2012 Fun Rally Report by Rob Pink
I thought it would make sense to recap our trip to and from and our actual activities at the Fun Rally.
The contingent from SCOPA included myself - with car on trailer - at least on the way there. JT and his wife Mary with car and trailer (both ways). Bill and his wife Marilyn driving the Pantera on the the way there (thanks to Bill for his help on the way back). Steve and his wife Kathy driving both ways and Alex Engels who I believe drove one of Chuck Engels cars with the Oklahoma group.
Well the trip there and the trip back. I think much of the story has already been told. Let's see. On the way there the Panteras ran flawlessly. Both Bill and Steve and their spouses had no issues showing that you can indeed drive these cars 1,200 plus miles and enjoy it.
We had some minor issues with JT's truck --- not 1 but 2 exploding tires at different points of day 2. You will see a picture (attached) of JT and Mary outside a Walmart service center after just purchasing the 4th of the 5 tires that would be bought that trip.
Now I sent a pretty detailed email about my exploits on the way back. To shorten the story. Wheel and tire leave the car at 60mph or so. Car grinds to a stop. 45 mins of hunting for wheel. Eventually found 3/4 of a mile ahead having cleared 4 lanes of the freeway the medium and a farmers barb wire fence. AAA tire - back on. (AAA guy commented - that job bordered on being interesting) Stop for the night - new lug nuts - 1,000 miles home - no other isssues the car ran great. I did recieve 2 written warnings one in Arizona for my trailer wheel touching the white line and second in El Paso for not having a front plate on the Pantera.
At the actual event - wow - lots of cars - from places we hadn't seen before. You could easily spend hours kicking tires and chatting and thinking about how that would look good on your car. The hotel was fantastic - new - rooms were great. (Compared to Reno - that had seen better days).
We had the hospitality suite around the pool - that was nice. Lots of shirts and assorted Pantera stuff to buy.
Dinner at Rustler's Roost. Great food and an amazing view of the city from the deck that we pushed into service.
The next day I went on the track - now I am group C guy - what fun. First it is fantastic track - 5/8 of a mile straight away and there were only 3 cars in my class. Heaven - pretty much a whole track to myself. A little we did get joined by Koz in his raced prepared NSX and some guy in a 400K McLaren. I attach a picture where it is clear that I have just blown past both of them and will putting distance on them as I blast down the straight away. ( At least that is the way I remember it - perhaps others saw it differently)
I will leave the telling to rest to others as this is about when I needed to head home.
Here are a few pics
