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AJ in the Great Race


George Cole

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Oh----, THAT is a theatre I want to be in, along with a few hundred other people that enjoy such things, and watch classic silent films! If one has not experienced it, "Wings" (1927) on the big screen with proper musical accompaniment just cannot even be imagined (I have seen it that way several times!)! A few Douglas Fairbanks' finest ("Zorro", "Son of Zorro"), Rudolf Valentino spectacles ("Sheik" "Son of the Sheik") (Hollywood did sequels in the silent era also!), and several great comedies especially like Buster Keaton (Steamboat Bill Jr" is my favorite!) and the frenetic Harold Lloyd are so much better on the big screen with proper music!

The ever- (or is it over-??) -loved Charlie Chaplin is even better on the big screen. But to really appreciate him, one must watch something other than his overly shown few films. Better than his comedies, the master of pathos needs to be seen on the big screen. "City Lights" (1931) (and you will love the automobiles!) and "The Kid" (1921) can bring one to tears.

Thank you for including those photos in the daily update!

 

Travel Safely!

 

And as we used to say on Endurance Runs? 

 

Be fast.

Be early.

Eat ice cream.

 

 

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Having driven a 120 of similar vintage, I’m surprised that the car struggles so much as to not keep time compared to modern vehicles at such slow speeds. Knowing both Tom and AJ very well for many years and their abilities to adjust and overcome to any circumstances……..and they are constantly struggling just to keep the cars time in the ballpark tells me that it’s probably fifty times more difficult than one would expect. 
 

 

Now for the big question………assuming everything goes fairly well and you make it across the finish line, we’re you smart enough to hire a truck and buy tickets to fly back home………or is this a round trip driving event?

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So with around 300 drivers/navigators iand another 150 to 200 support crew, not to mention the great race volunteers, this is quite the traveling caravan.

 

We are at one of the satellite hotels, I think there are five total hotels here. At 9 o’clock last night they were still guys in the parking lot under their cars. At 6 AM it starts again with guys in the parking lot. 
 

The official start is at the Sheraton at 8 AM.   We are 83 today so our start is 9:23.

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Here is a page from yesterday‘s stage.

 

Instruction 66 shows the end of a transit, which is basically when the race freezes for some amount of time. It could be for gas rest stop. It could be to get to another portion of the race, or to get by a busy section of town. At the start of a transit, I need to simultaneously start the stopwatch, and catch the exact second in minute on the rally clock. I screwed this one up and didn’t get the time which you see is blank, but did get the stopwatch going at the right time. So we were able to restart at the right curve sign at the correct time.

 

In instruction 67, we lost eight seconds at the traffic light. We were able to make it up in instruction 71 by going 35 mph instead of 30, for 80 seconds. 

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Here is the scorecard from yesterday. You can see we did pretty well in segment one and five.

 

In the first segment, which was almost an hour and 40 minutes, we were off by three seconds. The delay row shows you where I took a 30 second delay because there was a trailer jack knifed at an intersection that we couldn’t get through. You can submit delays for various reasons in 10 second increments. Reasons include safety, obstructions, traffic, etc. 
 

Number six was  a disaster at 45 seconds. Looking back on that, there were a lot of hills that we struggled with. But I thought the Tom did a really good job of compensating for them. So they must’ve been some other mistake, probably by me.

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The old 1915 Buick is happy at about 33 to 35 MPH. I guess it would not work well with all the clock and mile settings. I would not push it over where it is happy and the harmonics are right. Of course, as a reliable old Buick, I'm sure it would make it over the finish line most likely a week late. 😉 Dandy Dave!

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The instruction sheet may as well be written in Chinese, I would still understand them about the same! 

In the one pic it looks like the 'blues brothers car' has lost its horn and is sitting behind a trailer, is that a 'Tap Out' ?

AJ, I know you have your hands full and appreciate the updates, but if you dont mind can you elaborate on any problems mechanically you may be having or are you doing preventive maintenance, info on that would be neat as well.

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Really enjoying reading the updates and seeing photos. Must be a blast regardless of scoring results. Unfortunately my good friends have had to retire the 1930 Hudson Coupe. Appears the fully restored car has a gremlin of some sort in engine (my guess fuel or electrical), worked perfectly each day for many miles in each of first 2 stages only to lose power in end of each stage and virtually idling home with 6 or 7 minute penalty. Issue was not easily diagnosed and decision made not to risk abusing what had been a full engine rebuild. For one of the guys this was 3rd run, one guy his 2nd, so they knew what they were in for, but a 110 year old '30 Hudson Mechanic was hard to find!  

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Hi, AJ!  Following along...  A few quick questions.  Why no hubcaps on the Packard?  

 

Are there any out of pocket expenses along the way (other than snacks, souvenirs, and FUEL, I'm assuming) or, do you pay everything up front?

 

Are you checking in and out of hotels?  

 

Are you paying out of pocket for each meal?  Be safe!  Greg

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1 hour ago, 1937hd45 said:

I'm guessing lack of hub caps would save time removing and replacing them in the event of a flat tire. 

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Bob, I can tell you from personal experience a 1939 Packard 120 hubcap can come loose and roll almost 1/4 mile on it's own, and ultimately come to rest on the green in Litchfield center.  No hubcaps are indeed a good choice. 👍😉

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I’ll try to answer questions tonight. We’re under a little bit of time pressure right now. The town Square in Medina is really beautiful.I’ll try to answer questions tonight. We’re under a little bit of time pressure right now. The town Square in Medina is really beautiful.

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23 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Is that silver Packard a cut-down sedan? The windshield and top stack look odd...

Matt:

That is the factory catalogued 1931 Standard Eight 833 Body Style No. 483 convertible sedan which Murray built.  It's not a very graceful design with its upright windshield and top stack.  Fortunately, someone noticed and put a little rake angle on the windshield for 1932.

Steve

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9 hours ago, 63RedBrier said:

Hi, AJ!  Following along...  A few quick questions.  Why no hubcaps on the Packard?  

 

Are there any out of pocket expenses along the way (other than snacks, souvenirs, and FUEL, I'm assuming) or, do you pay everything up front?

 

Are you checking in and out of hotels?  

 

Are you paying out of pocket for each meal?  Be safe!  Greg

You’ll see a bunch of the cars don’t have hubcaps because even though this is a timed rally, the cars are being really pushed. So it’s not a road race, but there’s a good chance you’re gonna leave a hubcap on the side of the road somewhere.


As for expenses, it’s not a cheap experience. Although I’m willing to bet that 5 Nights a hotel for Amelia Island is a lot more than 12 nights on the race. Most of the rooms are very reasonable, we’re in small town America.  I was estimating a couple thousand dollars in fuel costs given the price of gas. But since this car has a smaller eight cylinder engine it’s getting really good mileage.

 

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10 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 I need to move to one of these small towns, The towns we are visiting are really nice.

 

AJ, 

Small towns aren't for everybody. I love them! We lived in a quintessential small town for awhile. I fit right in like I had been there my whole life? My wife? Couldn't deal with the "country folk versus city folk" attitude (that almost all small towns have whether they want to admit it or not?). Four years later we were living somewhere else (Grass Valley, a somewhat larger small town, and she still has issues with it). I could probably move into any small town in the country and love it!

The sad part was that she was a forth generation from the local county, and related to the small town's original settlers (originally settled in the 1850s!). She should have fit right in, in spite of the fact that her dad moved them away when she was a small child.

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50 minutes ago, alsancle said:

The towns we are visiting are really nice.

Agreed!  Competition aside, what a great way to see the USA!  And from the pictures and my firsthand experience in Binghamton, it's really amazing to see the crowds that this race attracts - all ages and types...  Really a wonderful event and kudos to Hemmings for organizing and continuing to support it.  It's great to see the side of America that's typically ignored by the evening news...

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For your lunch stop today in Medina, the Medina County website said you were coming through Hinckley and then proceeding on Weymouth Road and then E Liberty into Medina Square.   The local officials have to know in advance so they could close the square.  

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One thing I noticed is the first 20 or so cars that came through were 1-2 minutes apart from each other.   Then after that they were bunched together  in groups of 2s & 3s.   I thought they were all supposed to be about 1 minute apart.  Was it that the first cars were the "pros" and the ones grouped together were the "amateurs?"    

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1 hour ago, K8096 said:

One thing I noticed is the first 20 or so cars that came through were 1-2 minutes apart from each other.   Then after that they were bunched together  in groups of 2s & 3s.   I thought they were all supposed to be about 1 minute apart.  Was it that the first cars were the "pros" and the ones grouped together were the "amateurs?"    

It’s funny you should mention that. My mentor, who is a walking calculator, is always in the top 30 cars. We seem to always be in the bottom 40 cars. Looking at the list, the top cars are definitely the pros.

 

If everybody was doing the course exactly correctly the cars would be spread out by the one minute they were separated at the start. But I can tell you that in the later afternoon legs, we are all bunched together. Which does cause problems. 
 

to be honest, it was a lot easier to be near the end than the other beginning from my perspective. There is a two hour difference in when you were getting out of bed. And because all the cars are required to stay parked at dinner until 8 PM, the top cars are there for three hours and we are only around for an hour. 

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