Paul Harlacher wrote:
*I was suprised that I didn't hear very much about the Oct. 8-12 TE/AE
*United XX at Solomon, Maryland on this list...
I am also surprised; well, I can add my own comments &
experiences:
Thursday:
The Garage Queen _never_ goes out in the rain, but mid-morning
it was obvious that the weather would not clear, so we ventured out in
the wet with the car loaded pretty tight (cheap dime-store folding
chairs took up half the trunk). Solomons Island is only 1-1/2 hours away
for us, the trip uneventful save one "twitch" while trying to brake on
oil-slick pavement. Countersteer, Larry... I'm guessing that about 30-35
cars came in Thursday afternoon, and not much activity, apparently due
to conditions. Kirk & Bill seemed to have imported genuine English
weather for the event. We stayed 1 mile away in a nice B&B, left the car
at the hotel, and walked back & forth all weekend, which was OK after it
dried out late Thursday nite.
Friday:
Walked back to the Holiday Inn early. Where did all these cars
come from? Wash 'n shine activity was furious, but I kept getting
distracted from cleaning up the GQ by the other cars. Mid-day we lined
up for the +/- one mile trek to the park where the concours was held. We
were 3rd in line, and the view in the rear-view mirror (pay attention to
your driving, Larry) was spectacular; I'm estimating 60-65 cars. Once at
the park, judging began, and it was clear from looking around that as
nice as I think our car is, we were out-classed. Never cared about the
absence of the ashtray, for instance. Beautiful cars there.
Afterwards, there was a group trip to a local 50's-theme diner,
where I had a passable bobbycue (I'll probably never pronounce the R's
in that word again!), and I'm sure the local car buffs were surprised by
the funny little cars parked in _their_ spots. Somebody mentioned to me
that perhaps the probs with my gauges could be traced to a voltage
stabilizer under the dash, so I snagged one back at the "parts room"
TE/AE was running back at the hotel. It did help some of the gauges, and
was cheap and easy to replace. Thanks, ...Russ? Nice fellow, but I'm
forgetting names already.
Saturday:
Was spooked about going the extra miles to the drags, had
resolved not to go, so we walked over to the local craft fair (boring),
then drove into town to buy a white shirt for the banquet; I had packed
too quickly & forgot one. Well, as we were then partway there, Susan
talked me into driving the rest of the way to the drag strip. We were
the 2nd Tiger there, and were met by Craig Singhaus (sp?) of TV's
Motorweek, there to film the event. Nice fellow, once calmed by the
arrival of actual Sunbeams; he was early, we were late, must've been
rough standing in the pits wondering where we all were. He took lots of
video of the cars (including the GQ), both static and on the track.
About 1/2 of the cars that came out ran, say 11 cars, we watched from
the sidelines. A tired suspension, and lack of a tow car if anything
went wrong, kept me off the drag strip and the auto-x lot. :-(. The
Tigers ran strong for street cars ( a regularly-scheduled drag event was
going on too), but, other than Mr. Porsch's sub-eleven-second run, the
purpose-built earth shakers won't have to worry about us--- yet. Betcha
more than one attendee, both Tiger folk, and local draggers, pulled out
their Jeg's and Summit catalogs since. Gotta go faster, ya know.
Sunday:
Finally sunny outside. Went the 10 miles to the auto-x in the
company of just one other Tiger. Had a short impromptu acceleration test
on Route 235; we pulled away from the other car, but I think he was
watching his tach while I threw caution to the winds. Perhaps Ford
Motorsports saved my butt, building an engine with no apparent redline.
Again, I didn't run, but planned to work the event; hadn't attended a
'cross in 17 years. Was supposed to do line-up, ended up doing some of
that plus worked in the timing truck, it was a small enough event to do
both, and Susan volunteered to be a course worker. Considering the mix
of non-TE/AE entrants, stock and modified Tigers and Alpines (plus Tiger
Tom's parts truck and a tube-framed Tiger racer), and the varying
experience of the drivers, of course the times varied a lot. My favorite
moment was watching the Motorweek team filming Scott Woerth by driving
just ahead of him (at slower-than-autcrossing speeds) in a Boxter
filming "backwards" over the rear deck. I cannot imagine that being
permitted at a normally-sanctioned event, but it was fun to watch.
Adding to the weekend's expenses was my leaving our first-aid kit in the
parking lot there, plus losing my sunglasses the day before. Hey, I
remembered to bring Susan home...
The awards dinner was a much bigger affair than I expected,
almost five hours long partly due to the generous number (50?) of door
prizes. It was asked if anyone one else wanted event T-shirts (BTW,
really nice, one of the top 10 T-shirts I've ever seen, and the dash
plaque is an all-time best) so they could do another production run. I
almost asked if they could do sweatshirts instead, due to the weather.
Or perhaps Macintoshes.
Monday:
Missed the TE/AE member meeting, then drove home; unlike the
trip down, we return with the top down even though it looked about to
start raining again anytime.
I left out a lot, like the boat trip, as non-Tiger content. This
was my 1st United, surely not my last. Bill Dewell and Kirk Even put on
an event I won't soon forget. They had help, but Kirk in particular I
don't think I saw standing still for more than a few seconds all
weekend. My thanks to all involved, both workers and/or the new friends
we made there. And having put on a whopping 400 miles on the car,
perhaps we won't be able to call her The Garage Queen anymore!
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products Div. of USOP
lrw@aop.com
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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