• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Sucessful BJ8 tour of Ireland

AndrewMawson

Jedi Trainee
Offline
Well, just got back from a week in Ireland touring with the BJ8. Just over 1300 miles round trip (I'm in Kent, so full width of England, Wales AND Ireland <g>) with an overall fuel consumption average of 25.3 mpg and less than a pint of oil which I reckon is pretty good.

Ferry crossing over was ROUGH - (next sailing was cancelled)and out of the week we had just two days with the hood down, so I can confirm that they have proper rain in the Emerald Isle <g> We had a great time, and the car performed faultlessly apart from the drivers window winder failing (jury rig repair using wire coat hanger) - sadly the (brand new)hood leaks round the top of the windows so with gales blowing quite a bit of water got in. I've now removed the seats and carpets and it's all drying out in the dehumidified garage.

A couple of incidents :

- firstly at one stage we were following a farmers 4x4 towing a dilapidated trailer full of straw bales waiting for a chance to overtake (single track road) and when going down hill at about 45 mph his trailer wheel flew off, and the whole rig splayed everywhere - quite a mess but no-one hurt - glad we didn't get to overtake just then.

- secondly coming back through Wales this morning in torrential rain the road was flooded to about 12" - WHY didn't the PO seal the propshaft tunnel - loads of water came inboard !

I'm sure that the road round the 'Ring of Kerry' was partly laid with a team with a hexagonal roller - the surface was good but very uneven in a regular way and would set up sufficient suspension oscillation to occassionally ground the exhaust even when going slowly.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif
 
Did you have to ask for directions much? When I was over I found many occasions when the (few)roadsigns just seemed to "end", leaving me driving further and further into smaller and smaller roads...thanks to the kindness of the locals I would again move in the general direction I had first chosen. One "sidetrip" took us to Wexford & Gallaway, and also down to a beach area where the movie "Saving Private Ryan" was being filmed! What a sight to see all the NAZI troops, which were played by Irish Army boys acting as extras. That was the best "getting lost" trip I ever had.
 
Back
Top