18 cars, nice weather, a two hours ride, that's the recipe for a good time according to most car enthusiasts. Of course, some nice twisty roads would have been great but this is south Florida and roads are what they are.
 Like most of these events, it's always nice to see familiar faces and especially those who came from far away such as south Carolinian Dick Deibel and German members. By 11am 18 cars registered including XK 120, E-types, Mark IX, a new S-type and four Corvettes from the South Florida Stingray club. Dick Deibel and Karl Schafer will run in a Nissan... they're excused considering the distance they covered to come here ! |
First car away was scheduled for 11am so members started arriving at Tradewind Park around 10 am. Rallymaster Robert Frost had arranged for a pavilion to get some shade and some shelter in case of rain and the idea was to start and finish at the same point so that food and drinks could be left there in one spot.
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One car that we were really happy to see on the road is ... Oscar, the all original XK120, owned by SFJC president Russel Glace who takes his car not only to all our static shows but to most driving events as well. Last month, Oscar was a little ill with some misfiring, backfiring and rough running right before going on the Forza Amelia vintage rally, see April issue of the Cat's Meow. Unfortunately, the problem was misdiagnosed by the Rally's "mechanic on duty" who thought the engine had a leaky head gasket, forcing Russel to run the 1000 miles event in a loaner Mercedes ML 430. Yes, that's the same crew who replaced Pascal's Alternator and belts.... After returning to Miami, in its trailer, Oscar was checked and apparently the problems were caused by the ignition not firing correctly, fouling the plugs.
After a short briefing to correct a couple of details on the route instructions, the first cars lined up and got ready. Robert Frost had checked the route earlier on that morning and advised the participants that a house number used in the instructions had fallen off since he prepared the course... nice touch !
Because of south Florida environment, the rally was held on the roads of west Palm Beach County, mostly residential neighborhood. This added a high level of uncertainty in following the route instructions because of the number of intersections and the hundreds of signs participants had to read to find the hidden clues. |
The format of this Rally / treasure hunt was such that each car was to follow the route and pick up a dozen clues / answers to questions along the way. Optionally, drivers were instructed to adjust their speed to maintain an average of 15mph. This rally style regularity test would be used in case of a tie and for a special prize. A Stingray left first followed by a couple of E-types at 1 minute intervals (left) .
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Above, Rick Hill (left) and Russel Glace (right) look for clues along the way.
| This being a Florida event, weather can be
unpredictable and while the weather was sunny most of the day, rain fell for about 5
minutes forcing open car teams to pull over and close up. Right, Russel Glace and
his son closed the XK120 in less than 3 minutes ! By 1pm, all cars have crossed the finish line, where they started at Tradewind Park and all gathered at the pavilion for food and drinks. During that time, Robert and Laurie Frost went through the answer sheets to tabulate the results. Three cars tied for first with perfect answers to all the questions so the tie was broken with time accuracy.
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 Interestingly, the winning team of David Vorsas started with one car and finished with another... they also had the advantage of living almost along the route which allowed them to stop home and switched from his topless E-type to a series 3 XJ6 (left ). The reason for the switch ? a noise coming from the alternator but as the E-type is under restoration and its interior not done, it has no convertible top so the change of car just when the rain shower passed by is suspect to say the least...
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The regularity prize went to a Corvette Stingray driven by John Sobota, just under 2 minutes off the perfect time.
Because of the triple tie for first, Robert Frost has already announced that the next treasure hunt will be harder...
Results
Score is number of wrong or missing answers on the treasure hunt
| Car | Name | Score | Time Error | |
| 1 | Jaguar XKE / XJ6 | David Vorsas | 0 | 9'22" |
| 2 | Jaguar XKE | Rick Hill | 0 | 23' |
| 3 | Jaguar XJS | William Cuppucio | 0 | 42' |
| 4 | MGB | Mike Rosenberg | 1 | 5'25" |
| 5 | BMW 525 | George Harrisson | 1 | 6'25" |
| 6 | Corvette | Steven Jaffe | 1 | 6'35" |
| 7 | Corvette | Paul Sharrone | 1 | 12'41" |
| 8 | Jaguar XJS C | Kaye Kaeslin | 2 | 12'29" |
| 9 | Corvette | Kathy Pender | 2 | 13'42" |
| 10 | Jaguar Mark IX | Rick Hartwell | 2 | 14'17" |
| 11 | Jaguar XJS | Cindy Gommel | 2 | 19'02" |
| 12 | Corvette | John Sobota | 3 | 1'54" |
| 13 | Nissan | Dick Deibel | 3 | 8'21" |
| 14 | Corvette | John Gommel | 3 | 19'44" |
| 15 | Jaguar S-type | Pat Ryan Cowan | 6 | 17'12" |
| 16 | XK120 | Russel Glace | 9 | 30'37" |
| 17 | Jaguar XKE | Pascal Gademer | DNF | |
| 18 | Corvette | Anthony Bond | DNF |
After play, Jaguars and Corvette Stingrays share the parking lot ! Below, Mike Rosenberg comes in followed by
Rick and Diane Hartwell in their majestic Mark IX |
Left : Pat Ryan comes in her S-type |
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