Day 3 Sun 18th March
Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie - distance 225 km
I gave each entrant a copy of the book I purchased for each of them titled “100 Mega Machines – the Biggest Machines Ever Built”. Most people seem to like them and I will give one to 17 yo mechanic Oliver Wright who is mechanic and driver for Daniel Ward. Oliver from Yorkshire on 05 November 2011 drove the oldest car an 1894 Benz Velo in the London to Brighton Veteran car run. Oliver was the youngest driver in the oldest car as a Learner and the following week he passed his Driver’s Licence Test.
As the 1909 Darracq entrant 41 was approaching Kal, they started to loose power, and the car stopped a number of times. Water was found to be in the fuel, and after stopping a further number of times, the source of the water was found to be by the seats. The cushion was acting like a sponge and every time they got off/on it was sucking in water. The lid of the fuel tank is like a funnel so water was flowing in. To overcome the problem, Mum Handley’s saucepan lid was “acquired” to fix the problem. The big problem was Mrs Handley had to use alfoil that night for a lid when cooking. Later she discovered the knob of the lid, and thus the whereabouts’ of her stolen saucepan part.
Thanks to Kal folks and David McCredie Entrant 1912 Maxwell told me his tale. A number of entrants received assistance @ Geoff Paynter’s workshop with his mate Alex Gallo who has a collection of veteran cars. Geoff‘s other interest is wine making and they enjoyed a drop of his fine red as they discussed the expedition.
Judie Stephens OAM - Expedition Director