Day one say us all wake up to miserable wet weather, and two planned “Monte Carlo” style TSD segments, two long transits, and a border crossing into Canada.
I had a business-related phone call scheduled for 8:30 am, so I was up very early to eat and prep the car. The Rally start was open between 8 and 9 am, so I had the car waiting at the start and stood out of the rain under a tree to take the call… which ironically never came! Oh well. We grabbed the last available start time of 8:57. Between 8 and 8:30 though I was able to shoot a few start-line shots for you:
Chris & I were cramped inside the 65E for our start:
The first segment was long, and very wet. The navigation was pretty minimal, with very long stretches of SR20 in Washington state. Chris even took a brief nap at one point (my twitter followers may have seen my post about that.) Being at the extreme back of the back made for a very UNdramatic checkpoint scene. We zeroed the segment (arrived at the precise second scheduled) thanks to Chris’ excellent navigation and last-run countdown for me. We then topped up with the last of the cheap American gasoline and crossed the border into Canada, bound for lunch in Castlegar.
As we arrived in Castlegar the sun came out! Right after a quick lunch Chris & I dropped the top on the 65E so we could sit upright once again. Our backs rejoiced muchly! (yeaaah.)
Unfortunately we did hit a few spots of rain in the mountains but stayed MOSTLY dry. Chris once again did an excellent job getting me to the right place at the right time, and we zeroed the second TSD segment of the day. This meant we were finished with the work part of the day and could cruise easy into Kelowna.
It was supposed to be easy, but it wasn’t. Well, the navigation was simple, but the weather was hard. Not long after we left the checkpoint I stopped to put on my jacket (thankfully!) and we ended up behind a group of Ferraris and a Porsche Carrera GT. At first I thought it was fun to run with these guys, until I realized that the droning wail of the 10-cylinder GT was driving me nuts. Oh man does that car have an annoying exhaust note! It literally is the aural equivalent of a mild electric shock. Very unpleasant. I eased off and let him run away, then the rain started falling. At first it was just a few drops, but eventually it transformed into an absolute downpour. BOTH sides of the windscreen and my glasses were splattered with water droplets and the wipers, AND Rain-X could not cope with the deluge. I could barely see, and had to slow way down, which of course just means more water on us (the Jag is shaped so that mild rain never gets in the car at speed, but as soon as you slow down you start getting wet.) I would have gladly pulled over and raised the top IF a sheltered place such as a gas station appeared. Unfortunately no such shelter was anywhere nearby. We just gutted it out, and I dreamed of engineering a cross between a Tonneau Cover and a Kayak Skirt (I swear, this is my next project!)
As we dropped into the Okanagan valley the sky lightened, the rain trailed off, and eventually the sun came out. By the time we arrived in Kelowna, we were dried out and very happy.
Tomorrow we drive east towards Alberta. As of today, we are tied for 1st Place (with who knows how many other teams!) as we know we’ve accumulated NO penalties. So far, so good.
To tide you all over until I can get online here is a “Car Photo of the Day” for you. This was shot at lunch today in Castlegar – and is a car I’ve heard of, but until today have never seen in the flesh. Can you identify it? (BTW: I’ve p’shopped a badge off it to take away a big hint.)
Here’s the view from our amazing hotel room:
Apollo GT, originally powered with a 215 Buick engine. I think this has been modified to be a drop top, since, AFAIK, all Apollos were coupes.
Woops….seems I didn’t know of the 11 ‘verts that were made! It was also known as a Vetta Ventura, which had the venerable Buick ‘nailhead’ engine in it.