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Post by rcollum on Apr 2, 2017 6:25:07 GMT -5
I've been asked to post a thread seeking participants for a local charity event involving old British cars and three days of driving - the first DC-area American British Reliability Run. If you have an older Lotus (or other older British car), you should consider entering this event. Several of my friends in the Philadelphia area did one of these events last year, and had a great time. Here's a link to some info (with pictures) on the PHL event: www.hemmings.com/blog/tag/americas-british-reliability-run/Here are more details on this year's DC-area ABRR:Attached is a one-pager describing the 3-day, 750-mile DC ABRR that will run Oct. 13-15. It is limited to 50 British cars at least 25 years old. Further details are available at www.dcbritishreliability.org. The main point of the exercise, as with all ABRRs and their British predecessors, is to raise money for a children's charity, in this case Our Military Kids, which works with the children of military families with a parent on deployment to a nasty place. See www.ourmilitarykids.org. Each team in the DC ABRR is being asked to give it their best shot to raise at least $1K for the charity. DCABRRLetterhead_1pager_small.pdf (147.78 KB) |
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Post by rcollum on Jun 1, 2017 18:23:44 GMT -5
Registration is open for the ABRR - ww.dcbritishreliability.org If you're interested, the event is a three-day weekend, running from October 13th thru 15th, covering 750 miles. Cars can qualify for this event if they are a British car, and have an antique license plate, or are at least 25 years old. You will need a driver and a 'navigator' for this event. The registration fee, $550, covers some meals and a repair truck that follows the group. This is a charity event, and each entry is asked to try to get $1000 in donations to the supported charity, Our Military Kids - www.dcbritishreliability.org/our-military-kidsMy friends in Pennsylvania participated in one of these last year, and had a great time! --Bob Collum |
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Post by rcollum on Jul 31, 2017 17:01:32 GMT -5
There is still time to sign up for the 2017 DC America's British Reliability Run (ABRR), if you have a car that qualifies - it must be a British car, and it must qualify for, or have, a historic license plate. The event runs for three days - Friday thru Sunday, October 13th thru 15th. If you don't have time, or don't have the proper car, I invite you to participate in other ways. I will attempt to post a few pictures every day, to note progress of the event. You can also donate to our team (Classic Team Lost), at this link - www.razoo.com/story/YzkddgThe charity being supported is Our Military Kids. Here's a link to info on that charity - www.dcbritishreliability.org/our-military-kids--Bob Collum & Debbie German, Classic Team Lost  P.S.: This is the only group that will possibly 'get' my take-off on Classic Team Lotus for our name. |
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Post by rcollum on Oct 2, 2017 17:44:41 GMT -5
Seeking support for our charity drive!
It's less than 2 weeks until the DC chapter of the America's British Reliability Run begins. Debbie and I will be driving our Caterham 7 on the ABRR route - 750 miles in 3 days, beginning Friday, October 13th. This is a charity event.
We are still seeking donations for the charity - Our Military Kids. We very much appreciate anything you can give. Here's the link to our donations page -
www.razoo.com/story/Classicteamlost
Here is the link to the ABRR website, with details of the teams (some are pretty funny), and info about the charity.
www.dcbritishreliability.org/teams
Thanks!
Bob Collum & Debbie German
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Post by rcollum on Oct 11, 2017 16:49:14 GMT -5
This event starts Friday! (Yes, Friday the 13th...) NoVA Lotus will be represented by Duncan Black and his father in their Jaguar XJS (Team Short Circuit):www.razoo.com/story/Dansfundraiser...and Debbie and me in the Seven (Classic Team Lost):
www.razoo.com/story/ClassicteamlostThis 3-day, 750-mile endurance drive is a charity event, benefiting a good cause - Our Military Kids, which helps provide for children of military parents who are deployed or recovering:ourmilitarykids.org/We would appreciate any donations to our teams!--Bob Collum
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Post by rcollum on Oct 15, 2017 17:48:19 GMT -5
Debbie & I just got back from the three-day America's British Reliability Run, ABRR. We had a terrific time with a bunch of great people, and donated a good amount of money to a children's charity.  Friday was a scheduled 250-mile drive through Maryland, just touching Pennsylvania, before returning through Maryland. There was a traffic accident on a mountain road (no one in our event involved) that closed down a portion of our route, but our event organizers quickly stepped in and re-routed us, so the total for Friday was only about 200 miles. We had a bit of misting and light rain in the late morning, but we put up the top, and we were OK. We had started our drive around 8:30AM, we finished the run, and I dropped Debbie off at the Sterling, VA hotel at 4:45PM. I drove 5 blocks away to fill up with gas for the next day. After filling up, I jumped back in the car, and... it wouldn't start. I called R & R Auto, who works on the car for me. The owner, Rob Carter, was only about 20 minutes away, and volunteered to come take a look. 10 minutes after he arrived, he had diagnosed it as a malfunctioning fuel pump. After a bit of fiddling, we got it running, and I was able to follow Rob back to the shop. I was lucky to have the car inside, and at a place that will work on it, without having to pay for a flatbed truck! (This was on Friday the 13th!) I was happy to have gotten the car safely to R & R, but I was bummed about not being able to complete days 2 & 3. I caught up with Jeff, our event organizer, and he reminded us about a feature they added to the DC ABRR - a Top Gear-style "car of shame" for the first one to break down. He told us we were welcome to drive the event's designated car of shame - a 1991 Miata...automatic! As it turns out, we happily drove the Car of Shame the next two days... and still had a great time! We even gave a jump with the Miata to the event organizer's XKE, which had failed with a charging issue. Day two was a long, long 350-mile day thru West Virginia. Most people started before 8AM Saturday, and some people didn't finish until after 7PM. Sunday was the lightest driving day - just 150 miles thru Virginia, ending at an awards luncheon at a country club in Aldie, VA. There were lots of great people on the drives; our own Duncan Black co-piloted a Jaguar XJS with his dad, Dan. Driving home from the event, Sunday afternoon, Debbie said she would do it again next year. The organizers would love to have more Lotus participating next year. If you have questions, I can get answers for you. --Bob Collum   |
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Duncan
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Post by Duncan on Oct 16, 2017 17:14:06 GMT -5
Truly a fun event with a bunch a great cars and people. I highly recommend considering signing up next year. They are really very flexible on the "rules". For example neither Bob's nor my Dad's vehicles actualy met the age requirement, and many people participated in only 1 or 2 of the 3 days (including me). If we are honest, just having a british vehicle (regardless of age) should qualify for a reliability event, right?
And the routes were fantastic!
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Post by rdgrcr on Oct 17, 2017 7:06:22 GMT -5
Truly a fun event with a bunch a great cars and people. I highly recommend considering signing up next year. They are really very flexible on the "rules". For example neither Bob's nor my Dad's vehicles actualy met the age requirement, and many people participated in only 1 or 2 of the 3 days (including me). If we are honest, just having a british vehicle (regardless of age) should qualify for a reliability event, right? And the routes were fantastic!
Good to know! Once I saw the age requirement it kinda just got bumped off my radar.
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Post by rcollum on Oct 17, 2017 7:11:30 GMT -5
Truly a fun event with a bunch a great cars and people. I highly recommend considering signing up next year. They are really very flexible on the "rules". For example neither Bob's nor my Dad's vehicles actualy met the age requirement, and many people participated in only 1 or 2 of the 3 days (including me). If we are honest, just having a british vehicle (regardless of age) should qualify for a reliability event, right? And the routes were fantastic!
Good to know! Once I saw the age requirement it kinda just got bumped off my radar.
Well... while it's true I got a waiver, and so did Duncan's dad, they are not likely going to allow Elises and Exiges to participate in what is supposed to be a 'vintage British car' event. Both Dan's XJS and my Seven look like vintage cars. If that changes, I will let everyone know. I would love to see some Elans show up! --Bob Collum |
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Post by rcollum on Oct 19, 2017 17:16:40 GMT -5
Another 'Tale From ABRR": On Friday, the first day of the DC chapter's America's British Reliability Run, we got our car stickers at registration. I already knew the windscreen sticker was far too big for the Seven. As you can see below, if we put the white banner on the windscreen, we'd be 'assic Team Lo'. It worked fine on the bonnet, and stayed on nicely. The charity we supported gave each car a picture of one of the kids they support.  This is a good time to let you know that I did a quick once-over of the Seven on Thursday night, using Adam's waterless wash and detailing spray. It looked pretty good. What I didn't know was that, unlike the adhesive windscreen stickers, the rally-style ABRR stickers were the static-cling style... You can probably see where this is going. The first leg of the Friday route was West from Sterling, out VA 7, toward Leesburg. We followed an XKE, about 6 car lengths behind him. Less than 4 miles from the hotel, his static-cling sticker came unstuck, and flew past us. Out sticker made it almost a mile farther. It started peeling back, but we were in traffic, and couldn't stop. Debbie was navigating, so she prepared for the inevitable. We watched, at a steady 60mph, as the leading edge of the sticker peeled back, in fits and starts. Finally, it let go, and she caught it just as it was about to skip over out windscreen - a great catch! Next time, I won't detail-spray where stickers will be going, and now I know that using a tiny bit of water and a squeegee is the only way the static cling sheets will stay on.  --Bob Collum |
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Post by cyow5 on Oct 20, 2017 9:38:29 GMT -5
Hahaha, the sticker reminds me of this: (Larsen's Biscuits and Peniston Oils):  |
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Post by rcollum on Dec 30, 2017 15:53:12 GMT -5
Since the event was held all the way back in mid-October, we were very surprised when a friend gave a copy of the December 28th issue of the local giveaway newspaper, the Sun Gazette, to Debbie. This issue had a large picture of Debbie and me in our Seven on the front page, and a nearly full-page article about the charity drive.
The caption above our picture says 'Loving Their Roadsters, Quirks and All'. It has been suggested that one of the 'quirks' they are referring to include my stylish hat.
--Bob Collum 
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