Russ's TR7 blog: May 2017

Tuesday 16 May 2017

6th May 2017, Gearbox Bushes, Bluebell Run and Wheelnuts Car Show

The last couple of times I had driven the car I noticed the gear change was getting a little bit vague and also a bit stiffer. This is usually a sign of the bushes holding the gearlever remote onto the main gearbox casing starting to go and sure enough a quick check confirmed this was the case.

I have taken the bolt out here, but you can see the rubber bush is well past its best.

There are four mountings and its not a difficult job to do but quite fiddly getting at the top ones from under the car. Usually a certain amount of expletives are required to complete the job and this was true again for me! The old rubber bushes had only been on the car about 3-4 years so it seems to be another example of modern replacement items being of poor quality. The replacements I fitted are polybush so should last MUCH longer.

Bluebell Run

The Bluebell Run is one of the HRCR Scenic Tour series and takes place only a few miles from home, mainly if the Forest of Dean area, so was ideal for us to enter. It is run by Stuart Harrold of Ross and District Motor Club. Stuart was a works co-driver for Graham Elsmore in the mighty BL TR7V8 rally cars of the late 1970's so you can rely on him to give us an interesting day out. His

route took us all around the best parts of the Forest of Dean and across the border into Wales with a run over the Skirrid to the finish at Ross on Wye.

Bluebells picture by Chris Huish

The weather had started cool but soon improved and gave us another grand day out in the TR7.

Wheelnuts Car Show

The day after the Bluebell Run we took the car over to Stroud for the Wheelnuts Car Show. This is an annual charity event that raises funds for the St Rose's School. They cater for children with all kinds of learning and physical difficluties so is a great cause. The TR7 took its place in the Glavon TR Register group lineup still carrying the rally plate and dust from the previous day's Bluebell Run. This didn't seem to put the judges off because they still gave Glavon the award for the best club stand.


Look closely, there is a small trophy on top of the TR6 windscreen!

23rd April 2017, Corinium Run

2017 was the third year running that I have been out on the Corinium Run. As usual it started in Cirencester but this years route took us to new areas and further north than before. My old friend/mechanic Chris Riley was along as navigator again and it was a bit of a surprise was to find ourselves on the front of the Roadbook. Only a little picture top left, but still nice to see!

Morning coffee stop was at the Classic Motor Hub near Bibury which was quite a surpise. It is located at some old WW2 aircraft hangers which are now used as a storage for lots of classic - and VERY expensive - motor cars. The first area we walked into had two open top Ferrari sports cars from the 1960s, both red and gleaming and an old V12 Delage from the 1920s. There were about 15 cars in that section and the man polishing one of the Ferraris told us they all belong to ONE man.

Very nice Ferrari at Classic Motor Hub

The route then took us further north to a lunch halt at Batsford Arboretum and garden centre where our cars attracted a good deal of interest from the folks having their Sunday carvery. From there we meandered back to Cirencester via a tea stop at Bourton on the Water to complete the 120 mile route.

Quite a lot of the villages we passed through had people out watching and waving which was nice to see. They obviously enjoyed seeing some nice older cars for a change and Quenington even posted lots of pictures of the cars on their village blog page.