Classic Velocity

For 19 years, the Mid America 02 Fest has taken place in Eureka Springs, Arkansas with a brief departure to Hermann Missouri some time ago. For the last 10 years, we have made plans to attend. We even got underway once, but was derailed and had to turn back. Part of the challenge is the logistics of getting to and from the event in a time window. It is a 2 day drive in the 02, and the event is 2 days (3 if you count the arrival evening festivities) so 6 days total. So it was a grand achievement to finally make it to the event. It was achieved partly by a combination of towing, and an all nighter to get back.

Eureka Springs is a Mecca for car clubs and motorcyclists. It is in northwest Arkansas in the heat of the Ozark mountains. The roads and the vistas are spectacular and very reminiscent of the smoky mountains. Curves and switchbacks and sweepers and elevation changes every few hundred yards. The area is referred to as the Pig Trail, or the Tail of the Pig, or various other pork-related names. Call it what you will, but put it on your list of places to go in your more sporting car, or on your bike. But just like Tail of the Dragon and  WV 50 and Beartooth pass, you want to sample them when it is not prime time! We did.

A lovely drive allowed us to exercise the cars a bit and to sample roads that are all the stuff of movies. Narrow ribbons of unbroken undulating serpentine asphalt twisting off into the distance making you press the right pedal and smile even more broadly in anticipation. But you better pay attention to the more immediate future as well. Runoff is taken literally here. You could plunge a long way off the side of a mountain, or a short way into a deep drainage ditch. Either will ruin your day, and we were regaled over lunch with stories of a Ferrari that was a recent reminder. Big power can be a liability here. It is more Monaco than Monza. Which makes it perfect for a good handling, good power to weight car like the 02. We are happy to report that the big group returned unscathed.

Planned Tech sessions enlightened the group, while informal tech sessions broke out spontaneously all over the host hotel parking lot. It seems inevitable that 02 owners want to share a unique or just a well done solution to the challenges of maintaining 40 to 50 year old vehicles. And then there are the upgrades. Engine swaps were fairly common among the group, turbo flares, euro bumpers on squarelight cars, adjustable coilovers, and various schemes for getting fuel into the engine. Several of us had a spirited…uuhhmmm….discussion (yes, that’s it, discussion) on the merits and demerits of the 38/38 single carb setup. The opinions ranged from :

“Just run a GARDEN hose from your gas tank to the intake, same effect!”

And yes, they were shouting, to

“This is a sublime setup for the well-informed once you get jetting set. Much better than twin DCOEs, and you can get decent mileage if you control your right foot”

As we continued over dinner, we discovered that there is nothing like alcohol to enrich (pun intended) a spirited debate, and launch it into other combustible (pun intended) areas such as oil and tires. Of course, it was all among friends, and a good time was had by all. We missed the last bit of the rally, as we faced a long drive back to meet a prior committment. As a complete bonus though, we won a door prize! What better way to cap off a great weekend.