Rallye des Princesses

[JamesL]

As you may have gathered, she is taking "her" car on the Rallye des Princesses this coming week. They have a facebook page

Starting on Sunday with 370km from the centre of Paris to St Aignan
Monday - St Aignan to Vichy (341km)
Tuesday  -Vichy to Alpe D'Huez (430km)
Wednesday - Alpe - mandelieu (350km)
Thursday - Mandelieu to St Tropez (260km)

(so more than a tank of fuel per day, which might be fun with a less than reliable fuel gauge and regularity test times to meet). They are likely to be going an average of 45kmh!

All starting tomorrow with the drive to Paris and it seems that the best way in is around the Arc de Triomphe and down Champs Elysees to Place Vendome  for scrutineering on Saturday and the sunday start. I am driving to Paris, getting the train home Sunday and leaving Tamara and Jennifer (navigatrix) to get to St Tropez. I fly to Nice on Thursday and drive the car home Friday/Saturday while they take the train. Weather forecast is damn-hot

Our very own Colin has replaced my saggy springs and suspension mounts and put a rabbits foot in the engine bay  . I shall post updates in here if anyone is interested. I think there are 5 Pagodas doing the rallye so I will take photos of them Sat/Sun

[Garry]

Keep the updates and photos flowing

[ja17]

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Sounds like a super journey. Drive safely and enjoy the wonderful views, as mentioned above, keep us up-to-date with photos and commentary notes time permitting.

Dieter

[JamesL]

Hey, I'm not going
It's girls only, but I will ask for occasional pics...

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

I fly to Nice on Thursday and drive the car home Friday/Saturday while they take the train. Weather forecast is damn-hot
. I shall post updates in here if anyone is interested. I think there are 5 Pagodas doing the rallye so I will take photos of them Sat/Sun

I was thinking about this when I posted ... so don't forget your camera or smart phone

Dieter

[JamesL]

A taster, from 2 years ago...



And...


And



Night-time over icy alpine passes to Monaco, this is not...

[RAY]

Brilliant, drive safely, take it all in and most of all, enjoy. But then they have done it all before so they will know exactly what to do.

Any photos from any one will always be appreciated by many !

Ray

[neelyrc]

Best of luck to the ladies!  Do Keep us posted.

[JamesL]

Well, that was fun, if a little hot. And the first big obstacle of the week overcome. No, not the English Channel, or the Autoroute but this...

[JamesL]

Damn iPhone...

So the car is super smooth on its Stickandrudderman suspension: standard MB springs, new rubbers and some new rear shocks. Management noticed very quickly how smooth it was running. And purring sweetly, even at 5000rpm+, which may or may not have resulted in a speed in excess of the speed limit

I mentioned that the fuel gauge was "off": from showing empty to showing full takes 40litres. So the advice I gave was.... fill up and reset the odo, when you've done 150miles, you should be showing empty but you still have a third of a tank left, another 50-70 odd miles. Great advice. As long as the odometer doesn't pack up on the autoroute  ::. I fear they'll be doing lots of 40litre top-ups

[Flyair]

Well, that was fun, if a little hot. And the first big obstacle of the week overcome. No, not the English Channel, or the Autoroute but this...

James,

Driving around l'Arc de Triomphe is exhilarating, provided that you drive a wrecked car.
I was just wondering whether the cars got a permit to drive through Paris, otherwise forbidden to older cars, vintage or not?

On another topic: the distances you mentioned to drive on one tank seem a bit short. Aren't you mistaking km with miles? On my tank (80l) and driving outside the city I usually make around 550-600 km. The engine burns around 13-14l/100km, which I was told is a bit over what the other Pagodas around burn. I was told that my IP may need fixing...

BTW: I am sure that you will feel like a Prince on the way back!
However: if you keep exposed the shield of the Rallye des Princesses, I recommend that you avoid driving in the vicinity of La Porte d"Auteuil

[kampala]

My wife spotted a Pagoda being unloaded off a carrier at Place de la Concorde.   It's a minutes drive to Place Vendome from there.   Looks like two ladies names scribed on the side.

[JamesL]

Yum
Though v hot

[JamesL]

Oh
And I just ran the car round the car park under place Vendome. The odometer started working again!!!

[JamesL]

And they're off... Wacky Races style

[JamesL]

Fingers crossed, this is the last I will see of the car until Thursday in St Tropez

[Flyair]

James,

at least the Princesses travel in a very colourful style

What the white circle sticker on the front side is meant for? Some add-on future advertising?

[JamesL]

There's a very nice Citroen DS decapotable (convertible )

Like all DS' its famous for its pneumatic spheres

You know how they say owners start to look like their dogs? Well, it might be true for cars, too😜

[JamesL]

Stan
It's a sticker for MeliMelo, which is run by some friends of ours

I did tell them that the colour needed to be strong /bold but you know, "brand"

I debated taking it off this morning but we promised ...

[JamesL]

And Garry will appreciate this:
A small moving space

Though this is a small lightweight racing space, with no soundproofing & plexiglass (non-opening) windows. It's 30+degrees today...

[JamesL]

54th after first regularity stage
The dropped and managed to reset the stopwatch

http://www.jbtimeconcept.be/live/rp2017/#!/stage/1

The very hot small racing space is last/dropped out?

[JamesL]

2nd stage less good: apparently, being late is bad, being lost enough to miss two checkpoints is worse. (oops)

Late > Early > Missed checks

[Garry]

James, Both Tom Collit and I can definitely remember a hot small moving space, not comfortable.  Girls are having a good time, hope they are still friends at the finish!!!!

[JamesL]

Hahahaha

Got a call this morning.... "the battery is flat"