Greetings from Rantoul, Illinois,
Half past midnight, Friday night.
I finally straightened out my reservation for the $10 B&B, so tonight I
have my own room rather than sponging off of a friendly compatriot. I
had to drive 15 miles after midnight, but hey, can't beat the price, and
really quiet here.
Friday was a little different from my point of view. The MGB-V8 guys
have been talking and living V8 life for a couple days straight now.
Friday tech sessions were mostly in the car park area, ranging from
engine transplants, gearbox adaptations, and custom built parts, to
independent suspensions, springs, sway bars and trailing link
adaptations. Well, I can dig springs and sway bars, but I dunno nuttin
'bout all this high perf equipment, doesn't seem to apply well to a stock
MGA. So I was mostly off to other ventures while waiting for the other
(normal) LBCs to show up for Friday registration.
First I needed a quick run from Champaign to Rantoul to exchange a couple
of errant racing helmets which were misplaced or exchanged during the
Thursday speed follies. And I was going to miss the Murder Mystery gig,
because I had a prior commitment to run a TSD night rally with the
Champaign County Sports Car Club. By mid afternoon I was removing the
radio blanking plate from the dash of the MGA and installing the rally
computer. This action garnered a small crowd, several questions, some
satisfied smiles and a few skeptical looks (especially from a few of the
B-V8 guys). It was rather like an impromptu tech session on TSD rally.
About 5:30 the car fest registration table opened for business so I could
pick up my packet and verify activities for the rest of the weekend.
Then I spent a little time browsing the car park in search of a navigator
for the night rally. I shortly managed to draft a nice 13 year old
fellow from Michigan with a go-go attitude for MGs, and by 7pm we were on
our way acoss town to sign in for the rally. First car was off at 8:01,
we were off at 8:02, and five other cars ran behind us at one minute
intervals. The odometer check went sweet and smooth, just a very minor
adjustment to the computer factor to set the mileage dead on, and we were
off and running under the clear night sky with the full moon and warm
summer breeze.
The whole idea here was to follow the specified route at the specified
speeds and to arrive at unspecified checkpoints at exactly the right
time. Scoring is a penalty of one point for every 1/100th of minute
error, early or late at the checkpoint. For the four checkpoints we
scored 0, 0, 4, and 1, for a total of 5 points in the 45 mile rally, good
enough to net the trophy(s) for first place overall. 'Tis a great
experience indeed to watch a young novice navigator accepting his first
rally trophy. I have a feeling this fellow will be looking for his own
LBC in a few years when he can get his drivers license.
Back at the hotel car park at 10:45 we climb out the MGA with the young
navigator proudly displaying his new trophy. And there stood a couple of
those V8 guys who were tripped up at the autocross the day before. After
a few expletives about the MGA that did them in at the autocross, and
then went out to win the back roads rally in the night, the final comment
was, "Just don't ever put a V8 in that car". Hee, hee, hee, hee. It's
nice to be appreciated.
Funkhana at 9am, so g'nite all,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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