WoW! What a tough day! 7 1/2 hours of competition, from Dublin, Ohio to Indianapolis, Indiana i na run that lasted from 7:45 to 6:30. We made show stops in three other smaller cities in between! We were doing well until the last leg, wehn our brains were a bit fried. The last leg of today's rally was a maze of farm roads (just a wee bit wider than the Imp!). It was a series of stop-and-go's at speeds od 15, 20, 25, 35, 45 mph, looping around and back over the same intersections. At one time there were 73 car in the maze at once! We missed a turn and actually lost track of our time error (OK, let's call it that we were 'lost'). By the time we recovered the track, we knew we were several minutes off the pace, but we weren't sure just how much! With the other cars criss-crossing all around, we could even just try to catch up to our original position in the order - we couldn't tell where that was! We took a SWAG and floored it, passing the '56 and '58 corvettes, a Mackey, and our friends in a '58 DeSoto, all while they were dutifully going about 35 mph, and we were blasting at near 70 - all on 1-lane farm roads, passing half in the weeds. WHEW! The best cars for this type of event are small, light, overpowered cars with tight suspensions and manual transmissions. And fade-proof brakes. SO we have aa real challenge here, to prove that and Imperial can take it and make it even in this trial. We did OK. ON that got-lost leg, we overcorrected and came in 1 minute TOO EARLY! We'll have slid a bit in the rankings, I guess, but we also got our first ACE (award for a perfect time - zero seconds error) on a leg early in the day. The Imp was a real soldier today. We flew down some rough and gravelly little trails. We hit the brakes hard. We even powerslid a fews corners when we were way off. Not the intended life for a stately cruiser like this. Still, not even a stone chip today, just a little more rattle underneath. OH! I forgot to tell you about that rattle I mentioned yeaterday! This morning EARLY, before we began, I slid under and found the left exhaust mount (not the little flexy bit, but the frame-mounted cantilever) squeaked when I pushed up on the pipes. AHA! So I tightened that right up and that squeak stopped. AS soon as we got out on the course, though, I could hear that I had not gotten the one I was after. In my haste, I assumed that the squeak I had found was THE squeal, not just A squeak. Back on my back tomorrow, too, I guess. Still, I can't complain. There were 3 DNF's today - at least one due to a water-whipping prairie thunderstorm that blew water sideways into everything (including some old ignitions). We're changing tactics slightly tomorrow. Who knows? Wish I could send you some pictures! So far, none of the posted images at greatrace.com show the Imp (the image around here is more for 30s vintage open wheel racers). All for now, jc
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