Curvy. Day 3’s challenge was, simply, “Don’t Be an Idiot” while driving the curviest series of roads on the rally route. They included the as-yet-apparently-unknown Tennessee State Route 32 and the growing-ever-yet-more-famous “Dragon,” rightly known as US-129 at the Tennessee-North Carolina border. (I still call it Deal’s Gap, which some maps attribute to the first intersection of US-129 in North Carolina.)
We experienced our first two technical faults on the latter road. First, the car was stalling at stops, and the ignition cut out as we began the ascent to the state line. A bit of mental searching led to the answer–an electrical fault at the battery. The right battery hold-down stud had broken before I got the car, and so the battery was loose in its tray. Sloshing around in there had loosened the connectors. We stopped at the state line pull-out to make repairs. My co-pilot, Simon, suggested wedging something in there to prevent the battery from moving. I suggested paper towels, but he seemed to think non-flammable things would be safer. Bah. I spotted a pair of Bud Light cans someone had tossed in the ditch, stomped them to about a half-inch thickness, wedged them in place, and off we went to enjoy the now-slightly-cleaner road.
The second problem was simpler–the oil level light was flicking on every now and then during turns. Looks like the Laser burns about one quart per 1,000 miles. No problem!
May 26, 2008 at 8:20 pm |
1 quart per 1k. sounds like some bimmers. You’ll fit right in!