Charity Runs Organised by John Macartney

[Guests]

<strong><A>2004-02-10_105336_Entry_Form_all_Runs.zip</A></strong>
<strong>Hi Folks.&nbsp; Here\'s a message from John Macartney detailing the runs he is organising for 2004.&nbsp; All worth having a go at and the link above will let you download an entry form.</strong>
Good heavens, there are a lot of you - and how lucky I was not to have lost your email addresses when my computer nose-dived in flames and burning rubber just before Christmas.
So here it is everyone - the OIL LEAK Road Runs Programme for the UK in 2004 with built-in entry form. This saves you calling me and me forgetting to ring you back!!!!!
Some of you have already been in touch saying \"what\'s happening?\" and \"where are you going this year?\" I hope the attachment gives you the outline low-down but if you need more info, please email me. I\'m trying really hard this year to keep costs as low as possible because if OIL LEAK makes any \'surpluses\' (fat-cat profits to you) I\'m paying the whole lot to the charities we\'ll be supporting on two of our several other events. So friends, email wherever and whenever possible - both ways. Last year I spent nearly 100 quid out of my own pocket on stamps alone - so an SAE please if you want me to send you something in\'t post.

But some words on two of the events I\'ve got lined up for you for this year.

<strong>THE TIMBO 2 RUN in early May.</strong>
When we ran this event in 2002 for the British Kidney Patient Association, we raised £5100 with just 14 cars taking part. It\'s a 700 mile/24 hour (+puncture time) odyssey through some fantastical country - North York Moors, Lake District, The Dales, Peak District. We would have had a lot more than 14 cars if half the field hadn\'t dropped out within a month of it taking place!!! Believe me, there were some not very subdued mutterings from me as each day bought another crop of \"sorry, can\'t make it\' messages. But what came out of that event is we managed to get more than 20 kids between the
ages of 8 and 15 years of age away on a one week adventure centre holiday. I\'d like to double that for this year - but I\'ve got a reason. My own elder son (Nicholas who is 30) is on stand-by himself for a kidney transplant and if he can manage it, he and his brother are going to crew the Triumph 2000 they\'ve taken off my hands. This REALLY is a worthwhile event and I so want to see as many cars as possible taking part.
If you don\'t do another in 2004 with OIL LEAK, do TIMBO - please? It\'s not a rally, endurance event, reliability run or whatever - and if a
certain person who was obviously a Graduate in the finer aspects of Gestapo Tact and Diplomacy skills starts to rock the boat again as he did last year, he\'ll get a screenful!! Of course, charity dashes aren\'t new and the habit seems to be spreading. My good friend Blake Discher of Detroit Triumph Sports Car Club organised his first similar event last year with a belt around the Michigan Peninsular and raised $12000 for Haemophiliacs which was great. Trouble is, (loud stage whisper) our \'colonial\' cousins just don\'t have that essential Anglo-Saxon staying power that\'s so much a part of our national character. Seems to me no car is allowed off the grid unless it has three teddy bears, two electric blankets, half a ton of popcorn, a gross of hamburgers and four full suitcases for \'she who must be obeyed.\' Would you believe it, these people actually STOP and GO TO BED? We don\'t - and if you come on TIMBO, you won\'t either! It\'ll be four hours kip in the driving seat - and you\'re off again.
Hi, Blake.... you\'re doing a grand job, mate! Like to pop over and see how the MEN do it?

<strong>THE \'TEST HILLS\' RUN in October.</strong>
We did this for the first time last year, more as a \'pilot\' than anything
else - and called it The Wool Church Run, in aid of Guide Dogs for the
Blind. It was great. We had 12 cars navigated by 6 seriously visually
impaired or registered blind navigators (one of whom was also profoundly deaf). Yes, 6 people navigated 12 cars and it brought a new meaning to \'hanging on to the bumper of the car in front\' \'cos none of the drivers knew where they were going anyway! Everyone had a ball and I\'ve had several letters from the navigators over the winter saying \"PLEASE do it again, we had such fun.\"
Well, we ARE going to do it again - and I\'m going to take us down the route I used last year for the first time on the Standard Motor Co Centenary Run. This makes extensive use of many of the old test hills in the north Cotswolds and around Cheltenham that all the manufacturers used pre WW1 and in the 20\'s and 30\'s. There\'s one \'stinker\' called Bushcombe that\'s guaranteed to warm up your clutch and precipitate some \'grunt.\' I\'ve done the route several times myself and it always makes me smile when I remember that manufacturers promulgated the view that if their cars could climb these hills, there wasn\'t a hill anywhere in the world they couldn\'t climb without boiling!!! I\'m not too sure about descent aspects and brakes - especially in those far off days but you\'ll certainly exercise your left leg and get to know the gearchange for this event.

Just as a \'taster\' I\'m working on two similar events for 2005 - one to Devon and the other to Wales. These are also old test hills and were used by factory crews on 12 hour return trips. A feature of these was a monstrous bacon, egg, mushrooms, sausage, black pudding and fried bread fry-up on a windy hillside at about three in the morning! Cook it yourself, of course - on a primus stove for authenticity and then do the washing up in a convenient moorland stream.

Any takers?

The rest of the routes for this year are one day affairs, some new - one or two variations on a theme of the runs I created when at Gaydon - but all easy to do in a day and hopefully a lot of fun.
Finally, telling your friends.

I admit to being a bit computer challenged when it comes to websites and I\'m working on one that HOPEFULLY will be found at <A>http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/oilleak</A> Keep an eye open for it through Google. But otherwise, I\'ve got a rather natty (at least, I like it) continuous loop presentation in Microsoft Powerpoint. It lasts about 7 minutes and if you\'ve got a laptop or are happy to precipitate a hernia by staggering with a desktop computer to a club evening or show, let me know and I\'ll put a CD-ROM in the post. It\'s not all \'woffle\' - there are some nice pix on it taken by many of you of events past, to pad things out and add some glamour. I\'m particularly indebted to the TR Register for kindly arranging a convoy of TR\'s to pass a lay-by while a friend was in lurk mode with his camera. It turned out to be a nice pic and brings a new dimension to \'sharing resources.\' A TR Register event, Matt Yelland\'s copyright and finally used in my publicity. Thank you Mr. Cunnington - you always were
accommodating and flexible in your outlook.

Sorry for the length. I\'ve been busy over the winter dreaming up these
\'horseless carriage traffic jams\' for your delectation and pleasure - and I look forward to hearing from you AND seeing you on one - or more.

Take care

Yours in filtration
John Mac
(John Macartney)<edited><editID>Quasi</editID><editDate>38027.4544212963</editDate></edited>