LONDON TUNNEL AND TOWER TOUR SATURDAY 8TH JUNE 2013 *UPDATED

[DazasDolly]

Hi darren,
Gonna have a lay in (been up at 4am all week) will be going the the ace with radders in our t2000's so will see you there about 11ish.
Steve.

No worries Steve see you there is radders taking gertie?

Darren

[Oli_88]

Only just finished making the bloody thing all one colour.
Oh dear.
Still not quite running right either.
Nevermind! See you in 7 hours!

[Purplebargeken]

First one home! What a fab little event. Yes, Oli made it and do I have some piccies of his car to show you all. Nice to see both familiar and new faces/cars. The Triumph Day at the Ace was good, only slightly marred by the fact that the MGF wasn't allowed onto the car park as it wasn't a Triumph and it wasn't an old car. However, several moderns found their way in and nothing was said. No big deal though. The MGF was a pleasure to drive and top down motoring was just fun in the sun.

A huge thank you to Darren for getting it all together. Looks like there will be another one next year. Piccies to follow.

[PJM]

Thanks for letting us join in guys. Nice to see some familiar faces from the Brighton run. Sorry we had to leave early but we had visitors coming this afternoon. Enjoyed the run and the Ace cafe, we must do it again.

[whydidistartthis]

Thanks to all who made this morning happen

My first trip to the Ace. I seemed to get lost, but arrived first..

Probably done more miles in my car today, than the whole of last year!
Got me there and back ok. Acquired intermittent indicators, and several big hesitations on the way home..

See you at the next one...

[80Sprint]

What a Tunneltastic day
Well done Darren and others involved. Loved it all despite getting lost but this just meant I got to drive longer.

The Ace is a great point to finish as well with some grub and classic car talk.

Got to do it again before the winter

If I get the DVD working I will try and upload some footage...

[Oli_88]

Today has made it all worth it.
Thank you so much guys, had an amazing day!
(even if we did miss the point of the day!)

[Purplebargeken]

PHOTOS!

Right then, here we go. Have to start off with a gratuitous MGF shot, sorry. These were taken at the start of the Run, all close to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich:

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

Another MGF belonging to Cath and Gary, very nice folk, Cath has had Dolomite's before.

[/URL]

And from the back:

[/URL]

This is Martin B's stunning Austin with an amazing 1500 miles on the clock:

[/URL]

We were parked along the Embankment, hoping that we would all get back in group. Sadly, that wasn't to be the case. London traffic, etc, etc.

Here's more proof that we were actually in London:

Here Bert, look at all of them old cars, ain't they cool? Naaah Dave, I'll just crap on 'em. Especially that bloke with the baldy head and the silver MGF

[/URL]

Oooh, a Big Wheel:

[/URL]

I didn't realise they'd moved St. Paul's to the bridge:

[/URL]

[/URL]

Big Red Bus thingy:

[/URL]

[/URL]

The Star of the Show:

[/URL]

(Sorry Oli, the 'arty' shots seem to have buggered off somewhere). The Lolomite got so many positive comments it was unreal, we loved the colour and the fact that Oli has returned the Lolomite back to the road. The side exhaust and the wheels looked pretty cool too. Nice one fella.

Some dodgy bloke with a 1500:

[/URL]

Out of all the non-Dolomite shaped cars this was my face Triumph:

[/URL]

[/URL]

I had one of these, mine was burgundy and not quite so trick:

[/URL]

And again, but mine was black:

[/URL]

[/URL]

Oh look, there's that dodgy 1500 again :

[/URL]

Simply lovely:

[/URL]

Last but not least, an MGF:

[/URL]

Right, I'm off to slap some after sun lotion on my serious case of Lobster Head.

Thanks again folks for a belting day and a huge thanks to Darren for organising it.

[mbellinger]

Well, what a turn out it was.

Got up after far too little sleep to go and get the Austin from where I store it, only to find I could not get into the place. Several rude words and phone calls later I was on my way, but late.

Get to Greenwich and meet the others, who are waiting for Oli to arrive anyway. Conditions at Greenwich are grim - black skies, high winds and Baltic cold. Compliment myself on my decision to leave the shorts at home. Oli arrives, then disappears again in a very loud Dolomite that looks fantastic - a sort of part sucked jelly baby. I am asked to bring up the rear of the convoy, Howard takes point, and we are off.

Precisely seven minutes later and the convoy is in tatters, I am on my own, and there are single Dolomite's scurrying around everywhere. I take a guess at the route Howard would go, and know I am right when a 13 plate Aston DB9 in traffic coming the other way asks me if it's a BL products Drive It Day. Eventually a partial re-group occurs on the Embankment, but we seem to have lost for good a couple of protagonists. Off we go again, this time managing to last a heady 11 minutes before the (reduced) convoy breaks ranks again. I am now behind Mike's luscious sounding vermillion Sprint, and just stick to it like glue. Somehow, somewhere Ken takes over the captains role; and adeptly gets the remaining stragglers all the way to Hangar Lane, before somehow we lose him. I start following Darren in the brown 1500 - and once we pass the M1 and start picking up M11 signs realise that he has not got a scooby where he is going. Mike has made the same judgement as me at exactly the same moment and uses his full 170 bhp to overtake Darren and become leader, turning the convoy around (not easy on the North Circular), and eventually we get back to Park Royal and the Ace. Oli and the others that we lost are all waiting for us there.

After a hearty brekky, time for a look round the other assembled Triumph's and, like Ken, I couldn't keep away from the bikes. Some good chats, another tea, and then homeward bound.

I don't think I have laughed so much for ages as I did on the way there with all the comical comings and goings. It was great to see everybody again and the little Austin ran like a Swiss watch. A fantastic day.

Massive thanks to everyone who turned up, Ken for the radio's, and Darren for having the idea in the first place, and for doing something about it. We must repeat it.

[DazasDolly]

Thank you for a great day!!!

When organising this I had the worry in the back of my mind that no one would turn up and I would be by myself . But I didn't have anything to worry about and an amazing turn out it was and I was chuffed to bits.

It was amazing to be in my first ever dolly convoy and it was just a shame that we lost a few cars so early on. When looking on google and trying to map out a nice drive with some of the must see site's, it all looked so easy. I have learned a lot from yesterday and for next years Ace meet I plan to do it all over again. And maybe an Ace Cafe London to Ace Cafe Brighton run.

Mable behaved herself and ran like a dream and economical she was too, 200 miles on under half a tank. It was the first time that she had been on such a long run and that she had also been on the A12.

Thank you to all that turned up and participated it meant such a lot to me, now I'm ready to do it all over again.

All the best

Darren

[Lord Tolly]

Looks like a supurb fun day out.


Pity I couldn't make it due to having to work yesterday

[Howard81]

I have to echo what the others have said, and it was an incredibly enjoyable day out! Rather nervewracking being the convoy lead, but that did mean that I was about the only one who didn't get lost

Favourite parts included losing everyone over Tower Bridge, then going back over London Bridge and seeing the majority of the lost cars going across in the other direction The meet-up along Embankment was unplanned - the long bay of free parking spaces was a very lucky spot but it enabled us to somewhat regroup and have a chat. Everyone getting lost just made it more fun, sharing stories of "how you made it" back at the Ace! I already have a couple of ideas on how to improve the route for next year, and I can't wait!

Here's a panoramic shot at the Embankment. It's large, so I haven't embedded it!

http://www.howard81.co.uk/upload/tdf/lo ... nkment.jpg

[DazasDolly]

That's a lovely pic Howard might get a copy framed also could I use it for a pic in dolly mixture article I am writing.

Many thanks

Darren

[Essexwriter]

Amazing day out. Huge thanks to Darren for organising, and great to meet all who were there.

Some pics - bit poor in comparison to those already posted I'm afraid. Especially the one of Darren and his son comfortably outpacing me on the A12 - digital zoom on the iPhone not up to much!

Cheers,

Ben

[80Sprint]

Finally got round to looking at the video. Sorry the quality is poor.
Just wish there was a bit less traffic about and I could have got more Triumphs in it.
Great video of mini's on Youtube in Hindhead tunnel. Maybe that could be us next time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAdxSbkWe8