Summary Day 3 – Gran Turismo Classico Grande Finale

10:00 – Hear the mechanic’s plea! After 2 hours of sleep, the mechanics were back on track with everyone wanting a piece of them for the final stretch to Stockholm. We managed to get them to replace our oil cap with a shining new one. They also replaced the 100 ml of oil that was used to coat the inside of our engine bay.
The mechanics have been pleading with us all to stick to 90 km/h but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. I guess they’re tired of picking up our mess and I suspect that they won’t be coming along next year. They’ve done a helluva job so far though and few teams have made it this far without any of their help.

The receptionist didn’t quite like our parking and threatened to call some security company to come fine us all. Please do make the call we said, we all have Polish registration plates so this should be a hoot.

Tension is building and several teams are already out by the cars, checking and double checking so that everything is fine. There’s still another 70 minutes ’til start (at 12:00) and I too am getting jumpy. Sitting in the hotel room waiting for the time to pass is more than I can stand. I’m heading back out to mix with the crowds.

11:55 – A running Le Mans start with 21 starting cars out of a total of 29. Pretty good.

There was a police raid on our convoy but as we were in the top five they just missed us. I know just what brought it on and I have picture proof of one car in particular doing really stupid overtakings and putting people at risk. Someone called the cops on us basically because of reckless driving.

Katarzyna is faster than everyone, we added som extra help by reducing drag from the mirrors. Indicated on the meter i 120 km/h and I still had some left to give on the accelerator.

Stuck on the motorway (E4) outside Örkelljunga now. There’s been a crash up front and we’re all hoping none of the GT Classico teams are involved, or that anyone is hurt for that matter but seeing the number of ambulances going by is worrying.

Making sure to take advantage of the situation, adding another 60 kms until next fuel stop.

No Fiats were harmed in the accident.

15:30 – We were in the top five when we stopped for petrol 10 kms outside Jönköping, 355 kms from Stockholm. Naturally we check the engine to make sure it’s doing fine. That’s when I notice the brackets for the muffler has cracked and come undone.

Again, steel wire came to the rescue. We’re now doing a measily 100 km/h in order to bring Katarzyna to Stockholm without further ado. Damnit again!

17:37 – Engine is running strong but we’re maintaining 100km/h because of the rattling from the exhaust. We’ve passed two Fiat wrecks in the last 30 minutes but don’t stop. This is no gentlemen’s rally.

18:15 – Crossed the finishline in 13th or something place. We weren’t last and Katarzyna took us all the way. Now we’ll be doing a défilé with all the cars into the centre of Stockholm, convoy-style.

After 45 kms of driving at 90 km/h in a convoy into central Stockholm we’re finally at our destination and 3 kms from my bed. TC over and out!

Tags: Fiat 126p, Gran Turismo Classico

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 1:13 am and is filed under Cars, Sundry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.