Blown Away at Felixstowe

A complete contrast to last year’s event, the annual rally from Ipswich to Felixstowe drew waving crowds out into the sunshine complete with bunting fresh from the Royal Wedding celebrations. Neil had his own little Princesses in the car to wave back in the form of his Nieces Nicola and Charlotte, and of course his wife Karen.

What started off as a brisk breeze in Ipswich, had turned into a gale by the time we reached Felixstowe – the East Coast of England taking the brunt of the winds sweeping across the country. Parked right on the promenade I was glad of my aluminium bodywork as the fine seawater spray blew in. Neil and his family took shelter behind a hedge on a nice patch of lawn for their picnic.

Hats off to Martin Bennett in his 411 Series 4 for coming back this year after his first time in the rally last year resulted in a complete soaking. So just the 2 Bristols this time (not counting the 3 Bristol Buses), but thanks to club members Stuart and James for dropping by to say hello. Hopefully James will bring his Beaufighter next time and Stuart’s 409 will be ready soon after.

The Fighter in me

A long-standing problem with my driver's door window has finally been resolved. Several attempts have been made over the years to fix a problem with the winding mechanism that recently resulted in the window being fixed in the closed position. Now, following my annual holiday at Bristol Cars Services, I've had both my windows replaced with electric ones!

An option when I was new, "electrically controlled windows" were only installed by special order on a very few of the 79 410s made. I’m also excited because I now have a bit of Fighter in me. Alas not the 8 litre V10 engine or twin turbochargers, but I do have its electric window switches mounted on my centre console.

The new windows have also made quite a difference to Neil's long-standing bugbear about wind noise. It seems the fit of the window glass in the top of the channel is a lot tighter and it stays there without creeping down making quite a difference at speed. I just wish he'd stop playing with them.

South East Section Suffolk Tour

L-R: 603 Series 2, 405, 403, Britannia, 405 Drophead, 407, 410.

Last weekend the South East section of the Bristol Owners Club came up to Suffolk for the weekend. I met the 6 cars at the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton – East Anglia’s aviation heritage centre.

The museum holds themed collections on the 446^th Bomb Group USAAF and RAF Bomber Command. Bristol Blenheims took part in the first RAF offensive on the second day of the war flying out of Wattisham to attack German Battleships near Wilhelmshaven. Although there are no Blenheims at Flixton there is a Sycamore helicopter type HR14 that saw service with the RAF. 

New Year, New Petrol

A tentative first trip out in the New Year today as the roads were dry and an errand needed to be run. A few pumps on the accelerator had me fired up after the first turn of the key and settled into a fast idle. First into Colchester then down the A12 to Ipswich before returning home via the back roads through Freston, Holbrook, Stutton and Brantham. A good mix of country and fast roads to break me in after lying idle since the BOCEA Christmas Lunch on 5 December.

While in Ipswich Neil filled me up with Shell Optimax  at the cheapest petrol station in the area, but it was still expensive at 129.9 a litre (standard unleaded was 121.9).  This brought to mind the posting Neil made on my blog on 15 August 2010 about Shell’s new Fuelsave petrol and associated publicity campaign.

You will recall that Neil took a cynical look at Shell’s claims that you could gain the equivalent of an extra litre per tank if you used their new fuel and the ‘coincidental’ timing of the launch with the school holidays when traffic is light. Neil’s Citroen XM, being equipped with some kind of device that records his fuel consumption, was measuring 28.6 miles per gallon before the school summer holidays.

2 months later in October Neil installed a new battery in the Citroen that made it forget all its calculations. It started measuring them again and has been calculating the average fuel consumption ever since, so we are now in the position of being able to make a direct comparison between fuel consumption before and after the introduction of FuelSave.

And the result of all these calculations, comparisons and cogitations? I can reveal that the difference Shell FuelSave unleaded petrol has made, in this admittedly unscientific but real-world study is … absolutely nothing. Fuel consumption is exactly the same. Whether the XM’s engine has been lubricated in parts it never knew needed lubrication before or not I’ll leave to Neil’s mechanic to decide, but as far as fuel consumption is concerned there is absolutely no difference. 

BOCEA Christmas Lunch

Sunday 5 December was the Christmas Lunch of the East Anglian Section of the Bristol Owners Club and 16 owners from across the region gathered at a country house hotel near Bury St. Edmunds.

A break in the wintry weather encouraged 2 other cars to join me in front of Ravenwood Hall; a 1962 407 and a 1982 412. We were honoured by the presence of the 412 as this was the first time in 25 years that it had been out in the winter!

Unfortunately it was also the first time that the heater was required and needless to say after 25 years of inactivity it didn’t work. The patient ministrations of Messrs Dixon and Risebrow failed to elicit any warmth and so a chilly journey home was to be endured by its occupants – at least they’d had a good lunch first.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Geoffrey Burgon and 411 S2

While we were on holiday in the Malverns recently we received the sad news that Geoffrey Burgon had passed away. Geoffrey was the renowned composer of some of the most memorable music for television drama of recent decades.

Geoffrey, who had owned many Bristols since the 1970s, was my keeper from 1994 to 1997 before Neil took me on in 2003. Neil never had the pleasure of meeting Geoffrey but they did briefly correspond by email when Neil was making contact with all my previous keepers.

Geoffrey, who also had a penchant for Lancias, gave up his Flaminia GT to acquire me. He said he remembered me fondly and said I had always been very well behaved!

We also recieved the sad news that Roger Bradford had suddenly passed away at the Goodwood Revival. We first met Roger at the 2009 Bristol Owners Club concours at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire. We had parked next to him and a 411 S4 which he was trying to sell and Neil spent ages talking to him about the differences between the 410 and the 411.

By a remarkable coincidence Neil met Roger again when Neil was trying to find a late Citroen XM in good condition. He found an immaculate example for sale in Cambridge that was one of the last imported into the country. Neil arranged to view the car but when he pulled up the first thing he saw was a Britannia in the middle of a barn full of Citroens and other assorted cars. He was even more surprised when Roger emerged and tried to sell him the Bristol.

Neil managed to resist the Britannia and didn’t buy that particular XM but managed to find another one that he went on to buy. He kept in touch with Roger, meeting him for the last time at a Citroen Owners Club concours in Gaydon.

Bristol Owners Club Concours 2010

Saturday 18^th September

It’s the day of the concours, and predictably Neil is out before breakfast wiping the dew off my bodywork. I tried to tell him it would be easier to move me into the sun but I think he’s obsessed with microfibre cloths and polish. Latest in the armoury is a product called Lucas Slick Mist – a spray wax that he uses to freshen up my paintwork in-between washes. It leaves me with a high gloss shine and, presumably for no other reason than it’s American, smelling of bubblegum.

One of the things I love most about Bristol events is seeing other cars on the road. As we made our way from the hotel to the Airbus site we joined up with several other cars making the same journey. We were waved through the entrance and lined up in the car park that had been reserved for us at the top of the site. This was near where Concorde G-BOAF is displayed. This remarkable airplane, which made its maiden flight in April 1979, was used to prove the enhancements made after the tragic crash at Gonesse. G-BOAF was the last Concorde to remain flying and the last to fly supersonically. She made her final journey home to Filton on 26 November 2003.

My favourite story of the day was relayed to me by Neil after a conversation he had with a volunteer in the Concorde exhibition. When operating on the Miami service, British Airways had to lodge Concorde’s flight plan with the Pentagon. This was so they could instruct their spy planes operating over Cuba to move out of the way. I love the idea of American pilots in pressure suits and oxygen masks having to make way for a supersonic airplane at the edge of space full of Brits in shirtsleeves sipping Champagne.

I didn’t count them myself, but I have heard estimates ranging from 160 to 235 cars present. Whatever the final number, this was without doubt the largest gathering of Bristol cars ever with models from all eras represented. There was a strong showing too from the factory with Fighters, Blenheims and used cars on show. Neil was very taken by a dark blue Beaufighter and was overheard asking the price. I made sure I behaved myself for the rest of our holiday just in case he was tempted.