Lake Superior rally definitely rocks. Muddy, somewhat rougher, and still faster than snot, this year Mark and the Mustang was fast and finished everything with aplomb.
Friday were the southern stages around Kenton, but Mark was just keeping everything great so we could do the Keeweenaw stages. But, on the second running of the Passmore stage (in the dark) we were 30 seconds faster - woohoo! We had a nice run against the McCleery's, slightly ahead, but then we had a problem with a clogged fuel filter on a transit and we had to arrive 20 minutes late for the next ATC. Luckily, the rules meant the lateness was worth 12 seconds per minute late, so it wasn't as bad as it seemed. And then, the McCleery's had the bad luck of having a flat ON a stage and it took then some time to fix it (no flashlight!). We lucked out...
On Saturday were the famous stages: Brockway, Delaware, Gratiot Lake, and Burma. Mark left a 30 foot pair of stripes up the start of Brockway for the first run (video here), and was intentionally quieter for the second run where we were faster by 5 seconds. Delaware and the famous delta we did calmy and coolly - no mistakes. According to Mike Hurst, we were the ONLY car to catch air on the 2 yumps at the finish of the first running of Delaware.
We ended up winning Group 5 both days in the ClubRally. The party at the Library was a hoot - ask Kim DeMotte if he remembers anything after discovering the wonders of a concoction called the "1812". There was much rejoicing.-)
Special thanks to our crew: Amanda, Kevin, and Mary - they are always working hard for us, especially in the wet and cold!
(This is really just a test to see how many times I can use the word start in an article ![Smile [:)]](/emoticons/emotion-1.gif)
...)
OK, we started out great - fastest 2WD overall on day one.
But the trouble all started before the start when we could not start the Mustang - a cranky starter AND a cranky float bowl problem on the carburetor. No problem before then, but as we were ready to leave for the parc expose, the engine would not start. Mark and the team did some very quick surgery on the carb, and we then boogied to the raceway for park expose. Then, it would not crank over so we could roll into the ATC, and we needed a push-start. OK, so we ran the day's stages, only needing a push at the start a few times, but the car ran well and we did well.
But, the next day, the crew replaced the starter (with a brand-new-just-bought-from-NAPA part) but it broke upon installing it, and they bought a new starter (2nd try). We got to the park expose at the Tech College, and it seemed cranky again, but we rolled away and got to the start of stage 9, checked in at the ATC, and then rolled up to the SS, and then the engine quit. And then the clutch cable broke. And then the starter quit again (brand-new starter, remember!) The stage crew tried a push start (thanks, Alex!), but with no starter and leaving it in gear, it took 5 or 6 folks before the Mustang would move! Still not starting, we got a push back and parked it (DNF), and later our crew picked us up; we got headed back later under power by starting in gear while on the tow-rope.
No spins, no offs, no hitting of big monster tires - clean and green
the whole way. Mark's got the number of the beast, and we kept it clean
and smooth the entire event - except for the little problem with dust -
yeeks!
Of course, we were probably stirring the dust up even more
...and I'm sure Al and Heidi have a story
OK, the big smash-up occurred, and hitting a mine truck tire is not a good thing. It was a lift-throttle slide sideways on a high-speed Right 6 for the fourth chicane, but we persevered the next day and got 1st in G5 on the second day's regional rally.
Haven't been able to find any good pics of the car damage, but mainly smashed just the bodywork; did cause various ills for the next day's event, and Sean of the Cary Kendall group fixed a trailing link/bushing that night that was ripped out by the impact. (previous problem area in rough Maine rally).
Well, wouldn't you know, we won OVERALL at the Paris Texas rally - woohoo! Not bad for a 2wd vehicle, even if it does breathe fire!
Details, pics, and stuff at http://www.rallyengr.com/
Well, the the Mustang debuted this weekend and unfortunately we had a mini-spin, a mega-spin, a tiny spin, and a DNF. The two small spins were just sliding 90 degrees sideways on the exits of corners, but the mega-spin was a full-bodied humongazoid effort, with us going down the road over some sixes (slight turns), followed by a five over the finish line. When Mark lifted for the 5, the rear came around while we were going over 100mph, and we started spinning at that speed, at night, with the trees whipping by - whoo-whee! The car rotated such that the headlights seemed fixated on the finish control the whole time as we spun. Luckily we hit nothing, and as the spin came around Mark popped it into 3rd and the engine came up to about 4000rpm - so we were going 60mph at the END of the spin. Lucky lucky lucky. Unfortunately during the last stage of Friday the engine's balancer decided to unbalance and we ended up with a bent crankshaft, thus ending our rally. Got to spectate Delware Mine the next day - that's a fun stage! Then we drove Brockway on the way back - fun in a street car but not as fun as in a rally car...
Nice article in the Michigan Tech's on-line newspaper at:
http://www.mtulode.com/index.php?issuedate=§ion=12&artid=4752
The Twin Cities is having Tombstone, their big fun rally this Saturday:
http://www.marblesoft.com/tombstone/index.html
Plus, the Twin Cities are having a Rally Cross:
http://www.specialstage.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=241&topic_id=3841&mesg_id=3841&page=
I had an interesting "notes" navigation experience this past weekend at Ojibwe, so this is yet another chapter in my "Rallying As A Contemplative Sport" series. Let me set the scene:
I do the "thumb on the instruction" thingie; I've got the corners folded over; I've highlighted the "gotcha" instructions; I circle the cautions; I go through EVERY page more than once - all that stuff.
I've navigated for Mike Hurst for some time, and am now navigating for Mark Utecht. Mike and I ran Ojibwe a lot (pre-notes), and I've run notes before, but this is the first "fast" rally I've run with Mark with notes (we ran Pikes Peak and SnoDrift with notes this year, but their pace is not as "fast" as Ojibwe).
By "fast" I don't entirely mean car-speed, but the combination of car-speed and notes that are busy
In the Mustang/RX-7/Porsche/etc., speeds on straights were faster than Mark's Group N car, but cornering is definitely faster in the Group N car versus those rear-wheel-drive machines - it's all about sustained speed. The timing is intriguingly, completely, different.
Mark is very quick on the Ojibwe roads - so, when we got into the higher-speed twisties, I was running "behind" in the notes at times - too much to say. I trimmed words, I trimmed +/-, I cut out irrelevant crests, but it seemed like I was just jabbering away unable to spit it out fast enough. I tried NOT watching the road (the look up/look down), but then my ass isn't sensitive enough to detect some curves (*). I very much prefer looking up to confirm what the heck is going on.
On some stages I got it all figured out, but on others I'd come and go, not quite as "on".
So, it's something I've got to work on, I just didn't expect quite so many "personal growth" opportunities while racing down roads at 100mph.
Rob Bohn
(*) reminds me of a long-ago discussion with a long-ago girlfriend 
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