Dave or Helen’s

If that was a bullet we think we dodged it.

Just over a week ago we had a mishap, a problem, actually what we had was an electrical fire in the TR6. The 30+ year old headlight switch failed and created a dead short under the dash. If Dave hadn’t been in the car with a wrench handy we believe it would have not only burned the car to the ground, but considering it was in the garage also burned down our house.

Dave has spent many a late night under the dash of the Triumph over the past week running some new wire and repairing some of the damage. It looks like we’re back up and running without having to replace the entire wiring harness. That would have been a +200 hour job and one he wasn’t looking forward to. 

The rally is in 35 days. 35 days? Oh my we still have a lot to do!

There will be so many touching stories as a result of this event. Due to the pathetic headlights on the 6 we wanted a factory light bar so we could mount sets of rally lights. These bars haven’t been made in over 30 years. If you can find them used they are very expensive. Quite by accident Dave “met” a man in California through email who had a set of front and rear bars. Not only did he ship us his front bar so we could copy it, but he gave us his back bar! The trust he showed in us really made an impact. The front light bar has been fabricated, test fitted, and sent off to be chromed. 

Two of our concerns have been how tired we’re going to be after all those miles in a very little car and running behind schedule because weather slowed down our arrival in Birmingham. Our plan was to drive the 6 to Birmingham and it wouldn’t look very good if we were late because of weather or other problems. Hauling the 6 in an enclosed trailer seemed to be the perfect solution. We’ve found a gentleman, who again we’ve never met, is willing to loan us his 24′ trailer.  It should make life much easier hauling the car there with the truck and starting “fresh” the day of the rally. A 24 footer is a monster trailer. If any of you know someone who has a 20′ trailer we’d like to talk to them.

Tee-shirts for the kids…. Helen came up with a great idea! We’re making tee-shirts with the Circle S Racing Team logo on them. Under the logo will be the word “driver” and a line. We’ll be able to take a sharpie and write in kids names on the tee-shirts. On the 26th we’re going to the hospital to take kids for rides. Once they have on their tee-shirts, we’ll put them behind the wheel for a picture, and then print the picture so they can have it by their bed. We’re attempting to get the local police to give us a police escort when we go for rides. Chris’s Stuff (the supplier of all of the shirts at the winery) has donated 24 kids shirts and Avery Dennison (the manufacturer of the paper stock the winery labels are printed on) has donated the iron-on transfers. THANK YOU!

The final route is set! A few changes have been made to the route due to construction delays and road conditions. Day #1 we’ll start early in the morning at point #1 on the below map. Late Saturday night, barring any disasters, we’ll pull into Tupelo, MS:

Day #2, Tupleo southeast to Pratville, AL then to the finish, and a good stiff drink, in Birmingham.

The number and types of cars entered is growing and getting very interesting. In addition to a 1932 Bentley which has recently entered the rally there are a couple of other Triumphs, MG’s, an old Austin Healey, and a 1949 Bentley. Looks like we’re going to have a great group of old British cars.

Thank you for your support, your words of encouragement, and your prayers.

stay tuned……….

If this is your first time here please read the post titled “British Reliability Run” below so you can get caught up.

Get notified of updates to this page. Look to the right. See the heading “Subscribe To Updates Here”? Click on the 2 little arrows all the way on the right side. The most popular RSS readers are listed, pick the one you use. Our techo challenged friends are not out of luck. You will want to click the envelope so you’ll get email updates and not have to try to figure out just what an RSS thingy is.

Sponsors and Appearance. We have a few corporate sponsors who have helped with spare parts, accessories, communication services, etc. We’ll announce the list of sponsors in the next update. During the rally the “6” will be decked out in full racing regalia with decals from various sponsors on the car. She’ll be sporting the number 17, the day we were married, on a white circle with black numbers.

 
Donations. We’re doing this because we want to, because we haven’t been away from the winery for longer than 48 hours in over 4 years, and because we’ll raise a few bucks for a cause. You don’t have to donate, nor do we expect you to, in order to help. Prayers are great and we’ll take all you can spare. A few of you have asked how to make a donation and what an appropriate amount would be. The hosts of the rally tell us the average donations are in the $10 to $50 range for the run. If you’re picking up a gas card we think we’ll burn 150 gallons of premimum grade fuel ($675) so a $10 card helps a lot and a $25 or $50 card  puts a big dent in the fuel bill. Donating is the easy part:

• If you want to donate directly to the charity by check please make it out to “Magic Moments” and bring it to the winery or send it to Circle S Vineyards, 9920 Hwy 90A, #B-268, Sugar Land, TX 77478. Then tell us if there are any limits on it, i.e., we have to complete the entire event, etc.
• If you want to donate directly to the charity by credit card please come by the winery, or call us at 281-265-9463 and we’ll run your card and issue a check on your behalf.
• If you’re sponsoring our car we’d prefer gift cards for gas. You can pick up cards for specific stations or an American Express or Visa gift card would enable us to use it at any station.

Live Updates During The Run. Yes its true! During the run we’re going to update this page with photos and running commentary in REAL TIME. We’ve been playing with some new technology on an iPhone. We’ll be able to post pictures and let you know whats going on as we’re on the rally. If you’ve subscribed, see directions above, you’ll be notified every time we make an update. Great technology!

Press coverage. We’ll have some press coverage. There are a couple of national publications who have said they’ll be covering the rally. Those of you who’d like to see the article Hemmings did last year can do so here. (opens in a new window)

Current schedule. We’re a little under 8 weeks out right now. The current plan is to leave Wednesday or Thursday, September 24th or 25th, taking one of 2 routes; the southern route would take us near the northen shore of Lake Pontchartrain then up to Birmingham, the northern route would send us through Monroe, LA, Vicksburg and Jackson, MS. If we leave Wednesday we’ll stop halfway and make it into Birmingham Thursday the 25th. Leaving Thursday means one long day of driving. Friday the 26th would be spent at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital giving kids rides, passing out stickers, etc. The rally starts first thing Saturday morning. Back in Birmingham Sunday night (exhausted and sore) and home Monday or Tuesday. 

stay tuned…. and THANKS for cheering for us, praying for us, and allowing us to know you.