TASMANIA, Australia -- Tuesday, May 9: The first day of full-on Targa Tasmania stages ran under brilliant blue
skies, and as predicted, Teresa Davenport and Cheri Huntoon found their Saab
Sonett to be right at home on the lovely, twisty Tasmanian roads. The first
stage was still wet from the overnight rain, but it was an easy lope for the
entire field. In fact, it wasn't until the fourth stage leading to the lunch
break that any reasonably quick rides scored any penalty time (that is, time
over the base time for the stage). The scores put the American women right
in the hunt, with the Buckingham/Fitzgerald Porsche taking nine seconds to
the Yanks' ten.
The third all-woman team, the Taylor/Vajda Mazda RX7, encountered some
difficulty that used up their allowed late time before lunch, but at this
point we do not know how that will affect their overall score; they were
able to return and posted good scores during the afternoon stages.
By mid-afternoon, it had become clear that the Browne/Plenderleith 1969
Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF is the Category 4A leader; the potent little rally car,
with Peter Brown at the wheel, amassed only twelve seconds in penalties all day!
Meanwhile, disaster threatened the Sonett crew. A slipping clutch had slowed
them in the morning sections, but mysteriously fixed itself after lunch.
However, midway through Targa Stage 8, Lilydale, a bang and a clatter arose
from the engine, and it lost power; the car could be heard rattling and
struggling on three cylinders as it limped to the finish line. Still, the
crew completed Lilydale under the maximum time, taking only a minute and
eight seconds penalty despite their difficulties---though now they had no
choice but to motor unsteadily onward to the final stage of the day in
Launceston. "Keep the revs down," advised crew chief Russ Huntoon, husband
of navigator Cheri. "Try to nurse it home."
Unspoken, however, were the dire considerations of what might be ailing the
V4. The symptoms were those of a broken rocker arm or shaft, or something
else in the valve train---and where do you find parts for a thirty-year-old
Saab in Tasmania? The Pit Boys---Huntoon, Guy Recordon, and Satch
Carlson---headed for the overnight parc ferme at the Launceston Silverdome
expecting the worst---and wondering whether they would even see the little
blue car arriving under its own power.
Meanwhile, the women persevered, as women do: Though a
suddenly-three-cylinder engine needs careful coaxing to get under way---the
worst possible stress on a delicate clutch---the crew set off through the
Launceston streets of the final stage---and finished under the base time for
their fifth "clean sheet" of the day! Then they nursed the Saab to the
Silverdome where the gloomy crew stood ready, tools in hand, to pull off the
valve covers and see what could be salvaged. Sure enough, there was the
intake-valve pushrod for the #1 cylinder flopping free---but not because of
a broken rocker or shaft. Instead, the valve-adjusting screw seems to have
merely backed off from its proper setting, allowing the pushrod to fly out
of place; in a trice all was set right, with valves newly adjusted and
locked down tight, new spark plugs in place, and new valve-cover gaskets
fitted: a turn of the key and vroom! A healthy V4 firing on all corners, and
all's right with the world. The team is still on track for their Targa
trophies, with one more day of progressively tougher stages in the northern
climes before heading through the tricky passes of the east coast to Hobart
on Thursday.
Reprinted with permission of the author.
