The 2006 Corinium Run

My brother and I took part in the 2006 Corinium Run today; essentially the resurrection of the famous Mobilgas Economy Run which ran between the 1950s and the 1970s.

Superbly organised by the Cirencester Car Club, the event attracted a wide variety of cars - numbering over eighty in total - and covered almost 95 miles through the Cotswolds (in the south-central part of England).

Normally such a venue guarentees splendid views, but alas the weather was completely against us today, and thus the visibility was poor - as was the temperature...

A sample of the field taken at the start venue;

Great photos Stu... thanks.
(not the atmosphere of the famous 'Twinny Instamatik' though ;) )

What's the grey convertible? Everything else I recognize (I think!)

We were entered in a 1952 Dellow MkII trials car, owned by Stuart Turner. In the past, Stuart has navigated with brother Howard, but this year I fulfilled that role while Stuart entered in a Ford Zephyr and was partnered by Tony Mason. This is the car built-up from the running gear of the Maurice Gatsonides 1953 Monte Carlo Rally winner which was written-off in a massive shunt on the Rallye Weisbaden, and is now part of the Ford archive looked after by Ivan who brought the car up from Essex (it was previously on display at Gaydon for some time).

The pressure was [not really] on right from the outset, as the roadbook featured not one but two 2005 shots of the Dellow on the front cover!




Tony and Howard being shown a period Ford publication reporting the Monte win.




Our team mates prior to the off;




During the early stages, we followed the Healey Silverstone - at which time the sun actually appeared! For about eight seconds.




...but it stayed dry enough to keep the hood down for the first section.




Then it began raining, but - save for occasions when the wipers randomly stopped working - there was little in the way of drama. Just the odd ford or three (all of which were in the roadbook, of course)...




...and some things that weren't. Like a horse & cart, just to keep you on your toes!




In the early stages, and then again towards the finish, our team mates were on our tail;




At the final check point some vital information was exchanged ("No, you take the car home...")!




Then, for the last short stretch back to venue HQ, we swapped cars.





Verdict: the Zephyr's almost as nice as an Isis! Actually, we were both really impressed by the engine's vibey performance.


Tony enjoyed his blast in the Dellow! (Pic taken through the Zephyr window, which explains the smears).




Just a pity that the end-of-event team photo wasn't as successful as the event itself had been...

What great pictures, Stuart

Good to see Tony Mason looking so well too.

Originally posted by Twin Window

During the early stages, we followed the Healey Silverstone - during which time the sun actually appeared! For about eight seconds...

That's the village of Painswick. My Great Great Grandfather (Giles Beard) had his shoemaking shop just up there on the right!

Originally posted by Vitesse2

What's the grey convertible? Everything else I recognize (I think!)

This one?



I'm advised it's a Lagonda M45 Tourer, and has the smallest windscreen wipers ever seen!

Thanks Rob & Mark.

It's a small word, isn't it David!

My uncle had a Lagonda at one time. For years afterwards he used to joke that with the long bonnet you were a long way from the 'scene of the accident'. I can see what he meant

So can I; we ended up following him for a while, and he had to three-point turn a couple of times negotiating regular public road junctions!

Lovely set of photographs, tells the story nicely, very well done Stuart.
Do we know the results and facts & figures etc ? Do you have a picture of the green MG TC showing its number plate ? Really nice thread, lots to look at, thanks all round. Any good quotes from the dry wit of Mr Stuart Turner ? Great stuff.

The start venue is a good pub (the thames head) Is that Alan Joy with his lotus elite ????

Shame about the rev counter on the Zephyr - hardly a period addition , is it (even if it doesn't seem to work)? Everything else - lovely, especially the white Fiat.

Bringing the Elite on a trailer is surely a bit outside the spirit of things.

Yes it is, Ted, with his daughter. The reg on his tow vehicle was almost the same as the Lotus - one extra digit!

The pub is The Highwayman, BTW.

Stuart,so it is. I must have been pi...d

That wasn't the way they duo-toned Zephyrs at the time , is that unique to the rally car from its day ? The tacho looks 10 years later.

great piccies, Twinny!

Originally posted by RTH
That wasn't the way they duo-toned Zephyrs at the time , is that unique to the rally car from its day ? The tacho looks 10 years later.

If you look at the picture with Tony and me looking at the pamphlet by the open boot of the Zephyr, you can just make out the original car was left hand drive - although most of the mechanicals and ID (and the rally plates!) were swapped, some of the detail bits appear to be lost

Originally, the car had a 'special' reclining seat for the co-driver at least, plus a large binnacle sporting all the usual office stuff. As for the colour, certainly for the Monte it was not finished with the white bands - they may have been added before the Weisbaden accident? There was a photo of the car after the crash - it was well and truly - a jolly good thing it was LHD!! Apparently it involved a coal truck - but someone failed to translate that there was a locomotive involved too ;)

Now, the Zephyr sports three SU carbs plus a six branch exhaust manifold but I'm not sure if they were fitted in 1953. It's the age old problem of the used rally car - several shells, many engines, loads of transmissions - but it's all original mate Ivan (the man from Ford) said he hoped to get the car looking even more period, which would presumably mean shedding that rev counter and oddly positioned extra clocks, but it would depend on Ford's budget - I said they should look for a LHD donor car, after all, there must be one somewhere...

IMHO it doesn't matter really, it's not being passed off as something it's not and it looks (and drives ) great - well done and keep up the good work Ford!

Originally posted by RTH

Any good quotes from the dry wit of Mr Stuart Turner ?

Not really from Stuart (which is unusual), but after one section Tony was telling us that he'd won an event which had included stages in the same estate we'd toddled through earlier. It was narrow enough to be noticable in a Dinky-sized Dellow, so Lord only knows what it must have been like in a fully-blown works Escort! Maybe Howard caught more of what Tony said re. the rally in question, driver etc.

Just looked at the roadbook and I think the stage(s) in question would have been in the Miserden Park Estate, which are in the grounds of Misarden House, and - to quote the aforementioned book - "yes, they are spelt differently!"

PS I thought that we'd concluded yesterday that the Zephyr didn't have the creamy bits on it on the Weisbaden either, judging by the photos of the wreckage...

Some more pics;

Originally posted by D-Type
My uncle had a Lagonda at one time. For years afterwards he used to joke that with the long bonnet you were a long way from the 'scene of the accident'. I can see what he meant

I believe that Sammy Davis bought a Lagonda (V12) for Colin , when asked why he had not bought a TR or A-Healey he took the questioner round to the front, opened the bonnet and said "If he hits anything , THAT does the bloody work!!"

The Grey Convertible is a Lagonda M45 Tourer

Rgds

Ian

Twinny.

Thanks for starting this thread on the Corinium Run, I had not realised that an event paying homage to the Mobil Economy Run of old had been created.

My father competed in the original runs in 1965-66 and 1967 with motor club colleague Lyle Cathcart from Maidstone. IIRC the first two events were undertaken in Lyles' Triumph Vittese and for 1967 dad had a word with Alan Fraser about obtaining a Hillman Imp from Rootes and using that to try and win the event outright. (For those of you who don't know about the original event, the idea was to complete a 1000 mile route around England in four days in standard road cars and drive as economicaly as possible to obtain the best mpg for your class).

Obviously the overall winner should come from the small engine capacity class and dad looked at that as a good opportunity for Rootes to get some good advertising for the Imp. Rootes agreed to supply a car and Alan Frasers' team soon recieved an Imp which was "worked on" before being given to my father who then went off to try and win the event.

By all accounts dad and Lyle had a good time and did indeed won the event outright with an mpg figure in the mid 50's, Rootes were very happy too and used photos of the car for their Imp advertising for the next year or so (if any of you have race programmes from 67-68 you may find the adverts) and the event was big enough to feature on the front cover of The Motor, the copy of which we sadly lost many years ago (dad was driving in the photo used).

No sign of observers in the Corinium run (difficult with all these two seaters) but in the original event each entry had an observer with them to stop cheating (ie - coasting etc) and the observer sat in a different car each day for fairness.

And now for the funny story. Driving over the moors to Harrogate (possibly for the finish) dad was driving at a decent speed when he realised that he was traveling too fast for the next bend. He tried to scrub the speed off and in his efforts just clipped the grass verge on the inside of the bend, the next thing they were stationary in the middle of the road and heard a very worrying mettalic clunk as something fell off the car! They got out and inspected the Imp and were very surprised to find that, despite rolling the car, it was only a small crease in the roof above the "b" pillar (which was hard to spot at first) and the drivers door handle that had been damaged.

They got back in the car and sped on their way to Harrogate, laughing and joking about what had just happened and working out how to explain to Rootes about the damage until there was a cough from the back seat followed by at least ten minutes of swearing, cursing etc. In their haste they had forgotten all about the observer and hadn't even bothered to check that he was ok.

glyn