Dave and I are back in BC again after the marathon drive home. We are working on a photo gallery and wrapup report from Beetleball, but we wanted to say a quick thanks to all the competitors, checkpointers, and organizers for making the event a super fun adventure!
10:09am: We win our class, and 2nd overall, just 2 minutes behind 1st! As we descended into vegas, we spotted the Mexi Cab ahead. Slowly prowling through traffic, trying to hide from his rearview mirrors, we both dove off at the last exit, nose to tail. Realizing we both took a wrong exit, we were madly navigating a new route. We took different options at one intersection, each one of us thinking the other had us beat. Arriving at the finish, only one other competitor in sight!
8:55: We have been playing leapfrog for the past hour with the Mexi Taxi, but he seems to have a little more jam up the hills. He's currently in sight ahead of us. He hasn't made a second stop so we think he's got a 15 gallon stock gas tank and he'll be getting pretty close to fumes in Vegas. We are only running the stock 10 gallon tank. Hoover Dam checkpoint is up next in about 50 miles.
8:00: Well, we couldn't have timed that any better! As the "1 mile to gas" sign flicked by the window I heard Dave say "Uh Oh!" and the car went quiet. Out of gas! With the car in neutral, we drafted behind a truck and peeled off at the exit. We made it! Back on the highway now, with enough gas to get us to vegas, and we just passed the Mexi Beetle - our main Stock class rivals. We don't think they've done a second fuel stop yet, but they may not have to.
7:30am: We'll be in Vegas in no time! We are now onto Interstate 40 coming into Needles, and we are planning our next and final fuel stop here. Instead of connecting with the 40 right after Amboy, we stayed on ol' 66 which saved us a few miles. We've lost track of the other cars now so this coming fuel stop will probably decide the rally. If we get out in front of them, or they choose to stop in Kingman, AZ, we'll have a good shot at an overall podium. But first, gotta get ready for the NASCAR style pit stop! I'm the money man (you have to pre-pay here) and dave is the pump man.
7:00: We got a nice surprise at the Amboy checkpoint - we're in second! Our splash and dash skipped us ahead of everyone but the red open class bug. Currently cruising the old Route 66 to Needles, CA.
6:35am: As the sunrise slowly boils on the horizon, we have truly entered the desert. We pulled a quick splash and go fuel stop early on when we found ourselves in a group with all our main competitors. We then passed at least one of them later on as they were filling up. Our first checkpoint is coming up in Amboy and we think we're in 3rd place.
5:14am: Car is purring like a kitten as we head through a little drizzle east of LA. At the Le Mans style start this morning we were third off the line and have been sitting in 3rd and 4th position on the road since. Dave is driving steady and the Herbie car and Mexi Taxi ahead keep yo-yo'ing back to us so we are sitting right where we want to be. Our gas strategy of last night had one fatal flaw - the gas station in Amboy won't be open yet when we arrive! The newly restored gas station opened again this summer and none of the other teams knew that. We have a new strategy but we'll be calling Amboy to see if we can wake them up!
We're ready. Or as ready as we can be, anyways. The car is sorted, with a fresh oil change and some rally lights to help guide us through Los Angeles at 4am. Our clothes are laid out in neat piles, ready for a quick wake up, and Dave and I have gone over our various strategies numerous times. We won't win this event on all-out speed - there are other people with better cars or who are willing to risk going faster. But we think we have a fuel stop strategy that will leap us to the front of the stock class. Some of our pre-race research might have given us some info that others don't have. Either that, or they are bluffing too! Amboy, here we come!
I'm typing this while sitting in the Vancouver airport, waiting to go down to California for the Beetleball. This is the 3rd flight I've taken in the last two weeks, and I can't help but laugh at the logistics required for us to do this event. The crazy logistics came from two problems. First, I have no vacation time from work left and secondly, it's just poor timing! Since I didn't have any vacation time left from work, I had to figure out how to do the event without using anything more then weekends...
Map shows last recorded position...refresh the page to see updated position when gps is active, or CLICK HERE for fullscale map. We may go "offline" if we lose cellular coverage along the route. Rally starts at 4am, Saturday, October 4th, in Long Beach, California! Blog updates from the road will appear under this post (this map is "stuck" to the top of the page for easy reference). GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com, sent via iPhone.
Warwick and I had a mini meeting on the fuel crisis for Beetleball. Fuel stops take time, and time not moving is going to be our biggest enemy in this event. Combine the difficulty of time management with the fact that gas stations aren't exactly common along our route and the challenge of fuel management begins to surface.
As part of our Beetleball adventure on October 4th, we are going to test out some live gps tracking of our run from LAX to Vegas. This will be a test of capabilities for future events, and a test of the technology we currently have available to us (simply, an iphone with GPS). For Targa we'll likely need to find a solution that does not rely on sending updates through the cell network (Newfoundland has patchy coverage, and very little coverage with Rogers Wireless), but the instamapper test will be the first step in the development process. My goal for Targa 2009 is to have a totally interactive website, with live video, photos, blog updates, and gps tracking throughout the whole event. How cool would it be to have LIVE incar video! I've done livecasting through 3G/EVDO cell networks with some success with Whistler Mobile Muse, but streaming live from Targa would stretch those capabilities. I'm hoping our rally team can partner with some companies who have new technology they want to showcase! Here's our current tracking map, where I'll test it out this week on the commute to and from Whistler. If you have any information or suggestions for the various technologies available to expand the scope of this ongoing project, please let us know in the comments!
GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com
(Map shows last recorded position...refresh the page to see updated position when gps is active)
The preparation on the Beetle has begun. I began by going over the whole car these past few days to give it a 'once-over' and create the list of things that need to be done. Since I leave on Friday for California the list was quickly divided into "need", "would help us win" and "would be nice". The need items (maint. and safety) were taken care of on the weekend, except for new seatbelts. Those I'll have to get in California. Following the need items, I've started on the next category. The major items are mounting the rally computer, it's sensor, and mounting rally lights for the drive home.
Rally computer, mounted
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Rally computer sensor mount. Excuse my welding, first time in two years with a not-so-hot welder to boot!
The rally computer sensor is waiting for me in California...so here's hoping I made the mount correctly!
I also managed to drop the car off for decals this morning, though I'm not entirely happy with the way things turned out..
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The door gumballs were supposed to be 12", with a keyline at 14" diameter. Instead, the whole thing is 12". Needless to say, they'll be redoing them tomorrow!
More decals
Don't ask how many tries before they got the names right!
Taped up the headlights for Warwick, just to make him laugh.
-Dave
So what exactly is the Beetleball?
Beetleball is an endurance rally series open only to air-cooled Volkswagens. The challenge is making both the team and car last for the entire event. If you push them too hard (or don't maintain them) air-cooled beetles are known to overheat cylinder #3, which typically results in broken valves and blown motors. One team at the innaugeral event experienced just such a failure, but kept driving on the three good cylinders!
For Warwick and I, the Beetleball represents a perfectly timed crazy idea. To hit the event is a stretch, both for our time and for the finances...but it's a stretch we need to make. We've both been getting deeper and deeper into the classics. I've bought the beetle, and I'm looking for another. Warwick is actively looking for a Mini, his classic softspot. To be able to go out and rally them...who could think of anything better?!
But the real draw to the Beetleball is the adventure of it all. I, unfortunately, have no vacation time left...which means getting from Canada to Long Beach, racing to Las Vegas and driving home in a single weekend is impossible. Instead, I'm driving the car to California this weekend where I'll park it at a friend's house and fly home. A day before the event I'll fly back, pick up the car and then head to get Warwick at the L.A. airport. Conveniently he can't fly in at the same time! From there we'll race, and then do the drive home from Vegas together.
The reasons for doing the event just keep coming!
-Dave
