Photo courtesy John M. Discher

Another Successful America's British Reliability Run

--Teams Tame Twisty Roads in Ohio , W. Virginia and Kentucky

Are British cars perfectly reliable? Well, almost. Of the 30 cars that started the two-day 2006 America 's British Reliability Run on October 14th, all 30 finished. But along the way, there were some issues, and conspicuously, all occurred in Triumphs. Hmmm, is there a conspiracy here? I'm only joking of course, but more on that later.

After enjoying dinner at Kozmo's Restaurant in Massillon , Ohio , teams were given route details, event hats courtesy of sponsor Little British Car Company, magnetic rally plaques, and new for this year, a window cling with each team's name which was placed at the top of everyone's windscreen. Perhaps in an effort to improve the grooming of the teams for Sunday's breakfast, Ohio-based Barbasol provided everyone in attendance, men and women alike, a complimentary can of shaving cream.

The weather cooperated nicely; when we left Massillon, Ohio, Saturday morning under police escort, the temperature was in the upper 40s, and temps later rose into the low 50s under bright blue skies. Teams woke Sunday after overnighting in Hurricane, West Virginia , having to scrape frost from the windows of their British cars in the hotel parking lot before heading to breakfast at Bob Evans compliments of sponsor Hagerty Insurance. But at least it was dry the entire weekend!

And that's a good thing, what with about 700 of the official 715 miles being on twisty, very hilly roads with many, many switchbacks. That may not sound like a lot of miles, but as Pat Barber (Michigan , team “Rally King”) put it, “it was 700 miles the hard way.” The remaining 15 miles were driven behind slow-moving Amish buggies in central Ohio . Mike and Natalie Seesan (Ohio , team “Turbo Boosters”) engineered this year's scenic but challenging route.

Of course, the purpose of the run, this one the fourth in as many years, is to raise money for children's charities. This year, Camp Ho Mita Koda, the youth camp of the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland (Ohio), was the beneficiary of our efforts. Monies collected were earmarked for “camperships” for financially challenged families who otherwise would not be able to afford the cost of camp for their child. Teams paid their own expenses associated with the run and worked hard to collect donations for the charity. Donations this year are expected to total about $25,000 when all monies are tallied. Other charities the run has helped in the past include the National Children's Cancer Society, and The Hemophilia Foundation of Michigan. That brings the total raised for charity in four years of the run's existence to more than $110,000.

Cars registered for the run this year included Triumphs, MGs, Austin-Healeys, old and new Minis, a Jaguar, a brand spanking new 2007 Lotus Elise (Rusty and Jennifer Blackwell, Michigan, team “Automobile Magazine”) and the oldest registered car, a 1952 Bentley R-Type (Richard and Carol Kress, Ohio, team “The Kress Group”).

As for “issues,” there were a few. The first incident was a blown oil line on a turbo unit in Dale Smigelski's (Michigan) Triumph Spitfire. As someone eloquently opined, if God had wanted Spitfires to have turbos, he would have installed them at the factory!

Next, I noticed that the voltmeter on my Triumph TR6 (team “Best Boy”) was pegged at 16 volts. I unplugged it, drove the rest of the day without it, and changed it out with a spare that Sue and Dave Snyder (Michigan , team “Snydley & the Colonel”) had in their boot.

Jim Shear and Sharyn Kitzmiller (Ohio , team “Shear/Kitzmiller”) discovered Sunday morning that the heater valve on his TR6 was leaking badly when he attempted to melt the ice on his windscreen using the defogger. Not to worry, Mike Sedlak ( Illinois , team “6 to 60”) had a spare, and in no time at all Jim and Sharyn were warm and comfortable in their Triumph.

Broken speedometer cables were reported by Terry and Laura Walters (Michigan, Triumph TR250, team “Two Fifty Somethings”) and Darrell and Beverly Floyd (Ohio, Triumph TR7, team “Wedge Type Guy & Gal”) who also reported a blister on his right hand from gripping the steering wheel so tight through the hairpin turns! As Terry said, “The broken speedo cable was irrelevant; the brakes, clutch, and screech of the tires was how one gauged the proper speed, not an instrument on the dash. If the adage, ‘a squealing tire is a happy tire' is true, we had happy tires most of the time.”

Maybe the best comment about the run was from Jack McGahey (North Carolina, Triumph TR8, team “Limey V8”) on hearing that two navigators complained of nausea because they were looking down at the route book more than looking at the upcoming sharp turns, “ I enjoyed every undulating, curving mile of those twisting roads - it was exactly what I came for and I'd hate to see you seek tamer roads in the future to avoid the possibility of nausea.”

Don't worry Jack, I won't.

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(A huge thank you to the teams and everyone who donated to Camp Ho Mita Koda. If you care to learn more about the run, see the registered cars or make a donation, however small, please click on the 'Donate Now' button in the top right corner of this page.)