16.08.2008 - Tour of Madness 2008

For a year I've been collecting spares for my cars at a friends place in UK. Actually she lended me her shed!  She was to bring all the parts over to me this summer but due to illness plans had to be changed. I decided I'd go and collect the pile of parts myself. I did as I did last time I was over, buy a cheap but still halfdecent car that would bring me and the parts back home. Though the car had be be useful for a donorcar for more parts. I found a interesting car on eBay, a 1974 Vauxhall Viva SL that looked quite reasonable and it had MOT & tax.  The car was mine for £500. My friend Paul kindly helped me out and took the train to Keighley and collected it for me. So now the transportation home were sorted.

 A picture from the eBay auction:

I took a plane to Gatwick Airport and went by train up to Nuneaton where Paul picked me up at the station. As I arrived late we only got a couple of beers and went to bed. The following day I had to go to Huddersfield to collect a set of wheels for my Magnum. The SL ran quite nice but it seemed it had a slight pinking at 60 mph. (which I discovered after I arrived home came from vibrating noise from the gearstick!  )  After a nice drive north I took off the motorway and headed for Huddersfield. I took a few wrongs which turned out afterwards was lucky. Suddenly when trying to find the right way the alternator belt snapped. But when I was going the wrong way I had noticed a Subaru dealer just down the hill. I went there to see if they had something I could use for a belt, but of course they hadn't. They told me to go futher into Huddersfield where there was a small workshop that also sold spares. Luckily it was only downhill to the workshop. They had a belt for me and lended me tools so I could change it.

Finally  in Huddersfield I went around the town to try to find Mini-Spares where I was to collect the wheels. When going slowly around a roundabout a bus cut the corner too much and wingclipped me denting my left wing and ripping the front bumper off!! I didn't care much and after a short chat with the female busdriver I took off to Mini-Spares. I collected the wheels, and I also bought a set of retro Cobra bucket seats as well. Finally back at Pauls he so kindly commented the accident with the bus:

Then I got the idea that we shold try to make the dull looking and dented SL abit more attractive...  After a couple of hours of pimping + beers + lots of laughs the SL looked like this:

Unbelivable what a set of wheels can do with the look on a car!

On thursday morning me and Paul set off for Billing and the big VBOA meeting.  This was my first time here and I was looking forward to see the classic Vauxhall rally and race cars up close. Sadly the meeting crashed with Goodwood Festival of speed so I guess what I wanted to see were all there...   Anyway, there were plenty of nice cars to see.  For us, especially me, the meeting was a good chance to socialize with old and new friends, putting faces to nicknames from forums, and of couse doing one or two good finds at the autojumble. I left the site early Sunday morning as I had to reach the ferry from Newcastle back home.

Finally in Stavanger, Norway again I started on the longest pass home. All across Norway over the mountains. I chose not to go the main road along the southern coast, but instead I drove off at Ålgård and headed for Valle in Setesdal. After a quick lunchstop at Byrkjedal the climb up the mountains started.

The road across the mountain were narrow but very enjoyable. Had to look out for sheep in the road and mobile homes though...

There were also some small patches of snow left..

After reaching Valle, Dalen was the next place to pass. Steep downhill to Dalen, 10-12% sloping hills got the brakes tested. And up again on the other side of the valley, also a 10-12% steep climb got the cooling system tested. Hard work for a small 1256 ccm engine to pull an overloaded Viva up those hills. But it made it! Further I passed Morgedal, the so called "home of skiing", Seljord and the Seljord lake, without seeing the sea monster. Then it was Notodden before stopping at a friends in Kongsberg for a chat and coffee. The rest was known roads through Oslo and back home in Elverum. The trip from Stavanger to Elverum took me 10 h.

All in all this "Tour of Madness"  brought me many new and nice memories and experiences. The road from Ålgård to Valle is highly recomended! Prehaps it will be another trip to UK next year..??