Mountain Challenge 2010

A different viewpoint from Chris Towers

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I bought my TR5 in the summer of 2009 from Classic Marques in Norfolk. I had been looking for one for some time with priorities of colour of Royal Blue, surrey top, overdrive and preferably with the bodywork and chassis not needing too much doing. I already had a classic rally car (Alfa Romeo) and was really looking for something to enjoy the sunshine, had some get up and go, was sixties and British. This TR5 fitted the bill perfectly. It already had polybushed suspension, new front shockers, rear suspension conversion to telescopic and electronic ignition.

I spent the winter/spring of 2009/2010 doing some small improvements, including some rewiring with new fuse boxes and relays – the original setup looking a bit overloaded - fitting a Revotec electric fan (superb and useful modification), changing every bit of fluid and treating it to a new set of wire wheels. A bit of tweaking got it running like a stream train. It was just crying out to be used as it had so much pulling power.

Having already had experience of doing European classic car rallies, I was really looking for something a bit different to do with it. Along came the Classic Rally Association’s Mountain Challenge event planned for September. No watches, tripmeters, belting around against the clock.. just a little frolic around the Alps. Perfect! Robin Morgan, my brother-in-law who usually drives the rally car, was well up for it as well. The event was to start in Evian on the southern shores of Lake Geneva and finish in the mecca of all motorsport, Monte Carlo. Brilliant. Let’s have a go!

You will have read the details of what it was like in David Liddell’s piece. Unfortunately for us, on the last day, at 3pm, with only a couple of hours left, our Mountain Challenge all went wrong. Turning around at the top of a col, Robin thought we had a puncture because the steering had suddenly gone heavy. Stepping out of the car, I noticed that the nearside front wheel seemed to have developed a ginormous amount of negative camber. Looking underneath confirmed that all was not well; the rear arm of the lower wishbone had said goodbye to the mounting bracket attached to the chassis. Cable ties and velcro weren’t going to fix this one. And just to rub it in, we were 5000ft up a mountain with the nearest habitation some 15km away. But, hey, what the hell, the sun was shining, and miracle of miracles, I had a signal on my mobile phone. Can’t even manage that where I live on the east coast of England!

No amount of will power and ingenuity was going to get the car off this mountain without some serious assistance. Time to call in the “A” Team – in this case, Europ Assistance provided by TR Register’s recommended insurers, Towergate. Called the UK number and the wheels were set in motion. It was unfortunate for Towergate that the French end of the assistance solution thought it was a Triumph motorcycle (in a French accent, it sounded like Treeumph motorceecle) and hence had dispatched a 4x4 to pick it up. Er, no. A few calls later to a mysterious garage in Nice and a breakdown truck was on its way. Fortunately, we had a Garmin satnav device with us and were able to give them GPS co-ordinates of our exact location.

These events quite often provide a “sweep crew” to provide some remedial assistance in case of breakdowns. A quick call to them had them up the mountain by 5pm. They were at least able to use a ratchet strap to attach the lower wishbone to the chassis leg sufficiently well to be able to get the car onto the back of a breakdown truck or transporter.

By 8pm we were on the back of tow truck and on our way down the mountain. Europ Assistance were quite prepared to get us and the car all the way back to the UK. However, this was not necessary as I had already booked the car onto a transporter to get it home, and booked the flights home form Nice. It was nice to know that they would have done it though.

Arriving in Monte Carlo, it was time for partying and drooling at the motor industry’s finest specimens, albeit a little newer!

Back home, I got on the internet and searched the TR Register Forum and found “Lower Wishbone Bracket Collapse”. Common problem, eh? TR Register Technicalities disk then pointed me towards TR Enterprises’ strengthening kit which was duly fitted to both sides. I also took the opportunity to rebuild all the front suspension, fit a new steering rack and track rod ends.

This little mishap was unfortunate as I really was looking for an event that had a sense of purpose but did not need a prepared rally car to do it. So, where shall we go next?

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