BEMUSED French towns witnessed the leisurely passing of a
vintage car named Bo last week during the longest journey of his
life.
Driver
Tom Williams, left with co-driver Dan Lehmann |
Armed with Imperial College students and a back up team to put
races at Le Mans to shame, the only 1902 James and Browne motor car
in existence spent his 100th birthday navigating back roads between
Boulogne, Abbeville and Beauvais at speeds of upto 28mph, before
arriving in Paris on Friday after completing an exhausting 337
miles.
Following in his wake was a Land Rover towing a trailer complete
with back-up preparations such as spare hoses and clamping tools,
bolts and bearings, and a Renault Clio used to check the route
ahead daily. Students were armed with enough materials to remove
the engine and gear box and carry out a complete re-build on the
side of the road should the need arise.
The engine needed re-building on Monday when one of the crank
case bearings came loose, said Tom Williams, team leader and
driver. It required road side machining which was very entertaining
for the French who thought we were mad. We were in the middle of
nowhere at the top of the hill and the car was in bits all over the
place.
After the crankgate bearings went, we lost compression and had
to pump oil into the bore. Due to excessive heat, the exhaust
valves distorted so we had to grind them down. Also the fuel tank
fell off which was quite entertaining.
Nevertheless, a triumphant team arrived at the Ecole
Polytechnique, Paris on Friday to hand the president a letter from
the rector of Imperial, Sir Richard Sykes who travelled in Bo
earlier in the year during the London to Brighton run, a trip
completed in six and a half hours. The team took Bo for a
spin in the French capital, causing mayhem around many tourist
attractions. Parisian drivers are worse than English ones. Theres
absolutely no allowance for a car which has 100 year old
breaks.
The team is very proud of their vintage car. Hed never been
abroad before and his greatest distance was Manchester to
Windermere two years ago a total of 80 miles, added Tom.
London to Paris has always been completed by the Veteran Car
Club and seemed like a nice run so we went for that. There was
nothing to suggest he couldnt do it, hed just never had the
opportunity since we bought him in 1934.
Bo, short for Boanerges which means Sons of Thunder, was built
in Hammersmith, London and purchased for £40.
Maintained and run by students of the City and Guilds College Motor
Club responsible for his upkeep, the nine horsepower car is passed
down from one group of students to another each year.
The trip, which started with an overnight pit stop at Imperial
College Wye in Kent on Sunday 23 June, followed birthday
celebrations the day before at the Heritage Motor Centre,
Warwickshire, and helped raise money towards the £20,000
needed to maintain wooden coachwork and refit the vehicle
which was mainly designed as a town car.
We began planning this in November and had several discussions
with French authorities who had no direct rules other than
requesting us not to travel on major roads. Their attitude
seemed to be: if you kill yourselves, very well, added Tom.
We rotated four driver and co-driver teams, all dressed in
City and Guilds regalia. We wanted to do something that hadnt been
done before; something that was just that bit special.
A daily web journal of the journey including videos, photographs
and interviews, is available at: www.cgcu.net/bo100
