THSCC Forums

Phew that was fun!

Two things I really enjoyed today: were meeting all the new folks and their enthusiasm, and helping everyone will tools.

Lots of new folks were having so much fun driving, and several told me they had learned some new skills out there. Great!

And on helping people, I lent...

* some drill bits and a cotter pin to Aaron Buckley
* some bailing wire for exhaust to two people
* help another fellow rebead his tire with my air and my big jack and metal jacking board (fortunately preventing a unsafe scenario where a regular in-car jack was sinking in to the soft ground)
* lent out some air to Simon
* lent out a socket set, plus many extensions plus some impact sockets, to someone else
* lent a screwdriver and some pliers to Andrew Frick to fix his idling issue
* lent the whole trailer for temporary parking to Eric Adams, so he could more easily get under his car for a flapping exhaust
* lent a bed to Kevin Hoff's wife to take an afternoon nap on
* and halfway home, unloaded my rally car and loaded Dan's car on. His CV had blown up, so I gave him my whole van and trailer!

I drove my rally car the last half hour home, and Andrew Frick (who has towed with my rig many times before) took him back to his house and then dropped the van and trailer off here.

And I'm proud of myself, because to me, that kind of helping all your competitors, making helping other teams a part of your own priorities, is one of the things that seems really special about actual rally competition. I hope next time you need tools or help at a rallycross, you come find me!

Anders

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Lina Racing: As Seen On Radio

That was a heck of a good time. The thousand dollar BMW made it through unscathed...although it is a DOG! Gas pedal floored, listening to sound and fury signifying nothing, as I worried that I might slow to a stop and get high-cenetered. Turns out, a low horsepower, RWD car with an open differential and bald street tires isn't the hot rallycross ticket. But we had a blast regardless.

Thanks everyone for putting it together and helping each other when needed. Trust me, Whipple is more than used to towing Integras other than his own ITR home after an event...

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Now THAT is the best possible segue into a beater rallycross car haiku:

Listen to the sound
and fury: mashed gas pedal
look elsewhere for speed




Anders

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Lina Racing: As Seen On Radio

I should have been there, but man I needed a day off. Slept late and got a few chores done today.

Unlike Karl, my rally beater isn't down on power and doesn't have an open diff. Maybe next time?

Scott

An excellent time indeed! After 5 years of autocrossing, I'm amazed how different the strategies are for doing well in the dirt

I know some people weighed their cars, let's hear the numbers:

89 Dirtmaster 1600 (Corolla SR5) gutted w/full fuel = 2140 lb

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

That was an absolute blast. Thanks Anders and Kevin for everything.

The afternoon ruts were _painful_ though. Wow some of those were really impressive.

Oh, weighed the WRX: Full tank, empty otherwise: 3065lb Oink!

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)

1989 Dirty Rice Racing Nissan Sentra.

Completely gutted with no trunk lid and a third of a tank of gas....1985 lbs.

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Stephen Westerfield
2009 Infiniti M35 | 2007 Honda Fit Sport | 2005 Ford Mustang GT |2000 GMC Sierra |1992 Acura Integra LS | Super Westerfield Bros Acura Integra

I would consider the rally car a tool - and thanks for letting me borrow it!

I had a blast... As deep as the ruts were, I expected that the beater Honda Civic would be doing a crab crawl back to Charlotte, yet to my amazement, it tracked as straight as it did coming to the event.

My civic, with every factory option in it, as well as the trailer hitch and over a 1/2 tank of gas, came in at 2201 lbs. If I pull everything like the Corolla and Sentra, I think I could be somewhere around 2000 even.

I want to thank everyone who helped put this on - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

"Hey Flanders, I borrowed your stump-puller."

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Lina Racing: As Seen On Radio

Shortly it will have to be decision time about Rockingham as a rallycross site. I will be writing a "debriefing" for the site management to make sure they are OK with how things went. I expect they will be fine with letting us continue.

The site fee is significantly higher than Four Oaks, so if we decide to keep running at Rockingham, we will need no fewer cars than we had yesterday to keep from losing money. 45+ would be best.

An event at Four Oaks can be run with about 30 without any financial problems for the club. The soil condition at Four Oaks could be considered to be marginally better than Rockingham. "Like racing on the beach," Kevin Allen said

We did have some ideas for course style which could open up the line and allow people to choose where to drive based on the surface condition (think a full-course meandering widely-paced slalom with only inside pointer cones and no outside cones. Drive wherever you want to, but be sure to be on the right side of the cones and in the right sequence!)

Maybe I should start a poll to get some feedback from our rallycross participants about going back to this venue. Frankly, if our participation numbers do not continue to rise, we may have to cross Rockingham off of our site list for a while.

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

As usual I had lots of fun (even though I lost to my colleague, Grae). My WRX continues to put big grins on my face whether I'm driving rallyx, autox, track or street. I've never had as much fun with any car I've ever owned.

Thanks to Anders for the air - my pump had lost its nipple (from the power connector) and was useless. Thanks to Anders again for a couple of very useful tips for getting out of the bogs (when you find yourself dragging through the soft spots).

Suggestion for Rockingham: since we have such a large area how about different courses for the different classes? Perhaps a 2WD course and a 4WD course. It might reduce the wear for eveyone. I guess it would be a complex logistics issue.

Simon

Special thanks to those that went down on Saturday, paid for a hotel room, just in order to set up everything. I know Mr. Whitney, Anders, Charlie and some others went, but maybe somebody that was there can list the setup crew so we know who to thank.

You guys put out a lot of effort and expense so we could have fun. Thanks! And thanks to the owners of the Dirtmaster 1600 for letting me rent it again!

Miles

There were also some people who showed up real early on Sunday while all of us "Saturday setup" people slept late & goofed off. Thanks!

I've started working on the photos, and I have lots of good shots - so I'll make you a deal:

When somebody posts a really good shot of me driving the rally car, I'll upload the photos I took.

Gee, I took SO many pictures yesterday. This one is you, right?



Now post some damn pictures

Actually, do I need to remind you that your official work assigment yesterday was photographer? (That means that all the pictures belong to the club now. You did read the waiver you signed, right?) Just kidding

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1