Marvel
Well-known member
Just got home after a great weekend down in Dover. What a great event and has loads of promise!!
We set out on Friday afternoon and aimed to get to Lydden Hill at a bit after 1800 to make the most of the evening. We hadn't long got the bus back after its once over after running e engine in so I was really looking forward to a nice easy run down.
All was running sweet as a nut when we hit traffic coming up to the Dartford crossing. So we're mooching along behind a truck in stop start traffic and went to pull away and .......bang!
Suddenly we had no drive but the engine was still running. CRAP, thinks I! Clutch? Gearbox?
Managed to just have enough forward momentum to get onto the hardshoulder after the entry slip at Lakeside.
I phoned the RAC and to be fair they arrived pretty quick. I had already told them a low loader would be ideal, but patrol still turned up and he couldn't have been a nicer fella. Whilst he was there I had a proper look under the bus and it looked like the drive shaft had come loose from the drivers side hub.
The patrol stuck with us trying to stop the crazy foreign truck drivers from smashing us as they used every last yard of the entry slip to get onto the M25! Even the motorway wombles came and helped out! So Kudos to them as well.
Low loader arrived and relayed us straight to the track and our pitch on the campsite.
So we finally got to Lydden at 2130 and erected the awning in the dark with some help from our friends and also our new neighbours in a T25 Gypsy.
Next day we got up fairly early to watch the racing and also see if we could get 6 new bolts for the drive shaft, just to be on the safe side. On the way down to the traders and the track I noticed a really tidy looking red EB parked pretty near us, so I had a quick nosey and it turned out to be Hoosier, what a jolly nice fella.
Whilst looking around the stalls, which weren't too plentiful, met Butty who was selling his absolutely awesome throttle kits, did I mention I have just fitted one? If you haven't got one, order one pronto 8)
He didnt have any bolts but did say if I needed any loctite then he had some I could have. what a jolly nice fella!
None of the traders had any bolts cos they weren't that kind of traders. Lots of T shirts, bits and bobs, but no one like C&C, Megabug etc. VW heritage were present but weren't really selling anything. But here I met Alex :jesus: for the first time and had a chat with him as well. Another jolly nice fella 8) rubbish hat though!!
So at a bit of a loss as to who to ask for bolts I tracked down Rob Judge from RNJ Motorsport to see if he could help as he had built my new engine. He was racing at the event and pointed me in the direction of Paul from Bears Motorsport, who is a jolly nice fella. He went in the back of his van and found me 6 new bolts and gave them to me. Yup, gave them to me. :character0028: So when I need my gearbox upgrading I will be going to him.
As I new it was gonna be a bloody messy job and not having any gloves I went to the food vendors to see what I could get. The range of food was really good, with pulled pork baps, and BBQ meat, oven fired pizzas and chilli on offer. I decided to go with the guys from Chilli Gone Barmy as the guy was wearing some nice blue gloves. I went back later to get some chilli, nachos, with chilli cheese and extra jalapeños, which was awesome.
With new bolts from Bears, blue gloves from Chilli Gone Barmy and loctite from Butty in hand went back to the bus to fit the bolts. Once under the bus I discovered that one bolt had sheared clean at the hub, one had sheared with about 2cm still proud of the hub, so I used this one to locate the holes in the hub and got the other 4 bolts in. Also found out that on the other drive shaft the bolts at the gear box and the wheel were also loose :shock:
To make it easier to tighten everything, I took the wheel off which was helped by my neighbour again in the T25 Gypsy and his breaker bar and socket.
Once all te. Jobs were done and the wife was now much happier (which means a happy me :msn4: ) we went and got food and beer.
Watched a good amount of racing which was a real treat and not your usual VW festival entertainment.
Late afternoon we headed back to the buses to get a bite to eat. Unfortunately our T25 gypsy neighbour his wife and kids thought that it was appropriate to listen to Drum and Bass at about 100 dB, pissing much of the neighbouring buses off, some moving altogether. Now when you're not in Family camping there is generally a party atmosphere, but most people are considerate for their neighbours. Not these guys! :evil:
Then their t4 mates turned up, loads of Stella, loud, shouty, sweary chavs the lot of 'em. It's a shame really cos they had been really helpful, but to be fair the dad kept trying to turn the music down a bit, and the kids kept turning it back up again. Hey ho, it takes all sorts. At least they sodded off at about 2100.
Much later on after quite a few beers and a BBQ, the wives and kids had gone to bed, so me and my mate went down to the silent disco. This is the first time I had done one of these.
arty0023:
Out in the carpark outside the tent, people were all dancing around in near silence as well, with Rikki James bus the centre of attention with his mates dancing around on the roof. No scooters were involved though :lol:
Unfortunately the bar closed not long after 12 and the music wrapped up about 0100 much to everyone's dismay, which was a real shame.
This morning we got up at a reasonable time to hit the road so that if the unthinkable did happen and the driveshaft did come loose again then we wouldn't be one too late, but the bus didnt miss a beat all the way home. There was a whole load more racing and drifting today as well which we sadly missed.
Plus points of the show:-
The feel of it was really good, and different to the usual events. The entertainment was top notch and it had a really good vibe.
Negative Points:-
Woefully underestimated the toilet situation for the camping, and also around the traders, although there was a hardstanding block in the pit area with showers.
There was a lack of traders, which was a bit disappointing. My mate can usually spank £100 with the traders at events, this time he spent £10!
Would I recommend the show? I think a resounding "Yes", as long as they sort the little niggles
Photos to follow.
We set out on Friday afternoon and aimed to get to Lydden Hill at a bit after 1800 to make the most of the evening. We hadn't long got the bus back after its once over after running e engine in so I was really looking forward to a nice easy run down.
All was running sweet as a nut when we hit traffic coming up to the Dartford crossing. So we're mooching along behind a truck in stop start traffic and went to pull away and .......bang!
Suddenly we had no drive but the engine was still running. CRAP, thinks I! Clutch? Gearbox?
Managed to just have enough forward momentum to get onto the hardshoulder after the entry slip at Lakeside.
I phoned the RAC and to be fair they arrived pretty quick. I had already told them a low loader would be ideal, but patrol still turned up and he couldn't have been a nicer fella. Whilst he was there I had a proper look under the bus and it looked like the drive shaft had come loose from the drivers side hub.
The patrol stuck with us trying to stop the crazy foreign truck drivers from smashing us as they used every last yard of the entry slip to get onto the M25! Even the motorway wombles came and helped out! So Kudos to them as well.
Low loader arrived and relayed us straight to the track and our pitch on the campsite.
So we finally got to Lydden at 2130 and erected the awning in the dark with some help from our friends and also our new neighbours in a T25 Gypsy.
Next day we got up fairly early to watch the racing and also see if we could get 6 new bolts for the drive shaft, just to be on the safe side.
On the way down to the traders and the track I noticed a really tidy looking red EB parked pretty near us, so I had a quick nosey and it turned out to be Hoosier, what a jolly nice fella.Whilst looking around the stalls, which weren't too plentiful, met Butty who was selling his absolutely awesome throttle kits, did I mention I have just fitted one? If you haven't got one, order one pronto 8)
He didnt have any bolts but did say if I needed any loctite then he had some I could have. what a jolly nice fella!
None of the traders had any bolts cos they weren't that kind of traders. Lots of T shirts, bits and bobs, but no one like C&C, Megabug etc. VW heritage were present but weren't really selling anything. But here I met Alex :jesus: for the first time and had a chat with him as well. Another jolly nice fella 8) rubbish hat though!!
So at a bit of a loss as to who to ask for bolts I tracked down Rob Judge from RNJ Motorsport to see if he could help as he had built my new engine. He was racing at the event and pointed me in the direction of Paul from Bears Motorsport, who is a jolly nice fella. He went in the back of his van and found me 6 new bolts and gave them to me. Yup, gave them to me. :character0028: So when I need my gearbox upgrading I will be going to him.
As I new it was gonna be a bloody messy job and not having any gloves I went to the food vendors to see what I could get. The range of food was really good, with pulled pork baps, and BBQ meat, oven fired pizzas and chilli on offer. I decided to go with the guys from Chilli Gone Barmy as the guy was wearing some nice blue gloves. I went back later to get some chilli, nachos, with chilli cheese and extra jalapeños, which was awesome.
With new bolts from Bears, blue gloves from Chilli Gone Barmy and loctite from Butty in hand went back to the bus to fit the bolts. Once under the bus I discovered that one bolt had sheared clean at the hub, one had sheared with about 2cm still proud of the hub, so I used this one to locate the holes in the hub and got the other 4 bolts in. Also found out that on the other drive shaft the bolts at the gear box and the wheel were also loose :shock:
To make it easier to tighten everything, I took the wheel off which was helped by my neighbour again in the T25 Gypsy and his breaker bar and socket.
Once all te. Jobs were done and the wife was now much happier (which means a happy me :msn4: ) we went and got food and beer.
Watched a good amount of racing which was a real treat and not your usual VW festival entertainment.
Late afternoon we headed back to the buses to get a bite to eat. Unfortunately our T25 gypsy neighbour his wife and kids thought that it was appropriate to listen to Drum and Bass at about 100 dB, pissing much of the neighbouring buses off, some moving altogether. Now when you're not in Family camping there is generally a party atmosphere, but most people are considerate for their neighbours. Not these guys! :evil:
Then their t4 mates turned up, loads of Stella, loud, shouty, sweary chavs the lot of 'em. It's a shame really cos they had been really helpful, but to be fair the dad kept trying to turn the music down a bit, and the kids kept turning it back up again. Hey ho, it takes all sorts. At least they sodded off at about 2100.
Much later on after quite a few beers and a BBQ, the wives and kids had gone to bed, so me and my mate went down to the silent disco. This is the first time I had done one of these.
arty0023: Out in the carpark outside the tent, people were all dancing around in near silence as well, with Rikki James bus the centre of attention with his mates dancing around on the roof. No scooters were involved though :lol:
Unfortunately the bar closed not long after 12 and the music wrapped up about 0100 much to everyone's dismay, which was a real shame.
This morning we got up at a reasonable time to hit the road so that if the unthinkable did happen and the driveshaft did come loose again then we wouldn't be one too late, but the bus didnt miss a beat all the way home. There was a whole load more racing and drifting today as well which we sadly missed.
Plus points of the show:-
The feel of it was really good, and different to the usual events. The entertainment was top notch and it had a really good vibe.
Negative Points:-
Woefully underestimated the toilet situation for the camping, and also around the traders, although there was a hardstanding block in the pit area with showers.
There was a lack of traders, which was a bit disappointing. My mate can usually spank £100 with the traders at events, this time he spent £10!
Would I recommend the show? I think a resounding "Yes", as long as they sort the little niggles
Photos to follow.
