POLAR NEWS No. 31 May 2006

FROM YOUR EDITOR

Thanks to Jim Harris for some copy and the rest of you will have the pleasure of another of my motoring moans! --- Helen

STOP PRESS

1. Polar Bears practise for Fiona’s Highland Fling Tour?

2. He’s changed his car you know. Oh no, not again surely? Not him? Apparently after a very disappointing test flight in a Z4, he has succumbed to something a little more powerful and a whole lot more noisy.
Ed - what number is this - 365 is it?

Bill and Keith cast envious glances at George and Sheila's new wheels on the way to the last Auchen Castle lunch. George says he loves “SKI”ing. (Spending the Kids Inheritance!)

3. Yorkshire Paddi has bought himself a new hat - much more in keeping with the ferret fancier’s fraternity.
Ed - We look forward to seeing both at Thirlestane!


MOTORING MOANS..

Bangers is this month’s grumble and I’m not talking about Might Go Bangers or other Classic Cars here - most of them are anything but bangers and they get lavished with TLC, go-faster mods and handling improvements, so they can hold their own in modern traffic. No, I’m talking about the modern banger - an R reg. rotten Renault leaving a huge cloud of black clag (that would seriously embarrass the fireman on a steam engine) every time it gets wellied. Or the M reg. mouldering Mondeo with the soft back tyre, exhaust at an interesting angle, list to starboard and the pall of blue smoke trailing behind.
Now, you don’t want one of these bangers behind you given that their windscreen demisters are defunct and their driver is peering out through a four-inch square of clear glass.  And assuming that the brakes and tyres have had the same level of care as the rest of the car, then there is a good chance that the stopping distance will be quite high. So you just put your faith in those much-maligned MGB rubber bumpers and the fact that the banger will probably disintegrate if it hits anything reasonably solid.
Having one in front of you can be a problem too - although no high intensity LEDs at least (usually only one dull brake light that flashes instead of the indicators). But you do have to cope with the one-vehicle-pollution-zone and the fact that they are so clapped out that their top speed is 25mph - downhill with a following wind.  If you are following one up a steep hill then you find that this new banger goes slower and slower until the driver has to stop, get into first and floor it in an attempt to reach the top – resulting in a cloud of blue smoke, oil and fragments of piston ring!
And when you listen in the pub to punters going on about air pollution - is it these modern bangers that get the blame?? Oh no - it is older cars like ours that cause the problem because a) they are more than 20 years old and b) they don’t have electronic engine management systems or catalysts. I accept that a pair of SU carbs can’t be fine-tuned to reduce emissions like a modern electronic fuel injection system - but what happens when these modern cars get to banger status (i.e. more than 10 years old)? Which causes more problems then - a well-tuned pair of carbs on an old-but-healthy engine or one of these knackered electronic systems on a clapped out diesel??

May 14th - Polar Bears Lunch and Raffle at Auchen Castle Hotel. Last meeting for our Dream Rides to be organised. Contact Tony at 0131 445 2908.
September 17th - Selkirk Show. We need to start collecting bears to sell and I’m pleased to say we have at least 35 already. Let us know if you have bears to sell so that we can publish the “Bearometer” again. We need at least 250..
October 6-9th - Polar Bears Highland Fling Tour. Starting Nethy Bridge and finishing at Aviemore Ski Centre - only 2 rooms left.

Trips abroad

July 7-9th - Classic Le Mans III: Contact Andy Mitchell at 01527 592282
Sept. 10-20th - Pyrenees Tour 2006: Tour the Pyrenees, then to Angouleme for Circuit des Ramparts and then back through the Loire Valley - cost £735 per person. Contact Ray Guiver at 01805 603454.

Dream rides

Sunday June 4th BVAC at Thirlestane Castle - we now have 15 cars but could do with 20 - so if anyone has a suitable car they’d be willing to drive at this event, then please contact Tony.
Accommodation in the vicinity of Thirlestane Castle, Lauder; -

July 16th: Kimbolton County Fayre and Charity Classic - Contact Mike Norton at 07774 167105 or visit the website for more details.

June 18th: Supercar Sunday, Gaydon - contact Mick Bryan at 0121 427 4427
July 2nd: BA Classic Car Show, Heathrow - contact Mick Bryan, as above
Sept. 3rd: Blenheim Palace, Woodstock - contact Mick Bryan
Oct. 27, 28, 29th: NEC Classic Car Show - contact you know who!

PRESENTATION

Janet McPherson is hoping to present a cheque for £5500 (from NEC Dream Rides) to Hollybank Trust in West Yorkshire - date TBA.

CELEBRATIONS

 

Tony and Iris Woods celebrate their wedding anniversary and Helen Kirkness has a fifty- something birthday this month. Apologies to Martin if I just missed his big “6-0” birthday on 29 April.

Here's a photo of a younger Martin sent in by a friend. (Sorry it's in black and white, but they didn't have colour film back in the old days).