Saturday 26th July
8:00am - 5:00pm
Calne Bike Meet

Sunday 7th September
8:00am - 4:00pm
Emergency Services Show

Monday 8th September
7:15pm for 7:45
Meeting: Malcolm Palmer, a Road Safety Consultant to TRL, will be speaking on the subject of 'When Training Goes Bad'

Monday 13th October
7:15pm for 7:45
AGM

Monday 10th November
7:15pm for 7:45
Meeting: Judith Billingham, Safety Manager for Wiltshire Council, will be our speaker.

Monday 8th December
7:15pm for 7:45
Meeting: Stuart Bullock, RoADAR Regional Examiner will be speaking.

Monthly Ride-Outs
Remember that monthly Bike Ride-Outs take place on the 3rd Saturday of every month.

Monthly meetings are all held at Liddington Village Hall opposite the church.

Welcome to the following members who have all recently joined the group:

Andy Dubberley (car)
David Surgett (car)
Jane Perry (car)
Jean Surgett (car)
Jim Tucker (bike)
Mary Payne (car)
Ross Forrester (car)
Russell Walker (car)
Stephen Lupton (bike)
Tony Caulkett (bike)

We would also like to welcome Ian Johnson back to the group after a period away!

Congratulations to Glenn Smith who recently passed his car test with a Silver grade. His tutor was Nick Edwards.

We are always looking for more articles, ideas and news for the newsletter. Have you been somewhere interesting recently that would make a good story? If you attend any group events then take a camera and send us your pictures!

Please forward all contributions to newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk

 

Thank you to Oliver Graham, Nick Carrington, Nike Bedwell, Pete and Marilyn Kempshall, Les Brown, Sue Hibberd, Mike Southgate and Chris Oldland for helping at the Strawberries and Steam Show on a very wet day.

We still need more help to man our stand at the Calne Bike Event on Saturday 26th July.

This is the largest free bike event in Europe with over 3000 bikes and over 8000 people attending - Calne comes alive! Honestly! At present we only have two members committed to attend. We need more so, please, if you can devote even a couple of hours it would be much appreciated. It is a fun day and there are many unusual bikes to see.

If you can help please contact me at chairman@wiltshireroadar.co.uk.

Stephen Izatt

Please note that you need to contact Stephen as Monica will be away!

We also need help to cover the day at Hullavington on the 7th September. This is always a very good day with much to see and do. Please let Monica know if you can be there.

We gathered at Liddington Village Hall on the evening of  Monday 14th July to listen to Gary Franks, one of our car members, give a talk on the 2014 Banger Run. This has been run since 2011 and is part of the Help for Heroes fund raising. Over the years it has raised c. £100,000 and this year is expected to produce c. £30,000.

The theme this year is 'Best of British'. It comprises a five day rally from 30th August to 2nd September. Approximately 1,000 miles will be covered over five days across Europe, starting at Ashford and crossing some of the toughest passes in Switzerland and northern Italy. The vehicle must not cost more than £250 and has to comply with the theme.

Gary's team comprises himself, his friend Robin Julian and his university friend David Humphreys. They are all bike and car fanatics with significant experience in racing and fixing vehicles.

The theme was a challenge but they decided that the Routemaster bus typified it. How to convert a normal car to look like a bus was the real problem. They bought a Volvo V70 automatic estate on Ebay for £205 and set about some significant mechanical and electrical repairs to ensure that it will finish the course. They have been helped by Swindon Technical Services at Shrivenham near Faringdon which has provided extra free labour and parts at cost but most of the work has been undertaken over the last few months by the crew.

Once the car was running properly they set about the body conversion to resemble a Routemaster bus. After checking that their designs were not too tall they built a wooden frame and plywood box that fits on the roof bars and overhangs the bonnet. This, like the rest of the car, was hand painted red, but has fake windows with famous 'Britons' as 'passengers' looking out (such as Churchill)!

The car even has a conductor Freddie Mercury, superimposed on the left rear quarter.

After much discussion, Gary decided that the car needed a vertical grille to complete the Routemaster look. A grille was acquired and again a wooden box was made and fixed by drilling into the bonnet. It looks very realistic but the downside is that it now needs two people to open the bonnet: let us hope that not too many repairs are needed on the trip.  The wheels have been painted black and the entire vehicle looks unusually realistic if not pretty.

Most of the fundraising has been achieved through local companies and individuals as well as from attending and organising events. Thus far they have raised c. £800 but hope to top £1,000 before the rally commences. They have been promised by Intel that whatever is raised will be increased by 20%.

They expect to achieve about 24 m.p.g on the trip which is an improvement since they bought the tired old car and the handling has not worsened even though the 'new bodywork' weighs around 30 kg. They intend to sell the car for charity after it completes the journey both to raise money and avoid driving it home!

We wish them best wishes for the event and not too many greasy hands.

Stephen Izatt 

Please can all associates keep their Tutor informed if they need to put their training sessions on hold for any reason. We understand that, from time to time, things crop up which result in people needing to take a break from training for a while, but we need to know when this is happening so that we can re-allocate Tutors to other associates. This helps to keep our waiting lists down.

Thank you.

Monica 

I am planning to organise a weekend ride to Hereford late in September or more likely early October. At present all we need is any expressions of interest.

For those of you who haven't been on this kind of trip with the group before the MO is something like:

It's entirely relaxed; people come and go as they please. There is usually a mixture of solo, pillions, couples and singles. This is open to associates, members, and guests.

If you are interested or have some questions, contact me via the Wiltshire RoADAR forum, email me at biketrips@wiltshireroadar.co.uk, or even speak to me. My forum name is YMFB.

If anyone has suggestions of routes or places that shouldn't be missed, let's have them!

If the ride is half as good as the recent Pembroke adventure it will be a lot of fun. Only this one will include black pudding. I understand that Trip advisor are considering adding it to their list of amenities and services.

If this doesn't interest you, but you have ideas of your own, why not offer to run a trip yourself, you might be surprised who wants to join you.

Steve Hyde