Tour De Forest/Dryad Quest Rally (Long)

[Mark Nelson <mnelson@brls.com>]

Hi All!

Well I just got back from the Tour De Forest Rally in Shelton,
Washington, where I was co-driving with Chris Tudor in his 5ktq.  The
rally started out Saturday morning with 5 stages on Simpson forestry
roads.  We started off the event with one disadvantage already...we were
unable to get the trip computer working =(.  As a result, we drove the
entire rally almost blind...the fortunate thing for us was that the
Northwest region of the SCCA does an EXCELLENT job of marking the
stages, and it really wasn't too bad without the computer.

The first 4 stages went very well for us, and 2 of the stages were run
twice on Saturday.  Unfortunately, after the fourth stage, we realized
that the left front outer CV boot was completely destroyed.  We were
going to attempt to reseal it, with the suggestion of using a zip lock
bag and two tie wraps, but it was such a mess we just decided to go
ahead and run the last stage.  This wasn't the only problem we had after
stage 4 either...the cap that screws to the top of the strut housing on
the left front, to keep the insert in, decided to come off as well.  We
didn't have time to fix it, so we left that alone as well.  We ended up
making it through Stage 5 OK, and finished the rally.  That evening we
went searching around for a CV boot, and found a generic one at an Auto
Parts store in Shelton that was the split type that uses bolts to hold
the seem together.  We decided to tackle that in the morning and
determine if we could continue...in the meantime we fixed the problem
with the strut.

Sunday morning we got there early, not knowing if we were going to be
able to run or not.  Chris managed to get the very stubborn boot on and
we had the car running at the VERY last minute.  We had fixed the strut
the night before, so we were ready to go.  Sunday consisted of 6 stages
with Stage 5 being 20+ miles long!!  Several cars went off Sunday
(mostly in Stage 3), so it looked like we might come away with a good
finish!  The car ran fine the first 4 stages, except for a minor brake
fire we had at the left front (from the excess grease laying around from
the busted boot), which extinguished itself quickly.  Stage 5 didn't go
so smoothly.  Our strut came apart on us again, and this time bent the
housing right below the steering arm.  We had one stage left, and had
run it before, so we just said screw it, and went for it.  Not only did
we finish, but we improved our time by 30 seconds from the last time,
but this time with a bent strut!!  Chris did a tremendous job driving
the car and keeping it together.  The big 5k hung tough and got us
through the event.  We ended up 4th in 4wd and 14th overall behind
Janice Damitio.  Not bad for an injured car!

As far as the other cars went, Rui Brasil showed up in his long awaited
S2, which was IMMACULATELY prepared.  Ron Wood really did an excellent
job building that car.  Ron was up for the event to help Rui with any
problems that they might run into (which turned out to be quite a few).
The first problem they encountered was oil overheating.  Ron told me the
car was running 250 or higher on the stages.  They unfortunately didn't
have an oil cooler ready in time for this event, but are definitely
planning on having one for the next event.  The second problem they had
was the turbo mount that broke...they had to use a pair of vise grips to
keep it in place.  The last problem they had Saturday was a tranny
failure.  I talked to Ron late Saturday night, and he said they broke
2nd gear (they are using an '84 4kq tranny), and Rui and Carlos drove up
to Seattle late Saturday night and bought another transmission for the
car.  Ron got the new tranny back in the car for Sunday morning.  Sunday
wasn't without problems for them either, as they had problems with the
left rear strut mount and broke one of the mounts after Stage 3.  Stage
5 we saw Rui and Carlos parked along side of the road with the hood
open, so they most likely had engine problems as well...most likely due
to the high oil temps.

Anyway, I took some photos of the car...unfortunately it was a little
dark, and I wasn't able to get interior shots or engine compartment
shots, but I will post the pictures up on my web page by the weekend.
The car is beautifully done in Pearl White, with a '92 - '95 90 hood, an
RS2 front bumper, and SMS style dual-headlight assemblies.  I talked to
Rui and Ron for a while on Sunday, and Rui showed me the fiberglass RS2
bumpers he's having made and is selling.  They are pretty lightweight
and the quality is excellent.  This bumper looks AWESOME on the
CQ...definitely a must have upgrade for you 90 series owners!   The dual
headlight assembly helps add to that intimidation factor as well ;-).
The interior on the car is all first class, with Composite materials
used throughout, and a VERY cleanly made dash for the car.  It was
interesting to see some of these pieces since they are EXACTLY the same
types of parts and pieces I am going to be using on my car.  The engine
on the car is very well built as well, with special pistons, rods and
cams that Ron had made to his specs.  The turbo sits up high on the
right side with a vent on the hood to get plenty of cooling.  Naturally
the RS2 bumper provides a perfect mounting point for the big
intercooler.

Sam Bryan also showed up in the phantom car...his black '84 UrQ (the one
that's up for sale).  Sam suffered overheating problems on Saturday, and
ended up blowing a head gasket.  He was a volunteer on Sunday =).

Overall this was a very good event.  It was nice to meet some more
Q-listers and NW listers out there!  I apologize to those of you that I
met, as I was so preoccupied with trying to get the car on the road...I
didn't have much time to mingle.  Isn't that the way it always goes
though ;-)?  

Cya!
-mark nelson
mailto:markn@brls.com

http://www.quattrosport.com (cool new domain name huh? ;-)