Prescott SCCA PR Report - long

[ptimmerm@mashtun.JPL.NASA.GOV]

Prescott Forrest Pro Rally Report: A View from The Back

Well, the Prescott Forrest Event is History, and I am happy to report I 
managed to finnish my first Pro Rally.  Competed in both of the divisional 
events, we ran concurrently with the national guys.  However, it was not
without some substantial difficulty.  My report from the back of the field 
follows.  If you want to hear about the front guys, you should check out 
an Andy Schupack offical report, maybe Ben Bradley has them posted. See 
them at www.reed.edu/~bradly/archives/97_natnotes/prescott_97.html

Marks Nelson is occupying the seat of terror, As I try to fullfil my dream 
of running pro-rally.  He has occupied that seat since that his own car 
(S2 Quattro) is not yet built. In out first attempt at a divisional rally, 
we had acute cooling system failure in the Mazda 323 GTX (aka White Trash,
aka La Chuppacabra, aka Chupy).  With a fresh motor, a new three row radiator, 
a new high output perma cool fan, a gutted thermostat and a hard wired thermo 
switch, I felt we had a chance of keeping things together.  We started out 
pretty easy, running 6-7 tenths getting a feel for the road instructions and 
dealing with the dust on the wide smooth (fast!) road.  Late in the stage I 
started to opened it up a little more running 7 to 8 thenths and shifting 
at 5500 rpms, knowing this could heat things up. About 2 miles from the finnish
I came across my 6 minute man along side the  road with a cave in roof (roll!).

At the end of the stage, temperatures  started to climb, and we knew a rapid 
cool down was required.  We continued toward out serive area, less than a mile 
away.  We found a right turn as indicated, but at the wrong milage point, 
so we continued,...looking for out right turn.  I said we' turn back after 
one mile.  but the temp kept climbing so we shut Chupy down to save the motor, 
knowing something was going wrong, almost exactly the same as Goreman, where 
we ran only one stage.  So I jumped out and popped open the hood. As I did 
the top radiator hose blew off and I got a steamy shower of coolant right 
in the face and under the visor of my lid.  Staggering back from the car 
with my arm over my face, I think  Mark though I was blinded, I was but only 
temporarily.  We went into high gear, raising the crew on the radio, ordering 
up parts and directing them to our woodsy hide out.  What we found was a bent 
raditor fan blade had stalled the fan blowing the fuse, and stopping the cool 
stuff.  We got it all straight, found out way back and started out second 
stage.  I was determine to finnish  this rally and not have to stop like 
goreman ridge.

It was a very rought, twisty stage with water crossing and rocky steep climbs 
and tight turns through the live oaks.  We ran very conservatively shifting at 
300-3500 rpms.  By the end of the stage, we had the same problems overheating, 
except now the fan had chewed holes in the radiator core and we we leaking 
badly.  We rebent the radiator fan blades, bummed two containers of stop-leak, 
and all the coolant we could get, and returned back through the same bumpy 
road. The fourth stage was the same as the first one, but run backwards. I 
decided that I could run full boost (comes on at 2250 rpm) if I didn't go over 
3500 rpms, to save the water.  We ran in fourth and fifth alot, actually racing
the stage despite out troubles.

The 30 mile transit back to the hotel saw three stops for water, and we used 
every ounce of liquid we carried (gallons!) to make it back.  At 2:30 am,
running late to arrival time control, we ignored numerious traffic laws 
to reach  the parking lot only one minute late.  The hood popped open for 
the umteenth  time, and Mark ran off to find ATC.  There was no-one out 
to take the card, and he arrived at the hidden HQ some four minutes late.  
The organizers agreed that both of the latenesses were in fact their fault, 
and forgave them.  And so we finnished out first divisonal rally.  Off to
sleep by 3:30 am with a big day soon to start.

I woke up at 6:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I streched out my
aching legs, got some breakfast with my equally sleep deprived girlfriend,
and started to get ready for the day.  We had the radiator fixed by 10 am
and we were ready to run long before the start of the noon park expose.
The fan had been repaired, moved farther from the radiator, and we again
ran cold.  We had a long transit to Jerrome, and up onto a primative
road above the city. The motor did run up to the hot mark climbing the
pass up to Jerome, so I knew I still had to go a bit easy to make it home.

We restarted seeded above our friend Tom Biers in the rolled saab.
Confident that the car was really togher right this time, I fairly
attached the stage, running 8 tenths, and shifting at 5000 RPMS out
of the corners, but running only 3500-4000 on the straights.  This stage
was generally down hill, with reasonably good grading, but with steep
drop-offs and lots of cliff faces to keep you honest.  I scared mark 
not long into the stage when I found it necessary to hang the right front
out (off / nearly off?) the inside of a corner.  We ran at speeds of upto
85 mph during this stage, enjoying good visibiliy, fast roads, and cool motor
temperatures.  We ended up beating the Saab outright on only this stage.
The next stage was more of the same, but I settled down a bit and started
to drive for a finnish, making a time significantly slower than our back
of the line competitors in the Saab with the custom fastback rear end.  

The next two were out and back over some very nasty jeep tracks.  
Visibility was bad, with dust, cresting hills, and the Arizona Sun
coming right through the windshield.  Little Chupy took a beating 
on the bottom side on these stages, but we finnished them without 
major incident. For the first time we could hang out and joke with
our fellow competitors.

We made our transit back to service and enjoyed a dinner break, while 
in the next sevice slot Ron Wood was rigging his quattro to run with
only three brakes, since one had develope a cracked caliper on the 
excebition section of a previous stage. He locked the diffs to get 
through the next stage.

We started to develope engine trouble on the last stage, but found it was
an intermittant connection to the oxygen sensor, so we did serivce stops
enroute to our stage.  When we got to the start we found a whole line
of cars, wating for a start.  Henry Joy had gone 200 yards offroad only 
1.5 miles from the end of the stage. on the same steep road I was hanging 
Chupy's front end out on only hours earlier. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II 
was totaled, but he climbed up the hill and was taken to the hospital for 
possible neck injuries.

The last stage was cancelled, so we all ended up transiting back to the 
Hotel, at one minute intervals. Choking on the dust we hung way back. 
This and concerns for observational controls created a lateness condition
that started to play against us as we approached town, so I had to again
bend some rules to get to the hotel on time.  We landed at a well marked
ATC with seven second to spare, after passing the Saab one block from the 
hotel (doing 70).  We were told there that latenesses were being forgiven
for the transit stage.  We laughed and went off to load up on cocktail
weenies and hang out with the big guys and swap stories.  To bed at
midnight and up at 6:30 to load cars and get under way, we all suffered
terribly from sleep deprivation.  We missed the banquet, but lived to 
tell the tale, and run again.

Next ime the Rally starts 15 miles from home, so I get as much food and
sleep as I want, and with a few cooling system improvements, I hope to
find out if the 7300 rpm limiter really works. 

Treeline Rally takes place Norht of Azuza California, aboe the
San Gabriel Valley, on November 15th.  Hope to see you there.

paul timmerman