"Beat the Heat!" Review

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:08 am

Good event today, and record attendance- 50 drivers! Fast, fun courses, and the heat was not too bad! A fairly nice breeze helped keep things cool and kept the dust moving off the field- and there was plenty of it! It would have been truly terrible had the dust been hanging in the air.

The terrain there is really interesting, and I think Kevin and Kieran did a great job taking advantage of it. One feature on the morning course ended up being a fairly significant jump for me, but it was fun. Going in the other direction in the afternoon, though, it was too big a jump to take at full thottle (as I did on my first run and nearly landed on a worker station) so it kind of irked me to have to lift.

I had Kendt Eklund co-driving with me, and I thought he did a great job. I don't have results in front of me, but he must've been easily in the top half of SU2 after the morning runs.

Unfortunately, the afternoon runs spelled trouble for the old Neon. After my first run and the big jump I broke some muffler hangers (thank you Simon for the wire for the repair- I'll replace it!), and on my third run I lost power right near the end of the run and coasted across the finish line and up to a crowd of people with fire extinguishers. They were kind enough to put out a small fire I had going in the engine bay, but unfortunately the car would not fire after that. That meant that Emmie and Kendt didn't get any of their afternoon runs. True to form, people immediately offered alternate rides, but Emmie said she didn't really care to, and I think Kendt was too busy trying to diagnose my car to notice. Thanks Kendt, I appreciate your efforts on my behalf!

We never figured out what was wrong with it, but Eric and Ed Adams were nice enough to bring us and the Neon back home to Pittsboro. Thanks guys!

I also want to thank Simon and Kieran for doing a great job as event chairs, and to all the wonderful folks in this club who seem to just notice something that needs to happen and then go do it. Mark Hoerath was telling me about the National RallyX at Oakland Acres last weekend, and that he was worn out from doing the whole thing pretty much by himself. I turned him around and said "look around us here". There were 3 or 4 people running cables and aligning the photoheads, setting up tables, others hauling stuff out to the worker stations, people teching cars- and none of this did anyone (that I know of) ask them to do. They just knew that it needed to happen and they knew how to do it . That was enough, and it got done. That's the Tarheel spirit that we keep bragging on all the time, and it really seems to be unusual. But thanks to all of you who pitch in and make these events practically run by themselves!

I don't know about y'all, but I am really looking forward to the August 11th event at OCS. The Neon will be back and running strong!

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:55 am

<-- Cute Mike! :-)

Provisional results are now up at http://thscc.com/rallycross/events/

There will likely be a change to SO4 and Overall results as Tony Lumino's 4th run time is under appeal, and that is still under review.

SimonWright · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 6:30 pm

Our Focus gave us trouble - fuel pump related I think. Kieran managed a blistering run in the morning and the car died in the middle of my first run - saving me the embarrassment of being truly trounced by my own spawn. We thought we had isolated the problem to a relay and borrowed one from Kendt's Focus. I went for another run and the car died again just as I approached the finish line. Decided to let it go for the rest of the day hoping it would somehow magically fix itself (as it had a couple of times already) so that we could drive home.

Kieran really gets most of the praise (or blame) for the course since I was unable to help at set up on Friday. Thank you to everyone who came out to help and particular thanks to Kevin for helping fine-tune Kieran's first ever rallyx course. I thought it was a great course that was technical and strategic. Kevin Hoff generously let me take his RS for a run in the afternoon - what a fun car! Thanks, Kevin.

I did a bit of filming for Carl in the afternoon - hope that turned out OK but there was a lot of dust making it tricky to get good shots.

Dustin and Malia agreed to convoy home with us in case we had trouble again. Managed to get to the Glennwood Ave exit off 440 when it died again. I was able to coast (through the red light) and into the forecourt of the gas station there. We never did get it running again and Dustin unloaded his car and we pushed the Focus onto his trailer. He dragged our sorry asses home - thanks Dustin! So I have some investigation to do.

Carl, you're welcome to the safety wire - no need to replace it.

Looking forward to OCS which is the weekend after Rally West Virginia - I hope we, and the car, can make it.

Simon

KendtEklund · **Joined:** Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:29 pm **Posts:** 1204

Thanks to Carl, Emmie, Simon, Kieran and all the other event staff for getting me addicted to one more type of competition

. What was that quote? "Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague desire for something salty"?
I know I didn't have a sense of it, but I'm kinda glad I waited and Carl got all the runs in, and I wasn't driving when the excitement happened (although it was obvious Carl would have been really cool about it even if I was).
Or wait Carl - was it not OK to hang the exhaust from the fuel line with the safety wire?

Thanks Simon for the ride in the Focus. and for not killing my fuel relay :wink:

- better it die at a rallyX then a real rally, I guess.

I'll be out of town for the Aug event

- I'll bring some flame stickers to the AutoX for the Neon.

MaliaFredrickson · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:08 pm

It was a blast. Thanks for a great day. I cannot wait to see the video's. I have been told that I had wheels off the ground on some of the yumps! Was alot of fun even though I didn't do so well (Dad beat me! :cry:

).

Kevin Hoff · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:39 pm

^^^ Pretty prescient dash plaque, I think! :shock:

Thanks Kieran and Kevin for the fun courses. I had a blast. The yumps were fun, even though my lines didn't get me airborne. It's time to start taking this stuff more seriously and get more seat time. People are getting FAST!

--Kevin H.

CosbyWood · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:48 pm

I had fun, despite my rubbing tire :evil:

and despite the most cones I've had at one event in a long time :twisted:

.

Also, looks like the camera that we found on the bus belongs to David Edwards. What he described sounded like it. If someone remembers if it was a Sony, then that's his. That's all! Can't wait for the vids! Oh yeah, I also still have a hard time believing that Ash puts all that work into the vids without doing anything else for the events. That's some dedication right there! Thanks Ash!!

Ash Nelson · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:06 pm

I tell ya what, ya'll are making it look like so much fun it's getting really hard to resist the urge to RallyX. I had a blast just watching! And it doesn't hurt that I don't mind getting dirty. Thanks for not running over me. :wink:

Uploading some of the video tonight I can say, these are going to be some fantastic videos! Lots of great shots! I hope Carl lets me use some of his footage too! (Wink wink)

Unfortunately my cameras don't like getting dirty as much as I do. One camera bailed on me in the early afternoon so I had to switch to my remote camera. Hopefully I can get her cleaned up and ready for more action in August!

I can't wait!

BretLuter · **Posted:** Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:14 pm

Can someone grab an extra dash plaque for me, if there are any left over??

I was busy with some prior commitments on Saturday- so I didn't get to hang out too much- but I'd like to have a plaque to go with the others on the Tractor...

Bret.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Ash Nelson wrote:

:D I tell ya what, ya'll are making it look like so much fun it's getting really hard to resist the urge to RallyX.

As much as we love having the videos, please put the camera down and come join the fun

At least once to see if you'll be hooked like most people

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:44 am

I keep telling her she can run in the SciRocco. AutoX to, but she is worried she will break it. I just need to sign up for AAA.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:18 am

Another good event everyone. Thankfully it wasn't as hot as forecasted and there was a good breeze for the better part of the day. Also, did we hit record attendance? I think Emmie said we had (50)? It was good to see a lot of noobs including Brian and Ileana Marks from the THSCC track program.

I didn't like the course at first (the morning finish did suck just as I predicted BTW) but it grew on me after I hit the first "yump" at speed. I can't wait to see the video as I'm pretty sure I had all four wheels in the air! Kevin said he thought it could be dangerous and they wanted to avoid having them. I however must be blind to danger because I never even considered a lift. I wanted to see just how high and far I could jump!

I did decently in the morning, but just couldn't quite get it together in the afternoon. For some reason none of us in the General do particularly well in the dry sandy soil at Bret & Kelly's place. I guess if we don't do better at OCS we'll have to find something else to blame it on. :roll:

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:19 am

ChuckNelson wrote:

I keep telling her she can run in the SciRocco. AutoX to, but she is worried she will break it. I just need to sign up for AAA.

So what if she breaks it? You both have other cars to drive to work and I'm sure you can fix whatever she breaks.

Everyone should have AAA anyway. Ryan would be lost if I didn't have it. :wink:

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:21 am

BretLuter wrote:

Can someone grab an extra dash plaque for me, if there are any left over?

Bret, I misjudged the attendance and didn't get enough made. :oops:

I'm pretty sure there is one left on the bus you have have though.

Thanks again to you and Kelly for letting us "mow" your field.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:56 am

KendtEklund wrote:

Thanks to Carl, Emmie, Simon, Kieran and all the other event staff for getting me addicted to one more type of competition

.

Did you think RX was some good clean fun? :wink:

Welcome to the addiction!

BTW Kent, it was nice to finally met you in person Saturday. If you can make it to NASA at VIR next month I'll get you hooked on yet another motorsport drug. :twisted:

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