Miata Mailing List: July 1997, Message #110
sponsored by



     



From: 	Bill Bowser <webowser@fuse.net>

Subject: Calif. or Bust - Chap. 6

Date: 	Wed, 2 Jul 1997 22:46:11 -0500



Hi Gang,



I wonder if anyone is still reading my ramblings.



This is installment six.



Sat. June 28, 1997



Saturday morning was cloudy, but it didn’t look like it would last, and

it didn’t.



With Ruth driving and yours truly navigating we departed on the ralley

promptly at 9:04 a.m.  We had little difficulty following the course,

but it took practically no time for me to conclude that

time/speed/distance calculations would be essentially impossible for two

reasons.  1.) The bumpy roads made writing down times and odometer

readings very difficult, and 2.) The dictated speed changed so

frequently that the calculations would have required so much of my time

that I wouldn’t have had enough time to keep us on course.  Therefore

the approach that we took was for Ruth to try to maintain the required

speed and I would endeavor to keep us on course.  This approach worked

pretty well.  I don’t remember each leg’s error exactly but on each of

the first two legs we were less than a minute late, we were ONE SECOND

early on the third leg and 2 min. 8 sec. early on the final leg, with a

total error of 3 min. 44 sec.



Today’s lunch was served at the Santa Ynez airport where the AutoX

(slalom) was being conducted.  Although I didn’t walk or drive the

course, from my observations I concluded that it was intended to be a

challenging low speed course with lots of tight turns and little chance

to go fast.  I think everyone stayed if first gear for the whole course.



When a request was made for someone to help out at the finish line by

picking up the traffic cone (pylon) at the end of the stop box, I

volunteered.  This provided an opportunity for me to get a better view

of the competition but also put me a little too close to the path of

some damn-near out-of-control vehicles.  One guy wiped out seven cones

between the last turn and the stop box; he had three cones under his car

when he finally came to rest.  After picking up cones for three hours I

had to leave to get ready for the banquet (and the Miata.Net gathering

at the Dealer Alternative booth), but not before I got one of the staff

to admit that my efforts had earned me an “Event Staff” tea-shirt.



The banquet dinner was buffet style and like Friday’s dinner was

adequate but not great.  I think it would have been appropriate for them

to serve water at the tables, but drinks (including bottled water) were

available only for sale.  One of the high points of the evening was Rev.

Jim’s prayer.  (I hope no one feels it is inappropriate for me to say

so.)



Various speakers (Vince Tidwell, Tom Matano, Dave Shelton, and others)

were given the opportunity to speak, lots of door prizes were given away

and awards were presented.  During the presentation of trophies for the

autox/slalom I was somewhat amused that there were no thanks given to

the crew which picked up/repositioned the cones during the competition,

but I suppose that if I hadn’t been the one picking up the cone at the

finish line I probably wouldn’t have noticed.



Although our time for the TSD rallye was better than that of the

recipient of the sixth place trophy Ruth & I didn’t get anything.  We

didn’t even get mentioned for the incredibly low error on the third

leg.  I assumed someone had screwed up (maybe me) and I’d check it out

tomorrow.



Once again the temperature dropped shortly after sundown so Ruth & I

left early.



Regards,

Ruth, Bill Bowser & Drifter