[RallySnake]

Part 3

Tim (the Rallymaster) and his better half, Donna, were sitting in the timing car enjoying the sights, sounds and smells in this incredible valley on Walker Basin Road. As checkpoint 2, they gave us a perfect zero score and a couple of candy bars, too. Life was a beer commercial!

One of the keys to winning Monte Carlo rallies is interpreting passage controls. In the old days, they were just proof that you visited a certain location. These days, they are used as clues to finding the checkpoints. If the checkpoint is manned, the passage control is moot. If there is no checkpoint, you write down the necessary information on the passage control as proof you were there.

The passage control for in-marker 3 was a diamond shaped sign with a right curve arrow on it. Tim tried a new trick here. We encountered a sign just like the one in the picture. It even had a letter stuck on the back, the letter “R”. But, when you look closely at the picture in the instructions, you realize that there should be a mountain in the background and there is another sign in the distance. We could see no mountain and no other sign so we kept on until we found another curve sign, with the proper background and a “J” on back. We dodged a bullet on that one.

Checkpoint 4 was at the lower end of Caliente Bodfish where it met Bena Road. The hose was stretched across a sharp curve in the road. It was doubly difficult because it was an uphill creep. You are not allowed to stop within sight of a checkpoint, so this meant slipping the clutch for a couple of minutes to go very slowly. Automatic transmissions are a BIG advantage, here. When it came time to hit the gas, I was just a tick slow and we scored a one late for the leg.

We had to go find three course controls and lunch on the way to Standoff 5, 6, 7 and 8. Tim used these to make us drive scenic parts of Bena Road and Breckenridge Road and Harrell Highway. We stopped at Wendy’s for a hamburger in a Northern Bakersfield suburb called Oildale. While we were eating and getting gas I could hear racing engines running in the distance. There had to be a racetrack near. Sure enough, after our dinner, we drove right by Bakersfield Speedway. Coming the other way down the road, were the Budweiser Clydesdales with the huge wagon and the Dalmatian on top. It was quite a sight. Our timing could not have been better. Driving by the entrance to the racetrack was difficult. I could tell that the car wanted to make a few laps and so did I!

Round Mountain Road is supposed to be paved, but in places, I think you’d have to dig through a couple of inches of dirt and caked mud to find it. We found Checkpoint 5. and started a string of 1’s (1/100 th of a minute off). The road was very rough sometimes and made the beautiful white Jaguar X-Type look like a much better rally car than the Cobra. We passed a number of cars but couldn’t lose a persistent pair of headlights behind us. It was bad enough on the dirty switchbacks of Round Mountain but very frustrating when the road improved. Highway 155 is the most unusual road I ever remember driving. The engineer who laid this thing out must have had a bad day. The continuous left, right sweepers varied in radius, often tightening up. The Toyos are about 3/4 worn and were gripping well and generating impressive g-force. I was cranking into the turns harder and harder but the headlights behind us would not go away. I began wishing for a straight so I could blow them off, entirely, but the curves continued their arrhythmic undulations. I could sense that Ron was not happy. After 40 odd miles of slamming through right, left, right, left we were both getting a little queasy. I slowed up to let the other car catch up. Wouldn’t you know, it was a Subaru STi with an Autocross driver, Richard (in a Ferrari shirt and cap) following us? After the rally, the Subaru team sat with us and we got to discuss the virtues of the car. It was really fast and has run at up to 150 mph (on a closed race track, not this rally). It handled really well, too (I can attest to that!). The only thing they didn’t like was, not knowing when the turbo boost would come on. It surprised them a couple of times. Subaru STi Team member, Greg Bartlett took the pictures I am attaching here.