TEAM ADVENTURE
Team PC vs the Lake District passes – Kirkstone, Honister, Newlands, Winlatter, Wrynose and Hardknott – on an epic winter adventure
Every year the Practical Classics team pitches its workshop skill (and purchasing nous) against a real test, a big winter expedition through tough terrain. Usually there is a budget constraint but this year, the guys thought it would be more enjoyable to take their core classics with them. No £500 rot boxes here then, only our cherished cars.
There was still plenty of jeopardy though. James had to build an entire 2CV the weekend before we set off in order to make the start line, Danny joined late because he had a list of Alfa tasks to complete in the workshop and Matt had to play Russian Roulette with an MGB GT SU fuel pump he knew was less than healthy.
The others were on safer ground. Matt George has taken his barnstorming Triumph all over Europe and was more than happy to jump in and enjoy everything the Lakes could throw at him, and Charlotte Vowden, along with dad Steve, is no stranger to putting her MGA to long distance use. As for our guest? Richard Smith of Classic Lodges brought his family owned from new MGB GT along simply for the adventure… and boy, did he get one!
Any Alfa owner will tell you, there’s always going to be a list of jobs and my 916 was no exception. As the others set off north I was still back in the workshop welding up an exhaust with workship guru Clive, and helicoiling a hole for the bolt we had to drill out because it snapped on attempted removal. Steel into aluminium… why?!?
I also had to fit the new alternator… which sounds easy, but really, REALLY isn’t on a GTV. I eventually hit the road late and got to the magnificent Lakeside Hotel just after midnight. At least ‘Alf’ and I had made it and , believe me, it was in the balance.
Catastrophic weather greeted us upon opening the curtains the following morning, but subsided enough for us to set off with some hope of seeing the sun. The day would loosely follow the route of the well-known 1939 Austin 8 promotional film, the first colour footage ever shot in the Lake District, taking in all the high passes that are still passable by motor vehicles. It was going to be a long day, starting with Kirkstone, the simplest to master being an A-road.
With a drying surface it was a blissful, Alfa-friendly, blast allowing the Italian to show off its best-in-class handling and roadholding abilities. For a front wheel drive car it is perfectly poised – with sublime turn in on the new Falkens. After stopping at glorious Ullswater – where the sun made an appearance and a pair of RAF Typhoons cracked the sky open chasing each other northwards – we headed up and over the tops to fuel at
