Piston Broke Rally

22 May 1981 - Wheelwrights MCC.

                   

- Phil the Spill

When I heard about this rally, the first thing that came to mind were those badges you could get with 'Piston Broke Club' around a picture of a broken piston, the joke being, of course, that it sounded like 'Pissed and Broke'. This was probably where the name of the rally came from, as the organising club seemed to have no connection with dismantled motor parts.

Some years later I met members of a club calling itself Piston Broke MCC and they were annoyed or even enraged when they saw my badges from these rallies as they were planning to hold their own rally, using their club's name. I have no idea if this went ahead or not.

I hadn't yet resolved all the problems I had with my tent at the GPO Rally the month before. It still had no ridgepole, but I had improved the waterproofing by using a sheet of polythene under the flysheet. As it turned out, the weather this weekend was fine, so no problems arose.

There was only one pub in the village of Tarporley that would let us in and, since we were camped in the garden behind it, that suited us fine. It certainly had a well-stocked jukebox, which kept us amused through the weekend.

The Saturday night passed much as the Friday. As we were in a pub, there was not much in the way of hi-jinks, but we still managed to have a good time.

My tent suffered another breakdown of sorts on the trip home when the flysheet decided to part company with the rest of my luggage. I think it must have been somewhere down the motorway, but I never noticed it leave. This was the last time I depended solely on the bag supplied with any tent without an extra layer, such as a bin bag, around it.

This was my first experience of a pub-based rally without marquee and I'm still not sure which I prefer.

- Phil (the Spill) Drackley


Start of quotation Attended three Piston Broke rallies, Green, White & Gold edged badges if anyone can remember the sequence.

Always an excellent trad rally. A run into Shrewsbury was the Saturday morning outing to the Admiral Benbow.

One thing sticks in my mind on a Saturday afternoon, a rail line runs right outside the pub. A load of anorak types turned up to be followed not long after by a steam train passing by, very impressive too. The anoraks then dispersed. Don't know what the passengers made of 300 or so bikers leaning on the fence watching the train go by. Lots of faces peering out the windows. End of quotation

- Mark Mingay