A Cross-Country Driving Trip in Our Morgan

Journal Pages
 Click a pic

Preparation

The Caboose Run

Boise and Park City

Bryce and Zion

Antelope Canyon

Grand Canyon

Cumbres & Toltek R'way

Getting to Nachez

Nachez Trace

Franklin & Athens

Blue Ridge Parkway

Concours

Autocross

Virginia

Annapolis

Finger Lakes

Niagara Falls

Iowa

The Home Stretch

MOG 36 - The Poker Run, Autocross and Banquet

Sunday, July 2 - The Poker Run

This year the club had decided to do a Poker Run instead of a TSD Rally.  In a Poker Run, you follow directions to five different locations and at each location pick a card from a deck.  In this way you assemble a Poker hand.  The best hand wins.  The scenery along the way was lovely and made the run that much more enjoyable.  We were the second car to arrive at the first check point and the fellow with the cards was nowhere to be seen.  By the time he arrived there must have been at least a dozen cars there.  We got our card and continued on the course.  We let Antonella take us from the fourth check point to the fifth - Nutter's Ice Cream Parlor in Sharpsburg.  We collected our last card and went back to the Clarion to turn in our hand - a sure non-winner.  Then we went off in search of lunch.

        Many of the cars got to the first station before the guy with the cards, but it was scenic

After lunch we went to the Antietam National Historic Battlefield, but arrived too late to take the Ranger-led tour.  We drove part of the battlefield, then stopped at another National Park facility, part of the C & O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal system.  There is a lovely old plantation house, in sore need of restoration, that the Park service has acquired.   They are awaiting funding so they can start the restoration process.  The National Park Service has a program where they employ volunteers in various capacities - docents, ticket vendors, tree planters, etc.  The house was staffed by a NPS Ranger and a volunteer who spends every summer at various parks volunteering in an appropriate capacity (she's a woman of a 'certain age').  We have been so impressed by the NPS in the country - they seem to do a terrific job.

Monday, July 3 - The Autocross and Banquet

And finally it was time for the Autocross.  I had attended MOG 34 in Sophia - the Jaguar XK8 convertible we have since sold.  That was the first time I had ever driven in an Autocross and I had been waiting two years for the opportunity to drive in another, but this time in Moggie.  Mel and I drove out to the Summit Point Raceway, where the autocross was being held.  I backed into a parking space and unloaded everything from the car, including the spare tire and luggage rack.  Then it was over to the air pump to inflate the tires to 35PSI.

    Moggie and others getting tires pumped up to 35PSI

I completed the tech inspection and went into registration where I registered for the first heat.  I figured that as long as I had the opportunity to watch at least one or two others run the course first, I would just as soon make my runs before it got any hotter.  The first heat entrants proceeded to the starting area.

    The first heat waiting for something to happen

John Sheally got in his car and led us on two parade laps to familiarize us with the course.  One naturally develops a strategy for running the course at this time.  From the starting line you go accelerate through the timing devices and virtually straight through a short bit of the course,  Then there is a very sharp uphill right-hand curve.  This sets you up to go through a gate high on the track and another low and into a six cone chicane.  A short straight stretch and you are into a four cone chicane followed by a sharp right hand curve downhill.  That is followed by an S that can be taken quite fast before you get back to a curve through the timing devices.  Each entrant got three runs of two laps each.  The second lap is naturally faster than the first as you are at speed going through the timing devices.

            The parade laps - lining up, going through the first turn and returning to the grid

    We're waiting for the start of the first heat

At last it was time for our first run.  I ran full-throttle (with a shift into second gear on the way) through the timing devices and to the uphill right.  I braked for the turn and hit the accelerator hard to power up and around the turn and through the gates.  Then I took the first chicane as fast as I could and accelerated to the second.  I had decided to take the second chicane so that I would go to the left of the last cone to set me up for the downhill right.  I braked for the second chicane and took it cleanly, then down through the S as fast as I could go and on to my second lap.

                Tom and Moggie ready to run, heading towards turn 1, and returning

All three of my runs were clean and my times got better each run.  My first and slowest lap was something over 48 seconds and my last and fastest was 44. something.  At the banquet I learned that my last run was good enough to get me first in my class.  Was I pumped or what?  I learned later that there was a math error and I had finished third rather than first, but I had a blast in any event.

I had been asked to put Moggie in the banquet hall to honor her and us for having driven the longest distance to get to MOG 36.  So after the second heat (I worked as a Course Marshall) we headed back to the Clarion and I got Moggie looking spiffy.  At the banquet, I gave a very brief talk about our trip and enjoyed the company of some great people.

        Moggie is honored for longest distance traveled to MOG 36

The banquet over, we got Moggie back outside and buttoned up for the night.  The next day we would be off.