A plastic strap keeps this throttle partly open, but a piece of string or wire will also do.

The following get-you-home tricks are worth remembering:

1. If the throttle cable breaks, wedge or wire the throttle partly open, and use the ignition switch to speed up or slow down. Beware of activating the steering lock while the ignition is off.

2. Should the clutch cable break, start the car in first or second gear and drive home slowly or try to change gears without the clutch.

3. Use pantihose to replace a broken fan belt. You may bypass
the alternator if you're not too far from home, but the water pump has to operate all the time.

4. If the fan cracks, or breaks a blade, remove it, but put the pulley back so that the water pump can rotate. Try not to drive below 80 km/h, because that is the only time a car needs a fan (racing cars do not have cooling fans). Do not drive with a cracked or unbalanced fan, because the vibration may crack the water pump, or flying metal fragments may damage the radiator.

5. If the fuel pump packs up you can sometimes re-route the windscreen washer pump to take over this duty. If you're in the bush, and the camp is not too far away, it may be possible to rig up a tin that is able to supply a gravity-feed to the carburettor.

6. Water leaks often show up on long trips. A small leak can sometimes be cured by adding one of the aftermarket chemicals designed for this purpose. Turmeric (borrie) has also been known to seal a leak.

7. Soap tends to harden in the presence of petrol, and can be used to seal a petrol leak.

8. If a spark plug starts to misfire because of an excess of oil in the cylinder, arrange the HT wire at the plug end so that it has a small gap where it meets the plug. This will increase the spark voltage so that the spark will often fire through the oil.