Creepy Crawly Rally 2009

by Megan Dennis, former Curator at 'Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse'

As I drove into the car park of the Holiday Inn Peterborough West I wasn’t quite sure what I had let myself in for, I was attending the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain’s Creepy Crawly Rally 2009 with Team Panhard from Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse. However, as I parked amidst a sea of gleaming shiny beasts of motor vehicles, tantalising parts sticking out of tarpaulins, I began to realise how easily you could get addicted to these veteran cars.Firstly, they are beautiful creatures – modern car design has nothing upon the sinuous curves and gleaming brass of these machines – each at least 100 years old. Secondly once you hear their distinctive roars, smell the oil and feel the tremble of the engine there is no going back. The weekend confirmed my love for our Panhard – nothing could be better than zooming through the countryside (Sometimes faster than 30 mph!) on the back of this miraculous machine.

We took two separate runs – the first on Saturday a 66mile round trip via Fotheringay (birthplace of Richard III), Stamford (a beautiful town where Middlemarch was recently filmed) and Burghley House (Built and mostly designed by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, between 1555 and 1587,). The trip wasn’t without mishap – perhaps the most surprising being the loss of a vital part of the engine as we entered the grand gates of Burghley. Sterling work by the team resulted in a rapid repair and we were back on the road.

The afternoon saw us taking several wrong turns (making our total mileage somewhat higher than expected) – but that is what you get when you entrust navigation to the Head of the Museums Service! We safely returned to the hotel despite having one hairy downhill section and overtaking a car in the second lane of a dual carriage way – to enjoy the grand gala dinner – a formal affair with everyone appropriately suited and booted.

A second, shorter, run on Sunday included the chance to capture the experience of filming whilst riding on the Panhard– nipping through pretty Lincolnshire villages and gaudy fields of flowering oil seed rape. As the team’s official photographer I got to record a number of interesting events and I hope that these records will show visitors to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse what a wonderful machine the Panhard really is, and how hard the team of volunteers who keep her running work.

 

Coming into the final straight just in time for Sunday lunch we thought we were nearly home and dry when, with a strange chugging noise, the Panhard ground to a halt. The team swing into action again and once the blockage in the fuel line has been cleared it was a quick 10-minute sprint to the finish line.

It was a fascinating experience – not only an insight into the work of a dedicated and enthusiastic team of volunteers who run the Panhard for the museum, but also into the world of the veteran car enthusiast. Thanks to all involved (Mike & Lynda Vincent, Phil & Viv Waltham, Ken Hilton, Bruce Thompson, John & Vanessa Trevelyan) for inviting me to join them and also for promising to teach me to drive so that perhaps I can take the helm at the next rally. So be careful on the roads around Gressenhall – you may encounter a careering curator taking her first trip at the wheel.