You saw Alan depart our shop last night at 6:30 in the video in the prior post… he drove all the way to Winchester, Virginia after he rounded the snow bank in front of our shop, a very impressive test drive indeed! He arrived at a Winchester motel at 3AM, and was back on the road at 6:30. The second photo is from this morning, titled “6:30 AM, 14 degrees.”
As of 11 AM on Tuesday 2/11/14, Alan was turning south on interstate 77 off of 1-81, just two hours North of Charlotte, running smoothly at 70 MPH. He has completed 610 miles of his journey and has just 356 miles to go.
We are all pumping our fists in the air here at mission control and I am teaching Bodhi the difference between “give me your paw” and “HIGH FIVE”!
His next challenge will be the line of snow that’s parked just south of his route. He is in sunshine now, but soon the clouds will thicken. I have told him that Bugeyes have nearly zero traction in the snow with their very light rear end. Alan has already said his wife reports snow at home “but it’s not sticking.” Stay tuned!
The car is performing beautifully. Our pilot reports that there were a few hiccups with the electrical system (C’mon, it’s British!) Actually, I think from what he reports that the ignition switch might just have some minor corrosion, which should be easy to fix. He also lost his tachometer after about 500 miles, which I suspect has to do with the tachometer gearbox, an $85 reproduction part made in China, which we have had fail in the past. But in fairness, that is only a guess right now until I have more information. We already know that we need a higher quality tach drive, because many have failed in the past, and Rick you may remember had trouble with his on his cross country trip too. As Alan said, if I am going to lose a gauge, this is the one to lose!
Otherwise, Hazel is humming along just fine. Who’s next for their fly-in and drive home adventure? We have more (all season!) cars in the barn that are ready to run!