadworks everywhere. Definitely not a patch on
Frankfurt, which very quickly became one of my most favourite places,
behind Rome and London (I realise that last part was mostly
conjecture).
OK, onwards to Luxembourg. Speak to you in a bit internetica...

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Welcome back to france

Its 0948 and we're back in france for the 2nd of our three visits on
the rally. 222 miles to the hotel, now heading for strasbourg...

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Day Three

The homeward bound legs have begun! We left the hotel 0800 heading for
basel and strasbourg, stopping to take on fuel and breakfast at the
first services we found.

We averaged 42mpg on our first tank, which got us to austria! Austrian
petrol is the cheapest so far, liechtenstein the most expensive and
even the swiss is approx 1p cheaper than uk!

TomTom is saying 259miles to our hotel in luxembourg, ETA (without
stops and traffic!) Is 1300. Ross is driving first, then Katy, Tim and
finally brad.

Clutch is still 'sensitive' when pulling away, but doesn't appear to
be getting worse from what we can tell.

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ZZZZZurich

Well we're in Zurich. The traffic makes Oxford look clear. 1 hour to do less than half a mile. Let's hope for more luck tomorrow!

Checkpoint Charlie

Turns out we needed a vignette for austria as well as switzerland, and
forgot to pay the toll! We passed one polizia who didn't blink an
eyelid but thought we'd better get the vignette anyway and get the
swiss one too. So we stopped at a shell petrol station and got both
for 36.40 euros.

Then one minute later we ran into a roadblock! They took our passports
to run a check for five minutes, the other cars got waved through!
Thank god we'd got the vignette on the window as its a 500 euro on the
spot fine!

I'm writing this from austria, 1 mile from the leichtenstein border!

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Back on the move

We've just cleared the jam and are back underway, nearly at the
austrian border. On the plus side tim's perfected the technique for
using 1st gear without it slipping.

Hopefully the next post will be from another country...

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Panic stations

We've hit a massive traffic jam where it goes down to one lane. Just
our luck its on an incline so we've got loads of hill starts to do!
Coolant temperature still low though.

We've sent mike off to investitage with his high vis vest on...

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Almost in austria

We've just got back on the road following another driver swap and a
bit of lunch which seemed to be crisps and stuff smuggled out of
breakfast...

So timmy is now at the wheel, TomTom is saying straight ahead for 64
miles (the record so far is 135 miles without a turn after we left
frankfurt) so austria here we come!

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Day two update

We're just about to make the 3rd driver change, katy's about to hand
over to ross. We're approx 100-120m from the austrian border.

No mechanical issues to report besides the the clutch starting to slip
in first, if u keep the revs down its ok. Coolant temp working as
expected.

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Day two begins

Well everyone is down for breakfast by 0740 (except Tim) so we should be on for another prompt start. Mike has already been out and found George the nearest McDonalds at the main train station just round the corner. (24 hrs in and george has only eaten McDonalds or Burger King)

In our first hotel review, i can report that IBIS is worth the extra (or less in our case) compared to the ETAP (they are both owned by Accor - Ross has commited to securing a sponsorship deal for next years rally). We can cancel tonights ETAP upto 1900 free of charge so if we get their early enough we'll recce both and choose the best, which will prob be the IBIS at only 10CHF more per room.

The coolant, oil and tyres has been checked and all is ok. Only slight problem is another car has parked so close that access is only via the passenger side!

Driving rota for day is (approx 1hr each) Brad > Katy > Ross > Tim > Katy > *Brad

*30 mins if timings going to plan

Day One

Well day one is almost over and we made it to frankfurt 1hr ahead of
schedule. The day started well and we were underway by 8.30am,
clocking up four countries before lunch and ross hadn't had a go
behind the wheel! Belgium looked much like france, holland was a blur
of 28 minutes of motorway and we were into germany.

Our nerves were tested when ross got behind the wheel for his first
taste of an autobahn and the coolant temperature flirted with the red
zone, queue a nice stint in the slow lane to let her cool off! We'd
been pretty lucky with traffic and did the 375miles in good time, the
only real problem was the rush hour traffic in frankfurt, and the
espace's clutch wasn't happy pulling away in 1st. Hopefully that was
just the heat and the effects of a long days drive.

The journey to calais went well and we all managed to get on an
earlier eurotunnel shuttle and were in calais an hour early. We
promptly checked it and then walked across to find a bar at cite
europe. After some quick price comparisons we settled on 8 pint jugs
of lager to quench our thirst!

So back to today... We've had a bit of a result, turns out there's a
sailing, beer and music festival on the banks of the river which is
right outside our hotel so we're all now enjoying a half litre of
german lager watching the sun go down...

Let's hope tomorrow goes just as well.

Driving Log for the day (1hr each) Tim > Katy > Brad > Ross > Tim

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Day One Complete!

We have successfully arrived in Frankfurt! More to follow...

Blast Off!

The big day is finally upon us! Wish us luck, we may need it!

GPS Live Tracking

You have to admit Google are good! They launched latitude a few months ago which allowed you to share your location with friends. Last night i noticed they’ve opened it up so that you can share it with anyone (provided you accept the world of privacy disclaimers!) so i thought why not use it for the rally allowing people back hope to follow our progress ~ or lack of it ;)

It works by installing the latest version of Google Maps on a mobile (in this case Ross’s blackberry) which then uses either the cell location (accurate to within 0.25 to 5 miles depending on how many transmitters are nearby) or in our case GPS (accurate to within 3 meters)

I’ve added five maps at varying zoom levels to a new page on the boomerang rally site which you can find here. Enjoy!

Below is our current location (see link above for more detailed maps)

Ready for Plan-B

 

 

Having been let down by technology in the past i thought it a good idea to invest in something a little more old fashioned as a backup, so thanks to amazon a nice big 2009 European Road Atlas is on its way.

However because I'm an idiot and left it so long to order it i missed out on the free super saver delivery option, otherwise its bound to have arrived at home when we were in Calais!

Hopefully TomTom will stand the test of our adventure but you never know…

Balance in The Force

Having been a little concerned by the significant uneven tyre wear after 1000 miles or so we decided that professional wheel alignment was required if we wanted our front tyres to make the trip. We have a fair few gadgets between us, but not laser wheel alignment sensors and a hydraulic ramp!

We took her in on Saturday morning and things started off very well. The first guy we saw turned out to be one of Tim's neighbours and he and his colleague were both really interested in Boomerang so we told them all about it while they sorted the wheels out.

When it was all done I was asked how I was paying, of course I said the magic word cash! I was told the job usually costs £35, but he would do it for £20. When I discovered I only had £15 on me our discount increased even further! So front wheels professionally aligned for less than half price, woohoo!

Shiny new number plate

Anyone who’s seen her will agree that the eSpace’s beauty really is something to behold, however since the paint job there’s been one thing stopping her from looking her best – the rear number plate.

In fact it was so bad we got an MOT advisory notice for it!

Ross and myself were in Halfords on Sunday and armed with the V5 and a Debit Card acting as ID we decided to splash out on a new one (£13.89). Also it means we don’t need an unsightly GB sticker for other EU countries ~ annoying we still do for Switzerland :(

Before:

After:

And for those who want a close up…

Overdue update

After looking round for European breakdown cover on the 1st of August we found that most places cover cars up to 15 years old. Brad said that was us screwed 'cos the Espace is 18. "No it isn't" I said, "my Golf is 18 and is J reg. She must be about 14". So I went to get the V5 and discovered I had lost it. Half an hour of frantic searching later I found it again. So then we were both proven wrong. The Espace was first registered on the 2nd of August 1994 making her 14 years and 364 days at the time of looking. Doh!!

I decided to have another look online just in case and managed to find cover for £21.50 for vehicles up to and including 15 years old. Result!

We were then able to turn our attention to getting up at 3.30am the following morning to deliver my family to Gatwick in the Espace then carry on to give her a proper endurance test run. As it had also turned out to be her birthday as the day progressed we decided to celebrate it in style.

We got to Gatwick no problem at all. Katy was entrusted with taking the helm for the first leg of our maiden long voyage. We actually thought that the interior heating system was broken as we got no warm air at all.... until we'd driven about 30 miles! Then she started to warm up. The radio reported that the M25 was a mess so we abandoned the earlier plan of circumnavigating it. Instead we decided to drop in on my mum just outside Folkestone for breakfast. We arrived there at 7am with croissants, bread, jam, juice and a Sunday Times to a very warm reception.

Brad then had the idea of driving into central London and seeing some sights. Mum quickly made a birthday cake and gave us a card and off we went.

All was going well until we discovered there was a triathalon going on and half of the roads in east London were closed. That was hardly going to stop us now was it: -

Not long to go now

5 weeks to go.  The Espace had a decent test run at the weekend lugging a full load to Cornbury festival and back.

Brad and I were pretty much the first people in so we parked her right by the entrance meaning several thousand people had the pleasure of seeing her in the flesh as the walked in and out.

Next up is the M25 endurance run...

The Cam Belt

A hot Saturday in June, a generous mate of Brad's who knows his way round an engine, a load of tools and blind faith.  The end result?  A fresh cam belt installed and the Espace still working.

I'll be straight up from the start, Tim and Tone did all the hard work.  I was mostly getting my freshly shaven head sunburnt and rooting around in the toolbox for a left handed screwdriver(thanks Tim :-p).  We started off following the Haynes manual, but before long when Tone had finished another job he came over and gave a running commentary on what everything was and critically what to undo and when!

On to the pics: -

Stand by

Much to report folks.

Stand by for a biiig post tomorrow.

We have a fresh cam belt ;-)

Breaker, breaker, Come in.

As donated by a dude at work, we are now CB'ed up!
It's late, and after finishing another chapter of my novel today, I'm tired and all typed out. A picture says a thousand words. Here's a pic (ed. Maybe next time include a valid URL to so the image works!):

Update: A 5ft aerial, 5m patch cable and a roof mount are on order!