Good news for Olympus Rally?

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Slowwpoke
25 mile stage? It boggles the mind.

The last time we ran Nahwatzel it was 25 miles. It was very hard for me to call notes for 25 miles.

The first time that I ran it, it was 33 miles long, but it was route book only.

It was one of the most eventful stages I ever ran. Two punctures on stage (plus another on the transit to service). Had to drive out 6 miles on the second one. When the tire came apart, it destroyed everything in that corner (RR). It put a hole in the bodywork and the car filled with dust. Calling notes in the dust, I scratched up my throat so badly that I was coughing up blood. Then we came around a blind corner to see Todd Lengacher's car upside down across the road and, in avoiding him, just missed the tree stump that flipped him over. When we got to the finish, the brake caliper was no longer on the car and the disc of the rotor was no longer attached to the hat. The tire was just two pieces of bead. Luckily the next car behind us had a compatible spare, so we were able to drive back to service where we had spare rear corners for the car.

alan

I think Pico would be a great small rally/rally sprint. You can run it in either direction, and service nearby.

Great story about Nahwatzel, Alan. I also remember it for the same reason. In 2004, I went wide and got high centered.... several cars went by before Jody Olsen pulled us out. I then drove angry for a long time right in Matt Tabor's dust. I remember passing a spectator area right on his tail with people going nuts. Matt moved over eventually and we caught someone else, and eventually caught up to Steve Greer very close to the end. Steve decided not to move over because we were so close to he end... I decided to tailgate like an ass, and he threw up rocks breaking our windhield, wipers, and headlights. My co-driver immediately said "that's what you get for tailgaiting." I'll try to find the in-car video and post it. We were laughing so hard at the end!

Another year, it was the last stage of the rally and we were in a tight battle with one of the Fling Pu cars (maybe Lou Beck and Charles Buren, too). We pushed really hard.... broke the skidplate and then started shedding parts of the rear axle/suspension. Also broke the exhaust so the car (rotary) was stupid loud. I really don't remember if we beat the Fling Pu car, but we did finish the rally (drove the transit with hazards and wishing for earplugs).

Doug

Longer stages are hard.. (and fun) I find myself looking over at the odo around 16-17 miles In thinking "oh okay a little more to go" hehehe

Really hoping i can do my "super plan" hehehe

Longest stage I've done is Bark Shanty at ~20 miles from the old Oregon Trails rally out west of Portland. Codriving. I've never been so thirsty in my life.

Stoked to hear using the old roads! I've always heard good things about them!

Is Pico the one that was scheduled to run at the end of Friday last year? I didn't get to recce that stage but the guys on our crew that did were more excited about that stage than any other we looked at, which was all of them.
Palix seemed like a stage that would have no effect on locals for the most part.

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Grant Hughes

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Nahwatzel

For it being my first rally ever, that was a KILLER stage to do jemba notes that we had some modifications to (I believe it was 1 notes-familiarization-pass that year). Unfortunately, on the first pass of Nahwatzel in 2007, there was a R4 with quite a bit of camber to it that had accumulated a huge pond of water in it. I told Chris Walsh to hit it, as we had been doing pretty good, but unfortunately, some ignition components got wet. We only had 3000rpm in a 1.8L or 2.2L Impreza for practically the rest of the stage (probably a good 15+ miles). There was this one section that was a straight for some crazy distance (1.5 miles??) into a hairpin, and there we were "putt putt putt putt". Hilarious. Now that I look at the times, holy crap were we slow. Not just "slow", but ridiculous slow. 2nd day was better, about the bottom 3/4 of the field, but damn...

That was a good rally though. 2007 was a fun year, can you believe Keith went to the states with me twice? Bwahaha, what was HE thinking?!

well if its this fall, i really want to see if i can get the rx7 there.

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Not that my vote counts for anything but Pico is the best of all the stages listed as a sprint, good fun classic rally sage that one. I am just fine with the idea of never driving Smith Creek again ever.

Nahwatzel - Ya good fun on that one, I have done the two flat thing on that stage, the rip a whole wheel off the car (with the brake disk etc still attached to the missing wheel), and the just plan wear out the tires on that stage. Note to self never start a 30+ mile stage on a hot dry day on soft compound tires in a high powered 2wd car...

If they are running Stilwater - that is one of my favoret stages, 11-12 miles of a nice mix, basically flat, a fast section, a sweeping section and tight bits at the start and finish.

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In the long run reality always wins.

Prescott has a 22 mile stage, with a 74 mph average (for lawless) its "only" 18 minutes of driving, took me a lil over 19 last year...

The most amount of flats I've ever had on a stage is 4 Jumped my car too big and the steel rims Bent, and instant flatted... 2wd, with an open diff and 4 flats sucks... i could barely go forward... I stopped and put on the 1 good tire i had (ruining it finishing the stage and driving back to the service)

damn that was funny now that its over a year ago...

okay whose gotten 5 flats on a stage before? someone has i'm sure...

any incar of the stages? are these comparable to Idaho? when people tell me 'stages of your dreams' i think of Smooth & Twisty with spots to ditch hook. making the road out of almost entirely 3s and 4s, thank you !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2012 04:14PM by A1337STI.

I might have some in-car somewhere, Alex. Not sure.

No, they're nothing like Idaho.

I like Pico a lot - it's one of the main reasons for making the trek up to DooWops - but I liked Crane Creek even better. Alas, during DooWops part of the year it often seemed to have snow and become impassable.


I miss rallying in the PNW, particularly DooWops and the "old" OTR. If Olympus comes back to its old stomping grounds, I may shove the car on the trailer and head up this year.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

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A1337STI
when people tell me 'stages of your dreams' i think of Smooth & Twisty with spots to ditch hook.

That is definitly not an apt description of this event. It wasn't "rough", but it's not smooth. It's really, really proper rally roads that (IMO) make me think of British rallying (having only ever watched video).

I think most old guys would call the stages 'proper'. Fast but not freeways, some chuckholes, bumps, twist but not excessively rough. Fun roads. We'll see what the roads they said we can use looks like.If I happen to get out there with Steve I'll get some pics.

Further notes to Alex:

The difference between Nawatzel and the super long stages at Prescott is that Nawatzel has a lot more twisties. Except for one "superhighway" section, it's a really really really LONG stage to drive.

Maybe I've driven Prescott enough times that it seems shorter, but Nawatzel was a real test of concentration and Prescott's long stages just seem to zip right by.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

I was thinking Pico, as that is my favorite stage over there, and with the start/finish at the same spot would be really easy to reverse the stage. I may tackle the organizing a sprint event. Lets talk.

Talk we shall then.

Are these the roads near Shelton (Olympus 2006/2007)? Wildcat, Skookum, Maxwell, etc ?