Hindhead tunnel run, Surrey 21 August '11

[Manky Monkey]

The A3 at Hindhead in Surrey has always been a notorious bottleneck. Running from London down to Portsmouth, the A3 carries 28,400 vehicles a day. For most of the journey it's dual carriageway but dropped down to single lane as the road wound around the Devils Punchbowl, a well known local beauty spot, (a deep crater surrounded by steep hills).
After years of planning, campaigning, fundraising, rows over the route etc, it was finally decided to bore a tunnel under the hills so traffic can speed through the area unhindered.
A few weeks before the opening, the local council organised a sponsored walk through, with thousands of people taking the chance to march under the countryside. The event was massively over subscribed with many more potential walkers disappointed, missing out on the once in a lifetime experience. The Hindhead Tunnel was finally opened last month. There was an accident there within the first 2 hours, but other than that, it seems to be working. At 1 1/2 miles long, it's the longest road tunnel in Europe & cost £371 million to build.
To celebrate the achievement, our local custom club, The Surrey Street Rodders, are organising a run through the bore. "The Big Tunnel Run" is on Sunday, the 21st of August.
The day kicks off with breakfast at 8.30am at Mathwall Engineering in Thursley, Surrey, before the tunnel echoes to the sound of massed V8s. Once they emerge from the other end, it's off to the National Trust tea rooms at the top of the Devil's Punchbowl for a cuppa before heading home.

Mathwall Engineering

Tunnel walk

[Tony oily bike]

That'll sound good... a rumble in the tunnel.

Would have liked to have popped along (on two wheels I'm afraid), but on Sunday I shall be mostly at an airfield where motorbikes are being thrashed on a twin-lane 1/4 mile - such a drag!!!

[Cabman77]

That'll sound good... a rumble in the tunnel.

Would have liked to have popped along (on two wheels I'm afraid), but on Sunday I shall be mostly at an airfield where motorbikes are being thrashed on a twin-lane 1/4 mile - such a drag!!!

what airfield will that be Tony?

[Dslam]

It will be Wroughton Airfield near Swindon. Surprisingly enough in the village of Wroughton from about 11.00 am until we have all had enough. VMCC members get in for free on production of memb card but If any Manky's want to come along you will be most welcome but it will cost you £3 for day membership of the VMCC. If you do come down (or up) make yourselves known to me on the purple Triumph or Tony who will be on photographic and char duties. Wroughton is the deep storage site for the overflow 'stock' from the National Museum of Science and Industry in London but sadly none of the hangers will be open on Sunday. They have planes, boats, cars, bikes, farming implements and machinery, a really nice venue for 1/4 mile twin lane sprints. We ran a Kilo there once but the big stuff was running out of braking area as some of the Japanese bikes were approaching 200mph.

[spanners]

there,s a few items still ,,stuck,, in them hangers that were restored at ,,dorathea restoration engineers, , i worked on them way back when i served my time and accompanied them to the hangers when they were put in storage

amonst them was a pair of fowler a7 ploughing engine,s and  a ww1 FWD. four wheel drive artillery lorry on ,,wooden,, wheels..

and if i remember right the  merryweather fire engine we did went there too

[BikerGran]

Completely irrelevant to the event but I know the Devil's Punchbowl - it was a favourite place for a family day out and picnic when I was very young.  I can still remember how the cork used to pop out of the Thermos if it wasn't pushed in right!