Maine Rally

[Neil Swanson <75377.3445@compuserve.com>]

Yes go!

I went in '90? Had a blast.  I had no Q then just the Merkur with 4 Hakkas.
First night it was clear and so quiet out there in the woods. No moon and more
stars than I've ever seen.  My darkroom should be so dark.
 Then you see lights before you hear anything, and the BWAAAAAAA  BWAAAAAAA
followed by the chirp of wastegates and roostertails of snow.

Sat it snowed all day.  Easy 12+ inches.  I can't believe my "florida car" as it
was called made it as far into the woods as it did with all the snow.

Maybe the best part was heading out to my post for Sats stages.  I'm going along
at 60mph or so on a long straight stretch of forest road.  I see lights in my
mirror.  Lots of lights.  And they were gaining fast, very fast.  BWAAAAA,
Buffem goes by in the Subaru course car followed by three Open Class Quattro
coupes.  The coupes of course were blairing that kind of sick but sweet 5 cyl
sound. 

 In seconds all that remained was snow hanging in the air and the smell and
taste of race fuel in my car left in their wake.  All was erily silent again.

The downside to the whole thing was too much snow.  Yes too much.  The cars were
going slow.  Many were just getting up on top and getting stuck.  And yes even
the four wheel drive cars weren't immune to this.  The Audis, Subarus (Dimarco
was still racing then) Mitsus etc.  They ended up calling the rally early.  Too
much snow.  I really needed to hear that knowing my 2wd car now had a 50 mile
ride back through trails rally cars couldn't run on to get back to my motel.

But hey, what the hell.  You should go if you can.  Bring lots of cloths and
warm food and drink.  And enjoy it.

BTW put my P210s on last night.  There is nothing those snow tires don't do
better than the Eagle GAs I took off and tossed.  And we don't have snow!

Neil