A view of the International 1000 from an MG
I was really looking forward to the "1000" this year after if was
cancelled last year. One month before the event, I spent a couple of
weeks going from one end the the MG Midget to the other, making sure the
all bolts were tight and replacing any suspect parts.
On July 31st, Chris Mecia and myself left Freehold at after work
and arrived at the start in Middletown NY at 7:30 in the evening.
There were already several contestants, in the parking lot
of the Howard Johnson, and all gave a loud cheer as we pulled
in for registration. The car passed tech and we wondered off in search
of the bar.
Day 1 started like all others at 8:30 am, with 23 cars lined up
in the HoJo parking lot. At 8:37 we set off on the 57 miles odo leg,
(I have run rally shorter than this !!!). At the end of the odo leg
we found the the Halda was running perfectly and lined up
at the start of the rally along with the other cars. At our assigned
time, we set off and within 1 mile we hit the first dirt road - I am
not too sure if you could describe this as a road, it so rutted and
large rocks strewn along it. The CAS was 19, I could even make 10 mph !
Sure enough within a couple of miles, car 8 had caught us, and I let them
through at the first opportunity. After 3.2 miles, the road smoothed
out and we were able to maintain CAS 45, although we were driving
just a bit faster to try an make up time. We started to catch car 8 and found
out what it was like to follow a car though unpaved dry roads. It was very
dusty and I found it impossible to get any closer than about 100
yards to the car in front. My navigator made a comment along the lines,
"you can not see where you are going, then you're following too closely !!!"
At lunch time, we rolled into a small village, filled up with
gas, grabbed a bite to eat and set off on the 57 mile transit zone to the
afternoon restart. Along the way we smelled anti-freeze, so we pulled over,
but could not find a leak, and we weren't losing any water, so we carried on.
The afternoon section, was very much like the morning's, about 90% smooth,
dirt roads, lots of tight corners and more dust. After about
an hour, we came up behind a local in a Cadillac, who seemed to be
somewhat angry. Eventually they pulled into a driveway, and as we passed,
they shouted some obscenities. Later on we found out, that this
same Cadillac, had chased a few of the rally cars down the dirt roads,
but had eventually given up, when he found out the Cadillacs
don't handle as well on the dirt as 4-wheel drive BMW's and Talon Eagles !
We arrived at the end of the day, near Corning, NY, where we handed
in out score cards, and started swapping war stories with the other
contestant. So far there had only been 1 casualty, a car had broken a motor
mount and had to drop out. Several cars had suffered from multiple
flats, but all of them had managed to reach the last control
point. We spent some time checking the car over, making sure that
the suspension was still okay, and again we smelled anti-freeze, but
could locate any leaks.
Day 2 did not start too well, completing a small odo leg, we reached the
start and found water pouring from the bottom of the radiator. We
poured a can of "Stop Leak", topped off with water and set off, although
by this time, we were 3.5 minutes down. This day was much better than
the previous, in that the roads were MUCH smoother and we found that
we could maintain the CAS speeds. Car 8, never caught us, although, I did
see him in my mirrors occasionly. I felt more confident, and started
driving somewhat faster. We were in hilly country, and I found that
the car lacked the power to career up some of the very steep
dirt roads, but we made up the time on the downhill sections (sometimes
with my eyes closed !).
Not long into the rally, we rounded a very sharp right-hand corner,
and saw car 6 on its side. The driver was out of the car and waving down
cars, and the navigator was crawling out of the driver's side window.
We stopped to render assistance, but we were waved on. I slowed down
after seeing that. Even though I have a roll-bar fitted to the Midget,
I never really want to see it it works !
The rest of the day was uneventful, and we were happy to pull into the hotel
at the end of the day, for a shower.
Day 3 began with a chill in the air and a definate threat of rain.
After completing the odo leg, we started on the final 250 miles of
the rally. Unfortunately, the roads were a bit rougher than the
previous day and we decided to slow down and try and make the car last.
Unfortunately our strategy did not work. Just before lunch time, we came
round carner at about 40 mph, I saw a hole, tried to avoid it, but it
was too late. The front left wheel hit the hole, which subsequently
ripped the anti-sway bar out and exhaust off the car. We immediately
pulled over to the side of the road, jacked the car up and proceeded to
repair the exhaust. The anti-sway was too badly damaged, and with the
aid of a piece of rope, tied it around the front cross-member, so that
it would not drag on the road.
By this time the sweep vehicle had caught us up, and we proceeded
with the rally. Within 1 mile we hit a rock, and the exhaust came off again.
This time we removed the complete exhaust system, tried it to the top
ff the car and proceeded on. We were not too far from Binghamton, so we
drove to the nearest exhaust place, who spent an hour replacing the
exhaust.
We were now 2 hours behind the rest of the field, but
decided to carry on anyway. We arrived at the afternoon's restart,
and set off. I drove a bit more conservatively, knowing that there was
no sweep car behind us. The car was acting strangely, not wanting to
oversteer round corners, we attributed this to the lack of a anti-sway
bar and drove even slower. After a couple of hours we rounded a corner,
and found a slightly bent Audi, with its owners standing on the side of the
road.
There was a check point crew with them, so after seeing if they needed help,
we set off on the final few miles. We arrived at the finished at 6:00 pm in the
evening, tired, wet, dusty but having had 3 wonderful days.
Our final position, 20th out of a field of 23, but who is
counting ? Would I do it all over again - you bet.
Gerry
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