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Remember when......

dognero said:
Spent many an early morning cold and walking for mile in Hamsterly, Kielder etc.
Those were the days
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Ditto ..I gave my son then about 7or8 a Kodak instamatic camera and of we went to see the RAC rally we tramped for ages and found a long pile of of logs on a bend so we sat there .. little did we know but we would be swamped by the Italian lancia press team with thousands of pounds of camera equipment .the never bothered us and gave us hot drinks etc the cars came past and you could not think for the sound of shutters going and at the crucial point my son lifted his instamatic and clicked .. shouting got it dad . ..the press team loved it and cheered him on ..great times great memories .. would that happen now
 
When we followed it around it was known as the Lombard RAC rally.

Started at Chester then through Welsh forests and up into Scotland, eating from Little Chefs and sleeping in the cars, and famously shi77ing in the back of my pants. 🤭

The noise of a 6R4 blasting through a dark, freezing forest was unreal, then in a flash of blinding pod cibies, a deafening noise, flames and that smell of burning mud/oil/brakes/clutch then it was gone.....we would pick the stones and gravel out of our hair and pockets and wait for the whistles for the next car on stage, just hoping it was a Quattro, Stratos, S4, Manta400 or RS200.......

We saw a few good years of group B monsters, then in 1986 they were banned.


The service stops were good too as you could meet the drivers and see the cars up close and in bits, the cars had to make their own way to Stages and service halts so you could follow them, it was weird following a groupB monster in a Peugeot 309 on a public road.

I have found my old post re-toilet trauma at the Lombard RAC -
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OK time to come clean, so to speak.

I used to follow the Lombard RAC rally from Chester and through into the Forrest’s of Wales.
There would be three cars and Four people in each car, all mates…
We had done a service stage somewhere in Wales then headed off to the military range called Epynt to sleep and spectate at an early starting dark stage.
It’s November, freezing, pitch black and 3am my stomach was churning.
I tried to fight it for and hour or so - to no avail, panic set in - what would I do ?
I tried to leave the car without waking the others but the interior lights went on, so they were disturbed, but I had to go.
I took my Lombard RAC brochure with the plan to use the pages as toilet paper.
Scrambling across the undergrowth blind and in a cold sweat, I found a tree - my plan was to put my back up against the tree in a crouch position and do a ‘hang and drop.’
Then simply use a page or two of shiny Tony Pond photos to clean up.
It was a panic towards the end even the simple task of unbuttoning my 501,s was an epic, I thought I wasn’t going to make it….
Then to my relief, BOOM, there it was gone, thank God for that.
I did my best with Tony Ponds face but the shiny paper didn’t perform very well…. Fcuk it, it will have to do.
I pulled up my jeans and it was at this point the warm, heavy feeling against my ar5e had to my horror indicated that I had in fact sh17 in the back of my jeans !
The story gets worse but I’ve run out of time, but maybe now you can see why I am pretty adamant that I do a Pooh in a proper loo, scared for life.
🫢
 
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WhatsThisFor said:
When we followed it around it was known as the Lombard RAC rally.

Started at Chester then through Welsh forests and up into Scotland, eating from Little Chefs and sleeping in the cars, and famously shi77ing in the back of my pants. 🤭

The noise of a 6R4 blasting through a dark, freezing forest was unreal, then in a flash of blinding pod cibies, a deafening noise, flames and that smell of burning mud/oil/brakes/clutch then it was gone.....we would pick the stones and gravel out of our hair and pockets and wait for the whistles for the next car on stage, just hoping it was a Quattro, Stratos, S4, Manta400 or RS200.......

We saw a few good years of group B monsters, then in 1986 they were banned.


The service stops were good too as you could meet the drivers and see the cars up close and in bits, the cars had to make their own way to Stages and service halts so you could follow them, it was weird following a groupB monster in a Peugeot 309 on a public road.
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Remember when I think it was ford who put a call out for anyone with a back axle to match .they took one out of a spectators car so the rally car could continue and sorted his car out afterwards
 
speedyg said:
Remember when I think it was ford who put a call out for anyone with a back axle to match .they took one out of a spectators car so the rally car could continue and sorted his car out afterwards
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Doesn't surprise me.....Malcolm Wilson had most of Fords expensive rally spares in his lockup.
 
We have had one of the stages of the Corbeau Seats Rally in our village for about 5 years, sadly last year it was cancelled, I hope it come back this year, it was fanstatic.
 
dognero said:
View attachment 111736
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Me and my mates in the street used to have one of Hair Bears motorbikes.

We would kick start the imaginary bikes and chase each other around the gardens, singing " Help, Help, here come the Bears...."

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I was 26 at the time.
 
You could get a weekend day Red Rover Ticket for unlimited travel (1968) on London Transport red buses for 7/- (35p), we were kings of London for the day!! The skill was to let the bus leave the stop and time the sprint to reach the bus, grap the pole and leap onto the back step entrance, the conductors (some clippies) used to often throw us off at the next stop....

Fast forward to the the week of Y2K, I was in London with a much younger lady and there were some Route Masters still, we were both pretty fit and after a good few beers, I told her about the sprint finish to get on a bus and she was up for it. So we waited at a bus stop for the right conditions and sure enough we both took off and chased the bus down. I can still see the look of horror on the conductors face as first me then her, leapt on to the platform, the people on the rear bench seats were killing themselves and yes we were thrown off at the next stop with the conductor being booed. Those were the days 🍻🍻

1740838649448.png
 
Manoerwar said:
You could get a weekend day Red Rover Ticket for unlimited travel (1968) on London Transport red buses for 7/- (35p), we were kings of London for the day!! The skill was to let the bus leave the stop and time the sprint to reach the bus, grap the pole and leap onto the back step entrance, the conductors (some clippies) used to often throw us off at the next stop....

Fast forward to the the week of Y2K, I was in London with a much younger lady and there were some Route Masters still, we were both pretty fit and after a good few beers, I told her about the sprint finish to get on a bus and she was up for it. So we waited at a bus stop for the right conditions and sure enough we both took off and chased the bus down. I can still see the look of horror on the conductors face as first me then her, leapt on to the platform, the people on the rear bench seats were killing themselves and yes we were thrown off at the next stop with the conductor being booed. Those were the days 🍻🍻

View attachment 112520
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I remeber the Red Rover tickets well. There was also the Twin Rover which gave you unlimited red bus use, and unlimited Underground use. We got to see so much of London and the surrounding areas. On the bus we could go out as far as Heathrow Airport, and on the Underground out to Epping Forrest, to name just a couple of places. We would leave home Saturday morning and buy our tickets and not return until the evening. Obviously our parents had no idea where we were as there were no mobile phones, (we often didn't know where we were either when we went to new places) they saw us when we got back. Jumping on and off of buses was a way of life, especially if you missed your stop. We also use to run up the down escalator in the underground, and I bet Gladiators think the Travelator was their invention.

Sundays was usually spent in the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum in Exhibition Road South Kensington.

We did this from about the age of eleven, kids today don't know what they are missing!

This brings back so many childhood memories, great times.
 
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