"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
09/29/2019 at 23:20 • Filed to: None
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"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
09/29/2019 at 23:20 • Filed to: None | 4
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The car survived a pretty grueling 3 day road rally over the Sierra range this weekend. The only losses were a hose clamp on the gas filler pressure tube and the nuts holding my turn signal on (clear tape provided a temporary fix). Some of the transit roads were pretty bumpy since we were way out in the middle of nowhere but the car really performed great.
If you’ve never done a rally event, I highly recommend it. Especially if you have a fast car and like to wrench. I won’t publish which roads, but it was hundreds (probably well over 1000 corners) ranging from 0 to 7000 ft of altitude. It was great to introduce the car to a bunch of new people (about 100 attendees in 75+ cars). It hung with some of the best from pro-street muscle, to Porsche’s, to heavily modified European classics/retro, to JDM imports. There’s not much better than chasing a flame spitting R32 GTR down a twisty road or a resto-modded GTO through the high-desert forest. This one was the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Sierra Rally. They do roughly 1 or 2 events per year - typically in California.
It was truly a driving/social event, so I didn’t grab many pictures but I’ve attached a few. I’m still shocked by how much attention the car gets - especially after someone follows in front or gets behind it in the twisties.
A few cars had issues but I was super impressed with how people teamed up to get the cars back on the road. The GTO blew a line off it’s oil cooler yesterday and between everyone donating oil, my donated hose clamp, and the owner’s tools/knowledge of the car - it was back on the road in about 20 minutes. Good thing too since we were an hour from civilization. Another note on the people - sure there were a few egos around but 95% of the 100 people were amazing. Chill, cool, funny, and respectful. I loved that. It really did kind of feel like adult-summer-camp. Another great part is that you meet [person] with [car] and not [name] from [job]. I have almost 0 idea what any of these people do for a living. It hardly comes up. Some are race drivers, some own shops, some drive school buses, some are retired. You wouldn’t even know unless you talked for more than an hour. Almost every conversation is about the cars, the experiences, and learning. Incredible.
gettingoldercarguy
> Nick Has an Exocet
09/29/2019 at 23:53 |
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Looks amazing, how'd you go about finding groups like that?
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Nick Has an Exocet
> gettingoldercarguy
09/29/2019 at 23:59 |
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I subscribe to the Driving While Awesome podcast. They talk about the rallies every once in a while so I joined their Patreon to get an early link to registration. Turns out it sold out to Patreon only in only 9 hours.
There are a bunch of other ones. I would check out instagram for rally photos and poke around a bit. These seem to be very much on the down-low since you don’t want to alert the locals with their pitchforks. Most locals were totally fine - a couple were not super pleased about loud cars roaring up their quiet country roads.
Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
> Nick Has an Exocet
09/30/2019 at 00:29 |
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I met the guy who owns the mismatched MG GT, his name is Dave and he also has a 2.5 L Miata. I really want to do one of these in my Datsun next year.
CaptDale - is secretly British
> Nick Has an Exocet
09/30/2019 at 01:26 |
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I watched via the instagrams. Looked like an amazing time! I keep meaning to go on one of DWA’s rallies, but they haven’t lined up yet. That said I do have a rally next month!
I am very glad to hear the Exocet did well. Hopefully sometime I can check that beast out.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
09/30/2019 at 01:35 |
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I ate lunch with him (and his son, I believe) today! Seems like a cool guy. We chatted a lot about the MG GT, his other MGs, and his 2.5 NC. That’s a man who LOVES roadsters.
You totally should. Lots of great people.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> CaptDale - is secretly British
09/30/2019 at 01:38 |
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Awesome - how did you find out about that rally you’re doing next month? DWA does a pretty good job organizing. They could use nametags though. With 75+ cars, it was tough to keep track of names/cars.
I’m a bit hesitant to do fall/ winter rallies in the Exocet. The potential for freezing my nuts off or catching a cold in the wet is pretty high. I also really want to bring a different a car to the next rally that I do - though the pure driving experience (sensory overload?) of the Exocet will be missed in most modern cars.
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CaptDale - is secretly British
> Nick Has an Exocet
09/30/2019 at 01:59 |
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A friend of TF rischt is putting it on and after they did a test one about a year or so back this one is bigger up from 10 ish cars to 25. So I got an invite to go along. So super small fun group of I believe mostly local cars.
Yeah with 75+ cars I could see name tags and below name their car.
Yeah a car like that could be hard to always be perfectly comfortable in, but I guess you will have to weigh the fun of driving it vs the potential to not be fully enjoying it due to weather.
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Nick Has an Exocet
09/30/2019 at 05:46 |
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That looks awesome! Glad you had fun and that the Exocet survived.
“ Another great part is that you meet [person] with [car] and not [name] from [job]. I have almost 0 idea what any of these people do for a living.”
Well I guess I'm never going to one of these, at least not anywhere near me. If its not a networking event, it ain't happening in DC!