Over this last weekend, I've been down in the Cotswolds in the Morris Minor for Pre-War Prescott 2021. It's an annual event (cancelled last year for obvious reasons) at Prescott Hillclimb, home to The Bugatti Trust and Bugatti Owners Club, and organised by the Vintage (Morris) Minor Register (VMR) one of two organisations/clubs for the 1928-1934 Minor. Even though the VMR is the organising club, it's open to all pre-1940 vehicles. I had three climbs of the hill booked, but as I was in sight of the Finish line on my second run there appeared to be lots of 'smoke' entering the cabin through the opening for the gearbox, along with a smell that both I and my friend thought was burning clutch. I crossed the line and made my way down the return road to the paddock and as I was reversing back into my space there was suddenly lots of steam exiting the engine compartment through the louvres on the off-side of the bonnet. I quickly jumped out and on lifting the bonnet the problem was very obvious... The rear core plug on the cylinder head had completely disappeared!!! There was just a big round hole where it had been. A quick run around the paddock was rewarded with the purchase of a brand new plug and it was fitted there and then. The engine was left to cool right down for several hours and then I refilled the radiator. Annoyingly, the plug failed to seal fully. Thankfully a chap came past and offered to head back to his car to get some JB Weld out of the boot. That was applied and once the paddock had mostly emptied we pushed/free-wheeled the Minor round to the orchard where we were camping over the weekend. It was left empty of coolant overnight and at 7am on Sunday, with the Cotswolds Tour/Navigation just two hours away, I refilled the radiator and success!! The tent was quickly packed away and off we went on the 2 1/2 mile drive to The Royal Oak at Gretton for the start of the Tour. Some 70-odd miles later that was completed without incident and it was time to head home via Leominster (where I started from on Friday morning) to drop my friend and navigator home, then home to Worcester in the dark. The 6v lighting was good enough to keep up a brisk 40mph or so (car maxes out at around 50mph). From Friday to Sunday the little Morris did about 240-250 miles.
Oh, and as I managed to complete the Sunday Tour after the failure the day before, I was awarded The Sports and Vintage Motors Cup for 2021. I was genuinely shocked by that. Definitely didn't see it coming. I did thank the guys who helped me when I was handed the cup.
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