Hamish - are you completely crackers. I've done it twice and Sue keeps calling me crackers. 2010 was grueling for me but my son had no problems 2014 was very very tiring for my son but I breezed it.  Red Bull & Pro Plus do amazing things. I spent the week before the 2014 basically doing a night shift at home (I'm retired).  When I got to the start it was basically first thing in the morning for me. I could have got to Edinburgh possibly JoG in one hit.   Coming home I drove to Pimperne but my son had had it. So I drove to the finish. Make sure you have the spares that are easy to fit. Also when you buy spares, fit these to the car and use the ones from the car as 'good' spares. Have the tools to replace the spares. Do NOT drive fast or over the speed limit. It is dark in Scotland and wild animals roam the roads. When in Scotland DO STOP and look at the beauty surrounding you. Lunch stop. Best of luck   AND   enjoy every minute. Roger  

Welcome aboard Hamish. Try and sleep well before the event, try not to have spicy food before you leave! Plan the layout of spares and luggage so that important items can be found. If travelling some distance to the start at Knebworth, think about staying at a local hotel on the Thursday night before the start and possibly on the Sunday night. Don't do anything radical to the car after say the end of August. Mark a GB road atlas with the route, this helps one learn it. Ensure that the wipers and headlights are up to the job, this catches many out as most old car owners don't use their cars in heavy rain or at night. We send out a 'Advice Notes' document to all entrants, full of sensible tips. Its a marmite event, one either gets it or does not. I thoroughly enjoy it, being the main organiser seems to add to the event.....not sure why! Welcome!

Determined to keep moving forward, plan is to get it properly drivable for the spring and slow everyone down on the NSL B-road between my house and office. Started by stripping back the garage roof, fitted twin 6' 65W LED batten lights, only temporary for now but made a huge difference. I'm also now equipped enough to get stuff done, picked up an old 4.5" Samsonia vice, cleaned it up and fitted new jaws. Will temporary patch the roof up when it dries out in spring, that's another story. Started by addressing the rear wheel that was barely held on, new studs and wheel nuts, easy enough job. Adjusted brakes all round, they were pretty far out, pedal now still has free play for about 1/4 of its travel, but after speaking to my Dad who has a Herald (long since off the road) with all-round drums, he reports that they were never great and this sounds about right unless you adjust them to be on the tight side. Moving onto the clutch hydraulics, spent some time underneath the car discovering just how much the gearbox tailshaft seal leaks, might have to address that if I don't want to leave huge pools of oil in the office car park. Clutch biting point has been at the top of the pedal since I bought it, I suspected hydraulics instantly given the fluid was black. Removing it sounded like an easy job, no interior to remove, just a pinch bolt, unfortunately Standard decided that you should drop the gearbox mount to get clearance for that... Oh well, easy enough, everything undid, and the bolts are still shiny. I don't think there's a single bolt on the underside of my 15-year old BMW that are as rust-free as these, good thing too as the mounting bolt looks a pain to recreate. Old slave definitely leaking and looked completely passed it, very probably the original. The Standard actually has a flexi-hose on the slave, which seems like good engineering practice compared to what they did on the small-chassis cars. Changed that too. Original line was actually solid, but the fitting on the master had welded itself to the master cylinder so I opted to cut it and make a new one, this is where my first issue came to light. The fancy new flaring tool I bought can't grip 3/16 pipe if I use the SAE die, the DIN die that I've used previously for the BMW grips the pipe fine. I've written them an email, hopefully they will supply a new die that is in tolerance. Also wanted to change the master, old one was definitely starting to leak. Unfortunately, prevous issue with push rods occurred again, so I somehow need to source one from somewhere. I could redrill the pedal for the bigger clevis pin, but the correct pushrod is also shorter than the Herald one, unless I buy an adjustable push rod instead... Seems a shame to drill the pedal, the holes are completely circular, unlike every Herald clutch pedal I've ever seen. Also started work on the coolant system, radiator is looking pretty original and very sad, so expensive recore probably on the horizon... New exhaust also needs to get fitted, I just hate doing exhausts and know that getting the mounts to line up is going to take a whole day. A lot to do...  

Three in a team, in a relatively civilised car should be bearable, provided you can sleep in moving vehicle. As a bonus the Acclaim should be pretty economical, minimising the pain in the wallet!

I had noticed you were in one of the teams. Good luck! Done it twice but never again... once in a GT6 and once in my Herald both with my daughter. It is pretty hardcore but probably ok with a team of 3! Will probably see you at the start as I usually help with marshalling at Knebworth.  Mike

Here's the right way to wire an FIA cutout. This when it is in "disconnect" position.   Ofvthe four contacts on the base, one pair is 'on' and drains anybresifual current from the alternator to.Earth via the 1 Ohm ceramic resitor.  The other is 'off' and disconnects the ignition coil.   The main switch for the high current, starter etc circuit is in the conical base of the switch, and is quite separate. John

A mate has asked me to join his RBRR 25 entry  so there will be 3 of us in team VAM Very Amateur Motorsport.  In an Acclaim  any hints and tips welcome. 

Fitted these to several cars over the years mainly for anti theft, but nice to know you can kill the power if needed in an emergency, track day etc. Fitted one to the Vitesse, then a couple of years ago whilst sat at lights the car died. Baffled, I started to tug at wires under the dash and found the fault to be the cut out switch. There are four spade connectors two of which split the coil/ ignition wire. When wobbled the engine would die. When you turn the red knob to the ON position, the switch is spring loaded pushing in a plunger that then makes the connections to the back of the spades. The spring load was forcing the switch apart, so the terminals were barely making connection. The switch is riveted together so I drilled them out and used a couple of nuts and bolts instead, pulling the two halves tightly  together.  I then had second thoughts, put the switch to one side and bought a new one. Three years on yesterday, going up a long steep hill in busy traffic the car died. Fogoten about the previous event, first thought was no fuel, the gauge was showing empty, but I had only recently put petrol in it. Managed to roll the car backwards out of a red route and parked up. After a bit of head scratching and tugging of wiring, the fault was again with the cut out switch, same issue as the one previously fitted.  Found the original switch that I had replaced the revits with nuts and bolts and fitted that.  Seems these are not up to daily use, as turning the switch on, puts it under load from the spring, slowly forcing it apart.  I think replacing the rivets with nuts and bolts will solve it. Could have been dangerous if this had failed going down the motorway. Managed to wire the switch up wrongly by holding the new switch in the same orientation, and swapping the wires over. Turned out it was upside down, so wired the live through the resister to earth. Thought I could smell something, put my hand under the dash briefly! that confirmed the resister was hot enough to melt some plastic insulation. Just a white porcelain type block, don't know what's inside or if I've knackered it or not.  

Hello Nick                  I have sorted the prop shaft out and there is only a very slight bit of play in the CV end the other end seems OK(but that is repairable) There is probably more play in the Diff and Gearbox? It did not make any funny noises when on Spitty I was just making upgrades?? Its yours if you want it? I am a long way from you but how about this for a deal I will see what shipping would cost and if you think it is ok I will ship it to you and you make a donation for the shipping to a charity of your choice? Roger

Depends on what is meant by difference. In a presidential system the 'supreme leader' generally has significantly wider and greater powers than that of a parlimentary system. UK Orders in Council are much more restrictive and restricted than US presidential Executive Orders. At least to date anyway. And whilst the UK Cabinet system of elected MPs is more or less one of collective responsibility (depending on the personality of Prime Minister and their relative strength), the US presidential cabinet system of personal appointees is far more magisterial. And certainly far more divorced from the legislature, Congress and Senate. Ironically the US president is far more like the absolute monarch they claim to disavow than the British PM and even more so the King. There are also far more routes available from outside Parliament, within Parliament and from within the party to remove a Prime Minister. A general election, even possibly a by-election, a simple majority of the House in a no confidence vote or even a significant minority of their own MPs will do it. As has been demonstrated many times over. The President on the other hand is effectively separate from his party and the legislature and can only be removed by impeachment which requires a super-majority that has never been achieved in US history because it is just too difficult. The party has no meaningful way to remove a president they don't like and the only way the US voter can remove the president, other than waiting for the term to expire, is to shoot the b####d. Which they seem to attempt with remarkable frequency.