Charlie Jaguar gives Molly Porsche a rest.

Molly Porsche has been very busy over the past few years clocking up nearly 35,000 competitive  kilometers on various rallies around the world.

This year we have decided to give her a well earned rest. Molly Porsche finished the HERO Icelandic rally 1st in her class and won a special prize for the best prepared rally car.

We are taking part in our longest rally yet it is the Pan American Friendship Rally covering 10,300 miles, 27 states and over a 6 week period.

To tackle such a long and hard rally we have enlisted the help of Charlie Jaguar.

Charlie is a 1953 Jaguar XK120 FHC right hand drive. He is quite a rare car, they only made 57 of these Special Equipment models, so we will look after him.

We have started a blog for Charlie and this great rally. 

This can be found at www.charlie-jaguar.co.uk.

The people who have organised this amazing trip are The Global Rally Organisation.
The route looks something like this, think we will need a rest after this, but boy, what an adventure.

Molly's next rally is to Japan in 2017 on The Samurai Challenge  organised by our good friends at RallyRound.

Home now Molly Porsche completes another rally :) Next ?

Home in the UK now after the most amazing rally around Iceland, we would like to thank the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation for putting on such a fun and competitive rally.
HERO have run the Icelandic Saga twice before, this gives them great knowledge as to what roads/tracks are good for Historic rally cars. They also had help and local knowledge from the Icelandic Motorsport Club, all of which made a fantastic route, taking in truly wild and remote areas plus all the usual slightly safer tourist beauty spots.
We have been lucky enough to drive Molly Porsche around some the most stunning scenery in the world, we think Iceland is probably at the top of that list. If you get the chance go.

The weather did play a big part in the enjoyment of the event, cold, clear blue skies and a bit of snow for good measure.
Icelandic weather can change very quickly. The weather forecast for Sunday (the day after the rally finished ) was over 112 mph winds, sand storms, snow storms with drifting snow, basically don't drive unless you have to.
Boy oh boy were we lucky :)


There were 34 cars on the rally ranging from a 1933 Talbot 105 Vanden Plas Tourer through to a 1981 Ford Escort XR3.
Only one car did not make it and that was a TR6 with a cracked sump.
The rally mechanics did a great job keeping all the cars going. The gravel roads were a bit bumpy but nothing like we have seen in South America and Africa.
Molly Porsche did amazingly well. The only attention she needed was to get the dust out of the distributor, even I can manage that bit of mechanicing.
Thanks to Gantspeed Engineering for preparing her so well, again.
This rally was just over 2000 kilometres. This takes Molly Porsche's total rally distance up to approx 47,000 kilometres.
Next year we are driving all across the USA some 16,500 kilometres not bad for a 1958 Porsche 356A.

We have loved our time in Iceland and thoroughly enjoyed the company of the other competitors on the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation Icelandic Saga.
Thank you very much.

PS
Dear HERO can you take the SAGA bit out of the title, I am getting a lot of stick from friends saying we are going on SAGA holidays :)

One of the timed sections, Molly Porsche kicking up the dust :)

Doesn't get much better, travelling along by the fiords in Iceland in Molly Porsche 

Team Canard Fire Duck, not needed on this trip.

Molly Porsche on another timed section.

One man built this church in memory to his wife. Hopefully Julie will not expect the same.

Lava field and the beautiful skies of Iceland.

How much fun can you have on a rally. Thanks HERO rallies

This waterfall freezes over in winter, it was pretty close today :) 

Simply stunning. Thanks Iceland.

We finished but was it the end of rallying for us?

We have arrived back in Reykjavik after the most amazing rally. We have been so lucky with the weather. Most of the time driving in clear blue skies but very very cold temperatures.
Yesterday ( the last day) the organisers had to change the route because the proposed one was blocked by snow😱
This is the first time we have done this type of rally. It's very controlled driving and very intense for the navigator. We just said we were going along for the scenery, but somewhere along the line we changed tack and became a bit competitive, it then became very exciting and on the last day our nerves began to show.
We had managed to be winning our class, but with Julie falling asleep while navigating a really complex test and the driver deciding to make up his own route around the driving test cones on several occasions, things got a bit tense.
We knew the second place guys meant business after all Historic Endurance Rally Organisation is their business.
We tried to calculate how many points we had lost ( or as the professionals say cocked up) and there was a very good chance we would lose our class win and drop way down the leader board.
Last night was the final results and Gala Dinner. Morale in the Molly camp was a bit low.
Julie and I quietly slipped into the Hotel reception area and found a page with the final results. Where had we come? Were we ever going to do this rally stuff again? Were we going to talk to each other again?
Turning over the page of the HERO Icelandic Saga was worse than getting our O level results ( remember those). Had we hung on?  You bet we had !!!!! Our lead of over 400 points had been cut to 90 but that was enough. We had come 1st in class and 15th overall. Bloody marvellous, and next time :) we will have equipment that works and we don't have to borrow half of it from other competitors.

We all sat down for the gala dinner and the prize giving.
Molly Porsche our Porsche 356A had not put a foot wrong all event, she could have won the whole thing if it was not for the driver and navigator.
The first prize of the evening was given to Molly Porsche !!!!! She won the Concours de Confort et L'equipment. This is a prize given by the marshals and scrutineers for the best prepared rally car.
Bloody hell again !!! Well done Molly she deserved it.
I will put a link up to a fantastic film and photos taken by the camera crew over the event.
I can't describe how beautiful Iceland is and what fun this event has been.
The Historic Endurance Rally Organisation have done a marvellous job. Thank you.
Oh, and yes we will be doing it again :)

This is the lake where they filmed the James Bond chase over the ice field 

Molly enjoying the view 

The tyres on the 4x4 are nearly bigger than Molly Porsche

Wow! thats some sky.

Molly makes the local paper in Iceland 

Molly Porsche sets some very fast times, and is still 1st in class

This is a truly amazing event. We have been so lucky with the weather.

We have have had clear blue skies most of the time, but just to spice it up now and then snow storms whipped up by the incredible strong winds.

These winds blow the snow across the roads causing treacherous icy roads. When it's like that Molly gets blown across the road and we have no control. Really pleased we had the snow tyres fitted, this has helped keep us on the black stuff.

It's difficult to put into words quite how beautiful Iceland is. The scenery is a cross between, alpine ski resorts, Patagonia, Cornish fishing villages and a moon scape. Truly stunning.

The rally has been going very well.

We have had a good go at all the time trials, navigation and the regularities. So far we are still 1st in class and 15th overall. Still talking to each other and having a great time.

Even all the hotel rooms have been good. We haven't had to change rooms once 😉

The full results can be found at Historic Endurance Rally Organisation results

There is also a photo gallery with some fantastic photos of all the cars on the event.

This can be found at Historic endurance rally organisation photos

We have just finished day 4, driving some of the most beautiful coastal roads we have ever experienced. If you get the chance come and visit Iceland.

As one of the many tests today HERO even arranged a hill climb. This was straight up the side of a steep mountain on gravel and ash track. Molly did very well and Julie didn't say a word, except at the top where the stopping distance before the cliff edge was a bit tight and we crossed the line sideways.

Think she was shouting slow down, but it's a bit hard to tell when you're not listening 😀

We have just had the results of this fastest times up the hill climb test and Molly Porsche  set the 11 fastest time. This is out of 34 other cars. This is amazing considering that she was up against Porsche 911's and the such like 😀

 This sideways finish was not considered terrible funny by the time keepers, but it was better than giving them a good laugh as we sailed through the air down to the sea 😀

We had another test set in front of a small hotel. Great location except for the bus loads of tourist who we keep standing on the track tacking photos of Molly, bet Lewis does have this problem 😉

They did eventually go for their lunch and allow is to crack on. Molly set the 6 th fast time, not bad for an old girl.

On the marshal front a huge vote of thanks must go to the ladies and gentlemen marshals on this event, carrying out all the time keeping and sorting out the tests for us.

It may be blue skies but the wind is viscious and would give a wind chill factor of lots of minuses.

The marshals have to stay out in that cold  for hours stamping the time cards of would be world rally 

champions and trying to smile.

Thanks very much to all UK Motorsport marshals, we could not do this without you.

Our Porsche 356A is loving every moment of this event and is probably one of the most photographed cars. She is looking a little battle scarred but still going really well.

Only another two days to go.

Come on Molly Porsche.

Historic endurance rally organisation photos

Day 1 results and some photos 😀

Day 1 done and dusted and the results are in they can be found at the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation site at HERO Icelandic Saga Results
Some how Molly Porsche, ably assisted by Julie and myself are 1st in class and 18th overall.
Which bearing in mind we have had to borrow the timing gear and our Halda trip master is way out on distance, our position is an amazing result.
It was only the first day and it may be beginners luck but we are over the moon, long may it last.
As I write this we have finished day two, no idea how we have done. All we do know is we have had the most fabulous time in clear blue skies and incredible scenery.
Some cars are not doing so well, some with gearbox trouble, punctures, and clutch problems. But hopefully the will rejoin the rally and make it to the end.
We are pleased to say that our 1958 356A Porsche is going like a rocket 😀
Below are some of the photos we have managed to take. Hope you enjoy them.

Day 1 of Historic Endurance Rally Organisation Islandic Saga

The first day of the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation is over. I think all the cars have made it. As I overlook the car park there is quite a bit of activity but nothing too drastic.

Molly Porsche our 1958 356 A, has behaved perfectly which is more than can be said for the driver and navigator who managed to miss a small turning while we were busy trying to stop the alarm going on one of the many stop watches Julie seems to have acquired from very friendly competitors.

Julie looks very professional with at least 3 stop watches hanging from her neck. 

One we can't make go, one we can't stop the bloody alarm going off and the third one is actually showing the right time.

We don't know the results for today's tests, but it doesn't really matter. We have had a fantastic day with blue skies and just the most stunning scenery.

We have been told that the best is yet to come, can't wait.

The roads are all pretty good but just to spice it up HERO have included some gravel sections, these are very good compared with the roads we covered in South America.

The wind here is very strong and with Molly Porsche being so light we do have the odd excursion across the road. This is not a problem because there are very few other cars on the road.

Molly Porsche is the only  porsche 356A on the rally. There are a few 911s, one of which I tried to buy and was beaten to it. The car was prepared by Tuthill Porsche and goes like stink. The lucky owners, Jan and Alan, will also be on the trans USA rally with us next year.

Looking forward to day two of the HERO Icelandic Saga.

when is a kilometre not a kilometre

Today we had to take Molly Porsche to scrutineering to make sure she complied with the Historic Endurance Rally Associations regulations and sort of an MOT for driving in Iceland. Molly passed on all but one thing which was the way her front spot light and fog lights are wired up.
Apparently they are incorrect,
This caused a certain amount us of anxiety, and comments like ' what the bloody hell do we do now '
The  mood lifted when it was decided that as we were not going to be doing any night driving the wiring issue would be overlooked this time and we did not have to go and stand on the naughty steep.

Having passed the scrutineering we are allowed to officially sign on and get our stickers rally plaques and even hats, gloves and a very nice HERO scarf. Trust me you need them.

We then took Molly out to check our distance measuring apparatus.
 We use an old fashioned ( bit like us ) system called a Halda Twin. This is a great Trip system for measuring your exact distance.
The idea is that the Halda should exactly match the measured kilometre marked out by the Historic endurance Rally Organisation.s
This was not to be the case.
There kilometre measured 1000 metres and our Halda read 959 meters. This means we are 41 meters out for every kilometre we travel.
This doesn't sound much but when all the instructions for turn right, left, faster, slower are measured to the exact meter then our discrepancy is a bit of a pain.
All the other competitors are running modern electronic trip system which can be simply altered to measure exactly the same distance as the rally kilometre.
The Halda can not be easily re calibrated, it has to have all its internal measuring cogs changed. We don't have these cogs or the expertise.
So there will be a fair bit of guess work going on for the next 6 days. All part of the fun and games of
Historic rallying. Well that's what I keep telling Julie.
The rally starts tomorrow at 8.45.
hopefully it won't finish until next Saturday.
Come on Molly 😀