63 Bullnose Rally Project

[allessence]

Looking forwards to a video..

[RadioFlyer]

Awesome build! What does that Terra Trip computer do?

[Luke]

Awesome build! What does that Terra Trip computer do?

You need to watch some more in-car rally videos!

[Crazyswede]

Awesome build! What does that Terra Trip computer do?

The Terratrip computers mostly turn off when you need them most

[Jordan]

TerrorTrip?

[modernbeat]

While I've had my fair share of modern Terra Trips, none of the computers has crapped out on me. Seems it's always the sensors, or the sensor install, that fails.

This Terra Trip does what all rally computers do. It's a very fancy odometer. You can't see it because of the angle I took the picture, but it actually measures mileage to the 100th of a mile. The lower thumb panel allows you to calibrate the computer so it's accurate with whatever tires and gearing you use and it's in sync with the rallymaster's odometer. The MODE allows us to add or subtract mileage from the total which is more useful for a TSD event in the case we get lost and have to backtrack. The PROBE switch chooses between two different wheel speed probes. The second probe acts as a backup in case we damage the first. The FAST and SLOW buttons allow us to manually add mileage to the count in case we have to fudge a total to get us back to where we should be odometer wise. The two odometers each have a button to zero out the display. That's more useful for the intervals, but every day we also zero out the total.

This one has had a LOT of modifications done to it. Partial replacement of the LEDs, some protection circuits have been added to prevent overvoltage from destroying the chip. It's been converted to use modern 5v probes and it now uses a 12v power isolator to shield it from the noisy power the alternator makes.

[Luke]

This one has had a LOT of modifications done to it. Partial replacement of the LEDs, some protection circuits have been added to prevent overvoltage from destroying the chip. It's been converted to use modern 5v probes and it now uses a 12v power isolator to shield it from the noisy power the alternator makes.

Nice work on fixing that one up, that's even older than the one we have in the historic car!

[Crazyswede]

This one has had a LOT of modifications done to it. Partial replacement of the LEDs, some protection circuits have been added to prevent overvoltage from destroying the chip. It's been converted to use modern 5v probes and it now uses a 12v power isolator to shield it from the noisy power the alternator makes.

Nice work on fixing that one up, that's even older than the one we have in the historic car!

this one unfortunately is not working the way it should. It was behaving oddly at the last event. Luckily we know the roads well enough not to need it. Makes getting back in sync with the notes on stage a little trickier though

[Geoff]

Nice MiG clock

So what age do you think those Terror Trips are?

[modernbeat]

Ours came with some instructions with a 1971 date on them.

[Geoff]

Wow, that is old! I have a Zeron 550 which apparently dates from 1972-73 range

[modernbeat]

I have to give a tip of my hat to Jack Christensen of Time Wise Rally Computers for all the fixes and modifications to the old Terra Trip. Jack not only did the fixes we needed in a creative manner, he also suggested a number of modifications to make it more robust.

[modernbeat]

Worried about carb icing with the cold and wet conditions and the open element air cleaner. Craig bent up this shroud to pull hot air off the exhaust manifold and head. It's connected by three quarter turn fasteners so it's easy to remove for service or changing conditions. Also put the block off panels back in the inner fenders and taped up one side of the front vents and the center grill.

[Sean Tennis]

Or one could run some isopropyl alcohol with the fuel/oil mixture, 2% if I recall...

[modernbeat]

We did it. 100 Acre Wood Rally is in the bag.

The conditions changed during our drive up. A huge cold front dropping inches of sleet covered Missouri the night we arrived. Recce was done in a truck and we only finished half the stages due to the weather, ice covered roads and the unsuitability of driving them in a truck prepared for Texas highways.

The car was a hit everywhere. At Parc Ferme we gave out vintage style photos of the car and signed autographs. The stages were challenging, but even with wholly inappropriate tires, Jeff threw the SAAB around in the slush and ice like he had been doing it all his life. We had one parts failure, a Pertronix points replacement. I've had issues with them in the past and have urged my friend NOT to use them on cars that HAVE to perform, like race cars. But Jeff sourced one for a V6 and modified it to work with our 3-cylinder engine (same number of pulses per revolution as the four-stroke V6). It died in the control zone before Stage 1. Servicing it there was illegal, and so was having our crew show up with a replacement module. But we were going to be time barred anyway since the diagnosis, contacting our crew, travel time and parts replacement took more than 30 minutes. The Steward said we could still run the afternoon stages after the planned service. So we did. But overall we were scored a DNF for Friday due to the one modern part on the car.

Saturday was a different ballgame. Overnight we had to do some extreme work on the dash to adjust the shifter enough to get it in third and fourth gear. And we rejetted the carb for the cold, dense air. Once the stages started we never stopped. The car soldiered on threw the icy slop, the slush, the long bobsled runs and the torn up gravel ruts. Everyone commented on the odd two-stroke sound. The car sounds outrageous when the revs are up due to the expansion chamber and open exhaust. We had two 45 minute service periods with the only issues being a mixmatch of rear stub axle and bearing parts that started to come apart. A pair of hastily fabricated bushings kept everything from disintegrating back there. During the very last stage we finally encountered an obstacle we couldn't overcome. A long steep climb immediately followed a hard 90 degree turn after a water crossing. The cars before us had rutted the slush and dropped water on the ruts from the water crossing. That water had frozen into two ice slides. When we hit the hill we made it about 2/3rds of the way up before running out of momentum and traction. It was everything we could do to keep the SAAB from sliding back down the hill. The Ford Focus behind us had similar issues. The Vintage Audi behind both of us managed to claw his way in front of the SAAB and all three codrivers pushed the Focus to the top. The Audi crew helped tow us the last few feet of the hill and we all raced to the end of the stage and then to the end of the rally in downtown Salem.

This was the fourth time I've been to the 100 Acre Wood rally and the weather is different, but extreme every time. Dust, water, ice and slush have all added to this fantastic event. Jeff and I have expressed our thanks to the organizers who not only put on a great event, but allowed and encouraged us to bring our vintage car to it even though it would likely either die during the event (it did) or go so slow it would delay the rally (it didn't).

Allthough almost everyone LOVES the car, there are still a few that think we should swap engines, tires, computer or some other component to make the car just a little more competitive. For them, I'll quote the opening section of the Historic rules from the Rally America rulebook. Bolding is mine.

PRINCIPLES
The purpose of Historic Class is to “enable the active celebration of the
History of the Motor Car” in stage rallying in America. The Historic Class
rules are intended to “preserve the specification of (the) period and prevent
the modifications of performance and behavior which could arise through
the application of modern technology.” Furthermore, “Historic competition is
not simply another formula in which to acquire trophies, it is a discipline
apart, in which one of the essential ingredients is devotion to the cars and to
their history.”
(Quotes taken from Appendix K to the International Sporting Code of the FIA)

Credit: GotCone.com