Drive It Day 2012

[CliveRothwell]

I've just had a great run over to Cadwell Park from Stamford to see some Classic Motorsort. The rain almost held off, and the sun shone. Almost best of all, the XJS facelift 4.0 ran a treat returning an impressive 26.1 mpg!

So there is your challenge, can you beat 26.1 mpg?

Cheers

Clive

[J44EAG]

Yes, Vice Chairman of Portsmouth Region, Tony Reddaway and I achieved a million miles to the gallon on the back of a recovery truck between Fareham and Hayling Island after a coolant hose let go whilst I was driving his 300R.

As we cruised over for lunch I accelerated and the view in the mirror went grey as the entire contents of the coolant system dumped itself under the car covering Nigel Maisey`s following 308R in greasy glycol antifreeze.

We sent Tony`s wife on ahead in Nigel`s car and awaited the RAC whilst sixteen other Portsmouth members enjoyed a roast beef lunch near Lyndhurst. Tony and I consumed Tesco sandwiches and a can of coke in celebration of the day whilst waiting for a recovery truck in the supermarket car park. Great, eh?

We finished the day travelling by Skoda back to The Crown in Fareham where I had my breakfast seven hours earlier. This time is was beer instead of coffee!!

Now we have to rip off the induction side of the engine to get the car going again. A call to Rob suggests that a hose commonly known as "The Bastard Hose" due to its difficulty of fitting, is likely to be the cause of today's Drive It day excursion onto the hard shoulder of the M27.

Should have stayed in my bunk, me thinks.

Mike

[CliveRothwell]

Yup, that probably beats 26.1 mpg but I did equal your record on Valentine's Day courtesy of a AA flatbed that recovered our X type with a blown turbo!

Lucky for you both it happened with friends about. It's not fun being at the side of the road trying to contact the emergency services: you have my sympathies. No amount of checking cars can mitigate against sudden failure either.

[J44EAG]

Full marks to the RAC.

The patrol man was most impressed with our technical intelligence network which raised our Mr Jennerator on a Sunday morning from deepest Holland. He said he could never have gained such knowledgeable information at the press a couple of keys on a mobile phone. We replied that he should be even more impressed to learn that he was not only rescuing the Chairman of Portsmouth Region but the Vice Chairman as well!

Standing on the side of a motorway is not fun. It was good to see Janet safely in our Nigels car and even more rewarding to have Alan and Jackie Patrick pull over to see if they could help. If any more of our guys had stopped we could have held an impromptu General Meeting. What a Club we have!

Whilst waiting for the tow truck in Tescos car park, a chap in a nice X350 asked if he could help. One thing lead to another and he will be coming to our next meeting. Jaguar ownership certainly brings out the best in many people, does it not?

The trouble with our cars is that access to coolant pipes and other perishable parts can be very limited. None more so than with a 300R where unless the plenum and throttle body is removed for inspection, those coolant pipes are buried so deep as to make periodic inspection almost impossible without major stripe out taking place. I know that is what should happen, but the reality and practicality of so doing becomes rather an expensive option. With the best will in the World, running repairs on the side of the road under gun fire are often just not an option.

So the poor old 300R blew its stack, Tony and I missed a decent lunch but survived to tell the tale. Weather permitting on Friday, we will begin to pull it all to bits and carry out a full blown inspection and rebuild. No doubt we shall find some unholy horrors for rectification.

Mike