Larson/MacDonald Take 2000 Paris by Night ClubRally Class Win
After the Wanderin' Star ClubRally, we had a long break before starting Paris by Night. We needed the break to cool off ourselves and the cars, since the temperatures were rising into the 90's. We had overheated the car on the first rally due to high grass getting caught in the radiator. We cleaned it out at service and thought we solved the problem. But, maybe because the heat was clouding our judgement, we forgot to check the coolant! So, it wasn't long before that mistake was to cost us a lot. At the end of the first stage, the temperature was the highest it had been all day. What was disturbing was that it didn't drop much during the short transit to the start of stage 2. As we started stage 2, the temperature immediately rose dangerously high. With our concern over that, we missed the first turn and found ourselves on the wrong road. My co-driver, Will MacDonald, figured out the wrong turn right away and we decided it was best to get the car cooled down and try to finish the rally. We were the only car in Production GT, so finishing the rally would give us a class win.
After sitting for 6 minutes, we decided to attempt to finish the 2 mile stage. Limping along at 20 mph, we watched our mirrors for overtaking cars, staying way to the right to let them pass. We were afraid they might not see us in the dust. At the service after stage 2, we figured out the low coolant problem and fixed it. I couldn't believe that we hadn't thought of that! We were now running well down in the pack. A couple of nice people let us move ahead at controls, and a re-seed put us back where we didn't have do worry about slower cars' dust. The biggest problem was the heat, now in the high 90's. We were making a lot of mental mistakes, mixing up left and right, missing mileages, and just plain driving badly. The scariest moment was on stage 4. I was really feeling the heat before the start, and was seriously wondering if I wanted to continue. We were going about 60 mph when the road seemed to go left, with grass straight ahead. Will wasn't calling anything, but I slammed on the brakes when I saw the left, figuring he'd missed something, and spun the car around backwards. I stalled it, of course, and had to back out of the ditch to continue. We had another long break before stage 5. I felt a lot better after that. Will and I decided that we needed to concentrate on being mentally sharp to avoid an accident. Though we were driving to finish, I had not finished a ClubRally (when I finished) lower than 5th overall since 1990. I wanted to keep that streak alive. We put up some good times, including 2nd overall on two stages, and moved up to 7th overall at the finish. But the important thing was that we finished and took home the PGT class win. Without the 6 minute delay, we would have finished 3rd behind the Evo's of Tim Paterson and Alec Ellsworth. All in all, Will and I thought we had a very good weekend in Texas. |
