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Prescott Forest Rally Report
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Attached is my personal report from the prescott forest rally.
paul t-
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Prescott Forrest Rally Report
(lessons learned)
October 2,3
Prescott, Arizona
*********************************************************
Paul Timmerman: Driver
Suzanne Martin: Navigator
Mazda 323 GTX
Car No. 323
Open 4WD Class
Divisional / CRS Entry
*********************************************************
This report is normally something I look forward to writing,
sharing our experiences in the adventure of Pro-Rally, but events
of this past weekend make a more somber tone more appropriate.
The national pro rally in Prescott (rhymes which biscuit) was
an emotional event for everyone concerned. The death of CARS
champion Carl Merril of Bethel, Maine (#3 Ford Escort Mk IV)
occured Sunday morning at 8:30 am, after having a cardiac event
during the first stage of the event. Andy Shupacks press notes give
more details of this unfortunate incident. Ben Bradley has posted
these, at http://www.reed.edu/~bradley
On a personal note, I can say that I was impressed with Carl,
who as top level Driver who always made it a point to come around and
talk to the divisional entrants. For the sport, he was a pillar of
support. We will all miss him.
The battle for national season championships were going on strong
in all catagories. The high end AWD open class was still a three way
race with only two events left. This event also contained a divisional rally,
which was run concurrently. Suzi and I were entered into this event.
We are contesting the California Rally series championship, which
is the divisional series in the southwestern US. Leading the Open 4WD
class is Ara and Vartan in the Eclipse, who won the class last year. They
are followed by Ron Wood and Kelly Walsh in the Audi Quattro. Suzi and
I are tied with Rui Brasil's Audi Quattro. Only Ron and Kelly and Suzi
and I were at this race, and we each had a chance to take away the lead
in season points.
The stoppage of stage one eventually lead to the halting of all
racing on friday night. This cancelled the first divisional event, and
postponed the start of the national event. Several national cars that
were having major problems, including the Garin Schreader Sierra Cosworth
and the Eagle Talon of Steve Gingras were given a second chance by this
unfortunate circumstance. It also reduced the points available to CRS
competitors by 40%. We were having some turbo hose problems the first
night as well, and made use the extra time to further clamp down on
loose ends.
We have been fighting some teathing pains in the new (to us)
323 GTX. The ex-Grep Lund, ex-Steve Walker car was the "93, "94
NorPac Champion, and has great potential. A last minute engine
rebuild and some spark and fuel issues needed resolving before we
could really turn up the wick. That activity continued until just
before pushing off on Sunday at about 1:30 p.m. Other teams in the
rally pits at the Best Western Prescottonian were wondering what
was wrong that I worked on it so much. We got things running well
in the end, as our results show.
The saturday course follows the familiar route from near
Jerome, out across Chino Valley and out to Charcoal (sic) Canyon.
The roads are much less twisty than other CRS events, and allow
racers to hit top speed for extended periods. The roads seemed to
be in slightly better shape this year, with the exception being some
formidable rocks sprinkled around on the course. We took the
small unmaintained "railroad grade" as the last part of the last stage.
This is an old narrow guage mining railroad bed, cut into the hillside by
hard rock miners. Falling rocks, hidden on the inside of sharp blind corners were a prominant feature.
On the way out, we got down to work immeadiately, and set the
fasted "Divisional Only" times. We struggled a bit with further turbo
hose problems, but slowed little.
Others had less luck on the run out to the turn around. Roger
Hull in the Eclipse put their car so far off the road that the
ESPN2 helicopter had to be used to find them. They were OK. Fred Ronn
and John Dillon also went exploring their Performance Stock Celica,
ending their day. I never did see their car as we went past.
We were 11-13% slower than the lead national cars on the way out.
Being rev limited to 93 mph we lost time compared to the 120 MPH rockets.
This put us first on the road in the divisonal pack for the way back. But
half the division cars were also entered as national and were starting before us. We thought we were leading on the road in Open 4WD Divisional, but we failed to realize that Steve Gingras and Arthur Odero-Jowe, who were national
Production GT entries, had also entered the Open 4WD divional event.
Lesson #1, 1st on the road "divisonal only", does not a first place make.
On the way back it was getting seriously dark. We had a few scares
in the first true night stage. First I got the car loose in fifth around a
fast sweeper, letting me know I was going plenty fast enough. Then we came
upon the Subarue of Genta, who had mowed down a ponderosa pine, ending his
race. Unfortuantely, his car was left blocking the road. Other competitors
had to help clear the road, and lost time doing so. The car was only partially
across the road when we got to it. Workers were not able to give us milage
to the wreck by the time we left.
Suzi found it was also a trick to call the turns quick enough as I
came up to milage points in fourth and fifth gear. We use second mostly in
CRS. We entered the double caution bridge crossing too quickly and slithered
across, straightening up only long enough to clear the bridge itself.
Lesson #2, Calls must come out much faster when using fifth gear
At the final service, we did not see Ron and Kelly come in. We
were 20 seconds behing Lon Peterson in the Fire Arrow and also 20 behind
Gingras in the PGT car. At this point we decided to slow down and finnish
the race. We dialed back the boost and I drove with more margin for error.
We though we had 1st in Open 4WD wrapped up. But up the road, a fierce
battle between the two Diamond Star PGT cars was occuring with Jowe
putting it to Gingras in the end.
I must have relaxed a bit two much, becuase we failed to communicate
on the tricky call to turn onto the railroad grade. It was like exiting
a main road into an alley way. I came in in fifth, threw out the anchor,
did a massive pendulum turn, first a broadside left, then a flick back to the
right, just infront of the ESPN camera. I nearly stalled the car, but
found first and rocketted onto the RR grade, flash bulbs popping.
Lesson #3, Don't Relex so much that you can't remember the trickiest tulips.
Lesson #4, slow down when you see camera light and spectators up ahead.
Going up the railroad grade, a jack rabbit ran out in front of us.
I slowed down and ran along in second, and waited for him to exit the
trail. He did not, running ten feet in front of us for seemingly
forever. Suzi sits lower, and could not see his frantic efforts, and
could not figure why I had slowed. At last I got to a straight and tried
to pass the balzing bunny, but he swevered, like a formula one ace, trying
to block my pass. Finnaly I had enough and "passed" him. I lost him below
the hood line. No fur was found on the skid plate after the event. Did
anyone else see my bunny?
Lesson #5, Don't slow for Rabbits, even if you think they are national
only, they _may_ be in your class.
We had a long gravel road transit back to Prescott, where we
got to bed at a decent hour for two nights in row. Last year we suffered
mightily from severe sleep deprivation, after finnished second from last
in our first race. I swore I would _never_ come back.
The awards cermony was emotional, as people bid farewell to
Carl, and looked at the results of this strange weekend. Several
national championships were cinched. Bill Malik's Volvo gave up
at the turn-around with electrical problems, allowing Dave White
to win the U2 season championship in his VW Gulf. Summerbell looks
like he might be the first to beat Choinere in many years. Ralph
Kosmides also looks unbeatable in the big bore 2WD catagory, Group 5.
In the end, I was glad I came back to Prescott. We ended up
taking over the lead in CRS and SOPAC Open 4WD standings.
Lesson #6, Presistance is rewarded, Dont give up!
I don't know if we can hold on through the rest of the season, but it
certianly won't be for lack of trying. I look forward to the competition
at treeline, in our back yard, behind Mount Wilson, and at Laughlin in
December.
A special thanks to our sponsors and team, RoadRace Engineering,
King Dragon Racing, Craftsman Brewery, and Rivera Amplifiers. And
a special thanks to Suzi for going along with this marvelous nonsense.
pt-