At 10:48 PM 3/17/2000 -0600, Phil Vanner wrote:
>Good luck and I hope your co-driver has as much fun as I did last year.
>....
>From: Barney Gaylord <barneymg@ntsource.com>
>>....
>>.... Off to defend my current title in the Missouri Endurance Rally. ....
Five cars started Saturday morning, three MGA and two MGB. (Advanced
publicity was not good this time). Four cars finished Sunday morning
nearly 1000 miles later, and we finished fourth. So much for the title.
I'll leave the bragging rights to those who did better. Someone should be
reporting names and final results very soon.
It was raining quite heavily for at least half of the rally, some of it
very heavy, and overall much worse than ever seen before during the MER.
One MGA Twin Cam Coupe retired early due to low voltage, dim lights and
slow wipers. My MGA with an Attitude also had a low voltage problem, dim
lights and needing a push start soon after dark, but as usual, attitude
reigns! Five minutes with a volt meter and a small screwdriver tweaked the
regulator to bring the voltage up, and all was well with the world for the
rest of the night. Aside from dumping about 10 quarts of oil around the
countryside in the 1600 mile weekend the car ran like a champ. I suspect
it has blown the timing cover seal, just a small concern for some other day.
My rookie navigator was my ten year old son Elliot, and he did very well
for his first outting (sort of like baptism by fire). In the morning I
told him he had to learn it all by daylight, because I can't drive and read
in the dark at the same time. And damned if he didn't! He got downright
great at map following, calculating time for distance at a given speed, and
even plotting shortest route (with just a little help). By dark time he
had it down cold. Between 6:20 pm and 10:20 pm he did a terrific job of
guiding us from Ocalla (lake of the Ozarks) to the top of Taum Sauk
Mountain (highest point in Missouri), about 160 miles through some blinding
rain and lots of the twisty hill roads. Otherwise he napped about a third
of the time but perked up when necessary to help out in a pinch.
About half of the rally was fixed route and time-speed-distance, while the
other half (interspersed) was shortest distance routing. Some "funky"
route instructions and one barricaded road caused problems with three of
the four timed legs. The three shortest distance legs were a hoot, with
only the first being finished during daylight. No matter how you finish in
these things you always have tons of fun. It's just awesome to go out and
drive your MG more in 24 hours than many folks do in a whole year. And of
course there's always next year!
Drive 'em 'till they drop,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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