Mind you it is still under construction, but please go sign up and become part of this wonderful family.

David

Technorati Tags: Rally Routes, Road Rally, Road Rally Forum

This rally was a little different from the normal Tome Speed Distance (TSD) Rallies. Not My Fault was made up of legs that required the same amount of calculating, but less boring driving.

Joanna Paden the rallymaster found some of the greatest driving roads in Southern California to be on, designed a rally where we were not bound by a certain cast, and then trough in a little bit of gimmick to keep the navigator busy watching the road instead of tossing cookies. Yes, the roads were that good.

The only part of the rally that bothered me, is the generals were not specific as to where the mileage was calculated to, and she veered away from 80 years of tradition. This therefore caused us to be off on our milegae calculations. We did figure it out when we crossed the last hose conveniently located in the shade because the hose could be anywhere as long as it was in sight of the “calculated point”.

The winning car figured it out early, and I believe the 2nd place car and us did not since our scores were almost exactly the same.

I think the concept of the rally was great, It was a lot of fun and I will know better next time.

Thank you Joanna for a great rally!

Not My Fault Rally

Technorati Tags: Fun things to do with your car, rally, Southern California Rally, TSD Rally

This was a TSD (Time Speed Distance) rally with enough free/transit zones to make the event fun for both the driver and the Navigator. I won’t tell you how fast I had to go when we missed a landmark and had to turn around through the longest stoplight known to man.  But I did make up the 4.5 minutes!

It was a pretty straight forward rally with a long enough mileage check to make our factor almost spot on. We corrected the factor after the 3rd leg and started getting our mileages to match exactly to the rallymaster’s (Rachel Smith) mileage.  Now if we could have just foundd all the signs, we would have been in pretty good shape.

Since our mileages where spot on for most of all the legs, I am assuming Joe and I found the traps having to do with direction of travel, such as the onto’s at highway 34 and Balcolm Canyon (tricky one here). Our errors for the day, where not getting enough stop signs counted or not canceling a lettered instruction. We did not turn in a winning score, but we were proud of never going off course, which was the buzz at the pizza joint at the end.

As for the route, What great roads! After the mileage check which ended in Agoura Hills, we were sent down W. Potrero Rd. (for the driver) into Camarillo.

After checkpoint one in this area, off to checkpoint 2. On the way there a double ( I am not sure it was intentional) trap was encountered. We were turned onto 34 which if you stayed onto, turned you left and North through Camarillo and Somis. If you went straight at the intersection you found the part of the WOF instruction to turn you back on course. If you are following along with a map, the instruction was go staight at “historical” or left at Adolfo and then right at Lewis WOF. By following the onto course properly, you actually encountered a sign acceptable (speed limit 50 mph) for the next route instruction before you completed the previous on course WOF sign (historical), and being about 8 minutes later, confidence that the “historical” sign had been missed was high, therefore a coin toss to put in a cast change and continue on. A few minute later you find the hard to see “historical” sign on the right as it should be, but the 2nd part of the same trap, was the off course part of the WOF instruction ” L at Adolfo” could be carried out 50 feet further up the road, so this is what some drivers concentrated on and therefore missed the “historical” sign on the right. We did witness another rally car make the left turn to nowhere.  Sneaky stuff.  Nice job rallymaster!

So checkpoint 2 is a DIYC (Do it yourself checkpoint). As we were leaving checkpoint 2, Joe says it would be really sneaky to put a checkpoint immediately after the left turn. Low and Behold, there it was, about .2 of a mile from checkpoint 2. Thank goodness I was on the clock!

The next fun part of the rally was in the Citrus groves just outside Fillmore. We had just had a break, and all fattened up with good fast food. And my navigator was so satisfied, he decided it was time for a nap while I drove around the orchards at 20 mph. Needless to say, we missed a sign or two.  But our mileage was right on!

The rest of the rally was more of a drivers rally. A great free zone traveling from Santa Paula to Ojai. Memories brought back as I drove by the front gate of my High School (Thacher School, CdeP ‘80) familiar roads to get us through the trap in downtown Ojai.

Back on to Highway 150 to drive past Lake Casitas and over the foothills to beautiful Carpinteria and the ocean view.  Being from the area, I had pretty much predicted where the last two checkpoints would be, and we got two 1’s to finish up the rally.

Thanks and Kudos to the SMSCC team for another great day of great people, great fun, and forgetting about the rest of the world for five and half hours.

Keep up the great work!

David Budlong

Technorati Tags: Car Rally, Citrus Blossom Special, Fun with your car, Road Rally, SMSCC, TSD Rally

I have been looking at various ways of saving a few dollars at the pump. And I have come across something that makes total sense. It works too!

I am talking about running your car on water. Wait, I have seen engines seize because they have gotten water in them. Yes break and seize because water does not compress like fuel vapor does. Therefore when you get a bit of water in the cylinder chamber and try to compress it, it does not and the cylinder wall or the piston and rod end up bending. This is why we do not drive through rivers without an snorkel set up.

Back to water burning cars. They are not actually burning water, the water is being converted prior to its introduction into the combustion chamber to hydrogen and oxygen, its two basic components.

Here are some videos for you to watch to see what i am talking about. After you watch the videos, click on this link, or the link below to find out how you too can have this system in your car and START SAVING MONEY.

Start Saving Money Now! Don’t wait for Gas to go up even more, Beat them at their own game. Order this system now! Click Here to learn more and order your information today.

CLICK HERE

Technorati Tags: better fuel economy, burn water for fuel, convert your car to get better gas mileage by burning w, how to achieve better fuel economy, how to save gas, Save gas

If you happen to be in Southern California this weekend and want something fun to do with your car, then I have a viable solution.

Santa Monica Sports Car Club, SMSCC, is putting on two rallies this weekend. Their usual 1st Friday Nighter rally which happens the 1st Friday of every month. This has been going on for years, and is one of the few things you can still count on in today’s world.

Here is the bonus. Your weekend membership to the SCCA for running this rally can be used Saturday too. Saturday’s rally is called the Citrus Blossom Special. I ran this rally last year and had a great time. The foothills north west of Los Angeles are the game board for this rally, and there are a lot of great roads to enjoy.

So come out this weekend and enjoy the great weather, the great roads, great friends, challenging puzzles, and the absence of the stress of the rest of the world for a few hours.

These two rallies presented by:

Zeros,

David

Technorati Tags: Car rallies, Car Rally, Fun with your car, Road Rally, TSD Rally

We had thirteen cars enter the rally. Not too bad when gas was reaching the $4.00 per gallon mark.

We had a great crew to man all of the checkpoints.

If you want to see the routes, you can click on the link in the side panel and downlad them for free! Work them out and go drive some great roads. If you have any questions, post them here and I will answer them for you.

Zeros,

David

CLICK for ROUTES and MAPS for TOTAL RECALL 2008.

Or if you prefer to download a .zip file of the routes. Click Here:

CLICK for .zip file of the ROUTES and MAPS for TOTAL RECALL 2008.

See you at start.

David

Technorati Tags: , Central Coast Road Rally, Fun with your car, Road Rally, Southern California Road Rally, Total Recall Rally Routes

The rally starts in San Luis Obispo and ends in Paso Robles. In normal times this is at most a 1 hour drive. Yet Justin found a way to take 8 hours to get there.

Being the motorcycle fan Justin is, he has found some roads that will test the spiritedness of your vehicle and the ability of your navigator to keep lunch down. (Remember Navigators, DO NOT TRY READING WHILE ON A CURVY ROAD!)

I do not want to spoil the fun, but believe me; the roads are great, the map based puzzles are mind challenging, and a whole lot of fun can be had!

Here is the greatest part, If your vehicle has at least one newbie in attendance, the rally is free to enter! Otherwise it is $25.00. Less than the price of two movie tickets and popcorn.

So, mark it on your calendar to be at the Graduate Restaurant in San Luis Obispo this coming Saturday the 12th of April 2008.

If you are new to road rallying, there will be a beginners class at 10:30, be there by 10:15 to sign up.

If you are experienced, we suggest a 11:30 arrival time for a 1:00pm start.

Come enjoy your car and great friendship.

To find a map to start, and more information on Monte Carlo Style Road Rallys, Please visit www.itnrally.org

Technorati Tags: fun with cars, Map Based Road Rally, Monte Carlo Style Road Rally, Paso Robles Events., Road Rally, San Luis Obispo events

As I told you previously, I had ordered a new Alpha-elite Rally computer the other day. It came and I am impressed with the quality.

Today I am going to hook it up in my new rally car. It is a brand new car and it will feel a little weird going in to hard wire a rally computer.

I will do a clean installation so no one will know when I am not running a rally.

Pictures later.

David

Technorati Tags: rally, Rally Computer, Rally Computer Installation., Road Rally

This morning, I ordered the new upgraded version of my rally computer. I can not wait to get it. Mind you , my original computer still works, and works well. Many a zeros have been calculated with this computer. It is very accurate and simple to use. And after 16 years of my driving, very sturdy too.

What is great about these computers is the versatility. I compete, write, and work in two different types of rallies. TSD (Time Speed Distance) and modified version of Monte Carlo Style Rallies. The Alpha was mainly designed for TSD rally competition. It is also great for when I am writing a rally (either TSD or Monte), for I can set the calculated  time to zero and put in the speed in which I want to calculate the leg at the start, and as I drive it accurately measures the speed and distance traveled and calculates a leg time for me. And last but not least, with the countdown feature, crossing the hose with a zero on a Monte is no problem.

Now, you are going to spend a few dollars for this computer, but at $669.00 for the complete unit including a drivers display. it is priced at about half of the competitors unit with the same functions.

If you enjoy rallying, and are serious, or want to get serious about it, then in my humble opinion this is your answer.

To get more information on the Alpha series of Rally Computers, check out http://www.rally.cc

Technorati Tags: , Monte carlo style rally, rallies, rally, Rally Computer, rally timing equipment, rallye, road rallies, Road Rally, TSD Rally