Typically for me, when a CCA event starts all of the stress (or worry) of organizing disappears the moment the first driver’s meeting starts. At that point all of the planning, spreadsheets, bookings and selections are done and finalized. I find that moment to be a relief, I am as much participant as organizer, ready to see if people enjoy the details as much as I hoped they would all through the planning stages. Why then, was this event different? Why, after the driver’s meeting, did I still feel the worry and stress of wondering if it would all go well?

It could be the car. Yes, we could blame the car. My 1958 Beetle is fresh from a restoration, hitting the road for it’s first extended road trip. The furthest the car has travelled in a single trip is to the start of the event…not typically the way you want to ‘test’ it. I shouldn’t be worried, the restoration was completed with the help of RWM&Co and Airspeed Custom Werks, and it appears to be simply brilliant. Outside of a slightly more powerful engine (60hp over the original 36), it’s basically stock. But it’s been a long time since I drove a stock Beetle, can I keep up with the group? The organizer can’t be the last one to the hotel at night. Truthfully, though, the new car only counted for part of my worries. On today’s route, we chose a road which some might think was a little questionable.

But, I think we should start at the beginning…

We met this morning at DirtFish Rally School, for the registration and the start of The Hagerty Fall Classic. A Rally School, where they go sliding around on gravel all day, might seem like an odd choice for a classic car gathering…but DirtFish lives and breathes cars. The office is decorated with a collection of driver’s racing suits from F1, rally and other series. inside the main lobby there is a genuine Ford RS200, a genuine Audi Sport Quattro, and Colin McRae’s actual Ford WRC car. It’s a car enthusiasts dream office, and we were excited to have our group invited to explore it.

Once the driver’s meeting was over, we hit the road exploring back streets and highways up to the Steven’s Pass Highway, where we turned East and went up over the pass towards Leavenworth. The group took a quick detour through Plain and Chumstick, before arriving in Leavenworth for a lunch stop. Following lunch, the route book devoted a whole page to explaining the ominous road choice which lay ahead.

Heading south on highway 97 towards the Blewett Pass, the route book described the Gold-Rush history of the area, and the original pass cut through mountains. Entrants to our event were given two choices, follow the route book up and over the original pass, or “chicken out” and head south along the newer pass. The original pass offered a road which has become mostly one lane, either taken over by the forest or having simply slid down the mountain side. The pavement was rough, the bumps and dips plentiful, but in the end one would have the badge of honour in being able to say that they had indeed driven their car over (what’s left) of the original pass.

Apparently I shouldn’t have worried. We don’t call it Classic Car Adventures without a reason, and every single one of our entrants took the old pass! At times you needed to be doing 5mph, mostly you could be doing 20-35mph. At the end of the day, the smiles and words of approval were clear. “It wasn’t too rough!”, some cars exclaimed, while other simply said “that road was incredible.”

The rest of today’s roads were what we would class as “touring roads”. Not the twistiest roads in the state, but the type of roads where you can cruise at a good clip, enjoying fantastic scenery, with enough curves and hills to keep you interested. We explored the Northern Cascade Mountains, dropping into just a bit of interior desert before heading back into the last of the Cascades. We finished the day, arriving in Wenatchee, for our overnight and a group dinner.

I can’t say whether it was the great roads, fantastic time spent with classic car friends or a flawless drive in a car that reminded me just how much fun ‘stock’ can be..but whatever it was, by the end of the day I felt my usual stress-free self, with nothing but a weekend of great driving with my closest car-nut buddies and friends ahead of me. You can’t dream up anything better!

We’re back at it tomorrow morning, the number plates suggest we’re staying in a town just 45min away…but the route book says we’re going to take seven and half hours to get there…I think the entrants are going to enjoy the route we have planned.

Awesome photography this weekend is provided by Andrew Holliday, and a preview of his shots are available in the gallery below.

-Dave

[print_gllr id=3854]