Well, we just completed our first ‘rally’ in the new-to-us 1964 Morris Mini, and what an amazing weekend!
The Snowball Rally is a two-day event, with an optional 'night stage' on the Friday evening. The event is strictly for classic cars, the only criteria being, they must be pre-1980, and the more interesting the better. To be fair, it’s probably more accurate to describe it as a classic car driving tour than an actual rally, although there is still the need for basic navigation and route plotting. You’re not just given a destination and use GPS, that would be too easy. The route is only revealed when you get the road book. Until then you have no firm idea of where you're going or where you're staying for the night.
We started off late Friday afternoon meeting up with some of our fellow entrants on the Marin headlands, at the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge. The assortment of cars was pretty amazing. Among them were a few Porsche 911's and a 356, a handful of TR3's and TR4's, several interesting Alfa Romeos, a pair of Datsun 1600 Roadsters, a Dinalpine (Mexican built Renault-Alpine A110) and a 1950's Rolls Royce Silver Cloud - you get the picture. The collection of people was equally diverse. There were three Minis, a silver 1968 (which looked significantly newer, but who cares), a 1971 Australian built Mini 1000, and our 1964 We could safely make the claim of having the smallest engine of all the cars there.
Early evening, after the bay area traffic had calmed down a little, we were given our road books and a quick drivers briefing, and were dispatched off towards Sacramento, our Friday night destination. The route took us out of the bay area, and North through Napa wine country. It was an absolutely gorgeous evening, and quite a spectacle running along with other classic cars, through picturesque small towns as the sun set. There were plenty of pedestrians stopped in their tracks on their evening stroll to watch and take photos as the cars drove through.
I will admit, we made an early navigational error. We were assuming the instructions would take us straight unless told otherwise, but quickly worked out that we should stay on the road designation (i.e. CA-12) even if it turns ninety degrees off the straight road you're on. Never mind, we quickly corrected the error, got back on track, and learned the thinking process of the guy setting the route.
As darkness fell, we were zipping along a road atop one of the levees on the Sacramento river delta. The cars were well spread out by now, so the road was very quiet. It was a good chance to run our genuine Lucas auxiliary lights. Fortunately, they worked (you guys don't know what they're talking about with your Lucas jokes) and lit up the road up like daylight. A good job, as the road was very unpredictable. It basically followed the edge of the water, but would suddenly dip down off the levee, through a sharp 'S' bend, then another 'S' back up onto the top again. It was a wonderful drive, along a very interesting piece of road, an obviously the Mini was in it's element. We finally pulled in to the restaurant's crowded parking lot. We were definitely not the first there, but also not the last to arrive. Already the tales had started!
