18th Jean Behra Historic Rally

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:46 am

Hello,

This year despite the economic crisis this edition was a success. 48 cars jump in coming as far as Germany and Belgium.

I registered with my wife as copilot into a team to support the research to cure cancers for kids.

Weather forecast was very good as usual on the french riviera although a bit cloudy for the morning start. :wink:

I had set up the trip the day before to be on the safe side... then Friday morning we drove to Palca Massena for the gathering before the start. Putting the war paint on the car... :mrgreen:

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:48 am

As usual a lot of Porsche, many alpines, but also a TVR team, austin healeys, MGB, Jaguar Type E... and Rally pro monsters...

I will add other pics later on.

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:51 am

I had to put the stickers on ( very stressed to damage my paint now... :shock:

) setting the clock according to the organizer time and getting in queue.

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:56 am

This year it was getting serious. No more hidden marshalls at secret checkpoints to note down the time you passed in front of them...

this year they put a "GPS trippy" some kind of GPS device which record our path and time. they download it in the evening, set the checkpoints on the computer and here we go, they award you penalty points for 1/10th of a second. It counts double when you re ahead of the ideal time...

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:05 am

Wifie was a bit under pressure as she had not done a rallye since last year. I tried very diplomatically to coach her and motivate to get the best of her, it must have sound something like : "Ok, try to stay focus, don't you mess up! OK?"

Because i quickly understood that Divorce was not an option, I changed my attitude trying to admire the countryside and pretend to act as if I did not care about this stuuupid ranking :mrgreen:

15 mountain pass to cross for a total of 25 000 meters of difference in height. Among all these pass, was the Pass of "La Bonnette" at 2807 meters high over sea level. Highest in Europe....
We lost a few cars on the way... broken gearboxe on a Renault Alpine, low quality fuel in Italy was fouling the plugs, broken drive shaft for the TVR 00 of the organizer...

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:12 am

We wen to Italy in Cuneo. I have no pics now of the hotel but the accomodation was top class. The food was great (well anything in a menu saying it contains truffle is generally a good sign).

However this year, there was many kilometers. The rythm was harder... especially when you have to get back in the car after that fantastic italian dinner for 4 night stages.

Really scary with the lights of the Elan and no additional light beams...

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:15 am

We ranked Friday 9th place out of 49 cars. Basically your number of penalty points keep on increasing the more you drive.
So the idea is to keep on doing your best to slow down the count and hoping the worst for the 8 cars ahead of us!

Saturday lunch break... back in France.

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:18 am

In the evening we arrived in Valberg, a quality french ski Resort... We were both exhausted and we did not show up at the party.

The car performed well in the heat during these hillclimbs. A whinning or hissing noise start to appear... coming from the gear box in 1st 2nd and 3rd gear only.

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:21 am

Now we are ranking 8th, so we gained one spot. :mrgreen:

The potential winners ahead of us are too good to be afraid of us. We keep on fighting as there is still 4 stages left the monday morning! You never know...

Last year the potential number one made a mistake during the last stage and ended up at the 4th place... this year they won the rallye.

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:22 am

Wifie is the one going up and down the car before every stage to get signatures and time validation.

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:26 am

We arrived sunday around noon on the "Promenade des anglais" after 770 km (including 265 km of special stages).

Loads of tourist enjoyed watching the cars.

Post by: **rgh0** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:45 am

[quote="Pistacchio sprint 72
The car performed well in the heat during these hillclimbs. A whinning or hissing noise start to appear... coming from the gear box in 1st 2nd and 3rd gear only.[/quote]

Sounds like the needle bearings on the layshaft on the way out ? The layshaft can also vibrate in the case and wear its mounting holes at each end of the case loose and cause problems with gear alignment. if your not running Redline MTL then it could also just be the gb oil getting to hot

cheers
Rohan

Post by: **gjz30075** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:48 pm

Very cool! How did you attach the stone guard thing at the rear of the front wheel? And why not put one in the rear?

Greg Z

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:00 pm

I used velcro tape. So I remove them after the rally.

I have a set of 2 waiting in the garage for the rear. But the inside shape of the rear wheel arch is more complicated and I have not figured out yet how to attach them....

Post by: **Pistacchio sprint 72** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:39 pm

We ended up 1st team ranking and 8th overall ranking out of 48 cars.

I joined a team raising awareness for an association fighting against cancer for kids. The other team crew i was racing with made a 3rd place, this explains our 1st team place. As they were also 2 girls, they also won the prize of the first 100% girlie team.

So we were walking back and forth to the podium for all these prizes :mrgreen:

18th Jean Behra Historic Rally

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