Rum Runner 2016 preparations

After a summer filled with stage rally excitement it's time to get on and finish preparations for this years Rum Runner Road Rally. This years event, in October will be the fourth Rum Runner, and this time it's going to be something a little different. An Economy Run.

Economy runs used to be a big thing up until the 60's. Both in Europe and in North America.

In America the big one was the Mobil Economy Run, it ran from 1936-1968. To win the Mobil Economy run was a great honor among the American car manufacturers as these consumption figures came from proper road use, something all motorists could relate to, rather than running cars on a rolling road in a perfect environment like today.

What is interesting about the preparations is how strict they were. A manufacturer couldn't produce a special works car for the event. Instead the organizers, the United States Auto Club (USAC) went into a dealership, bought the cars, inspected them to make sure they were truly stock and then sealed the hood and chassis to prevent any manufacturer tampering. Then the fuel tank was disconnected and a special tank installed in the trunk to enable accurate, consistent refueling to take place. Only after all this had taken place could the car manufactures supply the driver, who was a specially trained individual. Even so, on the run the driver was accompanied by an official observer to make sure the rules were complied with.

There were as many as eight different classes for cars governed by weight, engine size, body style and even price, and for many years the results were calculated using a complicated theory involving the weight of the car and other factors. Rather than just a simple miles per gallon calculation. This favored the traditional old American saloon, the lumbering V8 dreadnoughts. But in the late 1940's the change was made to simple mpg calculations, and this tipped the scales in favor of the more "compact" cars. Cars like AMC Ramblers and Studebaker Larks. In 1959 an AMC Rambler recorded 25.2 mpg on that years run from Los Angeles to Kansas. AMC domination was so total that they were almost banned from the competition, so badly did they beat the big three automakers. But instead they were put into a separate class with Studebaker.

An interesting write up by an economy run driver can be found here.

During the boom years of the economy run people would line the streets to watch the cars pass through. But public interest eventually waned, less and less people turned out to watch and in 1968 the manufacturers informed the organizers that they just weren't interested anymore. The event folded just like that. 

Nowadays, the spirit of the economy run is carried on by a class of motorist called hypermilers, who even in these days of energy efficient hybrid vehicles, try to eke out every last mile per gallon out of their cars. I'll freely admit I've often tried to do that with the cars I've driven. 

Being fascinated by the economy run and its history, it seemed quite natural to want to extend this to putting on an economy run. Clarence Westberg at the Twin City Rally Club has mentioned the idea a few times over the years, and  as I'd had great success with my Navigating near Nowthen Rally earlier in the year, I felt good about presenting something new to the Twin Cities rally community.

But how to organize one? I wasn't interested in any event that involved complicated equations to get the result. So a simple mpg calculation was in order. I got in contact with Peter Baker who runs the highly successful Cotswold economy drive in the UK who was kind enough to give me some pointers about how to proceed. I presented the idea to the members at a TCRC meeting. It was met with unanimous approval. I was good to go.

I'd been planning the idea for a while and already had the rally route worked out. But doing a pre-check had been stymied for several weeks by road works and closures around the mid point of the route. So I planned an alternate route, and what do you know? The closed roads opened up! There was still road works going on so I decided that Lorrie and I would pre-check the amended course.

Some Tulips and notes. Changes are being made.

It's all very well working a route out on Google maps but you have to get out there and check every thing. Every single thing.

For example, less than half a mile from the start point, Google maps indicated a right turn on Baldwin  street, except that the sign listed the turn as 189th street. It didn't actually become Baldwin until a left turn just down the road. Then on top of that, even though the map showed the entire street as Baldwin, as we drove along the road, each time it went through a right angle turn the name changed. I'm used to that out in the boonies near Princeton. But I was surprised to see that in town. That alone made for three extra instructions in the first mile and a return to the start of the pre-check as we'd got lost... 

We started again, got out of town with no problems. Then as we were about to make a turn on a side road left I saw the road was gravel. There were to be no gravel roads on the economy run. I tried to make amendments to the route on the fly and we got lost again. So we turned around and headed back to town to start again!

Third time lucky? Not really. Sixteen miles in and I was looking for 109th street when I should have been looking for 189th. This time we backtracked to a turn, reset the odometer and carried on. This time we got through with no mistakes, all the way to the end of the rally. A few more instructions need to be added but the course is good I think. You'll experience different road conditions. You'll sit at traffic lights and stop signs. You'll be able to cruise on some main roads, as well as tackle back roads with sharp curves and some slopes. All in all it will provide a rounded driving experience.

The exact rules are still being ironed out, but the event will start and finish with supervised refueling. When you register you will predict your what your miles per gallon will be over the event. At the final refuel we will calculate your mpg and the most accurate prediction will be the winner. There may well be hidden observation controls and perhaps even speed checks along the route to keep you on your toes too. 

I'm excited by the idea and I hope road rally enthusiasts in the Twin Cities will be too. 

Sunshine, Hail, Tornadoes. Oh My! 10,000 Lakes Rally 2016.

It was tough to get up at 8 o'clock after getting to bed at 2am, so coffee was needed first thing after the previous nights fun and games. As for breakfast; once bitten, twice shy. After my stomach gyrations on stage six, I vowed not to have a greasy breakfast. I played it safe with a visit to Caribou for coffee and some oatmeal before going down to the car. Everyone from Tower City Race team was there checking over the cars ready for the day. They had discovered that the night time landing at the big jump had not only flattened a tyre but bent both wheels so a wheel change was necessary otherwise it was unlikely we would have made it to Itasca service.
Even as we were driving to Itasca Adam wasn't happy. He was sure one of the boots on a CV shaft was worn and was going to take a look at it before we started and replace it if necessary.

Trailering car 50 up to Itasca service for the start of day two

We arrived at Itasca, de-trailered car 50 and immediately jacked up the Rabbit. The outer CV joint boot wasn't worn, it was ripped. I think there was a few other issues with it too, perhaps as a result of the landing at the jump. So the whole drivers side CV shaft was replaced before we headed out to the first stage.

Contemplating changing the CV shaft.

I left him to the task and took a stroll around the service park. Piotr Fetela was on his way out to the stages in his car. His crew had replaced the transmission overnight after the previous days failure. He was happy, he saw me and gave me a cheery wave as he headed out.
With the CV shaft replaced Adam was much happier as we headed out to the first stage of the day. Otterkill. This was the first stage I volunteered on last year. So I was a little familiar with some of its twists and turns. 

Otterkill, had been another busy stage for my hand signals to the driver, in fact my arm had got rather tired being held out in front of me all the time. Too many signals for Adam to follow. So we came up with a plan where I would leave him to navigate the 4's 5's and 6's himself. Whereas I would only signal curves of 3 and tighter, and crests only if there was a danger beyond them. This seemed to work, for we immediately started post the third fastest time on stages instead of fourth.
And what a stage the next one was! McKenzie Lake. The trail ran right along the shoreline of several lakes. At one point we passed by about 15 yards from a couple of fishermen in a boat. Then a few miles later the stage presented us with what must be the most gorgeous vista in the state of Minnesota. Surrounded by tree covered hillsides, we burst through a gap in the trees onto a causeway between two lakes. "L3 (between lakes) R3 L3 R3-lg" reads the instruction, but I was so taken with the view I forgot to call them. Adam was taken with the scenery too. It was all we could talk about on the short drive to the next stage, Strawberry Mountain.
Strawberry Mountain is a fast stage, probably the fastest on the rally. The curve severity was mostly 4's 5's and 6's with only two 3's. Several mile long straights were interrupted only by these slight curves. Adam could really put his foot down and with me giving minimal signals he could really concentrate on his driving. At one point the little Rabbit topped out at 85mph. Not bad for a little old car. Now we were feeling really good. Over the previous two stages the sign language had clicked and we had worked well together. We headed back to Itasca service feeling quite confident.

A quick look underneath at Itasca service and everything is OK.

The car had been running well, so we felt there was little to do to the car. It was quite a relaxed lunch break. Al told us that we were running third in class, just behind them in second. All we had to do was keep going to the end for Tower City Race Team to take two of the three places on the podium.
One day Al will learn to keep his mouth shut...
Service over, we refuelled and headed out to run the afternoons stages, but didn't get very far.
No, we did't breakdown. A monumental hail storm passed through. Hail so bad that we had to pull over, as did half a dozen other cars behind us. The windshield leaked, and I got soaked. I thought the windshield might break, the hail was so hard. I heard tell that funnel clouds had been spotted in the area. But as it is with these summer storms, it passed by pretty quickly and within a few minutes we were on our way again. But by that time the people at Itasca service were probably getting soaked to the skin.
Waiting in line for the start of stage 10, (a re-run of Otterkill) we noticed someone was missing.
Al and Brandon.
The other Tower City car had died. Their catalytic converter gave up the ghost and the car was spitting fiery balls of metal down the road. Their rally was run. I guess he shouldn't have said anything at service. It was now down to us to keep up the honor of TCRT.
The storm had played merry hell with the course conditions. What had been a dry, dusty trail a couple of hours ago was now a quagmire in places with lots of standing water. But as is the case with many of these small pocket storms, the worst conditions were over a small area covering the first 5 miles or so of the stage. By the time we crossed the finish line there was no standing water, and before we reached mid stage on McKenzie lake the roads were dry again. McKenzie Lake was just as stunning to view the second time around as it was the first and I managed to keep my concentration as we sped along that causeway again.
Stage 10, 11, and 12 passed without incident. It was difficult not to think about how we were doing. Apparently we were third at Itasca service. Al and Brandon's unfortunate exit meant that we could be second. Not wanting to tempt fate, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind as we drove back to Detroit Lakes and entered Parc Ferme at the fairgrounds. We had after all, attained our goal of taking part in the street stages. Anything else was a bonus.

Adam, The Rabbit and yours truly at Parc Ferme.

It was a long wait until the street stage started. The running order was reversed, the fastest guys going out last, so that everyone got their moment in front of the crowds lining the street. As we waited the weather took a turn for the worse. A lot worse. The heavens opened again. The hail wasn't as bad as before but a quick check of the weather satellite imagery showed that the storm was purple in color and it was bearing down on Detroit Lakes! Luckily the eye of the storm passed north of the fairground, but apparently a lightning strike on our hotel a few miles away blew out the phone system.
The rain eased and we waited to start. Some crowd issues pushed the stage start times even later and we began to wish that we'd put the rally lights on the car again. We left the start line and disappeared into the darkness of the fairgrounds. After all that rain it was a mess. It was more like a mud bogging run instead of a rally stage as we slid around making our way to the streets, where due to the rain it was no less slippy. Gravel tyres are great for gravel, but not so good on tarmac, and even less good on  wet tarmac. We drifted around corners like a champ racing to the finish of the stage, pulling out a particularly magnificent drift around the corner by the pavilion. A drift so good that the street stage commentators remarked on it.
A quick trip back to the start line and we were to have a second run along the stage. This time as we entered the fairground we got a little too close to what looked like a puddle, but BAM! there was a deep pothole hidden there. It bounced the rear of the car up in the air. Adam was concerned about another flat tyre as we slid around the fairgrounds and onto the streets. He was having a lot of fun as he powered along the lake front drive sliding and drifting around corners again. With the last corner drifted around we powered to the finish line. We had completed the entire rally! We were over the moon.
We parked up the car and began to feel a bit lost. We needed to find out if we had placed on the podium. We believed we had but needed to confirm it. It took a while, but we found out we needed to take the car down to the pavilion for a champagne spraying celebration for all the regional winners. We had come second in G2, and with Al and Brandon getting third on Day 1 both of the Tower City Race Team cars were represented. It was a great time.

Tower City Race team. Ojibwe Forests Rally 2016. Me, Adam, Brandon and Al.

What a great weekend all around. A big thanks needs to go out to everyone involved in the running of the event. The event committee for all the organization behind the scenes and the volunteers for all the work they put in on both days in all sorts of weather. To all the fans for turning out. I hope we gave you a good show.
Finally to all the members of Tower City Race team. My Driver Adam, his father Roger for helping to crew. To Brandon, co-driver of car 50 for the sick bag on Friday night. Last but not least Al Dantes for putting me in touch with Adam in the first place. It was a blast to be a part of TCRT. I hope we can do it again sometime.

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What a difference a year makes.

Isn't strange the way things turn out?

This time last year I was getting ready to head up to volunteer at the Ojibwe Forests Rally. As a course marshall I was there to keep a wary eye out for people who might get on the course. But mostly I took lots of cool pictures and hung out with great people. This year, I'm on the other side of the fence. In a car, racing on some of the same roads that I worked last year.

Some of the people whom I watched compete last year are now my friends. Good enough friends to help me find a co-drivers seat for Ojibwe when I thought I might not have one. Other friends and fellow competitors have approached me about co-driving in other rallies too. I could be set up for the rest of the year.

From volunteer to competitor in less than a year. It's not strange it's crazy.  

Passing on...

Nemadji. My first event in the Mazda

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post, for I recently received some sad news.

Dan has sold his rally car. The Mazda has moved on to pastures new.
I felt a twinge of sadness. For this Mazda MX-3,  car number 958 was my introduction into motor sport. (I know road rally is also motor sport but not at the same level of recognition.) I went from knowing all about rally to knowing something about rally as a result of competing in it.
I know I've only run two rallies in the Mazda but the outcomes were pretty successful. But there's more to remember about the car than the podium finishes.
I vividly recall applying my name and the flag of Lincolnshire on the side of the car. Especially on the co-drivers side of the car, for on that side of the car my name is on top. That really was the moment that a long held dream started to become real.

A great memory

As I was proof reading this article ready to hit "Publish" I remembered something else. The first time we cut a corner. It was out on the shakedown run before Nemadji. Uphill into a long right hander. Dans side of the car was on the gravel road, my side was on the grass. It was quite exhilarating. We've cut many a corner since, with tree and hedge branches clattering on my door as we speed by. But that first time was, something different.
Then there was the very first time I was strapped into the co-drivers seat at the Nemadji Trail winter rally. At that time it wasn't anything I could do by myself, Dan and Ben did the task. I was well and truly strapped in. I tried to reach my stage notes resting on the shelf in front of me. Not a chance.
Not.
A.
Flipping.
Chance.
"Pass me my stage notes will you?"
I was one with the seat. To my surprise there was more movement around my head and neck even though I was wearing a HANS device. If I didn't have what I needed in my hands already then I couldn't reach it. Woe betide me if I actually dropped something.
Finally of course, there's Headwaters. Finishing first in class despite the car not being set up correctly, and getting to spray champagne everywhere, even over the car. Something I will never, ever, forget.
Four great memories that the Mazda gave me.
But Cars are just lumps of metal aren't they?
I shall miss the old 958, but as the number stays with Dan there will be a new 958. What is it going to be? I don't know. Hopefully it will be as successful and be responsible for as many good times and memories as the Mazda was.

Rally Personals

After two successful podium finishes in the 958 Mazda MX-3 rally car. I find myself in the position of being able to offer my services as co-driver for the upcoming Ojibwe Forests Rally, out of Detroit Lakes, MN on August 26th and 27th.
How did this come about?
Have Dan and I had an acrimonious split over spraying too much champagne at each other during our victory celebrations for coming first in class at Headwaters Rally?
No, far from it.
Dan finds himself in the honoured position of being a speaker at a major GIS conference in Germany speaking on GIS in racing, (GIS = Geographic Information Systems) whilst the rally is going on. Clearly taking part in the OFR is not on the cards.
"If you're not going to be in the country during Ojibwe, then I'll have to find myself a driver." I teased as we were running recce for Headwaters.
"Sure." He said. "By all means do. If you can get a co-drive that'll be great."
It would certainly be good experience for me. To work with someone else, see how they work as a driver and to adapt what I do to them. I do have several co-driving friends who have been, or still are "co-drivers for hire". Despite being recently laid off from my job of 14 years, it's certainly not going to be a career move. I'd just like to co-drive at OFR, and I'll contribute to entry fees as well.
If I'm going to do a really hard sell on me. The stats speak for themselves. Though I've only completed two rallies as co-driver, both times we've podiumed. A third in class at Nemadji in December and first in class at Headwaters a few weeks ago, so I must be doing something right. As of now I'm more successful as a rally co-driver than the Minnesota Twins are as a baseball team...
If you need a co-driver and would like to use my services, you should also expect to have our rallying endeavours reported here. If none of this puts you off, then leave me a message in the comments or if you know me through Facebook, you can message me there.


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Reading Material

Last week an advert appeared on my FaceBook feed, there was a special offer on this book. Ten dollars off the recommended price. I thought it was too good a deal to pass up.

A good read.

Mark A. Williams was one of the most sought after co-drivers in North American rallying up to his retirement, with countless rally wins and national championships under his belt. Interesting factoid, he co-drove for three different drivers in their efforts to qualify for X Games 13 in 2007. All three drivers qualified with him alongside them. He could only-drive for one in the X Games itself though. 

The book promised to be "up to date" and not based around "techniques from thirty years ago". It's current. There are many iPhone/iPad Apps listed in the book. References are made to the big names of today, Travis Pastrana, Ken Block et al. As well as US Rally legend John Buffum. 

It's a very good read. My copy arrived in the mail today, and I started reading it straight away. A little over four hours later after a break for lunch, I had finished it. 

The most important part of co-driving, that is reading the paces notes and communicating with the driver, is covered in great detail right up to writing your own notes, complete with plenty of useful advice about pacing how you read them back to the driver, and developing shorthand for when it comes to making your own notes.

I don't expect I'll ever need to know the difference between FIA, Canadian, and Rally America time cards. But if I ever do, I know where to find out. 

There's interesting discussions on tactics and your position on the road. How turning up late to a control so the stage conditions in front of you can improve, enabling you to drive faster, so that your speed more than recoups the penalty incurred for checking in late. Or the merits of making a lengthy repair in service depending on how much faster you'll be with the repair made over not making the repair. The book also advises to not stop to repair a flat tyre if you're inside 7 miles from the stage finish because the time you'd loose wouldn't be enough to warrant the time spent on the change. He then outlines a drill of duties between driver and co-driver to enable an efficient wheel change. 

The book takes the reader through four levels of being a co-driver. Capable, Competent, Contributing, and Comfortable, along with the duties associated with each. A capable co-driver should know the basics to get the car around the rally on time, and little more. Competent co-drivers need to be able to do more preparatory work and team organization. Contributing and Comfortable co-drivers should be able to make the serious decisions about timing and repairs. 

I learnt a lot. I also discovered that I've been incorporating some of what is in the book into my style already. If I was to rate myself according to the book, I think I could call myself almost competent. 

I'm glad I got the book. There aren't many instructional books I've read cover to cover. I don't even read instruction manuals all the way through. I shall now read it a second time and highlight important parts with a marker. Hopefully all this will help to make me a better co-driver.

I'd certainly recommend that beginners should buy this book.

I don't want to be kept in the dark.

Reading pace notes, that is...

Both times I've been out in the 958 on a rally I've needed to use a light to read the notes. The light we use in the 958 is on a flexible neck and has a small conventional lightbulb in it that, in theory, you adjust to where you want it, to shine on your notes to read them. 

Fine and dandy in theory. But the battering a rally car takes means that the light bounces all over the place due to the flexible neck and I end up holding the thing to keep it (relatively) still. Then it starts to get in the way of my reading the notes. Devoting your full concentration to reading is difficult when you're also trying to keep a clear view of the page of notes. Then you have to let go of the light to turn a page in said notes, it springs away from you and you have to reach for it again. 

"What a faff!" As we say back in my home county of Lincolnshire. (What a fuss.) My attention should be on holding the notes and reading them. 

There are ways around this. Like lights mounted to the roll cage for instance. There's a very nice one here, made by Don Barrow in the UK. LED's mounted in some roll cage padding. I think it's a great idea. But at over $100. That's a not inconsiderable amount of money that could go towards an entry fee or a really important car part. It seems to me a much more sensible idea to have your lighting and notes together in close proximity. To that end I came up with my own idea. An illuminated clipboard.

 Now you're all going to say.

"But I can buy an illuminated clipboard from Amazon, you've not invented anything."

But that one on Amazon is a conventional clipboard with a clip at the top. Try turning pages of pace notes on that one in a hurry. 

My concept has a rod at the side that you slide your spiral, or comb bound notes onto so that you can turn the pages freely.

Conventional clipboards are also made of rigid materials so that you can write on the papers clipped thereon. This isn't needed when you're reading notes. So I'd replace that with some kind of more flexible, lower density foam. Because if you have an incident and end up rolling down an embankment it's better to have some foam flying around the cabin rather than wood or a hard plastic.

To me it seems like a blindingly obvious idea and if someone knows of something like this that exists already, I'd be interested to know about it. But so far I haven't found anything.

Let the countdown begin!

We have a rally!

Registration has opened for the Headwaters Regional Rally out of Walker, Minnesota, and I'm really looking forward to getting back in the co-drivers seat. Entries are coming in quite quickly at the moment. The very reasonable entry fee, coupled with the chance to be in a drawing for a free entry in one of the regional events up at the Ojibwe Forest National Rally in August has probably contributed to that. There we are, number 8 on the list so far. The field for this event is not capped so there's no telling how many cars could be there at the start line on May 21st.

There we are. Entered.

I'm excited to see familiar names in the field so far and some interesting cars too. Robert LaFavor's Ford Mustang that I saw (and heard) at when volunteering at Ojibwe last year, and the Ford Festiva of Kyle and Zach Williams, that I enjoyed seeing at 100 Acre Wood last weekend. So some interesting cars to see.

Robert La Favor's Ford Mustang at Ojibwe 2015

Williams and Willams Ford Festiva at 100 Acre Wood 2016

Our preparations will have to begin in earnest. I need to get familiar with the rally computer I'm planning on using. The ASE Rally Com. It's an App for iPad, that if used properly should take care of everything time keeping wise on the big day. 

Rally Computer. It mostly means nothing to me (and displays nothing) right now

Learning a bit more about the car would be a good thing too. I was watching an in car video from 100 Acre Wood earlier and during it the car in question blew a fuel pump fuse. The crew pulled over and quickly changed the offending fuse and were on their way in under 2 minutes. Right now, I don't know where the fuses are ("Spare fuses are in the toolbox in the hatch area" - Dan) and I don't know where the fusebox is in front though. Tyre changing I'm sure I could do without too much instruction, but I'm sure there are other things I could learn just in case anything goes awry mid-stage. 

In the meantime there are the sups to review to keep me going.

We have rally documentation!

See you out there!

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils (Rally in the 100 Acre Wood day 2)

When we came out of our hotel on Saturday morning to head out we were greeted with the sight of ice on our car, so we had to spend 5 minutes chipping it off before hitting the road to Salem. The start point for day 2 of the Rally.
What a sight greeted us in Salem! All the remaining cars were lined up on both sides of the main street, with hundreds of people checking them out, talking to drivers, getting autographs etc;. Rally certainly isn't as big in America as in Europe but there are certainly plenty of die hard fans that turn up to events, couple this with all the locals coming out to see what then fuss was all about and you got quite the crowd of people.
Our first port of call was the Rally Superstore stall to get some souvenirs. Bruce and Beryl, Ken and Emily were doing a brisk trade supplying the fans with their momentos of the event. The lines were so long at the stall on Friday that I messaged Ken that night to see if he still had an event T-shirt in my size. He did, and put one aside for me. The Rally superstore crew do a great job at the events enriching the fan experience by supplying T-shirts, hats and stickers to show your loyalty to your favourite car/driver. If you missed out on getting gear for this event check the website they might still have some stuff.
Suitably swagged up, we headed out to our first spectator point for the day on stage 10, and what a stunning location it was! The cars swept downhill around a right hand curve into view, along a short straight before taking a hairpin left, heading up a steep slope, and cresting a rise around another right hand curve. (R3< 50 L2 50 R4/Cr perhaps?) This combination would test even the finest WRC drivers.

The approach to our viewpoint on stage 10.

Arriving early, we could take position inside the hairpin bend. An awesome location! I had visions of snapping away with camera as the cars came into view and then chasing over to the other side of the curve to catch them as they headed away uphill from the hairpin. Sadly, this was not to be for reasons that will become clear shortly. But I felt the pictures I got were pretty darned good.

Travis Patrana was first into view

A couple of minutes later, running third, Nick Roberts

Giving 110% as always, The very lucky Piotr Fetela

Along came Piotr Fetela pushing to the limit as always, you can tell just by watching him. The victor at Sno-Drift Rally was trying hard to add a second victory of the season to his record. A few miles down the road he was to be involved in a crash, the video of which went viral, but if you haven't seen it, here it is. A horrific crash that both he and his co-driver Dominik Joswiak walked away from. With car wreckage strewn across the course and emergency crews called there was no choice but to close the stage.
At our location we had no idea what was going on until a marshall walked into the road with a bullhorn telling us that due to an incident further down the road the stage was closed and there would be no more racing today.
This was serious. No more rally? At all?
Puzzled voices amongst the crowd wanted more information.
The voice came across load and clear. The Rally for the day was cancelled.
I was immediately very concerned. For the entire event to be cancelled something very, very serious indeed must have happened. Either to a car or even worse, the spectators.
There was an air of disquiet growing amongst the crowd. People had trekked out into the Missouri forests to have their enjoyment cut short after 10 cars, they were disappointed to say the least. But the message from the marshall seemed clear enough and was repeated several times. Lorrie and I's thoughts were down the stage as to what could have happened to cause this. People began to drift away. Mild confusion started to reign, those on the inside of the curve crossed the road to leave. But the stage was still hot! Potentially a car could have come around the corner at speed to find people in the road. The danger level was still high.
Then someone else took over the bullhorn.
The event was not closed. Just the stage cancelled. That was a relief. At least it meant that no-one had died further down the road. We could carry on with our plans for the day. Slowly, one by one, the cars came by, drivers without crash helmets on, we waved to them, they waved back, there were a few serious faces among them as if their thoughts were also a few miles down the road too.
Once the matter had been explained to the crowd a few of the dissenting voices apologized to the marshall who caused the confusion, and she graciously accepted.
With that we headed onto our next location. Stage 13.
A few days before we headed down to Missouri, Dan had told me of his plan to surprise his wife Susi and Paul by coming down to support them and help out if needed. In fact he ended up working on the car almost as soon as he got down there the night before as they tried to fix the Audi's fried engine computer.
"We should meet up on Saturday and watch some stages together." He'd said.
A great plan I thought. But have you ever tried to arrange to meet up with someone when you're in an area of zero cellphone coverage? It's rather difficult to say the least, and it was more by luck than judgement that we ran into Dan, and his friends Andy and Jim as they walked past us on stage 13.
Here was another good location downhill into a very tight, right angled left-hander.

Spectator viewpoint Stage 13. Whiskey Throttle rally are setting up to spin as they exit the curve.

The crowds were larger here than at any other location. Spectator cars were parked in a couple of fields as well as on one side of the approach road for about 2 miles. Yes, Rally is not as big a spectator sport in the USA as in Europe but the fans still come out in their droves to watch. Cars parked alongside the road to a spectator point for two miles was a common sight. You certainly have to be fit to walk all these distances to watch the action. It was great to see so many people out there and with everyone sharing the same interest it was easy to strike up conversations among the fans.

Travis Pastrana approaches the curve

Matthew and Lauren Conte

After this stage had finished we headed off to the next, and our last stop of the event. Stage 15. This was totally different to any other point we'd been to, this was a straightforward speed section the cars would whizz past us pretty much flat out. A great opportunity for me to try to try put over the speed of the cars in my pictures... Or not.

Laughlin O'Sullivan at speed.

Seamus Burke and Martin Brady

Troy and Jeremy Miller 

We all waited for our favourite car of the event, the Porsche of Feinstein and Mayo to pass us for the final time before calling it a day and heading back to Rolla to get something to eat. We were getting very hungry.
"Wait!" I hear you saying. "Why didn't you go to the end? See the prize giving."
That's a personal preference thing. It's not a situation like the Ojibwe Forest Rally where the final stage is in the town and the victory ceremony is minutes after the last car has run. After they had left us the cars still had two stages to run. We didn't feel the need to go to the end point to wait around for the finishers to get there, watch the prize giving and get showered with champagne. It's only the big boys that get to shower you all with champagne anyway. There are many different classes to be awarded prizes. If Paul and Susi had placed in their class we would for sure have gone back to watch and cheer. But they were waiting in the bar at Randy's Roadkill in Rolla. So we all headed back there.

Randy's Roadkill BBQ and Grill

If you ever head down to the Rally, be sure to put Randy's Roadkill BBQ and Grill near Rolla on your list of places to eat. The food is great, the owner Randy is an absolute character, and he does know about Rallying. Rally crews would be most welcome there. Susi even sourced a free meal by agreeing to put some Randy's Roadkill stickers on the Audi. Perhaps I should have told him that it was my birthday the next day and I'd have got a free meal too.
All in all then, it was a fantastic way to spend a weekend. The planning and trekking about the countryside to the different locations was a lot of fun. The action was great, and all the people were friendly.
We'd had so much fun over the weekend that the results were almost the least important thing. But if you want to know:
1st  Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom (Subaru)
2nd David Higgins and Craig Drew (Subaru)
3rd. Laughlin O'Sullivan and Scott Putnam (Subaru)
In closing then, a big thank you goes out to all the organizers and volunteers who worked hard to make the event such fun to attend. I look forward to coming back next year, and who knows it might even be in the co-drivers seat of the #958 Mazda.

The Ozark Forest Daredevils (Rally in the 100 Acre Wood day 1)

The Rally America Championship arrived in Salem, MO on March 18th and 19th, and so did we. My wife and I made the long trek down from Minnesota to the Ozarks to watch the action at the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, round two of the national championship.
I was looking forward to going down and just watching an event. If you are a regular reader of this blog you'll know that at my first Rally I volunteered, my second Rally I was in the co-drivers seat. So this time I'd be able to move around the scenic Ozark forest and watch the action in many different locations and (hopefully) get plenty of good pictures, indulging my passion of photography.
We arrived at our hotel on Thursday afternoon to find competitors cars in the car park being worked on, We knew we were in the right place.

Danny Norkus working on his car before going out to tech inspection

We spent much of the evening working on a plan to see as much action over the 17 stages as we possibly could. The handy dandy guide put out by the organizers helpfully listed all the spectator viewing points with maps and advisory routes to get to them. The way I saw it, there were two possible courses of action to us, as on both days of the event, the cars used each stage twice. So we could head to one stage and camp out there for the day, or we could move about and see action at different locations. We chose to move about, that would be more fun and allow us to see more of this great countryside.
Our first stop on Saturday morning was Parc Expose in Steelville to see all 67 cars before they headed out. It gave me a chance to meet up with a some of my friends there, Susi Little and Paul Johansen I see quite regularly when I'm over with Dan Little working on his car, as both cars share the same garage. But Ryan Dunham I hadn't seen since Nemadji.  The rally community is very close knit and you very quickly build up friendships. I got the chance to chat with them and wish them luck.
Entrants had come from all points of the USA. Cars were there from Washington DC and Washington state, Minnesota and Texas, so all the extremities of the country were represented.
With that we headed out to our first location, quite naturally on Stage 1. We thought it a good idea to get there in plenty of time so we could get our pick of prime spots, with a view unobstructed by trees.  It was a good job that we gave ourselves plenty of time for the roads to the spectator point were quite the journey itself. Wonderful hilly roads both black top and dirt. The dirt ones were an extra experience. We crossed causeways and forded streams in places. Brilliant! It's a good job the water level was low in places otherwise some of the roads might have been impassable, indeed there were road signs alerting us to that fact. When we arrived we found that the spectator point was on a nice hairpin bend in the forest and our early arrival meant we found space for ourselves on the inside of the corner, exactly where I wanted.

Spectator location A. Stage 1. Cars approach from the left and then head towards us

Time passed quickly as we waited for the cars to arrive. It was a pleasant day, not cold at all. I figured that our viewpoint gave us the chance of see cars really sliding around the corner, putting their back ends out as well as the chance to see a few overshoot this sharp corner. Also, knowing Rallying as a sport of attrition I knew that a viewpoint early in the first stage might be our only chance to see all of the cars taking part. I was right on all accounts. For on the second stage came the first of many heavy crashes that put several cars out delaying things several times. Still, that was all to come as we watched the competitors slide around this corner.

Nick Roberts using as much of the corner as he can

Others, like Rasaiah and Hoffman, ran out of corner

We were enthralled by the skills of Travis Pastrana, David Higgins, Nick Roberts et al., as they drifted around the corner and powered past us, and entertained by the fun and games of other competitors like car 360 (above) who slid off the road and tried to get back on course with two flat tyres. The co-driver even got locked out of the car at one point. They lost about 4 minutes before they limped on their way.

Once the stage was over it was time to head to our next location. Along with almost everyone else. As we walked away I thanked a few of the Marshals for working, I know how important their efforts are to the running of the event.
The delay with car 360 and an original delayed start due to a school bus needing to use a short section of the stage meant that things were running behind schedule already. So instead of going to stage four, a special "Super Stage" in a park, we changed plans and headed to stage five. As it turned out we needn't have worried as the first of the many incidents had happened on stage two, a car had wrecked, closing the stage. So as it turns out we might have been able to make it to stage four but stage five was a pretty sweet location. I got some very neat pictures and chatted with some great rally fans, comparing cameras and shots in the minutes lull between passing cars.

Spectator location, Stage five.

The photo above doesn't quite do the location justice. The downhill section, seemed much steeper as the cars approached, speeding past us, and then up another steep hill as they encountered a L4> R3/Cr (probably) to go out of our sight. Delays meant that the cars were well over an hour late getting to us, but it was certainly worth it.

David Higgins, up close. Very Close

The Porsche of Feinstein and Mayo passes us and heads up the hill.

The enforced lateness of proceedings meant another rethink of our plans for the day, our plan had been to go on to stage eight, but it would have been dark by then and with the sun going down things were starting to get chilly, so we thought we'd go back to stage six (stage one repeated) as we'd had a lot of fun there and seen quite a bit of action. But this time we didn't get located on the inside of the curve sadly.

Darkness descended quickly when we arrived and it even started to rain. The attrition of the event had cut the number of cars still on course from 67 to 40 some at the start of the stage. But still the action didn't disappoint. At one point four cars in a row missed the curve and headed straight on.

Nick Roberts takes the curve with ease 

Darkness is falling as Gekiere and Tuten round the corner in the dark.

At every spectator point we were always watching for the people we knew. Paul and Susi in the Audi and Ryan in the Suzuki Swift. When the Audi, hadn't passed us on six by the time Ryan had gone by we were a tad concerned, there had been many stories of crashes through the day. We later found out that the roads had shook their car about so much some wires had come loose and grounded on the engine management computer, frying it. No computer, no car. We were disappointed for them that's for sure.
With the last car past us it was time to head back to the hotel for the day. It had been a fun day with great roads, great scenery, good people and some excellent Rally action. We were primed for an early start on Saturday morning for more of the same.
All that is for another post.

I have an itch that can't be scratched.*

It seems so long ago, way back in December when I took part in my first stage rally in the co-drivers seat. It was a successful outing too, finishing third in class in worse than dicy conditions. I still look at that trophy with more pride than any other medals I've won for anything else.

Dan and I. Third in Class, first time out. Might be the proudest I've ever felt.

Then of course there was the coming down after the high of successful competition. I was warned about the Rally Hangover. The coming down from the adrenaline high of competition. 

"Yeah, right" I thought to myself.

But no. It's real, very real. If anything, I thought it might be similar to the feeling I'd felt after completing a successful run in a play on the Amateur stage, coming down after all the good newspaper reviews  and resounding rounds of applause from the audience. No. It was worse. A lot worse. I probably needed these.

(Not really a cure for Rally Hangover.)

Now a few more months have elapsed, I still look at that trophy and glow with pride, but the hangover has gone, replaced by the itch for competition. I'm chomping at the bit to be out there calling pace notes. I went out and bought myself a race suit. Put that down as one of the things I thought I'd never say. 

"I've bought myself a race suit".

No. I'm not a QuickFit fitter. The white stripe on their suits was vertical.

Then there's the friendship and camaraderie with my fellow competitors. I didn't know what to expect that first time. I thought the drivers might be a wild bunch of adrenaline junkies and the co-drivers might all be studious types stood in a seperate corner discussing Satre and Proust where I might have been able to talk about Senna and Prost. I was totally wrong on that one. I now interact with these people nearly every day wether it be sharing things on Facebook, or being invited to events as varied as motor race viewing parties or gourmet food and beer evenings. They are a great bunch of people. 

So, I've renewed my RallyAmerica license, and I'm ready to go. To the Headwaters Rally, I've paid the entry fee. 

It's in May. The end of May.

May is still long way away. 

I've been studying videos of other co-drivers to see how they do what they do, even listening in to them in foreign languages, hoping to pick up pointers. Dan and I have sat down and analysed our performance  and worked on how to call things in future. Things are looking good. I reckon we'll do better than third in class sometime this year. (I know, pride comes before a fall and all that.)

I'm sure that having made this brash prediction, many of my fellow competitiors won't let me forget it. 

*a reference to the Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell" sketch. Something I truly hate

Taking Note

I was skimming through the pages of the WRC website yesterday checking up on the progress of Rally Mexiko (their spelling not mine) and I came across this.

"Leading FIA World Rally Championship drivers have welcomed the inclusion of the 80KM (50 miles) Guanajuato stage at this years Rally Mexico.-

-The headline-grabbing gravel stage is the longest to be included in a WRC event for 30 years and contains 194 junctions as it meanders through the mountains to the north and east of host city Léon.

-it is anticipated to take around 50 minutes to get from the start to the finish. World champion co-driver Julien Ingrassia has 106 pages of hand-written pacenotes for this stage alone."

I had to sit there and let that sink in a little. 

Perhaps you should too.

Now I know I'm still a novice at this co-driving business, but that is a mind boggling amount. 

My first experience co-driving the notes ran for 2 1/2 pages of about 8 stage miles, and it took quite a bit of concentration to follow the notes for that short length of time. Now I know it's the co-drivers job, but to concentrate on your notes for the best part of an hour must be quite energy sapping. Not to mention the logistics of holding a 106 page book in your hands, turning the pages what amounts to every 30 seconds. What happens if as you turn a page, the car hits a bump knocks the book from your hands and you loose your page? 

Let's try and imagine what this is going to be like. Go and find a 100 page book, sit down on a dining room chair (tying yourself down to it tightly so you can barely move is optional as we're straying in 50 shades of Grey territory then) and try and read it out loud while someone is bouncing that chair up and down and from side to side. Score extra points if you also run your lawnmower to simulate engine noise and have a heater on high to recreate the Mexican heat.

So, much respect to every single co-driver out there on this marathon stage on Sunday morning. When the in-car footage becomes available on WRC+ I'll be spending several hours of my day watching carefully. I follow quite a few rally drivers and co-drivers on Twitter and Facebook and I'm for sure going to be checking them all to see if they post any pictures of this tome.

Nemadji Trail Rally report

The big day arrived.

It doesn't seem like it was September when Dan asked me if I'd be interested in co-driving for him, it all went by so fast. All the fun and games of fitting seats, dismantling gear boxes and studying in car videos was about to bear fruition.

Duquette, MN is only 90 minutes drive from home, so my wife and I arose early for a Saturday to make the trip up there. It's a small town, all you can see from the main road is a store, the community center and a bar, all of which were "Rally Headquarters".  When we arrived activity was just starting, but pretty soon the place was teeming with car transporters and rally cars with workers busying themselves with all kinds of tasks.
My co-drivers tasks will eventually include supervising the set up of our service area, but as it's my first rally and I have novice entrants briefings to go to, coupled with the fact it's a small regional rally and there's not much to do I was excused that.
I was able to register the car and collect my Rally America license, this was a big deal for me. I felt "official". I just wish I'd taken a better picture...

I don't like the picture at all, it's my fault, I took it.

Novice briefing is important. Lets face it I'm about to do something dangerous.
Very dangerous. If we have a serious "off" it's not like NASCAR where aid would be there to us in seconds. Here, in the middle of a forest in the winter it might be as much as an hour before medical assistance could arrive. Procedures are in place to make sure aid gets to incidents as soon as possible and it's every entrants duty to know them. I will have to attend mandatory novice safety briefings for at least the whole of next year to make sure I'm familiar with them.
With the all important safety out of the way Dan and I clambered into his F-150 and went out on recce to check the stages. We had been given course notes, but it was important to get out there and see if we agreed with them and make our own notes, we certainly felt the need to make changes. Seeing the course for the first time was a shock. I had watched some in car videos of the course and I immediately notice that the course looked nothing like the videos. We might as well have been on a different set of roads.
The Monday before the event had seen about 4" of snow fall on the stage route, but unseasonably warm conditions during the day and some nighttime freezing during the week had left the course in a mess. Frozen sections covered in snow, and muddy, slushy sections with no traction. In some places the inside of a curve was frozen and the outside a slushy mess or vice versa. Some of the more experienced drivers said these were some if the worst conditions they'd seen.
One particular short section mid course caused me some problems, for no matter how hard I tried I just could not say the instruction.
"Left 5 short, Right 6 over crest short, Left 6 short into Right 3 into Left 3 into Right 3". So Dan decided on. "Entering complex, Right 3 into Left 3 into Right 3." I could say that. If the car was lined up right it was almost a straight shot through the fives and sixes, so calling them was almost a moot point.
With that tongue-twister conquered we headed back to service for lunch and some pre-race reflection.
I strolled around the service area looking at the other cars, wondering what it would be like when I got nervous, for I had been so busy doing things I hadn't had a chance to dwell on it. I didn't eat much for lunch for I had been cautioned that perhaps I should take some dramamine for motion sickness just in case. But I'd left it at home, so I wasn't going to give my stomach an excuse to deposit its contents all over the inside of the car. It turned out I needn't have worried.
I chatted with a few other crews, everyone was very friendly. Even more so when they found out it was my first event.
The appointed hour grew near, and we changed into our race gear. Still no nerves.
I was strapped fully into the car for the first time. The belts were awkward to find, the central catch seemed too far away. Nothing seemed to fit properly. It was a good job crew chief Ben Anderson was on hand to adjust the belts to fit.
I'm in. The HANS is strapped down. Head movement is more than I thought it would be. Arm and body movement is almost non existent.
"I can't reach to turn the GoPro on." I told Dan. He knew where to find the on/off button so our efforts would be recorded.
With that, the engine fired up and we were on our way. Pulling up at MTC 1 on time and heading out to the stage.
It was only a short transit to the stage start and we were soon lined up at the arrival control with everyone else I handed my scorecard in for the first of many times.
"Hello." Said the control worker. I knew that voice. It was Dave Fuss, Twin City Rally Club member whom I knew well. It felt good to see someone I knew just as I was about to set out. I remarked to him that it was nice to see a friendly face.
One by one the cars departed.
"Look at that." Dan muttered to himself as he watched a car leave. "No traction. It's taken over 20 seconds to do that 300 yards to the first corner."
The start line. The starter counted us down.
"Ten seconds!" His voice was clear despite the burbling engine note of the car and my crash helmet blocking other sounds out.
"Shit Dan! We've not turned the GoPro on!"
He calmly reached back and it beeped into life.
"...Four, Three, Two, One, GO!"
We're off.
I'm not going to bore you with a blow by blow account of the runs, you can watch the videos when I have finished the editing and posted them.
I wasn't nervous, not at all. The level of concentration it took to keep one eye on the notes and the other on the road obliterated everything else from my thoughts. I was peripherally aware of Dan working the steering wheel hard and at times I felt the back end slide around. It wasn't until I saw the in car camera footage that I saw how incredibly busy Dan was at the wheel. Occasionally I glanced up to see where we were and would catch a glimpse of one of the many snowmen the course workers had made along the route.
Just over 12 and a half minutes later we crossed the finish line. Stage 1 done. I've done something I never ever thought I'd do.
We were exhilarated. The conditions had been dire but SS1 was in the bag.
We were all allowed about half an hours respite before turning around and heading back. It was a chance for everyone to laugh and joke and compare experiences out there.

The car rests at the turn around.

Then it was back in the car to head the other way. The course looked totally different coming from the other direction. The abbreviated instructions to get us through "the complex" worked and I was now relaxed enough by the end of the stage to wave to my wife who was a stage worker on the last corner. In a smidge over 12 minutes after we left stage 2 start we were at the finish line. Our scorecard was marked and we headed to the mid event service. Even though we had completed two clean runs Dan wondered if perhaps we hadn't flattened a tire.

mid event service.

Ben was on hand at the service to check things over. No puncture, no damage. Perhaps a fender was a bit loose. I want to put out a big thanks to Ben for being there for the car on a Saturday afternoon in December in the middle of Minnesota.
A handful of trail mix and a Gatorade and we were off back to the stage. This time it was dark. The course once again would be totally different.
It was an eerie sensation watching the car headlights sweep across our field of view illuminating the way, sometimes things were a little indistinct, but my calling of the route helped to find the way. All to soon SS3 was over and there was another half hour break to chat and compare notes.
We pulled up to the start of stage 4.
The final stage.
We had 8 miles to go to finish our first rally together. Crashing off now is not an option. Not on the last stage. We had no idea how we were doing. If we had known we might have pushed harder and had an accident. The most important thing was to get to the finish. It was a cautious start, but after a while we were up to speed and Dan was in his groove. I'd seen his confidence grow in the last run. He went from repeating my instructions to him early in the run to asking for them by the end.
We weren't heroes entering the final corner but we sure as heck did gun it down the final 300 to the finish.
Now we were ecstatic! First bumps all round! We had finished our first rally together!
Heading back to the final control there were mixed feelings, we were happy that we had finished but the conditions had put paid to any fast times. We had enjoyed ourselves and had a good time overall.
The car was trailered and everyone gathered around for a final time to discuss the goings on. Cigars were passed around because I had completed my first rally. The camaraderie amongst the crews is something else. Everyone laughs and jokes together afterwards. Even during the service break there was sharing of tools and bits, everyone is everyones friend and we're are all out to have a good time. I was made to feel very welcome every step of the way, so a big thank you to all my fellow competitors, both drivers and co-drivers for that.
With cigars smoked and the world put to rights, we headed into the awards ceremony. I had no expectations of winning anything. This was a good competitive in class G2 so fourth or fifth would be very good according to Dan. So imagine my shock when after checking the results Dan walked over to me, shook my hand and said.
"Congratulations partner. Third in class. We scored a podium."
Seriously?
I was amazed. I wasn't prepared for that. Those conditions that were bad for us were just as bad for everyone else. We had made good decisions, worked well together and ultimately it paid off.

The happy crew of car #958 with their trophies

The trophy.

At the very start of this quest I labelled the experience "Interview at Nemadji". If we worked well together and were successful then I'd probably be in the co-drivers seat next year. I think I passed.
So with that, we will see you at the Headwaters Rally in Walker, MN in May.