The MidFlorida Auto Show & Lake Mirror Concours has a Sunday morning event, one they have held for many years - a traditional sports car road rallye. Once a common activity for sports car clubs, road rallyes have dropped from favor, maybe due to the reduction in old, two-lane, curvy driving roads that made driving a good-handling sports car so much fun. This rallye is a fun rallye, one where the challenge is to follow the correct course, based on some short, concise directions. It is a competition, with scoring based on the accuracy of measuring the length of the course (difficult when you miss a turn or get lost) and the accuracy of answering cryptic questions along the route. For those who become lost, there is an emergency envelope, with road names and insturctions to the finish point. An open envelope results in penalty points.
Although the car shows are limited to cars built prior to 1972, there are no stipulations on what cars can enter the rallye. In fact, classic cars were rare, only 3, outnumbered by SUVs. There were a number of Corvettes, possibly due to one of the major sponsors being Stingray Chevrolet. The Little Blue Coupe is pictured above among much larger and newer automobiles.
Ford Heacock, the founder of the Lake Mirror Classic (my shortened term for this long-titled event), retains his love of classic cars and his joy in driving them. He ran the rallye in a 1930 Ford Model A racer, complete with leather helmets and goggles. The goggles are a needed safety item since the car has no windshield, a weight and aerodynamic improvement for racing.
If you are going to drive a classic car, why not dress in the period attire? The team wore cotton coveralls adorned with the Mobile flying horse, a company that sponsored many racing cars during that period. Fire-retardant racing suits are a relatively new invention.
As with everything at the Lake Mirror Classic, the rallye was well organized and supported. The starting point was a building in the Lake Mirror Park, with ample parking and donuts and coffee in the meeting area. A drivers' meeting is held to answer questions about the rules and directions. There was a full page of general instructions, defining all of the conventions of the shorthand used to construct the direction statement. One consistent of this rallye is that the endpoint is unknown. One of the challenges is to arrive at the rallye finish for comradery, lunch, and awards.
There are some old, two-lane roads left in the state of Florida. The rallye route included no 4-lane roads in the route. Here, the Ford Model A racer passes one of the entrants driving an SUV. Oh, it would be much more fun if the winner was determined by who completed the course in the shortest time, but the local authorities would not understand nor look favorably on that type of rallye. In fact, going slow is beneficial. Reading the instructions, looking for the 3rd opportunity to turn left, not counting dirt roads, private roads, dead end roads (of which there are many), while at the same time trying to answer the question: "What letter did the Post Office Lose?" is difficult at a high rate of speed.
The rally finish was at the Linder Regional Airport, where the other large Lakeland Festival is held, the Fun 'n Sun International Fly-In. Early arrivals could examine the airplanes, visit the museum, or get acquainted with the other rallye participants. Lunch was served, door prizes awarded (toolsets, floor jacks, and other niceties for your garage), and the rally winners announced.
The airplane hanger used for the rallye finish and awards is part of Kathlene High School. It is the classroom for the technical aspects of their Aerospace Academy. Part of the program at the luncheon was a presentation by the Academy students on the program and their activities. The students build and maintain the airplanes they fly. Engineering and mechanics are part of the curriculum. And, they fly the planes. They have their own grass runway at the airport, the only high school program that can make that claim.
Being career educators, we enjoyed learning about the Academy, the students' achievements and goals, and the love for learning that the Academy has created for them. A nice ending to the rallye. The rallye participants all enjoyed the presentations, evident in their engagement with the students and the questions they asked.
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| Fast Cars, Classic and Current |
The Lake Mirror Classic Rallye was a great event. An opportunity to drive the classic car in competition, visit with other car enthusiasts, and make new friends. It will be on our calendar for October 2020.
