Alcan 5000 Rally

[Guest]

This is one of the (not too often) moments that I think that a Facebook account would be nice!

 

Anyways, it's great to read that they are one their way and that all's going according to plan!

 

Menno

[SuzanneH]

They are on the last stretch to anchorage, 14 th place overall so far and they missed 3 days

[graeme]

Just found this tracking map, some of the vehicles on the rally have transponders and can be tracked.

 

https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=248&showHome=y&showInfo=y

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

[TorontoTim]

Alcan 5000 Day 9: Valdez, AK to Anchorage, AK and the FINISH!! (~310 miles)

 

We made it – we are at the Finish in Anchorage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4,500 miles and finally we are DONE!!!!

 

But before we tell you about the day, much less our full reflections on the whole event, we want to dedicate our finish in this wonderful rally to our friend Badfrog. He is a friend who I have never met, but I "know" him through the TR Forum. He was wonderful, funny, enthusiastic and smart. And just a few weeks before we started the Alcan, he died. From cancer.

 

Before he died, unbeknownst to me he had become very enthusiastic about our adventure and was keen to follow every mile with us. But he knew that his time was short. During a phone call with a mutual friend just days before he died, Badfrog passed on a few messages. He said that he had a feeling that we should have a spare fuel pump with us – as it happens we had to replace ours on Day 4 – and to make sure we had a way to isolate front and rear brakes – that, thankfully, has not been needed but I was happy to have the advice. He also said that we should look out for him making his presence felt as our “wingman” along the way. He laughed as he said this; but then became serious and said that he really would be there with us. Just after we had the engine blow-up (also on Day 4) and were being towed to the day’s end and our spirits were truly low, a rainbow appeared – Jan immediately said “this isn’t where our rally is going to end”. As we started rolling again on the morning of Day 6, another rainbow appeared and stayed with us for perhaps the first half hour of the day, directly in front of us. Thanks, Badfrog, good to have you alongside us!

 

He also said that we should remember that “Thinking is the Best Way to Travel” and said that, wherever our rally finished, we should award ourselves with a glass of Champagne and a Havana on his account. He said “moritori te salutant”

 

Cheers, Badfrog, this is for you, from the naughty little tadpoles.

 

Edited September 1, 2014 by TorontoTim

[Don H.]

Nice job, Jan and Tim! I don't doubt that you had a tailwind looking out for you.

 

Following your Alcan 5000 has been one of the best TR adventures in years!

[stuart]

Excellent, well done Jan and Tim, thus proving nowhere`s far in a TR!

Stuart.

[Nigel 628]

Well done all three of you - Jan, Tim and the TR! A great adventure of battling through adversity, never giving up, in a tough little 1960's car.

 

Congratulations.

 

Nigel

[Alec Pringle]

Excellent performance Jan and Tim,

 

J-F, aka Badfrog, will be very proud of you.

 

So are we all.

 

Cheers

 

Alec

[Tr4Tony]

Top job guys ..... Nothing like a little trundle out is there. Look forward to hearing the full run down soon.

 

Regards

 

Tony

[SuzanneH]

Well done Jan and Tim and your tribute to JF was the icing on the cake, congratulations to you both. Xxx

[TorontoTim]

Thanks for all the support - it was a great boost in the more troubling times. A special thank you to Paul (Lord Flashart) for finding us a gasket and helping to make sure that it made it to us inside a day.

 

Full report and reflections later, but final positions were:

 

14th Overall

7th Auto

2nd in Vintage class (to a 1982 Audi Quattro)

 

Not perhaps what we hoped (my fault, not the car's) but the adventure and getting to the end was always our top priority.

 

Now there's just the little matter of 4,100 miles home... Nowhere's far in a TR, right?

[Quicksilver]

Jan and Tim well done!

 

thanks for the reports and updates..(also on facebook)

enjoy the trip home

 

KRs, Marcel

Edited August 27, 2014 by Quicksilver

[TR NIALL]

Jan,Tim and JF,Great Result and Well Done.

[Guest]

I've enjoyed the story and the adventure from the beginning to the end. And I'm glad you did so wonderful - indeed with J-F's help, I'm sure.

 

Keep safe on your way home. And please, share lots of pics with us!

 

Menno

[Lord Flashart]

Well done guys, I'm pleased to see you made it to the end.

 

Paul

[TorontoTim]

As we know, they say "Nowhere's Far in a TR" - but I have to say that 4,100 miles in 7 days, on your own, straight after a 4,500-mile rally is about as far as I want to go in one trip! Having made it back to Toronto from Alaska, and covered over 8,500 miles in the rally and home trip, combined, there are a few things I can confirm. Many of you may know these things already, but I thought it would be worth sharing them anyway.

 

1. A TR4 is a joy to drive, on all roads, in all conditions. No surprise there, of course, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed driving every single YARD over the past 3 weeks. (see #6, below)

 

2. Vredestein Snow+ tyres (in 165/80) are a fantastic all purpose rally/gravel/tarmac tyre. I took 6 with me (one spare in the "sweep" truck) and two of them are now pretty much shagged. But the others are still quite reasonable - and only two of them were new!! It's reported here in N America that Vredestein are discontinuing these tyres and I certainly bought the only two available on the continent (according to the NA distributor) - Menno: have you heard anything there in NL? We've already lost the Dunlop SP82's, let's hope we don't lose these too...

 

3. Revington's rally seats are unbelievably comfortable. I know that Ridgard's seems to be the #1 pick for road rally cars and I was a little concerned with the Revington ones because I can just feel one of the frame-rails under my right hip (LHD car, so feet offset to the left). But both Jan and I sat for many hours a day, for day after day and felt no ill affects at all. I took a whole bottle of pain killers for our aching backs and limbs etc., but only needed them for one headache. Highly recommended (for someone my size, anyway!).

 

4. TR windscreen wipers actually DO work! Usually, I try to avoid turning them on and always coat my windscreen with Rain-X instead. However, some of the bug-y days meant that the screen was just far too dirty for the odd heavy shower to disperse as normal so I had to use the wipers - and they were great! PHEW! Having said that, I haven't got the "authentic" floppy ones, my blades are Bosch which I had for my old Porsche 356 and are quality items.

 

5. Tr's will cruise all day at 70mph, no problem. For 11+ hours. Day after day. They need only to stop to re-fuel.

 

6. I LOVE the way a TR handles - especially on slippery or gravel roads. You can chuck them at corners with a little oversteer and blast through no problem at all. On and off the gas/accelerator in 3rd gear is my favourite using the torque to launch you out of the corner and the engine braking to slow and set up the car before the next one. ENORMOUS fun!!!

 

There are likely more things, but these are the ones that kept impressing me as I drove. Oh, and they sound good too - especially the whistling SU's!

[Guest]

As we know, they say "Nowhere's Far in a TR" - but I have to say that 4,100 miles in 7 days, on your own, straight after a 4,500-mile rally is about as far as I want to go in one trip! Having made it back to Toronto from Alaska, and covered over 8,500 miles in the rally and home trip, combined, there are a few things I can confirm. Many of you may know these things already, but I thought it would be worth sharing them anyway.

 

1. A TR4 is a joy to drive, on all roads, in all conditions. No surprise there, of course, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed driving every single YARD over the past 3 weeks. (see #6, below)

 

2. Vredestein Snow+ tyres (in 165/80) are a fantastic all purpose rally/gravel/tarmac tyre. I took 6 with me (one spare in the "sweep" truck) and two of them are now pretty much shagged. But the others are still quite reasonable - and only two of them were new!! It's reported here in N America that Vredestein are discontinuing these tyres and I certainly bought the only two available on the continent (according to the NA distributor) - Menno: have you heard anything there in NL? We've already lost the Dunlop SP82's, let's hope we don't lose these too...

 

3. Revington's rally seats are unbelievably comfortable. I know that Ridgard's seems to be the #1 pick for road rally cars and I was a little concerned with the Revington ones because I can just feel one of the frame-rails under my right hip (LHD car, so feet offset to the left). But both Jan and I sat for many hours a day, for day after day and felt no ill affects at all. I took a whole bottle of pain killers for our aching backs and limbs etc., but only needed them for one headache. Highly recommended (for someone my size, anyway!).

 

4. TR windscreen wipers actually DO work! Usually, I try to avoid turning them on and always coat my windscreen with Rain-X instead. However, some of the bug-y days meant that the screen was just far too dirty for the odd heavy shower to disperse as normal so I had to use the wipers - and they were great! PHEW! Having said that, I haven't got the "authentic" floppy ones, my blades are Bosch which I had for my old Porsche 356 and are quality items.

 

5. Tr's will cruise all day at 70mph, no problem. For 11+ hours. Day after day. They need only to stop to re-fuel.

 

6. I LOVE the way a TR handles - especially on slippery or gravel roads. You can chuck them at corners with a little oversteer and blast through no problem at all. On and off the gas/accelerator in 3rd gear is my favourite using the torque to launch you out of the corner and the engine braking to slow and set up the car before the next one. ENORMOUS fun!!!

 

There are likely more things, but these are the ones that kept impressing me as I drove. Oh, and they sound good too - especially the whistling SU's!

One of the nicest write-ups I've ever read on this forum.

 

I think that you're holding a few records now: northermost trip in a TR (at least on the Americas continent), the largest distance covered in a limited time etc.

 

About Vredestein: I haven't heard this here. I do have a US address (can't find a Canadian one)

Apollo Vredestein Tires Inc.

13 Bridge Street

Metuchen N.J. 08840

U.S.A.

Telephone: 1 732 549 2440/800 221 3422

Fax: 1 732 549 2450

 

customer.us@apollovredestein.com

 

You can try to contact them. If you're unsuccesful, send me a PM and I'll contact them overhere in Holland (Or just come overhere for a vacation - Vredestein's factory is only 50mls from my hometown)

 

Menno

 

[TorontoTim]

Thanks Menno, PM sent.

 

Of course, I should probably list what went WRONG as well... So, in the following order:

 

1. LT lead feeding the coil decided to shed it's connector (two-minute fix by crimping on a new connector - looks like the wire has become a bit too stiff with old age...)

 

2. Fuel pump leak - replaced with spare (still have to investigate exactly where it started to leak, but it looked to be somewhere in the sandwich between the top of the pump, the diaphragm and the bottom of the pump - I tried tightening the screws holding top and bottom together, but it didn't get any better).

 

3. Right rear puncture (this happened in the main street of Skagway - not on any of the rough stuff. Nuts!)

 

4. Serious overheating causing blown head gasket (as described previously, this was at the top of a serious climb, with no respite, on a hot day. However, I later discovered that the bolt clamping the distributor in place had stripped, so the timing was wandering - I am fairly sure that this contributed to the problem.) This also meant that the radiator cap melted its rubber seals, so I had to make up a new one from the closest at the spares shop and a rubber o-ring from the plumbing dept.

 

5. Rev counter cable died (no big deal - I do it almost all by ear anyway)

 

6. Rear number plate light bulb (this was obviously the big one...)

 

And on the way home...

 

7. Left rear puncture (this time on a sharp-edged rock in a road construction zone. Grrr!)

 

8. Speedo cable died.

 

 

So, as we all know TRs are pretty robust too!!

Edited September 4, 2014 by TorontoTim

[snowric]

Tim,

This is an amazing achievment and has joined my list of things to do if I ever get to retire - what a trip.

 

And you must have an amazing partner to have joined you on the adventure, navigated and smiled as you slid around courners in third ger at epic speeds.

Snowy

[Alec Pringle]

Back in the days when the late Dave Lightning Brown first popularised the phrase " nowhere's far in a TR " we used to reckon Dave was pretty high on the scale of daft TR long haulers.

 

Tim has taken the idea to heart, and then some, and gone to lengths old Dave wouldn't even have dreamed of . . . .

 

Bloody good show, and great to hear you're now all home safe.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Guest ntc]

This will be good at that time of year ask me how I know http://www.cadwellpark.co.uk/calendar/2014/november/north-humberside-stage-rally.aspx