Newspaper, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Sunday newspaper

Our day was full of lows early on and highs later in the day.

We arrived at Camp Maxey at 7:00am. We were the first team to get there and setup our service area.

Got the tools and spares unloaded from the truck and setup the awning. After an hour Mark and I headed over to HQ for the driver’s meeting. All standard stuff mainly and a few jokes made by organizers & drivers.

9:00am rolled around and we started the rally. The first stage we took it easy to feel out the car but still set a fast stage time of ~9min30sec, about 30 seconds off of the pace of Brown in the MR2.  When we rolled into the control the worker said “hey, you know your exhaust is dragging on the ground” Instantly Mark yells @#$%!!!! and panic insues.  We quickly drove into service and diagnosed the problem.  What happend amazed us since we ran all of Rally West Virginia with no troubles.  The 4 into 1 exhaust collector slipped off of the 4 pipes. How this happened I don’t know since it slips onto the pipes for and inch or so. It must of vibrated loose. Anyway, we took off the collector and muffler and tried to fix the mangled mess. A few minutes in we realize that nothing we do will work.  Mark decides to skip the next few stages and go into town to try and get a muffler shop to fix it. After about 1hr 45min. he comes back with a fixed collector. We quickly put it back onto the car and get going again to make stage 4 of the first rally.

Stage 4 starts up and we are doing pretty good. Mark drives conservativly to see if the exhaust will hold up.  By the end of the stage we notice that the noise gets louder and louder. When I opened my door at the finish control we both knew the exhaust had fallen off again.  Now panic ensues… again.  We have about 1hr 30mins for the lunch break to try and solve it. I start to jack up the car and take off the skid plates and smashed exhaust while Mark and my dad went into town to the local Advance Auto and O’Rileys auto parts stores. They bought all of the flexable pipe they could find and hustled back.

By the time they got back to service we had about 15 minutes to make the fix. Luckly we made it!  Our new exhaust became open headers!  The exhaust worked like a charm, just a LOT louder. 

Stage 1 of the second rally started up and we again took it easy to see how our fix worked. This is the same stage that took us out of last year’s rally. When we got to the tank trap we drove slowly down to it, tipped towed through, and out the other side without any loud noises from the underside. Success!  We finish out the stage with no problems and pull into service. Mark quickly looks over the car and we are back off for the remaining stages.  The final stage of the day started around 5:15pm or so and started after sunset. There was just enough light to not need lights when we started but by the time we got a few miles in the lights were needed. Mark flips them on and only one of the four lights turns on. Doh!  oh well… we made due and finished the stage with limited visibility. We pulled into the final control and breathed a sigh of relief. We finished!

Besides for the problems we had a lot of fun at the rally. We completed 6 of the 8 stages and finished one of the two rallies. Hopefully video and photos from the stages will follow.

Dave c won open, brown won group 2, in both rallies.

Pirate got hurt, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Ben got hurt getting out of changs car

Happy birthday fast!, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Happy birthday.

Our car held together for the second rally and we finished. Full write up later. I would have sent more updates except for the troubles.

We are heading to the party now. I am happy we finished the second rally.

New exhaust, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Open headers! New exhaust.

We got the car running again. Finished the tank trap stage with no issues!

Well our rally took a turn for the worse. Our collector fell off the exhaust and we our out. Mark went to a shop to try and fix it for later

At the camp maxey, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Maxey

Well, the day has gone very well. The drive down was nice (weather could have been better, cloudy). We got into Paris around 5:00pm and got the car unloaded. After about 1.5hrs tuning up the car we drove the truck over to registration to sign in and get the paperwork. We then went over to tech around 7:15, pulled up around 7:30 and waited in line.  Tech went fine but took a bit long.  Afterwards Mark rushed back to the novice school while myself and parents went to Braums for dinner (we got Mark a to-go bag).

I’m now back in the hotel room highlighting the routebook for a few cautions and tricky tulips.  We should get an early start tomorrow morning around 5:45am to get to Camp Maxey around 7:00am.  Off to bed!

Back at the hotel for the night. Tech went well. A bit slow. Took 1 h. Mark is at the novice school now. I have enough coef.

Tech, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Tech

Tech., originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

At tech.

Working on the car., originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Last minute tune up on the bug before tech.

We have arrived in paris. Unloading the car now. Then going to registration.

Stopped for lunch, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Stopped for lunch at cracker barrel.

We are stopped at cracker barrel for lunch. So far the trip in ok. has been nice. Weather is sunny and 50′s

The bug and rest of group are at Fairfield Inn for the night. We’ll get going again in the morning for Paris. The drive to Joplin went well

At hotel, originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

At the hotel for the night

Car on the trailer., originally uploaded by johnhuebbe.

Car is loaded up. Going to breakfast now.

Mark and I are loading up the truck with all of the gear and trailer with the bug. Then heading off to get breakfast. Paris here we come!

The trading cards were delivered today.