RESULTS: 2OO8 TEXAS 1OOO

(Curt Engler is Senior Director of Aon Private Risk Management. His delightful article about his experiences on the 2OO8 Texas 1OOO is reprinted here with permission.)

During the past 12 years, I've been fortunate to have been on numerous vintage driving events, predominately the Colorado Grand and Copper State 1OOO. Although these two are hard to beat, I kept hearing glowing reports from driving enthusiasts, especially Jimmy Dobbs, that the Texas 1OOO is a must. So I contacted my usual driving partner, Jack Thomas, and off we went to sample one of Rich and Jean Taylor's Vintage Rallies.

This year's Texas 1OOO was the 11th and was held November 9-14. The major sponsor was Porsche Cars North America, providing a beautiful selection of back-up cars. I sent ahead, via Exotic Car Transport, my 196O Jaguar XK15OS Fixed Head Coupe (one of 39 with the 3.8-litre engine). I thought it would do quite well for high-speed jaunts through the long sweeping roads of the Texas Hill Country.

All Vintage Rallies events are of the Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) variety, which differ from the other events I'm used to (other than the speed part of it). It turned out to be great fun even though we weren't prepared, as my car's odometer wasn't functioning (an English car!) and we didn't bring a stopwatch along!

Upon arriving at the San Antonio airport, Jack and I were greeted by a lovely couple who were part of the Taylor's crew (called "wranglers" in deference to our Texas locale). They scooped us up into a Porsche Cayenne and whisked us to the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort on the outskirts of San Antonio. There, our cars were waiting for us in a specially designated area of the parking lot. This year there were approximately 35 cars in the rally, ranging from contemporary supercars—including Enzo and F4O Ferraris—to vintage Corvettes, Jaguars, Porsches, Ferraris, Triumphs and Alfas.

We arrived early enough Sunday to have an interesting tour of the Alamo and a group boat ride that evening around the famous San Antonio River Walk, with dinner following at a wonderfully colorful restaurant downtown, complete with Mexican mariachi band.

On Monday, we awoke to gray, threatening skies. But that certainly didn't dampen our excitement to hit the road. Off we went on our journey north toward our lunch stop at the traditional Salt Lick barbeque in Dripping Springs. Just outside Johnson City, our front right tire went flat. We were able to pull into a ranch drive to change the flat out with our spare in short order. I might add that we were fortunate as just before the flat occurred, we were driving at rather high speeds in pursuit of a Ferrari Berlinetta, but slowed as we were approaching town!

To our surprise, my friend and mechanic, Fred Garcia, had stuffed a Dunlop bias-ply racing tire in the boot though we were riding on V-rated radials. This made driving the Jag a bit of a handful for the afternoon drive. So upon arriving at our evening destination, we immediately headed for a Goodyear store in Marble Falls to get the radial repaired. The young man at the store was shocked and amazed when he found a tube in the tire, as he'd never seen one before! Can you imagine? The store manager did admit he'd last sold a tire tube there 15 years ago but knew where he could get one the next day, as the old one was too cut up to repair.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings were spent at the lovely Marriott Horseshoe Bay Resort on the shore of Lake LBJ outside of Marble Falls. During those two days, we visited such famous Hill Country towns as Fredericksburg and Luckenbach. Along the way on Tuesday, we stopped at a fantastic spot called l'Art et l'Automobile, where we enjoyed a gourmet lunch hosted by the owners, Jacques and Karen Vaucher. We were also treated to their collection of cars and vast gallery of automotive art. After lunch, we were surprised by an air show complete with four aerobatic airplanes performing death-defying stunts directly overhead! Wow!

On Wednesday morning, from Horseshoe Bay, we set off for our first stop at picturesque Crabapple Creek Ranch (dating back to 1841) to see a very diverse collection of cars owned by Mike and Jody Tomforde, ranging from major classics to a stainless steel Jeep! Lunch that day was at a very unique resort called Trois Estate run by pop music impresario Charles Trois and his wife, Rebecca. In addition to a wonderful lunch prepared by Rebecca, we were overwhelmed by the world's largest collection of cap guns, just one among Charles' varied collections of art and artifacts.

That afternoon, we passed through the town of Luckenbach, made famous by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Next we headed to the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, consisting of both contemporary and historic western artists. Dinner that evening was at YO Ranch Resort, where we spent the night.

On a clear and sunny Thursday morning, we headed to Richard Atwell's private museum of fabulous classic cars. Richard has exhibited at Pebble Beach every year for three decades, so most of his cars are major concours winners. We admired spectacular coachbuilt models from Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Duesenberg, Isotta-Fraschini, Talbot-Lago and Aston Martin, among many others. The Atwell collection is truly overwhelming! After having to pry me out of this museum, Jack and I were off to drive the best roads of the rally.

Lunch was at a public restaurant called Bent Rim Grill with a definite motorcycle theme, but also a priceless view over the Texas hills. Next stop was the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, a small town known as the "Cowboy Capital of Texas." This contained lots of interesting stuff to absorb. From there, we headed back to Hyatt Hill Country Resort outside San Antonio, which we had left 1OOO miles ago, and four days earlier.

That evening, all were encouraged to dress "cowperson chic" for the victory banquet. Jack and I held out little hope that our TSD capabilities would reward us with a large trophy, but we did receive honorable mention, a shiny Texas pewter tray and a rally calculator (which I still can't figure out how to use!). Much to our amazement, five teams did "zero" the whole rally.

An especially enthusiastic couple, Joe and Mary Keating, were given the Vintage Spirit Award, and the event raised over $2O,OOO for charity, most of which went to Texas Hearing and Service Dogs of Austin. These good folks will train a service dog, appropriately named "Rally," to aid a permanently-disabled serviceman returning from Iraq.

All in all, Rich, Jean and their wonderful "wranglers" gave us a fantastically memorable and fun tour of the Texas Hill Country. It far exceeded our expectations. We're already looking forward to the next Texas Hill Country roundup.

RESULTS: 2OO7 TEXAS 1OOO

For the 1Oth annual Texas 1OOO, we started from a brand-new resort called Hyatt Regency Lost Pines, less than 15 miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

I counted just 34 entries in the route book. Rich Taylor explained, “People don’t understand how special the Texas Hill Country is. They think all of Texas is flat desert like West Texas, when the Hill Country is more like New England. So we not only have to convince people to come on our rally, we have to convince them to come to Texas! And then we have to convince them to set aside their preset notions and realize how neat this area really is!”

The oldest car in this event was a spectacular 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C23OO Monza race car owned by well-known vintage racers Tom and Bea Hollfelder, who’ve recently moved from Southern California to Wisconsin. Another interesting high-performance car was the Sunbeam Tiger of famous collector Bill Jacobs that had been hot-rodded when it was new by racer Doane Spencer.

Other neat machines were Bud and Fran Risser’s pretty Lancia B24 Spyder, Jim Jaqua’s customized Porsche 356 Speedster and the Mercedes 3OOSLs of vintage racers Dean/Madylon Meiling and Charles/Dana Nearburg. Texas oilman Charles Nearburg is an especially interesting guy. Among other things, he was the last private entrant to drive in the Indy 5OO, and last summer set two Land Speed Records at 375 mph.

There were special Ferraris at this event, as well. In addition to four late-model Modenas and the 456 of well-known collectors Bud and Thelma Lyon, Jaime and Ceci Muldoon brought their spectacular Ferrari 25O GT PF Cabriolet, the same one they drove in May on the New England 1OOO. John and Sonia Breslow drove their 275 GTB, Don and Michaela Klein brought their Dino GTS, David North and Fred Ehle shared David’s 33O GTC, while Ron and Joan Yagoda drove their spectacular 365 GTB/4 Daytona.

Among the unusual suspects were a Morgan Plus 8, an Alfa Giulietta Spyder Veloce, a Cobra 289, a Corvette Stingray B-production race car, a Maserati Ghibli convertible, a DeTomas Pantera and a Toyota 2OOO GT brought all the way from Maine by collectors Robert Tkacik and Peter Starr.

As usual on a Vintage Rallies event, we started with Sunday night dinner, this time at Lost Pines Resort. Rich Taylor thanked us all for coming, pointed out that this was the 5Oth national event that he and Jean had organized, gave us the program for the coming week and introduced his “wranglers.”

“We call our workers ‘wranglers,’” he explained. “When we organized our first rally in Texas a decade ago, I looked up ‘wrangler’ in the dictionary and it said ‘Cowboys who keep the unruly herd moving in the same general direction.’ That seemed like the perfect description of what we do during the rallies!”

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5: 333.4 MILES (LOST PINES, TX TO HORSESHOE BAY, TX)

Wranglers Jean Taylor and Gerry Brooks flagged us off at one-minute intervals starting at 8:OO am from the front of Lost Pines Resort. The circuitous route took us in a big loop from the east side of Austin west into the Hill Country, carefully avoiding Austin’s notorious traffic jams. After a quick checkpoint with wranglers Allen and Carol Ball in the parking lot of a rural general store, we headed north and west to lunch.

This was a Texas barbeque at the horse and cattle ranch of C. Van Tune and his wife Virginia. You may remember Van Tune as the editor of Motor Trend and as a TV personality in Los Angeles. Nowadays, he’s a semi-retired Texas rancher with a car barn full of two-dozen unusual machines. He specializes in big-block American V-8s.

From the “Horsepower Ranch and Cattle Company” we rallied over spectacular back roads. Driving in the Texas Hill Country is very special. The roads are two-lane, well-paved, but twisty and with constant elevation changes. There’s no traffic, and only the occasional policeman around the larger towns. Rallyist Michael Lerch said, “I’ve been on the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and other rallies in Europe. There is nowhere else in the world where you can drive like you can in Texas!”

Dinner and our overnight accommodations were at Horseshoe Bay Resort. This started out as a very eccentric hotel on Lake LBJ, one of the chain of man-made lakes on the Texas Colorado River. It was recently purchased by Marriott, who’ve built an eight-story tower overlooking the lake and turned the original hotel into a restaurant and private club. We stayed in the luxurious tower and had dinner in the club.

The buzz at dinner was about Tom Hollfelder’s Alfa Monza. As Tom put it, “I had the engine rebuilt by an Alfa expert. It took two years. It was ready just in time for the rally. I drove 70 miles, and I was rolling along at a constant 3OOO rpm on a flat road when the engine just exploded and put a rod through the block.” Tom was not a happy camper, even though he was now driving a Porsche Boxster with the top down.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6: 267.85 MILES (HORSESHOE BAY, TX TO BOERNE, TX)

Now this was a fun day! From Horseshoe Bay we wandered on empty Texas farm roads through the heart of the Hill Country. We stopped at a checkpoint in a pretty park by the Llano River, and drove through the tiny crossroads of Doss, Texas where Rich and Jean have their winter headquarters.

Another 15 miles from Doss and we were at a sheep and goat ranch outside Harper, Texas owned by Jacques and Karen Vaucher. Jacques is well-known in the old car hobby as the proprietor of l’Art et l’Automobile, long-time dealers in automotive collectibles. Just a year ago, he and Karen moved from the fancy Hamptons on Long Island to this remote part of Texas. And they love it! Karen, a gourmet chef who owned restaurants in Manhattan, catered lunch in their barn filled with automotive art. The venison chili was superb!

Our next stop was Luckenbach, Texas, an 187Os town with a population of 3, made famous by Willie Nelson and Waylan Jennings. The nearby town of Albert, Texas, also founded by Albert Luckenbach, is even smaller and has a population of O. It was just sold for $3-million over ebay to a man from Italy. Go figure!

From Luckenbach, it was a short hop to the town square in Boerne—pronounced “Bernie”— where we stayed at Ye Kendall Inn. This is a National Landmark from 1859 that has just been restored. Dinner in the Limestone Grille was fabulous. Some rallyists, like Thelma Lyon, thought Ye Kendall Inn was terrific. Other rallyists simply didn’t get it and probably would have preferred a chain motel just like every other chain motel. My navigator and I thought it was unique, different and “very Texas.” We’d go back in a minute.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7: 3O8.7 MILES (BOERNE, TX TO SAN ANTONIO, TX)

This was our big driving day, on the roads that everyone considers the best in the Hill Country. We wandered west from Boerne to the Lost Maples area, where wranglers Rich Taylor and Anne Ehle ran the checkpoint at Lonestar Motorcycle Museum.

Former NASA subcontractor Allan Johncock retired to this remote corner of the Hill Country and built a museum to display his world-class collection of motorcycles. He has dozens of rare racing bikes with names like Vincent, Norton, Matchless, AJS and BSA. In the back is his restoration shop, outfitted, as you might expect, to aerospace standards. Allan’s wife Debbie keeps bikers and Vintage Rallies coming back with homemade cakes, pies and snacks. What a fun spot!

From Lonestar Museum, we followed really twisty mountain roads south. The roads were unbelievably good, perfectly kept and fun to drive. Texas highway departments eschew bridges in favor of water crossings. To get to lunch, we had to cross a river with water up to the sills!

That night at dinner, Jean told us they’d had to change major portions of this year’s route, because when she and Rich were pre-running the route in August, there were so many flooded roads you couldn’t get there from here! Up near Enchanted Rock, she told us, Rich got their SUV floating sideways off a causeway in the rushing current before the all-wheel drive kicked in and pulled them to safety!

Lunch was at a restaurant in the Rio Frio area, a popular summer vacation spot for people from San Antonio. In November, there was nobody around but our rally group. We took over the whole place for a Tex-Mex fiesta, complete with sombreros, serapes and scrumptious Mexican treats. The sight of normally-quiet car collector Bill Jacobs wearing a Sombrero was worth coming on the rally!

From Rio Frio we rallied back to Bandera, the self-proclaimed Cowboy Capitol of the World. Wranglers Rich and Anne were on hand to check us in. The Frontier Museum contains a surprisingly large collection of cowboy memorabilia, including a room filled with clothing worn by various movie cowboys. Flo Makofske came out of the museum with a big grin. “I wore Dale Evans’ cowboy hat!”

Wednesday, we stayed in San Antonio at La Mansion del Rio, an Omni hotel right on the famous River Walk that is said to be the best hotel in San Antonio. Dinner was at a private club called Club Girard, reached by a ride on a river boat. Rallyists Don and Mimi Weber are members of Club Girard and arranged for Rich and Jean to take over the facility.

Cocktails on the riverfront patio, dinner in the 1851 historic building, it was a very special night. We sat with Ferrari-driving North Carolina business professor Steve Maier and his wife Laura. What an interesting couple. They didn’t have professors like Steve when I was in college. Or maybe I was just too young to notice.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8: 273.3 MILES (SAN ANTONIO, TX TO LOST PINES, TX)

Being in San Antonio was great; getting out of San Antonio at rush hour, even on the back roads Rich and Jean had found, was not fun. When we finally did find our way to the town square in Blanco, wranglers Rich and Anne were waiting along with coffee and doughnuts in the restored 1885 county courthouse.

From Blanco, we took back roads to the touristy town of Wimberly, then to Canyon Lake and the famous River Road. River Road is a 1O-mile, incredibly twisty drive along the Guadalupe River. In the hot summer, this area is jammed with tourists riding “toobs” down the cool river. In November, we had the road to ourselves.

Lunch was at The Gristmill restaurant in Gruene, pronounced “Green.” The entire town of Gruene is on the National Register of Historic Places, and a popular destination for weekenders from both Austin and San Antonio. After lunch, we headed west through small but picturesque towns to the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History.

Like Lonestar Motorcycle Museum, Central Texas Museum is one man’s collection, housed in a gigantic building in the middle of nowhere. There are some really special Major Classics, and serious collectors like Miles and Parker Collier and Bill Jacobs spent hours here. It’s well worth a visit.

Our final transit stage took us through Buescher State Park and Bastrop State Park. This small area of Texas is all that’s left from the Ice Age, 12,OOO years ago, when mile-thick glaciers pushed loblolly pine forests from Canada all the way to Texas. The narrow, winding road, cool under the overhanging pines and oaks, was an interesting change from the pecans and live oaks that cover most of the Hill Country.

Our final overnight and Victory Banquet were back at Lost Pines Resort. Dress for dinner was described as “Cowperson Chic,” which was interpreted as anything from blue jeans and boots to leather pants and cowboy hats. Just as Rich Taylor was going to get up and start handing out our prizes—shiny pewter platters decorated with Texas stars—Miles and Parker Collier rustled the herd away from him and took over the meeting.

The Colliers had secretly arranged for the hotel to create a Texas-size cake bordered by 5O candles to commemorate this 5Oth Vintage Rallies event. To a standing ovation from the group, Miles and Parker presented a tearful Rich and Jean with silver and gold commemorative belt buckles they’d had made by legendary silversmith Clint Orms, of Ingram, Texas.

I looked Orms up on his website, and his belt buckles start at $1OOO and go up to $15,OOO. It was a terrific gesture by Miles and Parker, and I’m sure much appreciated by Rich and Jean.

Four teams zeroed this year’s Texas 1OOO; Steve/Laura Maier, Don/Flo Makofske, David North/Fred Ehle and Bob Tkacik/Peter Starr. Harry and Judy Bopp had just one point, while both Gary Pace/Carroll Boley and Bud/Fran Risser had just 2 points each.

Dean and Madylon Meiling received a special Perseverance Award for continuing to drive their Mercedes 3OOSL Gullwing for the week after losing second and third gear on Monday morning. Michael Lerch and Maurizio Ciocca won the Vintage Spirit Award.

Michael and Maurizio, in turn, presented Rich and Jean with a genuine Texas jackalope, which Jean promised to prominently display in their Texas house.

As most years in the past, the Texas 1OOO charity was Texas Hearing and Service Dogs, a group that trains dogs rescued from the pound to aid handicapped or hearing-impaired people. An adorable Boston Terrier named Trooper Barney, recipient of a generous donation from well-known collectors Barney and Julia Hallingby on a previous Texas 1OOO, came with his owner to demonstrate just what being a service dog is all about. Total donations from this year’s Texas 1OOO will be around $2O,OOO according to Jean, once all the bills are paid.

Great driving, cool cars, delicious food, luxury accommodations, neat people and a chance to do some good for others. This year’s Texas 1OOO, like all Vintage Rallies, had everything you could want. And more you didn’t even know you wanted!





RESULTS: 2OO5 TEXAS 1OOO

The market for vintage sports cars is hot, hot, hot. But once you've bought that old Ferrari for more than the price of a decent beach house in the Hamptons, what do you do with it? You're certainly not going to drive it to work, race it with a serious chance of wrecking or park it on the lawn at a concours and guard it all day against curious nine-year-olds carrying ice cream cones.

Since 1993, Vintage Rallies, Inc. has been organizing 1OOO-mile, five-day rallies for vintage sports cars. It's the perfect answer. The men get to drive their fancy cars without risking damage. The women get to read the route instructions to their husbands or boy friends, and since the men don't want to get lost and be forced to stop for directions, they actually listen for a change.

The day is broken up by stops at unusual tourist sites, museums or car collections; at night everyone dresses up for dinner at a high-end hotel. A special truck carries all the luggage that won't fit in miniscule sports car trunks; mechanics from a famous exotic car restoration shop, RPM Vermont, follow along in case a broken vintage car needs their expert attention.

Most comforting of all, if the mechanics can't fix a rally car on the spot, they load it in their trailer and give the rally team a new sports car to drive for the rest of the trip, a Porsche Carrera or Boxster provided by Porsche Cars North America. Rally workers, called wranglers because "they keep the unruly herd moving in the same general direction," drive Cayenne SUVs also supplied by Porsche.

In addition to our old cars, Vintage Rallies let us drive a variety of new Porsches during the week, including the Boxster, Boxster S and 911 Carrera. If not nirvana, it was darn close. As one of our fellow rallyists put it after downing half-a-pound of succulent beef brisket at a mid-rally lunch stop, "I've got a belly full of barbecue, an atomic watch and a Porsche Carrera. What more could anyone need?"

Most easterners, and even most westerners, picture Texas as tabletop-smooth and covered with cactus. But the flag-shaped area west of Austin and San Antonio lives up to its Hill Country name. This is the area of cattle drives along the Chisolm Trail and Great Western Trail immortalized in the Lonesome Dove trilogy.

It's a special place that mixes cowboys, longhorn steers, log cabins, trout streams, canyons, bluebonnets, winding trails, Spanish missions, Willy Nelson, Norah Jones, Johnny Nicholas, Sandra Bullock, Lance Armstrong, live oaks, ghost towns, dance halls, bratwurst, goat farms and pickup trucks. Yes, you might say the Texas Hill Country has a little of everything!

The Hill Country is mostly rolling ranch land, criss-crossed with narrow two-lane paved roads perfect for blasting along in a vintage sports car. And spring is the best time to visit, because the whole area erupts in an explosion of wildflowers that has to be seen to be believed. The state flower of Texas is the bluebonnet, lupinus texensis, a sort of miniature dark blue lupin that grows along the edge of the road or fills whole pastures. Other Hill Country wildflowers are as colorful as their names; Mexican Hat, Indian Blanket, Firewheel, Gay Feather, Texas Paintbrush and Purple Horse Mint.

We started our trip at Canyon of the Eagles, a small resort on the shore of Lake Buchanan that's a hundred miles from Austin. Housed in a state park, this consists of a series of new buildings made in traditional Hill Country style, with stained concrete floors, corrugated metal roofs, board and batten siding, and decorated with Indian blankets and wrought iron. It's rustic but charming.

In nearby Burnet, which Texans pronounce Burnit, as in "Burn it, dern it, learn it!" we put on a car show as part of an annual Commemorative Air Force fly-in that itself is part of Burnet's annual Bluebonnet Festival. They had a B-25, a C-47, a whole row of T-6 Texans, an F8F, even a Cold War Russian MIG 17F, not to mention a mock encampment of the French Foreign Legion featuring a Charles DeGaulle look-a-like. More significantly, famous World War II Flying Tiger Tex Hill was there signing his new book. It was a grand afternoon.

The next day, we did a warm-up drive to Topsey Safari Ranch, a drive-through exotic animal ranch where wild (tame) animals come right up to the car to get treats. A horse tried to eat the seats in David North's Ferrari; a water buffalo slobbered on everyone's windows, a burro left teeth marks in the rearview mirror of Jim Hascall's otherwise perfect Porsche Carrera. We told him it will make a great story at the next PCA meet!

Monday morning, we left the shores of Lake Buchanan and followed incredibly twisting and scenic roads to Willow City Loop, a 14 mile microcosm of the whole Hill Country experience. From there, it was off to visit Mike and Jodie Tomforde, a lovely couple from Houston with a 1OOO acre ranch, a barn full of vintage cars and a beautifully-restored stone home built by German settlers in 1846.

Lunch was at Hilltop Cafe, a converted general store and gas station outside Fredericksburg that has been turned into a gourmet restaurant by blues artist Johnny Nicholas, best known as the lead singer of Asleep At The Wheel. Johnny performed half-a-dozen songs during lunch, and every rally team received a copy of his new CD, Broke Again.

Most of this area was first settled by German immigrants in the 184Os, and their Lutheran churches and tidy limestone houses are still major landmarks in this rolling ranchland. In the afternoon, we twisted past immaculately-restored stone farmhouses to Luckenbach, the most famous town in Texas with less than four inhabitants. Made famous by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and the boys, Luckenbach has become a popular tourist destination.

While we were there, a small group arrived. "Why, there's nothing here," complained one man. "That's just the point!" explained his friend.

You either get it, or you don't. Luckenbach consists, in toto, of a small general store, a small dance hall, an abandoned mill and a dirt parking lot. Still, crowds of 3O,OOO are not uncommon for Willie's annual outdoor concerts.

From Luckenbach, we stopped at nearby Wildseed Farm, an elaborate gift and garden center surrounded by fields of bluebonnets and other wildflowers. More winding roads brought us to Horseshoe Bay, a traditional Texas resort on Lake LBJ that has been taken over by Marriott. Some of the old-time flavor has been lost, but it has been replaced with welcome big hotel efficiency.

Every day of this year's Texas 1OOO was similar to this spectacular introduction; sunny weather, temperatures in the Seventies, incredible roads with little or no traffic, fun things to see and do. Over the next three days, we visited Alan and Debbie Johncock's Lonestar Motorcycle Museum, the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History and Fort Clark Springs, home to the U.S. Army Cavalry for over a century.

We stopped in the tourist centers of Gruene (pronounced "Green") and Boerne (pronounced "Bernie"). Outside Boerne we visited Don and Mimi Weber's weekend home, located beneath a 15O foot cliff on the beautiful Guadalupe River. Most of our rally group would have been content to stay there forever!

A few miles away from the Weber's is Guadalupe River Ranch, our favorite place to stay in the Hill Country. Once actress Olivia deHavilland's weekend getaway, it's been transformed into a rustic yet luxurious spa for wealthy Austinites. Imagine staying with friends at their old Texas ranch, that just happens to have a health club, a gourmet chef and an extensive wine cellar.

From Guadalupe River Ranch, we cruised into Bandera, the self-proclaimed "Cowboy Capital of the World." Bandera is a dusty settlement enlivened by full-size pickup trucks and rangy guys in black hats, blue jeans and boots. You expect Robert Duval to ride up any second, unshaven, cranky and stinking of horse lather.

We drove Farm Road 134O, a locally-famous driving road that twists and turns along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. We saw limestone cliffs, Indian caves, rapids, waterfalls...and a half-scale replica of England's Stonehenge built in a cow pasture by a local druid!

The best sports car roads in the Hill Country are 39, 47O, 335, 336 and 337 out around Leakey, Vanderpool and Camp Wood. This all-afternoon drive is the most magnificent in our experience. It honestly provides more driving fun than any roads in Northern California, Italy or even Germany's Black Forest.

Congratulations to the five teams who zeroed every stage: Ron and Karen Materick, Jim and Suzanne MacDougald, David and Deborah North, Jim and Jeannine Hascall and Vance Bradley/Charles MacDonald. Special mention to Miles Collier and Scott George who amassed just one point.

Congratulations also to our Vintage Spirit Award winners, Jack Hawkins and Guy Frost, and special kudos to Kathy Lukason who simultaneously endured a big block Corvette with side pipes and a sinus infection.

A special mention also to Tony and John Correa of the Flying Correa Brothers. If the Healey’s busted muffler hadn’t put them in a Porsche for the day, they also would have won a Vintage Spirit Award. Tony did drive the Healey home to Maine, completing a trip that totalled 7OOO miles or so.

You've probably never heard of it before, but the Texas Hill Country is one of the great driving areas in the world. The scenery is spectacular. The people are genuinely friendly. The towns are quaint and surprisingly different from one another. After six days and 1625 miles, we'd sampled some of the best roads in America, and given a pretty good trial to our various sports cars, too. For a car enthusiast, driving a Porsche Carrera through the Texas Hill Country is as good as life gets!

RESULTS: 2OO3 TEXAS 1OOO

(Colorado vintage racer Ross Robbins and his friend Ann Whelen brought his 196O Lotus Elite on the 2OO3 Texas 1OOO. This is the account Ross wrote of their adventures, published in the Lotus Club newsletter. We thought his unsolicited testimonial captured the flavor of the event so well, we asked if we could reprint it.)



A friend of mine asked me, "What kind of idiot would drive a thousand miles to drive a thousand miles, to drive a thousand miles home?" The answer, apparently, is one like me. Exactly like me, in fact!

On October 27, 2OO3 my friend Ann and I took Elite #142O and my race Elan and headed for Texas World Speedway. My plan was to race the weekend event there with the Elan, using the Elite as my local transportation to and from the motel, and then begin the Texas 1OOO with it on Monday the 3rd of November.

The cars in the rally did get to tour the TWS road course as a group and, because I knew the track from the race meet, was able to hound a 427 Corvette for two laps. 142O felt good: stable and forgiving with a bit of understeer. It gave me confidence for the rally, where we added another 1O65 miles.

The Texas 1OOO is really more a tour than a true rally. While there were checkpoints, they were only at the end of a stage, and the time to reach them was usually ample if one could follow directions, not necessarily a justified assumption!



The spirit of the thing is more a group of friends zipping around the scenic back roads with a wonderful hotel and food waiting at the end of each day, than it is a real rally. Even the lunch stops were at fabulous places.

We started from the Driskill Hotel in Austin, built in 1886 to be the Best hotel in America by cattle baron Jesse Driskill. Beautifully restored, it is one of the prestigious Historic Hotels of America on the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

We had a whole floor of their parking garage reserved for the tour cars. That is where we first met the owners of the various cars going on the tour as we prepared and polished our entrants. We found a Porsche 911RS, an AC Greyhound, a Morgan Plus 8, Aston Martin DB5 Drophead, a Jensen Interceptor III, a hot-rodded 1939 Mercury Convertible, a 55 Ford Thunderbird, a couple of Mercedes 3OOSLs, a half dozen Ferraris, a Maserati Sebring, an AC Ace Bristol and two Cobras, two Porsche 356s and three Corvettes among others.

At the dinner that evening, we found there were several couples with whom we connected right away, and there is joy in finding that camaraderie right off.

Monday morning we started off in a light rain, after a sumptuous Texas sized breakfast, in an easterly direction out of Austin. Within 3O minutes we had left the built-up area and were in the eastern reaches of the pine forest that gives the area such a different character from the rest of Texas.

In the middle of nowhere, there appeared our next checkpoint at the Central Texas Motor Museum with 85 cars. A wonderfully diverse collection, it contained early 19OOs primitives to current racecars with Packard, Duesenberg and Cadillac represented from the Thirties. Why someone would build such a museum near nothing at all is a mystery to me. I guess that is where he lived, so that is where he built.

As we headed west, we crossed I-35 near Kyle, TX. The crossing changed the nature of the land as well. It always amazes me that man made lines, like the straight boundaries that define state lines and even Interstate highways, despite their arbitrariness, seem to demark changes in topography, flora and fauna. And that is what occurred here. We left the pine forests and entered what is affectionately called The Hill Country.

The Hill Country of Texas is an area of limestone which has been cut through with several rivers, the Llano, Pedernales, Medina and the Guadalupe. The Guadalupe is the most prominent and one that we crossed and followed frequently. The Hill Country is dry with mostly Live Oak and low plants that are drought tolerant. It is mostly empty country with big ranches that reach 35,OOO acres in size, (about 55 square miles) and smooth roads that follow the contours and dips of the river cuts, yet have little traffic. So now you have the setting for 38 vintage cars with eager drivers. Nirvana!

There seems to be a natural rhythm for the various participants and frequently we ran in a group with several of the same cars: a 1956 Austin Healey 1OO M and a 1955 1OO S; a Mercedes SL; a Morgan 4/4 and several Ferraris of various sizes from a 4OO Superfast to a 25O GT, and two Cobra 427s.

The Elite was the smallest car on the rally, the next smallest being the 16OOcc Morgan. As such I was certain I would have to pedal really fast to keep up, and sometimes I did. But other times, the narrow roads through the Hill Country of Texas allowed me to set a pace the big powerful cars had difficulty keeping.

On one stretch, through a state park, the roads were really only about a lane and a half wide with trees lining both sides and dipping and swaying through the forest. While smooth, the road was not really grippy asphalt. In other words, just meant for an Elite! With a 427 Cobra in front of me, and a 427 Corvette behind, I felt like the meat in a hamburger.

By the end of the 25 mile section, #142O had nipped at the heels of the Cobra so much the he pulled over at a view point to let us by, while the Corvette had disappeared from our mirrors altogether. At the bar that evening, the Cobra driver kept asking in amazement, How does that little thing corner so well with those bicycle tires? Amazing!

That night we went to Canyon of the Eagles, a 94O acre park with numerous luxury rustic cabins surrounding the architecturally distinguished main lodge that overlooks Lake Buchanan. Pristine in its setting yet well staffed, comfortable and with marvelous food, Canyon of the Eagles was one of my favorite places we stayed.

After a wonderful lake cruise on Buchanan all the way to Marble Falls (where the captain put the bow of the boat directly under the falls for us), and a wonderful dinner, we had yet another treat. It seems that the absence of development in the area and the high clear air are ideal for viewing the stars. As a result the lodge has allowed an amateur astronomy club to set up their 15 inch and 17 inch reflecting telescopes on the premises. What a treat! We were able to see Mars at the closest it has been for centuries and stars millions of light years away.

Waking early, we were anxious to get on the road again. Another monster breakfast and we followed Jimmy Dobbs in his Lancia Stratos with real rally history. Shortly after we left the flag point we lost the Stratos, as he was flying along the route. An hour later, the day was done for Jimmy. It seems he was passing though a narrow fence opening on a private range road when a fellow in an old truck towing a stock trailer going through the other way turned away from him to give more space and the rear of the trailer swung into the left side at the rear wheel. The tire exploded and the suspension was severely damaged as well as a large gash in the side of the Stratos.

One of the nice things about the Vintage Rallies organization is that they have two sweep trucks towing trailers with mechanics, tools and spare loaner cars. They will do their best to get the car back in the rally, and failing that, tow it back to home base while you drive a loaner. I was glad of that later!

With a seven gallon gas tank, I was able to make about 18O to 2OO miles before filling. I was running on fumes when I came to a T intersection with a few buildings but nothing that resembled a gas station. Our route instructions said left at the T, so we started out that way. After a few hundred yards, I saw nothing like fuel and decided to turn around, go past the T and see what was there. We were desperate.

About a quarter mile back, around a bend was the most beautiful little country store with a gas pump. Several hunters were filling big trucks and I only hoped there would be enough left for me. There was, of course, and I learned a lesson. Out in the middle of the Hill Country, I learned to get gas when we passed through towns. There is a whole lotta empty out there, as the locals say.

That evening we stayed at Horseshoe Bay on Lake LBJ. That is the lake named after President Lyndon Baines Johnson, but that is way too long so everyone calls it Lake LBJ. While cleaning the car with the hoses, towels and Meguiar's cleaners so thoughtfully provided by the rally folks, I noticed a leak from the engine area. Upon investigation I found that the rear carb was leaking slightly from the seal where the float attaches to the bottom. I went to the mechanic trailer and they agreed to look at it after everything was cool. Later, one pulled the carb apart and found the rubber seal with the shoulder at the bottom of the float attachment was badly deteriorated. They used some anaerobic sealant they promised would fix it until I could replace it.

The next morning, we had driven about 25 miles to the town of Llano, (pronounced neither lahno, nor yahno, as I believed, but rather jahno!) where we came to a stop sign. As I slowed from highway speed (7O-75 MPH) the throttle would not come back and the revs stayed at about 3OOO. So I switched off and stopped at the side of the road to see what was wrong. When I opened the bonnet, I found the front air cleaner cover was askew. The throttle return spring had been attached to it so there was, in effect, no return spring. The repair was easy, but the bad news was that the rear carb seal was now leaking severely.

Since I carry the two most important Lotus repair tools with me at all times (cell phone and credit card), I placed a call to the organizer, Rich Taylor, who, miraculously, answered. No problem says he, the sweep truck will be there in 3O minutes or less. I told him I had remembered Bill Parks in the Healey 1OO M carried an SU repair kit with him and asked if it would be possible to catch him at the next checkpoint in Mason and borrow the seal for a real repair. Rich said the fellow manning the check point had no cell phone. Wait a minute! he said, I have an idea!

Mason is a lovely old town of perhaps 5,OOO with a town square around the courthouse as many old western towns are laid out. Around the square we found the check point and were cleared and handed an SU repair kit.

It seems Rich had called his friend Rene Walker, a real estate agent who has her office on the Mason town square, dictated a note outlining the commandeering of the SU kit, had the real estate lady hand carry the note to Iain at the check point and then prayed that it got there before the SU kit left the precinct.

Once again I am reminded that those of us who drive old Lotuses are always potentially at the mercy of goodhearted strangers. And, usually, they prevail. As it turns out we found the SU repair kit had indeed been left by Bill. The good Lord looks out for drunks and fools. I have been accused of both with some justification. And, I still have The Note as a souvenir.

Within another 2O minutes, the repair was accomplished, the leak was staunched, and we traded the back-up car for the Elite. We drove confidently off and immediately missed a turn, thereby heading the wrong way. Even more problematic, the sweep truck with the 45-foot fifth-wheel trailer was following our lead. After a half mile or so, when the next instruction made it obvious that we were clearly wrong, we made a U-turn. That evening we learned that the sweep truck had to go another few miles to find enough room to turn around. Poor guys. After saving our rally, this is how they are treated!

We were anxious to make up for the maximum penalty of 5OO points we had acquired at the Mason check point so, when the road opened up to be a smooth, straight, wide line to the horizon, and Mukesh Bhatia blasted by in his Ferrari at about 125 mph, I decided to see what my Elite was capable of for top speed. She accelerated smoothly through an indicated 1OO mph but then seemed to run more roughly and struggle to do much more. After some distance she crept up to about 112, but didn't seem happy about it, so I eased back to about 5OOO rpm or a little over 8O mph. From that point on, I noticed a lack of power and a roughness though all the gauge readings were normal.

The YO Ranch Resort is the last remaining remnant of a 255,OOO acre spread that was pissed away by four generations, the last of whom built this very nice hotel resort in the small town of Kerrville, TX, about 2O miles from the original ranch. While a very nice place, it apparently is losing money and will be sold to a more competent operator soon. What was the largest ranch in Texas, and widely respected as well, will exist in name only having died with not a bang but a whimper.

We had a wonderful prime rib dinner and were then treated to the stories and artifacts of a world class collector of automobilia, Jacques Greeley. Jacques has been associated with Le Mans since the early 195Os, even racing there several times, and has photos and posters from the earliest days of racing around the turn of the 19th century through the present.

Of course, there was a story accompanying each, including the fascinating story of the taking of Juan Manuel Fangio as a hostage by Castro sympathizers during the 1958 GP of Cuba. He was returned unharmed the day following the GP, but missed the race and caused a great stir around the world. It? amazing what I learned on the Texas 1OOO!

The last day, Thursday found us criss-crossing the Guadalupe River all day, following its twists and turns for a while then rising to the top of a bluff to overlook the whole valley and then dive back to the river bed. What a delightful day!

It was the coldest day of the trip at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were glad to be snug in our little coupe as we watched the folks in open cars shivering despite bundling up thoroughly. The organizers told us to watch for squeakers, which they defined as places where the passenger was likely to let out an utterance, based on fear, which sounded like a squeak. What we found instead was an "Oh, Shit!!!"

Ann, my stalwart navigator, was looking down at the route notes as I approached a 9O degree left a bit too fast, because it also dropped about four feet so the occasional storm would run over it. The Elite dropped like an elevator with a broken cable, crunching down on the bump stops. Meanwhile, I was still trying to turn left. Made it, too, but at the cost of a new expression from the right seat that was not in the manual. Maybe we can call it an Annie!

The best part of the run was the almost Stelvio like ascent, albeit compressed to 1/1Oth scale, hairpin turns coming every 1OO-2OO Yards, to the top of a bluff. I was following Bill in the 1OO M and staying close but not catching him. Besides, I was afraid we would be gored by the six foot wide set of Texas Longhorns tied to the rear of his Healey, although they looked far more likely to slip forward and gore his wife Sandy in the navigator seat. There is no replacement for displacement, as they say.

As Jimmy Dobbs says, "The Texas 1OOO is the best kept secret in vintage cars." Annie and I agree. It also may be the best thing I've ever done with any of my Lotuses.