Gorman Ridge Rally

[ptimmerm@mashtun.JPL.NASA.GOV]

	Gorman Ridge Rally Report August 22, 1998

This past weekend, Suzi and I competed in the Gorman Ridge Rally.
We brought the new, Groupe A Spec. 323 GTX, dressed up all fancey
in King Dragon Racing Livery.  That's more of a serious race car
than the largely production based car we ran before.  Having 
purchased the car only two weeks earlier, it was a struggle to
get ready.  It did not start or run right from the start.  After
considering a major overhaul, I decided a tune up would have to do,
despite the perilously low compression numbers I was getting.
A combination of a new secondary ignition, a rebuilt ditributor,
a change in plugs, and a mixture adjustment seemed to help out.
By race day it was starting about half the time without a push,
It pulled well once running, but could we run with the big dogs
in 4WD open?  Time would tell.

Gorman Ridge was my first race last year, and we cooked a motor
big time after less than 15 minutes. It was terrible.  With a
car that was still iffy, I hoped to finnish this one, but didn't
have great hopes given the competition. Ron Wood and Kelly Walsh
had there Quattro spiffier still, while Rui's Quattro is always
a threat if he can make it to the end.  On the Japanese side,
Vartan and Ara won last years Gorman, and were looking hungry.
Tony Chavez was also talking big about Mitsu's domination of
world rallying. Could Tony put it to the Audi guys?  And what 
about that new 323 with the tiny motor? 

Mike Gibeault called the early, stages (1-5) at the Hungry 
Valley Off-road Vehicle park, "sparring".  And said, "the 
real racing" would occur after the dinner break when we crossed 
the road and raced around Leibre Glutch and Liebre Peak.

I had seen the road, albiet once, in the ORV park, so I had a
clue what was coming up.  After a slightly tenuous first stage we
got down to business and set two second fastest times, behind
Ron Wood's Quattro. (4% behind FT)  We stopped for a service break,
and Rui was suffering with a broken axle shaft, and Tony with
severe overheating.  That left Ron and Kelly, Vartan and Ara,
and Paul and Suzi to duke it out.  But as we sat and waited for the
course to be cleared, after Terry Stonecipher plunged off course,
due to following a dusty cloud too close, Rui started beggin half
shafts.  Of all people, my crew chiefs wife ended up giving him one,
disabling here torsen differential equipped car (non-lockable).

As the afternoon wore on, we started to wear out.  Our times showed us
slipping down, and Suzi pronouced my run to lack the rhythm and speed
needed to turn a good time.  I was hot!  Our time was not.  I was wishing
for a cool suit like Lon Peterson was sporting.

At the dinner break, it was clear that everyone was suffereing from
the heat and effort.  Tony was still getting his head torqued every
chance possible, and soldering one, but the smell of cooked oil
reminded me of last year.  I grew nauseous for months at the 
slightest smell of burnt oil after last year.  Tony decided the 
engine was already gone, and that he would struggle on. He did.

After dinner, we did two runs of Leibre Gultch, which was some of
the deepest, softest, sandy stuff I have ever seen.  Everyone complained
of dust coming in through the roof vents around corners.  The dust came
OVER the top in some cases blocking out the sun!  By this time Ron and
Kelly had cemeted a strong lead of around 1 to 2 minutes, ahead of Ara 
and Vartan stuck in second.  Rui was closing in fast, having put almost 
1.5 minuts on us in one 10 mile stage through the deep stuff. It seems 
as if power was extra important to get through the deep stuff, and we 
were no where near the 460 hp Rui brags about.  

The two wheel drive cars had no chance against the 4WD cars with deep
silt on the stages.  Some could not even make it out of the starting
area at Leibe gultch it was so thick!

We raced up the twisty Leibre mountain road, finding and losing a rhythm 
numerous times.  We were driving near the limit on a stage we had never
seen. At the turn around, Mike G. showed us the laptop of all the times 
and totals. We had given up third place, to the Super D champ car, 
prolly the fastest car on the west coast.  But I was willing to fight 
back.  Could I hold off Rui, or put 12 seconds on him?  Certianly
if he had another silly problem I could. (turn on fan, bring light bar,
hit braker switch, etc.) Time would tell.

We did a turn around out in the woods, high above the distant city, with
the Milky Way clearly in view.  The scene made all the suffering earlier
in the day seem worth it.  Ara was seen sleeping in his car, while we
waited for the slowest cars to straggle in.  

After a final push start, we got our run at the road. It was a beauty.
It was firm packed, sweepers, medium fast, rolling, without big
exposures.  Perfect road for me and a 323. I found a 
new level of driving, pushed into corners at speeds that seemed 
uniformly too fast.  I pitched the car sideways with authority, and 
made the motor pull us through, tires scrambling against inertia, to 
keep us on the line.  Suzi later said when she looked up she knew we 
were going fast, and she _for_once_ even go a bit scared. About time!  
We fought for every hundreth, pushing so hard over the finnish control 
I put the car up the bank and into the bushes.  It took us almost ten 
minutes to get it out, restarted, and get a time card stamped.  The 
drive, the crash, the extraction, and the late hour gave me frazzled 
nerves.  I though I smelled gasoline on the way home, but it turned out
to be a silage truck up ahead. The car felt all wrong on the road.  

But I had crossed over on that stage, and did something I had never 
done before.  That was 100%.  We finnished one hundreth behind 
Vartan and Ara for the stage, and 10 hundreths behind Rui. (6 sec.)  
We lost third place, a few season points, but started mastering a 
real rally machine on never seen roads.

It was back to the hotel for two beers two burgers and five hours or
sleep. The next morning Suzi got me up early, as I had a date with
the photographer.  You can look for a 323 article in Sport Compact Car
in December that features rally and 323's very heavily.  I hope the 
sponsors see all that splashy ink in time to keep this train moving, 
because we are gathering some momentum.  

Next time out, we will be running on fresh rubber, insead of the two
year old used stuff I was using up, have good compression and full
power, all the little details will be double checked, and a few
more goodies to prepare for racing in the desert.

Will it be Nevada or Arizona next?  Time will tell.


Paul Timmeramn - Driver
Suzanne Martin - Navigator
Team King Dragon Racing
Mazda 323 GTX - Pro Rally