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.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Final Update!
Or at least until I figure out what I forgot and decide to post again.
It's now Sunday and I've been home for a couple of days letting it all sink in a bit. I'm not sure it will all ever really sink in completely, there was just so much to do, to learn, and to absorb. We did a pretty good job of it, but a lot of it is truly a blur.
What I do know is that we had a blast and we'll be back, weather and wealth willing. If the US Dollar slips against its Canadian counterpart much further we'll all be getting second jobs to pay for this kind of adventure. Why didn't we think to do this a few years ago? Or rather, how come we didn't do this sooner? There's no good answer to that one, but it's fair to say we're hooked.
Now's the time for thanks. We have many people to thank, and I'm sure I'll make a fine muckery of it, but here goes.
First of all (NASCAR hat!), we would want to thank our sponsors, without whose support this trip would have been truly ramen noodle inducing, in that we'd be reduced to subsisting on noodles and broth for some months after the event if we didn't have the great support we did. Autobahn BMW in Fort Worth really helped us with spare parts and sourcing some other things that we ended up needing. As I type this there is a cap and rotor on the front of the motor that came fresh out of an Autobahn box. If you need a BMW or some parts, check 'em out. http://www.shopautobahn.com/
They're truly nice people and they always have an M5 or M6 or some other example of unobtanium that they let me drool on, at least for a while.
Toyo Tires, through our affiliation with the BMW CCA supplied us with a great deal on some of the new Proxes R888 R-compound tire, the much vaunted and long awaited replacement for the venerable RA-1. More on the performance of the tires anon, but the support from Toyo was invaluable and made us the subject of much envy on our voyage. They also make cool street tires for those not racing all the time: http://www.toyo.com/
CAP Software (shameless plug alert!) provided the rally computer and other computer related support and that equipment was instrumental in our ability to contest the stages with as little stress as possible. The Timewise 798A computer is a fine piece of equipment and worked flawlessly all week, giving us precision in our readings that the other teams could only dream of. If you have a retail store, we can help you out: http://www.capretail.com/
BuckDesign, run by our own Bill Buck, provided all the graphic design support and design work for us. It's his fault the car looked so good, and I can truly say we got lots of compliments on the car while we were there. Thanks Bill, we can't wait to start working on graphics for next year. Contact Bill for great design work: buckdesign@mindspring.com
Thanks again to all of our sponsors, but also to all of our supporters. Money makes the event happen, but knowing people are watching and that they care makes it worthwhile. The kind remarks we received from so many people both at the event and away from it really mean a lot and it gives us the energy to look over that next crest. Please know that it was and is very much appreciated and we're lucky people to have so many friends and "fans".
We even managed to make some friends and fans at the event too. Jim Kenzie, the Canadian journalist, took us under his wing a bit and followed our story on his blog. You can see it here:
http://en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/Targa/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5426621
http://en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/Targa/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5454003
Again, words of encouragement and advice from someone like Jim were really tremendous and it's great consolation at the end of the day to go back and read such things. It's actually somewhat fitting too, because it's really his fault we were even at this thing in the first place. You see, for those of you that are new to Targa, Jim was the announcer for the TV special for the first few years and Nick and I both so thoroughly enjoyed his presentation and commentary on the event that we put it on our wish list of events to attend. This year that wish came true and we got to meet Jim to boot. Thanks Jim.
Now, back to the Toyos. Nick and I both use the RA-1 on our race cars for our normal track duty. This is a long running design, but it offers a killer combination of affordability, longevity, and predictable behavior over the course of a race. It's a great tire and we were planning on using it for Targa, but then Stan Chen at Toyo offered me the new R888 and I couldn't turn it down. This tire offers a cool modern tread pattern and generous sizing, but the performance was a real treat too. The grip was excellent in the wet and the dry, and we definitely needed good wet performance for Targa. The tire was very predictable and the breakaway characteristics are excellent. I was very happy with the handling, and they're very stable under braking, even on mixed or loose surfaces. I'll definitely be buying more of these.
We were also the only team at Targa running the new tire, and it generated a lot of attention. I'm pretty sure a lot of the teams wanted to attribute our success to the tire, and it certainly helped, but I like to think we had something to do with it as well. I guess it's the old driver ego thing, but nothing helps inflate an ego like a great set of boots, and the new R888 certainly qualifies as that.
So, we're finally home. We took the long boat ride (over 15 hours) from Argentia to North Sydney and hit the road henceforth. You could call the return trip the "Hedonism" portion of the trip because get this, we stopped at a hotel. I know, what wild wimpery. But, it turned out to not be such a bad thing because we had an issue going on in the trailer that needed attention.
See, Newfoundland is a bit like Texas in that it has it's own distinct culture, and as a result, they get their own beer and liquor. There are several brands of beer, some by Molson, that are made and distributed only in Newfoundland. Well, I had to bring some of that home with me, so we filled up the trunk of the race car with six packs of foreign beers. A frothwagon indeed. I also picked up some Screech. Now, Saved by the Bell aside, Screech is a local liquor, akin to dark rum that is made and served in Newfoundland. I came to like it and brought back a fair dram to share.
So, what happened in the trailer? Well, we stashed about a dozen six packs in the trunk of the race car in the enclosed trailer. We figured this would be a secure enough place for it, and we didn't really have anywhere else to put that much beer anyway, so there it went. The problem was Connecticut. If you've never been, take your mouthguard with you if you go. The roads in Connecticut are the worst I've ever seen. I would liken it to driving on the moon after the Navy shelled it for a few fortnights. I'm quite sure that driving across the Australian Outback at 100MPH in the dark would provide a smoother ride than does the interstate in CT. Wow. The result was that many bottles of brew bashed themselves open in the trunk. The trailer smelled good, but we didn't really get the benefit of all that lost lager. What a shame.
Some consolation came from all the excellent Newfie music we picked up on our sightseeing day. Nick and I both had heard of Great Big Sea, a local band that has somewhat made it good, but we picked up some tremendous traditional stuff and some albums by The Punters and The Navigators. Check 'em out, it's kickin'. Not exactly Top 40 material, but neither am I.
As I type this some of the pics and video we have from the trip are being edited for public consumption, so hold on a little while longer please. See, I lied, there will be another post. Greg and Brian took a ton of pictures of the idyllic setting, so we'll get those up here soon.
What else? Can that really be it? I guess so for now. We had a great trip, learned a lot, did many things I never really thought I'd ever do, and we had a lot of fun doing it. I'm afraid we've started a tradition. Hopefully that inheritance I didn't know about will come through.
Thanks for reading, I'll let you know when we're off on the next adventure.
Cheers,
It's now Sunday and I've been home for a couple of days letting it all sink in a bit. I'm not sure it will all ever really sink in completely, there was just so much to do, to learn, and to absorb. We did a pretty good job of it, but a lot of it is truly a blur.
What I do know is that we had a blast and we'll be back, weather and wealth willing. If the US Dollar slips against its Canadian counterpart much further we'll all be getting second jobs to pay for this kind of adventure. Why didn't we think to do this a few years ago? Or rather, how come we didn't do this sooner? There's no good answer to that one, but it's fair to say we're hooked.
Now's the time for thanks. We have many people to thank, and I'm sure I'll make a fine muckery of it, but here goes.
First of all (NASCAR hat!), we would want to thank our sponsors, without whose support this trip would have been truly ramen noodle inducing, in that we'd be reduced to subsisting on noodles and broth for some months after the event if we didn't have the great support we did. Autobahn BMW in Fort Worth really helped us with spare parts and sourcing some other things that we ended up needing. As I type this there is a cap and rotor on the front of the motor that came fresh out of an Autobahn box. If you need a BMW or some parts, check 'em out. http://www.shopautobahn.com/
They're truly nice people and they always have an M5 or M6 or some other example of unobtanium that they let me drool on, at least for a while.
Toyo Tires, through our affiliation with the BMW CCA supplied us with a great deal on some of the new Proxes R888 R-compound tire, the much vaunted and long awaited replacement for the venerable RA-1. More on the performance of the tires anon, but the support from Toyo was invaluable and made us the subject of much envy on our voyage. They also make cool street tires for those not racing all the time: http://www.toyo.com/
CAP Software (shameless plug alert!) provided the rally computer and other computer related support and that equipment was instrumental in our ability to contest the stages with as little stress as possible. The Timewise 798A computer is a fine piece of equipment and worked flawlessly all week, giving us precision in our readings that the other teams could only dream of. If you have a retail store, we can help you out: http://www.capretail.com/
BuckDesign, run by our own Bill Buck, provided all the graphic design support and design work for us. It's his fault the car looked so good, and I can truly say we got lots of compliments on the car while we were there. Thanks Bill, we can't wait to start working on graphics for next year. Contact Bill for great design work: buckdesign@mindspring.com
Thanks again to all of our sponsors, but also to all of our supporters. Money makes the event happen, but knowing people are watching and that they care makes it worthwhile. The kind remarks we received from so many people both at the event and away from it really mean a lot and it gives us the energy to look over that next crest. Please know that it was and is very much appreciated and we're lucky people to have so many friends and "fans".
We even managed to make some friends and fans at the event too. Jim Kenzie, the Canadian journalist, took us under his wing a bit and followed our story on his blog. You can see it here:
http://en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/Targa/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5426621
http://en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/Targa/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5454003
Again, words of encouragement and advice from someone like Jim were really tremendous and it's great consolation at the end of the day to go back and read such things. It's actually somewhat fitting too, because it's really his fault we were even at this thing in the first place. You see, for those of you that are new to Targa, Jim was the announcer for the TV special for the first few years and Nick and I both so thoroughly enjoyed his presentation and commentary on the event that we put it on our wish list of events to attend. This year that wish came true and we got to meet Jim to boot. Thanks Jim.
Now, back to the Toyos. Nick and I both use the RA-1 on our race cars for our normal track duty. This is a long running design, but it offers a killer combination of affordability, longevity, and predictable behavior over the course of a race. It's a great tire and we were planning on using it for Targa, but then Stan Chen at Toyo offered me the new R888 and I couldn't turn it down. This tire offers a cool modern tread pattern and generous sizing, but the performance was a real treat too. The grip was excellent in the wet and the dry, and we definitely needed good wet performance for Targa. The tire was very predictable and the breakaway characteristics are excellent. I was very happy with the handling, and they're very stable under braking, even on mixed or loose surfaces. I'll definitely be buying more of these.
We were also the only team at Targa running the new tire, and it generated a lot of attention. I'm pretty sure a lot of the teams wanted to attribute our success to the tire, and it certainly helped, but I like to think we had something to do with it as well. I guess it's the old driver ego thing, but nothing helps inflate an ego like a great set of boots, and the new R888 certainly qualifies as that.
So, we're finally home. We took the long boat ride (over 15 hours) from Argentia to North Sydney and hit the road henceforth. You could call the return trip the "Hedonism" portion of the trip because get this, we stopped at a hotel. I know, what wild wimpery. But, it turned out to not be such a bad thing because we had an issue going on in the trailer that needed attention.
See, Newfoundland is a bit like Texas in that it has it's own distinct culture, and as a result, they get their own beer and liquor. There are several brands of beer, some by Molson, that are made and distributed only in Newfoundland. Well, I had to bring some of that home with me, so we filled up the trunk of the race car with six packs of foreign beers. A frothwagon indeed. I also picked up some Screech. Now, Saved by the Bell aside, Screech is a local liquor, akin to dark rum that is made and served in Newfoundland. I came to like it and brought back a fair dram to share.
So, what happened in the trailer? Well, we stashed about a dozen six packs in the trunk of the race car in the enclosed trailer. We figured this would be a secure enough place for it, and we didn't really have anywhere else to put that much beer anyway, so there it went. The problem was Connecticut. If you've never been, take your mouthguard with you if you go. The roads in Connecticut are the worst I've ever seen. I would liken it to driving on the moon after the Navy shelled it for a few fortnights. I'm quite sure that driving across the Australian Outback at 100MPH in the dark would provide a smoother ride than does the interstate in CT. Wow. The result was that many bottles of brew bashed themselves open in the trunk. The trailer smelled good, but we didn't really get the benefit of all that lost lager. What a shame.
Some consolation came from all the excellent Newfie music we picked up on our sightseeing day. Nick and I both had heard of Great Big Sea, a local band that has somewhat made it good, but we picked up some tremendous traditional stuff and some albums by The Punters and The Navigators. Check 'em out, it's kickin'. Not exactly Top 40 material, but neither am I.
As I type this some of the pics and video we have from the trip are being edited for public consumption, so hold on a little while longer please. See, I lied, there will be another post. Greg and Brian took a ton of pictures of the idyllic setting, so we'll get those up here soon.
What else? Can that really be it? I guess so for now. We had a great trip, learned a lot, did many things I never really thought I'd ever do, and we had a lot of fun doing it. I'm afraid we've started a tradition. Hopefully that inheritance I didn't know about will come through.
Thanks for reading, I'll let you know when we're off on the next adventure.
Cheers,
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Now it's actually over...
It's Saturday, and Targa Newfoundland 2007 has officially ended. Unfortunately we didn't wake up to find that it was all a bad dream, the car is still wrecked.
Surprisingly, since the race is over, we managed to break down again. More on that later. Now, we're fine from the original incident, and the car is reasonably back together. We hammered the hood and fender out and fixed the radiator, so now it looks like this:
http://www.darlingtonmediaworks.com/garth/TN07_Sept14/source/07r105f406.htm
We ran the Torbay stage, topping out at 66kph, which is pretty slow, whether you know what a kilometer is or not. The car seemed to work okay and we made the ceremonial finish at the Keg down by the water, which really felt great. The other competitors have been unbelievably supportive and positive about our incident and our efforts thus far. It makes a big difference to have friends smiling and cheering for you when you drive a broken car across the finish line out of contention, and we really appreciate it.
We went and drowned our sorrows at the after party, but not before dinner at the Athenian Cafe in downtown St. John's. Nick the Greek got to chat it up with the owner who was very gracious and the food was tremendous.
Today was the Easter Seals Charity Autocross, so we took the car out there to give rides for charity. Brian and Greg were going to be doing the driving after a solid week of supporting us and generally putting up with fussy drivers. We owe them a huge amount for the invaluable assistance during this event. Without them our lives would have been infinitely harder and it likely would have affected our ability to compete. Thanks guys.
So, back to the autocross. Brian took the first kid out for a ride, and about two thirds of the way through the run we all heard a sickening crunch. The right front lower steering knuckle that we had welded up failed and the impact flattened the tire and broke the wheel, but that's it. We took it apart and Roy Hopkins welded it back for us so we could roll the car on the trailer at least. The back door of the trailer is shut, and it's staying that way until 76109.
In other news, Roy and Adrienne won overall in truly impressive fashion. It was really stunning to run a stage and gather points, and then see how few they collected. Just dominant really. Congratulations to them in every way.
We're off to the awards Gala tonight and then we get to check out the sights and sounds of Newfoundland at normal speeds.
It look like we'll be back next year, so maybe we can keep it on the road and bring home a better finish.
Thanks.
Surprisingly, since the race is over, we managed to break down again. More on that later. Now, we're fine from the original incident, and the car is reasonably back together. We hammered the hood and fender out and fixed the radiator, so now it looks like this:
http://www.darlingtonmediaworks.com/garth/TN07_Sept14/source/07r105f406.htm
We ran the Torbay stage, topping out at 66kph, which is pretty slow, whether you know what a kilometer is or not. The car seemed to work okay and we made the ceremonial finish at the Keg down by the water, which really felt great. The other competitors have been unbelievably supportive and positive about our incident and our efforts thus far. It makes a big difference to have friends smiling and cheering for you when you drive a broken car across the finish line out of contention, and we really appreciate it.
We went and drowned our sorrows at the after party, but not before dinner at the Athenian Cafe in downtown St. John's. Nick the Greek got to chat it up with the owner who was very gracious and the food was tremendous.
Today was the Easter Seals Charity Autocross, so we took the car out there to give rides for charity. Brian and Greg were going to be doing the driving after a solid week of supporting us and generally putting up with fussy drivers. We owe them a huge amount for the invaluable assistance during this event. Without them our lives would have been infinitely harder and it likely would have affected our ability to compete. Thanks guys.
So, back to the autocross. Brian took the first kid out for a ride, and about two thirds of the way through the run we all heard a sickening crunch. The right front lower steering knuckle that we had welded up failed and the impact flattened the tire and broke the wheel, but that's it. We took it apart and Roy Hopkins welded it back for us so we could roll the car on the trailer at least. The back door of the trailer is shut, and it's staying that way until 76109.
In other news, Roy and Adrienne won overall in truly impressive fashion. It was really stunning to run a stage and gather points, and then see how few they collected. Just dominant really. Congratulations to them in every way.
We're off to the awards Gala tonight and then we get to check out the sights and sounds of Newfoundland at normal speeds.
It look like we'll be back next year, so maybe we can keep it on the road and bring home a better finish.
Thanks.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Semi-Final Update
Well, it's friday morning and I have smashing news. As in, physically smashing.
Yesterday we hit a house. For real. It was the second stage of the afternoon leg, heading through Garnish and Nick was driving. We were looking good and made it through the right hander that caught a 944 Turbo out last year, sending him for a swim, but the next immediate right was covered with loose dirt and we got in a bit hot, locked up and slid straight into a house.
As it turns out, it's the same house that an E36 M3 hit last year. We didn't hit it as hard as they did, but we hit it hard enough. You can see it somewhat in the picture here:
http://www.flatovercrest.com/2007/09/targa-leg-4-wra.html#more
Unfortunately, the house is a frame house and the frame floor was just high enough to clear the bumper and take out our radiator and core support, as well as the cap and rotor. Also, curiously the right front steering knuckle sheared off, we're not quite sure why.
After becoming instant local celebrities and getting our TV interview out of the way, we headed to Marystown to fix the car. We got some great help from the Subaru Canada team who welded up the broken knuckle while we pulled the broken sheet metal off and replaced the radiator. We got the suspension back together but we can't be sure the weld is structurally strong enough, so we aren't running any competitive stages today.
Targa has a Finisher's Medallion award for crews completing 75% of the stages, and we're one stage short, so we're going to tow the car to the final stage this afternoon and cruise through it to the ceremonial finish.
How does it look? Not too pretty, but we did hammer the fender and hood out and get them back on the car.
How were we doing? Beyond belief, or at least my belief. We were having a great time and really raising a lot of eyebrows. Apparently you're "not supposed" to switch driver and co-driver, and certainly not in the middle of the day like we've been doing.
As of lunch yesterday we were third overall, winning the Modern division by 24 seconds, and we were over 3 minutes clear of our next competitor in class 7. We were excited as you may imagine.
How does it feel? Well, we weren't hurt and the car is going to be okay, so that's the main thing, but it's a tough thing at this point. We've really been up and down the emotional rollercoaster this week and we're sort of at the point where the coaster is screeching back into the station and you've just moved your hand on the handrail and found the last kid's wet gum with your fingers. It's just sort of a big disappointing end to a fairy tale ride.
So, we will get to the finish today and head home at the end of the weekend. But, there's no rest for the weary. As soon a we get home we get to rebuild the car for the O'Fest club race.
I'll post pics once we get them up, but that's about it for now.
I'll get the pics done and post some follow up thoughts tomorrow. For now we're off to St. John's for the wrap up.
Thanks for reading and for all the kind comments.
Cheers from Marystown, NL.
Yesterday we hit a house. For real. It was the second stage of the afternoon leg, heading through Garnish and Nick was driving. We were looking good and made it through the right hander that caught a 944 Turbo out last year, sending him for a swim, but the next immediate right was covered with loose dirt and we got in a bit hot, locked up and slid straight into a house.
As it turns out, it's the same house that an E36 M3 hit last year. We didn't hit it as hard as they did, but we hit it hard enough. You can see it somewhat in the picture here:
http://www.flatovercrest.com/2007/09/targa-leg-4-wra.html#more
Unfortunately, the house is a frame house and the frame floor was just high enough to clear the bumper and take out our radiator and core support, as well as the cap and rotor. Also, curiously the right front steering knuckle sheared off, we're not quite sure why.
After becoming instant local celebrities and getting our TV interview out of the way, we headed to Marystown to fix the car. We got some great help from the Subaru Canada team who welded up the broken knuckle while we pulled the broken sheet metal off and replaced the radiator. We got the suspension back together but we can't be sure the weld is structurally strong enough, so we aren't running any competitive stages today.
Targa has a Finisher's Medallion award for crews completing 75% of the stages, and we're one stage short, so we're going to tow the car to the final stage this afternoon and cruise through it to the ceremonial finish.
How does it look? Not too pretty, but we did hammer the fender and hood out and get them back on the car.
How were we doing? Beyond belief, or at least my belief. We were having a great time and really raising a lot of eyebrows. Apparently you're "not supposed" to switch driver and co-driver, and certainly not in the middle of the day like we've been doing.
As of lunch yesterday we were third overall, winning the Modern division by 24 seconds, and we were over 3 minutes clear of our next competitor in class 7. We were excited as you may imagine.
How does it feel? Well, we weren't hurt and the car is going to be okay, so that's the main thing, but it's a tough thing at this point. We've really been up and down the emotional rollercoaster this week and we're sort of at the point where the coaster is screeching back into the station and you've just moved your hand on the handrail and found the last kid's wet gum with your fingers. It's just sort of a big disappointing end to a fairy tale ride.
So, we will get to the finish today and head home at the end of the weekend. But, there's no rest for the weary. As soon a we get home we get to rebuild the car for the O'Fest club race.
I'll post pics once we get them up, but that's about it for now.
I'll get the pics done and post some follow up thoughts tomorrow. For now we're off to St. John's for the wrap up.
Thanks for reading and for all the kind comments.
Cheers from Marystown, NL.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday!
Brief update.
First. Beware, Gander-bound traveler. ‘Tis a beautiful place, but there ‘tis little internet here, matey, arrrrgh!
I typed the previous entry and this one in my room and put them on my thumb drive and took them downstairs to the lobby computer since there is only dial-up in my room and that’s the equivalent of semaphore or possibly even as archaic as regular mail, I don’t know which. It’s bad, that’s all I know.
Also, if you have a cell phone, the chances of it working here are about as good as the chances of your seeing a moose. Remember what I said about the moose population before responding.
So, we had the trusty crew pick up some Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go phones for us today so we can possibly communicate in the remainder of the stages. Nothing goes with rallying like being completely incommunicado.
Anyway, this will be a short update. I know no one believes that, but it’s true. It’s late and I’m tired. We’ve been doing these marathon days and then eating dinner at 9:30 and then going over the routebook for the next day, so it gets pretty late and we always have early mornings.
The first bit of news that is probably less believable than the one above. We’re not losing. No, wait, it’s true! After two full days of Targa Newfoundland, we’re actually placed fourth overall and we’re winning our class by a comfortable 1:13. We picked up 17 seconds of penalties today, in the first stage and the last, neatly book-ending our midday run of clean stages. However, nearly everyone took points on the first stage, and absolutely everyone took points on the final stage, so we managed to make up 3 places in the overall standings today. So there. I don’t believe it myself.
Second, the car broke. It had to happen, we knew it would. But, the good news is, we didn’t even notice. Actually, all that happened was the “dog-bone” link came off one end of the rear swaybar and Greg noticed it when checking under the car. There may or may not be some good dings in our skid plate, but the car is solid and really working well.
Third, I’m sorry to report that one of the other E30 M3s, the Pippy car from Pittsburgh is probably out after rolling over on the penultimate stage yesterday. We had come to know them somewhat and enjoyed hanging out with them, but there was a wooden bridge toward the end of stage 1-5 that was absolutely treacherous in the wet, and it caught them out apparently. They are okay by all accounts, but we haven’t seen them yet. The other M3 of Steve Levesque is running fine though, and he's moving right along.
They are not the only incident by a long stretch either, there has been quite a bit of damage done, but all the people are intact and unhurt, so all of this safety gear we carry is doing its job. Luckily we haven’t really had any moments and for the most part we’ve been clearing stages with plenty of time in hand, meaning we don’t have to push unnecessarily.
The day two verdict is that this whole thing was probably a terrible idea, a complete and life-changing folly, if you will. By that I mean, of course, it’s fun. Too much fun.
Gotta go to bed now, but we’re off to Clarenville tomorrow night, so maybe I’ll be able to post more regularly.
Cheers, and good night.
First. Beware, Gander-bound traveler. ‘Tis a beautiful place, but there ‘tis little internet here, matey, arrrrgh!
I typed the previous entry and this one in my room and put them on my thumb drive and took them downstairs to the lobby computer since there is only dial-up in my room and that’s the equivalent of semaphore or possibly even as archaic as regular mail, I don’t know which. It’s bad, that’s all I know.
Also, if you have a cell phone, the chances of it working here are about as good as the chances of your seeing a moose. Remember what I said about the moose population before responding.
So, we had the trusty crew pick up some Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go phones for us today so we can possibly communicate in the remainder of the stages. Nothing goes with rallying like being completely incommunicado.
Anyway, this will be a short update. I know no one believes that, but it’s true. It’s late and I’m tired. We’ve been doing these marathon days and then eating dinner at 9:30 and then going over the routebook for the next day, so it gets pretty late and we always have early mornings.
The first bit of news that is probably less believable than the one above. We’re not losing. No, wait, it’s true! After two full days of Targa Newfoundland, we’re actually placed fourth overall and we’re winning our class by a comfortable 1:13. We picked up 17 seconds of penalties today, in the first stage and the last, neatly book-ending our midday run of clean stages. However, nearly everyone took points on the first stage, and absolutely everyone took points on the final stage, so we managed to make up 3 places in the overall standings today. So there. I don’t believe it myself.
Second, the car broke. It had to happen, we knew it would. But, the good news is, we didn’t even notice. Actually, all that happened was the “dog-bone” link came off one end of the rear swaybar and Greg noticed it when checking under the car. There may or may not be some good dings in our skid plate, but the car is solid and really working well.
Third, I’m sorry to report that one of the other E30 M3s, the Pippy car from Pittsburgh is probably out after rolling over on the penultimate stage yesterday. We had come to know them somewhat and enjoyed hanging out with them, but there was a wooden bridge toward the end of stage 1-5 that was absolutely treacherous in the wet, and it caught them out apparently. They are okay by all accounts, but we haven’t seen them yet. The other M3 of Steve Levesque is running fine though, and he's moving right along.
They are not the only incident by a long stretch either, there has been quite a bit of damage done, but all the people are intact and unhurt, so all of this safety gear we carry is doing its job. Luckily we haven’t really had any moments and for the most part we’ve been clearing stages with plenty of time in hand, meaning we don’t have to push unnecessarily.
The day two verdict is that this whole thing was probably a terrible idea, a complete and life-changing folly, if you will. By that I mean, of course, it’s fun. Too much fun.
Gotta go to bed now, but we’re off to Clarenville tomorrow night, so maybe I’ll be able to post more regularly.
Cheers, and good night.
Monday = Funday
We did it.
We didn’t crash out or blow up on the first day. We didn’t even find that we’d put the brake pads in backwards or that our ride height was obscenely low either. In fact, we had no major issues.
We made it through DAY ONE (You’re supposed to say that in your best James Earl Jones voice inside your head), it’s fairly momentous. Nick started the day driving due to the vagaries of another coin toss (I just know that someday luck will work itself out), and I was navigating. We had some issues with delays and whatnot in the morning, but Nick put in 4 really solid stints to start off, the only problem being a little balkiness in the “new to us” close ratio gearbox. He was having problems getting into second gear, but it seemed to get better.
The day dawned cold and rainy, and the transit from St. John’s to Argentia was in fact wet and foggy, but by the time we actually lined up for the start, it was dry. The first stage was relatively short and Nick felt it out nicely and got through with seven seconds or so in hand. Not a bad start at all.
The second stage was a short way away in Placentia, and this is where some others began to have issues. We came to a long left hander in the instructions and found an Austin Healey from the Touring class well and truly planted in the ditch. The driver and co-driver are reported to be okay, but it looked like a rough one. As it would turn out, a CRX from the Targa class piled into the same wreck later in the stage. Scratch two competitors. The Healey incident and the melee surrounding it caused us to slow down and take our first points of the rally, but that’s disputable. More on that later.
Then, breakfast. One of the unique/neat things about this event is that we stop during the day at local gathering places such as churches, parks, and meeting halls for meals and “meet and greets” where we basically bask in the local hospitality. To say that the people of Newfoundland welcome this event and its competitors with open arms would be an understatement on the order of saying Hitler was sort of a bad dude. It’s very special and a real treat to meet the locals and hear their take on the event, the cars, and Newfoundland itself. Thanks.
The third stage was a medium length transit away, and it was actually shortened due to road conditions, so we only ran about half of it. It was also marked Condition Two (more James Earl please) meaning that the road might be damp or wet and there might be light fog and rain. The upshot of this is that our base time is higher, so there’s an allowance for the conditions. We lucked out in that there didn’t actually seem to be any moisture on the road, so Nick was able to drive a controlled pace and clean the stage nicely.
The fourth stage was also shortened, this time due to a funeral procession or ceremony in the first half of the stage, so we only ran the last 10.4km of the original 29km. Yep, it’s a long one. This time it actually was wet so Nick got to try out the handling of our new Toyo Proxes R888 tires in the rain. The initial reports are good, not to mention that our car is quite the talk of the town. It seems that many of the other competitors had tried to get a set of these and were unable, so we have the only set at Targa Newfoundland 2007. Everyone else seems to be running the venerable RA-1, a tire I truly appreciate, but it is getting a little Methuselah-ish. Anyway, Nick handled the rain easily and we cruised in well ahead of the base time.
Then, an event near and dear to every racer’s heart. Lunch!
The good people of Gooseberry Cove welcomed us into their hillside town and fed us soup and sandwiches and lots of smiles. Very nice, and we had a long time there to relax as well. Until the score sheets came out. Then, it was time to scramble and jockey for position to see the positions. At first glance we were sitting 18th of 70 or so competitors, with three points to our name, the first eleven places being competitors with zero points. We were 18th overall and first in our class, twelve seconds clear of the next car. Hey, this was looking pretty good.
After some fist pumping and general self-congratulatory behavior we settled in to wait for the afternoon stages. It was my turn to drive.
The fifth stage had us retracing the route we had just taken, but the stage was run at the full 29km length, also in the wet, so it was pretty exciting. Lots of up and downhill corners with bumps and blind crests, all the while whizzing past houses, mailboxes, and people. It certainly gets your attention. We were starting behind the 702 car, an RX-7 run by Joe and Melissa Butler of St. John’s, and I managed to catch and pass them on the stage since it was so long. But, we were so far ahead of our base time that we had to slow down in order to not be too early. Not a bad problem to have.
Having cleared out the first stage butterflies for me, it was time to do the last stage of our first day. It was a short 4.7km, but it was also wet and quite tight and windy, with some cautions and steep crests thrown in. I had to push a bit after slowing for the caution sections, but in the end I managed to clean the stage as well. It felt good.
So, how was the first day? Long. We spent close to 11 hours in the car with some long stages and transit sections. Did my butt hurt afterward? Yes, yes it did. Sparco makes not the Barcalounger, it’s true. But, did I feel good. Yes, the answer to that is also a big affirmative.
We finished the day and made it back to the Gander Arena for the car show and some minor service. We needed a top up of oil and fuel and had the front suspension bolts checked by our handy crew, but that was it. The car ran perfectly and we didn’t hurt it at all.
And get this. We don’t suck as terribly as you may have heard. We finished the day tied for the overall lead after we got a time correction due to the Healey incident. We zeroed our first ever day of stage rallying and it felt really good. So, along with ten others, we headed into day two with everything to lose. More on that in the next chapter…
We didn’t crash out or blow up on the first day. We didn’t even find that we’d put the brake pads in backwards or that our ride height was obscenely low either. In fact, we had no major issues.
We made it through DAY ONE (You’re supposed to say that in your best James Earl Jones voice inside your head), it’s fairly momentous. Nick started the day driving due to the vagaries of another coin toss (I just know that someday luck will work itself out), and I was navigating. We had some issues with delays and whatnot in the morning, but Nick put in 4 really solid stints to start off, the only problem being a little balkiness in the “new to us” close ratio gearbox. He was having problems getting into second gear, but it seemed to get better.
The day dawned cold and rainy, and the transit from St. John’s to Argentia was in fact wet and foggy, but by the time we actually lined up for the start, it was dry. The first stage was relatively short and Nick felt it out nicely and got through with seven seconds or so in hand. Not a bad start at all.
The second stage was a short way away in Placentia, and this is where some others began to have issues. We came to a long left hander in the instructions and found an Austin Healey from the Touring class well and truly planted in the ditch. The driver and co-driver are reported to be okay, but it looked like a rough one. As it would turn out, a CRX from the Targa class piled into the same wreck later in the stage. Scratch two competitors. The Healey incident and the melee surrounding it caused us to slow down and take our first points of the rally, but that’s disputable. More on that later.
Then, breakfast. One of the unique/neat things about this event is that we stop during the day at local gathering places such as churches, parks, and meeting halls for meals and “meet and greets” where we basically bask in the local hospitality. To say that the people of Newfoundland welcome this event and its competitors with open arms would be an understatement on the order of saying Hitler was sort of a bad dude. It’s very special and a real treat to meet the locals and hear their take on the event, the cars, and Newfoundland itself. Thanks.
The third stage was a medium length transit away, and it was actually shortened due to road conditions, so we only ran about half of it. It was also marked Condition Two (more James Earl please) meaning that the road might be damp or wet and there might be light fog and rain. The upshot of this is that our base time is higher, so there’s an allowance for the conditions. We lucked out in that there didn’t actually seem to be any moisture on the road, so Nick was able to drive a controlled pace and clean the stage nicely.
The fourth stage was also shortened, this time due to a funeral procession or ceremony in the first half of the stage, so we only ran the last 10.4km of the original 29km. Yep, it’s a long one. This time it actually was wet so Nick got to try out the handling of our new Toyo Proxes R888 tires in the rain. The initial reports are good, not to mention that our car is quite the talk of the town. It seems that many of the other competitors had tried to get a set of these and were unable, so we have the only set at Targa Newfoundland 2007. Everyone else seems to be running the venerable RA-1, a tire I truly appreciate, but it is getting a little Methuselah-ish. Anyway, Nick handled the rain easily and we cruised in well ahead of the base time.
Then, an event near and dear to every racer’s heart. Lunch!
The good people of Gooseberry Cove welcomed us into their hillside town and fed us soup and sandwiches and lots of smiles. Very nice, and we had a long time there to relax as well. Until the score sheets came out. Then, it was time to scramble and jockey for position to see the positions. At first glance we were sitting 18th of 70 or so competitors, with three points to our name, the first eleven places being competitors with zero points. We were 18th overall and first in our class, twelve seconds clear of the next car. Hey, this was looking pretty good.
After some fist pumping and general self-congratulatory behavior we settled in to wait for the afternoon stages. It was my turn to drive.
The fifth stage had us retracing the route we had just taken, but the stage was run at the full 29km length, also in the wet, so it was pretty exciting. Lots of up and downhill corners with bumps and blind crests, all the while whizzing past houses, mailboxes, and people. It certainly gets your attention. We were starting behind the 702 car, an RX-7 run by Joe and Melissa Butler of St. John’s, and I managed to catch and pass them on the stage since it was so long. But, we were so far ahead of our base time that we had to slow down in order to not be too early. Not a bad problem to have.
Having cleared out the first stage butterflies for me, it was time to do the last stage of our first day. It was a short 4.7km, but it was also wet and quite tight and windy, with some cautions and steep crests thrown in. I had to push a bit after slowing for the caution sections, but in the end I managed to clean the stage as well. It felt good.
So, how was the first day? Long. We spent close to 11 hours in the car with some long stages and transit sections. Did my butt hurt afterward? Yes, yes it did. Sparco makes not the Barcalounger, it’s true. But, did I feel good. Yes, the answer to that is also a big affirmative.
We finished the day and made it back to the Gander Arena for the car show and some minor service. We needed a top up of oil and fuel and had the front suspension bolts checked by our handy crew, but that was it. The car ran perfectly and we didn’t hurt it at all.
And get this. We don’t suck as terribly as you may have heard. We finished the day tied for the overall lead after we got a time correction due to the Healey incident. We zeroed our first ever day of stage rallying and it felt really good. So, along with ten others, we headed into day two with everything to lose. More on that in the next chapter…
Saturday, September 8, 2007
It's really happening
I was standing there next to the nearly completed race car in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in St. John's sort of basking in the thought of actually being in Targa Newfoundland. As I swooned away I thought to pinch myself to end my momentary reverie. However, ‘twasn't necessary, in my lapse I dropped the wrench I was holding on my foot and that ended any halcyon moments for the time being.
Besides, there was work to be done! Thankfully little, and easily accomplished, for the excitement has begun to overtake my senses. We’re here, and we’re ready. We spent our first day in St. Johns sleeping, which felt exceedingly good, and then doing some final prep on the car, such as wiring up the Terratrip communicators to that we can actually hear one another while in the car. Apparently these pace notes (or tulips) are pretty important, eh.
I want to interject for a moment with a clarification. I can hear all of you out there reading this and you’re saying “New-FOUND-land.” Well, stop it, all you Americans, just quit. I’ve tried actually listening to people, and while it’s a strange concept, one of the things I picked up is that the place is pronounced “New-fund-LAND”, with a little inflection on the last syllable. It’s sort of charming. Not in the nasal way people say “Co-lo-RAD-oh” instead of the clearly correct, “Co-lo-Rah-do”, but in a nice Newfie sort of way.
Back to the story.
So, we finished that stuff up by Friday afternoon and ran some errands to get a few things including octane booster. It seems that “hi-test” gasoline around here is 91 octane, so we’ll be using additives for the duration. This involved a search of St. John’s, during which we found another endangered species. A Wal-Mart of which you can see the back wall from the front. I know, how 1993. It’s just a regular Wal-Mart, not a SuperCenter, or a GroceryMogul, or any building capable of hosting the Super Bowl, should all of the beach chairs in the sporting good section be unfolded. It was sort of refreshing, although the dire situation of the US Dollar against the Canadian Dollar meant that we couldn’t have any real Wal-Sprees or anything like that. So, we just got what we needed and left. Boring, I know, but still nice.
We also took the car out for an exploratory run to see if our ride heights were going to work with the road conditions that are famously “bumpy”. We drove on the TCH and the local roads and the car was working fine, so we decided that deserved lunch. Racing is all about justification. You have to justify the need for new parts, better tires, shinier paint, whatever. By the same token, you have to justify the time lunch takes by attributing great importance to the task you’ve just achieved, imparting such momentousness to it that NOT going to lunch to celebrate would be something of a kick in the shins to all involved.
So, we hit up the excellently quaint and friendly downtown harbor area and found a sandwich shop that was sort of a mix of a college hangout/hippie coffeehouse/ and gourmet sandwich place, all stirred together. I had a bagel sandwich with sun-dried cream cheese, smoked salmon, breaded chicken, and apple slices. It was pretty righteous, if you know what I mean. It was also excellent fuel for continuing onward.
Now that the car was ready, and we had run our errands, it was pretty much time to review some notes and hang out. Which we did with aplomb. We found Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes outside and we ran into our friend Ian from the ferry in the hotel bar/restaurant. We sat and told stories and generally got great Targa-related advice until it was time to go to the airport.
I may not have mentioned this before. We had to go to the airport to pick up our crew. Brian Beckett and Greg Snyder agreed to be our crew for this event, but we clearly did something wrong. Everyone else had a crew that drove the truck to the event and then the driver and co-driver flew in when it was time to be here. I’m feeling like we’ve been a bit had. But, anyway, we went to the huge St. John’s regional airport and collected them and were on our way. This was at midnight last night by the way.
So, today was registration. It’s official. You can’t stop me now, I…have a name badge. Get out of my way. We got up early and got through registration and tech rather breezily. No problems other than a cold breakfast sandwich. In the grand scheme of things, that rates right below a minor earthquake and above a good toe-stubbing, so it’s pretty okay.
Once that was done we did the odometer check leg provided for us and that went off without a hitch. Our odo was off by .02 km after 43.05 km of total driving. Not bad at all. I can spit that far.
We spent the balance of the afternoon rearranging the trunk and talking to people in the arena. It’s a cool setup, they park all the cars in the local arena and then the public comes to check them out. We got to show a lot of kids the cars and take their pictures in the driver’s seat and so forth. Pretty fun.
That’s all for now. We’re off to another meet and greet and then we do our first real practice stage tomorrow. And yes, I know, “real practice” is an oxymoron, but it’s my blog, so deal with it.
Cheers, we’re almost there!
Besides, there was work to be done! Thankfully little, and easily accomplished, for the excitement has begun to overtake my senses. We’re here, and we’re ready. We spent our first day in St. Johns sleeping, which felt exceedingly good, and then doing some final prep on the car, such as wiring up the Terratrip communicators to that we can actually hear one another while in the car. Apparently these pace notes (or tulips) are pretty important, eh.
I want to interject for a moment with a clarification. I can hear all of you out there reading this and you’re saying “New-FOUND-land.” Well, stop it, all you Americans, just quit. I’ve tried actually listening to people, and while it’s a strange concept, one of the things I picked up is that the place is pronounced “New-fund-LAND”, with a little inflection on the last syllable. It’s sort of charming. Not in the nasal way people say “Co-lo-RAD-oh” instead of the clearly correct, “Co-lo-Rah-do”, but in a nice Newfie sort of way.
Back to the story.
So, we finished that stuff up by Friday afternoon and ran some errands to get a few things including octane booster. It seems that “hi-test” gasoline around here is 91 octane, so we’ll be using additives for the duration. This involved a search of St. John’s, during which we found another endangered species. A Wal-Mart of which you can see the back wall from the front. I know, how 1993. It’s just a regular Wal-Mart, not a SuperCenter, or a GroceryMogul, or any building capable of hosting the Super Bowl, should all of the beach chairs in the sporting good section be unfolded. It was sort of refreshing, although the dire situation of the US Dollar against the Canadian Dollar meant that we couldn’t have any real Wal-Sprees or anything like that. So, we just got what we needed and left. Boring, I know, but still nice.
We also took the car out for an exploratory run to see if our ride heights were going to work with the road conditions that are famously “bumpy”. We drove on the TCH and the local roads and the car was working fine, so we decided that deserved lunch. Racing is all about justification. You have to justify the need for new parts, better tires, shinier paint, whatever. By the same token, you have to justify the time lunch takes by attributing great importance to the task you’ve just achieved, imparting such momentousness to it that NOT going to lunch to celebrate would be something of a kick in the shins to all involved.
So, we hit up the excellently quaint and friendly downtown harbor area and found a sandwich shop that was sort of a mix of a college hangout/hippie coffeehouse/ and gourmet sandwich place, all stirred together. I had a bagel sandwich with sun-dried cream cheese, smoked salmon, breaded chicken, and apple slices. It was pretty righteous, if you know what I mean. It was also excellent fuel for continuing onward.
Now that the car was ready, and we had run our errands, it was pretty much time to review some notes and hang out. Which we did with aplomb. We found Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes outside and we ran into our friend Ian from the ferry in the hotel bar/restaurant. We sat and told stories and generally got great Targa-related advice until it was time to go to the airport.
I may not have mentioned this before. We had to go to the airport to pick up our crew. Brian Beckett and Greg Snyder agreed to be our crew for this event, but we clearly did something wrong. Everyone else had a crew that drove the truck to the event and then the driver and co-driver flew in when it was time to be here. I’m feeling like we’ve been a bit had. But, anyway, we went to the huge St. John’s regional airport and collected them and were on our way. This was at midnight last night by the way.
So, today was registration. It’s official. You can’t stop me now, I…have a name badge. Get out of my way. We got up early and got through registration and tech rather breezily. No problems other than a cold breakfast sandwich. In the grand scheme of things, that rates right below a minor earthquake and above a good toe-stubbing, so it’s pretty okay.
Once that was done we did the odometer check leg provided for us and that went off without a hitch. Our odo was off by .02 km after 43.05 km of total driving. Not bad at all. I can spit that far.
We spent the balance of the afternoon rearranging the trunk and talking to people in the arena. It’s a cool setup, they park all the cars in the local arena and then the public comes to check them out. We got to show a lot of kids the cars and take their pictures in the driver’s seat and so forth. Pretty fun.
That’s all for now. We’re off to another meet and greet and then we do our first real practice stage tomorrow. And yes, I know, “real practice” is an oxymoron, but it’s my blog, so deal with it.
Cheers, we’re almost there!
Take a Gander
Or, maybe go past Paradise for a saintly time, John.
I realize I’ve been a bit lax in my duties lately, but it’s all for a good cause. I’ve been working diligently with Nick and our new arrivals on the race car.
You see, the last update came from the ferry-side in (no fairy jokes, children) North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (long name, eh?). Turn out it’s the #2 travel destination in the world, according to the sign by the ferry. We found it to be pretty, nice, quaint, and we really weren’t there very long.
What was sort of long was the ferry ride. Yep, a coupla’ ferries. It took 6 hours aboard the MV Caribou to get to Port-aux-Basques, NL, which was rather scenic, and in the current vein of the trip, cold. On the ferry we met the guys from Loose Tools Motorsports, with their Caterham Super Seven and their Datsun 510. Hi Neil and Ian! We also met Chris the Cameraman, so hopefully he’ll make us moderately famous somewhere.
Now, the ferry ride was nice, we had a good view, I got to read some and take a nap, but then I decided to get up and wander. Here’s the problem. I went in to the gift shop to see what sorts of things would be offered for sale on a ferry between two places I knew little about, other than the people seem quite tall (in depth, I know). I found the usual sorts of trinkets; shot glasses, coffee mugs, obscenely overpriced CDs, gummy candy shaped like lobsters (I almost bought some really), and cans of salted fish. That’s not a typo. Typos aren’t that long. The can was about the size of a cashew can, and apparently filled with dried salted fish. I was sort of morbidly enthralled with this concept and I wanted nothing more than to see what canned, salted fish looked like, but the actuality of it escaped me due to the total opacity of the can. In the end the overbearing grossitude of such a thing won and I backed slowly out of the gift shop, completely free of trinkets and hilarious candy. I’m just now able to talk about it.
Anyway, it was time to go ashore, which we did without getting wet even. Great success! We immediately hit the road and started making Newfie tracks. Despite the considerable obstacle of a large body of cold water, the Trans Canada Highway runs resolutely from Nova Scotia right on across Newfoundland. Which is good, because if the roads were much smaller we just wouldn’t have made it.
Here’s the tricky part. It’s where I get to complain about beautiful scenery. I know, go back to Texas you unappreciative cow-kissing oaf. But really, every time we would crest a hill (and there are lots) we would be greeted with yet another idyllic expanse of virgin forest, crystalline lakes, smiling beavers, tweeting bluebirds, and apple cheeked youngsters. I may have made up some of that, but you get the idea. The problem is, how many times can you see that and still go, “Oooh, aaaah,” like the appropriately appreciative tourist you’re supposed to be? I’ll tell you. 6 hours is about my limit. That’s 437 expansive views, unspoiled and untouched, by man or by me. I really just wanted to pull over and go fishing, or maybe hike a trail, or sit and enjoy the piney goodness. But no, let’s keep driving. So we did and I hated the scenery just a little for moving so quickly backwards. I shall have to come back and love it all over again another time.
If you don’t like long windedness you probably wouldn’t have read this far anyway, but I’ll warn you that there’s more. Good for you if you’re still here. That’s tenacity right there. Targa style!
Finally though, after a hearty dinner at Jungle Jim’s in Gander, we plunged through the night and made it to St. John’s at around 12:40 pm and easily found the Holiday Inn, at which point we crashed rather heavily. Of note, we passed the 3k mile mark on this leg of the trip. Yep, we drove over 3000 miles just to get TO the race. What did Nick say the other day? Ah, I forget…
What did I learn in our trip across Newfoundland?
First, it’s possible to get tired of extreme beauty, which was sort of a bummer, but I’m okay now.
Second, there’s a place called Nosy Nick’s Cove in the north of the island that we won’t be going unfortunately, because that would be a great photo-op.
Third, it’s cold here in September. Like 36 degrees at night cold. Like, we are worried about the water in the engine freezing over night cold. Being from Texas, the occasional cold snap is always sort of a welcome relief from the continual furnace blasting we get from our solar cohort, but it’s usually just a freak thing and we think a “Cold Snap” with capital letters in September is a day in the 60s or something. I have to say that it being 36 degrees in September is unseemly. Not just a little unseemly like the otherwise reasonable neighbor who walks out to get his paper in his boxers every Sunday morning. I’m talking unseemly like the overweight French guy neighbor who comes out every morning to get the paper in his “euro-skivvies” and tank top and bends all the way over to pick it up. That’s unseemly.
Finally, I have a serious discovery to put forth. There are no moose in Newfoundland. It’s true. I know, I know, you’ll say that Newfoundland and indeed all of Canada is famous for its moose. I’ve heard all the stories, I’ve even seen the doctored photos and green-screen movies used as evidence, but I’m here to give it all a good debunking. I’ve been driving past “Moose on Road” and “Moose Warning” signs since Maine (Tuesday night for those wondering), and I have yet to see any moose. We drove for four hours through the chilly blackness of a Newfie night and saw nary a moose. I would suggest that the province is suffering from a case of “Mooselessness”. It’s a new condition I’ve discovered that is mental, economical, and mammal. Everyone believes there are moose, and indeed much of the economy seems to be based on the purveyance of moose related gewgaws, but the fact remains that there are no moose here, at least not outside the petting zoo. They have moose at petting zoos, right?
Next post, something actually car related…
I realize I’ve been a bit lax in my duties lately, but it’s all for a good cause. I’ve been working diligently with Nick and our new arrivals on the race car.
You see, the last update came from the ferry-side in (no fairy jokes, children) North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (long name, eh?). Turn out it’s the #2 travel destination in the world, according to the sign by the ferry. We found it to be pretty, nice, quaint, and we really weren’t there very long.
What was sort of long was the ferry ride. Yep, a coupla’ ferries. It took 6 hours aboard the MV Caribou to get to Port-aux-Basques, NL, which was rather scenic, and in the current vein of the trip, cold. On the ferry we met the guys from Loose Tools Motorsports, with their Caterham Super Seven and their Datsun 510. Hi Neil and Ian! We also met Chris the Cameraman, so hopefully he’ll make us moderately famous somewhere.
Now, the ferry ride was nice, we had a good view, I got to read some and take a nap, but then I decided to get up and wander. Here’s the problem. I went in to the gift shop to see what sorts of things would be offered for sale on a ferry between two places I knew little about, other than the people seem quite tall (in depth, I know). I found the usual sorts of trinkets; shot glasses, coffee mugs, obscenely overpriced CDs, gummy candy shaped like lobsters (I almost bought some really), and cans of salted fish. That’s not a typo. Typos aren’t that long. The can was about the size of a cashew can, and apparently filled with dried salted fish. I was sort of morbidly enthralled with this concept and I wanted nothing more than to see what canned, salted fish looked like, but the actuality of it escaped me due to the total opacity of the can. In the end the overbearing grossitude of such a thing won and I backed slowly out of the gift shop, completely free of trinkets and hilarious candy. I’m just now able to talk about it.
Anyway, it was time to go ashore, which we did without getting wet even. Great success! We immediately hit the road and started making Newfie tracks. Despite the considerable obstacle of a large body of cold water, the Trans Canada Highway runs resolutely from Nova Scotia right on across Newfoundland. Which is good, because if the roads were much smaller we just wouldn’t have made it.
Here’s the tricky part. It’s where I get to complain about beautiful scenery. I know, go back to Texas you unappreciative cow-kissing oaf. But really, every time we would crest a hill (and there are lots) we would be greeted with yet another idyllic expanse of virgin forest, crystalline lakes, smiling beavers, tweeting bluebirds, and apple cheeked youngsters. I may have made up some of that, but you get the idea. The problem is, how many times can you see that and still go, “Oooh, aaaah,” like the appropriately appreciative tourist you’re supposed to be? I’ll tell you. 6 hours is about my limit. That’s 437 expansive views, unspoiled and untouched, by man or by me. I really just wanted to pull over and go fishing, or maybe hike a trail, or sit and enjoy the piney goodness. But no, let’s keep driving. So we did and I hated the scenery just a little for moving so quickly backwards. I shall have to come back and love it all over again another time.
If you don’t like long windedness you probably wouldn’t have read this far anyway, but I’ll warn you that there’s more. Good for you if you’re still here. That’s tenacity right there. Targa style!
Finally though, after a hearty dinner at Jungle Jim’s in Gander, we plunged through the night and made it to St. John’s at around 12:40 pm and easily found the Holiday Inn, at which point we crashed rather heavily. Of note, we passed the 3k mile mark on this leg of the trip. Yep, we drove over 3000 miles just to get TO the race. What did Nick say the other day? Ah, I forget…
What did I learn in our trip across Newfoundland?
First, it’s possible to get tired of extreme beauty, which was sort of a bummer, but I’m okay now.
Second, there’s a place called Nosy Nick’s Cove in the north of the island that we won’t be going unfortunately, because that would be a great photo-op.
Third, it’s cold here in September. Like 36 degrees at night cold. Like, we are worried about the water in the engine freezing over night cold. Being from Texas, the occasional cold snap is always sort of a welcome relief from the continual furnace blasting we get from our solar cohort, but it’s usually just a freak thing and we think a “Cold Snap” with capital letters in September is a day in the 60s or something. I have to say that it being 36 degrees in September is unseemly. Not just a little unseemly like the otherwise reasonable neighbor who walks out to get his paper in his boxers every Sunday morning. I’m talking unseemly like the overweight French guy neighbor who comes out every morning to get the paper in his “euro-skivvies” and tank top and bends all the way over to pick it up. That’s unseemly.
Finally, I have a serious discovery to put forth. There are no moose in Newfoundland. It’s true. I know, I know, you’ll say that Newfoundland and indeed all of Canada is famous for its moose. I’ve heard all the stories, I’ve even seen the doctored photos and green-screen movies used as evidence, but I’m here to give it all a good debunking. I’ve been driving past “Moose on Road” and “Moose Warning” signs since Maine (Tuesday night for those wondering), and I have yet to see any moose. We drove for four hours through the chilly blackness of a Newfie night and saw nary a moose. I would suggest that the province is suffering from a case of “Mooselessness”. It’s a new condition I’ve discovered that is mental, economical, and mammal. Everyone believes there are moose, and indeed much of the economy seems to be based on the purveyance of moose related gewgaws, but the fact remains that there are no moose here, at least not outside the petting zoo. They have moose at petting zoos, right?
Next post, something actually car related…
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
First Update!
North Sydney, Nova Scotia, 2680 miles from home.
If anyone tells you that one cannot drive from Fort Worth, TX to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada in under 48 hours, not only are they wrong, they’re so wrong that you should point at them and laugh, shaking your head as if you’re dealing with a simpleton beyond amazement.
I say this with such confidence because in fact Nick and I have just accomplished the same, despite the chain of events that I will from now on refer to as, "The Goodyear Conspiracy." Let us just say that not all tires are your benign partners in rolling safely down the road. We had our first blowout in Arlington, TX. Now, for those of you not sitting in front of a map (it’s okay, Americans are no good at this), Arlington is so close to Fort Worth as to practically be before the beginning of the trip. To add insult to injury, we were literally merging onto the highway after having checked and properly inflated all six trailer tires and four truck tires.
This particular tire let go with an audible "Poof!" and, upon stopping, we found that a baseball sized patch was missing from the sidewall. Your faithful narrator had thoughtfully gotten a spare spare, so we threw the spare on and headed for Pep Boys in Dallas to get the other spare mounted on the now available rim. With this easily dispatched, we were back on the road.
For a very little while, as it were. We made it to exit 142, County Line Rd. I don’t know which county, or where the line went, but that’s where we lost tire number two on the trailer. We changed that flat with our last spare in a rest stop under the watchful eye of the fanny pack and visor crowd and were on our way again.
Despite the fact that we were now up to a ratio of 1/3 brand new tires to old tires, we were not feeling too confident. We began the hunt for more spares. I have thus far not mentioned that this was Labor Day and we were rapidly approaching the vast emptiness of Arkansas. A quick call to our pit crew (sitting at home, eating bon bons no doubt) revealed the availability of some of the very same trailer tires at a Wal-Mart in Texarkana. The astute among you will surmise that this place is a border town of sorts and we made a run for it.
We spent an hour at the Wal-Mart while they exchanged some of Nick’s valuable legal tender for 3 new trailer tires and mounting services. Make note, this will be the longest stop, from 5pm to 6pm, of the trip until arriving at the ferry terminal in Nova Scotia.
Having exorcised our demons with time, money, and a generous offering of Wal-Mart finger foods, we then set off on our nearly trouble free portions of the trip. Nick took over the driving duties at this point and headed off into the torrential rain to be found to the east. This would be the only substantial trouble we would have from this point onward.
I do have to say that Nick looks very businesslike while driving in a yellow slicker, hat and all. Very Captain Ahab. He managed to get all of the rainy stints on the trip, and we did share the dark hours pretty evenly.
This is the boring part. For the intervening 30 odd hours from Texas to Canada, almost nothing happened. Really. I saw a car, once we stopped for diesel, plus nine more times, and we stopped for McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. We may or may not have also taken "road showers" in the bathroom there near Harrisburg, PA.
I may have mentioned that the hour at Wal-Mart was the only extended stop of the trip, and that’s true. No hotels, no long meals, no nothing. Just diesel and driving, and lots of beef jerky.
Day Two of the trip dawned in the early morning tendrils of the foggy bottoms near Bristol, TN. I had just taken the wheel once again and as Nick curled himself up in the camper section of the truck (read: back seat with pillow), he remarked that he finally agreed that we were crazy. I noted the time, 6:09am EST. We had only been driving seventeen hours straight at that point. There were thirty more to go. Don't you call me crazy yet! Leave that to everyone else.
Important Travel Tip: Spraying Febreze on one another after a full day in the car with no other smell remediation efforts is actually fairly effective. Try it. Your parents/kids/significant other (whichever applies) won't mind unless they're awake.
We made it through the east reasonably quickly due to the ever shrinking size of the states over there. They get really tiny by the time you get very far north. The problem of course is that despite their diminutiveness, these places are increasingly packed with people driving cars equipped with multiple horns and no turn signals. It must be a factory option out east. The people like to swerve and brake and honk, seemingly at random, with imaginable results.
This is usually just somewhat annoying, maybe even comical. But, as we approached New York City (everyone remembers that Pace picante commercial, right? Because that’s how I was saying it for hours as we drove across Pennsylvania and New Jersey) we crested a rise at the exit for I-95 and the Holland Tunnel and traffic was at a dead stop.
This is also predictable and not hugely surprising, except for the fact that we were doing 75 with a large trailer attached to the posterior of the truck. I hate to call it panic braking, so let’s call it mild hysteria braking, or possibly "Just this side of damp underpants braking". As we slowed and came to a stop just clear of the car stopped ahead of us, we noticed a clear smell of hot brakes.
Fine, except for smoke is usually bad. There’s a proverb about that, I’m pretty sure. The right rear wheel was billowing smoke. It doesn’t usually do that. Here’s where our crack mechanical skills came into play and we waited it out. It stopped…eventually.
We made it across NYC in an hour and then hit the moonscape of Connecticut. These roads are a new level of bad, but again, it’s a small place. New Hampshire was even smaller and Massachusetts disappeared into the night. I took over the wheel at a truck stop in Maine and we were shocked to find out that the temperature had gone from 96 to 46. Brrrr. Make that double brrrr.
Maine was something of a surprise in that it was big, and so it took while to cross, but it was also empty. Seriously, almost empty. I passed something like 4 cars in 4 hours. It was also dark and cold. The overnight low according to my flawless Ford thermometer was 38 degrees. It was September 4th. For real. Yipes. And get this, I saw at least a dozen signs warning of all the moose in the area, and I saw not one moose! We drove across Maine, and then Canada for twelve hours with no moose. Just a couple deer and some small foxes.
But, after stopping at the border and registering the race car with US Customs, we were on our way on the final 8 hours of the first part of the trip. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were relatively empty and plain, but once we passed onto Cape Breton we hit some really scenic and interesting places along Canada’s Inland Sea. I knew nothing about this place and it was quite a nice surprise. Lots of stunning views and quaint little towns led us to North Sydney, adjacent to the Newfoundland Ferry Terminal.
Total drive time including tire woes: 47 hours.
We’re off again at 6am for a 5-7 hour trip to Port-Aux-Basques and our drive across the island of Newfoundland.
All this and the real fun hasn’t even started yet.
If anyone tells you that one cannot drive from Fort Worth, TX to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada in under 48 hours, not only are they wrong, they’re so wrong that you should point at them and laugh, shaking your head as if you’re dealing with a simpleton beyond amazement.
I say this with such confidence because in fact Nick and I have just accomplished the same, despite the chain of events that I will from now on refer to as, "The Goodyear Conspiracy." Let us just say that not all tires are your benign partners in rolling safely down the road. We had our first blowout in Arlington, TX. Now, for those of you not sitting in front of a map (it’s okay, Americans are no good at this), Arlington is so close to Fort Worth as to practically be before the beginning of the trip. To add insult to injury, we were literally merging onto the highway after having checked and properly inflated all six trailer tires and four truck tires.
This particular tire let go with an audible "Poof!" and, upon stopping, we found that a baseball sized patch was missing from the sidewall. Your faithful narrator had thoughtfully gotten a spare spare, so we threw the spare on and headed for Pep Boys in Dallas to get the other spare mounted on the now available rim. With this easily dispatched, we were back on the road.
For a very little while, as it were. We made it to exit 142, County Line Rd. I don’t know which county, or where the line went, but that’s where we lost tire number two on the trailer. We changed that flat with our last spare in a rest stop under the watchful eye of the fanny pack and visor crowd and were on our way again.
Despite the fact that we were now up to a ratio of 1/3 brand new tires to old tires, we were not feeling too confident. We began the hunt for more spares. I have thus far not mentioned that this was Labor Day and we were rapidly approaching the vast emptiness of Arkansas. A quick call to our pit crew (sitting at home, eating bon bons no doubt) revealed the availability of some of the very same trailer tires at a Wal-Mart in Texarkana. The astute among you will surmise that this place is a border town of sorts and we made a run for it.
We spent an hour at the Wal-Mart while they exchanged some of Nick’s valuable legal tender for 3 new trailer tires and mounting services. Make note, this will be the longest stop, from 5pm to 6pm, of the trip until arriving at the ferry terminal in Nova Scotia.
Having exorcised our demons with time, money, and a generous offering of Wal-Mart finger foods, we then set off on our nearly trouble free portions of the trip. Nick took over the driving duties at this point and headed off into the torrential rain to be found to the east. This would be the only substantial trouble we would have from this point onward.
I do have to say that Nick looks very businesslike while driving in a yellow slicker, hat and all. Very Captain Ahab. He managed to get all of the rainy stints on the trip, and we did share the dark hours pretty evenly.
This is the boring part. For the intervening 30 odd hours from Texas to Canada, almost nothing happened. Really. I saw a car, once we stopped for diesel, plus nine more times, and we stopped for McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. We may or may not have also taken "road showers" in the bathroom there near Harrisburg, PA.
I may have mentioned that the hour at Wal-Mart was the only extended stop of the trip, and that’s true. No hotels, no long meals, no nothing. Just diesel and driving, and lots of beef jerky.
Day Two of the trip dawned in the early morning tendrils of the foggy bottoms near Bristol, TN. I had just taken the wheel once again and as Nick curled himself up in the camper section of the truck (read: back seat with pillow), he remarked that he finally agreed that we were crazy. I noted the time, 6:09am EST. We had only been driving seventeen hours straight at that point. There were thirty more to go. Don't you call me crazy yet! Leave that to everyone else.
Important Travel Tip: Spraying Febreze on one another after a full day in the car with no other smell remediation efforts is actually fairly effective. Try it. Your parents/kids/significant other (whichever applies) won't mind unless they're awake.
We made it through the east reasonably quickly due to the ever shrinking size of the states over there. They get really tiny by the time you get very far north. The problem of course is that despite their diminutiveness, these places are increasingly packed with people driving cars equipped with multiple horns and no turn signals. It must be a factory option out east. The people like to swerve and brake and honk, seemingly at random, with imaginable results.
This is usually just somewhat annoying, maybe even comical. But, as we approached New York City (everyone remembers that Pace picante commercial, right? Because that’s how I was saying it for hours as we drove across Pennsylvania and New Jersey) we crested a rise at the exit for I-95 and the Holland Tunnel and traffic was at a dead stop.
This is also predictable and not hugely surprising, except for the fact that we were doing 75 with a large trailer attached to the posterior of the truck. I hate to call it panic braking, so let’s call it mild hysteria braking, or possibly "Just this side of damp underpants braking". As we slowed and came to a stop just clear of the car stopped ahead of us, we noticed a clear smell of hot brakes.
Fine, except for smoke is usually bad. There’s a proverb about that, I’m pretty sure. The right rear wheel was billowing smoke. It doesn’t usually do that. Here’s where our crack mechanical skills came into play and we waited it out. It stopped…eventually.
We made it across NYC in an hour and then hit the moonscape of Connecticut. These roads are a new level of bad, but again, it’s a small place. New Hampshire was even smaller and Massachusetts disappeared into the night. I took over the wheel at a truck stop in Maine and we were shocked to find out that the temperature had gone from 96 to 46. Brrrr. Make that double brrrr.
Maine was something of a surprise in that it was big, and so it took while to cross, but it was also empty. Seriously, almost empty. I passed something like 4 cars in 4 hours. It was also dark and cold. The overnight low according to my flawless Ford thermometer was 38 degrees. It was September 4th. For real. Yipes. And get this, I saw at least a dozen signs warning of all the moose in the area, and I saw not one moose! We drove across Maine, and then Canada for twelve hours with no moose. Just a couple deer and some small foxes.
But, after stopping at the border and registering the race car with US Customs, we were on our way on the final 8 hours of the first part of the trip. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were relatively empty and plain, but once we passed onto Cape Breton we hit some really scenic and interesting places along Canada’s Inland Sea. I knew nothing about this place and it was quite a nice surprise. Lots of stunning views and quaint little towns led us to North Sydney, adjacent to the Newfoundland Ferry Terminal.
Total drive time including tire woes: 47 hours.
We’re off again at 6am for a 5-7 hour trip to Port-Aux-Basques and our drive across the island of Newfoundland.
All this and the real fun hasn’t even started yet.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Zero Hour
Well, it is nearing the time when we must go. Go North, that is.
You see, Newfoundland is just this side of China, or Greenland anyway. They're all so far as to defy comprehension, so why try? What I do know, is that we're driving somewhere in the middle of the ocean. This seems counterintuitive, I know. Luckily, an enterprising Nova Scotian (don't you think "New Scooter" is a bit catchier? I do.) somewhere in the past decided that he'd like to take his car to see his cousins in Newfoundland and started a ferry service. So, we'll be driving 2600 miles for a boat ride.
Seriously though, tonight is the last night of wrenching on the car and finalizing details. This weekend is "Load the Trailerfest", admisson is free, strong arms encouraged. Then, Sunday afternoon, we hit the road.
These sorts of journeys are always a bit anticlimactic, at least in the short run, because the first place you arrive upon exiting Texas is Arkansas...not exactly the ideal destination location. But, being almost east of the Mississippi, it's one of them 'itty bitty' states that only takes about 5 hours to cross, so it's easily dispatched.
We're leaving and we're not coming back for another month, or at least we're not coming back until it's a different month. Nick Papayianis and I (Will Atkinson) are towing the race car, a 1988 BMW M3 to Newfoundland for the Targa Newfoundland. http://www.targanewfoundland.com/
We have a faithful crew in Greg Snyder and Brian Beckett flying up to man the support vehicle and eat all of our beef jerky. The event starts on September 8th, so hopefully we'll be there and be ready by then.
Keep your eyes peeled for updates, pictures, and video. We're taking a raft of photo equipment and even a computer, so hopefully we'll be able to avail ourselves of some sort of connection to the wider web. Post comments and questions, keeping in mind that we already know this is a stupid idea and our mothers are sure we're going to be eaten by a moose.
That's all for now, more soon. Very soon.
You see, Newfoundland is just this side of China, or Greenland anyway. They're all so far as to defy comprehension, so why try? What I do know, is that we're driving somewhere in the middle of the ocean. This seems counterintuitive, I know. Luckily, an enterprising Nova Scotian (don't you think "New Scooter" is a bit catchier? I do.) somewhere in the past decided that he'd like to take his car to see his cousins in Newfoundland and started a ferry service. So, we'll be driving 2600 miles for a boat ride.
Seriously though, tonight is the last night of wrenching on the car and finalizing details. This weekend is "Load the Trailerfest", admisson is free, strong arms encouraged. Then, Sunday afternoon, we hit the road.
These sorts of journeys are always a bit anticlimactic, at least in the short run, because the first place you arrive upon exiting Texas is Arkansas...not exactly the ideal destination location. But, being almost east of the Mississippi, it's one of them 'itty bitty' states that only takes about 5 hours to cross, so it's easily dispatched.
We're leaving and we're not coming back for another month, or at least we're not coming back until it's a different month. Nick Papayianis and I (Will Atkinson) are towing the race car, a 1988 BMW M3 to Newfoundland for the Targa Newfoundland. http://www.targanewfoundland.com/
We have a faithful crew in Greg Snyder and Brian Beckett flying up to man the support vehicle and eat all of our beef jerky. The event starts on September 8th, so hopefully we'll be there and be ready by then.
Keep your eyes peeled for updates, pictures, and video. We're taking a raft of photo equipment and even a computer, so hopefully we'll be able to avail ourselves of some sort of connection to the wider web. Post comments and questions, keeping in mind that we already know this is a stupid idea and our mothers are sure we're going to be eaten by a moose.
That's all for now, more soon. Very soon.
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