from the Mount Street scribbler -

Saturday July 16th:

Rather slow and problematic journey to Goodwood. Eventually resolved the problem as we had believed that the fuel tank was 37 L as per hand book while in fact it only contains 27 L as we discovered by running completely out of fuel and filling the tank. Hopefully all the misfiring and cutting out was down to dragging debris into the fuel system from the bottom of the car made even worse by the fact that the car had been standing idle  since beginning of March.

Met many interesting competitors from different parts of the world, managed to dispense all our beer and a lot of the cider to try and reduce the weight in the car mainly with a group of young guys from the States.

Sunday July 17th:

Noisy night on the camp site partly due to partying competitors and a generator keeping the flood lights on. Packed up and allowed Gordon to stack the car, without making any comment. We assembled in the paddock along with about300 more fairly crazy cars. awards were given and we even missed the oldest entrants to two Scottish ladies who were going to do the southern route. Also a display of Mongolian  wrestling an Sunday d then the Mongols then challenged some of the ralliers to bouts and guess who won. After a team photo we did  circuit of the race track and we were off on our way to the distant  orient.

On our way to Newhaven we discovered that in spite of Gordon's efforts with  body modification using  hack saw and hammer the nearside rear wheel would still hit the wheel arch on severe road imperfections or moderately  enthusiastic left hand cornering. It was decided that what was needed was to raise the suspension and for this we would need a rubber doughnut.  A quick forray around Brighton to Halfords and Machine Mart was fruitless but at the Simpsons Boat Yard and chandlers in Newhaven we found a large rubber roller for a boat trailer that would with a little surgery will fit the bill. The guys in the boat yard even donated it to the cause!

It was then onto the ferry for the crossing to Dieppe. Tonight we have the luxury of a formula 1 hotel to look forward to - at least it will be nice to have a shower.

Monday July 18th.

Gordon up at 06.00 and down in the hotel car park taken the rear spring and shock absorber off the car and made a doughnut out of our recently acquired rubber wheel, however needed my added weight to compress the spring so as to reposition it on the car. Job done around 11.00 hours including making our own breakfast in the hotel car park.  Really pleased with our efforts off we set only to find that we had a return of our fuel starvation problem and this time we knew that there was plenty of fuel in the tank.. Logically we thought the problem was a fuel filter and after a brief tour of the industrial estates around Amiens we found an auto factors  where we purchased and fitted a  filter drove off impressed with the new found performance of Kevin the Kia. A  little to much optimism here as the fault returned in less then 10 miles. It was another spin around the Amiens rocade to find the Kia agent. When the mechanic eventually was able to give us some time he found his diagnostic computer didn't recognise our car. He then spent a significant time fiddling with bits under the bonnet and referring to the internet before he concluded that il ne se pas qui est la problem. The garage then charged us 60 euros in spite of me pointing out that we were promoting the good name of Kia motors in aid of MSF which was  originally  a French NGO. He helpfully changed the invoice to Medecins san Frontieres,  The French obviously believe Berexit is Brexit just like our redoubtable leader la belle Theresa.

After a little brain storming , if this isnt an oxymoron for 2 geriatrics, we came to the conclusion that the car ran perfectly well when the tank was full to the brim and the problem occurred when we went down to approximately 2/3 full. It was now 18.00 hours so off we went in the direction of Leige stopping to filll up every 50 miles and were able to complete  the 160 miles by 21.30. unfortunately our planned visit to the Somme battle field had to be postponed, perhaps we will make it in 2116?
In Leige we treated ourselves to a good meal and some Belgium beer.

Tuesday July 19th.

We had a plan to carry on feeding Kevin his petrol fix every 50 miles and attempt to reach Dresden our original stop for today. Gordon during his inspection of the ventral anatomy of the car had discovered a small hole just below the filler cap and blocked this with chewing gum. Overnight we had enlisted Steve Thraxton, and Councillor Roger Ryan  to research the vagaries of a Kia Prides fuel system and suggest possible answers were.  Marsh Kia and their service manager Neil became involved. The net result was that it was necessary to have an air tight fuel tank as the delivery system relied on creating a vacuum to pull the petrol through to the injectors, hence the noticeable improvement with the chewing gum.
We made it to Seecampng Kelbra on a lake around 70 miles west of Leipzig. Gordon resumed his normal place under the car and replaced the chewing gum with plastic padding and also checked the filter sock in the fuel tank. We had no time to leave the camp site so ate in  the camp restaurant which was very good especially when washed down with a few beers. Gordon christened his hammock using ntree and a ring fixed to the rof of the car and I used my solo tent.

Wednesday July 20th.

With our quick camping kit we were able to be on the road by 08.30 and heading for Dresden and the Polish border. We made Krakow with no problems and then decided we ought to visit Auswicch Berkenhow and eventuality found a Auberge style hotel to stay at for a very modest fee but we're to late to eat however the staff gave us soup and bread f.o.c. how good was that. The excitement of the day was trying to jump start another car with our crap Kia Mongol Rally entrant.