Rolls Around the World 2007: 10 - West Thurrock to Chichester, England

Sunday, July 29, 2007

As promised Tristan Palmer and his lady Terri arrived at The Granary to pick us up at noon. We stopped at a pub he knew for a superb lunch, and then carried on to West Thurrock where we booked into the Ibis Hotel again - this time requesting a room without the M25 motorway just outside the window. It was another bright, sunny day - Silverstone will have had great weather for the entire event.

After bidding Tristan goodbye and giving him our sincere thanks for saving us the arduous journey by train, subway and taxi we both settled in to get some things done on the computer. My nerves are a bit on edge wondering if things will go well in the morning or not!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Miles for the day 118 (190 km) Mile to date 3,630 (5,842 km)

The taxi got us to the office of Agility Logistics about 15 minutes early, but they confirmed the car was indeed there. After a tense wait in the meeting room, we were given yellow vests and invited to the receiving dock. There were a lot of sounds of appreciation from the workers as the seals were cut and the container doors swung open. I squeezed into the car, and it started the second time the engine turned over. Marilynn, with a tear in her eye, said it was like watching a birth as it slowly left the confinement of the container.

As the gas had been largely drained, the first stop was the closest service station. Four young Polish fellows had a "by hand" car wash business there, so we had the car washed and waxed before returning to the hotel to load our gear. A taxi driver directed me to the M25 motorway, and we were off once again. It felt good to be back behind the wheel!

We missed a poorly marked split in the M25 at Gatwick airport, so found ourselves on two lane road winding through villages and open countryside. We worked out a course using a series of secondary roads that would get us back on track, and en route enjoyed a pub lunch, plus stopped at an automotive supply to see if we could get fuse wire, an oil filter and spare fan belts for the car. No such luck - it appears this many be difficult.

A large castle on a hill came into sight, so we turned off to explore the medieval town of Arundel. It has a huge cathedral and picture perfect Main Street as well as the castle. The castle was founded on Christmas Day, 1067 by the Earl of Arundel, one of William the Conqueror's most loyal barons. He was awarded 1/3 of Sussex on the condition he build the castle to protect the approaches to the area. Today it is one of the longest inhabited country houses in England, but unfortunately it is not open to the public on Mondays.

We eventually arrived at the Goodwood Park Hotel and checked in. The hotel is on the grounds of the huge Goodwood estate, which also includes a famous vintage car racing track, a horse racing track and an airport. A look at the prices on the menu posted in the lobby sent us off to a small country pub we had passed while driving around in circles trying to find the hotel - there are no signs for it anywhere. There were quite a few patrons, and we soon were in spirited conversation with most of them. It turned into a good night.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Miles for the day 60 ( 97 km) Mile to date 3,690 (5,938 km)

Paul Cartwright, the customer and visitor services manager, greeted us at the Rolls Royce Motor Cars plant and head office just a few minutes from the hotel. He is the last of only five employees hired by the new Rolls Royce from the former plant at Crewe, which Marilynn & I had the opportunity to tour in 1994. He has been with Rolls Royce at total of 26 years. This is only the fifth head office Rolls Royce has had in 103 years.

He confirmed that it was indeed a legal oversight that when Volkswagen bought the plant at Crewe, along with the inventory, equipment, land and the name Bentley that the name and right to use the trade marks of Rolls Royce Motor Cars were not included. It makes one wonder what the lawyers who made the omission are currently doing for a living - certainly not working for Volkswagen! It was 5 years after BMW purchased the name and rights from the Rolls Royce parent company (who still make aero and other engines) before an agreement was reached with all parties that would allow them to manufacture using the Rolls Royce Motor Cars name and trade marks.

As BMW had nothing from the original organization, they had to start from scratch. Even the shirts worn by factory workers did not come with the deal - we saw one worn at the Silverstone Races and were told that a Rolls Royce club had received them free from Volkswagen/Bentley and sold them to members as a fund raising project.

The 50 acres at Goodwood were part of the original Goodwood estate and the plant constructed under very strict rules from the local council. It had to be designed to be invisible to neighbours, which required a low rise building and the planting of hundreds of trees. It has a living roof, landscaped in grass, trees and flowers. There can be no noise emission and only one shift during regular week days is permitted. The plant is highly organized and spotlessly clean.

To meet these requirements it was necessary to have the car bodies themselves made in Germany and shipped to England. Everything was designed from the ground up by the new Rolls Royce staff working with BMW engineers. The enormously powerful V12 engine with six speed automatic transmission moves the large cars from zero to sixty in about five seconds!

The assembly line is super quiet, as electric motors forward the cars from one station to another. We watched the complete power train of a car transported on a specially designed cradle from where it was assembled in a side area to where the cradle lifted it precisely into position under the body. The process was almost silent. All along the line were trolleys with the various customized parts for each car that had been prepared in different areas of the plant. No car body starts down the line until every detail of its finishing is ready for assembly.

It was fascinating to visit the shops that turned skins into leather upholstery and panelling, the woodworking shops that prepared the polished trim from a choice of woods and the facility that put each car through a rigorous set of tests to locate any malfunctions, sounds or leaks. One drove silently by us on its way to the test area. Three to four cars a day are produced by the plant's 500 employees, and in spite of the high price tag, if you ordered one today you would not receive it until 2009. It takes about 5 months to produce all the custom fittings, wood and leather for the car before assembling it.

The next stop was the small village of Sidlesham, where a garage found in the yellow pages was able to fit us in for an oil change and lubrication. We arrived early, so had lunch at the local pub. The car was given a fairly thorough going over, during which we discovered there was no bulb in the right front turn signal. We had a spare, but the garage owner was good enough to spend a great deal of time on the phone trying to find us spare fan belts, more turn signal bulbs and oil filters, as they used the only spare we had. He also had some fuse wire, which we needed. The old model Rolls Royce cars did not have fuses as we know them, just a length of fuse wire stretched between holders for each of the various systems. In the end he located everything, to be delivered by tomorrow afternoon.

With this major job done we drove an hour to a ferry dock in Portsmouth to catch one of the frequent ferries to the Isle of Wight, where we promptly got lost in the town of Ryde. I was surprised by the size of the towns on the island - they would be classified cities in Canada. After a couple of "no vacancy "stops we found a room at the Windmill Hotel, pub and restaurant in the village of Bembridge.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Miles for the day 100 (161 km) Mile to date 3,790 (6,099 km)

We tried last night and this morning to get some messages out on internet, but the hotel's advertised wireless system was down. After completing the circuit around the island and ferrying back to Portsmouth, we explored the city of Chichester, where eventually we found a laundry that will have clean cloths for us by tomorrow morning and a room at the Premier Travel Inn.

We picked up the parts that had arrived at the garage at Sidlesham, a twenty minute drive away, to find that he had serious difficulty finding oil filters. He did get one, in the original box from the former Rolls Royce plant at Crewe, for a mere $63.60. It looks like no more will be available until we return to Canada, so there will only be one more filter change.

Back at the hotel, we had a good meal at a nearby restaurant and then took advantage of the hotel wireless network to get caught up. Tomorrow we are back in travel mode, with an overnight stop in Folkstone before a very early departure on the train under the English Channel to the continent.