Great Race Posting #7
Well, after last night's exercise with the brakes, which despite all good intents and aids, was not very successful in modifying the problem; but we could see what it was and that put a finite (and tolerable) bound on the risk. We aren't likely to suffer catastrophic brake loss, anyway. Press On Regardless! Of course it would be nice to have a replacement drum right here, but believe it or not, we could't fit ALL the potential spare bits to build a spare Imperial, even in our big ol' trunk! I looked up Bill O'Sullivan in Harrisburg (using the phenomenal interactive Imperial Owner's Map on our club website), but before I could move on that, Dave had a brighter idea. I called the my mighty son Ethan (just turned 20), who was at home where we keep the spare 1961 Imperials! He was able to pull a healthy drum from another car there (Subtle XS, our Teal Blue Crown), pack it, and get into the overnight to our hotel in Binghamton, NY, where we'll be tomorrow night. Brilliant idea and a Super Response by Ethan on the Home Front Support Crew. He earned his crew tag today! Oh, by the way � when I called to thank him this evening, he said he's decided to run next year's Great Race � with his 40Kmile Preservation-class '66 VW Squareback (inherited from his Great Grandfather via his great Grandfather, if you catch the distinction) - How cool is that?!
Still, we had to run today and tomorrow with the burned drum (as Rumsfeld said, "You go to war with the army you have."). So, we decided to follow several new rules:
(1) Don't Be Stupid (wouldn't you think we used that one ALL the time?);
(2) Use an Averaging Method on Speed, rather than strict steadiness � we'll let the ups and downs of the roller-coaster roads work for themselves, the better to save the brakes that remain.
(3) Don't Use the Brakes (except when absolutely necessary) - we'll work the transmission and engine a bit harder to Save our Stoppers.
The change in technique means we don't really expect to do top-notch work today, but we do expect both the car and us to survive, to rally ANOTHER day (we think that's more important). Besides, the brakes are fine so long as they're not hot: the jerk-left, drag, and squeal only appear after some use; most likely because the checks and cracks in the drum surface either drive it out of round or catch the friction material fibers like heels in a bootjack. Or both. So my hope and plan is to keep the brakes as cool as possible, so they'll be useful when REALLY needed.
In fact, the Chrysler Cast-Iron 727 automatic transmission is so robust, it had no problem taking the gaff. These things were once used by giant Neaderthals, to slay mastondons with a single swinging blow! Then they were adopted by the Army for use as armor-piercing warheads on bunker-buster bombs! In fact, one was used last year by NASA to crash into the Moon in search of water � and it still shifted fine, even after they found some and got it all wet. Well, maybe I exaggerate a little, but these ARE some tough trannies. The engine is a pushrod 413, so we can't really rev it much over 5,000 rpm without popping some new holes in the hood, and that limits our road speed in first to about 35 mph, and in second to about 55. Top gear will run up over a hundred, but we don't much need that now, so we save it for timing runs on the interstate. The ratios are such that we can mostly run in second, using first just for very steep slopes (like coming down Mt. Tuscarora today, or the one road with grade markings up to 15% !). The 3-2 downshift is smooth anywhere from 20-50 MPH, but the 2-1 step is pretty fierce at anything over 20 mph (and not possible over 30-35). There's a lot of torque and big jump, so at 25+, it will chirp the tires and spill the sodas every time. But it works. We can hold almost and grade John Claussen can find; and we can punch down 3-2-1 (on our pushbutton control!) for full stops, using the brakes only for the last bit of each. The drums stayed cool enough all day that we had almost no pull or screech at all! The question then became � could we really rally this way; could we rack up even tolerable scores?
It was as beautiful a day as ever Pennsylvania can produce (hey, it's harder for PA than Hawaii � so we appreciate it more!). Cool in the morning, especially as we rose again to well over 2,000 feet for some more mountain madness. The sky started with a general overcast that broke gently through the morning into sailor's�dream cumulus clouds that danced from stage west to stage east under a light, steady breeze. Only for a little while in the afternoon did some of them flex their nimbus muscles enough to suggest precipitation and that never came, either.
We ran a series of 3 and 2 legs again. John laid out a masterful course that took us through the hills and over the bridges and creeks to BEEYOOTIFUL downtown Cumberland, MD for lunch and on into Hershey, PA and the HQ of the Antique Auto Club of America (AACA) at their amazing museum. The runs were pretty challenging and in the afternoon included a Claussen specialty: the overlapping maze, where the route doubles back and crosses over itself several times. That way, you see other cars in the race coming while you're going, and crissing while you're crossing. It can be very disconcerting and a real threat to our confidence. Even the best watch their position, and have a sense of where they are in the order as we run, but in these mazes, that reference is GONE! Then, on one road, I became sure we had gone off course as we seemed to be running way out of the maze zone and didn't see ANY other cars for a long while, but Dave held us to it and sure enough, the next turn did finally come up. Our Mugglicity Reality Index helped, too: when we see spectators, we figure we must still be on the real course.
We didn't miss any turns and we didn't blow any stops today, despite the unusual braking precautions. We also handled several unplanned moments: running up on slower vehicles; coming onto a confusing intersection (like the kind that defeated us yesterday). We handled them all with precision and no panic. Lesson learned: when confused, STOP, Mark Time, Think, & THEN go. That saved us twice. Dave says it's a sign of maturity (but we STILL play with cars ,Dave�.). Anyway, we felt pretty good about the day as we came in.
Well, there was one super-tight right-hander where I dropped the right rear into the culvert and smacked the frame rail right down on hard rock. If you've EVER seen the frame on one of these vintage Imperials, then an image of a locomotive chassis is in your mind now: a lesser car (including all known species of unibody transport pods) would likely have crumpled or at least acquired a new floor hump and jammed doors from a shot like that. But the double-wall, box-welded, X-braced base of ol' NO XQS just bounced back. When I looked later, I couldn't see but a scuff on the bottom. OK, it did knock out our intermittent instruments again. They had behaved for two days straight; but that jolt was enough to knock that gremlin out of its nest one more time. They stayed out for the rest of the day; but I have confidence now that the motor is running strong and healthy. Every now and then, the gauges wake up long enough to reassure me, too.
I had been teasing Dave about picking salad as we toss this WIDE-body jet down these single-engine runways. It often seems like my side is clicking the centerline dots, while his side is wiping the weeds. Sure enough, at a gas stop where I was doing a walk-around check, I went to pick out some little thing that was caught between the chrome sidesweep trim and the body paint � it was a head or two of fescue seed, plucked from the foliage as we passed, like an old-fashioned railroad mailbag, or the gold ring from a carousel ride. Hey, at least we're not wasting any of that nice paved road width!
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Dave in the Fog
Guys for Models
And SAM Models
Scores today: We hit a zero right off (3rd Ace - that's one-a-day for 3-in-a-row!); then �7, +8, -2, and �11 seconds. Sounds good (and it is, for us), but everybody's getting warmed up, so we placed 28th today (9th among the 25 Sportsman entries). That puts us in 4th overall for Sportsman. We'd be in 2nd place, but for the age factor on our new-ish car � the leader has a 1916, followed by a couple of 1928 models, and ours is 1961. Score is actual time multiplied by the age factor, so the teams above us have factors in the 0.7 range. Ours is 0.955. With factors, the leaders have a total so far of 32.39; but right behind them are 51.48, 53.82, then us at 1.00.17. First place may be moving out of reach, but there's not much space keeping us out of 2nd or third! Overall (among all racers, including the experts) we moved up to 17th.
We're out #20 tomorrow. We'll stick with the same plan that worked OK today � at least until we get that new drum tomorrow evening!
J 'one of the bad-brakes loonies in the slushbox whale' c
Day 8, June 15, 2011:
Great Race Post #8
Well, as I write tonight, we are back in New York, but just barely (I always figured Binghamton was kinda Pennsylvania leaking over the line into NY). We had a solid but tiring day. The course ran through western PA with a minimum of loops and turns, so it was mostly longer runs - a driver's day, with the navigator more limited to calling speed changes and sign watching. This part of Pennsylvania is a hill-and-valley folded remnant of the ancient collision between the African and North American tectonic plates � kinda like when a Hummer hits a Suburban: lots of folds and crumples. But here, the folds are all parallel and so most roads just run along the valleys, with only the occasional tunnel or pass to jump a ridge. Kinda limits both the scenery and the options for tricky rally routes (but John Claussen did manage another twister in the morning!). Highlights for me included breaking over a hilltop to see a massive windfarm on the next ridge � I don't know why some folks think those are ugly. To me they are a part of a beautiful future, and it's really inspiring to see them whirling and turning the very breeze into power. The highest point today was Red Rock Mountain, at 2449 ft. The road up and down had some heavy traffic and a lot of our racers got caught in the slow traffic. There were lots of time-adjustment allowance requested today (that's used when safety or unavoidable delay occurs, but only in 10-second increments, so there's no fine tuning that way!).
A straighter, longer-run route is not too bad for a car with bad brakes! We had to make it to Binghamton with our cracked drum, so we drove with our modified technique � LOTS of engine braking. I was a little less cautious today, because yesterday's experience gave me a feel for just how hot I can get this wounded wonder before it goes off in left field (literally). Careful attention to the pedal feel reveals early brake fade, before the heat is too much, so I increased my use of brakes today, where short applications were helpful, but we still kept to the transmission as the main tool for long grade management. Learning every day!
We crossed the Susquehanna river and recrossed the Wyalusing creek (many times � we ran up this little valley for the pleasure of its skinny little bridges. (Silly aside question: If you lived in the Wyalusing Valley, what would you cheer for your high-school teams? "Wyalusing! Wyalusing!"? Wouldn't "Tryawinning!" be better?). Holding concentration is a major challenge for us. Maybe it's the sun, or the long ride, or just because we're old guys, but each of has had to really work sometimes at keeping attentive. Mostly, we've caught each other, four eyes and a brain and a half being better than two or one). It's not that we're falling asleep (well, at least not me), but we do fuzz out and can miss a sign or marker and that can wreck our score. So when we get like that, we add in some noise that doesn't draw us to another topic, but keeps us more alert. I sing. It's not a pretty thing, but it works. It helps that I know about every other pop song ever written, so no repeats are required on a week-long ride. I also added a new trick. Dave gives me the next speed change, soon after we complete each maneuver. Sometimes (no, OFTEN), that next one comes many minutes later. Meanwhile, I'm watching our speed, steering the boat, worrying about brakes, traffic, and the terrain. Do you think I usually remember the new speed when we reach the trigger time or marker? Um, Nope. So, I changed how I use my special speedo mount (that's for the speedometer, not a swimsuit, OK?). Our special Timewise rally speedo has a round body mounted above the standard dash in a clear plexi bracket. That lets me rotate the rally speedo, so any speed I choose is at 12 o'clock. It's a LOT easier to keep the needle there than anywhere else (peripheral vision is all I need, so I can better watch the road). But today, I took to turning the speedo to get the NEXT speed straight up, at least in the shorter segments. Then, when the trigger came, I could see what speed I needed to change to, and that allowed a better-timed transition with less confusion at the critical moment. More learning every day!
You may recall the hard hit in a corner culvert I noted yesterday. I may have spoken too soon to say the damage was merely to pride. Today, the right rear (yep, that's what went down the drain) started to produce a regular clicking under power, and then the clicking grew to be most of the time�. Hmmm� that sounds a lot like a wheel bearing going south (and we're SUPPOSED to be going North!). It may be that the bearing took some of the culvert shot and is slowly deteriorating. I think it will hold for the next two days, though. I hope so, because pulling the back axle for a bearing change is NOT a roadside process. If it goes, we're done. Keep your fingers crossed! I tried to be gentle to it, but I'm still having occasional trouble reading turns that look like they might be taken without slowing (the goal is equivalent to no slowing, but we often stop and figure a delay that we then earn back afterward by running overspeed). Today, I took one left sweeper going in at 30 and out at 35, thinking I could do it without slowing. It was tighter than it looked. I did it, but only by employing some real four-wheel drifting. Fun, but limited in socially redeeming value (please note: no locals were harmed in the making of this YeeHah!) and also not too helpful for the ailing bearing. Oh well.
We had some other um� mechanical 'issues' today. Perhaps the most exciting was when the hood latch popped open while underway (did THAT get loosened in the culvert hit, too?). I've always thought that back-openeing hoods make good sense, but we don't have that on this car! Fortunately, there's the safety latch (which held). Unfortunately, the chromed center-hood windsplitter trim piece didn't get the joke: it's fasteners popped off (tinnerman nuts on cast pins!). We whipped into a bank lot and brought out the universal repair kit: DUCT TAPE! We traded a bit of elegance for a lot of security, so we don't lose this piece and take it right through the windshield! We didn't have to take a time allowance, because we were running in a transit, where we need only arrive at the next starting point by a time certain. Still, we had to hurry! That wasn't made easier by a bystander who insisted on asking question after question while we fixed the hood. Despite repeated apologies for our rudeness, he missed the hint and pressed on with more queries. Jeez! We finally had to just shut the doors and go. Sorry, sir! I managed to lose my sunglasses in the melee (I already lost my main pair of specs!).
The exhaust note has changed today, with a distinct puff-puff-puff under heavy loads. Just before the race, a leaky right manifold gasket was changed. I suspect it is going again � perhaps that manifold is warped? On the other hand, when that was done, Dennis at Capitol Mechanics also throttled the heat riser passage in the intake by trimming down those gaskets to choke the duct there � that has completely cured the knocking we had seen before during hot weather. I haven't heard a single ping this race. I'm anxious to try advancing the timing back to stock (see our 2006 tale, explaining this change) but it can wait til after this race is run.
There are other Chryslers and even another Imperial in this race. Car 62 is a lovely 1928 Chrysler 72 roadster (team Howe & Fisher). Car 44 is a 51 Newport, set up in period form for Carrera Panamerica service (very cool, team Auerbach & Auerbach). We also have a '66 Charger, but that's it for the MOPAR brands, unless you count the Hudsons (merged via AMC into Chrysler).
We lunched in Hazleton, PA and had the best dinner show yet in Binghamton, where again key downtown streets were closed for the display. A really big and enthusiastic crowd greeted us. There was even an Imperial in the local attendance ('65 4-dr Crown). At the extreme end was a turbine-powered T-bucket hot rod. Wild! Good band, too! A really nice effort, Binghamton � you're giving Cumberland, MD a run for their money as best stop yet.
After dinner, we broke early from the parc ferm� to start our repairs. Ethan had shipped our replacement brake drum and it was waiting for us at the hotel check-in. We borrowed a better-than-bumper jack from (former Grand Champions) Reader & Stone and set to it. Ethan had done a masterful prep job: double boxed, with minor bits bagged and taped to the inner, with a pack list, and inside, all bearing surfaces stuffed and bagged for cleanliness. We had only to pull the old one, pack the bearings with grease and slide the new one in place. What a great team! One of two shoe pivot adjustment screws on the backer is bound up (combination of heat and dust, most likely), so I couldn't bring the pedal all the way up where I like it. Still, we mounted the wheel, dropped the jack, and took NO XQS out for a test run. A fast series of 6 hot stops showed all straight and all silent. Sweeet! Tomorrow will be a LOT less stressful! We looked more closely at the old drum in daylight and found a big radial crack we hadn't seen before. Well, THAT explains a lot!
Tomorrow, we are the first car out. That's because we'll be coming in to the Saratoga Auto Museum for the evening and that's our 'Hometown' stop, so we get the honors. Saratoga is just 30 miles from home (so is our final stop in Bennington, VT, but Hemmings gets top billing there). This will be fun. I hope to see some pals there! If you're close and free, Come On Down! 5-7PM, at the Auto Museum. Of course, that means we MUST stay on course, so we don't get late. That would be embarrassing, so it's just not going to happen!
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Bully Hill Label
Speedo Rotation
And 3 Aces and 4 Aces DONE
Today, we earned no new Aces, but our scores were solid: 6, 3, 2, and �12, for a net score (after drop) of 11 seconds � good for 11th place today (4th in Sportsman). Some others did well too, so our overall position slipped back to 19th (5th in Sportsman). But now we're fully fitted with real brakes, so Watch Out!
Tomorrow, I hope to write a bit about some of our compadres on the race. This is a great bunch of folks and you ought to know more about them.
J 'gimme a brake' c
