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Part
1, Background and Prep
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Part
2, Day 1, 2 |
Part
3, Day 3, 4, 5 |
Part
4, Day 6, 7, 8 |
| Part
5, Day 9, 10, 11 |
Part
6, Day 12, 13
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Part
7, Day 14, 15 |
Part
8, Day 16, 17, 18 |
No Excuses!
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Day 6: Stage 4
Wow! What a tough
day! 7 1/2 hours of competition, from Dublin, Ohio to Indianapolis,
Indiana in a run that lasted from 7:45 to 6:30. We made show stops in
three other smaller cities in between! We were doing well until the
last leg, when our brains were a bit fried. The last leg of today's
rally was a maze of farm roads (just a wee bit wider than the Imp!).
It was a series of stop-and-go's at speeds of 15, 20, 25, 35, 45 mph,
looping around and back over the same intersections. At one time there
were 73 car in the maze at once! We missed a turn and actually lost
track of our time error (OK, let's call it that we were 'lost'). By
the time we recovered the track, we knew we were several minutes off the
pace, but we weren't sure just how much! With the other cars cris-crossing
all around, we couldn�t even just try to catch up to our original position
in the order - we couldn't tell where that position was! We took a
SWAG and floored it, passing the '56 and '58 Corvettes, a Mackey, and our
friends in a '58 DeSoto, all while they were dutifully going about 35 mph,
and we were blasting at near 70 - all on 1-lane farm roads, passing halfway
in the weeds. WHEW!
The
best cars for this type of event are small, light, overpowered cars with
tight suspensions and manual transmissions. And fade-proof brakes.
SO we have a real challenge here to prove that an Imperial can take it and
make it even in this trial. We did OK. On that got-lost leg, we
overcorrected and came in 1 minute TOO EARLY! We'll have slid a bit in
the rankings, I guess, but we also got our first ACE (award for a perfect
time - zero seconds error) on a leg early in the day.
The Imp was a real soldier today. We flew down some rough and gravelly
little trails. We hit the brakes hard. We even power slid a few
corners when we were way off. Not the intended life for a stately
cruiser like this. Still, not even a stone chip today, just a little
more rattle underneath. OH! I forgot to tell you about that
rattle I mentioned yesterday! This morning EARLY, before we began, I
slid under and found the left exhaust mount (not the little flexy bit, but
the frame-mounted cantilever) squeaked when I pushed up on the pipes.
AHA! So I tightened that right up and that squeak stopped. As
soon as we got out on the course, though, I could hear that I had not gotten
the one I was after. In my haste, I assumed that the squeak I had
found was THE squeal, not just A squeak. Back on my back tomorrow,
too, I guess. Still, I can't complain. There were 3 DNF's today
- at least one due to a water-whipping prairie thunderstorm that blew water
sideways into everything (including some old ignitions). We're
changing tactics slightly tomorrow. Who knows?
Wish
I could send you some pictures! So far, none of the posted images at
greatrace.com show the Imp (the popular image around here is more for 30s
vintage open wheel racers).
Day 7: Stage 5
Well, I wrote you a longer
report, but this road-based email program is hard for me. I think I
erased it before it got sent. I'll try again in brief.
Today
was a driver's consistency course - lots of long, level runs. That's
better for a big car. We tried a new method for timing the corners, as
we were not satisfied with our performance so far. We were ragged,
working out the details on the fly, and then we missed a timing mark on the
last leg. So we got a 1:24, about the same as before. Still, we
are encouraged by that (we didn't get worse, even when learning a new way),
so we'll do it that way tomorrow, too - we WILL break the one-minute mark.
For today, though, we fell in the ranks again - to 15th in Rookies and 70th
overall.
No
rain today. We ran from Indianapolis IN, to St. Louis, MO. We
did our park and show on the famous Eads bridge over the Mississippi, closed
just for us. I got a photo of the Imp on the bridge with the Gateway
Arch behind, as the sun set.
Still,
the small towns are more fun. They really come out for us and
Vandalia, IN is my favorite so far!
[Vandalia,
the former capital city of Indiana, is where Abe Lincoln first practiced
law. Here�s a rare picture of
a Lincoln inside an Imperial!]:
A
big car is tough in this run, but we don't have it the worst. There's
a team of two fellows running a 1922 Rolls Royce - mechanical brakes on the
rear only. Manual spark advance. Wow, what a job to horse that
around. So, they�re really just touring - but they still managed a
43-second score today!
The
Imp is running well. A little lope at idle (fouled plug or vacuum
leaks?), but strong and smooth under power. The brake pedal is lower
than when we started, but still firm. The new method we adopted today
uses timing of the decel and accel half-speed points, rather than
pre-measured tables of speed-change times. That allows a gentler
driving style as the half is the half whether the braking and accels are
hard or not. I think we can get the brakes all the way to California
this way!
We
haven't seen any IMLers since Jeff Cantor in Philly. I know we aren't
coming to every town in America, but if we're near you, we'd love to meet.
How often do you see a racing Imperial after all?
Day 8: Stage 6
YESSSSSS! Well, today
our new formula paid off and we achieved not only less than 1 minute error,
but a very satisfying 15 second score! Of course, it was a low-scoring
day for many teams, because the organizers elected to drop one leg that
'some teams' had difficulty understanding (isn't that the point?!). We
did it just fine, but they make the rules. If they'd kept that one, we
would have moved up more, but as is we went from 70th to 65th and from 17th
to 9th in Rookie Class. In fact, I spooked a little during the last
leg, when we missed a speed change mark and the car behind (that didn't miss
it) came charging up on us. Dave proposed an approximate correction
(we couldn't know exactly when we missed that sign), but I thought we needed
more - just because that trailing car (a Mercedes 190SL) was so close.
I was wrong and though Dave accepted my 5 second extra correction, we ended
up 10 seconds early on that leg. If I'd stayed the course, we would
have had 10 seconds today and won the Daily Rookie Trophy! Lesson
learned.
Today
we ran from St. Louis to Springfield, MO. We had only two intermediate
stops and it was another driver's day - with a real premium on steady speed
control, rather than lots of rapid fire turns and speed changes for the
navigators. Now that we're in the flats, the Imp is very happy and
we'll be gaining on the little cars that out-maneuvered us in the hills.
[we
passed through Ulman, MO � a tiny village, unexpected.
Dave�s last name is Ullman, so he snapped a shot over his shoulder
as we motored out of downtown Ulman]:
Is
there any better way to see the country than from an open Imperial?
Absolutely
no mechanical problems so far. The oil was less than 1/2 quart down
this morning. We still didn't get to that squeak, because we were
parked in an urban garage last night (St. Louis) and it was an uninviting
place to lie down and slide under. Besides, I need a curb to pull up
onto to make room for my fat head to fit safely under.
Whenever
we pull in to a town for a pit stop or meal, we always line 'em up for the
folks to see. We hand out picture cards to the kids and sign
autographs. The Imp always has its top down (if no rain) so the folks
can see the red leather, square steering wheel, pushbutton transmission, AND
we always put out our 1:18 die cast model, bedecked with great race
stickers, just like the real car! Very popular with the little folk!
I'd
like to tell you that there's pictures of us on the website, but so far I
haven't seen one of the Imp there. The organizers favor the older cars
and open-wheelers, perhaps as more evocative of the 1908 Great Race - Who
remembers that movie?
Well.
I'm off to bed, psyched for another good run tomorrow (to Wichita), and the
proof in the doing of our improved technique: to repeat our good scores as
consistently as we began with poorer ones.
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