Round Britain Rally Photos  -  21-23 July 2011
Tom Brearley and Ray Bowden in Thruster TST G-MTNU

 

Start/finish at Preston Capes, a farm strip near Coventry

Mechanical dragonfly

Kirk Sutton and his Raven

Organiser John Moore

Thruster line up. Sean Dougan's red T300 next to our TST

Film crew interviewing pilots for the BBC documentary (working title 'Propellerheads')

Willy Knowles finishes rigging his yellow TST


Willy and 'Propellerhead' author Antony Woodward ready to depart


Thruster climb out


After getting under way, Ray and I found low cloud on our first leg to Halfpenny Green, just west of Birmngham


But we made it through the Manchester low-level corridor to the turnpoint at Ince
 

RAF Warton cleared us straight through their zone


Blackpool Tower


Poor weather over the Lake District forced a change of plan...


... around the coast to avoid the hills


Ray concentrating


Passing through some light rain. (Rally-issue GPS logger on the dash. We had to remember to turn it off every night to save the batteries and then on again every morning to get a score. It quickly became part of our pre-flight check!)

Mouth of the Esk at Ravenglass

Evening sun on the Solway Firth

In sight of Scotland

After night in a B&B, a broken exhaust spring delayed us slightly on the morning of Day 2 at Kirkbride, near Carlisle



Heading down the East Coast with a nice tailwind (groundspeed about 65kts)


Scarborough castle

Filey holiday camp (one of the northern turnpoints)


Into East Anglia - Cromer lighthouse

Nice evening over Norfolk

We were overtaken by Richard Meredith-Hardy in G-SEEE en route to Priory Farm, near Norwich

Ray looking forward to another 5 hours in a draughty Thruster

Taking off from Priory Farm on Day 3: we stayed overnight in Norwich with my girlfriend's sister

Setting course

Thrusters and Shadow G-ENEE at Fenland (worth double points between 9.30 - 11.30!)

Ray has a chat with Antony Woodward and shares our chips

Heading back towards Preston Capes

Where BMAA chief exec Geoff Weighell sees them over the finishing line

Rupert Gladstone crossing the line

Taxiing in (photo by David Dougan)

Kirk Sutton comes in to land over the farm buildings


Everyone safely home

On a nice evening

Including us

Excellent!

  

Brearley/Bowden stats --
Competitor no: 5
Airfields: Halfpenny Green - Ince - Cark - Kirkbride (O/N) - Peterlee - Beverley - Fenland - Cromer - Priory Farm (O/N) - Fenland - Enstone - Preston Capes
Start: 0908 21/7/11
Finish: 1608 23/7/11
Miles flown: 711nm
Hours flown: 18h25m
Fuel used: Loads
Points: 1,989
Placing: 10th in non-GPS class

Screengrab for the BBC2 film featuring the Rally which aired on 23 January 2012

Devon & Somerset Microlight Club
dandsmc@devonandsomersetmc.co.uk