With the weather forecast promising summer-like temperatures, my wife and I took my TR4 for a rather long trip to Lausanne (280 kms one way) this weekend. Naturally we opted for a route more interesting than the motorway over Bern. On the way there the journey took us over Lucerne, Interlaken and over the Jaunpass at 1509 meters through the Gruyère region, before reaching Lake Geneva at Vevey, close to the beautiful city of Lausanne.  On the way back we chose another less spectacular but still beautiful route that led us over Murten, Bern, through the Emmental and then again over Lucerne.

The TR4 performed to perfection the whole way, not hesitating a second even when climbing the Jaunpass, with a 900 meter elevation and up to 12% steep (it was rather the somewhat fading brakes that provided more excitement on the way down…). The old lady’s 2 litre Ferguson engine clearly proved why it was such a popular tractor engine, with a torque powerful enough to take the car up most hills in third which is helpful, given the gearbox is not really a DSG and tends to protest quite loudly against any form of rapid gearchange. I’m therefore happy to say that now that the time has come to plan for the winter storage, no mechanical tasks are on the program over the winter break, just a few minor cosmetic ones. Who said English cars were of bad quality??!?