I got to experience the logbook methods from the exact same scrutineer, 4 years apart, once under the old SCCA method of initial inspection and then issuing a logbook with one car. I even made it harder for the scrutineer by crashing the car and driving him out to the middle of nowhere to do the inspection. The second time was with a logbook that needed an intial inspection at my first event. Like I said, exact same scrutineer. I can tell you with certainty that he was more thorough on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere than he was at an event with 5 cars lined up behind me.

It's the orange juice and coffee that adds up. Coffee is so cheap and so expensive. I tend to end up eating alot of oatmeal at rallies. Good for hangovers and easy on the stomach. I have had a real breakfast before a race, chicken fried steak and eggs, and I kinda felt queezy for the first few hours.

Hopefully next year the event will run better? There was talk about a Colorado contingent coming out and making a week or two vacation out of it with a little rally in the middle.

---

Grant Hughes

Turnarounds: I'm conflicted
I do enjoy the "social" nature of them - but it's tricky.
If you have them in a nice shady picnic spot with 20 cars it works out.
If you are forced to be in a (sun beating down on you 100 degrees / raining sidways) open valley with 30+ cars = angry competitors and you can't control the weather

At High Desert Trails I'm forced to have 2 turnarounds and it's one too many IMO. If I could make a big loop I absolutely would, but when the transit is a lot longer then the turnaround would be = angry competitors

With 24 - 26 entries we are IN the grey area - the hour long transit I'm attempting to use to link the stages I'm working with the powers that be to run some of it as a stage. Even if it's only 4-5 miles it will break up the monotony of a 60 min transit (15 miles @ 30MPH) and keep 1 shady turnaround early in the day.

- Kris

Turnarounds are usually unavoidable. As an organizer I'd avoid them at all costs, and the stage really should be worth it.

A few years ago we actually surveyed competitors on their preference between a one hour turnaround or a one hour transit. (That particular event could transit around to a different stage start, but it would be almost exactly the same time as a turnaround into a slightly longer stage.)

The responses were almost evenly split.

For many, it would seem obvious that a turnaround meant not burning fuel on a transit and that means cheaper and cheaper=better. The breakdown didn't reflect that at all. For many, staying 'on the move' was more important than not burning fuel and racking up mileage on transit.

In the end, local sensitivities won out and the event used a turnaround so we didn't get dust on the cows along the transit. (yes, 'you got my cows dusty' was a real complaint)

The real key to turnarounds is a good sweep crew that can be fast, and decisive. Unfortunately that means swiftly pulling time cards on people who probably couldn't get their car out unassisted before being max late and placing cars, or triangles etc. so the stage can be re-opened quickly. (IE: not always towing the car to a safe spot but making sure there is a path past the car and that the location is CLEARLY marked)

But all of that is obvious.

---

First Rally: 2001
Driver (7), Co-Driver (44)
Drivers (16)
Clerk (10), Official (7), Volunteer (4)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Last Updated, January 4, 2015

Quote
john vanlandingham
Blame is for idiots. losers.

OK, so I was wondering what all the fuss was about regarding the SRDC comment then I realized he said Self Righteous...

I was a bit confused and though he said Michael had brought a K-Tel Self Righting Douche Canoe* which is a pop-up privacy cocoon for wilderness showering.
(albeit with a FrEnglish name that is a tip o' the chapeau to the Self Righting Dene Canoe from the northern first nations - also called a Kayak. Yes, Kayaks aren't actually 'self righting' but seemed that way to the explorers who normally dealt with righting freight canoes or dingeys)

*apparently Ronco had a similar, but inferior, product they sold as Custers Splash Stand

Before someone calls me a liar... this was intended as humour

---

First Rally: 2001
Driver (7), Co-Driver (44)
Drivers (16)
Clerk (10), Official (7), Volunteer (4)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Last Updated, January 4, 2015

Quote
john vanlandingham
Blame is for idiots. losers.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2013 04:08PM by Morison.

Wait. I can get a logbook by emailing cage pictures to RA?
Fuck. And I just sold the last Galant. I could have been legal 2 years ago.
Oh. Waitaminute. I've been publicly shitting all over that gratuitous media whore for years. Nevermind.

(Don't mind me. I'm just here for the lulz. Finally reached my breaking point earlier this year, but even then - covered in dirt, sunburned, and actively fighting with my wife on the side of a stage - I knew it was my own damn fault. Here's to being a first class volunteer from now on.)

Vive le Prole-le-Ralliat You guys are the best.

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

If you're wondering what happened to me at Mendocino, here's the in-car:





I straightened it out at the last minute and just drove off the road because I knew
we weren't going to make it and figured that a stuff was better than a roll.

Here's a video from the control workers:

http://www.grok.com/hoche/gti/2013_Mendocino/IMG_1344.MOV

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

"this guy is coming in hot.....holy shit....holy fawking shit...." Love it. Wish I had the testicular fortitude and skills to hang at that speed

Oh ferphuquessake we can make shit stronger than that! A little tiny kiss into nice soft dirt... I dream of hitting things so softly.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
You're right there, Obadiah.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
A cup o' cold tea.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Without milk or sugar.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Or tea.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
In a cracked cup, an' all.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, 'e was right.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, 'e was.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Cardboard box?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.
ALL:
They won't!

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
SeanP
"this guy is coming in hot.....holy shit....holy fawking shit...." Love it. Wish I had the testicular fortitude and skills to hang at that speed

It ain't balls.
Remember Kankunen's words: "All it takes is a big foot and an empty head".

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham
It ain't balls.
Remember Kankunen's words: "All it takes is a big foot and an empty head".

Not sure if John just complimented me or insulted me. Either way it's true.

A-arm, axle, tie-rod, strut, brake line - damage was relatively minimal. Was a tiny little kiss into nice soft dirt. More or less. Had it fixed with about three hour's work last Saturday.

Sean: you made it through multiple runnings of that stage. I didn't make it through the first one. There's something to be said about that. Probably involves the words "lunacy" and "circumspection", but maybe not.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

Quote
SeanP
"this guy is coming in hot.....holy shit....holy fawking shit...." Love it. Wish I had the testicular fortitude and skills to hang at that speed

Its shocking how different views will make the same event look different.
The first video looked like a brisk drive into a soft smush of dirt.

The 2nd video looked like a warp-speed slide of impending doom

the narrators comments are seconded...

---

Enablers, All of you.

Quote
SeanP
"this guy is coming in hot.....holy shit....holy fawking shit...." Love it. Wish I had the testicular fortitude and skills to hang at that speed

Reminds me of Prescott a few years back, when Van Brocklin and Secviar lost the same corner near the end of the stage. I had a couple rally newbies with me who had never been on-stage before. It was awesome to see that little Golf scream past. Of course, he had no brakes, right?

I wasn't working the finish, but was within an eighth mile - close enough to hear the commentary with - and without - a radio. "Whoa... Whoa...! WHOA! LOOKOUTHOLYSHIT!"


That's the one!

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

Quote
DR1665
I wasn't working the finish, but was within an eighth mile - close enough to hear the commentary with - and without - a radio. "Whoa... Whoa...! WHOA! LOOKOUTHOLYSHIT!"

I was working that finish - We were giving him the "Hey Slow it down buddy" motion and when I saw GVB throw up his hands and give me the "What exactly would you like me to do?" face - we all scrambled out of the finish control. He slid to a stop about 10 feet past and then we saw he was missing a wheel.

I couldn't believe his time on that stage - I think he did 4 miles with no right rear and set like 2nd or 3rd fastest in G2. Rockin!

- Kris

After watching the Golf in to soft berm...

I HAVE TO post this....

---

Owner, Driver, Head Mechanic, and Janitor at Tower City Race Team, headquartered near L'Anse. Michigan.
Driver / CoDriver in Rally America, NASARallySport, ARA, AMS, UPMDA, Champ Off Road

https://www.facebook.com/TowerCityRaceTeam/
https://www.instagram.com/towercityraceteam/

Michel,

I still giggle from Jimmy's comment a year or two ago at idaho... "You always drive at that kind of attack?"

At least the damage seemed pretty minimal. Fun to watch.