CRS Season Opener: Ridgecrest Rallycross Race Report

Fantastic day of rallycross in Ridgecrest last Sunday. It's been 12 years since I've spent significant time with the SoCal rally community and this event served to reunite me with many old friends and make many new ones. It also served as a solid reminder of just how demanding this sport -- even when it's a low-key parking lot race -- can be. The weekend started at about 4:00 Saturday morning for me. I never sleep before car events -- it's a curse of being too excited and too motivated. And after 12 years my nerves don't seem to have waned.

Leaving Orange County before sunrise is a blessing and the 150-mile tow to Ridgecrest was easy. Since my plan this year is to tackle several stage rallies my co-driver (Dave Coleman) and I decided it was smart to re-familiarize ourselves with all things rally by attending the CRS rally school on Saturday. Rally school is like drinking from the fire hose of dirt-racing knowledge that exists in these parts, but it was very much worthwhile. By the end of the day I was so exhausted that the idea of driving capably the next day was utterly laughable. Mercifully, the nerves were overcome by fatigue that night and I slept a solid eight hours.

Sunday began overcast and cool with a forecast for rain by mid day. The clouds made for some stunning photos during the morning's first three runs. Thanks to Regine Trias and Mark Krumme for some of the shots here.

This was my first go with Maxxis' new Victra R19 rally tire and it feels exceptionally promising. I ran low pressures (25 psi) in an effort to get the most from the hard compound version I'm running. The car was predictable, rotated easily at low speed and felt like it's going to be fast on stage when the time comes later this year. The real test, of course, will come there. But I was impressed early. After three runs I was in fourth in the AWD Rally Class.

Then it got awesome.

The clouds opened and out came a flood that turned the decomposed gravel into a soupy mess in about 20 minutes. Driving was a comical mix of miserable understeer followed by flamboyant oversteer. But others suffered more. Self control was the key to making anything happen in those conditions. And even though that's never been one of my strengths, I moved up, finishing the day in second and missing the win by .1 seconds.

Here's a short video showing the conditions before and after the rain.
video:

Overall a great day of close racing. Followed by many, many hours of cleanup. More shots below.

Josh Jacquot

Thanks to Maxxis Tires Victra R19, Kartboy dot com and Energy Suspension.

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Josh Jacquot



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2015 10:47PM by jjacquot.

One more attempt to link the video:

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Josh Jacquot

Awesome right up! PM Sent!

btw, unless times have changed, you'll need to put your real name up there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2015 02:04PM by Eddie Fiorelli.

Congratulations on the finish, so close, ehh! The rain definitely made for some interesting challenges as well.

Brent

Welcome Josh,

Car looks great!

Wish I was there-that February class/rallyx was my first dirt event-always fun!

Haven't seen Dave on here for a while.

Whose struts are you running?

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Hi Mike,

Those are RS&SP struts.

Dave is around. He raced the 510 at this event. I mooned him and he spun out trying to spray me with mud.

Just like old times.

Josh

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Josh Jacquot