|
The Wishbone Alley Gazette
|
June, 1997
|
Rainier Auto Sports Club
|
Rally News
NOR'WESTER is indeed 3 days. Saturday: Leave
Issaquah, touch Ellensburg, Yakima, and Tri-Cities to overnite in Clarkston.
Sunday in Idaho, with a smidgen of Montana to Overnight in Cour d'Alene,
ID. Monday crosses Washington to end in Leavenworth.
Roy n' Mark did a NOR'WESTER course survey. The old route doesn't have
too many surprises, after ten Evergreen State 1000's have tramped all over
the state. It's remarkable to see how ambitious the rally was, in the days
before Interstates and air conditioning.
It'll be definitely worth attracting rallyists from all over the nation.
Besides a warmup for the 1998 AlCan. In those ancient times, measurements
were just as precise, but the references were a bit more casual. Jack Deno
didn't include much trivia in his RI's, either. But then, the RI's had
to be typed on an IBM Selectric, and changes would be laborious. Roy's
task is to keep the same "flavor", while upgrading the rally
to what we expect in the '90's. The checkpoints back then were all "stop
and get your time" type, while we now use hidden passage controls.
We try to "fine tune" the CAST's to the road, while part of the
sport back then was to put a CAST on a long section, and scare the rallyists
into some insane speeds on the tight'n'twistys to try to keep on time,
only to find long straight stretches before the checkpoints.
June 7: The Oregon Trail Pro-Rally is chaired by Ben Bradley. Current
plan is to use 4 roads twice, west of St. Helens. Mike Nagle is Chief of
Controls (503)244-8570, wk (503) 221-5100. John Nispel is bringing down
a crew, and won't turn anyone down (360) 357-3207.
The March Friday Niter had 19 entrants, the April rally had 16. (Thanks
to the ORCA newsletter) RASC has the September Saturday Nighter.
The "Edge of the Rock" stage rally on Vancouver Island drew
8 rally cars- 5 from the States.
The Panama-Alaska Rally kicks off June 1, and ends up in Anchorage on
June 25. This may be a special "event", with 53 "old"
cars in the competitive class, and another 40 or so as non-competitors
in later model cars. (There must some sort of "deal" going, as
it looks a Jeep parade.)
Jeff Zwart has a Porsche (#6), Bob Trinder has his 240Z (#8), Walt Peterson/
Satch in a 240Z (#9), Walt Kammer and Jackie Adams in a Datsun 510 (#13).
The 53 car list has the usual classic Porsche's, Escorts, and Mercedes,
but I counted 9 Mustangs, and 4 Falcons !
The event overnights in Butte, Montana on June 17. Might be worth a sightseeing
trip.
Roster
An updated listing is in the mail with the regular WAG
Trivia
High tech is coming. GPS units are available for about $200, with antennas
an additional $125, if you want an external antenna. If you have a Wintel
laptop, then $300 gets you the GPS unit linked to a US map. The laptop
is far easier (? well, its not a Mac-?) than looking for longitude/latitude
coordinates on a pile of maps, plus you can zoom in on the laptop to see
precisely where you are. Gene Henderson likes his. The only "shopping
info" I've heard so far is to get a GPS unit that'll use more than
3 satellites, preferably 12, to spot your position. Trimble, Garmin, and
Magellen all have WWW sites.
A trip over to Winthrop for Mother's Day brunch yielded an unexpected
"find". The parking lot of the Sun Mountain Lodge was full of
Subaru's with dealer plates. As you know, the car manufacturers pick out
some fancy place to allow the "first drives" for the magazines.
This is carefully timed so that the articles can be on the newsstands at
the same time the car hits the showroom. (There is an embargo on the specs
until the official "roll out date".)
Subaru picked Sun Mountain Lodge for the Forester and Impreza 2.5 RS models.
The writers, probably from all the US media, were flown by float plane
to the high Cascades resort. Finding 6 guys washing cars in the parking
lot revealed the logistics of such a show. They each have a handy talky
radio, with a supervisor carrying a box of keys and a clipboard making
sure all 30 cars are as perfect as possible. Five more liaison people are
primed with info to make sure the journalists will say all the right things
in their articles.
The Impreza RS is immediately recognizable by the gold wheels and trunklid
wing. I talked my way inside of one that was being washed. Can't say I
was dazzled, since all Subaru did was "put zee beeg engine in zee
little car". The dash didn't get upgraded with more-than-minimal gauges,
for instance. In fact, it looked just like the 323 GTX interior, plus airbags.
My other concern, gas tank size, couldn't be answered. When you see the
"first look" articles in the magazines, that's Winthrop in the
backround.-MN
John Nispel plans to ride his Honda Goldwing to Pikes Peak over the
July 4 weekend. He couldn't get there last year due to back problems. Due
to the pave-the-mountain program, this may be the last running of the famed
Hillclimb.
Those of you pining away to see ESPN's coverage of PRO-Rallys should
feel better to hear that it's not easy. ESPN 2 seems to have a problem
with scheduling; the broadcasts DO get on, but only on the approximate
date/time. Those of us with satellite TV receivers have to correct for
time zone differences, too. The "Rim of the World" show was as
good as a half-hour review could be.
Terri Simons got herself a GTO ('69?) and has a Firebird lined up, too.
For Sale
*'74 Fiat X1/9 autocrosser $800 Jim Hawley, Chuckanut SCC member. Bellingham:
360-384-3342.
* "82 Omni, brought up to '85 GLH specs. Seats, cage, etc. (Don't
need two rally cars, Terry is retiring.) $2000 Kirk Simons (425) 806-1741
*Fiberglas racing seats with vinyl padding. 2 for $50, includes mounting
hardware. $50 for both. Kirk Simons 425-806-1741
* Arrow parts, take 'em all $1500, Mike Jones 206-823-8329 Its all still
there...
* Cherry picker hydraulic engine hoist, $100. 19"Sharp TV w/ remote,
$100. and....Chrysler 2.5 Turbo, with automatic transmission, all for $350.
Roy Ward (425)869-3836, E-mail : roy@data-linc.com, or fax 425-867-0865
* Motorcycle overnighter trailer, foldout tent with legs for "above
ground sleeping". John Nispel, (360)357-3207
|
