Monte Shelton Northwest Classic Rally, Wrap Up.

Above: The view from our room’s balcony the morning after the rally completed. Rain. 🙁

They had cold beer waiting at the hotel. After we pulled into the grass and stumbled toward the room (a steep stair climb up the cliff) we stopped for a beer midway. It was nice. Even my dad, who does not drink beer that often, had one.

At dinner we heard the outcome of the TSD segment crash. It was that gorgeous Lancia Aurelia GT:

It slid off the road, into a ditch, and rolled. I do not know what the cause was, nor the final condition of the car. I do know that both driver and navigator came out essentially unharmed. They both attended dinner and the awards brunch the following day. The rallyists awarded the Lancia the “Participant’s Choice” award. The owner got a lot of hugs and sympathy.

At the brunch we listened as they read the results from bottom to top. I fully expected to be right in the middle of the pack. To my surprise the middle came and went, and our name had not been called. We were NOT that close to the top though. In the end we captured 18th Place. Not bad for a VERY competitive rally with 56 entries. We racked up 563 penalty points, 376 on the first day and 187 on the second. It is obvious that my Navigator, Charles Goolsbee did indeed improve dramatically over the course the rally. I can take NO CREDIT whatsoever. I am just the Driver. I do what the Navigator tells me to. 😉

The 1st place car had 186 points, and 2nd & 3rd had 232 & 233 respectively. Twenty one cars had over 1000 points and the last place car had 5400. This was a very tough rally.

Above: The tired rallyists leave on a soggy morning.

We left the Oregon Coast at mid day and toughed out bad traffic, and rain (a low pressure system moved through for ONE day, grrr) all the way home. We even had to get off I-5 at one point midway between Portland and Olympia and take back roads up to Tacoma to avoid stop-and-go traffic… miserable in the rain in the Jaguar with the top up. I dropped off Dad at my little sister’s house in Seattle, and he and mom drove home to Colorado the next day. I brought the Jaguar home and put it back up on the lift. Next weekend I’ll tackle that inner tie rod end.

Thanks for coming along, I hope the story and photos captured the essense of the event for you.

–chuck