A thousand of my humblest apologies for the unseemly delay, but we've been busy since friday morning. First, we had to go off and run the final day of the rally, which went swimmingly (not literally). We finished up the rally in good order, running quickly and smoothly despite some tough conditions. It was really nice to be able to go out and run the stages without any pressure, so we had a lot of fun.
We had so much fun in fact that we went straight to the party at the Keg down at the waterfront in St. John's, and we didn't quit partying until the wee hours of the night. We even made some new local friends in the process, so it was a great evening all together.
Yesterday we went to the charity autocross and watched the factory Dodge Challenger perform some truly excellent burnouts in between completely sideways runs by the factory Group B Audi rally car that was my dream car of the event. It was pretty fun to see a real pro slinging a 450+ horsepower rally car around a tight autocross event.
Last night was the awards gala with its long speeches and other related foofaraw, but I do have some exciting news to report. WE WON SOMETHING!!! Along with Bill Arnold, Alan Ryall and Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes, we are the proud recipients of the Churchill Motor Sports Award for the best placed three car team from the same country. We're bringing back some hardware to the good ol' US of A, so look out. That's actually why I didn't post an update last night, I was busy running around the parking lot waving my new trophy over my head and chanting USA...USA!!! It was pretty demure, but you get the idea. I considered making a gold chain for it so I could wear it around my neck for a while, but I settled for gluing it to the hood of my car I think.
That modesty aside, we did manage to pull out a 17th place finish overall, and 3rd in class 7, so I feel like that's pretty respectable.
At this point, it's time to go home. We're about to load up the truck and head west, so it's time to say thanks and goodbye. We appreciate all the support from our friends and sponsors, and we look forward to getting home and catching up with everyone.
See you soon.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Nerd Alert!!!
It's early Friday morning and we're off to have a little fun. Hopefully the car will be good and we can just go out and enjoy the merits of our wonderful little race car with no pressure.
We're really pulling for our fellow BMW teams at this point. Since Brian Jarvis dropped out in his 2002, there are three BMW teams left. Bill Arnold and Alan Ryall are currently leading by a slim margin over Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes. Both are prior winners, so they know how to get it done, but it will be a tight battle between the two. They have to be wary of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo of Andrew Comrie-Picard as well, because he lurks not far back, meaning they can't rest and coast home. It should be an exciting finish and we wish our old BMW compatriots the best of luck on the tough final stages.
On a nerdier note, this island is full of awesome rocks. It's like watching geology happen. I sort of want to pull over and look at all the cool rock outcroppings, but Nick keeps saying that we're in some sort of motor race. Oh well, another time.
Here's to a smooth day for the old Bimmer faithful, we'll see you at the finish!
We're really pulling for our fellow BMW teams at this point. Since Brian Jarvis dropped out in his 2002, there are three BMW teams left. Bill Arnold and Alan Ryall are currently leading by a slim margin over Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes. Both are prior winners, so they know how to get it done, but it will be a tight battle between the two. They have to be wary of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo of Andrew Comrie-Picard as well, because he lurks not far back, meaning they can't rest and coast home. It should be an exciting finish and we wish our old BMW compatriots the best of luck on the tough final stages.
On a nerdier note, this island is full of awesome rocks. It's like watching geology happen. I sort of want to pull over and look at all the cool rock outcroppings, but Nick keeps saying that we're in some sort of motor race. Oh well, another time.
Here's to a smooth day for the old Bimmer faithful, we'll see you at the finish!
I don't like Thursdays anymore
What can I say, there are days when it's good to be a racing driver, and there are days when it's not. Thursdays are not, at least not for us.
The day dawned cool and beautiful. We had a long transit from Clarenville out to the Burin Peninsula, jutting southwest into the Atlantic. The area is renowned for its beauty, and all I can say is that words don't do it justice. It's the sort of landscape you'd never expect to find on a little known island off Eastern Canada.
The lush vegetation and rolling hills give way to a harsher, stonier terrain, the granite outcroppings bulging quietly out of the earth, littered with the timeless detritus of the passing ancients in a land sculpted by glaciers surging implacably downhill, molding rock and earth alike under their grinding mass. Even though that was long, long ago, the current lay of the land bears witness to the forces of those times.
We started our day cruising out through the stark remainders of the glacial age, headed toward Harbour Mille. This is probably my favorite stop, simply because the setting is so period picturesque, taking us back in time to a simpler time in a remote fishing village. It's so stark, and yet so amazingly beautiful. Keep an eye on the pictures section of the blog for some shots, it's worth the wait.
The morning stages were fast and fun, into and out of Harbour Mille, and then on to Mooring's Cove. I'm happy to say that we cleaned all three of those stages before heading into the battleground that is Marystown, where we tackle not only tight streets and heavy doses of bumps and gravel, but also parking lots and alleyways, literally.
The car has been great, and we did well. We actually made up some useful time on the class competition and were feeling good.
That's about the time that it remembered it was Thursday. Last year on Thursday we hit a house. This year, in the middle of the Marystown South stage, our radiator mouting bolt decided to try it's luck amongst the gravel of Marystown, rather than holding our radiator in place. As a result, the radiator fell against the front pulley of the motor, grinding several small holes in it, allowing all of our engines coolant, one of its precious vital fluids, to escape. This, as you might surmise, is bad. Very bad indeed.
We tried to pull over and make some emergency repairs, but without the spare radiator that our crew had, we were unable to effect any meaningul repairs. As we sat on the roadside second guessing our actions, we also saw our hopes of a competitive finish slip away, one drip into the Burin sand at a time. Newfoundland is rife with ponds, lakes, streams, rills and brooks, and now there's one more little puddle, an inchoate little pond, courtesy of our little Henna M3.
As it happened, we missed two stages before continuing. In that time, I had the opportunity to redefine the term irony.
We finally broke down in front of the "Lucky House Restaurant", which is a Chinese place that served us some sweet and sour chicken and fortune cookies.
This is ironic because of course in the afternoon of Thursday last year we hit a house, and today was very unlucky for us. To further illustrate the point, we were on the way to a town called Fortune. Instead, we sat and ate fortune cookies by chance.
Unlucky indeed.
It's a hard thing to swallow, especially when your hopes are up and the tide seems to be rising, but, as they say, that's racing, so we'll live with it. The plus side is that now the pressure's off, so we can just have fun tomorrow and bring the car home for a finish at the waterfront in St. John's.
On a lighter note, as we continued through the final three stages of the day, we came across the fateful house from last year, with Nick fully intending to exorcise his demons on the shores and doorsteps of Garnish. He dutifully missed the house, but it was worth noting that the plucky homeowner had decided to take some extra precautions. There were tire barricades and several 55 gallon oil drums placed out in front of the house, so a competitor would have to plow through all that before reaching her house. Quite improvisational I must say.
We'll have an update tomorrow afternoon, as well as pictures and video to come, so keep an eye on the blog and we'll be back soon.
Cheers,
The day dawned cool and beautiful. We had a long transit from Clarenville out to the Burin Peninsula, jutting southwest into the Atlantic. The area is renowned for its beauty, and all I can say is that words don't do it justice. It's the sort of landscape you'd never expect to find on a little known island off Eastern Canada.
The lush vegetation and rolling hills give way to a harsher, stonier terrain, the granite outcroppings bulging quietly out of the earth, littered with the timeless detritus of the passing ancients in a land sculpted by glaciers surging implacably downhill, molding rock and earth alike under their grinding mass. Even though that was long, long ago, the current lay of the land bears witness to the forces of those times.
We started our day cruising out through the stark remainders of the glacial age, headed toward Harbour Mille. This is probably my favorite stop, simply because the setting is so period picturesque, taking us back in time to a simpler time in a remote fishing village. It's so stark, and yet so amazingly beautiful. Keep an eye on the pictures section of the blog for some shots, it's worth the wait.
The morning stages were fast and fun, into and out of Harbour Mille, and then on to Mooring's Cove. I'm happy to say that we cleaned all three of those stages before heading into the battleground that is Marystown, where we tackle not only tight streets and heavy doses of bumps and gravel, but also parking lots and alleyways, literally.
The car has been great, and we did well. We actually made up some useful time on the class competition and were feeling good.
That's about the time that it remembered it was Thursday. Last year on Thursday we hit a house. This year, in the middle of the Marystown South stage, our radiator mouting bolt decided to try it's luck amongst the gravel of Marystown, rather than holding our radiator in place. As a result, the radiator fell against the front pulley of the motor, grinding several small holes in it, allowing all of our engines coolant, one of its precious vital fluids, to escape. This, as you might surmise, is bad. Very bad indeed.
We tried to pull over and make some emergency repairs, but without the spare radiator that our crew had, we were unable to effect any meaningul repairs. As we sat on the roadside second guessing our actions, we also saw our hopes of a competitive finish slip away, one drip into the Burin sand at a time. Newfoundland is rife with ponds, lakes, streams, rills and brooks, and now there's one more little puddle, an inchoate little pond, courtesy of our little Henna M3.
As it happened, we missed two stages before continuing. In that time, I had the opportunity to redefine the term irony.
We finally broke down in front of the "Lucky House Restaurant", which is a Chinese place that served us some sweet and sour chicken and fortune cookies.
This is ironic because of course in the afternoon of Thursday last year we hit a house, and today was very unlucky for us. To further illustrate the point, we were on the way to a town called Fortune. Instead, we sat and ate fortune cookies by chance.
Unlucky indeed.
It's a hard thing to swallow, especially when your hopes are up and the tide seems to be rising, but, as they say, that's racing, so we'll live with it. The plus side is that now the pressure's off, so we can just have fun tomorrow and bring the car home for a finish at the waterfront in St. John's.
On a lighter note, as we continued through the final three stages of the day, we came across the fateful house from last year, with Nick fully intending to exorcise his demons on the shores and doorsteps of Garnish. He dutifully missed the house, but it was worth noting that the plucky homeowner had decided to take some extra precautions. There were tire barricades and several 55 gallon oil drums placed out in front of the house, so a competitor would have to plow through all that before reaching her house. Quite improvisational I must say.
We'll have an update tomorrow afternoon, as well as pictures and video to come, so keep an eye on the blog and we'll be back soon.
Cheers,
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wacky Wednesday
Today was an interesting day, not least because of the unresolved timing issues we had due to our stopping to help an off course competitor yesterday. We misread the situation a bit, but the marshalls saw our point and gave us back 30 seconds of the time penalties we had gained, so we're reasonably back in the hunt, for our class and division anyway.
I'm sad to report that Bob Yuille crashed heavily into a parked car last night in Gander, but his crew was able to knock his Cobalt back together and they were back on the road this morning. I'm really glad they made it, he's been a stalward of this event and a friend to us as well.
In other sad news, the BMW 2002 of Brian and Ken Jarvis is out after a heavy entry into a ditch this afternoon. The car isn't fixable, so they're going to tow it back to St. John's and go from there. Hopefully they'll get another car together before too long and be out competing again.
The other 2002 of Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes continues to do extremely well, as does Bill Arnold in his Bavaria. They are making vintage BMWs look as fast or faster than ever. Through lunch today, they led the event, with the factory Mitsubishi Evo of Andrew Comrie-Picard bringing up third. Not too shabby for a couple of old dusty Bimmers, eh?
We had a moderately tough morning, after cleaning the first couple of stages we picked up points in the next two, before cleaning the afternoon stages. Tomorrow is a big day for us, a day in which we pass our destiny one sheet of vinyl siding at a time. Frenchman's Cove and it's treacherous lanes and houses awaits, and it only gets closer, both by time and place.
We had a good morning run on thursday of last year, so I'm hoping to repeat that to leave us in good stead in our class and division in the morning.
I'm off to get some sleep after another long day in the trusty ol' Henna M3.
I'm sad to report that Bob Yuille crashed heavily into a parked car last night in Gander, but his crew was able to knock his Cobalt back together and they were back on the road this morning. I'm really glad they made it, he's been a stalward of this event and a friend to us as well.
In other sad news, the BMW 2002 of Brian and Ken Jarvis is out after a heavy entry into a ditch this afternoon. The car isn't fixable, so they're going to tow it back to St. John's and go from there. Hopefully they'll get another car together before too long and be out competing again.
The other 2002 of Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes continues to do extremely well, as does Bill Arnold in his Bavaria. They are making vintage BMWs look as fast or faster than ever. Through lunch today, they led the event, with the factory Mitsubishi Evo of Andrew Comrie-Picard bringing up third. Not too shabby for a couple of old dusty Bimmers, eh?
We had a moderately tough morning, after cleaning the first couple of stages we picked up points in the next two, before cleaning the afternoon stages. Tomorrow is a big day for us, a day in which we pass our destiny one sheet of vinyl siding at a time. Frenchman's Cove and it's treacherous lanes and houses awaits, and it only gets closer, both by time and place.
We had a good morning run on thursday of last year, so I'm hoping to repeat that to leave us in good stead in our class and division in the morning.
I'm off to get some sleep after another long day in the trusty ol' Henna M3.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Two Days Down
Tuesday started from Gander, and took us out through the rain to beautiful Point Leamington and Leading Tickles (my personal favorite stop).
We had some mixed rain on the first stage, which was difficult and strewn with gravel, and then we headed on to the fast sweepers of Point Leamington and out into the Tickle. The stages there are beautiful, but tricky when wet. We actually stopped to check on a Mini Cooper that was off early in the stage, and it turns out that several other cars had incidents of varying degrees of seriousness on that stage.
Lunch in Leading Tickles is a treat, from the scenic seaside setting, to the local music, to the cornucopia of moose based dishes. I ate my fill of pan fried moose and dessert, so I was ready to go for the afternoon.
I'm sad to say that on the way back out of Leading Tickles, our friend Jim Kenzie crashed his beloved Mini heavily, undoing all the hard work he's put in over the years. He's been a great supporter of ours and we're overjoyed that he's okay, but also saddened that he's out of the race.
The afternoon brought a fun new stage called Bobby's Cove, and then the challenges of Gander. The second to last stage, Glenwood, was brutally rough, and many cars sustained minor damage, including multiple winner Bill Arnold. He's no quitter though, and I'm sure he'll be ready to go in the morning.
We picked up some time, but the car is still good and the crew checked it all over, so we're ready to go.
In other news, we're busily training our replacements for the future. Check out the picture of little Joey in the driver's seat. We may have to get her a phone book and some blocks for her feet, because she looks ready to drive to me.
What fun it is to share our passion with the equally passionate Newfoundlanders. It's truly the surprise of the event, having such a warm reception and enthusiastic participation from the people of each town we visit. We're lucky to be here and we couldn't do it without their help.
Thanks!
We had some mixed rain on the first stage, which was difficult and strewn with gravel, and then we headed on to the fast sweepers of Point Leamington and out into the Tickle. The stages there are beautiful, but tricky when wet. We actually stopped to check on a Mini Cooper that was off early in the stage, and it turns out that several other cars had incidents of varying degrees of seriousness on that stage.
Lunch in Leading Tickles is a treat, from the scenic seaside setting, to the local music, to the cornucopia of moose based dishes. I ate my fill of pan fried moose and dessert, so I was ready to go for the afternoon.
I'm sad to say that on the way back out of Leading Tickles, our friend Jim Kenzie crashed his beloved Mini heavily, undoing all the hard work he's put in over the years. He's been a great supporter of ours and we're overjoyed that he's okay, but also saddened that he's out of the race.
The afternoon brought a fun new stage called Bobby's Cove, and then the challenges of Gander. The second to last stage, Glenwood, was brutally rough, and many cars sustained minor damage, including multiple winner Bill Arnold. He's no quitter though, and I'm sure he'll be ready to go in the morning.
We picked up some time, but the car is still good and the crew checked it all over, so we're ready to go.
In other news, we're busily training our replacements for the future. Check out the picture of little Joey in the driver's seat. We may have to get her a phone book and some blocks for her feet, because she looks ready to drive to me.
What fun it is to share our passion with the equally passionate Newfoundlanders. It's truly the surprise of the event, having such a warm reception and enthusiastic participation from the people of each town we visit. We're lucky to be here and we couldn't do it without their help.
Thanks!
Good Morning Gander!
Since it's still barely sunup here, I don't have any actual news to report, but I did have some ruminations about yesterday in the shower, so now you get to deal with them.
Basically, it occurred to me that this event is totally incredible. Incredible in the sense of the word that it's beyond belief. It's like racing into a postcard, crashing through the idyllic facade and finding that you're living the image.
As we headed west toward Gander from the Eastport Peninsula last night, the setting sun angled and struggled with a troubled sky, leaving shade dappled birches swaying in the breeze, as thick as any throng in Times Square, but greenly complacent and patiently beautiful. We crossed a land bridge from the peninsula and the Sound was so ruggedly beautiful, yet serene and calm, seemingly undisturbed, that it was a surreal feeling to realize that we were tourists, sure, but we were also crossing this idyllic setting in a race car. A FAST race car.
How lucky are we?
Basically, it occurred to me that this event is totally incredible. Incredible in the sense of the word that it's beyond belief. It's like racing into a postcard, crashing through the idyllic facade and finding that you're living the image.
As we headed west toward Gander from the Eastport Peninsula last night, the setting sun angled and struggled with a troubled sky, leaving shade dappled birches swaying in the breeze, as thick as any throng in Times Square, but greenly complacent and patiently beautiful. We crossed a land bridge from the peninsula and the Sound was so ruggedly beautiful, yet serene and calm, seemingly undisturbed, that it was a surreal feeling to realize that we were tourists, sure, but we were also crossing this idyllic setting in a race car. A FAST race car.
How lucky are we?
Monday, September 15, 2008
Day One Update!
Hey Gang,
We're still here! It's Monday night in sunny Gander Newfoundland, (or it was sunny a while ago). We had a solid 12 hours in the car today, starting at 7:40am and ending at 7:30ish when we pulled into the Gander Arena.
The day went well for us. The M3 ran flawlessly and we didn't have any problems. The official scoring isn't out yet, and due to a few discrepancies in the official timing we're not absolutely sure of our placing, but by our calculations we managed to clean the day's stages. Nick and Greg are off to the arena at this very moment to check on the morning's starting order and to see how the placings look.
Unfortunately, some of our competitors didn't have such good days. The third place overall car from last year went off in a big way on the second stage of the morning. The little original Mini driven by Dyrk Bolger and Terry Milnes apparently went end over end into the ditch, and one of the pair was injured, but we're still waiting for some more official news. We hope they're well.
Also, the rented CRX of Mark Kile and Kevin Paradise shot off into the trees in the penultimate stage of the day, but they are okay by all accounts. The car didn't seem to fare too well though. Trees are in actuality much stronger than cars, whatever your perception may be.
One of our class competitors, a 1990 Toyota Celica AWD Turbo car has been having big mechanical problems since yesterday, but they seem to have it sorted out, so we're looking forward to a battle with Lance and Giulio if their car will hold together.
So, at this point we're feeling pretty good and the car is working well. We're hoping for more sunny weather and a healthy car again tomorrow.
Nick is pretty happy because he's been running into actual Greeks left and right, much to his delight. They even speak Greek, so he's getting to exercise his home language. We've even met Murray Smith, a Scottish driver who seems to have raced a great many things, but in this event he's navigating a cool 63 Corvette in between stints of speaking Greek to Nick. Pretty good stuff.
I guess the Greek flag on the side of the car is drawing the right amount of attention after all.
We wrapped it up tonight and went for a pizza. We did the same thing last year the first night in Gander, and I have to say that this isn't the place for a walk in pizza. Last year we got hoodwinked into ordering a Donair, which is a regional pizza-like concoction dominated by sliced beef, mayonnaise, and onions. Other Canadians call it "an Eastern thing." Feel free to look it up for yourself.
Other than that, it's pretty much bedtime. We're off in the land of no cell coverage, although wireless internet seems to be far more ubiquitous than last year, so that's pretty good. Last year in Gander I had to type up the blog, copy it to my thumb drive, and carry it to the hotel lobby computer to upload it. This year is much better, but I still have to go find a payphone to call home.
Nick just got back from the arena, and the starting order isn't posted yet, which is a bit unusual, but our scores are up and we should indeed be clean for the day, which means we'll be tied with 9 other cars for first I believe. Hopefully we can hang on a bit longer!
Thanks for reading! Stay away from hurricanes and stay in school! Remember, don't speed!
We're still here! It's Monday night in sunny Gander Newfoundland, (or it was sunny a while ago). We had a solid 12 hours in the car today, starting at 7:40am and ending at 7:30ish when we pulled into the Gander Arena.
The day went well for us. The M3 ran flawlessly and we didn't have any problems. The official scoring isn't out yet, and due to a few discrepancies in the official timing we're not absolutely sure of our placing, but by our calculations we managed to clean the day's stages. Nick and Greg are off to the arena at this very moment to check on the morning's starting order and to see how the placings look.
Unfortunately, some of our competitors didn't have such good days. The third place overall car from last year went off in a big way on the second stage of the morning. The little original Mini driven by Dyrk Bolger and Terry Milnes apparently went end over end into the ditch, and one of the pair was injured, but we're still waiting for some more official news. We hope they're well.
Also, the rented CRX of Mark Kile and Kevin Paradise shot off into the trees in the penultimate stage of the day, but they are okay by all accounts. The car didn't seem to fare too well though. Trees are in actuality much stronger than cars, whatever your perception may be.
One of our class competitors, a 1990 Toyota Celica AWD Turbo car has been having big mechanical problems since yesterday, but they seem to have it sorted out, so we're looking forward to a battle with Lance and Giulio if their car will hold together.
So, at this point we're feeling pretty good and the car is working well. We're hoping for more sunny weather and a healthy car again tomorrow.
Nick is pretty happy because he's been running into actual Greeks left and right, much to his delight. They even speak Greek, so he's getting to exercise his home language. We've even met Murray Smith, a Scottish driver who seems to have raced a great many things, but in this event he's navigating a cool 63 Corvette in between stints of speaking Greek to Nick. Pretty good stuff.
I guess the Greek flag on the side of the car is drawing the right amount of attention after all.
We wrapped it up tonight and went for a pizza. We did the same thing last year the first night in Gander, and I have to say that this isn't the place for a walk in pizza. Last year we got hoodwinked into ordering a Donair, which is a regional pizza-like concoction dominated by sliced beef, mayonnaise, and onions. Other Canadians call it "an Eastern thing." Feel free to look it up for yourself.
Other than that, it's pretty much bedtime. We're off in the land of no cell coverage, although wireless internet seems to be far more ubiquitous than last year, so that's pretty good. Last year in Gander I had to type up the blog, copy it to my thumb drive, and carry it to the hotel lobby computer to upload it. This year is much better, but I still have to go find a payphone to call home.
Nick just got back from the arena, and the starting order isn't posted yet, which is a bit unusual, but our scores are up and we should indeed be clean for the day, which means we'll be tied with 9 other cars for first I believe. Hopefully we can hang on a bit longer!
Thanks for reading! Stay away from hurricanes and stay in school! Remember, don't speed!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
It's Go Time
It's finally almost time to really go racing.
We went through the Prologue stages this afternoon, which are quick practice stages to help the teams get into the swing of things. The car was perfect, and we even seemed to know what we were doing for the most part.
The biggest problem we had was some of the AWD teams thought it was a good time to cut all the corners and strew gravel all over the road. By the time we came through the third prologue stage, there was one corner that was literally a sea of gravel, no road in sight. That's fine if you're doing a gravel rally, but this particular rally happens to be a tarmac rally, meaning that we're meant to be racing on pavement, not the leavings of our predecessors on the road.
Despite the recklessness of a few, the rest made it through without incident and no cars crashed that I know of.
In sadder news, some competitors have already hit mechanical problems. A 1991 BMW M5 in the Touring class broke it's radiator neck, and a cool little Opel GT had to be flat towed in. We also noticed that a class 7 Celica had pinched an oil return line to its turbo and was spewing oil all over the place. The Prologue is no place to crash, since it doesn't count for anything, but it's equally a shame to see people having mechanical issues before the event gets well and truly started. Hopefully they'll all be back on the road in the morning.
After we did all that, as well as the ceremonial start down at the Keg, we returned to the Keg for the opening dinner, which was delicious. The waitress was even kind enough to bring me extra bacon for my baked potato. If you don't know me very well, let it be known that I'm a guy who likes his bacon. Anyone who brings me extra bacon is automatically in my good graces. So, that went well.
Now we've finished going through some route books and it's off to bed as soon as we square away some details. Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes, who you'll remember as last year's winners overall, have kindly offered to allow us the use of their single car trailer so that we can tow our spare car around the island without using the big two car trailer. This will make it much easier for our support crew to follow us along.
So, now it's time for me to say adieu until tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a good one for us.
Wish us luck!
We went through the Prologue stages this afternoon, which are quick practice stages to help the teams get into the swing of things. The car was perfect, and we even seemed to know what we were doing for the most part.
The biggest problem we had was some of the AWD teams thought it was a good time to cut all the corners and strew gravel all over the road. By the time we came through the third prologue stage, there was one corner that was literally a sea of gravel, no road in sight. That's fine if you're doing a gravel rally, but this particular rally happens to be a tarmac rally, meaning that we're meant to be racing on pavement, not the leavings of our predecessors on the road.
Despite the recklessness of a few, the rest made it through without incident and no cars crashed that I know of.
In sadder news, some competitors have already hit mechanical problems. A 1991 BMW M5 in the Touring class broke it's radiator neck, and a cool little Opel GT had to be flat towed in. We also noticed that a class 7 Celica had pinched an oil return line to its turbo and was spewing oil all over the place. The Prologue is no place to crash, since it doesn't count for anything, but it's equally a shame to see people having mechanical issues before the event gets well and truly started. Hopefully they'll all be back on the road in the morning.
After we did all that, as well as the ceremonial start down at the Keg, we returned to the Keg for the opening dinner, which was delicious. The waitress was even kind enough to bring me extra bacon for my baked potato. If you don't know me very well, let it be known that I'm a guy who likes his bacon. Anyone who brings me extra bacon is automatically in my good graces. So, that went well.
Now we've finished going through some route books and it's off to bed as soon as we square away some details. Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes, who you'll remember as last year's winners overall, have kindly offered to allow us the use of their single car trailer so that we can tow our spare car around the island without using the big two car trailer. This will make it much easier for our support crew to follow us along.
So, now it's time for me to say adieu until tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a good one for us.
Wish us luck!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The car still runs!
And we still know how to work a rally computer (sort of). We've just spent the day registering and having the car inspected per the technical regulations. Once that was done we put on all the event sponsor decals and headed out for our ODO check leg.
The ODO check is a sample route the organizers give with distances in kilometers and various route points, that allows the teams to go out and run the route to ensure their equipment and rally computers are working properly. We found that everything is working properly and we only need to make some small adjustments to our factoring in the computer to correct the distances as we travel. Nick the Mathemagician is on the case with the factors, so we should be all set as far as that goes.
We did see a lot of old friends that were (new to us last year) back again for the event. We spent some time catching up and gathering up all the BMW teams. By luck we managed to all be able to park together in the arena this morning, so we got some nice BMW shots together. We also entered the team marque trophy competition, so hopefully we can help carry the BMW flag and win over some of the other well represented marques.
At this point we're in good shape, we just need to start marking up our route books for the week, and then go collect our second crew member, Greg Snyder, at the airport tonight. We're hoping he makes it, because Hurrican Ike is apparently making a mess back home. He should be getting in at 10:30 or so, so we're going to try to stay awake that long.
Tomorrow we're back to the ReMax Centre for the group photo and then it's off to the ceremonial start before the Prologue stages. These are short practice stages that allow the teams to warm up and get the feel of things before diving straight into competition. That's for Monday, and a cold, windy place called Argentia.
Our friend Marc LaChappelle is covering the event for Autonet.ca, and since he's a professional journalist his blog will be updated more regularly and kept nicer than this one, so check him out here:
http://blog.autonet.ca/targa
He's a really nice guy and he happens to have a cool hybrid Lexus as his race ride, so he makes a lot of waves wherever he goes.
So, we're going to tackle our route books and head off for dinner. Here's to a smooth start to all of our competitors tomorrow.
Cheers,
The ODO check is a sample route the organizers give with distances in kilometers and various route points, that allows the teams to go out and run the route to ensure their equipment and rally computers are working properly. We found that everything is working properly and we only need to make some small adjustments to our factoring in the computer to correct the distances as we travel. Nick the Mathemagician is on the case with the factors, so we should be all set as far as that goes.
We did see a lot of old friends that were (new to us last year) back again for the event. We spent some time catching up and gathering up all the BMW teams. By luck we managed to all be able to park together in the arena this morning, so we got some nice BMW shots together. We also entered the team marque trophy competition, so hopefully we can help carry the BMW flag and win over some of the other well represented marques.
At this point we're in good shape, we just need to start marking up our route books for the week, and then go collect our second crew member, Greg Snyder, at the airport tonight. We're hoping he makes it, because Hurrican Ike is apparently making a mess back home. He should be getting in at 10:30 or so, so we're going to try to stay awake that long.
Tomorrow we're back to the ReMax Centre for the group photo and then it's off to the ceremonial start before the Prologue stages. These are short practice stages that allow the teams to warm up and get the feel of things before diving straight into competition. That's for Monday, and a cold, windy place called Argentia.
Our friend Marc LaChappelle is covering the event for Autonet.ca, and since he's a professional journalist his blog will be updated more regularly and kept nicer than this one, so check him out here:
http://blog.autonet.ca/targa
He's a really nice guy and he happens to have a cool hybrid Lexus as his race ride, so he makes a lot of waves wherever he goes.
So, we're going to tackle our route books and head off for dinner. Here's to a smooth start to all of our competitors tomorrow.
Cheers,
We're up!
We managed to stay up long enough to go get our first crewman Brian Beckett at the airport at 11:30 last night, and then we came back and crashed rather heavily at the beautiful Holiday Inn St. John's by midnight.
We decided to sleep in until 8:30 rather than try to be at the ReMax Centre at 7:30 this morning for registration and tech inspection. We found that last year there was a long line, situated in a narrow stairwell leading to registration, and since we have no other major activities for the day, we elected to sleep in and take care of registration a bit later in the morning.
So, we're catching some wet qualifying at Monza and drinking coffee before we head off to turn in our paperwork and get "official."
Other thoughts come to mind after the road trip, reflected in the mirror of a proper night's sleep. First, I can actually see without rubbing my eyes repeatedly and trying to stretch in the driver's seat. By the time the sun broke over Maine, my eyes sort of felt like some bully had been rubbing sand, or acid, or acid laced sand in them for a few hours. The sensation passed, but you get the idea. This full night of sleep thing is pretty sweet.
So, while savoring that, I'll leave you. More updates after tech!
We decided to sleep in until 8:30 rather than try to be at the ReMax Centre at 7:30 this morning for registration and tech inspection. We found that last year there was a long line, situated in a narrow stairwell leading to registration, and since we have no other major activities for the day, we elected to sleep in and take care of registration a bit later in the morning.
So, we're catching some wet qualifying at Monza and drinking coffee before we head off to turn in our paperwork and get "official."
Other thoughts come to mind after the road trip, reflected in the mirror of a proper night's sleep. First, I can actually see without rubbing my eyes repeatedly and trying to stretch in the driver's seat. By the time the sun broke over Maine, my eyes sort of felt like some bully had been rubbing sand, or acid, or acid laced sand in them for a few hours. The sensation passed, but you get the idea. This full night of sleep thing is pretty sweet.
So, while savoring that, I'll leave you. More updates after tech!
Friday, September 12, 2008
We.....made.....it!
It's true, we're finally in St. John's, and we're in good shape. I'm happy to report we actually had no issues of any kind on the trip. We took a Dodge tow vehicle this year and it got 14.3mpg all the way across North America, purring along quietly, and we had no flats or other trailer issues. As a result, we made it to the ferry terminal in North Sydney, Nova Scotia in 43 hours dead, including a miniscule 2:05 in total time stopped over 2580 miles. That's over 4 hours better than last year, not too shabby.
The trip was rather uneventful, but we did pass rather close to Yum Yum, Tennessee which was before the firsts Febreeze usage. On a trip of this length, without substantive stops, we guage our progress by the number of Febreeze applications, not days/nights. It's practical, and it smells better.
We did pass a large group of trailered Porsches on their way to VIR as we headed into Wytheville, VA for our first actual food stop. Burger King tastes really good after 15 hours of non-stop driving, really.
I also remembered as we crossed out of NY into the rest of New England that I had forgotten to put any jeans in the truck, they were all packed away in the car on the trailer. I thought of this because I noticed the outside temperature display on the truck was showing a temp of 48 degrees. It would end up at a low for 39 overnight in Maine. Needless to say I didn't spend much time outside the truck during that time frame.
As we stopped for fuel in Springhill, Nova Scotia (no, I don't know where that is, so please don't ask) I realized that I didn't smell very good. Now, we were on F-3 (that's Febreeze application #3 to the layman), so the truck itself didn't have any particularly offensive smells. I, however, decided that I smelled like something that ended up in Roseanne Barr's clothes hamper the day after she won an Indian food eating contest. As in, kinda funky, on a big scale.
I would also like to report that there is such a thing in this world as a McLobster. I'll leave it to your imagination as to what this abomination might look/taste like, mainly because I don't know and I hope never to.
I only have two more tidbits to report before we head off for dinner to try to run into some friends like Marc LaChappelle and Roy Hopkins, who we already saw in the parking lot.
First, ordering a sandwich at Tim Horton's without one of their three 'special sauces', which include mayonnaise, honey mustard, and ranch dressing, causes the entire staff to grind to a halt as they stare at one another in amazement, wondering what sort of sauceless clod would even eat such a thing. It's true. We got away with it, but I wouldn't try it again. I think I saw an old lady crying in horror, really.
Second....wait for it....no....not yet....okay, here it is...........(a few more)..... I SAW A MOOOOOOSE!!!! Sadly, it was dead on the side of the road, having had a fatal meeting with a truck no doubt, but it appeared to be a real moose. I was beginning to fear that there really were no moose in Newfoundland, or that maybe they were only for the initiated, that I wasn't part of the secret club. Perhaps I wasn't worthy of seeing a moose. Well, at least I'm worthy of seeing roadkill, and that's good enough for me for now.
We're truly excited to be here, so now it's off to mingle. More in the morning!
The trip was rather uneventful, but we did pass rather close to Yum Yum, Tennessee which was before the firsts Febreeze usage. On a trip of this length, without substantive stops, we guage our progress by the number of Febreeze applications, not days/nights. It's practical, and it smells better.
We did pass a large group of trailered Porsches on their way to VIR as we headed into Wytheville, VA for our first actual food stop. Burger King tastes really good after 15 hours of non-stop driving, really.
I also remembered as we crossed out of NY into the rest of New England that I had forgotten to put any jeans in the truck, they were all packed away in the car on the trailer. I thought of this because I noticed the outside temperature display on the truck was showing a temp of 48 degrees. It would end up at a low for 39 overnight in Maine. Needless to say I didn't spend much time outside the truck during that time frame.
As we stopped for fuel in Springhill, Nova Scotia (no, I don't know where that is, so please don't ask) I realized that I didn't smell very good. Now, we were on F-3 (that's Febreeze application #3 to the layman), so the truck itself didn't have any particularly offensive smells. I, however, decided that I smelled like something that ended up in Roseanne Barr's clothes hamper the day after she won an Indian food eating contest. As in, kinda funky, on a big scale.
I would also like to report that there is such a thing in this world as a McLobster. I'll leave it to your imagination as to what this abomination might look/taste like, mainly because I don't know and I hope never to.
I only have two more tidbits to report before we head off for dinner to try to run into some friends like Marc LaChappelle and Roy Hopkins, who we already saw in the parking lot.
First, ordering a sandwich at Tim Horton's without one of their three 'special sauces', which include mayonnaise, honey mustard, and ranch dressing, causes the entire staff to grind to a halt as they stare at one another in amazement, wondering what sort of sauceless clod would even eat such a thing. It's true. We got away with it, but I wouldn't try it again. I think I saw an old lady crying in horror, really.
Second....wait for it....no....not yet....okay, here it is...........(a few more)..... I SAW A MOOOOOOSE!!!! Sadly, it was dead on the side of the road, having had a fatal meeting with a truck no doubt, but it appeared to be a real moose. I was beginning to fear that there really were no moose in Newfoundland, or that maybe they were only for the initiated, that I wasn't part of the secret club. Perhaps I wasn't worthy of seeing a moose. Well, at least I'm worthy of seeing roadkill, and that's good enough for me for now.
We're truly excited to be here, so now it's off to mingle. More in the morning!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Now it's finally time
Well, the picture at left tells the whole story. We got the cars loaded in the rain and got the gear all packed, so it's about time to go. We're off within the hour, so keep an eye out the window for a truck with two E30 M3s trucking off across the eastern half of the US.
So, it's jerky time. We're east bound and down. Maybe we'll see Jerry's ghost in Newfoundland.
So, it's jerky time. We're east bound and down. Maybe we'll see Jerry's ghost in Newfoundland.
Zero Hour
Today's the day boys and girls. We're actually leaving. Of course, that's the easy part, or so they say.
I've been fairly scrambling since yesterday afternoon to attend to all the last minute details, and so on. That's not to mention the fact that our trailer situation came into question on sunday afternoon, and we only figured it out for certain last night. I may have had several small heart attacks, and I'm pretty sure I chewed all of my fingernails off (and maybe more than that) during the night last night.
I've spent the morning finalizing details and loading the truck, plus taping up the front of the spare car. What spare car you say? I say, we're taking a spare car, rather than taking one apart and loading all the parts into an enclosed trailer, we're loading my street car onto a two car flatbed. The hope is that we'll get better fuel mileage and a spare car is easier to move around than a huge pile of spare parts.
Now, I haven't mentioned the weather. Texas is dry. Really. But, due to the stream of hurricanes churning up from the Caribbean this time of year, we're having unseasonal rains, making loading and packing that much more difficult, or at least wet and unpleasant.
At this point, all of my stuff is loaded and ready to go, and I'm expecting to go pick up the trailer here in an hour or so. Then I can bring it home, switch trucks, load my car on the trailer and head for Nick's so we can rinse and repeat.
The plan is to be on the road by 7pm tonight, so wish us luck!
To get an up to date idea of how the event is going, follow car #705 on this link:
http://rallyscoring.com/results/index.htm
That's the official timing and scoring page and it should be updated at midday and at night each day. Hopefully we'll run up toward the top.
We're shooting for for Nashville by sunrise, see you there.
I've been fairly scrambling since yesterday afternoon to attend to all the last minute details, and so on. That's not to mention the fact that our trailer situation came into question on sunday afternoon, and we only figured it out for certain last night. I may have had several small heart attacks, and I'm pretty sure I chewed all of my fingernails off (and maybe more than that) during the night last night.
I've spent the morning finalizing details and loading the truck, plus taping up the front of the spare car. What spare car you say? I say, we're taking a spare car, rather than taking one apart and loading all the parts into an enclosed trailer, we're loading my street car onto a two car flatbed. The hope is that we'll get better fuel mileage and a spare car is easier to move around than a huge pile of spare parts.
Now, I haven't mentioned the weather. Texas is dry. Really. But, due to the stream of hurricanes churning up from the Caribbean this time of year, we're having unseasonal rains, making loading and packing that much more difficult, or at least wet and unpleasant.
At this point, all of my stuff is loaded and ready to go, and I'm expecting to go pick up the trailer here in an hour or so. Then I can bring it home, switch trucks, load my car on the trailer and head for Nick's so we can rinse and repeat.
The plan is to be on the road by 7pm tonight, so wish us luck!
To get an up to date idea of how the event is going, follow car #705 on this link:
http://rallyscoring.com/results/index.htm
That's the official timing and scoring page and it should be updated at midday and at night each day. Hopefully we'll run up toward the top.
We're shooting for for Nashville by sunrise, see you there.
Monday, September 8, 2008
I can't breathe!
Well, I can, sort of, but we're to the point of almost finally being ready to go, and there are so many details to take care of that it becomes a little stifling. I have more little scribbled notes and lists of things to pack and prepare than I know what to do with. I should make a list to keep track of my lists...
Actually, we're nearly ready, and we leave tomorrow, so I'm getting pretty excited. Even though it would seem that the first part of this adventure is somewhat less than adventurous, it really is. Sure, we're just driving across the US, but it's the beginning of an epic trip, the first step out the door on a long journey that may well take us places we never knew, and with any luck we'll have some great stories to tell and meet some cool people along the way. We're leaving Tuesday evening after dinner, to make a 1am ferry ride in Nova Scotia on Friday morning. If you live along the route, come out and wave as we roll by.
At this point, we just need to load up the cars and pack up our jackets, beef jerky and Febreeze and we should be good to go. I'll be sure to let y'all know when we get there, but for now I've got to pack!
Actually, we're nearly ready, and we leave tomorrow, so I'm getting pretty excited. Even though it would seem that the first part of this adventure is somewhat less than adventurous, it really is. Sure, we're just driving across the US, but it's the beginning of an epic trip, the first step out the door on a long journey that may well take us places we never knew, and with any luck we'll have some great stories to tell and meet some cool people along the way. We're leaving Tuesday evening after dinner, to make a 1am ferry ride in Nova Scotia on Friday morning. If you live along the route, come out and wave as we roll by.
At this point, we just need to load up the cars and pack up our jackets, beef jerky and Febreeze and we should be good to go. I'll be sure to let y'all know when we get there, but for now I've got to pack!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Are we there yet?
Oh, wait! It's waaaaaayyyy too early to be asking such a question. We haven't even left yet.
However, we do leave soon, and most of the work is done except for a few details and then the loading and actual leaving. Which means, most of my time is now spent agonizing over possible missed details and hoping I remember how to use the rally computer.
Our Timewise unit actually functioned flawlessly last year, in the face of repeated trouble from many people's Terratrips around us, but for the computer to be any good, the shaven ape sitting in front of it has to put down the banana long enough to fiddle and twiddle the knobs, switches, levers, steam vents, and flux capacitors long enough to generate some meaningful numbers for the driver. This is where the system is most likely to break down.
It's not so much the computer that I'm worried about, but my ability to make a bunch of flashing red lights a good result of flying down a public road at felonious velocities, as opposed to the usual result.
I think I'll spend my weekend poring over the 100-something page manual, making sure I'm more confused than I am now. Seriously, the thing came with a phone book! Luckily we only really use a couple of the key functions on that multiplicitous device, so I can skip ahead to the appropriate pages before smoke starts to waft and then blast out of my ears.
Wish me luck and wait for tuesday! That's when we hit the road. I expect all of you to switch to a beef jerky and Mountain Dew diet regime, and sleep in three hour increments in sympathy.
Thanks for reading...
However, we do leave soon, and most of the work is done except for a few details and then the loading and actual leaving. Which means, most of my time is now spent agonizing over possible missed details and hoping I remember how to use the rally computer.
Our Timewise unit actually functioned flawlessly last year, in the face of repeated trouble from many people's Terratrips around us, but for the computer to be any good, the shaven ape sitting in front of it has to put down the banana long enough to fiddle and twiddle the knobs, switches, levers, steam vents, and flux capacitors long enough to generate some meaningful numbers for the driver. This is where the system is most likely to break down.
It's not so much the computer that I'm worried about, but my ability to make a bunch of flashing red lights a good result of flying down a public road at felonious velocities, as opposed to the usual result.
I think I'll spend my weekend poring over the 100-something page manual, making sure I'm more confused than I am now. Seriously, the thing came with a phone book! Luckily we only really use a couple of the key functions on that multiplicitous device, so I can skip ahead to the appropriate pages before smoke starts to waft and then blast out of my ears.
Wish me luck and wait for tuesday! That's when we hit the road. I expect all of you to switch to a beef jerky and Mountain Dew diet regime, and sleep in three hour increments in sympathy.
Thanks for reading...
Monday, September 1, 2008
It's that time again!!!
Hey gang, we're back!
Well, not yet, but we never really went anywhere besides home anyway.
So, it's just about time to leave for Targa Newfoundland 2008, and preparations are well underway. The truth of the matter is, we're almost ready, and we leave in a week. Precious little time to relax, no?
What have we done in the past year? Well, we did lots of other race weekends and lived our regular lives, but we also totally rebuilt the engine in the race car, replaced the front brake kit, had the transmission rebuilt, put in some awesome new Vorshlag camber plates to help with the front end stability and steering.
The new engine feels strong and no parts were left so we're feeling pretty good about that. Having a front AP brake kit that is lighter and a true race setup is a great feeling too. We spent the day testing at MSR and were very comfortably running 1:28s with a passenger, the high-rider suspension, and short shifting at 7k rpms, so the car is quick and it feels easier to drive than ever to me.
The other big body of work was done by Nick and Greg over at Pittman Auto Works. They completely stripped the car down to bare metal and repainted it in the original Hennarot after repairing the body damage and some other bondo work done by someone long past. As a result, the car looks awesome. We spent the day cleaning and waxing and applying the new black and silver decals for this year and I couldn't be happier with how it looks.
We also signed a new title sponsor, Autoscope. Owned by Nerces Mavelian, they specialize in care, maintenance and performance work on high end foreign vehicles. If you're in the DFW area and you have a BMW, Porsche, Mercedes or other luxury car, you need the guys at Autoscope working on it. Check them out at http://www.autoscopltd.com/
I've been taking pictures of the build sequence, and I don't have them all up yet, but here's a link to the final prep day.
http://www.willraces.com/images/main.php?g2_itemId=4209
We were busy making new inner fender liners and prepping the paint and finishing up other details.
Here were are, ready to go again, so far from home, yet ever so eager. It's off to Newfoundland and onto the stages again. Wish us well, wish us warmth and lend us your luck.
Well, not yet, but we never really went anywhere besides home anyway.
So, it's just about time to leave for Targa Newfoundland 2008, and preparations are well underway. The truth of the matter is, we're almost ready, and we leave in a week. Precious little time to relax, no?
What have we done in the past year? Well, we did lots of other race weekends and lived our regular lives, but we also totally rebuilt the engine in the race car, replaced the front brake kit, had the transmission rebuilt, put in some awesome new Vorshlag camber plates to help with the front end stability and steering.
The new engine feels strong and no parts were left so we're feeling pretty good about that. Having a front AP brake kit that is lighter and a true race setup is a great feeling too. We spent the day testing at MSR and were very comfortably running 1:28s with a passenger, the high-rider suspension, and short shifting at 7k rpms, so the car is quick and it feels easier to drive than ever to me.
The other big body of work was done by Nick and Greg over at Pittman Auto Works. They completely stripped the car down to bare metal and repainted it in the original Hennarot after repairing the body damage and some other bondo work done by someone long past. As a result, the car looks awesome. We spent the day cleaning and waxing and applying the new black and silver decals for this year and I couldn't be happier with how it looks.
We also signed a new title sponsor, Autoscope. Owned by Nerces Mavelian, they specialize in care, maintenance and performance work on high end foreign vehicles. If you're in the DFW area and you have a BMW, Porsche, Mercedes or other luxury car, you need the guys at Autoscope working on it. Check them out at http://www.autoscopltd.com/
I've been taking pictures of the build sequence, and I don't have them all up yet, but here's a link to the final prep day.
http://www.willraces.com/images/main.php?g2_itemId=4209
We were busy making new inner fender liners and prepping the paint and finishing up other details.
Here were are, ready to go again, so far from home, yet ever so eager. It's off to Newfoundland and onto the stages again. Wish us well, wish us warmth and lend us your luck.
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