Together with a well known Offroad magazine publishing company, the Eastern Offroaders Club are planning a 4 x 4 Offroad caravan tour to Keng Tung the old capital city of the Shan States in Burma (Myanmar if you like the newer name) and right up to Mongla on the Burma - China border during the Songkran water festival and holidays.

According to my old mate, Captain Sitthichoke, you can enjoy beautiful scenery and sightseeing, shop for precious stones and famous Burmese rubies and jade, visit hilltribe villages, join local Shan people and play water games with them, which is called “Thingyan” in Burma and “Songkran” in Thailand.

The route has already been planned and mapped out which will pass by Tachilek - Keng Tung - Mongla. The tentative schedule is first night Chiang Rai or Mae Sai (hotel), second night Keng Tung (hotel), third night Mongla or Keng Tung (depending on hotel availability), fourth night Tachilek and the fifth day is a free run back home.

Costs for hotels, visas, documentation, car permits and the like are currently being worked out and should be finalized within the next month. The organizers also plan to rent out 4 x 4 Offroad vehicles for people who may wish to join the tour but do not own any 4 x 4’s. Some of them may be able to rent directly from Pattaya and Bangkok or you can drive up in your own saloon cars to either Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai and rent the 4 x 4’s there.

You don’t have any car? No problems, they are planning for you to share expenses with some 4 x 4 owners who do not have any passengers and you can ride with them. They are accepting both Thai and foreigners, with Thai nationals requiring only their Thai ID cards to travel, as the Burmese government allows Thais to cross into Burma in some border areas with Thai ID only and do not require a passport. However, all foreigners must have a valid passport to cross the border but the trip could be a good trip for foreigners who wish to incorporate this trip into their visa run!

I will bring the information on costs, etc., to your notice after I receive it from Captain Sitthichoke. By the way, he speaks English perfectly and has done this trip many times and knows all the best tracks (and tricks).

So let us look at this week and the name is Marcos. This was the amalgamation of the founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin and they built an amazing car with a wooden chassis. This was a proper chassis, not just wood framework for the body like the MG TC’s. We used to say in the old MG Car Club days that the only reason MG TC’s held together was that the borers (termites) were so afraid of the handling that they all held hands. The driving seat was fixed, and you moved the pedal-box assembly to get your correct position.

The shape of the original Marcos can still be seen in the new Marcos models today, but the original was sensational. Photographs do not do these early cars justice; you have to see one in the flesh to see how low they really were. (Interesting aside, our Down-under correspondent John Weinthal owns one - send us a photo, John!) As well as the Marcos sports cars, they also built a little horror called the Mini-Marcos. A dreadful fizz and buzz box, but it did distinguish itself once. What did it do to get the “distinguished service” award? Here’s a clue - it was in 1966.

For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to fax 427 596 or email [email protected] Good luck!

Schumi the younger makes a spectacle of himself

Ralf Schumacher

Following the young Schumi rear-ending a bunch of cars on the motorway, it was revealed that Mrs Schumacher’s little boy was short-sighted. Would he wear glasses to drive in 2002? Professor Sid Watkins was then supposed to have said that it wouldn’t help and so the auto scribblers filled another page (like I’m doing, I suppose)!

The whole thing is just so much hot air. Yes, glasses will help him. Yes, he can wear them and race - what has Jacques Villeneuve been doing for the past few years? Having raced in glasses for a while until I discovered contact lenses, you can drive perfectly well in spectacles - you have to just remember to take them off before you pull off your full-face helmet!