Another two-seater convertible for the Texans

[ninjacoco]

Yay Sprite! Go Sprite, go!

 

[Nugget]

Coming soon: The Sprite will hopefully be making a 180 mile (290 km) road trip under its own power to a new location in the Texas Hill Country. Tentatively scheduled for early April.

The engine and cooling is pretty well-sorted at this point, so I'm optimistic. But as a counterpoint, our last outing in the car got cut short by a stuck rear brake drum that horrifyingly started smoking and smelling like fire before cooling down. I think we'll be able to make it, though, as long as it doesn't rain.

 

[Nugget]

We'll be driving the Sprite from Houston to Bulverde, Texas next week. Some time between the 13th and 15th, weather permitting.

Plotted route is 204 miles (328km) avoiding incompatible roads and passing through some scenic waypoints like the Shiner Beer brewery in Shiner, TX. The Sprite can get up to about 60mph (95 kph) so it'll hopefully just be slow and steady. With an early morning departure we should be able to arrive by late afternoon if everything goes smoothly, which seems manageable.

We've enlisted a co-driver to assist, so it will be the three of us rotating driving responsibilities with the Cayenne full of tools and provisions following as a support vehicle. I'm still feeling like we have about an 80% chance of success. 100% chance of this being a great story in the end, though.

 

[DanRoM]

That sounds like good fun!

 

[ninjacoco]

Nice! LMK if you want company up this-a-way. You're gonna take it to H2R eventually, I hope?

 

[Nugget]

Our road trip on Friday was a resounding success. The Sprite made the entire distance under its own power, although in the peak afternoon heat we did experience some overheating challenges and I think we're going to need to clean the carbs again. Feeling victorious now, and I'm super chuffed that we've got the Sprite relocated to our new place which has room for a proper workshop. We'll be so much better able to maintain and improve this car with all the space here for tools and supplies. Next goalpost: we need to get a timed lap at H2R for the board.

Our co-driver produced a travel vlog from his perspective: 1960 Austin-Healey Mk1 Sprite Texas Roadtrip

Early morning departure and smooth escape from central Houston, we got out before Friday rush hour began.



Around the half-way point we were feeling bold enough to stop for the 1 hour long tour of the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner:

Tiny car is tiny (5 miles from destination):

 

[equiraptor]

Two photos of the Sprite at its new home:

 

[WDWBen]

Looks right at home!

 

[ninjacoco]

Yee, and I cannot emphasize this enough, haw.