We made it into Queretaro and to our hotel in time to see the other teams pull into the hotel parking lot. Dad and I had some "down time" so we jumped in a taxi to go to the center of town to see the cars come in and to get a bite to eat. So here we are, in a cafe in the square enjoying a cold cerveza and some tacos as the cars arrive.
***UPDATE: Our friend, Jorge Arrellano, has shared some great information with me about Queretaro. He says, "About Queretaro, a common mistake is that San Francisco´s church is the Cathedral, but actually the Cathedral is two streets behind the Art Museum where the awards ceremony is held. For me its logical that as it is in the main square it would be, but is not." Jorge has a great BLOG that highlights the La Carrera. Great pictures, too!
Use your imagination for translation about who that guy is and why he's gettin' down with his bad self. At first glance I thought the plaque said he like chimichangas. Educated sources tellme he is an Aztec. That's all they tell me. Feel free to enlighten me.
***UPDATE: I've been enlightened! Thank you, thank you to our friend, Jorge, for this info about the statue: "The brass statue of the dancer is not an Aztec, is a Chichimeca, is or was a local ethnic group. The representation is of a conchero dancer. Conchero is a word derived of the word concha, shell. They used things called shells around the ankles and when they danced made noise. The funny thing is that those are not real shells, are more like dry seeds. Still to this day some people keep the tradition and dance in a nearby church on September 13th. Some streets are closed for a big parade for the re-enactment. Here is a video with pictures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej3ADreJPJQ
Thank you, Jorge!
Back to reality and the broken car: Turns out the push rods that we have in the Y block are rare (there are 16: 2 for each cylinder, their job is to open and close the exhaust and the intake values for each cylinder), so Tom and Miguel were able to find another at an AutoZone that, with some engineering, would work. Or - we could close that valve off and run on 7 with less power. Opting for option A, we were fortunate to have the support and mechanical geniuses of Jack Roger's (car #369) mechanic Steve Strupp and Hayden Groendyke's crew - Jason, Keith and Brad. Steve fabricated - did you get that? FABRICATED IN A PARKING LOT IN MEXICO - a push rod to fit (these are rare cup and ball endings) and the other guys worked into the early hours of the morning tearing the engine apart and putting it back together.
Jason and Brad under the hood. I'm no mechanic but I think Brad is putting sealer on the heads before bolting down the intake manifold.
2 comments:
Hi Lauren, enjoying very much your posts on the Carrera.
About Queretaro, a common mistake is that San Francisco´s church is the Cathedral, but actually the Cathedral is two streets behind the Art Museum where the awards ceremony is held. For me its logical that as it is in the main square it would be, but is not.
The brass statue of the dancer is not an Aztec, is a Chichimeca, is or was a local ethnic group. The representation is of a conchero dancer. Conchero is a word derived of the word concha, in english shell. They used things called shells around the ankles and when they danced made noise. The funny thing is that those are not real shells, are more like dry seeds. Still to these days some people keep the tradition and dance in a nearby church on September 13th. Some streets are closed for a big parade for the re-enactment. Here is a video with pictures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej3ADreJPJQ enjoy!
Jorge, Thank you so much for your clarification! I had a hard time finding any details online about the church and the statue. I will make the correction in the blog.
Thank you for sharing the information!
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