AJ in the Great Race

[TerryB]

The start at one minute per car @ 140 cars is 2 hours and 20 minutes just to get everyone out of the gate.  In my first off road motorcycle event my start number was 182 which meant I was 182 minutes after the 8am starting time, 3 hours and two minutes after the first rider left the starting line.  These events against the clock are really a thinking test for the participants and a mechanical test for the cars.

 

Go AJ!

[Oldsmobile 83]

Just curious if anyone knows what time the first car will arrive in Duluth, MN on Friday?  I am planning to travel there and don't want to be late.

 

Thanks, Tim

[Paul Dobbin]

2 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

With all the decals I wonder why they can't have one on both side with the cars ID and year of original manufacture?

          Buy the programs that lists the cars #, year make & model of each entrant, plus the driver and navigator home and experience record.

           The old saying, You can't tell  the players without a program, applies.

[1937hd45]

5 minutes ago, Paul Dobbin said:

          Buy the programs that lists the cars #, year make & model of each entrant, plus the driver and navigator home and experience record.

           The old saying, You can't tell  the players without a program, applies.

That is not what John Q. Public can do as he/she sees a vehicle between Rhode Island and Fargo. 

[Paul Dobbin]

10 hours ago, alsancle said:

  We are driving a 39 120 and the charts are for a 36 120.   As rookies we never got around to spending the day it would have taken to make our       own charts.   I may need to pad the charts based on our car.

 

 

        

if I was driving Tom's car, the numbers would be different.   If you were driving it, they would be different too.

With Tom driving, it's your job to measure how different his driving is compared to your practice times,  Then adjust you position in the minute to

correct his error to match the directions computer speeds and turns.

[Paul Dobbin]

4 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

That is not what John Q. Public can do as he/she sees a vehicle between Rhode Island and Fargo. 

   They sell programs at every stop.   Like a circus, you need the program to know the acts.

[alsancle]

Today was a long day, and I’ll try to comment more later. We’re at the New England air museum, till 730. It was quite a bit of fanfare at the start this morning, especially since we had a long car representing Rhode Island. So the governor was over chatting up Tom and I, and everybody was cheering wildly like we were the home team. I didn’t have the heart to tell everybody that we were probably going to come in last place.

[alsancle]

If you have never seen a skyhook in person, they are insane.If you have never seen a skyhook in person, they are insane.

[SC38dls]

Last could be considered the “first car at the end of the score board” !

dave s. 

[edinmass]

Let’s see……the Governor of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantation……….was he asking you about King Phillip’s war? 
 

Your definitely going up scale……although that is the Governor of the smallest state in the union.

[alsancle]

[alsancle]

Official clock and instruction pickup desk.

Our clocks did not lose a second from the last time I calibrated them.

 

You get your instructions exactly 30 minutes before your scheduled start for the day. Start time is your position for the day added onto the official restart. Typically at 8:30 AM.

 

once I get the instructions, I have 30 minutes to review them, update them, annotate them, and get them into the binder.

 

Yesterday was not a great day, four of the checkpoints we did fine on, but did really bad on one of them. I don’t understand our score, and no one seems to be able to explain it to me, so I’m just gonna let it go. 

[TAKerry]

Are you aware of how the others are doing, more specifically is every entrant still going? 

[philip roitman]

My Photo of Tom's car as it pulled in to Rocky Point Park to stage for the Great race, along with the Audrain Museum's Cars and Coffee. (Sorry Tom's car is the 3rd photo I didn't manage the download in the order I wanted. 🤷‍♂️)  The photos in Al's post above of the C&C at the start have the nose of my Grey AMG (4Th in the first row)showing the C&C cars behind the Bronco and in the 3rd picture a few rows back also. Was a very good and busy day. Audrain Museum Cars and Picnic in the evening at Fort Adams Park also. Red 1965 Ford Ranchero is AACA member and LHVBCA President Ken Creary's entry. The 2nd.photo was the first car at the start of the Race. I think my photos came out OK with the Bay behind the cars, I think I got a photo of every car that is entered in the race. The start and C&C were packed. Even my wife said she had a great time Saturday.

Edited June 20, 2022 by philip roitman (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Lunch was in Montgomery New York

[alsancle]

Overnight is in Binghamton New York. They shut down Main Street, and had a band in the thousand people showed up to see the cars.  Ran into some form members there.

[Paul Dobbin]

A.J.,

You will learn many things every day that can improve your scores.   Be sure to talk to your fellow competitorsm especially the experienced ones.   Have them explain their performance chart on the back of their name tag.   Lunch

coversations can be a great learning experience.   

You should improve every day and your scores will reflect that.

Have Fun and good luck.

[Den41Buick]

That is a really great reception by the town is giving the cars. Looks like a fun time.

[alsancle]

So as most of you guys have noticed, there are few stock cars, and even fewer pre-war ones. The reason for that becomes pretty apparent.

 

Our bone stock 39 Packard 120, would be a fantastic tour car. It is comfortable at 55 miles an hour, with the overdrive engaged, it’s just a nice car to drive around in. But, it is not a great car for what we are doing.

 

The reason for that is you need to maintain speed in different environments. And we are struggling with the hills. For example, yesterday there were some steep grades which we would’ve done fine with at higher speeds, or 5 miles an hour above the speed limit. But the speeds are typically under the speed limit. 
 

The day before that, we were doing all these back roads at 24 MpH, which had curves and hills, which we just could not maintain speed on.  This requires the navigator, which is me, to be constantly calculating time loss figuring out a way to make it up. It’s possible I’m just an idiot, but we’re not good at it.

[alsancle]

The score for yesterday, was better than the day before. We did not get lost this time. It was nice.

 

But we had one very poor segment, where we had a transit zone. This is where the race basically freezes for some amount of time. The idea is to get you through a very tough area, or to give you a break for gas or rest stop.

 

What we messed up was that the zone was supposed to start at a 35 mph sign with an arrow above it.  The sign was in sequence with some other signs, and we had just passed a checkpoint. We both thought we saw the sign, and I started the transit timer, and wrote the time down. His transit was only 20 minutes, and by the time we got to the restart point my timer with that 25 minutes. It made no sense, because gave us zero time for gas or anything else, and we were already five minutes late.

 

At the gas station I asked one of the other cars, which happen to be in the position immediately in front of us. The navigator told me that the sign was actually just outside of town  which made a lot of sense. And gave you enough time to get gas and get staged for the restart.

 

So what we did was leave exactly 1 minute after that car, which was the only thing I could think of to recover. But that segment ended up being off by over a minute,  because it compounded any mistakes from the previous segment into one because we were using their start time. 

[alsancle]

Here we are, morning of stage three. We are car position 125 today, official start is 7:30 AM, so we don’t takeoff until 925. I’ll get our instructions on the minute at 9:05, and then update them.

 

Yesterday I could only do half of them before we left, and had to do the rest at the lunch stop.

[EmTee]

11 hours ago, alsancle said:

Overnight is in Binghamton New York. They shut down Main Street, and had a band in the thousand people showed up to see the cars.  Ran into some form members there.

My wife and I made the drive from the Syracuse area down to Binghamton yesterday to see the cars arrive.  Originally I was simply going to drive the wife's car so I wouldn't have to be concerned with parking, however, I found this online just before lunchtime and decided to join the cruise-in with my '67 Riviera.

 

I'm glad I found the flyer because it was a beautiful day for a drive (sunny and 65 ~ 70 F) and the cruise-in/Great Race setup on Court Street was great!  Lots of nice cruise cars showed up and we were parked just down the street from where the race participants were parked as they arrived.  I got there about 3:30 and walked around looking at other cruise cars until the race cars began arriving just before 5:00.  Binghamton had the red carpet out with a band and multiple food trucks supplementing a few local restaurants.  My only ding (minor) was I couldn't understand why more of the restaurants and shops along Court Street weren't open during the event.  To me, it seemed like a lost opportunity for them.  As Phillip said above, even my wife had a great time!

 

Here's a few pictures from the cruise-in...

[EmTee]

A few more cruise-in shots...

 

 

And then the racers started arriving...

[alsancle]

This Buick roadmaster is ridiculously nice.This Buick roadmaster is ridiculously nice.

[alsancle]

[EmTee]

More participants arriving...

 

Tom & AJ arrive...

 

On the walk back to my car I snapped a couple of nice looking Hudsons...

 

Had dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant and then hit the road for home.  Perfect Father's Day!

 

Good luck to AJ & Tom!  Keep pluggin' and hopefully others will greet you guys as you forge ahead to Fargo.  That Packard is a beautiful car by the way!  Have fun and safe travels!

[alsancle]

[alsancle]

[TAKerry]

Im having fun following along with this. A shame Im not closer to a stopping point. AJ, at least the terrain will flatten out for you for awhile once you hit Ohio and Indiana.

[TerryB]

I too find all the behind the scenes information fantastic AJ.  Thanks for taking us along on your adventure.

[Carroll_1]

I really appreciate the photos and reports from everyone as we follow along. I'm hoping to make the few hour drive to catch them at the Thursday lunch stop.

[Gunsmoke]

Anyone can go to "The Great Race 2022" home page and find among other things the daily results as well as totals to date for each entry and standings (there are about 130 entries). You will need to know names of driver/navigator in order to find who you are looking for. I have some friends driving a 1930 Hudson Coupe. 

[Paul Dobbin]

In the early years of the Great American Race, sponsored cars paid an extra $5000 entry fee and all the sponsored cars started up front.   Later it was         the luck of the draw where you started.   We were sponsored and quickly learned that  when they reversed the order of the start and we started in the back, it was the wild west back there with the rookies and armatures.

With a print our of yesterdays results is was easier to find a hack when you needed it and the good teams were better drivers too.   When you got in the thick of the tourist drivers like EdinMass, watch out.   The social part of the race is important too.  Know your competition and learn from them.    They tell you how they handle problems and timing disasters.   It's a shared experience that you are competing in..

[Buick35]

On 6/17/2022 at 2:51 PM, TerryB said:

From the rule book:

Required
1. Unless otherwise stipulated in these regulations, mechanical components of the competing vehicles must be of the same
make, model, and vintage as originally delivered by the manufacturers unless otherwise stated in these Regulations. Performance and aftermarket equipment for modification of the engine and drivetrain is permitted if it was available during the year of manufacture of the vehicle.
The burden of proof of the year of availability of performance components is upon the entrant. [GREAT RACE only] With the exception of vehicles allowed by IX.A.1, performance equipment developed after 1974 is prohibited

So if your car has overdrive that was added on,would that be legal?

[1935Packard]

Living the dream, AJ. Living the dream.

[EmTee]

2 hours ago, Buick35 said:

So if your car has overdrive that was added on,would that be legal?

I noted several cars with modifications that to me appeared outside the rules (e.g., front disc brakes on a '30s car).  I'm not sure how strictly the rule is enforced.  After talking to AJ it seems to me the way the race is structured tends to place more emphasis on the participants (i.e, navigation and driving technique), as opposed to the equipment.  Older cars are handicapped to help compensate for their technical disadvantage.  AJ was telling me that a big issue for them was holding the required speed on hills because their Packard was forced to choose between too much or too little gearing.  Cars with automatic transmissions would seem to have an advantage in that situation.

[58L-Y8]

Here we see our intrepid competitors arriving for the lunch break at the Alfred State College, Vocational Education Campus, Wellsville, NY.

[TAKerry]

Good thing youre not trying to hide from anyone AJ! Looks like we have a good group of spotters.

[edinmass]

4 hours ago, Paul Dobbin said:

In the early years of the Great American Race, sponsored cars paid an extra $5000 entry fee and all the sponsored cars started up front.   Later it was         the luck of the draw where you started.   We were sponsored and quickly learned that  when they reversed the order of the start and we started in the back, it was the wild west back there with the rookies and armatures.

With a print our of yesterdays results is was easier to find a hack when you needed it and the good teams were better drivers too.   When you got in the thick of the tourist drivers like EdinMass, watch out.   The social part of the race is important too.  Know your competition and learn from them.    They tell you how they handle problems and timing disasters.   It's a shared experience that you are competing in..

EDINMASS is NEVER at the back of the pack……… unless he’s driving the trouble truck! 😏

[alsancle]

Quick report from today. Tom and I just came in from working on the car and I’m beat.

 

It is definitely hard on the cars, and quite a bit of work for the participants too. Unless you have a full support team. I think we should’ve hired Ed to pull a trailer, and work on the car at night while Tom and I sat in the bar.

 

I saw EmTee last night and Steve today. I’ve had forum guys come up to me and each of the stops which is pretty cool.

 

our scores are gradually improving, and we’re getting the hang of things. I said to Tom we are dealing with three issues. One is a Navigator, two is the driver and three is the car itself.

 

For example, Americas Cup Tom keeps wanting to do the flying starts which are really hard to do. At the first start of the day, he screwed it up so bad that I completely forgot what I was supposed to do, and compounded his mistake. But somehow we only ended up three seconds late for that segment.  I think that was sheer luck. The car is not helping us because it is just not powerful enough to maintain some of the hills.