Christmas Lights

A very Merry Christmas to the readers of this blog wherever you are in the world. I wish you everything that you wish for yourselves at this festive time of year.

Things have been a tad quiet hereabouts due to the pressures of work and preparations for the holiday season. Plus, the writing muse has deserted me of late so I had trouble putting together pieces for the blog. There are at least two blog posts hanging in limbo right now.

But last night, Saturday December 20th, we got out on a rallye. The Holiday Lights tour in the suburbs of Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

The Holiday lights tour is a hybrid. Part road Rallye, part festive fun. Put on by Mark Larson, who also puts on the highly successful Tombstone Trails tour Rally in the region around Halloween. This  event consists of driving around the local holiday lights displays and answering a series of questions about them. This tour is very popular and the thirty places available were quickly over subscribed.

Lorrie and I made some seasonal effort. She dressed up in one of her many Christmas sweaters and I, lacking a suitably festive garment, sported a Santa Hat. We reversed our usual driver/navigator roles. I like to think I'm a better than average map reader and Lorrie isn't comfortable map reading. Swapping roles is all part of the fun.

The event appeals to a wide spectrum of people. The local Road Rallye community, retired rallyists and the general public. All pay their three dollars for a map, instructions and questions sheet and set out at one minute intervals to navigate the 25 mile course in about two and a half hours.

You'll be thinking that 25 miles in a 150 minutes would pose no problem. 

Think again.

You're not the only 30 cars on this adventure. There's Stretch Limos, mini buses and large coaches on the route as well as well as other members of the general public checking out the same lights as you. Getting to the displays can be quite the adventure. Once, we even parked our car 100 yards away from a particularly large display and walked there because that was as close as we could get. 

But no matter, the whole thing was a great deal of fun. The map was easy to follow and the questions were a good mix of simple and testing. 

The displays ranged from the simple to the complex, sometimes the simplest of displays providing the most testing questions to answer.

A race car themed display in one yard.

How many candles can you count?

We made it all around the course without too many problems, we took a wrong turn once, but that was because the street sign had been twisted around and because I was following the map I could quickly see what had happened. We also missed a turn in South St. Paul but thanks to the map and the layout of city blocks it was easy to get back on course. 

Because of all the other people out and about I don't think anyone made it around the course in the allotted time, so it's a good job there were no time penalties assessed. Everyone had a great time and after enjoying some tasty pizza at the finish point there was an informal answer giving session where it was discovered that The Westberg sisters, Gwen and Liz were the winners with only two of the 70 questions answered incorrectly.

The post race question answering session.

If, like the Twin City Rally Club, you don't have an official "Holiday Party" you should perhaps consider an event like this. No prizes, just some friends having a good time doing what we usually do. 

Quote of the night comes from Liz Westberg during a discussion on counting candy canes. 

"A shepherds crook is not a candy cane. It says so in the generals". We burst out laughing. This gives you an idea of the good humor that the event was conducted in.

So a big thanks goes out to Mark, our organizer and his crew of helpers. We had a great time and plan to do the event next year.

I, my friends will see you next year. Wether it be on these pages or out on the roads at a rallye. I hope that your roads will be clear and your motor runs smoothly.

Iced Rum Runner 2015

Due to work commitments and a jam-packed Land O' Lakes region winter rallye schedule. Sadly, there will be no Iced Rum Runner in 2015.

Larking about.

Ever since I bought FG the MGB, my 1976 MGB roadster (the most beautiful rubber bumpered MGB in Minnesota) I've been after a collector car from 1963, the year I was born. It's been a long search. For British sports cars, the early sixties are prime years. The E-type Jag was introduced in 1962, the MG Midget in 1961 and the MGB itself in 1963. Add to that British Classics like the Bug Eye Sprite the Austin Healey and great Triumphs like the TR3 and TR4. It doesn't take a genius to realize that prices on these cars are at a premium and as a consequence out of my budget.

So I looked around for anything from 1963. Saab, Citroen, Renault, Volvo. Nothing. Well nothing that fit the budgetary requirements. After a while, a few 1963 American cars started to appear. Fords, Chevys, Caddys. All huge dreadnoughts of a car that would struggle to fit in our garage. So they were  out. Then a few vehicles I wasn't really aware of. An AMC Rambler caught my eye for a while until I took a closer look. It wasn't as good as the pictures made out. Then I saw this...

A 1963 Studebaker Cruiser. I knew the name Studebaker of course. Some of the most exciting and striking automotive designs of the 50's and 60's came out of South Bend, Indiana. The 1950 Champion Starlight Coupe being the most obvious example. I didn't know what a Cruiser was though. It was the top of the range of the Lark models. So much so that it didn't even carry the Lark name. It was just the "Cruiser". It was marketed as a more compact rival to the bigger limousines of the "big three" makers. Studebaker even coined the term "Limousette" to describe it.
I was captivated by the design, that Mercedes-esque grille and all those curves around the grille, headlights and chrome bumpers. So, my wife Lorrie and I decided to go and take a look at it. It didn't disappoint. The car is a stalled restoration project that hadn't run in some 20 years. But that body is sound, very sound. The paintwork is a joy to behold.
One word. Patina. The colour is known in Studebaker circles as Rosemist. It's officially a Purple. A Brownish Purple. But research seems to suggest that back in the day finishing a cars paint job with a clear lacquer was not done, so the shiny grayish purple has faded to a satin lavender grey. It's a brilliant looking finish that I love. It has to be kept like this. 

Needless to say we both fell in love with the car. So the price was agreed on and a few days later a friend and I made the trip from Princeton to Le Sueur, MN with a trailer to collect it.

The car hadn't been run in some 20 years and the fuel tank smelled like paint thinners so it was a good idea not to drive it. Right now, the car resides in a workshop, being cleaned up to get the motor running after 20 years of neglect.

Now research has begun to reveal the rallye history of Studebaker. The makers achieved great success in the Mobil Economy Run of the 50's and 60's. The successes of Studebaker and AMC cars in this event caused their vehicles to be put in a new, separate class because the big three automakers couldn't even come close to the figures (up to 25 mpg) recorded by these cars. 

Greater success was accorded to the Studebaker Lark winning the Shell 4000 rally outright in 1961 and 1962. 

So there you go, quite by accident I've ended up buying a car with a Rallye heritage. Quite the bonus. So perhaps once it's running we'll end up turning up to a road rallye in the car. Perhaps having been inspired by the whole experience of the Goodwood revival we will turn up to road rallies in a 1963 car wearing 1960's clothing, using 1960's navigation equipment. Who knows? 

Rum Runner 2014 Rallye report

Sunday October 5th dawned bright and sunny, it looked like a great day for a road rally as the organizing crew of my wife Lorrie, and I headed down to Coffee Corner in Princeton, MN to set up registration. Novices, being novices were showing up early and before the allotted time for the beginning of registration I was busying myself with some Road Rally 101 classes for them. The coffee shop filled up with entrants and crew very quickly and with the weather being as nice as it was people spilled over onto the tables outside to review their instructions in the bright sunshine. 

Lorrie starts work at registration 

Crews work on the instructions outside

Twelve cars of varying sorts had registered for the event (a new high for the Rum Runner events) and all of them set off on the rally at 1pm. This included a Fiat Spider, and Alfa Romeo Spider as well as a Ford F-150 and the usual Saabs, Subarus and Audis. 

The Rum Runner, being a relatively new event can still be relied on to turn up a whole new set of roads, indeed all but a few miles of this course were new and those that had been used before had been travelled in the opposite direction. The vast majority of the roads were gravel and I was quite proud of the route that I had put together and the colors of the fall leaves and the sunshine made for a very scenic drive.

Fall colors on the Rallye route

For the most part the event proceeded without too many issues, a control point worker took a wrong turn going to their control point and nearly missed setting up at one of their locations. But we were on it and there was a contingency placed that wasn't needed in the end. 

So, everything was going well until control 10. As I approached the control Kerry Freund told me that he'd just seen a deputy who was asking about what was going on. He had explained to the officer what was happening and gave him my phone number if he had any further questions. Which he did. I talked to the guy on the phone and he was mad. He shut the Rallye down there and then or issue us with a citation. I wasn't going to argue with that. He came back to the control where I got the chance to talk face to face. 

Apparently he had received complaints from some people about "loud cars with big numbers on them" driving recklessly. He had (mis) understood that this was a time trial or some kind of race and was adamant that we needed a permit. He proceeded to give me a long winded explanation as to why a permit was required comparing us to bike races and charity motor cycle rides. 

He did even check one of the cars over that answered the description of a "loud" car. But let them off with a warning.

When it comes down to it the officer was only doing his job. Someone had complained and he was doing his duty to investigate. I apologized for the confusion and work I had caused for him and we parted on civil terms. 

With that the event was done and I sadly ordered everyone back to the Neighbors Saloon in Princeton to see what we could salvage from the day. It was a long, depressing drive back from control 10 to the end point. Plenty of time for me to mull the situation in my head. Yes, a letter to the local Sheriff letting him know of the event might well have stopped this from happening, but the sending of a letter hadn't been mentioned by my "mentors" on previous Rum Runner events so I never gave it a thought. Besides, this deputy was so angry he could've even stopped the event if we had filed a letter with the Sheriffs office.

Thirty miles of thinking things over meant I was quite depressed when I arrived at the bar, but I needn't have worried, every one was more than happy with the event, the roads came in for many compliments, and everyone had had a good time. 

As the Rallye had passed through nine controls we decided that we would score the Rallye as far as there. We had some very experienced scorers able to work with the truncated scoring and a timing error that had crept into the tulips unnoticed. Tulip for iPad is a great App but support for it has ceased. That's a pity, its simplicity of use made it great for me when putting on the first Rum Runner.

In the end everyone was happy with the results and the winners in Stock, and also overall with just 4 points were Louis Hardin and Priya Bansal, they'd come all the way from Madison, WI in their Fiat Spider.

Hardin and Bansal arrive at control 8

Winners in Equipped were Mike Thompson and Fred Rosevear scoring 7 points. Fred and Mike too, had come from Madison.

Thompson and Rosevear at Control 8

Novice winners with just 11 points were TJ Oistadt and Jeff Nordlie also from Wisconsin. 

Oistadt and Nordlie arrive at control 4

As Rallymaster I'm very grateful to all the winners traveling all for several hours to get to our little rallye. I hope you're telling everyone back home what a fun little event the Rum Runner is and will persuade more of you to come over in February for the Iced Rum Runner.

Once again, my thanks go out to everyone who took part in the Rallye and my crews of control point workers. Clarence and Kate Westberg, Kerry and Katherine Freund. Not to mention my wife Lorrie, who in addition to working a control has to do all the post event paperwork. Last but not least Ben Wedge who was wanting to learn how to work a Rallye and got to see first hand many issues as well as what could be seen as one of the worst case scenarios. I hope it hasn't put him off.

For a couple of days afterwards I was pretty low once what had happened had sunk in. It was one heck of a blow. But we're now making plans for the February Iced Rum Runner. We hope to see you then.

Prepping

Tschhhk, Tschhhk. Tschhhk, Tchhhk...
That's the sound of the printer down in the basement running off instructions for the Rum Runner Rallye in a few days.
All the hard work has been done. Plotting on the maps, going out for the leisurely drives  and checking the roads out. Then the route finalizing and measurement and then the pre-check.
It's been quite hectic.
The original plan was to have the event on the 4th, the Saturday but then the pressures of work took over and my employers instigated a mandatory overtime policy which not only moved the event to the Sunday but also curtailed any other road rally competition on our part as well.
(It also put me in the emergency room with a overwork related stress issue which wasn't very nice and caused me to miss the final pre-check but that's another story.)
Lets not forget that in the intervening we've also had a trip back to the UK and attended the Goodwood Revival.
Things have been so overwhelming that I'd even forgotten when I'd set the registration for the event to open. So imagine my surprise when I received an email notification telling me of the first entry for the event while we were on holiday in England!
So we're getting quite excited now. Right now I'm surrounded by delay forms, Tulips, waivers, General Instructions, and the event speciality. Fridge Magnets.
I think it's nice that everybody who runs gets something from the event. I'd like to get everyone T-shirts but not enough competitors get their entries in in time for me to get an order in to the printers. Fridge Magnets I can cope with at home. Though printing magnetic stock on a home inkjet printer can be fraught with "issues"...
Still, the fridge magnets are popular and I like to think that contestants take them home, stick them on their fridges and when a fellow rally competitor comes around for a beer to watch the game he sees the magnet and says.
"Rum Runner? Where's that one then?" He will then be told by his friend about the good time to be had on the Rum Runner and there you go, another potential entrant for next year.

The soon to be legendary Rum Runner 2014 Fridge Magnet.

That's how it should work anyway.

Now if you'll excuse me the printer has stopped running. There's some more papers to collate.

Goodwood Revival 2014

I'm going to step away from Road Rally for this next post and cover something I did on my holidays. I'm sure you won't mind, given the subject matter.

Most of us who know classic British cars and love motor racing know about the Goodwood Revival. A three day celebration of motor racing set in the delightful scenery of the Sussex downs at the world famous Goodwood circuit.

I've wanted to go to this event for a few years and having put a lot of overtime in at work for quite some time I decided to treat my wife and I to a couple of days there as a part of our 2014 trip back home. 

Right from the outset you are made aware this is something special. When you receive your tickets, you find they are printed in a facsimile style of race tickets from the 1940's to 1960's and are presented in a information packet/wallet that that looks like it is at least 40 years old complete with wear and scuff marks on the cover.

Our tickets with wallet and race programme

Revival always sells out so you should get your tickets early. Ours had been sat in the house, teasing us for a good six months before we left for the UK.

What makes the Revival unique is that nearly everyone who attends makes an effort to dress in period costume, (period being defined as 1948-1966 when Goodwood was originally open) and when I say nearly everyone I mean over 90% of attendees make an effort. Whether they have an outfit of genuine vintage clothing or have just bought a pair of white overalls and smeared some black make up on their faces to attend as a period race mechanic, they have a go. I looked at a few books of the era in question and my wife and I made several visits to thrift stores and trawled eBay looking for clothing that might pass muster. We also have a friend in a historical society in Wisconsin who kindly looked out some suitable items of clothing for us.

Here we are trying to evoke some colourful 1960's style

I left it a bit late to book a room in the area and so we ended up in Portsmouth, about 20 miles away. That was OK, but it would have been nicer to have been a bit closer so we didn't have to fight the race day traffic on the way home. But I wasn't the only one in this situation as also parked up at our hotel when we arrived was a D-type Jaguar and an AC Cobra.

With tickets, clothing, and accommodation sorted we were ready to go.

Come the morning of the event we decided to get there early as we had no idea what things would be like, and we made the decision to be there when the gates opened at 7:30am with the first race about 10:00. 

So here we are, we have made it. Saturday morning and we've just got out of our car at the circuit car park (it's a car park not a parking lot, we are in England don't forget) and the first thing we hear is the sound of a military brass band wafting through the air. Then as we pass through the main gate there they are.

The Royal Marine band

A Royal Marine military band greeting you. But are they a Royal Marine band? Perhaps they are a local brass band dressed up. That Policeman, is he a real policeman dressed in period clothing, or is he a civilian and that is his outfit for the event?

Are these real policemen?

It's overwhelming, it really is. You are surrounded by people dressed from the 1940's to the 60's. All of a sudden you don't know what year it is. You cannot help but smile or laugh to yourself. 

Everyone is in on this, staff, traders, everybody. Go and have a cup of coffee in a 1950's coffee bar. Go and do some shopping in a 1960's Tesco supermarket, you can even buy chocolates and other confections (even beer) in period packaging.

A black and white shot of the start line. What year is this?

 Seeing the race track for the first time took my breath away too. The start straight lined with its immaculately white painted structures, control tower, pit boxes, and grandstands,  with flags fluttering in the breeze. Mintex, Girling, Champion, all the correct names and logos for the period.

Behind the pit boxes and stands are the pits themselves. The cars. Ferrari, BRM, Lotus, Maserati, Allard, Connaught and those are just the single seat open cockpit formula race cars. The names of the saloon cars there are just as legendary, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz, Warwick... (I'd never heard of that one either). Another surprise was a Russian car. A Gaz, it didn't set the track alight in its races but it just goes to show they were racing most any type of car.

Old Mercedes at speed.

What of the races? This is what we came for. 

At this three day celebration the first day is mostly given over to practice, with just one race. A 90 minute event that races into the twilight. The famed Goodwood 9 hour race used to run into the dark, this race evokes some of that history.

Saturday and Sunday are both full days of racing. Each race is devoted to a different class of car and a different time period in the history of the Goodwood circuit ("in the spirit of the period" is a popular phrase used to describe the races). From 1930's single seat cars to 1960's saloons and sports cars, each take their turns. The races are timed, not run over a number of laps which keeps everything on schedule. The race lengths vary depending on the car, some single seater races are just 20 minutes long. The saloons can go up to an hour with a driver change in the middle of them. The confined spaces of the old pit lane makes this very entertaining and can even turn the race standings on its head. Thinking back, I still don't know how they managed to find the space to fit the big American cars like Ford Falcons and Plymouth Barracudas two abreast in there.

Every single one of the races was good, entertaining, exciting stuff. These car owners really know how to push their cars to the limit. Some of the cars may be over 60 years old but they really do race them. Crashes are not unknown, we watched a 1930's Alfa Romeo and Parnell MG dice together in front of us coming out of the chicane onto the start straight, the outcome of which was a broken front axle for the MG and the Alfa ended up upside down.

Aftermath of the dicing between the Alfa and the MG

Neither driver was hurt. We saw an AC Cobra over cook it at Madgwick corner and crumple the back end and then spin around to crumple the front end too just for good measure. 

Without a doubt the best race of the weekend was Saturdays St. Mary's Trophy. A race for saloon cars from the 1960's in which a couple of Jaguars, Austin A40 Farinas and an Alfa Romeo Guilietta battled cleanly between themselves for all of the 25 minute race. We watched transfixed as the cars passed us and on the large TV screen in front of us.  Who won wasn't important what really stood out was the effusive praise each driver had for each other during the finish line interviews. 

"This is what Historic racing is all about." Said ex-formula one driver Emanuelli Pirro. If that's the case then I want more.

Action in the St. Marys Trophy

Let's not forget that there was also a couple of races for 1950's motorcycles. If the look of the bikes compared to modern day ones wasn't odd enough these races saw both a Le Mans start and a rider change at half distance!

Saturday saw a tribute to the legendary Scottish driver Sir Jackie Stewart. A parade of almost every car that he had raced in his long, illustrious career. It was quite something to see those cars parade around the track I can tell you. On this day Sir Jackie led the parade in his Formula One world championship winning Tyrell 006. Quite emotional.

Jackie Stewart at the wheel of his Tyrell T006 

But nothing like as emotional as what occurred on the Sunday. A special celebration of the wartime airbase RAF Westhampnett, whose perimeter track formed the basis of the Goodwood motor circuit. Over 100 wartime military vehicles of all types paraded around the circuit, and taking centre stage were 23 jeeps, each one with a D-Day veteran on board as a passenger. They circled the track to rapturous applause and then to cap it all the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight passed over with the visiting Canadian Avro Lancaster. Two Lancasters, Spitfires and a Hurricane and 23 veterans. There was hardly a dry eye in the house.

The stars come out in force for Revival too. Whether they were drivers or TV stars with a passion for cars. In addition to Messrs. Stewart and Pirro already name-checked were legends Sir Stirling Moss and John Surtees. Race drivers, Mark Weber, Tiff Needell and Paul Stewart, all of whom have been at the wheel of a Formula One race car in their time. From the world of entertainment Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) was at the wheel of one of his cars, as was Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and Geri Haliwell, one time Spice Girl was seen there too.

Two days of this just left us wanting more, and we were both very sad to be leaving at the end of the final race on Sunday.

As we sadly walked out of the circuit after the final race we took a look at what is known as "over the road", where there are even more traders and a big top with live entertainment. Then behind that was the real goldmine. The car park for classic cars. Yes the festival was over, yes, the cars were leaving but I have never seen so many classics in one place. I must have counted 20 E-types, another half a dozen XK Jaguars. As well as your MG's Triumphs, Rovers, Jowetts and more. Classics as far as the eye could see. Two days and we hadn't had a chance to check all this out! 

The memories are many from attending the Revival. Here's a few personal favourites.

There's a couple of sounds I won't forget. That's the sound of the Lancia Ferrari in the Richmond trophy race on Sunday morning, and the sound of the BRM V16 engined car as it circulated on its demonstration laps.

There were a few cars that will stick in my mind too. The Marcos Xylon in the Jackie Stewart tribute parade and the Lotus 11 GT Breadvan in the RAC TT race are a couple of unusually shaped cars, and I really did like the Warwick GT350 even though I'd never heard of one before then.

Marcos Xylon

Lotus 11GT Breadvan

Warwick GT 350

Saturdays St. Mary's Trophy race was utterly brilliant and I hope I can find a recording of the entire race on YouTube or some such place soon.

Even as I read this through I realize there is so much I'm forgetting. The Mods and Rockers on their scooters and motorbikes parading the circuit along with some period police cars. The Canberra and Hawker Hunters fly past. The kiddies Pedal car races. I'm sure there's more.

So, for all of you who say "I'd really love to go to the Revival" or "It's on my bucket list" or something similar. Just go and do it, and to help things along, here's Ian's handy dandy pointers to help you prepare.

1. Book early and go for as many days as possible (all three if you can) You can use day one to check    out the exhibits, before spending the other days trackside.

2. Book your accommodation just as early and find a hotel as close as you can to the circuit. Though they do have a very neat traffic management system at the circuit, once you get on the main roads traffic can slow right down and travel can be very slow.

3. You must make some kind of effort to dress up, you'll enjoy things even more if you look like everyone else.

4. Visit the Goodwood road and racing website (www.grrc.goodwood.com) it is packed full of helpful tidbits of information to help you make the most of your visit. 

Revival is something you won't forget.

Time to turn to the tables.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm so fascinated by the sport of road rally. There's a lot of maths involved and mathematics and I do not get along terribly well. Is seven multiplied by eight 48 or 56? I'm having to count it out in my head right now, and now confirm it on a calculator 7 x 8 is 56. So, how does a mathematical nincompoop like myself cope with this? (Apart, of course from turning the calculating over to the navigator). If you are like me then fear not for these below are here to save you.

Larry Reid's Rally Tables on my dining room table...

These tables do all the hard work for you. I suppose it's not dissimilar to using the logarithm tables that we used to have in school. (Log tables and slide rules? It's getting just like school maths class.)

The book is a plethora of numbers and rallye calculations already worked out for you.

The riveting chapters include: Hundredths of minutes converted to seconds. Seconds converted to decimal parts of minutes. Miles per hour converted to seconds per mile and minutes per mile. But the biggest proportion of the book is given over to the Navigation Tables. Some 89 pages of tables where each speed between 12 and 59.75 mph is listed in tenth of a mile per hour increments along with the time it takes to cover a distance between 1 and 40 miles. 

About as interesting as watching paint dry to the uninitiated, but bread and butter stuff for the Rallyist. Three miles at 23 mph? 7 minutes 50 seconds. 

In the past, having these facts easy to hand must have been quite helpful to a navigator if they were trying to look out for landmarks and follow Rallye instructions while at the same time being bombarded with requests from the driver about their speed and progress. 
Also, you needn't go thinking that modern high tech equipment has replaced them. For one of the first things I was shown on my first Rallye, by a friendly fellow rallyist, and was advised to buy, was a set of Navigation tables on an iPad.

There you go, more Rallye fun, and more maths. I really should have paid more attention at school...