What's all that smoke? Lake Superior Performance Rally Day 2

It was a tad chilly on Saturday morning as I stood on the doorstep of my room at my motel and watched the Rally Superstore van pass by heading to Parc Expose as I got in my car and made my way to the delightful coffee shop I'd discovered in L'Anse the previous day. I needed some breakfast and caffeine.
Java by the Bay sponsor my good friends Al and Brandon at Tower City Rally Team, so it was natural to support the business. It was a good breakfast, and excellent coffee. Highly recommended if you don't want a large meal to start to the day. It was still several hours to the start of the rally but streets in the sleepy town were closed and cars were arriving.

When I returned to my room, I got a message from Bill to meet at Hilltop Cafe for breakfast. That place is the opposite to Java by the Bay. Here you can have an all you can eat breakfast buffet with caramel rolls the size of brake discs.
It was a grey morning down on the waterfront in L'Anse for Parc Expose, but many people turned out to take a look at what was going on. It's very heartening to see so many people taking an interest. Some pessimists will say that rally has no following in America. Not to the level that it has in Europe certainly, but a good solid fan base to build on for the future.

Car 723 rests at Parc Expose

Parc is important to give back to the fans, to let them see the stars and all the cars close up. But I think we'd all rather be out there racing, and the time really seemed to drag by to our appointed start. At last it arrived and we began the short drive to the first stage Menge Creek. The stage notes say the stage is fast and flowing. It was. I was still on a note calling high from the previous night and my accurate calling gave Bill confidence to drive at ten-tenths and post what we felt was a quite good time, with our speed frequently topping out at over 80mph. Not bad for our little car. As the drive from Menge Creek to the next stage, Herman Nestoria was a long one we had plenty of time to reflect on how well things were feeling. Herman was billed as another fast stage and it felt to me like we sailed through it.
We approached the final stage of the morning, Silver Arvon with a little trepidation. We had heard it was rough, and when I had been doing some video recce for the stage before the event, I looked for some of the trail on Google Earth and I couldn't see anything.
This was a busy stage, and by busy I mean the instructions came thick and fast. I have never talked so much or so fast before. As we hadn't had the chance to do recce beforehand, I was also trying to edit what I was reading because some of it was just too much to say at speed.
L5->4-< >4+  "Left five minus tightens four minus opens and tightens four plus". A right mouthful. "Left five tightens four long" much easier and allows me to get onto the next note quicker. Perhaps I was was probably taking on too much, editing on the move, for at 5.2 miles I missed a call at a left three and we ran wide and nudged a tree.

Oops... 5.2 miles into Silver Arvon (Matt Todd photo)

Nothing serious, Bill threw the car in reverse and we sped on our way down the narrow forest trail that wasn't on Google Earth again. A few miles further along the trail we came to the spectator area. What a sight! Crowds were standing two or three deep for 200 yards or more along this horseshoe curve. As co-driver I pretty much had my head buried in my notes but I was most definitely aware of all the people around. The last mile of the stage was smooth and fast, so we really gunned it to the finish. I handed our time card over at the control.
"Ian Holmes?" The control worker asked.
"Yes" I confirmed.
"I read your blog. Great stuff!" I wasn't expecting that. I was a bit speechless. I certainly enjoy bringing this blog to you all and it's very nice to get positive comments, even if your mind is on getting to the next control.
"Thanks!" I gave a thumbs up, took our scorecard, and Bill drove off to service.
Because the entry field was so big, cars were already heading out to start the second round of stages as we headed back to service. Most everyone was sharing cheery waves with us as we met.

The car at mid-day break.  (Dexter Clark photo)

Service consisted of removing the wheels, cleaning out the arches, checking the brakes and remounting them again. Then grabbing some food quickly. We only had 30 minutes before it was our turn to re-visit the stages we'd just driven. Confidence was quite high as things had been going well. Perhaps too high. For I started to make a mess of the calling. I don't know why, it just became difficult. I lost place several times on the re-run of Silver Arvon. With an almost cumulative 100 cars passing over the stage before us, a stage that was rough to start with was a lot rougher. We were bounced all over the place what had been a difficult task the first time, became almost impossible the second time. But at least I managed to keep my wits about me as we approached the corner at 5.2 miles that we messed up the first time around.

Second time around and all is good (Matt Todd photo)

Then a short way down the trail, a rut forced us off the road and into a bank, but we got out of there quickly and sped on. Second time through the spectator area was as cool as the first, but this time we had to navigate our way around a couple of abandoned cars; Mike Hurst's beautiful Ford Capri and a white vehicle of some description. We plowed on to the stage end and were very surprised to find that we had been a full 20 seconds faster through the stage the second time! I guess things hadn't been as bad as I thought.
Second Time through Menge Creek was just as bad, probably worse, or so I felt. I lost my place a few times and could feel Bill ease up on the cars speed as my indecision crept in. How come I made a pig's ear of a couple of stages I'd aced just a few hours previously? I wish I knew. Was I complacent after conquering the stages the first time? Or was it just plain inexperience? Probably a combination of both.
Either way I was beating myself up pretty bad inside and the drive to Herman Nestoria was rather quiet on my side of the car.
During the drive to the start of the stage it rained and the trail was a tad slippy. This slowed Bill down a touch and allowed me to get some confidence back in my note calling and we sailed through the stage without a problem. This meant that we had reached our goal for the event, to drive the final stage. The street stage. It was still a sixty mile drive back to Houghton but because the previous stage had gone well the drive back was cheerier.
The stage was a short one, barely half a mile in length, but the layout of the streets and buildings of Houghton meant that spectators could stand around the finish and see nearly the whole course, as the cars crested a hill, navigated a chicane and a sharp hairpin to finish inside a parking ramp. A strange place to finish I grant you, but it was a great sight for the spectators that's for sure.
We pulled up to the start and awaited our countdown.
"5-4-3-2-1-GO!"
Bill dropped the clutch and let the handbrake out.
The inside of the car filled with smoke.
What was going on? I had no idea. I thought we might be spinning the wheels but there was no tyre smell. Did we burn the clutch? I don't know what a burning clutch smells like, but there wasn't much of a smell at all. Still the car was moving, and we were going to make it to the finish line Dammit! A friend of mine watching the live stream on Facebook and the street stage commentators reported sparks coming from the front of the car. It was only when we got the car to the hotel after the event and lifted the hood did we find out that a cable to the alternator had come off.
We made it to the finish and were very happy about that. No wins, no podiums, no champagne spraying. But that didn't matter. We'd had a really good time and that is what it's all about.
So, in closing I have to thank the organizers and volunteers who worked to make the event the great success it was. To Bill for letting me occupy the silly seat. It was great fun and beneficial experience in my development as a co-driver.
To Dexter and Fady for working on the car with such speed when it was needed.
Last but not least to Bill's wife Jennifer and Dexter's wife Michelle for keeping us in food when we needed it.
Hopefully I can co-drive for Tri City Evolution Rally team again someday.

In your dreams. (Lake Superior Performance Rally Day 1)

Whenever I do things that are out of my "comfort zone", I usually have bad dreams about them. When I used to act on the amateur stage, I had bad dreams about the performances. The same with all my rallies to date. There's always been some sort of bad dream one of the nights leading up to the event. Whenever I've had the dream things have invariably gone well at the events. So when I had a dream about the rally that involved taking a left three and instead of making the turn we drifted off through a forest for miles and miles not hitting a single tree. I took it as a good sign. So I was feeling good about the forthcoming event. But more of that later...

It's a long drive from the middle of Minnesota to the UP of Michigan. Very beautiful with all the trees that were at peak fall colours, but after six hours of them you're pretty bored with the oranges and yellows and reds. So I was glad to reach Houghton, Michigan, headquarters for the LSPR. I picked up my paperwork and headed to my hotel to wait for my driver for the weekend, Bill Marenich with his car. He was traveling up from Auburn, Michigan, another long drive. His was compounded by having to get some new rally tyres balanced on the cars wheels. However, he stopped by my motel on his way past so we could meet face to face for the first time and I could see the car. 

It was a chilly Saturday morning as I arrived to see the car up on jacks with our crew of Dexter Clark and Fady Kais hard at work. The brakes were being bled in preparation for the day.

Bill pumps the brakes, Dexter bleeds them and Fady records it on his iPhone.

I sat in the car for the first time. I've noticed that all seats and safety harnesses feel different. This was a quite comfortable seat probably because it was a large sized one. The harness looked new and was easy to adjust.

My "office" for the weekend

The set up was very comfortable. The ARM rally computer was easy to reach and clear to read. I was looking forward to using this as I have the set up on my iPad mini and have been learning how to program and use it. This is a serious bit of kit. Properly programmed this app will do everything from counting you down to the stage start and recording the times to keeping track of the time you spend in service and letting you know your average speed to get you to the stage starts in time. For this event I was only using it to record stage times.
With the wheels back on the car we had to take it to get checked over at scrutineering to make sure we were safe to compete. The car passed, but problems starting it led Bill to get a new battery and fit it with a few minutes to spare before we headed up to Parc Expose.

What an impressive sight it was as we arrived at Parc. Almost 80 cars registered for the event and there were hundreds of people milling around to look at them all. Pretty hectic. Most interest was centered on the cars of Travis Pastrana and David Higgins, the "stars" of rally in the USA. But our little Volkswagen garnered some interest from the rally fans. 

Nerves began to set in and a visit to the bathroom was in order. I stood in a long line next to a guy in a white race suit. He saw the Goodwood Racing sweatshirt I was wearing.

"Goodwood" he said.

"Yes" I replied. "My wife and I were at the Revival a couple of years ago"

"I've never been to Revival, I did race one of my Lola's up the hill at the Festival of Speed a few years ago"

Wow! I wanted to press the guy for more information, but as is the case with bathroom lines, one became free and he disappeared and I didn't see him again.

A bit of research and I discovered that this was Rick Knoop a very experienced race driver with a class win at Le Mans under his belt (Group 5 Porsche in 1978). He was here trying out Rallying for the first time. He was driving the Rally America B spec Honda Fit "Star Car"

Start time came and the cars left at 1 minute intervals to head to the first stage at the Houghton county fairground. A very short, (less than half a mile) spectator stage. Crowds ringed the amphitheater that was the stage. It consisted of a short downhill dash to a square left hander another dash to a hairpin left, to a straight and a hairpin right then a dash to the finish line. The sharp curves made for lots of mud being thrown up for the crowds enjoyment.
Five... our countdown began, Four, Three, Two, One, GO! We were off.
The downhill dash to the first corner was rough, So rough that the iPad running the rally computer bounced out of its mount and into my lap! I fumbled with it to check it was still running as we bounced and slid through the stage that by that time we were running had turned into a quagmire . I got everything in order in time to cross the finish line as we posted a time of 45.2 seconds. Stage 1 in the books we were happy.
"I'll zip tie that clip on the iPad to keep it shut when we get to service" Said Bill.
Service was 60 miles away in Sidnaw. We raced a third of a mile stage to drive 60 miles to a service.
Go figure.
We got to Sidnaw and the first thing we did was take the wheels off to remove the mud that was caked on around the wheel arches as a result of stage 1.

Some dried on mud from stage 1.

The short 30 minute service was over before we knew it and we were off out onto stage 2. Getting there was an experience in itself. Bill was asking me a question about the distance to the stage start and with my head buried in the notes I missed a turn and we had to turn around and go back. In fairness the turn was also hidden behind a building and was difficult to see anyway. Then on top of that, as we drove the last half mile to the stage start we came across an older guy in a truck towing a fifth wheel trailer trying to turn it around in the middle of the forest trail! How he got there I don't know, but he managed to turn the trailer around and allow us to get to the start on time. He yelled something about how the event should do some "proper advertising"as we drove on.

Very scenic as we all wait at the stage start

We were excited for the start of stage 2, a proper stage to tackle. But we didn't last very long for two corners in to the stage, the car began a violent fishtailing and dived into a ditch. So much for my dreams meaning everything would be OK.
We collected our thoughts, got out and went through the crash procedures. We set out the warning triangles, I held the OK sign out for passing cars to see while Bill stood there offering the end of the tow strap to the passing cars hoping for someone to pull us out. Car 881 of Geoff Weide and Derric Throne obliged. It was easy to get us on the road again. It was then we saw a problem, we had no steering. We could have been towed to the end of the stage by sweep but that meant that we would have been out of the rally. So we limped to the end of the stage at about 25 miles an hour, fighting our non existent steering. It took a long time to get to the stage end. Thirty-five minutes in fact. Thirty five long minutes, with the sweep truck right behind us. I imagined that David Higgins and Travis Pastrana and the others were waiting at the start for us to clear the stage.
Once at the end of the stage we could see that things weren't all bad. It turned out we had lost the pinch bolt that held the passenger side lower control arm ball joint to the knuckle. A member of the sweep crew had a suitably sized bolt to get us back on the road. But we missed stage three and four. We were out of the event. But all was not lost. It was suggested we have a word with officials at service. They might let us back in to run the stages even though we were out of the running. So a huge thanks to Steve Gingras for allowing us to run the four stages after service.
Another long wait ensued. We'd got back to service a long time before everyone else. Dexter and Fady checked the car over to make sure there was no further damage. But the car was running well. Bill's wife Jennifer and Dexter's wife Michelle kept us fed. Though to be honest, I wasn't hungry. I felt empty and lost. Cold too, it was a chilly evening. Perhaps, it sunk in that we'd just had a crash that had the potential to have been a lot worse than it was, mixed with the realization that we were out of the rally. Anyway, there was a part of me that didn't want to carry on. Remembering that at Ojibwe I'd thrown up in the night time stages was also to the front of my thoughts.
I pulled myself together and we set out. There was no pressure.
The night time stages went very well. The lack of pressure meant we could concentrate on communicating and working together. I didn't miss a beat calling the notes and Bill quickly found that he could trust my note calling and could go faster. The stages were a blast! Bill had fun executing some handbrake turns on a couple of sharp lefts, they felt great in the co-drivers seat too. We had an excellent time. The positive experiences made us feel confident for Saturdays stages as we all headed off to bed in the early hours of the morning
Though I do have to make mention of the one down point. In the break between stages someone who can only be described as an idiot put some large rocks in the middle of the road at a corner on the Bob Lake stage. There were no stage workers near enough to move them before the start, so we were told of the rocks location at ATC for the stage so we knew where they were and could take avoiding action. Even so it was still a shock to see them in the road when we got to the corner.
The stupidity exhibited by the person placing the boulders there is unbelievable. The damage that could be done to a rally car hitting one of the boulders doesn't bear thinking about. It could rip and axle off a car, it could roll a car, who knows?
But through the magic of the internet and social media the person who placed the boulders in the road  has been identified and the authorities informed. Hopefully he'll face the consequences of his actions.

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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Flight time and sick bags. Paul Bunyans Ride 2016

"Good luck!" My wife Lorrie said as she handed over our timing card as we left MTC at the end of Washington Avenue in Detroit Lakes. We were waved through the barriers and our rally was on.

Transit to the start of the first stage was a lengthy 63 miles and we were allowed 98 minutes to get there. Every minute of which was needed. There was some major road construction going on outside of town that involved cars being taken through the construction zone behind a pilot vehicle. 

The line of traffic waiting was already fairly long when we arrived.

"Good." Said Adam. "A long line. We shouldn't have to wait long."

Famous last words. 15 minutes later we were still there. The 15 minutes early we had been let go from MTC had evaporated and we were still only three miles out of town.
Then...
"F**k!" shouted Adam. He unbuckled his belts and flew out of his seat to the back of the car. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Were we overheating? We'd been sat with the engine running for quite a while. Had that running motor caused something else? He got back in the car, clearly more relieved than a moment ago. Looking in the wing mirror he'd seen gas spilling on the road. He'd jumped out to see if we had a leaking gas tank or fuel line. The fuel had just overflowed in the heat because the fuel tank was topped up to the maximum. No problems. We carried on waiting.

Waiting...

There was still ample time to get to the first ATC as we drove through the construction zone and onwards. As we passed Nevis, I pointed out Lake Belle Taine where my brother-in-law puts on his stunning 4th July fireworks display. Then before we knew it we were in Akeley making a quick stop for fuel before making our way to the start of stage 1. Crossroads.

Before we get started, a quick reminder that this is our first time together and we also have no comms. Shouting and hand signals only. We had no idea how we were going to get through the rally. We'd give it our best shot and as long as we made it to the end we were fine. 

"I'll take it easy, no big jumps." Were Adam's words as he put on his crash helmet at ATC for stage 1.

Our countdown began. "5...4...3...2...1 GO!"

We were on our way. A smooth start as we powered away over the first 200 yards into a right three. It was there that I realized that Adams idea of 'taking it easy" was a little different to mine. No worries. That just took a few corners to get used to. Like I said before, it was our first time together. I think I felt much the same on the first corner I took alongside Dan Little, my regular driver. 

The next mile was lots of smooth fives and sixes, then we rounded a long right four and there it was. The famous Red Bull jump. The inflatable arch seemed to shine in the sunlight as we approached it and about 80 yards out I realized that Adam's claim for "no big jumps" was out the window too. We hit the crest perfectly and we flew for what seemed like an age. It was like slow motion in a way. I can vividly remember seeing the view in front of me change from trees and sky in the distance to the road as the nose of the car dropped and we landed relatively smoothly. For more by luck than judgment we were close to the optimal speed for a smooth landing and we allowed ourselves to shout "That was awesome" as we sped on our way.
Calling the pace notes when you can only use signs is very difficult. I was wanting to give as much instruction as if I was reading the notes but at times this resulted in just a blur of hand signals in Adam's peripheral vision. It took us into the next day to get to a situation we were happy with.
Blurry hand signals or not, we were third fastest in class on the stage. So things were going well.
As we arrived at stage two it was clear that there was a problem. The cars were starting to back up and I actually had to get out of the car and walk our time card into the control. Piotr Fetela's new Subaru had a transmission failure right around the first corner no more than 20 yards from the start. Add to that an extra minute between cars due to the dust and a traffic jam had formed. Piotr was gutted as this was his first race back since his crash at 100 Acre wood. We chatted for a while about it and he seemed genuinely interested in my rallying story too. An all round nice guy.
A good thirty minutes late and in fading light we started stage two. We were beginning to wish we had put our rally lights on at the start by now. The dust minute helped visibility a bit but we dropped to fourth fastest through that stage. Perhaps if we'd had rally lights on we would have made third who knows.
Stage three was to be quite eventful for us and many others. At the start line we were alerted to at least two, perhaps three cars off the road that we needed to keep an eye out for. We definitely needed rally lights now but we sped on, keeping a wary eye out for the cars off the road. Then about half way through the stage we hit a bird. A small one. It appeared in our headlights and smacked into the grille.  Feathers went everywhere. Thanks to the open quarter light windows on the Rabbit, many found their  way inside. I spat feathers out of my mouth for a while. Despite this we sped on regardless.
Stage three was a very tough stage on the stomach. Lots of crests, sharp curves, crests followed by curves, the car would go light, then heavy. All this in the dark with lights dancing off the trees flickering them as if illuminated by a flashing strobe light. Couple this with looking between the pace notes and the road ahead and motion sickness set in. Things did get quite bad for me and by the end of the stage I had to get out of the car just to catch my breath and calm down.
Then we made the easy on my stomach drive back to refueling and service in Akeley, where conversation among co-drivers quickly turned to the previous stage. Brandon Snyder, co-driver in the other Tower City racing car had been sick and he offered me a sick bag for the next time around. I gladly accepted, just in case. I also decided not to eat anything. Just in case.
Refuelled and lights attached, we headed out to do the previous three stages again in the dark. A totally different experience to the first time. We found this out at the jump. With no inflatable arch to judge the distance we hit it at the wrong speed. Too slow. We didn't fly as far as previously and we hit the ground hard. Very hard. We did some damage to the car as we would find out over the next 12 hours.
Within a few minutes of the impact Adam noted we had a drivers side flat.
"How far to stage end?" he asked.
I checked the instructions. "Four miles!" I shouted over the engine noise.
"We'll keep going!" He shouted back. With only 4 miles to stage end we would loose more time stopping to change the tyre than if we just kept going and waited to the end.  After a few miles the tyre started to shred. Lumps of rubber appeared in our headlights, tyre dust found its way inside the car, getting all over my stage notes and iPhone running the RallyTripMeter app. The drivers side front wing (fender) flapped around loudly. We made it to the stage end in one piece and made our tyre change and bent the fender back. What was left of the wheel looked a lot like Al Dantes' wheel at the end of Headwaters. Sure, we had lost some time, but not as much as if we had stopped in stage. It was easier to pop a new wheel on by the road side too, and we made a quick change and made it to ATC at the next stage on time.

What was left at the tyre at the end of stage four. It's a Tower City Race Team thing

Stage five was as unremarkable as it was when it was stage two. We got through it with no problems and like when it was stage two we were fourth fastest again.
Onto stage six, the final stage of the day's rally. It was midnight when we left the start line and headed into the darkness. There were a couple of cars off the road in places, we noted them carefully but it still didn't stop us going into a downhill right three rather hot and running off the road. Luckily Adam threw the car into reverse and we got out of there and carried on. The stage went on and I started to feel much the same way that I did the first time around. Except this time the stage went on longer, two miles longer and I felt worse and worse, then I knew that throwing up was not far away. I reached for the sick bag Brandon had given me. It was in the door map pocket. I pulled at it.
It wouldn't move.
It was trapped behind the roll cage.
I tugged and tugged, it still wouldn't move.
The feeling in my stomach got worse and worse. I didn't want to throw up in the car over my race suit, crash helmet, pace notes and time card. There was only one thing for it. Speeding along a narrow forest trail, I opened the door, pulled the sick bag out of the map pocket, shut the door, put the sick bag to my mouth and threw up. After that the end of the stage came up quickly and I was able to hand a clean card to the control worker.
After that I felt fine, and we were able to make it to MTC outside of Nevis without any problems. There we met up with Al and Brandon to compare notes before heading home. We all had a laugh when we saw the remnants of the tyre that we had shredded on stage four. I also found out that as many as 9 other co-drivers had experienced problems with sickness and nausea. I had been in good company. I had taken Dramamine before the start of the rally and and at the service break in Akeley. The conditions out there were too extreme for that. Some co-drivers swear by ginger, others Scopolamine  patches perhaps I'll see if my doctor can prescribe them for me.
It was getting late, or rather early. It was about 2am when we got back to the hotel in Detroit Lakes. So there was little interest in how we had finished. So imagine our surprise when we found out the following morning that we had finished 4th in class and 10th overall! We were just a scant 22 seconds behind team mates Al and Brandon. Twenty two seconds. If only we hadn't had that flat. We could have been third.
But that didn't matter. It had been a good day. We had certainly had some highs and lows, and we were most definitely looking forward to what tomorrow had to offer.
You're just going to have to wait a little while to find out just what that was...

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.

A Beer run.

May 1st saw the running of the Escape to Wisconsin road rally. Starting at Point Douglas Park, just outside of Prescott, WI over the Mississippi in Minnesota, the route took in about 150 miles of Wisconsins finest driftless country roads before ending up at a nice little brewpub at Reads Landing back in Minnesota.

Fresh from our success at putting on the Nowthen Rally the previous week, we were looking forward to getting out and enjoying the roads.

This event saw the debut of TCRC member Louis Hardin as rally master, taking over the running of this event from Clarence Westberg. New blood brought a new start point and new roads for us to try.

The event was a control zone rally.  What's a Control Zone Rally? Well what happens in a control zone rally is that you are given a combination of Time, Speed, and/or Distance for a section of the rally and you have to use those factors to arrive at a control point on time.  It was something of a new format for us. Still, we thought we'd give it a go, it couldn't be any worse than doing a trap rally. I even downloaded an iPhone App specifically created for the purpose. The Control Zone App from MSYApps. The thing that appealed to me about this App was that the variables could be set by a nice clean slider display. See below.

The Slider display of the Control Zone App

 The main display is also nice and clean too. The displays are simple to read and are highlighted green if you are behind schedule, red if you are ahead. The route is traced on the map with a blue line as you proceed along the way. There's other features in there like recording splits, that I haven't used yet. We were just relying on it to get us to the end of the rally and hopefully post some low scores. We'll come to how it behaved in the rally later.

The Control Zone App main display

We arrived at Point Douglas Park nice and early to socialise but with a chill breeze blowing off the Mississippi chat was kept to a minimum.

A nice blue sky, but there was a chill breeze off the water.

The departure time came and off we went. At the first control we scored a 6! That was unheard of for us at this type of rally where scoring was to the hundredth of a minute, follow that with a 17 at the next control and we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. The new App must be having an effect! Then the wheels came off the wagon a bit. But not entirely our fault as an error had crept into the NRI's. The exact form of the error was not clear, I think a CAST had been missed off the instructions which resulted in us turning up to a control zone start at least 3 minutes late. Confusion reigned in our car through the next two zones, and in the end I felt it was easier to take the max points at the controls rather than mess around trying to work out how late we were and take the appropriate allowance., maths has never been my strong point. We were supposed to be out to enjoy ourselves, not get stressed out. The instructions were the same for everyone and others were discussing the missing CAST at the first break point so we didn't feel so bad as we set out on the next leg.
It was then that I started to have "issues" with the App. It was very hot in the car and my fingers were getting very sweaty and greasy, and consequently so did my iPhone screen. This became a real problem using the sliders to set the mileage, when my fingers were dry it was quite easy to set the mileage using the slider to get close and then fine tune it with the + and - buttons. But with greasy fingers on a greasy screen all that went out the window, just pressing too hard or lifting your finger off the screen could result in a change of as much as 10 miles. This put us late a couple of times and we posted a few scores in the hundreds before I realized what had happened and tried to give the screen (and my fingers) a real good cleaning and drying before I used it again. This seemed to work when I remembered to do it and we went back to posting some low (for us) scores of 7, 12 and 25. Which meant we were finishing off on a high note.
A word about the roads. They are some of the finest road rally roads that you will encounter. Winding roads that climb up steep hills to get out of river valleys and then wind their way around an undulating landscape before plunging down another switchback into a valley not unlike the one you just left, at times you feel like you are diving through someones front yard the way things are set up. To be honest, it's tough to get too much of this scenery and with all the trees starting to get leaves it was just great to drive through. Some of these twisty windy roads found me going into some kind of Stage rally co-driver mode to alert Lorrie as to how sharp the upcoming curves could be, "Very sharp left", "Hairpin right" as I studied the GPS screen as well as reading the NRI's. It was quite natural to me, and Lorrie certainly appreciated the heads up on what was approaching.
Another thing that should be known about Wisconsin State highways is that the State Troopers have a propensity for hiding and catching people speeding and we were saddened when we watched the car on the minute in front of us get pulled over. Getting a ticket was a disqualification in the rally, and it can be quite easy to get ticketed in Wisconsin on a sunny weekend.
As we headed to the finish we were quite happy. It had been a very nice drive through some great countryside, overall we'd had a good time. That to us is the most important thing.

Finish point, Reads Landing Brewpub.

There was still one last surprise for us. We had netted enough high scores to finish last and win the coveted Dead Last But Finished (DLBF) award. Some people might be quite disappointed at finishing dead last. Maybe we would have been if we hadn't enjoyed ourselves. But overall we'd had a really good time, so it didn't matter. Besides it's a darned good beer.

Dead Guy Ale. Very tasty.

All in all it was a good rally. Congratulations and appreciations go out to Rallymaster Louis and his crew. We look forward to Escape to Wisconsin next year.

Navigating Near Nowthen

Friday April 22nd, saw a new program of road rallies presented by the SCCA Land O Lakes region and the Twin City Rally Club, aimed squarely at newcomers to the sport. A series of short rallies of about 30 miles in length taking about an hour to complete that will introduce beginners to the different styles of rally to run. Tulip, Monte Carlo, Trap etc; each rally is being put on by a different member of the TCRC. Some club members are also using the program as an opportunity to learn how to put on a rally themselves.
The program was originally entitled "Friday night is rally night". But as one of the first two rallies in the program is on a Saturday afternoon the name probably won't stick.
It fell to yours truly to put on the first of the Rallies. I decided that I wouldn't do a rally based on the Tulip instructions that I am so familiar with. I'd use the opportunity to try something new myself. A map based course plotting rally.
Regular readers of this blog will remember that a while ago I wrote a post bemoaning the state of maps in the USA comparing them to the Ordnance survey maps in the UK. The US maps fared rather badly in that article.
Still, I wasn't put off by this. I looked on it as a challenge, and since then I've been studying the maps of the area as well as researching rally instructions from the UK and Europe hoping to find a way to combine the two. This new rally program gave me the perfect opportunity to see what I could do.
The only stipulation I had was that I had to start and end the rally in the Twin Cities metro area to minimize travel time for the entrants. I chose Elk River in the Northwest, as I am quite familiar with the area because I often go for a drive around there in my MGB, so I knew there were good roads to be found in the vicinity. With a route found it was then all down to working out instructions to get the cars around the course. All that should probably be the subject of a totally separate article.
So lets fast forward to Friday evening.
I arranged for registration to take place at the Starbucks in town, and when I explained to the manager what was going on, he very kindly donated a 2 gallon thermos of coffee for us to have before we headed out. The finish point, Northwoods Bar and Grill in Nowthen, was similarly accommodating. They had no problem fitting 30 people in on a Friday night when I called up that morning to double check. We really appreciate the co-operation shown by local businesses that enables us to put these events on. Otherwise we'd just be meeting up in parking lots. My wife and I were back in Starbucks the next day and the staff there said that it had been great to have a full shop on a Friday evening. I've also chatted with the manager in person and He's very happy to have the Rum Runner start there in the fall as well.
TCRC members had done a good job publicizing the event and this was rewarded in the fact that over half of the 13 entrants had not done a road rally before and only three had done more than one. The entrants and their vehicles were many and varied. George Quinn turned up in his 1964 Oldsmobile, Paula and Scott Liptak turned up in a minivan because Scott is wheelchair bound. As it was a rally several people turned up in their Subarus of course.

George Quinn and his 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88

 Kerry Freund and his daughter Katherine are ready to head out.

Much of the registration was spent explaining to the newcomers what road rally was all about and handily there were enough experienced TCRC members there to do this on a one-to-one basis. Registration passed all too quickly, and shortly before people started to head out on the odo check, Lorrie and I headed out to set up the DIY controls that I had planned. Having unmanned controls meant that more people could run the event instead of working timing controls. The controls were simplicity themselves. A standard SCCA LOL checkpoint marker was placed on the side of the road and a post placed alongside with a bag of stickers pinned to it.

DIY control

Upon arriving at the control, the co driver would get out, and put one of the stickers on their scorecard before heading on to the next control.

The DIY control in use.

We got all the controls in place and headed to the final control location to await the arrival of car zero, when, much to our surprise we met car 1 waiting on the roadside a discrete distance from the final control.
"What on earth are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, we thought we were on the right route, but we seem to have missed a control. We're a sticker short"
Of course they were a sticker short, they'd taken a wrong turn, cut off as many as 6 miles off the course, got ahead of us setting the course up and missed the final control completely.
As Rallymaster it wasn't really my place to tell them where they had gone wrong, but after some consultation with the final timing control crew they decided to go back and look for the missing control, they did have plenty of time after all. Amazingly they arrived back at the final control with the sticker in place just one second late!
Everyone completed the course, some people missed a sticker, and a few people were late to the final timing control but everyone had enjoyed themselves immensely as I was to find out when I asked people in the bar afterwards.

Everyone having a good time in the bar afterwards.

We did tally up the scores, although no prizes were given, as it was all about having a good time rather than the competition. There was one zero score, and from a pair of beginners too! Drew McLaughlin and Taylor Zenz in a Lincoln MKZ. A fine performance in not your typical road rally vehicle.
If we have to talk about the get together at the bar afterwards, then we have to talk about the one bad moment of the evening. Well, it was bad for me.
The bar had booked a singer for the night, and as was his wont he liked to involve the audience in his songs, and we, being large group of people naturally drew his attention, and he gravitated towards us to find someone to accompany him on some of his songs. Somehow, everyone else there decided that it should be me that would go up there and play the cowbell on a couple of songs.
I hate cowbell. I think that the Saturday Night Live sketch "More Cowbell" featuring Christopher Walken is one of the least funny things in the history of television comedy. Still, I gritted my teeth and clanged my way through "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Honky Tonk Woman",  everyone else enjoyed it so that was OK with me.
The event had been a success across the board. The newcomers had enjoyed themselves and discovered something new. They all said they'd had a good time and would do another one. The concept was well received too, so much so that I was told that if I wanted to run the Rum Runner along these lines I should. There's a big difference though, between putting together a 30 mile hour long route like that and a 100 mile plus afternoon adventure. Still it's something to bear in mind.
In closing, I have to thank Clarence and Kate Westberg, Dave and Rachel Fuss for working start and finish controls. Clarence also provided the pictures for this post. Last but not least my wife Lorrie for working registration and doing all the associated paperwork.
"See you next month." Said one cheery soul as they left the Northwoods bar. I certainly hope we do.

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.