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British Pacific has done what no one has dared try before: not only to drive a Series II across the U.S., but to race it! We built a traditional '59 Series II 88", using our own parts and rebuilt driveline components, and we competed against 97 other vintage cars in a 4,250 mile road rally from Washington DC, to Tacoma, Washington! The longest time-speed-distance rally in the world. And somewhere between Washigton D.C. and Tecoma Washington we set a new world record for the longest time-speed-distance rally ever run in a Land Rover. Part of our goal was to demonstrate the quality of BP engines, transmissions, and components, but even more importantly we wanted to meet our customers along the race route. |
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You may have seen it on Speed or The History Channel: the Great Race is America's oldest and richest vintage car adventure. Now in it's 23rd year, it's run across the width and breadth of the U.S., in all kinds of weather and over all kinds of terrain. It is a time-speed-distance / precision driving event, where the teams are given the route, speed, and time, but no distance information. Speed changes and route instructions must be followed precisely: no maps, no GPS, no computers: just a pencil, speedometer, clock and stopwatch, and the route instructions. The number of seconds over or under the (unknown) ideal time are penalty points, and the lowest score wins. In 2004 the winning margin of victory was :01, after two weeks of competition! In 2005, the winner was only six seconds off. Many times teams can run legs with a 0:00 error: these are called 'Aces', and good teams earn 4-7 per race. Our Land Rover earned 5. This deal is for real money, too: over $250,000.00 is available in cash and prizes. Greatrace uses a handicap system that favors older cars, and the year eligibility cut off is 45 or older: for 2005, vehicles built up to 1960 can compete. Last year a 1916 Hudson Indy Racer won the event, beating a 1939 Ford. In 2005 a 1928 Model A Speedster beat out a 1934 Ford Bohnalite Special by just 2 seconds. Virtually any vehicle with a decent performance level can win. The trick is that it has to be reliable, and the performance has to be consistent, in order produce good scores. This was our fifth race. I drove while my wife Janet navigateed. The 1959 Land Rover was one of the newest vehicles in the field. The variety of cars in competition is remarkable: stock American sedans, heavy trucks, full classics, stripped down roadsters, souped-up Model A's, and full-on Indy racers. The vehicles have to be nearly stock or as originally built, and aside from a handful of modifications permitted for reliability and safety, any alterations must be period correct. You can't run a Chevy V8 in a '32 Ford for example. For more information about rules or scoring, and photos of the cars that race in it, please check out http://www.greatrace.com/.
The race is hard on the cars and the crews. While it's held on paved roads, not all of them are good. Competition speeds are at 50 mph or below, but if you get off course or stuck behind slow traffic, ya' gotta be able to turn it on. The average day requires about 12 hours in the car; it's not so much the mileage covered (you have no odometer anyway), it's the number of hours running at 35-45 mph. Each day has an average of 4 timed sections, each one usually running 1.5 hours. That's a long time for precision driving. Breaks and lunch stops are included and welcomed. No car is permitted to run air conditioning, and the race is held in mid summer. The race is not called because of rain unless road conditions are really unsafe. 'Transits' between timed sections are about the only Interstate running we do. The process of building and testing any vehicle for Great Race is challenging, and we've really enjoyed the chance to show off our stuff. BP used all of our years of expertise to build competitive vehicle, not just something that can be driven for 4,500 miles. We started with a derelict roll-over, out of some other country and inoperable for many years. Aside from BP supplied components, correct vintage parts for an ancient 88" came from a variety of sources. We thank our friends at Great Basin Rovers, Huntington Service Center, Peters Marina Motors, and British Northwest Land Rover for their contributions to the project. You can visit each of these suppliers at their web sites, by going to our 'Service Centers' page. We started this project last year. We've found that no undertaking of this size gets done without a deadline, and we made it, including test sessions and the Texas GR shakedown run.
This picture shows the body coming together around our newly rebuilt performance remaufactured engine. The truck has to be as light as possible, and a combination of Rocky Mountain parabolic springs and EMU gas shocks will help the ride. Race rules require original period tires, and since we use an electronic speedometer that uses magnetic pick-ups on the front left wheel, the air pressure has to be high to prevent growth with heat, thereby changing the calibration. Actually, skinny nylon cord bias ply's are an advantage: they won't grow much, and they'll be easier to steer! Just visible is the Lucas- rebuilt Delco alternator (seriously, Lucas makes the best rebuilt Delcos). The carb is a Rochester BV from a '54 Chevy 216 six. It sits on a modified Rover intake, designed to improve flow. The exhaust manifold is stock, but the head pipe is wrapped in fiberglass header tape to reduce heat transfer. The steering box is a new Genuine part, but to retain a vintage wire spoke steering wheel a Triumph TR3 unit is used. Hydraulics feature 109 front brakes, unboosted, which work amazingly well. BP showcased one of our popular performance engines in this rig. Our engines and transmissions are built by Pat Young, well known around here for his craftsmanship. He has built Rovers of every type and description, including for round-the-world expeditions. We consider him to be the best in the business, and we proved it with the race itself. You can have an engine just like it, but only through BP! This particular engine is punched out to 2400cc, with a 9.5:1 compression ratio, 2.5 cam, new performance-curved distributor with Pertronix ignition, spin-on oil filter, an electric fan only, and full-race balancing. The exhaust system is modified by replacing the stock muffler with a low restriction resonator from a late model.
All that power runs through a BP rebuilt trans and t-case, backed by a Roverdrive overdrive. Axle gears remain 4.70:1 for best acceleration. The overdrive was not only used on the transits, which are not timed sections, but as a 'split ratio', such as third overdrive for climbing steep hills at 40 mph. We can do 70 on the highway, but that's pretty exciting on skinny tires. 65 will do fine. We did the math on our engine and tranny combinations before they went together. 60 mph without overdrive and using the Dunlop tires will generate 3500 rpm, which is sustainable all day with a fully balanced engine, but it's better not to push it that hard, if for no other reason than fuel economy. The Roverdrive will drop that to about 2600 rpm, pulling a steady 65 with no problem. New dual tanks were fitted, with dual senders: The Great Race organization requests range to be a minimum of 200 miles, so that will not be a problem. Gasoline is 6 lb./gallon, and 10 extra gallons is 60 more pounds to carry around, but it doesn't seem to affect our flat-ground acceleration and braking times. We did not bring a truck-full of spare parts with us, either. We brought simple hand tools and some basic service items, but nothing major like a spare engine, axles, or transmission. It's an old car, and anything can break at any time: there's no doubt about it. We brought a spare Pertronix unit, water pump, coil, and a few other items. And we brought it all home again unused . Our goal was to not have to do any major maintenance on the vehicle for the full two weeks of racing, except for changing jets for density altitude and maybe an oil change or brake adjustment mid-race if needed. If we did break something major, BP would have expressed out a replacement for us. As Total maintenance ended up being checking oil levels and adding 2 quarts of oil and several car washes along the 4250 race miles.
Joshua trees mean only one thing: the Mojave Desert, the only place in the world these things grow. You gotta be a pretty gnarly thing to live out here. Our practice area near Palmdale is right on the LA/San Bernardino county border. This road rarely sees other traffic, perfect for us to time speeds as slow as 10 mph for over a mile. Note one of our traffic cones at our professionally surveyed mile marker. This photo was taken during our last practice session on 6/11, a week before we leave.
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British Pacific, 26007 Huntington Lane, Unit 2, Valencia, California 91355 Copyright 2001 by
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