Club member Andrew Frick and I had a good event in his Scirocco. This was Andrew's first loose-surface event, and I thought he drove a very mature race. Getting stuck is a constant threat for 2WD cars in this rally, and Andrew was always careful of his line to avoid trouble.
We had a few mechanical issues. On the 2nd stage we noticed coolant coming in to the driver's floorboard, but we were able to make it to service without overheating. We'd put a small tear in a heater hose, but we were able to bypass it and continue. Later in the event we developed a nasty clanking sound from the left front wheel, which we traced to a torn (and sand-filled) CV boot. We weighed our options and decided to risk an illegal service penalty (and possible lateness penalties) by trying to change the axle during the upcoming 15 minute "fuel only" service. Andrew and crew guy Chase flew through the axle swap in 12 minutes, and we checked out on time!
By the end of the event Andrew's confidence and aggression were clearly on the rise, and we were having good fun. In the end, no one reported us for the illegal service (What illegal service? Exactly.
) so no penalty there. We were fastest of the 3 cars in our class, and the only 1 to finish, so we took the Modified 2 class win. We were 14th overall of 25 starters and 18 finishers, which I consider to be a fine first event!
Andrew is a good driver and a smart competitor, and I think he's got very good potential. He'll be needing a codriver for the rest of the 2006 season, though, as I've decided to take a little sabbatical (after this weekend, of course...
), so anyone interested in trying out rally from the codriver's seat would be hard-pressed to find a better place to start out than with him.
Congrats again Andrew!
_________________
Carl Fisher
Be Cool to the Pizza Dude:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=4651531
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
