Here's a nicely-framed pic of us in action:
Please excuse the cross-post from the rally-nc list...
Well, I have nothing quite as challenging as swapping an axle on stage. Besides, it wasn't the sort of thing I considered carrying _in_ the car.
As you all know this was our very first rally event and my son, Kieran, and I have spent a considerable amount of time and effort (and money) building our Focus up to spec. We did run two rallycross events and it held together so we crossed our fingers for Sandblast and did our best. I have no real clue how the car will handle at speed on such a surface so am very tentative on Stage 1 taking 2-3 minutes longer than two of the other Foci and trailing the third by 20 seconds. Andrew Frick in one of the other Foci has popped a rear strut and several of us try and help him reinsert it before the start of Stage 2.
In Stage 2, I am beginning to get my sea legs and stay in the pack. During that stage the leading edge of one side of our underbody protection pops loose and is catching the surface whenever we get in some ruts or soft sand. So it is holding us back too - I didn't realize this was happening until we got onto tarmac and heard this awful grinding noise. Pulled off to the side in transit to take a look and the underbody is bent nearly backwards under the car and dragging. Great. Fortunately we are due for Service A so we dragged our asses (literally) to Patrick where our superb crew of Emerson Huitt and Brian Herring manage to cut off the offending portion of the underbody protection. The ride back to service also has me wondering if we'd bent or broken something in the rear as the ride is extremely harsh and bouncy. Turned out to be about 10lbs of sand hard-packed into the rear wheels!
Stage 3 starts well and our confidence is increasing when we arrive at the sand pit of hell. Three 2WD cars are stuck in an 80 yard stretch. I manage to squeeze around one (Hampton in one of the other Foci, I think) and pass on the wrong side of the second disabled car and grind to a halt in deep sand that packed up under the skid plate. The third car is disabled about 15 yards further on. Shoot! We hop out and grab our makeshift sand shovel (a flat piece of aluminum we were carrying for a jack support) and start shoveling. Fortunately there are already several triangles behind this quagmire from the other competitors so we don't need to put ours out. While we are trying to clear the sand from under the car the rest of the field manages to squeeze past on the other side. The true spirit of competitive stage rally reveals itself as all of the stuck teams try to help each other get free. After some digging and with everyone pushing we manage to get moving only to get stuck again just before the frontmost stuck car. I believe at this time that the problematic underbody was again digging into the surface and fighting our attempts to get free. So, I hop out and start digging again. By this time Mark Bowers in the Combo Sweep Subaru arrives. They try to pull free the leading disabled car and fail. Suggesting to us all that we try to make the area safe for the motorbikes he goes on down the stage. My fellow competitors encourage us to try one more time to get free - we are _so_ close! With a final heave from everyone I manage to drive free. I stop in a clear area so that Kieran can hop in and we get belted in and connected. A wave of thanks to the other teams and we're off again. I am so grateful to those teams - what a great sport!
About half a mile further on I come upon Combo Sweep stopped to the right and behind another disabled car. The road is quite narrow at that point. Combo Sweep is blocking the right side and there is perhaps 5 feet of clearance on the left of the other rally car. Hmmm. If I stop, I'm done - it's that soft. Doing perhaps 5-8 mph I put the left side of the car up on the sand bank. Kieran estimates that we were perhaps at a 30 degree angle. He says the sloped right side of the Focus was vertical as I pass the other car and our wing mirrors pass within 4 inches of one another. We make it!
We complete Stage 3 in 30:45. When we get on the highway for the transit we hear the familiar grinding from under the car and the underbody has repeated its trick of folding back under the car. Just before Stage 4 time control we pull off the road to investigate. This time we decide to remove it. Two bolts and half a dozen zip-ties later and it's off. Fortunately Carl Fisher is working start control and agrees to take it back for us.
Stages 4 & 5 go well for us and we stay within hailing distance of the two other remaining Foci. It seems I'm running at about 90% of the pace of Burak and Andrew. After the aggravation of Stage 3 we're happy to do that with the goal of simply finishing. It is our first rally after all. After the huge delay in Stage 3 we've given up keeping track of our time or of the others. I didn't know at that time that Andrew had got stuck on Stage 3 too and took almost as long as we did to finish it.
Stage 6, the long one before Service B goes fairly well. I run it in about the same time as Stage 1 (in reverse). I'm starting to notice the engine surging at WOT and cannot keep the accelerator down in many places, being forced to shift up to smooth the engine. So I expect I lose quite some time dealing with that. Part way through the stage I come upon Andrew stopped in the middle just after a left bend. I barely squeeze past on the right in first gear spitting sand all the way - I hope he's OK. I later learned that his car just up and quit and refused to crank - perhaps electrical problems.
Service B at Cheraw is smooth. No major issues to deal with and the crew prep the car and feed and water the driver and codriver. The rally is running late so we mount the lights too. With relief we learn that Stage 8 has been cancelled due to road conditions. I'd heard that it had terrible ruts and deep water. I was concerned about pulling water into our Cold Air Intake and didn't have a good plan B. Phew!
Stage 7 is our first stage run at night and it's quite an experience. Our lights are good and bright but not HIDs. Good enough for our style of driving and they were pretty much aimed in the right general direction. I need to tweak them a little but they do the job. With the Spec Rally Focus field down to two cars and Burak being so far ahead I decide to dial it way back and be safe. We were the slowest through that stage with the exception of Carrie Wilburn/Amy Feistel who were struggling with an engine that refused to rev higher that 2800 RPM.
There's a little confusion with the transit instructions as we try to bypass the cancelled stage 8. We're at Stage 9 and it's fully dark. What an awesome experience tearing through the woods at night! This time we're not quite the slowest on stage but we're still keeping it safe and enjoying the ride.
We're through and on the final transit! Back at Cheraw High School it finally sinks in that we successfully finished our first ever rally! We made mistakes and had some issues but we finished the day happy and without any serious problems on the car. Wow!
Simon
_________________
<
http://usukracing.com >
2011 & 2010 Atlantic Rally Cup 2WD Champion
2010 Rally America Eastern Regional 2WD Champion
2009 Atlantic Rally Cup M2 Champion
2008 New York Rally 2WD Championship 2nd Place
2007 Rally Spec Focus Champion
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
That may be the norm, but to me that's damn quick, especially with roadside conditions. Good job guys!
