Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Hero Flying Scotsman Rally 2024

The Hero flying Scotsman Rally passed through my neck of the woods on both Saturday and Sunday... The weather was not kind to the competitors or their wonderful machinery, though fortunately there were occasional dry periods and the sun even broke through now and again.

I think if interested you might find a list of the competitors and their machines here :-

https://www.hero-era.com/rallies/2024/04/flying-scotsman-2024

The site will have a few vids available too. I grabbed a few pics, just a small selection posted below.. (-:

It was great to hear them all getting ready after their overnight stop, some cars more reluctant than others, with some pretty flat sounding engines short on compression whereas others sounded more like brand new and race prepared given their bark in the damp morning air.

All in all a pretty heady experience for this old geezer..(-:

Some lovely motors there! .... like you, I hanker for a pre-war charger ... sadly the only ones in my price-bracket are far from 'charging' .... although I value experience over speed a flat-out top end of 50 mph and dragging up any gradient doesn't appeal ... will stick to my crossflow Mog for the best of both worlds.*

I wonder if they'll pass within striking distance of here ... sadly (and also wonderfully for an old curmudgeon like myself🙂) this corner gets bypassed by most ... enjoyed the pics. Cars being put to the test as they were intended.

K

*should I find a pre-war Riley, Lagonda or Alvis 2 seater lurking in a barn then maybe not 😁

Thanks for posting. They are lovely cars and so good to see them being used.

Thanks for that selection, some beauties there..

Think the Navigator needs praising ! Read road book and maps and timings !Hats off to them

Thanks for posting.


stefan

I am pleased that you found some interest in the Flying Scotsman event post. I believe the event only went as far as Gleneagles and finished on Sunday evening.

As you suggest K, and I have typed many times before my Morgan was bought as a substitute for a true vintage machine with the level of on road performance that I could not afford to buy, let alone maintain given the likely number of parts made out of unobtainium..!! In truth the old +8 ticks all the boxes for me in terms of a fine example of coach-building skills passed on down through the ages in it`s hand formed alloy paneld nailed in places to it`s likewise hand crafted wooden frame, even the running gear, although far from vintage is still simple enough in terms of it`s carburettor fed V8 for me to maintain, without the need for specialist equipment, and the electrics are fathomable with a bit of determination... So all in all, what`s more to want... ? (-:

John, your comment on it being good to see the cars being used, makes me feel very guilty given it has been quite a number of years since I have really made "use" of my Morgan, having got myself involved in a overly lengthy self build home extension process that grew arms and legs taking years to almost finish...! On the other hand prior to that starting my good lady planned a few Southern European adventures, driving from Central Scotland down to the LM 24 hrs, then touring a bit of northern France. Next trip was down to Andalusia with Los Romanes as a base then touring Southern Spain, I will attempt to post a pic from that trip below, to show that the old Mog was used on quite a few back roads as we explored the Spanish countryside. The last and longest adventure was the longest (circa 4k miles in total) down to Sorrento which was again used as a base to explore the Amalfi coast,and of course Pompeii etc.etc. Watching those wonderful old cars ploughing through rather deep water causes me to shiver somewhat as these days I would be rather reluctant to expose my old Mog to tht sort of treatment knowing just how much time and effort it would take ME to dry it out, now that rolling around the garage floor takes a lot more effort than it did a few years back. Thus it seems with perhaps no more than an additional 300 miles added on the clock in the last year, my Mog has evolved to become a tad more like a garage queen than ever intended.

Thanks for taking the time to respond Rich, it was indeed a privilege to be amongst such wonderful machinery, to see hear and even smell the environment around them as they fired up for the day ahead., though I suspect whoever maintains the surface of the many hotel car parks, will have a task on their hands to clear up the mild incontinence issues suffered by "some" of the machinery, as might be expected of both machines and humans of a certain age...???

brownbaker, given the weather conditions the navigators definitely had the short end of the stick. The smile on the Sunday morning pic of the Riley above with the navigator smiling after a really cold and wet Saturday, as they were heading out for another full day of adventures with yet more wind and rain, kinda says it all about the type of courageous folk who get involved in these wonderful events..?

Coincidentally, the hotel the rally organisers made use of for the Saturday night stop over, was the one where Porsche Cars GB chose to launch the then new to market 993 in the 90`s and I was invited along back then to provide my then 10 year old SC for a magazine article written to compare the 993 to an older 911, the journalist having to drive my car which obviously equated to me being forced to drive the 993....(-: The unintended consequence of my 993 driving, was that the then managing director of Porsche Cars GB informed me that I was the first private UK individual to drive the new 993...!! My one and only claim to fame... Or perhaps infamy on this forum... (-:

Thank you for the nice pictures!

stefan s and Jens, thanks for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed the pics of the Flying Scotsman event....