Reilly Traveling Circus

I write this from London where we traveled after the completion of the Nordic Challenge on Friday July 10th. The last days of the rally were long and we had some issues to deal with after the day’s stage. That, coupled with the 2 hour dinners that seem to be the norm on the rally and the navigational preparation for the next day’s stage, didn’t leave much time for posting any updates. In no particular order, I’ll try to summarize the drive down from Trondheim to Oslo.

Let’s start with the ‘challenges’. On approach to one of the ferries (more on that later), we heard a disconcerting grinding noise that timed with the rotation of the wheel. Investigation at our morning coffee break identified a stone lodged between the rear brake caliper and the hub. Quick jack up of the car which highlighted what an improvement our cordless electric impact driver has been, removal of the wheel and a little poking and prodding and we had the rock out, showing evidence from some rubbing on the hub. We subsequently had two separate episodes of our throttle linkage becoming disconnected. This was likely due to faulty reinstallation after we did work on the the brake light switch a few days earlier. The first occured while running downhill and we were able to pull into a turnout on the side of the road. The mechanics came and reinstalled it. Later that day, it happened again as we rolled into a fuel stop. When I pulled the floor board, it appeared that the socket of the ball and socket joint had tilted out of co-linearity with the ball that was supposed to sit in it. We corrected the tilt and there was a very satisfying click when I pressed the two together. It remained connected for the balance of the rally. While all of this was going on, a local man approached us and offered to connect us to local resources if we need them. It turns out that he had done Peking to Paris three times in a pre-war Alvis. The other mechanical issue was recurrence of the brake light failure. Once again, the culprit was the brake light switch. Advice from an expert Porsche mechanic on another team suggested adjusting a small set bolt on the switch to change the point at which the contacts closed. We did this and issue resolved. We still have the running light issue to deal with when the car gets back to the states.

Another challenge was the regularity navigation. The degree of difficulty certainly increased over the span of the competition. The addition of regularities in which just a map was provided, sometimes with very little notice, made negotiating the small dirt roads a real challenge. We came to learn from our fellow competitors that some of the ‘tricks’ we fell for were pretty standard fare in the world of TSD (Time Speed Distance) rallying, such as planting a time check behind the trees at a junction with separate short stretches for left and right turns. You had to take the long way around the corner to get a time. We didn’t grossly embarrass ourselves as we were far from the only ones to get caught out. On the positive side, we didn’t get lost, which would have been easy to do given the narrow unpaved roads going through the woods. The tests on track continued to be a lot of fun although we (I) clearly need to get faster to be more competitive.

We had a real change of terrain going down the coast and then turning towards Oslo. The fjords are beautiful. The steep walls and deep penetration inland led to several days of ‘ferries and tunnels’. We drove through at least a dozen tunnels ranging in length from 600 meters to 4 kilometers. We rode 4 ferries across fjords with rides of 13 to 35 minutes. All were run very efficiently. We then climbed to higher altitude and had a hair-raising run along a very narrow unpaved road with steep drop offs and lots of blind corners. One of the more anxiety provoking aspects of the last 4 or 5 days of the rally was the constant threat of an oncoming car coming around a blind corner. We had a memorable encounter with a HUGE construction vehicle that simply towered over us and occupied the entire width of the road. The driver stopped and kindly backed up to let us pass. The flip side of the route was that it had some amazing views. We enjoyed really nice weather with just a few showers and very moderate temperatures. Another difference from the States is the frequency of livestock on the roads. Sheep were the most common but there were also goats, horses, and cattle. They were remarkably unfazed by the cars coming down the road. They are kept to certain stretches of road by “Ferists”, which are livestock grates spanning the road.

All in all, it was a great experience. Steep learning curves for both of us: Jeff getting reacquainted with driving a car with manual transmission, me attempting to master the technicalities of rally navigation and time-keeping. In future rallies, we will split time so that we both do both activities. The fellow competitors were all very nice and with one or two exceptions, highly experienced. It was amazing to watch the three pre-war Bentleys, one of which is more that 100 years old, hustle down the road and around the track. A beautiful part of the world and we got to travel down some very uncommonly used roads. Given that Jeff and I are not small, it was notable how narrow the beds in the Norway hotels are. Now, we are both back to the US.