2009 Kent Run Photos

[malcolm]

Another great Renault 4 run in Kent, 3rd May 2009. If you have photos add them on!

Lots of narrow lanes:


And lots and lots of Renault 4s. The unofficial count for the run was 18 Renault 4s and 2 very cool mystery Renaults.


The length of the convoy was matched only by the length of the run - a record 3 hours.


The mystery Renaults were two hyper cool Renault 16s.


Brian (Le Champ) came down all the way from Newcastle on his bike. We were up late last night doing 'house detectives' on the farm - turns out the garage was once a garden wall, and the unfinished bit in brick is unfinished for a reason.


We had time to recreate the classic advertising pic of Renault 4 with horses.


We got a bit split up towards the end after some difficult right turns, and finished the run in at least 4 groups. I ended up in a group on my own, but crazy luck (combined with an earlier mini-group stop to discuss the recovery plan, and Mrs Renospeed's instructions) had me as the 4th finisher.


The finish was at Squerryes Court in Westerham. A lovely family run concern. Matt (Beige Belgian) joined us there bringing the total to 20 Renault 4s. A challenge to Belgrade to see if you can improve on our colour co-ordination next year.


Of course there was the autojumble. Also in the background Family Pepper are celebrating James's birthday.


And finally we were all on telly. RDF.Theo (left) was working hard all afternoon trying to get some sense out of us all.


Great to meet up with new faces from the forum. It's the first time I'd met Pepper (and family), Le Champ, and Beige Belgian. Mguez was there in his F6, Mr-Reno-139, Jjad, Mrs Renospeed, and I think I either missed MATT, or else chatted and didn't realise who you were.

 

[Bluebell]

Well done everybody. You were fortunate with the weather.

Could we please have some photos of people with their names? I'd love to know what everyone looks like. When will we see you on the TV?

 

[malcolm]

I've photographed backs of heads again haven't I. Second photo foreground Mrs Renospeed, third photo the reverse of Le Champ, 8th photo (autojumble) Pepper's bottom while starting a fire inside Ermintrude (Family Pepper to the left). Foreground right in that photo Mr-Reno, last photo left Theo practising being a sound man.

Weather is always nice in the UK. It's not like that doubtful stuff you get in France.

 

[pepper]

We're all back safe and sound. Thank you so much for a wonderful day, Malcolm your generosity today was amazing, Judith and James loved being in such a lovely bright car.

Thanks also to Mr and Mrs Renospeed, the route was fantastic, ending up at a wonderful location.

Thanks also to everyone else who came along, Judith James and I think that its the best rally we've ever been on.

 

[John Doe]

Great photos! Now we have a challenge for our next Belgrade meeting

 

[pepper]

Ok here's a few photos from my camera, James took quite a few during the day for me.

 

[MATTT]

was a great day out+managed to get to the end in 1 piece even with the pinking and rough running and also managed to cover a poor yellow 4 in some black soot down one side who had to follow me for most of the run ! sorry about that

the choc birthday cake was nice too, and it was good to meet up and put some faces to the names on here,didnt get to speak to you Malcolm but i know who you are !

thanks to Renospeed for organising it,the route was long but lovely and lost count of how many horses we saw on the road or in fields so my daughter was happy,plus she got to sit in the front as no seat belts in the back so she thought that was great

ive quite a few pics i will upload when im back at work this week

MATTT

 

[malcolm]

James was using a zoom! That's cheating! Here's the one I took:



It's funny being in convoy - the R4 looks quite different in traffic than close up - the silhouette of the back looks much more shapely and almost 4CV like, and the inset headlamps at the front make it look like it's had 12 inches added to the sides like a sprint car. I wondered what it was for a second when you emerged from traffic.

 

[malcolm]

Sorry to miss you Matt. Your car did seem to be running a bit rich . Have you checked the choke is opening fully when you press it in?

 

[pepper]

More pictures

Ok here's a few more from Judiths camera and mine too.

Here's Malcolm checking Ermintrudes ok, having neglected to tell us that she does not have a cooling fan!

 

[pepper]

Here's a few more for everyones perusal.

 

[malcolm]

Ornella is looking high at the front especially under acceleration up hill. Look at all that positive camber! I'll get the spanners out.

Fixed the fan now Pepper - loose wire on the thermal switch ops: Also gave Ermintrude a polish this afternoon and she looks much more lovely. Ran out of time before the run, but it seemed a shame not to blend in the new paint over the rusty bits with the faded old paint.

 

[pepper]

I was thinking how high she looked all round, she had far greater ground clearance than most 4x4's we saw that day.

 

[malcolm]

The really early ones are funny - most of the ones I've seen in photos look far too high. I wonder if Renault set them a little high to start with assuming they'd settle a bit after owners had filled them with pigs. Problem with Ornella might be that priests don't often have cause to carry pigs so she's missed the settling process. I don't think she's been fiddled with by pragmatic French mechanics smoking Gallois.

Angel doesn't believe me, but I believe they started off too high, were about right between '65 to '81 with the 850cc engine, then they got a bit low at the front with the heavier 1108cc engine.

 

[jjad]

More pictures

Just wanted to say what a great time we had on the run. It was nice to meet Malcolm again, Brian le Champ, the Pepper family, Derek of Renospeed, as well as put a few names to faces. And we even managed to get rid of our unwanted R4 TL air filter to the friendly owners of the J reg Savanne! Thanks to Derek and family for organising it all - it was a great run and destination.

We've never seen so many R4s in one place - 20! That's an achievement Thanks to everyone for coming - it made it really special.

Just got a couple of pictures, I think James took some really good ones

Looking forward to the film on Renault TV!

Hope to see you all next time! Jonathan

 

[David M]

Congratulations Malcolm

What a fantastic day all of you must have had. The cars look fantastic!
They look well loved and carefully presented.
The posts show a bonne-hommie that suggests it was a social success too.
It is lovely countryside that you travelled.

Was there a competition for the route travelled or for the presentation of the cars?

Most impressive!

Regards,

David

 

[angel]

Very nice R4s! I'm jealous!

 

[mr-reno-139]

Great Pics ( none from me sorry)

had a very good day out ,was lovely weather especially with no roof !!,
went in convoy from sussex with MGUEZ nice f6 followed the sat nav to the services only to discover everybody else was on the other side of the motorway ,after walking over the bridge we discovered from Derek a quick detour to the next exit and back round to join everybody else said a few quick hello,s to those i had already met last year but my neice had spotted burger king so by the time that had been cooked 11am departure was upon us
decided to follow Dereks 4 Gordini on the basis he must know the route
loads of twisty roads meant lots of different exhaust tunes from mine and dereks non standard engines (keeping the revs down for the equestrians of course )
3hrs !! later reached our destination and parked up
sadly forgot my camera so no pics from me have got some video so may edit a clip to put a link up later
after my young passenger had explored the gardens and house time was pressing on and sadly didnt get much socialising other than selling quite a lot of R4 spares

sorry malcolm never had a close look at your car , thank you MATT for my books back also never had time to inspect your handiwork but well done for getting it back on the road
thankyou pepper for the ASDA chocalate cake nice to meet you and your family
welldone to Le Champ who had the only 2 wheel R4 !!
lots of people said hello without me remembering their names so apologise for my dementia

looking forward to the next meeting up north (hint, hint)
come on malcolm now you are a RCCC member you and derek can sort something for a nice sunny day
thanks every body paul

 

[RDF.Theo]

Thanks to all

The great cars and people at this years Kent Run meant that my camerman was able to get some really perfect shots of the R4s trundling through the lanes of Kent, the sunshine and the (mostly) shiny cars really will do the R4 justice when they appear in the final film. So thanks to all of you who kindly gave permission to be caught on camera! Also a big thankyou to Derek and Becky for the superb directions and route which meant I could leap frog the convoy more times than I expected and therefore get more shots.

I'm going to France in 2 weeks to do the same thing with about 60 Renault Florides as they start their 2500km Tour de France to celebrate 50 years since the Floride launch, so I'm glad to have had the experience.

To update you on the R4 documantary, the 4 elememnt may now become part of a longer film about the whole history of Renault since 1898. So although it will end up being a shorter section on the 4, it's sure to be pictures from this years Kent run that are used in it.

Don't expect to see anything on the Renault TV website until the Autumn though!

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Beige Belgian]

Only made the end as was selling the beige Renault 4 to a mate. First real drive in the silver machine and it goes well. Less vibration at higher speeds, and a stereo to listen to music too. Took a number of pics here is one and more can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattshepherd/

Nice to meet many of you, and see so many Renault 4's, now very keen on a Gordini engine! Hope to make the run part on future trips.