This year - I have mainly been towing.

[Eric_m]

This year I have been working from home, so the poor old 75 has been mainly towing my hillclimb car around the country. I was given (£0) the car nearly 8 years ago, when the owner was going to scrap it with a blown headgasket, good old 1.8T. It then had 95,000 miles on it and it has just this week passed its MOT with no advisories, with 149,500 on the clock. It has been mainly reliable, replacement head & headgasket when I acquired it, new turbo, new clutch and hydraulics, new front suspension (why not when doing clutch), but nothing out of the ordinary for an 18 year old car.

I have been competing in the British Hillclimb Cup with my turbocharged Hillman Imp all year, and the Rover has dragged the car to all the events.
I have been from my Leicester base to Prescott (Glos) 3 times (150miles round trip), Loton Park (Welsh border nr Shrewsbury), twice (200 miles), Gurston Down (south of Salisbury- 300 miles), Doune (nr Stirling - 700 miles), Barbon Manor (Kirkby Lonsdale) then over to Harewood (nr Wetherby) for the next day (350 miles).
I have also been to a couple of non-championship events at Shelsley Walsh (Worcs - 160 miles) and my nearest venue, Curborough a mere 80 miles.

The car has got to all the event without missing a beat, The 1.8T engine pulls the 1 ton trailer/car combination beautifully, whilst still giving reasonable mpg. On long hills a change down to fourth gear to keep the turbo spinning is needed, but that's why they fit gearboxes. The old but good 4 wheel trailer tows brilliantly, you quite often forget you have it on.
The Aircon works great (especially after I fitted a new condenser a few months ago), which is a boon on hot days on the motorway. The only down side to the car is it is not very good on damp grass, pulling a trailer out of a wet paddock can be fun (see Harewood piccie for evidence).

Anyway, I have attached few pictures of the car at events. Not bad for a 'free' car. I plan to keep it for as long as possible, as new large cars are too wide nowadays and I have a very narrow driveway to the back of my house. The 75 has only about 2" clearance to the mirrors each side, and the trailer about the same to the arches.

Eric