Gaydon Two-stroke Rally

Gaydon 2010: All sorts of 2-stroke

ere are a few photos from the 2-stroke event and the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon the other weekend, and just a couple of weeks after the chilly and changable conditions at Popham the weather couldn't have been better. Edward and I met up with Alan Hitchcock and Stuart Cyphus in Farringdon and then headed off up the Fosse Way in convoy with Alan towing his red and black KR200 on an A-Frame (so, no, he didn't manage to get sorted in time to get there under its own power -Ed).

Ian Jenkins' KR200

On arrival the air was already hazy with 2-stroke exhaust thanks to the assembled ranks of vintage Trojans of the Trojan Owners' Club (our hosts for the day) augmented by numerous Saabs, Auto Unions, Trabants and many other flavours of 2-stroke machinery. There were plenty of smaller vehicles to be seen too such as Trobikes and a Trojan minimotor powerered bicycle belonging to David Hambleton of the Trojan Museum Trust.

For the next few minutes, however, the air was turned somewhat bluer as Alan wrestled his 'schmitt from the A-Frame, hunted for its ignition key and discovered that the battery that he had primed the previous night had failed to hold its charge. In the end a push start was called for, but no problems after that.

Also already present were Peter and Joyce Darby with their yellow KR200 cabrio and we were soon joined by Adam Quellin in his turquoise KR200 dome top (see Take Off January 2008 for some background on the restoration of this car) and then by Ian Jenkins with his freshly restored KR200. This car was formerly a very orange (see Take Off April 2010) dome top, but now looks very elegant as a slightly off-white cabrio.

With plenty of interesting vehicles to see and owners from numerous different clubs the atmosphere was excellent with plenty of introductions and conversation to be had. Other micros present were Nick Wilkes' Nobel 200 and Goggos of John Bannell and Mike O'Balance, and adding to the KR200s was the later arrival of Lawrence House's TG500.

Midway through the afternoon the TOC event organizers announced a general call to fire up all the vehicles that were capable of being driven in order to make a few laps around the grounds of the Museum with the opportunity for anyone present to thumb a ride in whatever took their fancy. Even if you didn't fancy going for a spin this was great fun simply for observers with cars every which way taxiing for departure or arrival or simply whizzing past on the perimeter road.

All in all a cracking event with lots to see and plenty of enthusiastic participants.