Beans' Triumph TR7 Blog

Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you ... Or ramblings on three originally Dutch TR7's (a 1976 FHC, a 1980 DHC and a 1981 Sprint powered FHC), including the work done to them and their (ab)use all over Europe. With some of my other passions thrown in from time to time ...

Sunday, 22 December 2024

Seasonal Greetings

Christmas 2024 and the year 2025 are nearly upon us.

Time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Let’s see what the New Year will bring!

Tuesday, 17 December 2024

2025 Calendar Bèrke

The cover:

A few pictures of the car during various tours for work or abroad over the past 10 years.

Clockwise from the top left;

1. Sunset during the repairs of a sewage pipeline on the eastern bank of the river Meuse.

Ebberstraat Velden (16-08-2016 NL);

2. On top of the Timmelsjoch in the early evening (02-09-2023 I);

3. Waiting with my camera gear for a lunar eclipse that turned out to be obscured by clouds.

Schoor Neer (27-07-2018 NL);

4. A sewage pipeline relocation project in the context of a flood protection program.

Beekstraat Beesel (11-05-2022 NL);

5. Timmelsbrücke Moos in Passeier (23-09-2016 I);

6. In front of the Hotel Pfandleralm. Jaufenstraße Sankt Martin in Passeier (04-09-2023 I)

Another year over and time for my traditional calendar post. 2024 was again a rather poor year for my TR7’s. Life and work again intervened. Though there was some progress on the ’76 car! But problems with the water pump of ‘t Kreng meant a fair amount of my spare time was aimed at getting the various leaks sorted. And that still is a work in progress as winter’s come!

As 2025 will be the 10th anniversary since I bought my current daily driver, I decided to use that car as the subject for the coming year’s calendar. So this year I’ll bore you with some pictures of my 2008 Land Rover Defender 110 Station Wagon, called Bèrke, taken over the past 10 years.

January:

For a closed potato wholesaler.

ZLSM railway emplacement Simpelveld (21-11-2018 NL)

February:

Patiently enduring the heavy downpour.

Silberhüttstraße Stulz (13-09-2023 I)

March:

On a local green-laning tour. Hoverheideweg Belfeld (03-11-2018 NL)

April:

Another sewage pipeline relocation project in the context of a flood protection program.

Sunrise over the valley of the river Meuse, Hagendoorn Neer (28-10-2021 NL)

May:

On top of the Timmelsjoch in the late afternoon.

Just across the border with Austria (10-09-2021 I)

June:

The final stage of replacing a sewage pipeline using the proven HDD technology,

pulling a more than 900m¹ long HDPE630 pipeline in one piece through the prepared bore hole.

Daniken Geleen (21-06-2022 NL)

July:

Another sewer line relocation. This time for the widening of the A2 motorway.

Ophoven Echt (06-05-2020 NL)

August:

Near the toll booth of the Timmelsjoch near Hochgurgl (19-09-2023 A)

September:

In front of the Hotel Pfandleralm.

Jaufenstraße Sankt Martin in Passeier (16-09-2024 I)

October:

At the start of the 34th edition of the LTV Nachtrit, after the final check of the road book.

Rolduc Abbey Kerkrade (28-10-2023 NL)

November:

During a local green-laning tour.

Bosheideweg Belfeld (03-11-2018 NL)

December:

Back home after a wintery green-laning tour. (07-02-2021 NL)

Sunday, 8 December 2024

FHC resto nr. 165; Restarting on the interior

It has been well over 6 months ago that I last reported any progress on this project. But with a two week break from the office scheduled around the Christmas and New Year period, it’s about time to restart work on this '76 car. First task being to make an inventory of the parts and fasteners needed to finish the interior.

And to trial fit the carpet that is going to cover the transmission tunnel. I had planned to fit it over the weekend but found out it needed a bit of trimming, but also (and more importantly) that I really need an extra pair of hands to get a decent fit of this carpet. Definitely something for the Christmas break! Though having the carpet in position gave me an opportunity to get a glimpse of the car’s future interior. Especially combined with the rear bulkhead trim panel in position!

And because I wasn’t able to finish the tunnel carpet, I decided to fit some parts that I have had in my hands far to often: The various brackets and supports for the dashboard. I was glad I had a car in the shed to use as reference, especially for the three support tubes for the steering column rail.

Sunday, 27 October 2024

35th edition of the LTV Nachtrit

It’s that time of year again; Autumn, Halloween, All Souls, Saint Martin's Day. But most importantly the “LTV Nachtrit” of course. And yesterday evening (Saturday the 26th of October) saw the already 35th edition of this night time navigational rally.

Last year we had a pretty strong field of participants, with 39 teams heading into the night. Sadly this year we were down on entries, but there were still 26 teams that set off into the night for a very nice selection of roads through Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. It was a rather international entry list, with entrants coming from the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands!

Contrary to previous editions there was no official halfway stop. Though the 264 kilometre long route could be split up for a meal and a rest wherever the teams wanted. And as in the previous editions, the navigation was with the help of a roadbook that used tulip diagrams.

But first there was the final check of the route for any last minute road works or diversions. Which meant an early start of the day for my navigator and me. Luckily there were no real problems there. Also no signs pointing in that direction. Though it later turned out that, due to a Halloween procession, traffic was held up for a while in the village of Theux. But that was still a few hours in the future. In the meantime we were able to enjoy the fine weather and the beautiful autumn scenery!

And the participants were lucky with the weather too, clear skies and dry. So no slippery roads to catch them out! And of course being dark they missed out on the views. But that should give them a good excuse to return and drive the route in day time! A few pictures of the varied field of participants at the start at the Abbey of Rolduc;