There you have it!
A concise explanation of some of the complications of TSD rallying. Some
folks can do it for a day or two, but two weeks worth must really take a
toll. And that is just the tasks involved in the rallye, let alone the
service and maintenance of the car. God forbid something actually breaks.
I've always enjoyed the story about the guy who ran TSD rallies every
chance he got. Always had a different woman as a navigator for every
event. Then one time his navigator was the same woman as on his previous
rallye. She continued for several events and soon they were married. When
asked how this happened, he said that he never had a navigator he could
get along with after she had been on a rallye and often they were not on
speaking terms by the end of the event. Once he found someone with whom
he could rallye, marriage would be easy by comparison.
Running an event that is as much of a challenge as the Great Race is
solid proof of a very special relationship.
I believe that the Great Race is passing through the southern Denver
Metro area June 23rd. Have a track event to attend well north of town,
but if timing works out I'll try to be there.
All the Best,
Bill
On Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:55:32 EDT BRITPAC@aol.com writes:
> Thanks to all who responded! I should dig through my library more.
> The old
> "Triumph- Maintenance, Modification, and Tuning" by Mauclay has a
> whole
> paragraph on setting Koni's. BTW, it is fully compress, engage slot,
> then
> click left for softer, right for firmer. They really did the trick
> on the
> front suspension: it handles 'a treat'.
>
> We took Scrappy out to our desert practice area Saturday and she is
> running
> great (never say that in front of the car). We picked up another 1/2
> second
> on our acceleration times with the new BFI equipped motor, and
> practice was
> necessary.
>
> 'Practice' means heading out to our test road, where we have a
> measured mile,
> low traffic, and a mile on either side for acceleration and
> deceleration. One
> mile was measured and marked by Janet's dad, who is a surveyor: the
> location,
> east of Palmdale (in the desert near Edwards AFB), is perfectly
> straight for
> miles and lightly traveled. It's an hour to get out there: there are
> no long,
> straight, lightly traveled roads anywhere near LA! Then, we run it
> back and
> forth all day long.
>
> First we run it at 50, hitting the traps at speed, to confirm the
> speedo
> calibration. This is done with traffic cones and a stopwatch, and a
> speed
> conversion chart. Our speedo was within .02 sec., good enough!
>
> Next we do acceleration times: standing start, 0-10 through 0-50, in
> 10 mph
> increments. We run each both directions to account for wind and
> gradient.
> Then, I have to make sure I do it exactly the same way each time: if
> I am 1
> second off I have to keep doing it until I am within .5 second
> consistency.
> We figure .2 as human error and we can't do better than that. The
> acceleration rate I use is much less than the car is capable of:
> that way, if
> the start is on an uphill gradient, or at high altitude, I have
> reserve
> power. I measure the rate of acceleration by counting a beat to the
> speedo
> needle's rate of climb or descent. If you were flying, it's kind of
> like a
> standard rate turn, or maintaining a climb/descent at exactly 500
> fpm.
>
> With no tach permitted on the race, I note my shift points and
> translate
> those to speed: the exhaust note roughly hits a peak tone at 2700
> rpm, and
> this is what I use. This translates to 15, 27, and 40 mph for shift
> points,
> and I will use those throughout the race. Overdrive is used for non
> timed
> transit sections only: too complicated otherwise.
>
> After we do acceleration times, we do 'at speed turns'. This
> simulates
> slowing from any speed down to 15 mph, then back up to speed. We had
>
> determined that 15 is the average speed for a 90 degree turn without
> a stop.
> We do this from 20-15-20 all the way to 50-15-50.
>
> Next we practice 'stop and go's'. This simulates approaching an
> intersection
> at a given speed, coming to a full stop, then accelerating back up
> to that
> speed. We have to do this 3 times in a mile to get a good average,
> then both
> directions to account for wind and grade. The 50 & 45 mph runs are
> tricky:
> getting all 3 in a mile is hard on the brakes, but you must
> accelerate and
> decelerate at exactly the same rate each time, so you must judge
> your
> distances well!
>
> Janet does the math and the charts: she is only allowed the data
> that can fit
> on a 3 x 5 card, which is laminated to her official ID tag (which we
> all have
> to wear for 2 weeks). I have to do everything as close to the same
> way each
> time as I can. And the car has to do it exactly the same way too: no
> missed
> shifts, no coughs or stumbles. If our charts are good, the car runs
> well, we
> do everything the same way each time, stay on course, and start on
> time, for
> 2 weeks and 3500 miles, we will do well!
>
> Fortunately this practice session is also a good wring out for the
> car:
> everything is working fine, including all of the modifications. I
> made notes
> for a few more things: a pad for my right leg on the tranny tunnel,
> adjust
> the steering wheel to the right so the spokes don't interfere with
> line of
> sight to the speedo, things like that. Then it's on the trailer
> Saturday,
> leaving Sunday for Atlanta!
>
> History Channel will have a piece about Great Race on next week on
> "This Week
> in History", June 11 & 18th (8 PM EST). We'll be crossing AZ and NM
> on the
> 11th, racing the 18th, so we'll miss it.
>
> Steve & Janet Hedke
> 1957 TR3 "Team Scrappy"
> Great Race #45
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