Are you going to this one day event? We have about a dozen club vehicles attending!
A day devoted to all things German as Brooklands welcomes a host of German cars and motorbikes.
Expect a wide range of cars to admire from the Porsche to VW, Audi to Mercedes-Benz – see the best examples of German engineering through the years.
It’s not just German Cars and bikes that will be filling up the site, the Paddock will be alive with German themed entertainment, food and memorabilia.
Sunday October 1st at Brooklands Museum, Weybridge from 10am to 5pm
The world’s largest transporter show. The club’s key event of the year. Over 100 club vehicles, hundreds of burgers, a good deal of laughter and perhaps a glass or so of wine.
Our most popular event with around 100 club vehicles, our own club field, the marquee, the BBQ, Lorna James singing, kids looking after each other and the occasional glass of wine.
To get on the club field, you need to be an active member and book through http://www.busfest.org selecting the correct club and using the discount code. Sadly bookings for 2023 have closed some time ago, but we hope to see you in 2024!
A leisure battery allows you to use 12v appliances such as fridges, lighting and heaters etc whilst camping without running your main vehicle battery down, so you can still start the engine the next day! There are several ways of keeping this leisure battery charged, the most popular is using a split charge system, this system charges your leisure battery and main battery whilst driving, using your engine’s alternator.
There are kits available online for split charge systems. Once again, Just Kampers sell these kits at reasonable prices and comes prewired for easy installation.
When installing a split charge system, before you start work, remove the earth (marked negative) lead from your main vehicle battery. Depending on your type of van, your leisure battery will need to be located in varying locations. The design of the Bay Window makes it ideal for a leisure battery install as there is a spare tray on the left hand side of the engine bay. So for this quick guide, we will use the bay window as an example.
From the spare battery tray on the left of the engine bay, where the leisure battery will be fitted or is already fitted, lay the pre-rewired wiring loom across the back of the Bus, routing from left to right.
A good place to locate the relay itself is on the left hand d-post inner structure. Hold it in position and mark the top locating hole. Drill this and mount the relay using a suitable self-tapping screw. The wiring loom for the rear lights runs along the top of the inner engine lid hinge panel, held in place with metal tabs. Carefully prise these open and locate the new section of loom within. Alternatively, use cable ties to hold the new loom to the existing wiring.
Remove the positive lead from the main battery and secure the new power lead under the battery clamp nut.
There are just two wires on the split charge relay. The brown wire goes to earth (we utilised the existing tail light earth for this) and the red (positive) wire needs to go to a switched live. For this, we routed the cable under the engine bay tar board and piggy backed it to the switched live terminal on the ignition coil.
With the leisure battery in place, install the auxiliary fuse box loom under the battery clamp nut. Then locate the fuse box on the rear inner wheel tub.
Next, install the leisure battery earth lead. This must be bolted to a good earth point.
Finally, you don’t want your new battery sliding around, so we used a universal battery clamp to secure ours in place. Once installed, connect the positive leads on both batteries, then the two earths. All should now be up and running, just leaving you to wire any accessories forward from the new fuse box.
Our friends at Just Kampers have reduced the price of the excellent and regularly recommended Propex heater.
Make Heat While the Sun Shines (or tries to).
Save money on the Propex HS2000 heater unit at Just Kampers and install a new gas heater in your camper before the weather really takes a turn for the worse. The JK Team are offering £55 off their Propex HS2000 bundle kit (J19842), which gives you the super popular Propex heater as well as the gas fittings you’ll need to get it installed.
While they’d always recommend you get gas appliances like this installed by a registered professional, fitting a new heater is one of those jobs that’s better done in the summer, and you’ll be able to enjoy off-season trips in your toasty new camper!
Just a week away is the ABC, our annual AGM, BBQ and Club Camp – are you going?
Get together with members and hear what’s happening in your Club at our short AGM. The Barnstones site has served us really well over the last several years, and is located in Great Bourton, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX17 1QU, just a couple of miles off the M40.
Scene of our earliest club BBQs, which are free for members, we’re very much looking forward to going back. We will be using a local hall to host the AGM part of proceedings, along with light refreshments. Just bring your membership card with you.
Price per night is £15 for a pitch (van with or without awning), but electric hook-up prices cannot be quoted at the moment, due to uncertainty in the market. I’ll share this information as soon as we have it, but please be reassured, we will be able to power the BBQ food storage safely 😊
I will be making all the bookings, just let me know your dates, how many adults, children and dogs, whether you need electric, and whether you’re bringing an awning. Places are limited so contact me soon to reserve your spot! Please do not book direct as there may be insufficient space on the rally field.
The site itself says, “Barnstones is a very attractive 4 star AA award winning site situated on the edge of the pretty village of Great Bourton. 3 miles from the historic town of Banbury, other attractions nearby are Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Oxford, Blenheim Palace and the very beautiful Cotswolds area all within a 20 mile radius of the site. The site is very mature with beautiful landscaped grounds, full serviced pitches and hard standing pitches are available, all pitches have hook-ups provided, the high quality toilet block provides free showers, dishwashing facilities and a full laundry room. Wi-Fi and a children’s play area are available. A local pub serving very good food is 200 yards from the site.”
230V electric hook up allows you to use campsite supplies to give you mains 230v sockets inside your van, meaning you can use those everyday appliances whilst on your travels.
The easiest way to tackle a 230V Mains Hook Up in your van is using a kit that comes with all the parts you need. These are readily available and Just Kampers sell two great kits (don’t forget your discount) that have either a surface mount socket or flush mount socket.
The kit should contain: • Inlet Socket (Flush or Surface Mount) • Consumer Unit (25amp Draw) • 2 x 13amp Sockets • 2.5mm2 Cable (Socket to Consumer Unit) • 3 Core Flex (Consumer Unit to Sockets) The kit should be installed by a professional, unless you are confident with wiring and we would still suggest that the install is tested by a professional following self installation.
