Motorsports weeks - Part deux - Long

[QSHIPQ@aol.com]

...  Make that a long couple of drives, 1200miles each way, both straight 
thru.  The event:  Maine Forrest Rally.  The highlight in a nutshell:  Crew 
Chief for a flawless FIA (factory "audit" prepped) audi S2, discussions with 
3 rally champions (including "ma Sprongl:), the best audi turnout in SCCA 
ProRally in quite some time (if ever).  Synopsis, now the true grit.

Left Chicago Wed 7-28 after some last minute primp and prep of ProRally Car 
59 (FIA spec Groupe A Audi S2).  Driver John Rek and I headed towards Maine, 
with a stop in Toledo for a pickup of crew member Brendan Rudack.  Only 10 
miles from our rendezvous, a call from Johns' wife indicated we were now 
heading to the Moosedocks with no co-driver.  A work emergency forced his 
cancel.  A quick meeting of the minds in Toledo (oxymoron?) concluded that an 
event with 85 entrants had to have a spare co-driver...  Man did that prove 
to be an understatement.

We drove to the event with some small seeds of doubt (really, how many 
co-drivers are going to show up in Maine with suit and helmet and no ride?).  
During John's stints at the wheel, we saw some close to triple digit speeds 
in PA, er that's with the car on the trailer :).  My own thinking is John was 
hoping for a constablary confrontation, we had none, but I was muttering 
under my breath about my brand new trailer tires not having an V rating.  
Both John and Brendan felt quite comfy hauling the expensive S2 at some sonic 
speeds, and teased me about my only "10 over" antics.  Hey, I'm not the one 
gonna put this toy off...  In a trailer incident anyways.

24 hours from our Chicago launch, we found ourselves at the West Berlin (how 
appropriate) Motel.  A quick dismount, and showers, then off for a co-driver 
hunt at the Registration in Rumford (Maine).  We grabbed a bite to eat at the 
hotel, caught Rallymaster Buffum to inform him of our situation.  He was in 
the middle of running around, and told John that only an emergency could stop 
his next task.  Upon hearing of the issue, he said, not an emergency, and he 
would come back to us.  We tried in vain to be optimistic.  A couple minute 
later he stopped by, told us to ck with the Registrar, he knew of one 
co-driver that was looking for a ride.  Whew, now we could eat.

< I'll insert here, that in a following post, I will give the details of my 
conversation with Audi Rally god Stig Blomqvist, who just happened to be 
enjoying a dinner 10feet from our table>

Down to registration we went, a rather crazy affair, as anyone who's btdt 
knows.  We couldn't get to the registrar, so we sent the word out, and it 
ended up that a qlist lurker might just be available.  One Constantine 
Mantopoulos, an accomplished rallyist, fellow q-shop owner, and former owner 
of the Trans Am 200tq that now runs the rally circuit.  John pounced, and 
"Stan" wasn't too thrilled, so I tried the subtle sell.  Words like 
conservative driver, phenomenal car...  Best ride you will have on this side 
of the pond...  It seemed to work.  A quick ck with his rally team (he was 
supposed to work service), and he was ours.  And quite frankly, a great 
stroke of luck, since our joking nature, but close knit professionalism isn't 
an easy wagon to just hop on.  To Constantine's credit, he jumped with both 
feet, and had one of the best times rallying.  The smile on his face after 
the first service put us all at ease, a great rally was going to happen for 
us despite our initial setback.

The rally proved to be really tough.  I'm sure you can visit the SCCA site to 
see that, of the 85 entrants, only 30 finished the event, and 2 finished with 
blown motors on the last spectator tarmac stage.  One stage was actually 
cancelled and changed to a transit because of the rocks, and still sucked 
some cars out of the rally.  Several cars, including 98 Champion Gail Truess 
(323 PGT) went off in the early stages.  

Quattro enthusiasts could count no less than 11 in the audi arsenal.  Along 
with our open S2, 4 4000tqs (1 head gasket, 1 off), 3 other S2's (2 out, 1 
from head gasket, 1 major front end hit), the former trans am 200tq, a 20v 
N/A 80, and of course, Canadian champion Sprongl S2.  Post race, it seemed 
pretty evident to our team, that Dan was really hoping for the Sprongl team 
to win this rally.  It really makes you think, when Stig didn't "look" all 
that quick, then smokes thru the rally 2.5 minutes ahead of the Canadians in 
a borrowed ride.

Service was busy for many, lots of major suspension redos.  Our S2 had no 
trouble, a couple of exhaust grommets, a tire change, and lots of fuel, that 
was it for us.  Constantine was most impressed with his pick up ride, 
certainly one of the best prepped rally cars on the circuit.  Now that we 
have the car pretty sorted, our next rally should see the 42mm SCCA 
restrictor and bigger turbo, instead of the 33mm FIA restrictor we are now 
running.

Friday night found many of the teams exhausted, including us, so most hit the 
motels early.  Sat morning was already warm, and the last stages proved the 
toughest, 2 cars on the final 1 mile tarmac stage alone.  Our decision not to 
bring tarmac tires proved to be the right choice, our position didn't change 
before or after the stage.  We needed thirty seconds to move up one place.

One comment from this old rallyist regarding timing.  Awesome.  Timing and 
scoring for Friday was available at headquarters Friday night, the first 
stages available at the last service Friday.  Saturday, the complete results, 
including some really cool place change graphing, was available by the time 
we got back to headquarters, that's less than 2 hours from the completion of 
the event.  Having been involved in  scoring and timing of many rallies in 
the Buffum years, the advent of the mobile computer and the latest software, 
sure has made it's mark in the rally circuit.  The expectation for all 
further rallies this year has reached a new benchmark.  Hail to the nerds :)
See rally results at:  
http://www.cwl.com/bensrallypage/archive/99_natnotes/maine_99.html

Most celebrations Saturday night were based on whether you finished, not how 
well.  This rally ate a bunch of well prepped cars, Brendan and I help load 
the Libra Racing prepped S2 on the trailer, and it was really in bad shape.  
We are again, most pleased that our S2 was pushed harder on this rally than 
past, and the service results proved it's tank-like construction.  We do have 
one leaking left front shock that needs attention before the next rally.  

All in all,  a great rally, tough, and the best quattro show of any in the 
US.  The new Beetle team was rumored to have protested the Daewoo team for 
adjustable spring perches (not currently allowed in production class), a 
valid protest for this year, next year it will be allowed.  Given the rumors 
of the Beetle teams' engine "mods" most of us were smiling about the pot 
calling the kettle.  But all is fair in love and protest.

A great weekend with several great audi champions (see separate post).  My 
highlight was leaving with a clean logbook, a tough tech road finally ends 
:).  Lurking listmember Constantine Mantopoulos was a great last minute 
member of our team, our collective thanks to him for the impulse buy.   
Thanks to both he and John, Brendan and I got to haul a bunch of unused 
parts, the service definition of a great rally.  A special thanks to Buffum 
for a great and well organized rally.  To both Buffum and Stig, true 
champions, not only of rallying, but to the definition of champions in the 
sport as well.  The future of Rallying in the US has never looked so good.

I'm in.

Scott Justusson
Chicago, IL
Euro Autoplex Racing Team
Michelin ProRally Car #59
QSHIPQ@aol.com