Ojibwe Forests Rally part one. The pre-race show.

Minnesota's premier rally event is here! The Ojibwe Forests Rally (hereafter referred to as O.F.R.). Round six of the Rally America national championship arrived in Detroit Lakes with all the attendant stars of the US rally scene in tow. Five times national champion, David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew, Travis Pastrana, Ryan Millen, and others were here for their championship. Supporting the big guys were us, the regional competitors. While the national guys were running one two day event, the regionals had two one day events over the very same roads. "Paul Bunyan's Ride" would be the Friday rally for us and on Saturday we were to run the "10,000 Lakes Rally".

I was up there to co-drive for Adam Van Damme, from the UP of Michigan in his 1991 VW Rabbit as a part of the Tower City race team. It was Adams third rally as driver and also my third in the "silly seat" so you'd think we were well matched in abilities. No. The Van Damme family have been rallying a long time, in fact Mark Larson, O.F.R. rallymaster, competed against Adams father, brothers and cousins when he rallied. Even competing against the car that Adam and I were running in! It is, as they say, a small world.

I mentioned in a previous post that Adam wasn't able to make it for recce, so we were to run the stages without being able to check the conditions. We did have experience of two of Fridays stages as we had run them at the Headwaters rally a few months ago but one stage we knew nothing of. 

We met up at tech inspection on Thursday afternoon and after initial introductions and meeting the car for the first time, we took the car in to be inspected to make sure it was safe and legal. 

Seeing the car for the first time.

Name and flag in place.

Our car was pulled into the inspection building the same time as David Higgins and Travis Pastrana's race machines. What a contrast that was! I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars those 2016 Subaru WRX's cost but to see our little beat up old thing against those pristine rally machines was quite the sight. 

"Take a picture, you might never see a sight like this again" said one of the inspectors. So I did.

Subaru WRX and VW Rabbit. Grassroots and Professional

Tech was a busy place. Lots of people swarmed over the car, checking the engine, roll cages, lights and other safety equipment. We were through there in 10 minutes. The Rabbit got a lot of attention from everyone in there. It seemed like many people had actually owned one, or had memories of one. This was to occur all the way though the weekend.

With that done we registered, which is as unremarkable as it sounds, just signing papers. but did allow us to run into a few friends there before going our separate ways for the evening and agreeing to meet up the next morning.
Next morning I strolled out to the car and we checked it over, and made sure I could fit in the co-drivers seat and fasten the safety belts before heading over to the novice driver briefing with Adam. When I got there I received a nice surprise in the form of finding out I didn't have to be there.
"You're not on the list" said safety steward Steve Gingras. But I stayed to keep Adam company anyway. 
I am officially no longer a novice. So a quick word of appreciation for Steve and his briefings. The safety aspect is so very important for all entrants and it's vital for novices to know what to do if things ever go awry on stage.
With that done it was sit around and wait for Parc Expose to start. Lorrie and I grabbed some lunch. Adam took a nap. 
For a couple of blocks of the main street in Detroit Lakes the O.F.R. took over. All 43 entrants parked on both sides of the street so people could meet the drivers and see the cars close up. It was a great sight! The big stars like David Higgins and Travis Pastrana commanded most of the attention but quite a few people stopped by to chat with us. The Rabbit was, as I hinted at before, commanding quite a bit of attention. We would let little kids sit in the drivers and co-drivers seats, and their faces would light up. Parents would take pictures. It was great fun. I overheard one kid say to his father as he walked past the car and saw the tinted windows.
"Look Dad. That car has Purple windows!" Perhaps Purple was his favorite colour. 

Plenty of people on the streets

Car 210 nestles at the back of these cars at Parc Expose

Cars and people as far as the eye can see

The ninety minutes of Parc expose flew by and pretty soon we were at the drivers meeting. It was Rallymaster Mark Larson's final Ojibwe as Rallymaster after 13 years. Before that he was a volunteer, and before that a competitor. He even made a point of mentioning that he had competed against Adams father back in the day. So a big round of applause for Mark and huge thanks for everything he's put into the sport in Minnesota. With that done, we strolled back down to the trusty Rabbit and headed out. I picked up our time card from my wife working MTC and we drove away to the forests. But the tales of the two days exploits are going to have to wait for another couple of posts.