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 😀

Where's all the puffins and whales?

A bit like the Formula 1 guys we have had a testing day.

Not testing each others patience this time but testing  Molly Porsche.

We set her up with all the rally measuring gear we had bought with us, and off we went.

After a few miles we realise we had no idea how to work said measuring gear and we ( me ) had left the instructions behind. I had also managed to leave the aerial behind for the GPS measuring system. 

' Oh dash it, how terribly annoying ' I said or I did for the purpose of this blog.

But when we calmly talked it through we realised that this particular piece of measuring equipment was not allowed by HERO on this rally. So it turned out not to be a problem after all and normal calm and understand was returned to the cockpit of Molly Porsche.

We did test our old fashioned Halda Twinspeed measuring stick and it worked perfectly. 

We drove about 75 km along the coast and through a tunnel which actually goes under the North Atlantic. 

This tunnel is like no other 

• The Hvalfjörður tunnel lies across a geothermal belt. The rock layers it penetrates were formed in eruptions 2.8 to 3.3 million years ago. Volcanic activity has long since stopped, but the temperature of the tunnel rock ranges from 10º to 30º C, reaching 57º C in one part of the southern section under the construction. This heats the air in the tunnel, which then rises from the southern end, drawing cold air in from the northern end. This natural circulation saves power required to drive the ventilation fans.

Bet you wanted to know that 😀

Amazing weather conditions in Iceland, from sleet to clear blue skies. We enjoyed incredible views
across the fjords and  towards snow capped mountains. We think these are the same mountains we
will be tackling in the next few days. Should be interesting.

We stopped to see if we could spot any whales and puffins, no joy, but we did see a Buzzard :)

The reason for no puffins and whales was quickly made apparent when we stopped for lunch.

A lot more of the competitors have arrived now.

 Tomorrow the Historic Edurance Rally Organisation has in store for us, scrutineering, drivers briefing and the handing out of the all important Icelandic Saga stickers and rally plaques.

We stayed up till the early hours hoping to see the Northen Lights. 

Apparently there was a good chance of seeing them. The only problem with staying up is that, one tends to need a glass of wine to keep going. This resulted in us falling asleep and missing the whole thing. Think we need a bit more Northen Light spotting practice😉

All in all probably a more exciting day than the Formula 1 guys testing. 

20 degrees difference

Well, we have arrived in Iceland on what is considered to be a warm day, the only trouble is it's about 20 degrees colder than the UK. Guess that's why it's called Iceland :)

 We have only seen a small part of the island going from the airport to the city of  Reykjavik. In that short distance the scenery was pretty amazing. Can't wait to get out into the real countryside.

We were taken to collect our cars this afternoon. Found molly all tucked up in a nice container. She started first time and ran well. Some of the other cars needed a little bit of persuasion to get them 

going.

It's scrutineering tomorrow and we get the all important stickers. Once they are on the car you feel like you're on a proper rally, and Molly looks at her best.

The organisers gave us a route back to the hotel giving us instructions know as a tulip map. For some reason, best described as a ' your right not mine' moment we had a slightly longer drive back to the hotel than planned. We have now seen most of the delights Reykjavik has to offer, including the bus garage, twice 😉

I am writing this at 9.00 and it's still light, we are hoping to see the Northern lights on this trip.

Looking forward to starting the Historic Rally Endurance Organistions Iclendic Saga, snow tyres at the ready.

Porsche 356A enters HIstoric Endurance Rally of Iceland

Last year Molly Porsche, our Porsche 356A, took part in two rallies. The first one was with Endurance Rally Association ERA through 5 countries in Southern Africa. Molly made it to the end and was one of only two cars not needing any assistance from the mechanics.

The next rally was with a French Company called RallyStory this was around Morocco. Molly misbehaved and caught fire but with the help of other competitors we put the fire out and Molly carried on to the end.

Molly had obviously had enough of hot climates and wanted a change. Well next week she gets it. We start our 8 day rally around Iceland.

This is being run by HERO and is called the Icelandic Saga.

Iceland has just had its worse winter for 25 years with over 30 consecutive storms. Its meant to be spring but a number of roads on the island are impassable and its very windy.

We will try to run our usual daily blog, but bear with us as we will be typing with ski gloves on.

We hope you enjoy the blog, we sure intend to enjoy the rally.

Thank you

David and Julie

Some interesting things about the beautiful country of Iceland

Iceland^[7] (ⁱ/ˈaɪslənd/; Icelandic: Ísland [ˈistlant]) is a Nordic island countrybetween the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. It has a population of 329,100 and an area of 103,000 km² (40,000 sq mi), making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe.^[8] The capital and largest city is Reykjavík; the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists mainly of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle

And there is more

• Iceland has the most active volcano area in the world.
• The largest waterfall and glacier in Europe.
• The northern most botanical garden and golf course in the world
• The cleanest capital in the world,
• A population with the longest life expectancy 
• Had the first democratically elected female president in the world
• The English word "geyser" comes from Iceland's Great Geysir in Haukadalur.
• The phenomenon of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) can be seen during mid-winter (November-December) when the weather is clear.
• Iceland today plants more trees per head of population than any other nation in the world (around four million a year, or 16 for every man, woman and child.
• The last name of Icelanders is derived from their father's first name.
• In the telephone book everyone is listed by their first name.
• In the last quarter of the nineteenth century twenty percent of Iceland's population emigrated to Canada and the USA.
• In the 1960s and 70s there was a dispute between Iceland and the UK over fishing grounds, known as the "Cod Wars".
• Parts of the country are still so rugged that American astronauts chose Iceland as a training ground to prepare them for landing on the moon
• There are no polar bears in Iceland
• Soccer is Iceland’s favourite team game
• As many as 80% of Icelanders believe in the existence of elves.