Two student docents from the Maine Classic Car Museum are taking part in the 2024 Great Race as part of the X-Cup Challenge. Click here for part two of their journey.
Getting Ready for Race Day
Max and Cotton here again with our daily blog as we get ready to compete in the 2024 Great Race long distance rally. We’re two high school students from Maine, and we’re reporting on our experience as rookies in this epic 2,300 mile race.
With Saturday’s starting line coming up fast, we had a day of preparation and inspections with our car, a 1961 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. Each car in the race must pass a technical inspection to meet safety standards. We started the day with a tire problem and had to bring the car to Elite Tire to check a suspected valve stem issue causing an air leak. Bram found the elusive flares, after checking five different stores in two states. We thought we had everything ready to pass inspection when we realized we had lost our first aid kit somewhere along the way. We solved this last problem with a quick trip to Walgreens.
We were ready for our first real test on the road—the 42-mile “measured mile” run, to help us make sure our stop watches and performance calculations were ready. However, we found we couldn’t even make it through the first interval step, as we unexpectedly hit road construction and detours immediately. We were lost within seconds—it was not a good sign. Finally we found our way and completed the measured mile test with the car performing well. It was hot and muggy, so we kept the windows down on the big Caddy hardtop to keep us as cool as possible.
After the day’s adventures, we met up with another race team from Maine. Peter Brown is the mechanic at the Seal Cove Auto Museum and Susan Nourse is the former Police Chief in Freeport, both are veteran racers. They have been mentoring us both back home and here at the staring line. Through them, we see have been able to see the true spirit of the Great Race. It’s all about friendship and teamwork. Peter and Susan return to the race with their open aired old roadster, a 1930 Ford Model A boat tail speedster.
Later, the RPM Foundation, who provided us with our Great Race scholarships, hosted a pizza party where we met other students competing in the X-Cup division. We had the honor of meeting Jeff Mahl, a long-time Great Racer and strong advocate for students in the automotive fields. The room was spellbound as Jeff shared that his great grandfather won the original Great Race in 1908. The American team triumphed over Germany and Italy in what is today still the longest motorsports event in history, a record unbroken after 116 years. George Schuster drove a 1907 Thomas Flyer from New York to Paris to win the event after covering 10,000 miles across 169 days.
Our stop in Owensboro, Kentucky, home to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, had a great kickoff for the race with a street festival. There was some awesome live tunes playing, we saw the sun set over the Ohio River, and it was lights out early as we had another busy day ahead.
Source: www.classiccars.com