Rallye Maroc Historique 2014

Well here's a great vintage rally event over in Morocco.  Running for a number of years this event draws big numbers of competitors.  This year saw some 90 entrants running a cool mix of vehicles from vintage Porsche 911s to Ford Escort RS Mk2s to a Nissan 240.

The event lasted for almost a full week covering 25 special stages and some 450 racing kilometers.  In the end it was Jean-Francois Berenguer taking the win in his Escort RS Mk2 and a the aforementioned Nissan 240 RS (the only Nissan/Datsun in the event) taking third and driven by Gregoire de Mevius.

The event web page can be found in French and English here:  http://www.rallyedumaroc-historique.com/

8000+ Miles to Glory...

That's how far we'll be driving over the next two weeks on our way to and from Cabo San Lucas in Baja, Mexico, starting from here in NH. 

Some 3000 miles of this will be done over the next few days as we transport the NISMO Stuff Racing Nissan Frontier sponsored by Body Armor Outlet and Gamer Soda to San Diego/Ensenada, Mexico where the race is to begin.  Then we will race some 1000 miles due South along the Baja Penninsula for the following four days and then return home.  The team and I will attempt to update this page and our personal FB and Twitter and Instagram accounts as we go along.  To find each of us on Facebook you can look for: Dan Spalinger, Elliott Sherwood and Paul Hartl and you can look me up on Twitter by the link on this page or under "NISMO Stuff" and on Instagram under "spalind"

For those of you who wish to see where we are exactly on our route, you can use this link to see where we are based upon my last Glympse update which tracks my  
phone: http://glympse.com/09F6-JQ2G
Once the race begins this coming Sunday 5/11 you will be able to track the race vehicle at this website which tracks us by a satellite transponder.  The event on the site is the NORRA Mexican 1000 and the links to tracking will not be "live" until about the beginning of the race so check back then for the "live" links:  http://www.racetheworld.net/ircstore/

Right now there are over 162 entries in the event with a number of full Dakar-spec vehicles and world class competitors included so we have no pretensions about winning anything, this is purely for the enjoyment of the adventure.  We hope you follow along and throw back a few tequilas and Tecates in common spirit while we are away.

Thanks to my wonderful wife Wendy who has supported me through this silly idea, my kids who I keep fresh in my mind every day and all those who have assisted and supported me over the years while I play little boy games with big boy toys.

The full NORRA Mexican 1000 website is linked below and contains info on the exact schedule, maps of the course, competitor listings and more.  When I find out where the daily scoring and results updates will be posted I will post that link directly here as well.

Vaya con dias!!

NORRA Mexican 1000 webpage...

Great Vintage Vehicle Rally In Australia...

Vintage offroad racing has been on the upswing here in North America with the popularity of the NORRA series of events in Baja Mexico but its popularity hasn't moved over into the world of stage rally.  While there are a handful of vintage racers still out there--Greg Healey's '78 280Z, the Huebbe's VW Bug and Jason Lightner's '76 Porsche to name a few, gathering enough of them in one particular place at one particular time to make a legit event would be unheard of.

A bit of that has to do just with the popularity of the sport here in the States...there just aren't enough fans to have built enough vehicles over the years to create a stable of raceable vintage vehicles.

Australia is different however.

Prime example?  The Alpine Rally 2013 that just took place.  The event saw 99 "classic" vehicle entries (when was the last time a stage rally drew 99 entries here in the States let alone 99 vintage vehicles?) to cover up to 256 competitive kilometers for a cost of $795.  For an additional point of interest the organizers estimated that to handle the road closures over this event they would need 150 road closure officials and an additional 50 control officials.  Compare that to the cost and number of workers we in the US would use for our events.

The collection of vehicles at this event was especially cool.  Far from a collection blue Subarus and red and white Evos we have tons of RWD action of all sorts and a couple drivers we even know over here in North America (Will Orders and Alister McRae).  Enjoy some of the better photos courtesy of Peter and Luke Whitten.

Oh and the results??  Jeffrey David took the win in a Porsche 911, Alister McRae finished 2nd in a Group 4 Ford Escort and third was Wayne Hoye in a Datsun 260Z.

Alpine Rally Website...

 

40 Year Old Datsun 240Z Takes 2WD Win at Prescott Rally 2013

40 year old rally cars are rare.  40 year old rally cars that can still win are even more rare.

That didn't prevent Brian Scott and his codriver Michel Hoche-Mong from bringing out a 240Z with Pikes Peak experience in addition to Stage Rally history and taking home the 2WD win at the 26th running of the Prescott Rally in Arizona.

Finishing in 3rd overall out of 20 entries the red and black Z showed that RWD can still be competitive with modern vehicles when piloted well--particularly in the dry terrain of the West.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the Porsche 911 handled by Jason Lightner and Brian Johnson who finished 12th overall after numerous issues and grabbed 2nd place in NASA's 2WD National Championship.

Prescott Rally Homepage...

Great Old School Datsun 510 Photo...

This photo is from the 1973 High Desert Trails event.  The driver is a Bob (R.C.) Laton and the codrive is a Gerry Finn.

The 510 here would go on to win the event.  In doing a quick Google search it looks like Bob (R.C.) was quite active with Datsun throughout the 70s in numerous stage rally events.

Note the strange tube on the outside of the front passenger wheel.  This is the wheel sensor for the rally odometer.  No GPS in those days!

Supposedly he still has a shop of some kind in Santa Clara, CA.  There does seem to be a RC Laton connected to a "Trailkat" company in Santa Clara and the coincidences are too striking for him NOT to be the owner of this company.  I'm going to try and reach out to him and get more info on his career and vehicles.  Who knows??  He might have some of them hanging around!  A 510 of this era and design would be an epic car to have at a vintage NORRA race.

Oh, and I love the 1973 method of cutting and cropping photos with the protractor laid down pencil markings on the photo for later handling.  Ahh...the good old days!!

Trailkat Website!!

Datsun 510 Racecar For Sale

I'm always perusing Craigslist for classic Datsun vehicles despite the horrific death I would suffer at the hands of my wife should I ever choose to purchase such a project.

This doesn't keep me from dreaming however and this recently available vehicle (currently listed on Craigslist in Vermont) is one such car that has my mind wandering off into the clouds.

Though this is advertised as a "barn find" I don't think you could classify this as a "find" given the owner knew it was there all along and just hadn't touched it in year and the cage certainly needs updating to make it truly race worthy.

That being said, the car looks like it is in great condition compared to most 510s found these days and could translate into a wonderful hillclimb or tarmac rally car in short order.  $8000 is a bit steep for a car needing a fair amount of work but if the buy could be talked down to about $5K, it would be a great pickup for someone.  It already has a host of upgrades including a fuel cell, upgraded brakes, a fire system, performance engine changes, etc...unfortunately not me...sniff...sniff...

Datsun 510 Up for Sale in Vermont...