"If you don’t know where you’re going, when you get there, you’ll be lost", Yogi Berra, This is the theme of this year’s Vintage Rally, the New England 1000.

This year’s rally started in Portland, Maine where 50 vintage cars, drivers, and navigators met at the historic Harraseeket Inn. In this rally there are two types of travel: (Time, Speed, and Distance known as T.S.D.) and Transit (travel form 1 spot to another un-timed.)

We made a transit stage to the "Scotia Prince" ship for our overnight trip to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The cars were stored in the belly of the ship and teams were assigned their berths for our overnight trip. It was exciting until we were actually ready to sleep. Our rooms were located next to the ships casino. Between the excited partiers and the waves causing car alarms to shriek all night, sleep was at a minimum.

The first real day of driving and navigating started at Yarmouth to Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens. This 90.4 mile T.S.D. run was via the Evangeline Trail on the shore of the Bay of Fundy toward Smith’s Cove. The scenic run was similar to the winding Texas Hill Country that I traveled last year.

The second T.S.D. stage of Day 1 took us to Fort Anne, it’s the site of the earliest settlement in Nova Scotia and was the capitol for both the French and the British. After lunch at a local restaurant we headed out for a 74.0 Mile T.S.D. run taking us further around the Bay of Fundy. This bay has the greatest high and low tides anywhere in the world, reaching 54 feet. It doesn’t rush in like a tidal wave but rather rises and falls at 1" per second.

The fifth stage this day took us from, Kentville to Truro. The trip up the "Glooscap Trail" was 45 miles, another T.S.D. run. The last stage was a transit run of about 50 miles from Truro to Pictou. There, we stayed at the Pictou Lodge, a rustic 1921 waterfront camp overlooking Northumberland Straight and Prince Edward Island. The high temperature for the day was 42 degrees.

Day two, Monday...

... stage #8, a 46 Mile T.S.D. run from Pictou via the Canso Causeway to Cheticamp. This area was the French-speaking Acadian Culture, as well as a fishing port and embarcation point for summer whale-watching boats. We had lunch at the Harbour Restaurant.

Stage 9 was a scenic transit run from Cheticamp to Cape Nord through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The park is home to eagles, moose, coyote, bobcats and bears. This was a 366 square mile of stunning coastline on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A short T.S.D. run from Cape Nord to the Bay of St. Lawrence took us 22 miles.

Our last run of the day Stage #11, a transit run of 103 miles took us from Cape Nord to Sydney. This run was a ride of a lifetime for me. I was the navigator for John Sweeney, driver of a Jaguar "C" type commissioned by "Vintage Jaguar Works" and 1 of 4 by famed builder Walt Osborne. This "C" type Jaguar is a 1953, built to the exact standards of the 1954 La Mans racer with alloyed body, tubular chassis, four wheel disc brakes and modified "C" head. As I donned the leather helmet and beveled goggles, John pointed to the St. Christopher medal on the gleaming dash. It is customary to kiss the cross for a safe journey. This 103-mile run was

extraordinary, caressing each curve of the mountain like a hot knife through butter. The high performance "C" head coupled with tuned exhaust and suspension glued us to the twisting and winding road. The long stretches of open road enabled John to run flat out. The feel of mid 40-degree temperature on my exposed body parts was well worth the flu that I am presently experiencing today. This British racing green with olive hide racecar experience is one that willalways be cherished. When we arrived in Sydney at the Delta Sydney, there was a collective car wash where it seemed the entire town was there to cheer us on and observe these great Ferrari’s, Jaguar’s, Mercedes, Alfa’s, Lotus’s, Corvette’s and others.

Day 3, Tuesday...

... stage 12 T.S.D. took us from Sydney to Guysborough via the Fleur de Lis Trail some 116 miles. This was a "Drivers road" with long stretches of open country for all kinds of fun. Stage #13 was 37 miles that brought us to Guysborough, an example of trendy Nova Scotia, an inviting old town with distinctive architecture that has been rehabbed. We had lunch at a local brewery, the Chedabutco Bay Brewery. Our next T.S.D. run took us to Sheet Harbor a 100 Mile run this small town was founded by American Loyalists in 1784. By this time many of my fellow ralliest had engaged in conversations with local Canadian Mounties and town police. It appears that the entire island knew about our rally, both good and bad! We left Sheets Harbor for our overnight excursion in Halifax. This 75 Mile transit was another beautiful ride. Halifax is Nova Scotia’s major seaport, since 1749 when King Edward Cornwallis and 2500 settlers first arrived. We stayed in one of the cities most famous hotels "The Grand Hotel" originally built by the Canadian Pacific railway in the twenties.

Day 4, Wednesday...

... stage #16 was a T.S.D. rally to Mahone Bay, from Halifax, some 47 miles of country roads. We had to watch the roads carefully as winter frost had decayed the road surface, as in all rallies many of the vintage rally cars were starting to have problems. However the Vintage Rally staff with their crack mechanics, were able to perform what seemed like miracles to repair and make road worthy all the different marques. If overnight repairs were necessary Mercedes Benz had new 2002 loaners from SL’s to G wagons for our use.

Stage #17 took us from Mahone Bay to Lunenburg, a 7 miles transit. Lunenburg is the area that most visitors get to see, settled by Swiss and Germans in 1753 with dozens of historic buildings. The famous "Bluenose" fishing schooner was launched here in 1921. We left there and headed toward Yarmouth a 144 Mile transit, this port city is where we had another great experience. After lunch at Rudder’s Restaurant, a great historic building, serving local favorites, we boarded the "Cat" a brand new 58 million dollar super ship. We were its Maiden Voyage! This ship will stow 380 trucks plus 80 cars or 260 cars only using optional Mezzanine decks. This state of the art tri hull Catamaran wisped us across the channel in a record 3½ hours (remember our ship to Nova Scotia was an overnight voyage.) On board the "Cat" were 2 theaters, several bars, a casino and observation areas. I was lucky enough to have a guided tour from the operations V.P. of the engine room, command center, vehicle storage compartments and the bridge.

Day 5, Thursday...

...took us down some 80 miles of breath taking coastline of Maine. Now back in the U.S. we found signs of spring with flowering trees in bloom and temperatures back up from the 50 degrees of Canada. Our last day of driving was simply beautiful with temperatures from 60 degrees to the mid 70’s. All cars, tops down and ready for our last day of fun. All serious drivers were eager to know their standings, out of the 50 cars about 10 were in contention. Many of the drivers and navigators had missed a gate or two, or had some sort of problem therefore they were out the race (rally). However the DIEHARDS (including Ralf & I) were eager to face the day’s challenge. Bentleys, Ferraris, Jaguars and Mercedes Benz gleaming in the N.E. sunshine getting time outs one by one being separated by only one minute each.

We left stage #21 toward Fort View, the landscape dotted with great homes and farms. We went through towns like Ellsworth, Blue Hill and Penobscot, toward Bucksport. Upon our arrival we were quick to gas-up and time out to our next T.S.D. destination of Owl’s Head Museum, sixty-four miles south we experienced twisting, winding and EASY TO MISS roads. Those EASY TO MISS directions took several cars out the running, only a few more to go. Stage #23 to Pemaquid Point was a 49 Mile journey down the coast. From that point, we traveled another 51 miles to Topsham Fair, through towns like Bristol, Damariscotta, and Bowdoinham with more EASY TO MISS roads along the way. As in all T.S.D. rallies, the further you go, the harder the rally, the last day in most events is the hardest, this rally was no exception. Finally the last leg, it was all over except the point counting. This stage #25 was a relaxing transit.

We departed Topsham Fair back to our starting point the Harraseeket Inn at Portland.

Congratulations, we had completed the 2002 New England 1000 Rally. But this year it was in Nova Scotia and was 1500 miles with both Eastern Standard and Atlantic time- zones to deal with. I am not sure how many cars broke down, but I do know that Ralf Berthiez’s 75, 450 SL ran like my stopwatches that we used on this rally, PERFECTLY! Out of the 12 different classes of cars, almost all finished.

At the awards dinner that evening, all were recognized for their part in making this event such a success. Out of 50 cars, I believe, that only 7 were in contention for recognition. There was a 4-way tie for 1st place, with 2 seconds. Our car was tied for 2nd place with 3 seconds over 5 days with 18 T.S.D. (time-specs-distance) races with an average speed of 42 mph. 1500 miles, 5 days, 3 seconds.

Jean and Rich Taylor's Vintage Rallies Inc organizes a number of rallies every year, all benefiting local charities in the state they are visiting. See their website for more information.

Posted: 8/16/2002