I have teamed up with my wife, Debbie, to participate in a childrens’ fund raiser for Our Military Kids in October. This fundraiser is part of the inaugural DC Annual British Reliability Run (ABRR) which is limited to 50 teams driving British cars that are at least 25 years old. We will be driving our Caterham 7. PLEASE JOIN US!

The ABRR will run October 13-15 (Friday morning through Sunday noon), rain or shine, and covers around 750 miles of back roads touring through Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. (Yes, we are thumbing our noses at convention by starting a test of British car reliability on Friday the 13th!)

The DC ABRR website with additional information can be found at:

www.dcbritishreliability.org

THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY
Since this is all about the kids, each team will have the goal of raising at least $1,000 (the more the better) for Our Military Kids, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our Military Kids (OMK), supports the needs of children, ages 5-18, of deployed National Guard and Reserve service members, as well as children of wounded warriors from all service branches.

For more info about OMK, see -
https://www.dcbritishreliability.org/our-military-kids

There are still spaces left for you to run in this event. All you need is a British car, at least 25 years old, and three days to spend having fun with a bunch of fun, like-minded people!

Here is a link showing the teams signed up so far -

https://www.dcbritishreliability.org/teams

Thank you for considering supporting Our Military Kids and taking the time to read about this inaugural DC Annual British Reliability Run. I am happy to get answers for any questions you might have about this event!

--Bob Collum

 

It's less than 2 weeks until the DC chapter of the America's British Reliability Run begins. Debbie and I will be driving our Caterham 7 on the ABRR route - 750 miles in 3 days, beginning Friday, October 13th. This is a charity event.

I post pictures here every weekend, which get a lot of views. I'm asking for some help. We are still seeking donations for the charity - Our Military Kids. We very much appreciate anything you can give. Here's the link to our donations page -

https://www.razoo.com/story/Classicteamlost

Here is the link to the ABRR website, with details of the teams (some are pretty funny), and info about the charity.

https://www.dcbritishreliability.org/teams

Thanks!
Bob Collum & Debbie German

 

We finished the ABRR here in the DC area this past weekend, and it was a lot of fun! A lot of interesting British cars, and their friendly & knowledgeable owners. My wife and I drove the Seven. We had a wonderful time on the ~200-mile route on Friday. I dropped my wife off at the hotel, and went down the street to fill up with gas for the Saturday route. After filling up -- the Seven would not start. It turned out to be the fuel pump. Bad luck? Well, it was Friday the 13th, but I was happy we did not get stranded out on the road. My mechanic came over, and managed to get the car running, but we really didn't know if it would last the planned 350-mile route on Saturday, so I drove the Seven to his shop, and left it. I considered myself lucky, but was sad that I'd miss two days of the event we signed up for. I went and told the event organizer, and he told me they had planned for breakdowns, and had a Top Gear-style 'Car of Shame' available for us to use -- a Miata... automatic! (Gasp!)

We happily accepted, and drove the Miata the next two days. It was not the 'hair shirt' we had imagined - we enjoyed the car, despite driving mountain roads with the leisurely drivetrain. The Car of Shame even contributed to the event - we used it to jump-start the event organizer's XKE on Sunday!

If you hear about one of these events occurring near you, take a good look at it. It's a charity event, and always supports some children's charity. The DC event even had a dedicated flatbed tow vehicle, and mechanics available during the event. There are currently 4 ABRRs - Pennsylvania, DC, New England and Colorado. All the 2017 events have been completed. If you are interested, either in an existing event, or starting your own, you can contact the organization -

http://www.britishreliability.org/

Some of my Lotus friends from the Philadelphia area did their area's ABRR last year, and convinced me to check this out. We will do this again!

--Bob Collum