I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

As the white stuff is fluttering down outside its time to abandon the usual forms of transport…..





….and take a leaf out of the fat man in reds book.



A lot of the car manufacturers are getting in on the act of Santa Sleigh design too, Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls Royce are adding a bit of luxury to the toy hauler.







Or you could just supercharge the reindeer hotrod style and tow an old stagecoach.



There are a few more designs over on the Car magazine website, Merry Christmas and thanks for reading.

Steve.

Christmas at the Ace Cafe

The December meet at the Ace Café on the North Circular in London is the last chance to meet up with fellow Dubbers before Christmas. Despite the freezing weather there was a good turn out of T4/5s and air-cooleds.

First up was a little grub to warm us up….

….and pudding to fill us up


Next up it was out into the cold to sample the cars on show.







A very brave Beach Buggy owner.


Watch for the gritting lorries, they’ll rust a Beetle quicker than you can say Waxoyl


Watercooleds dressed for the season


The man in red even turned up to surprise the kids


Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas, the rest of the photos are here.

Steve.

The festive Bracknell meet

December, its cold and sunny and the perfect weather for the LTV festive meet at South Hill Park. Following on from our trip to the toy run in the morning and after saving a fellow camper owner who’d run out of go-go juice we finally made it to Bracknell. Mince pies, tinsel and Santa filled the carpark as the members met for the last time in 2009.



Christmas tunes rang out from the radio controlled split


Presents underneath the Christmas tree


Santa was in his T5 shaped grotto handing out goodies to the boys and girls (both big and small!)




The rest of the photos are here Merry Christmas and thanks for reading.

Steve.

Dr B's charity toy run

The first Sunday of December is the date for the enormous charity bike ride, from an office complex on the outskirts of Reading to the Dr Banardo’s school in Wokingham town centre. Over 2000 motorbikes, trikes and quads gather in the carparks of the old Shire Hall in festive fancy dress, each with a small present to deliver to the school to be distributed to the children. We decided to pay the start a visit this year to watch the build up before heading off to the LTV festive meet, the sight brings a lump to the throat, the vast numbers of leather clad Santas and reindeer all coming together for such a good cause.

Decrorated bikes came in many styles






The riders really went to town with some imaginative takes on Christmas, yes that’s a reindeer on a trike


That’ll be Santa riding his Kawasaki reindeer


Lots of Santas


A 6ft decorated Christmas tree even rode in!






There are more details about the toy run here and theres more photos here, thanks for looking.



Steve.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009

Steve.

A Saturday morning well spent.

Whats the daftest thing you’ve ever said in an email?….

“If you want a hand lifting anything let me know, I’m happy to pop over and take the strain!”

….that’s how I found myself sliding under the back end of Grens Karmann Gipsy to assist refitting the gearbox. Gren has been working on an engine transplant, out comes the wheezy 1.6 lump and in its place goes a 1.9 SEAT Tdi, ideal for pushing the unaerodynamic caravan with a motor along at a sensible South of France cruising speeds with less of the slowing down when an incline appears on the horizon!

The hard work of dropping the drive train out, cleaning and fitting the ancillaries onto the new engine and refitting had been carried out, but the gearbox needed to be raised underneath and bolted home, not an easy task given its size and cumbersomeness in the confines of the underside of a Volkswagen T25. With the van up on ramps we began.

We slid the box under on a board and manhandled it onto the carefully positioned trolley jack, inching it under its final resting place the handle was slowly pumped, raising it upwards to the chassis, with much straining and fine adjustment with feet, knees and shoulders the splines aligned and the bolts on the front plate were spun home, we were almost there!

With a spacer inserted and the bolts torqued up correctly the gearbox was in.

Time to step back and admire another piece of the jigsaw that is an engine swap.

You can read more of the story behind this on Grens website and forum
Steve.

Wind, rain and spinning Beetles

The forecast gave an extreme weather warning, “do not drive unless you have to!” obviously nobody told the drivers at Brands Hatch taking part in the “Lotus Endurance Saturday” with howling gales up to 40mph and monsoon rain lashing down the conditions were tricky to say the least, but the short race program provided plenty of great action. Top of the bill was the 100 minute Lotus race, but we had turned up to cheer on our friend Phil as he made his first RWD race start in a Beetle as part of the Beetle Challenge a class within the tintop race.

Wandering round the pits the majority of the cars seemed to be from the mid to late 1980s, it was retro heaven




Out on track the Beetles were sliding around in the damp


Back in the paddock we caught up with Phil, having qualified third in class he wasn’t last on the grid, smiling but nervous he readied for the first of two races.




In the main Grand Prix paddock garages the Lotus drivers were preparing and qualifying their cars, we took the opportunity to sneak into the workshops for a closer look.








The Beetles lined up for the off, just as the rain started again, keeping a couple of cars behind he finished third in class.






The last race before lunch was part of the Victor Meldrew Trophy, a handicap race with rules so complicated we just watched the cars go round and waited for somebody to pick up the cup at the end!






After the lunch break the second race for the Beetles was due to start, another monster downpour delayed things a little but after a few safety car laps they were away once more, the standing water gathering all round the circuit.








Lap after lap they slid around until Phil pushed a little bit too much coming over Paddock Hill Bend and went round.










He swam round at the back till the flag fell, back in the paddock all the drivers were animated about the weather, but with no bent panels it was a good result, 2010 promises more Beetle Challenge cars racing which is going to be a spectacle.




The final Victor Meldrew Trophy was hard fought as well, with more than a few spins, viewing from the top of Druids Bend you could see the cars race up hill before sliding round and charging down hill to complete the lap.








The final race for the Lotus Endurance started damp but quickly dried out, we watched from the free grandstand before succumbing to the cold and calling it a day, not before more panel damage from the Norfolk cars








That’s the end of the 2009 motorsport season for me, a year that’s seen me at seven different venues watching drag racing, rallying and sprints, roll on 2010. The rest of the photos are here

Steve