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Conference oass::racers

Title:Racers and Racing
Notice:As long as it's not NASCAR or F1 or Drags...
Moderator:RHETT::BURDEN_D
Created:Tue Aug 08 1995
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:391
Total number of notes:4486

10.0. "SCCA PRO Rally Note - 1991 Season" by OASS::BURDEN_D (He's no fun, he fell right over) Mon Feb 04 1991 09:40

The first National SCCA PRO Rally is less than a month away.  The Atlanta
Region is holding the Chattahoochee Forest National PRO Rally in Helen, GA
on March 1-2, 1991.

If you know anyone who would like information or an entry form, get them in
touch with me since I'm the registrar for the event.

Dave
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
10.1not again.....OASS::BURDEN_DHe's no fun, he fell right overWed Feb 06 1991 08:279
    Oh well....  The Chattahoochee Rally's been cancelled.  The Forest
    Service suddenly claimed we had to have all the paper work submitted 90
    days before the event.  For all the events in the past 2 or 3 years all
    they required was 30 days.
    
    With any luck, we'll try to re-schedule it for December as the last
    event of the year.  More details as they become available.
    
    Dave
10.2Tiadaghton '91OASS::BURDEN_DHe's no fun, he fell right overMon May 06 1991 15:566
Chad Dimarco won the rally in a Subaru Legacy and Tim O'Neil came second in the
Rallye Golf.  I don't remember the other finishers.....

Dave

(Knoxville to Atlanta in 2.5 hours?  No problem...)
10.3Road Atlanta - June 15OASS::BURDEN_DHe's no fun, he fell right overThu Jun 20 1991 16:5076
               Road Atlanta Rallysprint I & II - June 15, 1991
                      
               
    Father's day weekend was a busy 2 days of racing at Road Atlanta.  
Regional road races both days and two rallysprints on Saturday night.

    Last year Chuck McCrary swept both events, but after his crash at 
Tiadaghton in May he'll need a new car before he comes back.

    Ten teams entered these two coefficient 1 events with even entries from 
Tennessee and South Carolina  It also seems the teams are getting more 
'mature' since we only had Seed 1 and 2 drivers, no Seed 3s.

    Rallysprint I started at 6:41 p.m. with Ken and Lori Payne leading the 
way in their Saab 99.  Greg Healey and Richard Martin were next in a Dodge 
Ram pickup, but only made it halfway through the first stage (less than � 
mile) when the left rear axle broke.  It was right after the two speed bumps, 
but Greg determined previous wear and tear had caused the breakage, not the 
bumps.

    The second stage featured a 50 yard stretch of dirt connecting two tarmac 
roads and a 3/4 mile dirt section on the outside of the track. Going into the 
downhill left hander near Turn 10 of the road course, Ken Payne locked up the 
tires on the Saab and started sliding towards the trees.  He let up on the 
brakes to try and avoid the trees when something snapped in the right front 
corner and he couldn't turn in.  Whack!  No one was injured, but because of 
the suspension damage that caused them to go off, they couldn't continued.

    The long dirt section near the end of the stage proved interesting for a 
few cars.  Three teams opted to start on tarmac tires, hoping to make up time 
on the sealed sections of the course and 'tip toe' through the dirt.  John 
Shirley and Kennon Rymer in a Triumph TR8 had hand grooved Hoosier 
Autocrossers, Dave Burden and Paul Boehlert in a VW Rabbit GTI had 175/50x13 
Pirelli P7s while Martin George and Eric Riner in a Toyota Corolla had normal 
street tires.  Everyone else was running some variety of dirt tires.

    So, who goes off the dirt and rolls it a few times? One of the cars with 
dirt tires.  Allan Davis and David Howard in a Datsun 210 made it three cars 
out in the first 2 stages.  No one was injured, but the field certainly 
shrunk in a hurry.

    The transition from dirt back onto tarmac at the Turn 11 bridge was 
probably the most challenging for the drivers.  It is a 90� right with the 
approach on gravel from between two sign boards.  On the outside of the turn 
are a few Port-O-Lets and then you have the bridge to contend with.  Even 
with all the severe drifts the cars got into, everyone kept it clean and 
didn't hit anything this year.

    After 6 stages the end of Rallysprint I was called by organizer Jack 
Phillips.  Bruce Newey and Paul Wearing won it easily, taking fastest time on 
all stages.  Second and third were separated by 5 seconds with Shirley/Rymer 
beating out the Father-Son team of  Robert and Billy Waits.  Forth and fifth 
were 4 seconds apart with Burden/Boehlert edging out the team of Paul Geren 
and Tripp Gantt.

    Rallysprint II started after a short service break and contained 4 
stages.  It was also time to put the lights on the cars since FCO was 
scheduled for 10:00 p.m.  Burden and Boehlert decided to put on a set of 
Michelins to see if losing a little ground on the tarmac sections was worth 
the extra grip in the dirt.

    Most of the tarmac turns were getting gravel kicked up on them anyway, so 
going to a more forgiving tire might help.

    Unfortunately it didn't.  Newey/Wearing won all the stages and the only 
changes in the overall results were Dave Payne
 (now teamed up with Richard Martin) jumping from 6th up to 4th, pushing 
Burden and Geren back one spot each.

    Alstart (Bruce Newey) and Barron Garage (Chuck McCrary) continued their 
finishing fund by awarding each of the Seed 2 teams that finished $20 per 
event.  They paid out 7 times for these two events.

    The next two events for the SEDiv are the Sand Hills PRO Rally on July 
13th in Patrick, SC and then back to Road Atlanta on August 3rd.

10.4more notes from the left seatOASS::BURDEN_DHe's no fun, he fell right overMon Jun 24 1991 18:4143
    For some reason, most of the times I managed to get the Rabbit sideways
were on my side.  Usually you find the co-driver's door heading for the
trees, not the driver's.  The first time was coming out of the first dip,
foot to the floor in 4th gear, with the road climbing up and to the right.
The P7s were pushed a little too much and slipped a little.  A momentary lift
of the throttle brought it back under control, but it caught my attention!

    The other nasty time was coming out of the second dip (why did I suddenly
have problems climbing hills??) when I was into heavy left foot braking in
3rd when I decided I really needed to be in 2nd to power out properly.  The
turns tightens up a bunch to the right and there is a guard rail on the
outside as well.  I did a quick shift of my feet to the left (left foot from
brake too clutch and right foot from gas to brake) and attempted to jam it
into 2nd gear.  For some reason it hung up in neutral for a bit (with the
stresses on the chassis at that point I could probably understand why...) and
I had to keep my foot on the clutch while I hunted around for 2nd gear.  I
quickly reaquainted myself with the theory that when you are fully committed
to a turn, cutting power to the driven wheels isn't such a good idea.  I took
a little more tread off the P7s on that turn, but found 2nd and pulled out.
                           

    The fun slides were coming off the back dirt section onto the tarmac just
before the bridge.  You approach the turn in 3rd, on gravel, brake and
downshift to 2nd and set the car up for the right hander (by tossing the
co-driver first.)  Let off the brake, flip the car back the other way around
and hit the tar sideways (driver's door first), full opposite lock and full
throttle.  There is gravel all over the tar so it's just a matter of waiting
for the tires to grab, straighten the wheel out and go!  We probably spent a
good 50-75 feet completely sideways, just sitting there, watching the
porta-potties getting closer and waiting for the rear tires to find tarmac so
the front end can pull the car out.  Once the tires grab, it's important to
not over-correct because you then have to thread your way over the bridge.  I
was very sensitive to when the tires started to grab and did my best to
correct just as they did so we didn't start the rear end waving all over the
place.

    I found the Michelins easier to drive and more fun because they'd grab
once the car was sideways much better than the Pirellis.  With all the chewed
up corners and the darkness, I had more confidence diving into a turn with
the Michelins because I knew they would handle whatever road conditions were
is store for us.  Because they were taller (14/60x14 vs. 175/50x13) I lost
some acceleration, but they kept us on the road and I had more fun driving.
                                                                      
10.5Sand Hills PRO Rally - July 13, 1991OASS::BURDEN_DHe's no fun, he fell right overMon Jul 15 1991 21:01235
                           Sand Hills PRO RALLY
                   (Coefficeint 2 Divisional PRO Rally)
                        Patrick, SC - July 13, 1991
                              by Dave Burden

    	 They said I-20 from Atlanta, GA to Columbia, SC would be boring 
    and they were right.  We (myself, Diane, Anthony - 2.5 years and 
    Samantha - 3.5 months) left around 12:30 Friday afternoon from north of 
    Atlanta and met up with my co-driver for this event, Ken Sluder, just 
    off I-20, East of I-285.  He had managed to get us some real 
    sponsorship (re: $$$) for this event from Owsley & Sons, Inc so the 
    entry fee and some travel expenses would be covered for once!  Point 
    the van east and cruise.

    	 Somewhere west of Augusta we saw Al Suarez hauling his white 
    Rabbit towards Atlanta.  We also saw a white Corvette being trailered 
    west, both were headed to some Solo event (find out where).  As we got 
    closer to Hartsville, SC (exit 116 off I-20) we noticed the terrain 
    changing and more and more sand off to the sides of the highway.  So 
    this is the stuff we'll be racing in this weekend.

    	 We pulled into the Day Inn in Hartsville around 6:00 p.m. and hit 
    the pool.  No rally activities were planned until Saturday morning out 
    at the State Forest, so we had all evening to relax.  Dick Casey and 
    his crew chief Skip pulled in around 9:00 p.m. and then SEDiv Rally 
    Steward and co-organizer for this event, Jim Kloosterman, stopped by so 
    we all sat around the pool and chatted.

    	 By the time we got up Saturday more rallyists had invaded the 
    hotel.  Dave Payne and David Gantt were there in the Barron Garage 
    Mazda RX2, John Shirley and Kennon Rymer had the Triumph TR8, Robert 
    and Billy Waits had their Mazda RX7 and Ken and Lorri Payne had their 
    trusty (and repaired) Saab 99.  Everyone hopped in the tow vehicles and 
    headed out to the Sand Hills State Forest, about 15 miles away.

    	 Greg Healey was very good about placing 'RALLY ->>' signs at 
    the intersections on the way to the picnic area which served as Rally 
    Headquarters, except for the very last turn.  This omission sent 3 of 
    us down a 1 lane State Forest road for about 2 miles before deciding 
    this was wrong and finding a place to turn the rigs around.  By the 
    time we got back to the picnic area, Greg had put the last sign up...

    	 The picnic area was shaded with lots of trees and surrounded by a 
    swamp full of Cyprus trees.  It was a good place to bring the family 
    and many did.  While the husbands were off playing in the sand in their 
    big toys, the kids were playing in the sand with their little toys. 
 
    	 There was an advertised limit of 20 cars for this rally, but only 
    9 showed up.  Tibor Von Denes brought the Group A Suzuki Swift that had 
    run Tiaghdaton and teamed up with Eric Riner for this run.  Since Tibor 
    is an FIA seeded driver, neither he nor Eric would be eligible for any 
    Divisional points.

    	 Bruce Newey and Paul Wearing had the Alstart Mazda RX7 and Mike 
    Harris and Duane Simpson were there in their Mazda P'up.  Dick Casey's 
    co-driver, Martin Depot, arrived at the picnic area after an early 
    morning drive down from Washington, DC along with Bruno Bilek, who came 
    to spectate because his car is still being repaired.

    	 The rally started a little late, but for a first time event, not 
    too bad.  Casey/Depot were first on the road and as they accelerated 
    away down the first stage we became aware of our ever present 'friend', 
    Dust.  The 1 minute interval was enough to let most of the dust settle 
    or drift away, but pockets of it lingered around at the nastiest places 
    on the stages.  We were 6th on the road, right behind Von Denes/Riner 
    in the Swift.  Fortunately, they were quicker than us so by the end of 
    the long stages the dust had almost 2 minutes to settle before we got 
    to it.

    	 The roads in the State Forest featured lots of deep rutted sand, 
    on the straights and in the turns.  The trick was keep going.  If you 
    stopped, you got stuck, plain and simple.  The first stage was almost 7 
    miles long and ended at a dead-end.  We simply turned the cars around 
    and once the course opening truck (Greg Healey's Mitsubishi) ran stage 
    2, we headed back.  During this 'transit' zone, Robert Waits had to 
    change the left rear tire because it was slowing deflating.  He then 
    found his spare had even less air it so bummed a spare off Dave Payne's 
    RX2. 

    	 The last turn on stage 1 (and the first on stage 2) was about a 
    100� switchback, downhill headed in and uphill headed out.  The inside 
    was very deep sand and it got better the wider you went.  Robert and 
    Billy Waits found out you didn't want to go too wide though.  On the 
    2nd stage they got wide near the exit and backed off to avoid bumping 
    the bank and stopped.  And then dug in trying to get out.  The video 
    from that corner shows the RX7 buried up to the read axle.  They were 
    the first DNF of the event. 

    	 I found that most of the time I could get through the sharp sandy 
    corners in 2nd gear, but would have very little power on the exit.  
    Later one I would jump downshift to 1st going in and grab 6000 rpm all 
    the way through.  It would kick up wall of dirt since the front wheels 
    would be cranked all the way to one side, but it gut us through.  About 
    2 miles after we passed Waits and Waits in the RX7 we came upon more 
    triangles on the right just before a 90� right.  We went a little wide 
    and saw Newey and Wearing standing next to their RX7.  It had blown the 
    engine.  Two down. 

    	 About this time the exhaust separated on the Rabbit.  It was 
    caused by the rear muffler hanging coming off which gave the system too 
    much flex in the middle and the center joint came apart.  Nothing was 
    dragging (or so I assumed since I didn't hear anything scraping) so it 
    didn't really cause us any concern.  Right after the finish control we 
    saw the Saab of the Paynes, parked.  They had vapor lock troubles and 
    lost 10 minutes getting it restarted.

    	 Shirley and Rymer never made it to the end of the stage.  They 
    blew a front tire on the TR8 and tried running out on it.  After about 
    2 miles of running on the flat it came off the rim to the inside and 
    jammed the steering in a turn.  John had to back off and got stuck in 
    the sand.

    	 After 2 stages and over 17 miles of stages, our odometer was still 
    working.  This is significant since I had relocated the magnets and 
    pickup to the right front driveshaft.  The magnets kept getting knocked 
    off when I had them on the rear drum so I was hoping to run the entire 
    rally with a good odo this time.

    	 The start of the 3rd stage was our undoing.  We missed the turn on 
    the stage and did a quick U turn to get back to it.  Because of the 
    exhaust noise or the missed turn or the whatever, we checked in 2 
    minutes too early at the start control.  Our only mistake of the rally.  
    The stage itself went great, 2.46 miles with only 2 tulips and not too 
    much dust.  After this stage was a 1 hour service and dinner break, 
    time the fix the exhaust and check the front pads.

    	 Back at the picnic area we saw that Casey and Depot had run into 
    something a bit tougher than the front end of the Golf.  They had 
    crested the hill at the end of the SS3 and found the control vehicle in 
    a not-so-safe place.  Dick had a choice of the truck, the workers or 
    a tree.  He chose the latter.  The grill and bumper were removed and 
    they had to patch a small hole in the radiator, but he was back in the 
    rally at the end of service.  We put the exhaust system back together 
    and wired up the muffler hanger so it wouldn't fall again.  The front 
    pads didn't need changing even with all the left foot braking I was 
    doing.

    	 Robert and Billy Waits towed Newey and Wearing in during the 
    service too.  The Waits' opted to run the rest of the stages just for 
    fun and got to start at the end of the pack.  They managed to get 
    through the corner they got stuck in two more times before the day was 
    over.

    	 During the break we discovered we had the 2 road points.  We 
    checked our score card and, unfortunately, they were correct.  On stage 
    times we were 4th overall: Casey/Depot (22:59), Von Denes/Riner 
    (23:04), Payne/Payne (24:51), Burden/Sluder (24:55), Harris/Simpson 
    (26:01) and Payne/Gantt (28:07).  When you added in the road points for 
    us and Saab we were still in 4th, but Harris/Simpson were in 3rd, 54 
    seconds ahead of us.

    	 The 4th stage was interesting.  The first route instruction was 
    0.64 miles in, a sweep left with deep ruts (just like all the other 
    turns...)  But, before we got to that turn we saw a triangle off to the 
    right.  Approaching the turn the Suzuki stuck in the sand on the 
    outside and right in front of that was the Golf!  The first and second 
    place cars stuck!  We zipped on by on the inside of the turn, felt 
    sorry for them for about 3 seconds and then back to cutting through the 
    dust and sand, trying to make up for the 2 minutes we lost.  We did the 
    stage in 3:23, Harris/Simpson did it in 3:04, now we were 1:13 down.  
    We were also second on the road at this point, behind the Payne's in 
    the Saab.

    	 The 5th stage was the longest of the rally and we really cooked.  
    The ruts helped on most of the turns, but did nasty things when you hit 
    them in 4th gear in the middle of a turn.  Part way through the stage I 
    started to notice a lack of dust.  It turns out that the Paynes took a 
    left at T instead of a right at T (the left was not roped off either.)  
    It cost them about 3 minutes.  We did the stage in 14:32, Harris and 
    Simpson took another 21 seconds off and now lead us by 1:34.  I wasn't 
    doing too well trying to reel them in...

    	 One stage and 9.24 miles left to chop off 1:34.  Didn't seem too 
    likely, but we gave it our best shot.  With only 4 cars left running, 
    we also wanted to finish since they had cash prizes and a finishers 
    fund.  We were now first on the road and against our better judgment, 
    agreed with the other drivers to allow a 2 minute gap between cars.  At 
    the end I took 11 seconds off our deficit (11:18 vs. 11:29), but still 
    ended the day in second place, 1:23 down.  

    	 After the rally most competitors congregated at Greg Healey's 
    house for pizza, beer, sodas and Sand Hills PRO Rally video footage!  
    After we had properly scrutinized everyone's cornering technique we 
    watched some Paris-Dakar videos and then went to the RAC when we got 
    tired of all the sand. 

    	 The SEDiv Rally Championship is getting tighter.  We have 2 more 
    coefficient 1 events and 1 more coefficient 2.  Bruce Newey has a 38 
    point lead, but with up to 80 points still available, 9 drivers have a 
    shot at the title.

   Driver/Co-driver	       Vehicle	     SS1   SS2	  SS3	SS4   SS5    SS6    RP	TOTAL
1  Mike Harris/Duane Simpson   Mazda P'up    9:35  13:28  2:58	3:04  14:11  11:40  	54:45
2  Dave Burden/Ken Sluder      VW Rabbit GTI 9:24  12:22  3:09	3:23  14:32  11:18  2	56:08
3  Dave Payne/Dave Gantt       Mazda RX2     10:14 14:01  3:52	3:37  16:32  13:13  1	62:39
4  Ken Payne/Lorri Payne       Saab 99	     9:05  12:33  3:13	3:21  17:11  11:56  10	67:19
   Dick Casey/Martin Depot     VW Golf GTI   8:38  11:23  2:58	DNF (stuck)  	    	DNF
   Tibor Von Denes/Eric Riner  Suzuki Swift  8:29  11:39  2:56	DNF (stuck)  	    	DNF
   John Shirley/Kennon Rymer   Triumph TR8   8:39  DNF (stuck)	      	     	    1	DNF
   Robert Waits/Billy Waits    Mazda RX7     9:02  DNF (stuck)	      	     	    	DNF
   Bruce Newey/Paul Wearing    Mazda RX7     8:42  DNF (mech.)

SEDiv Standings:
Drivers:
1  Bruce Newey	   102
2  Robert Waits	   64
=  Mike Harris	   64
4  Dave Burden	   62
5  David Payne	   56
6  Ken Payne	   53
7  John Shirley	   47
8  Greg Healey	   38
9  Martin George   26
10 John Geren	   22
11 Chuck McCrary   20
12 Gary D'Abate	   19
13 Allan Davis	   14

Co-Drivers:
1  Paul Wearing	   78
2  Kennon Rymer	   68
3  Duane Simpson   64
4  Lorri Payne	   53
5  Eric Riner	   48
6  David Gantt	   42
7  Ken Sluder	   36
8  Billy Waits	   32
9  Tibor Von Denes 26
=  Paul Boehlert   26
11 William Gantt   22
12 Rob Garrison	   20
13 Greg Gerdon	   19
14 Jay Roberts	   14
=  Richard Martin  14

10.6WFOVX8::DOBOSZ_MIdidn'tdoitnobodysawmeyoucan'tproveanything!!!Tue Jul 16 1991 12:5910
Re: Note 837.5 by OASS::BURDEN_D "He's no fun, he fell right over"    
>                   -< Sand Hills PRO Rally - July 13, 1991 >-

Good report.  One question though...

>    The stage itself went great, 2.46 miles with only 2 tulips and not too 
>    much dust.  

What's a "tulip"?
							Mike
10.7pretty little flowers?OASS::BURDEN_DHe&#039;s no fun, he fell right overTue Jul 16 1991 15:2013
  A 'tulip' is what we call route instructions.  Each turn in the route
  book has a line drawing of the turn with a dot at the bottom indicating
  where you come in, and an arrow showing the exit direction.  A 'Y' would
  look like this:
  
  	^    /
        \   /
         \ /
          |
          |
          0
  
  Dave
10.8All the pain without all the fun....WARIOR::BURDEN_DHe&#039;s no fun, he fell right overThu Oct 03 1991 17:32142
This isn't a PRO rally story and it's not even about a race car,
but I'm sure most of you can relate.....

                           Just Another Weekend
                              by Dave Burden

    	 This little weekend trip started at noon on Friday, September 
    27th.  The van was loaded with household goods for a family that had 
    moved from Atlanta to Massachusetts, but couldn't get everything into 
    their U-Haul truck.  My car trailer was all hitched up and ready for 
    the trip too.  The clock struck 12:00 and I was off.  My first stop was 
    in Charlotte, NC to pick up Ted Donlon who was going to help with the 
    driving.  Ted's a fellow rallyist and he had to drive up from 
    Charleston, SC to meet me.

    	 Ted had phoned me directions on where to meet him, and I had kind 
    of remembered them, but then lost them.  I knew the major turns to 
    take and had a vague recollection of the side streets.  When I arrived 
    at what I thought was the right house (4:05 p.m.), no one was there, 
    which was okay, because he said there wouldn't be anyone there.  I 
    waited until 5:15 p.m. and up drove Ted.  He had a few delays on the 
    way up, but we hit the road again by 5:30 p.m.

    	 Head up 77 North and cross into Virginia at 7:00 p.m.  Stop for 
    dinner on 81 North around 8:30 p.m. and then keep driving.  Made it to 
    Winchester, VA by midnight and cruised into PA around 12:30 a.m. 
    Saturday.  We then took 78 once out of Harrisburg instead of going up 
    through Scranton because we figured the roads would be better.  At 
    each fuel stop I would check the trailer and ramps, everything was fine 
    before jumping onto 78.  Just before Allentown we took 22 to Bethlehem 
    towards 33 North.  Route 22 was very bumpy, but it didn't slow us down 
    much.  Around 3:30 a.m. we stopped for fuel and I checked everything 
    again and I noticed one of the ramps was gone!  No great loss, they are 
    only 2"x10"x8' spruce boards, but the T handle had broken a weld and 
    the ramp was somewhere on Route 22.

    	 Head up 33 North to 209 North (with a 4 mile trip on I-80) and up 
    through the Delaware Water Gap.  It got kind of foggy with frost and 
    freeze warnings in the area.  We saw a few deer, but none tried to 
    commit suicide.  Made it out of PA by 5:15 a.m. and hopped on I-84.  
    Stopped in Waterbury, CT for breakfast around 6:30 a.m. and then headed 
    for Hartford.  Had to take a detour to I-91 north because the I-84 
    interchange was closed, no big problem.  Stay on I-84 into MA, hop on 
    the Mass Pike to 290 and then 495 to Route 3 and up into Nashua, NH by 
    10:00 a.m.  We had arrived!

    	 I unloaded the van, parked the trailer, bought two new ramps and 
    then stopped in on a few friends while I had some time to spare.  Ted 
    headed up to his old co-driver's house to help dispose of 3 Saabs that 
    were stripped for parts years ago.  Before it got too dark we loaded 
    the van with a few old trunks and miscellaneous stuff from my parents 
    house.  Saturday night was to be the last real night's sleep for 3 
    days.  

    	 What was this trip all about you ask?  Well, I'm about the reveal 
    that.

    	 Sunday morning dawned bright and crisp, about 40�.  My former 
    co-driver (Rob Lembree) met me at my parents house at 8:30 a.m. and 
    with the trailer in tow, we all headed West towards Keene.  Ted was to 
    meet us there around 10:00 a.m.  My mother let us into the storage 
    facility and we drove around to unit #417.  The lock was taken off and 
    we raised the door.  There it sat, a 1924 Studebaker Special 6 Touring 
    car.

    	 It has been in the family since around 1950 and it's all original 
    except for a professional paint job sometime in the early 60's.  The 
    last time it was run was around 1972/73 and it's always been stored 
    inside.  The tires were flat so Rob and I called up a friend in Keene 
    who used to autocross and borrowed a compressor and air tank.  We 
    winched it onto the trailer and then tied it down, good and tight.

    	 Ted finally showed up around noon and had a number of spare wheels 
    and tires from the Saabs so we had to repack the van a little.  After a 
    stop for lunch in Keene we hit the road again at 1:45 p.m.  Our first 
    stop was just over the border into MA for some pumpkins.  Ted wanted to 
    bring some home for his kids.

    	 We jumped on I-91 South and found 45 mph to be a comfortable 
    cruising speed.  The car weighs about 3300 lbs. and I couldn't get all 
    the tongue weight I would have wanted so anything faster and it tended 
    to sway a bit.

    	 Down through Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT and into Waterbury 
    again for gas.  Ted took over the controls and got it swinging a little 
    going down one hill.  We found 45-50 mph up hill and 40 mph down worked 
    just fine after that.  No need to push it.  We stayed on I-84 into NY 
    and then stopped at Port Jervis, NJ for dinner around 7:00 p.m.  We 
    decided that since we were limited to 40-45, why not take back roads?  
    We mapped out a route back down 209 to 33 to 22 to 100 through Reading 
    and York and then I-83 down to Baltimore and into DC.

    	 I took over from Ted after we ate dinner and ended up driving 
    until Gainesville, VA, just outside of DC off I-66 West.  The back 
    roads worked just fine and driving all night again was pretty easy (we 
    also had a cooler full of Coke to help.)  The only real problem was 
    trying to get through Reading, PA at 11:00 p.m.  This was the third 
    trip for Ted through Reading and the third time he's had trouble.  We 
    eventually found the road to York, but spent around 15 minutes 
    wandering aimlessly on side streets.  We picked up the Dr. Demento Show 
    around Baltimore from 1:00 to 2:00 a.m. which helped to pass the time 
    and made it through the DC beltway at 3:00 a.m.  We took I-66 West to 
    29 South and swapped drivers again.  Ted took us from Gainesville, VA 
    down to Culpepper ("It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"), VA where we 
    stopped at 5:00 a.m. and grabbed 2 hours sleep in the van.  Our 
    destination was Charlottesville, VA and we were only 45 miles away, but 
    neither of us felt we could make it, so we did the smart thing and 
    rested a bit.

    	 We left Culpepper at 7:30 and arrived at my sister's house around 
    9:00 a.m.  First stop was to get a set of front pads for the van.  They 
    had started to squeal, but after pulling the wheels there was still 
    plenty of pad left so we opted not to change them right then.  Next 
    order of business was to fix the swaying problem with the trailer.  We 
    picked up a friction-type sway controller from an RV dealer and had a 
    local welding shop mount the brackets for us.  This little device did a 
    great job on the second half of the trip.

    	 We met a friend of mine from college and spent a few hours 
    checking out downtown Charlottesville while we tried to map out our 
    schedule for the final leg of the trip.  We decided to do it at night, 
    so we grabbed some sleep from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m., ate dinner with my 
    sister, husband and 2 year old son and left their house at 8:45 p.m.  
    We continued down Route 29 through Lynchburg and Danville and the sway 
    controller kept the trailer nice and steady all the way.

    	 It took us 6 hours to get to Charlotte, only an hour longer than 
    normal.  Ted unload all his tires and wheels and we went our separate 
    ways.  2:45 a.m., get back on I-85 headed for Atlanta.  Between 
    Spartansburg and Greenville, SC I stop for some food and decide it's 
    been a long day so grab another little nap from 5:00 to 7:30 a.m. in 
    the van.

    	 The traffic was bit heavier in the morning, but I made it back 
    home to Woodstock by 11:00 a.m. after a quick stop by work to show the 
    car off.

    	 The trip up took us 21 hours, discounting the hour I waited in 
    Charlotte, NC.  The return trip took a little over 27 hours subtracting 
    sleep stops and the 12 hours we spent in Charlottesville.  It was kind 
    of strange on Tuesday when I realized I hadn't gotten a full night's 
    sleep since Saturday night.
10.9Good shocks & springs? ;-}NYTP05::JANKOWITZReady the lifeboatsFri Oct 04 1991 16:193
>> a 1924 Studebaker Special 6 Touring car.

How will it do on a rally???
10.10some advanced features!WARIOR::BURDEN_DHe&#039;s no fun, he fell right overFri Oct 04 1991 17:5815
Big solid 'I' beam front axle, HD elliptic springs on all four
corners, *ADJUSTABLE* friction-type shocks on all four corners.

Demountable rims, the wooden wheels stay on the car (saves
weight in carrying all those spare wheels around.)  Optional
hand crank for when the battery or starter die.  Speedometer
and odo (with trip odo) already mounted on passengers side, no
need for those new fangled computers!

Full rally instrumentation - Ammeter and Oil pressure, that's it.

Besides, some of our rally roads are probably considered tame 
compared to the roads this car had to handle when it was new.

Dave