Break Down Story Number 3.

The Broken Rotor Button.

October 1990, I had entered the Dolly’s first rally about a month before only to retire with a flat tyre, so the decision to enter another event was taken. It was Saturday of the October long week end as we set out to the start at Raymond Terrace and every thing went well till just out side Kurri Kurri, the Dolly’s engine just stoped.

My father was service crew so he was following along behind in his 2500 MK II so we were not without help. In the hope that we would be able to fix the Dolly the old man continued on to Raymond Terrace to talk to the rally organisers to ascertain the latest we could be there to make the start.

In the proses of checking the usual things I took the dissy cap of only to see the rotor button had come apart. The brass part of the rotor button had separated from the plastic part and done quite a lot of damage to the dissy cap as well. There was no way to fix this, short of getting another rotor button and well, there was not much hope of that on a Saturday afternoon in Kurri Kurri.

We towed the Dolly back to Kurri Kurri with my fathers Triumph 2500 to my uncles home were we left it till the next day.

Sunday of the long week end used to be the day of the Bathurst 1000 and this would be the first year since 1974 that I had not sat in front of the TV all day watching a great sporting event. This broke the habit and I have never watched the race all day since. Of course the fact that it is no longer a great sporting event has had a part to play in it. These days it reminds me of World Championship Wrestling, nothing more than scripted soap opera entertainment.

We drove to Kurri Kurri on the Sunday and fitted another rotor button and the engine fired up, no worries, even with the damage to the dissy cap. The disappointing part to this story is that I had changed the rotor button a few weeks before as part of the rally preparation and I did not keep the old one for a spare. So ended another Dolly Break Down Adventure.

Jim Pope