Meet City & Guilds’ four-fendered friend

Near, far, in a motor car? Maybe, but don’t sing it near the team. Meet City & Guilds’ four-fendered friend.

Words: Greer McNally / Photography: Joe McGorty

If you’ve seen a maroon 1902 vintage motor slowly cruising through South Kensington, then you may have already witnessed the spectacle that is Team Bo’ (Boanerges). The car – and the Imperial society members in top hats and oil-soaked striped suits who maintain him – are often seen out for a test drive near the Royal Albert Hall (their garage is round the back). Travelling at just 20mph, they’ve been mistaken for Santa’s sleigh, asked for a lighter and even been compared to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “I’m just glad they don’t sing that at us when we do our Christmas lights trip to the West End,” says Bo’s designated driver, Dana Gadd.

Gadd is also the society’s Chair, but she almost didn’t join the group of automotive enthusiasts when she first arrived at Imperial. “I had seen the university’s vintage fire engine Jez (short for Jezebel) first,” she explains. But when the freshers’ fair rolled round the fire truck was out of action. “I went and Jez wasn’t there – and then I saw Team Bo’ and I just knew it was for me. That year’s Chair had even grown a moustache especially and used a glue stick to curl it up. It was both hilarious and very cool.”

She explains, that while most of Team Bo’s time is spent looking after the car, the society also owns a vintage 1926 motorcycle. “He needs a little TLC at the moment and we’re always looking for riders. The motorcycle is technically quite powerful, so you have to have some experience to ride it.”

Gadd and the rest of the team are still glowing from the high point in the Team Bo’ calendar – the car’s annual run to Brighton in November. As she shares her experiences of the sunrise to sunset race, which features more than 300 vintage vehicles, her face lights up. “There are so many stories and they almost always involve us breaking down,” says the smiling aeronautical engineering student. It’s clear that the challenge of maintaining a car made over a century ago is one she enjoys. She tells how on one occasion the exhaust pipe hit the tarmac mid-race, but she’s also lost driving pins, had to rebuild a shaft and even helped with a full refit of the car since joining the society.

And her favourite moment on a run? Gadd doesn’t even pause, as she recounts how Bo’s handbrake lever fell off near the finish one year. “We were so close to the end, so we zip-tied it on. But then it fell off again and another car ran over it. But we were determined not to give up, so I drove the rest of the way into Brighton without a handbrake. I was basically manually pulling on a piece of wire, so I was pretty proud that we finished that day.”

Now in her fourth year, Gadd is currently training Bo’s next driver and handing over the steering responsibilities to someone new. But she’ll never forget her time behind the wheel. “We’ve got this really cool photo – it’s just got a zoom of power going past. It was taken on a test drive the night before a Brighton run. It’s just one of many memories I have from being part of Team Bo’ that I’ll never forget.”

Stolen goods

Bo and Jez have often been part of one of Imperial’s oldest traditions: mascot theft. Union President 2011–12, Scott Heath, described it as “an adults’ game of hide and seek – those caught attempting to steal have faced retaliation, such as being covered in motor oil, wood chips and a can of lasagne, before being set free.” Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Have you heard of – or been involved in – any ‘escapades’ involving Imperial mascots? We’d love to hear your stories of either taking or retrieving mascots, via imperialmagazine@imperial.ac.uk