KevinWelker
03-04-2009, 08:16 AM
Another month, another rally....
This was a return to the same Area 51.5 motorsports park that Plan B rally was held at. This time it was High Desert Trails under NASA sanctioning.
Our speed factor has steadily increased and we were seeded 3rd, that theoretically meant we could have an overall podium finish!!! More on that later....
We had left the rally car with friends in Ridgecrest to lower our towing fuel expenses which is great but that left us with a tire challenge. We had no new tires left to run on and no budget to buy more. So we started the rally on worn out tires and had one spare. I hoped we would not need it in the 8 laps of the 5 mile loop. Luck was with us and we were fine, but I now have an even deeper appreciation for what good rally tires can do for stage times.
Everything went smoothly for us, awoke at sunrise to some light frost in the service park and started getting ready for the day.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/...da29f48e_b.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/3301897115_ddda29f48e_b.jpg)
We were putting in some good times despite the "poor" condition of the tires until SS4 when we came into a L5 into R3 a little hot and got hung up on a berm and lost about 15 seconds. That blew our chance at overall third place as we surrendered that to the Loeffers green Open class GC who ended up besting us by only slightly more than that 15 second margin. Unfortunately our class competition did not show up so we were left to take first by default, but we were able to hang onto 4th overall against some higher powered competition.
Pictures from the event are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xmansti...7614237421627/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xmansti/sets/72157614237421627/)
and here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecobird...7614347152854/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecobirdlove/sets/72157614347152854/)
and here:
http://highdeserttrails.com/2009/02/...media-roundup/ (http://highdeserttrails.com/2009/02/2009-hdt-media-roundup/)
In car video of SS5:
http://www.vimeo.com/3396595
More media on the event:
http://motormonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/02/el-stig-as-rally-spectator.html
http://www.teamallstars.com/
The next rally is going to be the Desert Storm Rally America event on March 21 & 22. This is supposed to be taped for a show called "Roddin Racing" is supposed to be there as well as coverage for FSN. There's going to be a two lap superspecial at the local asphalt oval and one or two dirt superspecials by the service park. This is a nice long 110 stage miles rally, so we have new tires on order and will do our best to present a professional face to the media in hopes of landing more sponsors for the rest of the season.
This was a return to the same Area 51.5 motorsports park that Plan B rally was held at. This time it was High Desert Trails under NASA sanctioning.
Our speed factor has steadily increased and we were seeded 3rd, that theoretically meant we could have an overall podium finish!!! More on that later....
We had left the rally car with friends in Ridgecrest to lower our towing fuel expenses which is great but that left us with a tire challenge. We had no new tires left to run on and no budget to buy more. So we started the rally on worn out tires and had one spare. I hoped we would not need it in the 8 laps of the 5 mile loop. Luck was with us and we were fine, but I now have an even deeper appreciation for what good rally tires can do for stage times.
Everything went smoothly for us, awoke at sunrise to some light frost in the service park and started getting ready for the day.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/...da29f48e_b.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/3301897115_ddda29f48e_b.jpg)
We were putting in some good times despite the "poor" condition of the tires until SS4 when we came into a L5 into R3 a little hot and got hung up on a berm and lost about 15 seconds. That blew our chance at overall third place as we surrendered that to the Loeffers green Open class GC who ended up besting us by only slightly more than that 15 second margin. Unfortunately our class competition did not show up so we were left to take first by default, but we were able to hang onto 4th overall against some higher powered competition.
Pictures from the event are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xmansti...7614237421627/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xmansti/sets/72157614237421627/)
and here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecobird...7614347152854/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecobirdlove/sets/72157614347152854/)
and here:
http://highdeserttrails.com/2009/02/...media-roundup/ (http://highdeserttrails.com/2009/02/2009-hdt-media-roundup/)
In car video of SS5:
http://www.vimeo.com/3396595
More media on the event:
http://motormonkeys.blogspot.com/2009/02/el-stig-as-rally-spectator.html
http://www.teamallstars.com/
The next rally is going to be the Desert Storm Rally America event on March 21 & 22. This is supposed to be taped for a show called "Roddin Racing" is supposed to be there as well as coverage for FSN. There's going to be a two lap superspecial at the local asphalt oval and one or two dirt superspecials by the service park. This is a nice long 110 stage miles rally, so we have new tires on order and will do our best to present a professional face to the media in hopes of landing more sponsors for the rest of the season.