This photo was taken when we lost our alternator on the forth day the cow was just walking down the road and decided to camp right there. One of the many creatures roaming Mexico."Picture courtesy of Bret Haller and TheUnlimitedClass.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Hey George,
Didn't you know that in Mexico that is what is called a "Moooing" violation. LOL.
So how difficult was it to get your alternator repaired in Mexico or did you have a back up and was the one on the car new when you left? I assume this did not happen during a race but rather on a transit stage.
We lost it just before Mil Cumbres didn't have a spare with us so we decided to pass up on the speed sections that day we got a short V-belt at a small village to run the water pump. We had a brand new GM alternator during the pre race check up we must have tightened it to tight and lost the bearing froze up. When we got in that night Gerie Bledsoe went around the parking lot and Sam Berg had one with that one and the old one we built a new alternator. We asked Sam what he wanted for it and he said a round of drinks and he orderded a round of drinks for his table told the waitress put them on his bill and told us to go and get our car running. This is what the "Spirit of the Carrera " is all about. The alternator was the only spare we didn't bring we had everything else. Our crew found a rebuilt one the next morning. I would recomend a crew member who can speak Spanish it really helps. While we were limping back we came upon a Porsche which lost the motor our crew arrived so we loaded the car up in our trailer aand brought them back.
"The alternator was the only spare we didn't bring we had everything else."
Isn't that the way it always is? Murphy's Law. Having been involved in lots of endurance racing for years I have found this to be the rule and not the exception. It's as simple as not bringing a rain coat. If you don't, you damn good and well it will rain cats and dogs.
Regarding the spirit of racing... There is nothing more gentlemanly that a competitor who will not only loan you a part but help you get ready to compete against him. And it's a great spirit at that. Besides, when I race someone and win I want to be able to say he was running the best he could run.
In my younger days as a drag racer many times I saw famous drivers blow engines up or suffer blower explosions only to hear later that guys like Don Garlits where lending them parts so they could run against him. How cool was that? And for gentleman to act that way in some other country gives the true meaning of such words... Gentleman and Spirit.
PS:
When I looked at your times posted on the site, I never saw any sections that you didn't turn in a time. How is it that you didn't run Mil Cumbres but sill finished well in the order?
We were able to turn in our time card later that evening and were given the longest time alloted for that section I believe that one if not two speed sections were cancelled that day because of rain and the crash of tha XKE.If you check all the cars that were in the Carrera were given times.We lost 10 spots that day and made them up the next day running Mil Cumbres we passed a Porsche 356 two different sections and almost on the 3rd and also a Studebaker we took the inside as Tom said "We had the mountain side they had the cliff side they had more to lose"
"Tom said "We had the mountain side they had the cliff side they had more to lose"
In racing that is what is known as having a falling out. LOL.
So are you guys doing anything differently this year considering all you learned last year?
Gary
there are 3 things to keep in mind all C's
1.Cash: make sure you have enough Pemex gas stations generally don't take credit cards and neither do toll booths.
2.Cooling: When you put your cooling system go big the cars tend to run quite hot down there.
3. Carburation: Running at all the different altitudes you should plan ahead for the changes you will have to make.We went from sea level to 10500 feet. I think most of the time we ran on average 7000 feet.
George,
Do any of the teams change rear end gears for high speed sections verses windy sections?
Did you use an electric fan of a mechanical fan and if so, did you just wire it on full time?
Did you have to make carburetor adjustments for various altitudes or was that an issue?
Gary
I didn't see anyone change gearing but that didn't mean they didn't .When you get in getting the car ready for the next day I just didn't pay attention to that.We never encountered really wwindy conditions.
We used an electric fan on our car it would have been nice to have a switch to power it off and on if we wanted. Cooling is really important down there. We did make carb adjustments at different levels that is one thing we would study more. Carb adjustments are a issue.
Post a Comment