Richard,
He has shown his Meteor engined Phantom II but very rarely drives it. The workmanship is immaculate. He was very ably assisted by his next door neighbour in Barcombe, Eric Neve, who is the man who does a lot of the machining work for Crossthwaite and Gardner, making new gearboxes for pre-war Auto Union and Mercedes GP cars, etc. Robin made the error (we all told him) of putting on rear wheel brakes only, as if it was a Brooklands car, albeit I seem to recall they are very large Douglas DC4 brakes with air powered truck actuators. I know what it is like driving RR Silver Ghosts with rear wheel only brakes (+ transmission brake again to the rear wheels) but you tend to drive these in a pretty staid manner.
Another problem with these cars is that Dunlop no longer make 23" diameter vintage racers (R3 criss cross pattern) and they have been muttering about stopping 21" as well. Now it may be that Michelin, who are far more inclined to help owners of old competition cars will step into the breach. Michelin have recently upped the load rating of their 255/45 x 15" MXW tyres made for Alpine GTA Turbo cars, so that owners of 911 RSR's (like me) and Lancia Stratos cars, have an option of a more road orientated rear tyre, than the Michelin TB15 treaded and road legal race tyre, which barely lasts 1000 miles and costs £500 each. Mind you the Excelsior Comp H 4.00 x 19 tyres on my M3W, need replacing and they have only done 3000km. Very usefully, Longstone have opened a French branch, as their prices are 30% less than other French suppliers.
When Robin takes the Meteor-Phantom to a show, he has to remember to take steel plates with him, to put under the downward pointing exhaust outlets (6 into 2 into 1 each side), or the gas will dig a hole in the ground or melt tarmac. I have not seen it for a few years and I know he has been very ill. I must ask the lady who does my ironing, when I am back in the UK, how he is and what has happened to the RR, as she knows him a lot better than me, as she used to work for Robin's wife.
Wilson
