GCFR is over for another year. I'm really happy with our performance: in his first rally in a four-wheel drive car, Matt Barnes drove us to a fourth place overall finish.
Things were great on stage: Matt drove a quick and clean rally. The notes we had made worked well and it didn't take long for our in-car communication to "click".
Off-stage, though, there were some hiccups. At the turnaround at the end of the first stage, when we went to start the car... nothing. The engine wouldn't turn over. A quick check showed 8 V at the battery, so a group of volunteers from other teams and some of the folks at the quarry (thank you, BTW), tried to push start us to no avail. Finally, Bryn Epp from MLRC brought his truck over, and someone grabbed a set of booster cables from somewhere, and we got the car re-fired. The whole episode lasted a few very tense minutes. After that, we kept the car running, just in case.
The weather was damp without being completely soggy, and it seems like this made the stage road quite a bit quicker than previous years; the old stage record time was broken by several cars.
Several photographers have already posted photos from the event. We're in car 8, a black and red Eagle Talon:
Evan Holt
Andrew Harvey
Tom Hayston
Robert Roaldi
Great rally, great road. Thanks to the organizers and all the volunteers.
Jeff
Showing posts with label OPRC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OPRC. Show all posts
Monday, August 11, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Long time no blog... but time for Galway!
Well, it's been a long time since I've posted to my blog, and a big part of that has been a rather unlucky season so far. I guess I find it hard to write "we DNF'd. The end."-type posts.
Sandblast went well - we finished first in our class and fourth overall, but the season went downhill from there.
Rally New York
Our run at Rally New York ended on the first day in the ditch: we came around a sweeping left-hand corner and were confronted by a car stopped on stage on the inside of the corner near the exit, half on the shoulder and half on the roadway. We went wide to avoid them and touched the left wheels on the edge of the early April Catskills slush on the side of the road. This sent the car spinning. Ivor tried his best to catch it, but we slid across the road and hit a rock wall and a telephone pole guy wire, doing a fair bit of damage to the front end of the car.
Back at the shop, the mechanics got to work assessing and fixing the damage... but it was bad enough that we missed the next event, Rally Tennessee. By not scoring points at two rounds of the championship, this effectively put us out of the running for the USRC.
Black Bear Rally
This past June, Black Bear promised to be an interesting rally. I signed on to co-drive for Robin Fleguel in his former AV Sport WRX STi.
The rally started well. In the first few stages, we were setting safe but decent times and steadily improving with each stage... then stage 4 happened.
A few kilometers from the end, we hit a small bump just before a left six, a fast, very slight curve. This upset the car a bit and pushed us to the outside of the corner, landing us on a slick patch of mud. The mud didn't provide even enough grip for the slight curve of the road, and we slid off the road, slipped a few feet down an embankment, and came to rest against a few trees.
That was our rally.
MLRC Testing Day
At the end of July, I went to my first MLRC testing day, co-driving for Francisco Peirera in his Evo VIII. He rallied for quite a while until the late 90s, when he switched into dirt track modified racing. Francisco is quick.
I made a rookie mistake: I figured that the way the testing day was set up (short stage, with breaks in between runs), I wouldn't need a motion sickness patch... well, on our third run through the testing stage, my body voiced its disagreement. I started to feel sick about halfway through, but held myself together until the end of the stage.
Once we pulled to a stop, I found out just how quick I can get out of a rally car. :) I didn't just climb out, I actually leapt from my seat through the door and into the ditch.
Later on, the bad luck continued: Francisco took his crew chief (a co-driver in his own right) out for a couple of tuning runs, and on the last run as it went over a crest, the transmission locked like it had shifted into two gears at once. This caused the wheels to lock up... and without any way to control the car, it slid into the bushes.
Coming up - Galway
They say bad luck comes in threes, and if that's really the case, then I've got mine out of the way for a while. Coming up next is the Galway Cavendish Forest Rally on August 9. I'll be co-driving for 2007 OPRC Production 2 champion Matt Barnes; for this rally, he's leaving his Toyota Paseo in the garage and will be competing in the Planet Motorsport Eagle Talon. It's looking to be a good rally.
Jeff
Sandblast went well - we finished first in our class and fourth overall, but the season went downhill from there.
Rally New York
Our run at Rally New York ended on the first day in the ditch: we came around a sweeping left-hand corner and were confronted by a car stopped on stage on the inside of the corner near the exit, half on the shoulder and half on the roadway. We went wide to avoid them and touched the left wheels on the edge of the early April Catskills slush on the side of the road. This sent the car spinning. Ivor tried his best to catch it, but we slid across the road and hit a rock wall and a telephone pole guy wire, doing a fair bit of damage to the front end of the car.
Back at the shop, the mechanics got to work assessing and fixing the damage... but it was bad enough that we missed the next event, Rally Tennessee. By not scoring points at two rounds of the championship, this effectively put us out of the running for the USRC.
Black Bear Rally
This past June, Black Bear promised to be an interesting rally. I signed on to co-drive for Robin Fleguel in his former AV Sport WRX STi.
The rally started well. In the first few stages, we were setting safe but decent times and steadily improving with each stage... then stage 4 happened.
A few kilometers from the end, we hit a small bump just before a left six, a fast, very slight curve. This upset the car a bit and pushed us to the outside of the corner, landing us on a slick patch of mud. The mud didn't provide even enough grip for the slight curve of the road, and we slid off the road, slipped a few feet down an embankment, and came to rest against a few trees.
That was our rally.
MLRC Testing Day
At the end of July, I went to my first MLRC testing day, co-driving for Francisco Peirera in his Evo VIII. He rallied for quite a while until the late 90s, when he switched into dirt track modified racing. Francisco is quick.
I made a rookie mistake: I figured that the way the testing day was set up (short stage, with breaks in between runs), I wouldn't need a motion sickness patch... well, on our third run through the testing stage, my body voiced its disagreement. I started to feel sick about halfway through, but held myself together until the end of the stage.
Once we pulled to a stop, I found out just how quick I can get out of a rally car. :) I didn't just climb out, I actually leapt from my seat through the door and into the ditch.
Later on, the bad luck continued: Francisco took his crew chief (a co-driver in his own right) out for a couple of tuning runs, and on the last run as it went over a crest, the transmission locked like it had shifted into two gears at once. This caused the wheels to lock up... and without any way to control the car, it slid into the bushes.
Coming up - Galway
They say bad luck comes in threes, and if that's really the case, then I've got mine out of the way for a while. Coming up next is the Galway Cavendish Forest Rally on August 9. I'll be co-driving for 2007 OPRC Production 2 champion Matt Barnes; for this rally, he's leaving his Toyota Paseo in the garage and will be competing in the Planet Motorsport Eagle Talon. It's looking to be a good rally.
Jeff
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Perce- Neige Photos
Photos have started trickling in from Rallye Perce-Neige.
Here's a nice set of photos of our incident on Farley II by Philippe Jodoin:
Here's a nice set of photos of our incident on Farley II by Philippe Jodoin:
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Perce Neige!
I just got back from Maniwaki. Perce-Neige was terrific. Cold, but terrific.
My driver Luis had a fair bit of experience in rallysprints, but since this was his first full rally, we took it easy to start out. Even so, we started to slowly move up the running order, especially thanks to the slippery roads that put several of our competitors in the ditch.
Our one "gotcha"
Luis drove a clean rally. The only "moment" we had was on SS 6, the second run through the Farley stage. As we came into a Left 3, the car slid a bit to the right... Luis corrected, but the road turned to sheer ice. The car spun around, and we ended up nose-first in the ditch with our back wheels sticking out onto the road.
Luckily, we did all this in front of a spectator area (and luckily or unluckily, in front of one of the TV cameras). Even as we were coming to rest, there was a pack of spectators running over to our car. About five of them tried to give the car a quick push, but they couldn't move it. Finally after a few seconds of this, I hopped out and grabbed the triangles, and another bunch of spectators ran over. With about ten of us pushing, we finally got the car back on the road. A fan threw me the triangles, we jumped back in and took off. All in all, we lost about 3 or 4 minutes.
I saw a few folks with video cameras there, so if I find any YouTube video of what happened, I'll post a link.
Lighting Gremlins
We had problems with the auxiliary lights all weekend. On Friday night during our checks and scrutineering they were only working intermittently. We thought we'd found the problem and fixed it, but finally on Saturday when it really mattered, they didn't work at all.
This meant that on the night stages, we only had our standard headlights. We had to slow right down and lost a lot of time.
Still, all in all, we were happy with our performance, especially considering our lighting problems and the fact that it was Luis' first rally (and first time racing on snow). It seemed like Andrew Comrie-Picard was happy to see his old car rallying again; he and his co-host for the CRC TV broadcasts Jen Horsey took a fair bit of time out to do a spot on the car and an interview with Luis. I'm hopeful that at least some of it will make it into the final program.
Thanks
As always, I'm amazed to see the sheer number of dedicated people who come out to spend all day in the woods to let us race, and the organizers who commit huge numbers of unpaid hours to make rallies happen. While we were driving through the snow and cold at Perce-Neige, I was reminded how much all the volunteers and fans love the sport.
Our service crew was terrific, too. Paul and Luis' son Josh had never serviced at a rally before, but they pulled it off perfectly.
Photos, video and more to come!
The photographers and spectators are still trickling back to their homes, so photos should start appearing online within a few days. In the meantime, you can see a photo of us in this story on flatovercrest.com - look down the page for Car 44 - the little white Lada.
TV coverage is coming later this year. I'll post news on air dates and times when it's available.
Jeff
My driver Luis had a fair bit of experience in rallysprints, but since this was his first full rally, we took it easy to start out. Even so, we started to slowly move up the running order, especially thanks to the slippery roads that put several of our competitors in the ditch.
Our one "gotcha"
Luis drove a clean rally. The only "moment" we had was on SS 6, the second run through the Farley stage. As we came into a Left 3, the car slid a bit to the right... Luis corrected, but the road turned to sheer ice. The car spun around, and we ended up nose-first in the ditch with our back wheels sticking out onto the road.
Luckily, we did all this in front of a spectator area (and luckily or unluckily, in front of one of the TV cameras). Even as we were coming to rest, there was a pack of spectators running over to our car. About five of them tried to give the car a quick push, but they couldn't move it. Finally after a few seconds of this, I hopped out and grabbed the triangles, and another bunch of spectators ran over. With about ten of us pushing, we finally got the car back on the road. A fan threw me the triangles, we jumped back in and took off. All in all, we lost about 3 or 4 minutes.
I saw a few folks with video cameras there, so if I find any YouTube video of what happened, I'll post a link.
Lighting Gremlins
We had problems with the auxiliary lights all weekend. On Friday night during our checks and scrutineering they were only working intermittently. We thought we'd found the problem and fixed it, but finally on Saturday when it really mattered, they didn't work at all.
This meant that on the night stages, we only had our standard headlights. We had to slow right down and lost a lot of time.
Still, all in all, we were happy with our performance, especially considering our lighting problems and the fact that it was Luis' first rally (and first time racing on snow). It seemed like Andrew Comrie-Picard was happy to see his old car rallying again; he and his co-host for the CRC TV broadcasts Jen Horsey took a fair bit of time out to do a spot on the car and an interview with Luis. I'm hopeful that at least some of it will make it into the final program.
Thanks
As always, I'm amazed to see the sheer number of dedicated people who come out to spend all day in the woods to let us race, and the organizers who commit huge numbers of unpaid hours to make rallies happen. While we were driving through the snow and cold at Perce-Neige, I was reminded how much all the volunteers and fans love the sport.
Our service crew was terrific, too. Paul and Luis' son Josh had never serviced at a rally before, but they pulled it off perfectly.
Photos, video and more to come!
The photographers and spectators are still trickling back to their homes, so photos should start appearing online within a few days. In the meantime, you can see a photo of us in this story on flatovercrest.com - look down the page for Car 44 - the little white Lada.
TV coverage is coming later this year. I'll post news on air dates and times when it's available.
Jeff
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Almost Time for Maniwaki
I'm busy getting ready for Rallye Perce Neige Maniwaki. It looks like it's going to be a good rally.
There are 44 entries according to the most recent update on the event web site. A notable late entry is Travis Pastrana, in what I believe is his first Canadian rally.
The starting order has been published. Apparently, we'll be starting as the very last car on the road. The sheer ice we'll have to deal with (from 43 other cars polishing the road ahead of us) will keep our speed down, but this may be a bit of an equalizer for us against the other regional-only cars at the back of the pack: the power difference between the stock-engined Lada and the higher HP, modded cars won't matter so much if they can't get their extra power down either.
All in all, it looks like a great event. I haven't been to Perce Neige in three years, and I'm looking forward to going back.
Note: I don't know what the Internet situation's going to be like at our Maniwaki hotel. I may be able to post over the weekend, but maybe not. There are a few places you can get your fix of news from Perce Neige while I'm away:
www.rallyeperceneige.com - Event Web Site
www.rallyscoring.com - Live Stage Scores
www.flatovercrest.com - News Articles, Updates and Photos
Jeff
There are 44 entries according to the most recent update on the event web site. A notable late entry is Travis Pastrana, in what I believe is his first Canadian rally.
The starting order has been published. Apparently, we'll be starting as the very last car on the road. The sheer ice we'll have to deal with (from 43 other cars polishing the road ahead of us) will keep our speed down, but this may be a bit of an equalizer for us against the other regional-only cars at the back of the pack: the power difference between the stock-engined Lada and the higher HP, modded cars won't matter so much if they can't get their extra power down either.
All in all, it looks like a great event. I haven't been to Perce Neige in three years, and I'm looking forward to going back.
Note: I don't know what the Internet situation's going to be like at our Maniwaki hotel. I may be able to post over the weekend, but maybe not. There are a few places you can get your fix of news from Perce Neige while I'm away:
www.rallyeperceneige.com - Event Web Site
www.rallyscoring.com - Live Stage Scores
www.flatovercrest.com - News Articles, Updates and Photos
Jeff
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
text