Still enjoying a fine autumn

So far this autumn has turned out to be very fine indeed. And although the maximum temperatures have dropped to around 10°C in the afternoon, it is still rather enjoyable. This meant that the DHC has seen some extra action. The fact that it is rather quiet at work at the moment certainly helped here, enabling me to take a day off from work yesterday and take the DHC for a sunny tour through our lovely province (Limburg), including some short stretches of Belgium and Germany. A few pictures:

A2 Motorway bridge over the river Maas, Maasbracht (NL)

Newly developed flood plain and nature reserve north of Geulle aan de Maas (NL)

One of the many narrow country lanes, the Akerstraat in Mechelen (NL)

Looking over the valley of the river Geul, Reu de Beusdael Sippenaken (B)

Between Wijlre and Ubachsberg, Bronkweg Elkenrade (NL)

Close to the Vrakelbergerweg Elkenrade, also between Wijlre and Ubachsberg (NL)

Sunset near the German border, De Lanck Swalmen (NL)

I managed to add another 425 kilometres to the cars odometer, which brings this year's total to 2785. Not too bad bearing in mind that the car was of the road for most of the summer months!

And with the temperatures forecasted to drop towards freezing, it is pretty safe to say this was the cars last trip before her mandatory (tax induced) three month hibernation. But as the weather forecast also states that the weather will remain fairly fine I hope I can take 't Kreng for one or two tours before the end of the month!

And as you can see in the picture at the top I also found some time for a short local green laning trip through the area with the Land Rover:

FHC resto nr. 73; Staying up

While working on the car over the past few months the fact that I needed a makeshift prop (the anoraks will probably recognise this TR7 part!) to keep the bonnet and the boot lid up, started to get ever more annoying:

Time to search through the boxes of galvanised parts for the two support stays and their mounting parts. That's when I found out that I forgot to add the special mounting bolts to the batch of parts that were sent of for galvanising:

So these were quickly added to the "need-to-be-galvanised-as-soon-as-possible" basket. But as galvanising is a batch process, plating only a handful of parts is rather expensive. As I wasn't too keen on the temporary stay, and disliked the fact that the bonnet was fitted with a metric bolt and the boot lid with a pair of old school  imperial ones, I decided on a redesign. For which I (again) used a  local firm (Montagetechniek Patrick Saes) specialised in all sorts of stainless fasteners. And he managed to come up with a fairly simple and cost effective solution, using standard M6 Allen head bolts with ø10mm rod with an M6 inside thread:

This solution was almost direct plug and play. Only the pivot holes in the two stays needed enlarging to slightly over ø10mm, to fit the new mounting bolts. But that was rather straightforward with a drill column. After which mounting the stays in their designated position was a piece of cake. At least the boot lid was:

The bonnet took slightly longer, as I needed a new jack nut for the mounting point on the inside of the LH suspension tower. But that was quickly sourced and ordered:

And I didn't have to take the special tools out to fit it into its designated place. A long M6 bolt with a sturdy washer, a small vice grip, a spanner and plenty of grease on the bolts thread, was all that was needed to do so:

After which securing the bonnet stay was straight forward. Paying particular attention as not to knock the temporary stay (as pictured @ the top of this post) from its position. The bracket of the bonnet stay is mounted to the bonnet with two M5 bolts. In my case dome headed stainless Allen key bolts:

With another small task finished I went in search of some parts for the headlamp mechanism. To be continued ...

René Claessens Memorial or the 30th edition of the "Nachtrit"

Yesterday saw the 30^th edition of the annual LTV Nachtrit. Sadly René, the driving force behind well over half of the editions, died last year. Only a few weeks after the 29^th edition. And due to his health he wasn't able to attend. So it was obvious that this year's edition would be dedicated to him. And where better to start than with the rally plates:

But before the event would start we (my navigator Jos and I) had the rather enjoyable task of carrying out the final reconnaissance run. And this was done as close to the start of the event as possible. This meant that very early on the Saturday morning we set of from the start location, Rolduc Abbey. And as usual 't Kreng was the car of choice. We had decided for an early start for obvious reasons. You can lose a lot of time plotting an alternative route, when you run into road works or another diversion! But we needn't have worried, all roads were open safe one. But we already had anticipated on these road works, as a result of which we hardly lost any time. Remained enjoying the weather and the views.

And the driving of course! As the road conditions were pretty good we were back at Rolduc well before the start of the event. Time for some well deserved coffee & vlaai. And a look at this year's participants, most of whom were "old hands" at this event.

But it was also good to see a few new faces, and the return to the event of this car, manned by the only ladies team. Being courteous we allowed them the honourable last starting position. And they certainly got the public vote for most impressive sound track on departure!

With all cars on their way it was time for us (the organisation) to sit back and enjoy the food, the beer and the ambiance that Rolduc Abbey could supply.

p.s. A note for the Club Triumph members who will be taking part in next year's 10CR, they will have to park the cars somewhere else as the rear court is currently under construction. When it is finished it won't be possible to park there anymore. There are other alternatives though ...

Enjoying the fine autumn weather

Or almost €175,- worth of fun, being the cost of the fuel I have burnt over the past few weeks with the DHC. All due to the very fine autumn weather she's seen a fair amount of use, almost doubling the total mileage so far this year. Whenever there was some time to spare, I took the car out. Just to enjoy the weather, the driving and the views! A few pictures of the car during various tours in the area:

At a sand pit beside the river Maas between Neer and Buggenum

Horn Castle

Near "The Broken Castle" Grubbenvorst

Road side cross near Boukoul

Windmill near Stevensweert (De Hompesche Molen)

Railroad bridge over the Wessem-Nederweert canal near the hamlet of Mildert

Lush farmland north of Bunde

And some fine views north of Elkenrade