Congratulations to EVERYBODY at Magnum Opus

To avoid more flak about saying anything good about people i know and wish well, congratulations to everybody at Magnum Opus...
Iz zat fawkin Pea Sea enough?


NASA Rally Sport Results

Pos No Driver Navigator Vehicle Class Time
1 95 Brenten Kelly Anthony Vohs Subaru WRX STI OAH 1:45:04
2 93 Arkadiusz Gruszka Maciej Sawicki Mitsubishi Evo 9 OAH 1:47:20
3 45 Dylan Helferich Drew Rosek Subaru Impreza OAL 1:52:40
4 53 Mitchell Kelly Zachary Jacques Subaru STI OAL 1:55:02
5 37 Todd Tortorelli Brian Arpke Subaru WRX OAH 1:56:02
6 909 Meredith Pritchard Rachelle Kaltak Subaru Impreza RS OAL 1:56:36
7 920 Brian Ballinger Adam Becker Subaru Impreza WRX OAH 1:56:46
8 80 Michael Hooper Claudia Pullen BMW 325is O2L 2:00:00
9 929 Michael Ryba Burke Davis Honda Civic O2L 2:01:06
10 39 Allan Dantes Jr Brandon Snyder Volkswagen Jetta VR6 O2H 2:01:49
11 907 David Grenwis Drew Burkholder Volkswagen Golf O2L 2:02:29
12 904 Daniel Finn Teena Hauxwell-Finn Subaru Impreza Brighton OAL 2:05:49
13 51 Greg McMahon Emily Lukens Toyota MR2 O2H 2:17:03
14 926 Christopher Martise Michael Kuba Subaru Impreza OAL 2:31:10
15 72 James Guitar Joshua Kramer Honda CRZ O2L 2:31:18
16 85 James Bass John Farnsworth Merkur XR4Ti O2H 2:40:20
17 919 William Marenich Dexter Clark Volkswagen Golf O2L 2:56:05
DNF 927 Matthew Ricketts Bradley Hawthorne Subaru Impreza OAH
DNF 908 Mark Howard Mark Roberts Mitsubishi Eclipse OAL
DNF 77 Jimmy Pelizzari Terrence Hanson Mazda 323 GTX OAL
DNF 905 Bradley Hayosh Nick Nouhan Volkswagen Jetta O2L
DNF 935 Hao Yuan Ozgur Simsek Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 OAH
DNF 3 Michael O'Leary Marcel Ciascai Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X OAH
DNF 932 Reid Andress James Hewson Subaru WRX OAH


29.4% of all the finishers were...well ya know


I had a great after-action report from a nice guy already, sounded funner-er than hell.
Let's hear some adventure stories.

---

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.

Lotsa hanging dust on day1. SS3 was a 10miler and we had 10miles of dust and lost a good 30secs. Re-run of that stage was scratched as it was too dusty and conditions would have been worse in the dark. Start of day 2 second thru fourth (Chinese driver Hao Yuan and me) were 11 secs apart. First car had a good minute advantage due to having clear vision. First stage in the morning, we were able to take the lead by 15 secs as Gruszka that was leading had maf plug pop off and lost all of his advantage. The Following stage our fuel pressure sensor, same part that failed us at HDT started leaking which ended our day... Not to sound cocky but that sensor cost us two wins!

Was at start of stage of day2 and was chatting with the control workers and asked if the rest of stage was similar to where we were standing (was very sandy and narrow!) He said, "Yes, except this is the wide part" That stage was the narrowest stage I've ever been on! Was kinda rough too and was to be run twice in each direction. Last runnning of it in reverse got cancelled due to its condition detoriating...

I have to say Hao drove very well at a moderate pace. Car and driver had a whole lot more to go. He is one of the cleanest drivers I've ever seen. It was also his second time on English notes and he is not used to running without recce. He has lots and lots of experience (Chinese national Championship as well as Asia-Pacific Championship etc...) and seat time yet the seeding was so screwed up, we were initially put behind a relatively new guy, Todd T (great guy, BTW!) that had 3 events under his belt. After I had spoken to the organizers we were moved in front of him to 4th on road. I had emailed the organizers the week prior to make sure they understand his speed but still had to deal with it at the event which was a little frustrating. The first day ended in the order it started as the dust just made it worse by each passing car. I think we in the US still do not understand what the speed out there is in the real world, even in China!

I would like to thank the organizers and volunteers for putting on a good event. Though, some of the stages were rough, I dont think there was much carnage. I would like to thank Bill and Tim for listening to us, "the competitors" and not forcing us to run the "Two Hearted" stage at night in the dust. We all appreciated the 2 minute window (a first for me at any rally!) we were all given on day2. I wish there was more of a battle between the top 4 that ended day 1 eleven seconds apart but 2 of us were out early unfortunately...
Congrats to B.Kelly!

---

rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

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turoc
He has lots and lots of experience (Chinese national Championship as well as Asia-Pacific Championship etc...) and seat time yet the seeding was so screwed up, we were initially put behind a relatively new guy, Todd T (great guy, BTW!) that had 3 events under his belt. After I had spoken to the organizers we were moved in front of him to 4th on road. I had emailed the organizers the week prior to make sure they understand his speed but still had to deal with it at the event which was a little frustrating.

"So screwed up"?

Dude, if you had gone off after Todd, you would have gained 23 seconds on him, based on your actual stage times. That's sizable, but... it was a five mile stage. We told you that you wouldn't catch him even if you remained where you were, and we were right. We assigned him a 95. He ended up with a 98.6. It's a couple spots... and you still didn't catch anyone.

You beat the car in front of you on SS1 and SS2, I'm curious, did you ask Brenton to swap in the control?

For the future, "he won X championship" isn't worth much in asking to get seed changed. Not because we don't believe you... it's because it isn't really actionable data. There's no reference point. As a matter of practicality, YOU have to do the math and provide that to us, if you are the one requesting the change. That's just the reality of you having the four hours to research and compile data on one driver and the organizers having to figure it out for 30, 50, or 80+ racers.

Because so few racers understand what it takes to properly request a start order change, I suppose I'll write a new article for Rally University.

Anders

---

Grassroots rally. It's what I think about.

Yes, so screwed up!
I sent an informational email to the organizers ahead of time which also stated if more information was needed, it could be provided. In fact, the morning of the rally, while I was trying to correct the seeding, I was told that someone (my assumption was Ivor and even asked if that was the case but didnt get an answer!) had emailed them Hao's results from other rallies overseas. My expectation was that the organizers would at the least look at results from HDT a west coast Nasa rally. Not that it matters to you or the organizers, but even in limp mode, we were able to win stages Overall out west or stay within contention.
No, I did not ask Brenten to start ahead as he was struggling with the dust of car ahead as did O'Leary as did we. If we were started behind Todd we certainly would not have beaten Brenten on both those stages, I can assure you that. We were also feeling the waters for the reasons i mentioned on my previous post and still have more to go. Putting someone with multiple rally schools, years of international experience behind someone that has a couple of events with the only justification "he was beating Wages at HF until..." is beyond reasonable. (again, I mean no disrespect towards Todd or Eric!)
One stage being 5miles doesn't mean the entire rally is made up of 5 mile stages. And 23 secs on a car that would have been 4th on the road is more than pretty sizeable for a 5 mile stage. I look at it per mile like the rest of the world and thats nearly 4.5secs/mile. Please do look at the results on SS7 and beyond (where 2 minute window began)and I hope you do realize that is a whole minute +23 secs on Todd, and 16secs on Brenten. The shorter stages we were up 20sec+ all the way up to 40+ secs ahead of Todd.
We were there for the win, not to deal with losing time on stages while trying to get ahead of cars that are slower in the time control...
Also, you were against the extra minute window or cancelling the long stage friday while every competitor except one which said will go with the majority agreed not to run. If you were out on that stage the first running thru, I'm pretty sure you would have agreed not to run it as well...

---

rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

And for reference to others, this is what the stage looked like during the first pass:




Don't mind the car stalling as we were battling some electrical gremlins that day.
Oh! and on the first loop, we ran out of fuel at the super special so we gave up a few seconds there.(started day with stock tank filled to the brim).
With each passing car, the conditions worsened. I believe we lost nearly 30 secs to second place car on this stage.

Edit: I hope video of the Super special appear. It would explain the dust issue as we were running it with a 3 minute window (well, technically 2 as the start was behind the finish and cars drove past by start)

---

rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 12:46AM by turoc.

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turoc
I sent an informational email to the organizers ahead of time which also stated if more information was needed, it could be provided.

If you're sending it to the Chairman... that, by definition of the duties of the Chairman, is the wrong person. The Clerk of the Course or the Steward would be the person to contact. I don't see that I received anything from you.

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turoc
In fact, the morning of the rally, while I was trying to correct the seeding, I was told that someone (my assumption was Ivor and even asked if that was the case but didnt get an answer!) had emailed them Hao's results from other rallies overseas.

I'd recommend that if you're the codriver, you do it. This falls well within the codriver's duties. I know that I received no international results from anyone.

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turoc
My expectation was that the organizers would at the least look at results from HDT a west coast Nasa rally.

I know that I tried, but at the time that I did, rallydata.com was down. I'd recommend that you supply the data you want to be considered and and not imagine that the organizers are going to do your research.

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turoc
but even in limp mode, we were able to win stages Overall out west or stay within contention.

Unless the stage scores somehow notate that "Driver was in limp mode for this stage", there is no way for someone else across the country to know that the mental picture of your results should be modified. Again, you must supply this information if you want it to be considered.

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turoc
One stage being 5miles doesn't mean the entire rally is made up of 5 mile stages. And 23 secs on a car that would have been 4th on the road is more than pretty sizeable for a 5 mile stage. I look at it per mile like the rest of the world and thats nearly 4.5secs/mile. Please do look at the results on SS7...

SS7 is irrelevant, as it's on the second day, and thus would be after a reseed based on your performance on day 1. And yes, the whole rally is not five mile stages, but the first two were. This means that you had two opportunities to adjust your own starting order and your chance of catching anyone were almost zero. You chose to not to take those opportunities. I recommend in the future you do. It is the intent and the spirit of the rules that competitors reseed themselves as conditions change and as speed differences emerge.

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turoc
We were there for the win, not to deal with ...

You'll find that going for the win means things are generally not easy. Wins aren't just handed out, they are generally hard fought for.

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turoc
Also, you were against the extra minute window or cancelling the long stage friday while every competitor except one which said will go with the majority agreed not to run. If you were out on that stage the first running thru, I'm pretty sure you would have agreed not to run it as well...

1) It was my input to the Clerk of the Course that ultimately got the two minutes for the entire field.

2) I was against cancelling SS5 based on the opinion of one racer, that racer being you, as you were the first person that approached me. At the time, I was much more concerned with trying to get another car back into the race by fixing their windshield. THAT issue was time-sensitive. YOUR issue, due the nature of the stage schedule, was not. Cancelled or not, you would still leave service on time and head out on the same route, which meant the decision wasn't needed for an hour. Please have some compassion for your fellow racers who are trying to repair their cars.

However, both #1 and #2 are not at all related to seeding. While I understand they were a source of frustration for you, they are irrelevant to the discussion of seeding.


Ultimately, Ozgur, you were trying to get an unknown quantity, a driver from far away, to be moved up to the top of the order. This is a difficult task. The section of the registration system where it explicitly asks for racing experience was left blank. You say you offered to supply more information, but that you ultimately didn't because it wasn't requested. The onus is on you to supply an overabundance of information and data to make this happen. The organizers placed you in a reasonable spot given the information available.

The positive news is I've written a new article for Rally University on the topic, and I've incorporated aspects of the difficulties you faced so that other people will be able to learn about how the process works. Thanks for the feedback.

http://www.nasarallysport.com/main/how_do_i_get_my_starting_position_changed

Anders

---

Grassroots rally. It's what I think about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 01:30AM by Anders Green.

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Anders Green

If you're sending it to the Chairman... that, by definition of the duties of the Chairman, is the wrong person. The Clerk of the Course or the Steward would be the person to contact. I don't see that I received anything from you.


The supps clearly state:" Address and contact information for all matters pertaining to the event are as follows:" and gives complete information of the chairman. Tim responded to my email, thanked me for the information and said he forwarded the information to the clerk of the course- Bill.

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Anders Green

I'd recommend that if you're the codriver, you do it. This falls well within the codriver's duties. I know that I received no international results from anyone.

Quote


I agree and had informed the rest of the team that it is my duty and not to intervene once I found out. Again, your name was not listed anywhere.

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Anders Green
I know that I tried, but at the time that I did, rallydata.com was down. I'd recommend that you supply the data you want to be considered and and not imagine that the organizers are going to do your research.

Appreciate the effort but disagree with that statement in a case where a competitor has run an event under the same sanctioning body a speed factor should have been assigned and be availabe for consideration. Results should have been reviewed. Providing the clerk or the steward (no steward was listed in supps btw) with results from overseas was not my first choice as it would not show a whole lot, as the other competitors speed would be unknown for comparison unless of course someone else with a known speed factor competed there.
Here's a suggestion: Single speed factor calculation format within the same sanctioning body?

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Anders Green
Unless the stage scores somehow notate that "Driver was in limp mode for this stage", there is no way for someone else across the country to know that the mental picture of your results should be modified. Again, you must supply this information if you want it to be considered.

Wasn't trying to make excuses or have that considered as anyone can claim issues. However, on my email to the chairman that information was provided.
Just an FYI: We did have 2 flats, engine going into limp mode due to fuel pressure issues on all stages and hit a dog on stage at HDT though yet our times were still up there

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Anders Green

SS7 is irrelevant, as it's on the second day, and thus would be after a reseed based on your performance on day 1. And yes, the whole rally is not five mile stages, but the first two were. This means that you had two opportunities to adjust your own starting order and your chance of catching anyone were almost zero. You chose to not to take those opportunities. I recommend in the future you do. It is the intent and the spirit of the rules that competitors reseed themselves as conditions change and as speed differences emerge.

Actually, we would have had one chance out of the first two stages- start of second stage as i doubt the car ahead would let us by without comparing a single stage time.
I have passed many competitors in a time control as well as let many go ahead. I have also been refused or even refused once in a case where I was told the following car saw us at the finish control without comparing times while we arrived on 2 cars at same control that we did not catch. As your own words state, its only the intent of the rules, not a rule itself.

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Anders Green
You'll find that going for the win means things are generally not easy. Wins aren't just handed out, they are generally hard fought for.

Agree, winning is not easy nor handed out and all i was trying to do was fighting for a better seed so we had less of a disadvantage

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Anders Green
1) It was my input to the Clerk of the Course that ultimately got the two minutes for the entire field.

Again, you were not listed as COC. As a matter fact, i didn't know so till this conversation. I thought you were there representing the NASA Rallysport East

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Anders Green
2) I was against cancelling SS5 based on the opinion of one racer, that racer being you, as you were the first person that approached me. At the time, I was much more concerned with trying to get another car back into the race by fixing their windshield. THAT issue was time-sensitive. YOUR issue, due the nature of the stage schedule, was not. Cancelled or not, you would still leave service on time and head out on the same route, which meant the decision wasn't needed for an hour. Please have some compassion for your fellow racers who are trying to repair their cars.

Yes, i was the one that brought it up to you but as i had stated to you, it wasn't only my opinion. I had asked everyone that was at service at the time including the team that had a broken windshield, while Marcel was asking the rest as they came in. Funny thing is when i asked the team with broken windshield they didn't even hesitate to agree, they blamed dust on that particular stage which led them to the windshield breakage.

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Anders Green
Ultimately, Ozgur, you were trying to get an unknown quantity, a driver from far away, to be moved up to the top of the order. This is a difficult task. The section of the registration system where it explicitly asks for racing experience was left blank. You say you offered to supply more information, but that you ultimately didn't because it wasn't requested. The onus is on you to supply an overabundance of information and data to make this happen. The organizers placed you in a reasonable spot given the information available.

Unfortunately, the team manager registered the driver and i was unaware of the "experience" part not being filled out. It will be remedied for future events. Not supplying more info was based on the point i made earlier: How do you come up with a speed factor from an event overseas if you don't know who you are comparing it to? If Mark Higgins ran the event would he have to supply that information as well?

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Anders Green
The positive news is I've written a new article for Rally University on the topic, and I've incorporated aspects of the difficulties you faced so that other people will be able to learn about how the process works. Thanks for the feedback.

http://www.nasarallysport.com/main/how_do_i_get_my_starting_position_changed

Anders

Hope it helps!

Here is more feedback/opinion:
We need something along the lines of what your typical ASN (National Sanctioning body) does. I am not trying to take anything away from the organizers or volunteers but think it would help if there was a grading system for events.
A steward representing the ASN should be able see flaws of the event and keep note, forward a report to the organizers as well as keep it public so things improve for the following year. Yes, I know it takes another volunteer but it would be for the beneficial for everyone. If i wouldnt be running so many events this year, I would have offered my assistance...
If you remember, The year I met you at RNY 2005? you were just taking over and were doing the exact same thing; taking notes of all that would help the event run better/smoother.

I don't expect the event getting negative grades for things like service park being muddy or not having enough porto johns but it should get negative points for unnecessary delays, lack of information, safety issues etc...


...and it sucks that it seems we eliminated the CRO at most events lately. It would have been nice to forward our concerns to the CRO so things get addressed.

---

rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

Jeez Ozgur.

- I wasn't the Clerk of the Course. That was Bill Westrick, as stated in the Supps and as described during the driver's meeting.

- Regardless of the word "all matters" in the Supp Regs, we teach in the Novice Competitor Orientation the job of the chairman and what they address. From that class it would clear the chairman wouldn't address a sporting issue.

- Just because you don't think someone would switch after one stage doesn't mean you didn't have two chances, you did.

- No one has "eliminated" the CRO position. If you have to make a choice between having a CRO or not being able to staff a control.... you staff the control. Please do assist the rallies you attend by recruiting an extra ten volunteers so that those events have the capability to give up one of their highly experienced volunteers to be CRO.

-As a part of the racing crew, you have full visibility into the online entry system regardless of whether it was created by the team manager, the driver, or yourself. You have now competed in eight NRS events that use this current online registration system. I can only suggest that you study the features available within your entire NRS account. We put a lot of time into building systems to accomplish what you want done, but if you ignore them and don't use them, it's difficult to help you.

- We do take lots of notes for event improvements, we have followup meetings with all the series organizers gathered together, a week after the event. Competitors are welcome to submit feedback as well, but almost universally they don't.

-I'm not going to publish "event grades". About 10 or 15 years ago I put forth the idea that a "racers' union" of some sort should do that. However, the concept is full of problematic unintended consequences and a nightmare of work and complexity.

As for all the rest, I won't address it, as I've already written a full two page article about it. To accomplish what you want done, follow the recommendations in that article.

Whether you feel you shouldn't have to for reason x, y, or z, that doesn't change the reality of a process accomplished by volunteers with limited time available. It's just like me feeling I shouldn't have to send six reminders to racers to get their med form in or their licensing completed.... I think it shouldn't be that way, but it is. We all have to work within the realities that exist.

Anders

ps: And now, we have reached meme time. Who can guess which I'm thinking of?

---

Grassroots rally. It's what I think about.

Thanks Mr. John!

We had a blast! We couldn't compete with your customers on the rough stuff. We went in to "finish" mode for the last few stages. We gave up alot of time, finished 3rd in 2 wheel, and 1st in the Heavy class.

A set of your boingers are definitely on my wish list, and unfortunately not yet in the budget.

Still we shall press on!

---

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/

Quote
john vanlandingham
I had a great after-action report from a nice guy already, sounded funner-er than hell.
Let's hear some adventure stories.

XR4Ti cooling systems don't like buckets of wet sand being fed into them. They also don't like 0.2mile transits between 7+ mile stages. Consequently, human faces/lungs don't much care for giant clouds of coolant in gas form.

James did an amazing job in patching the lower radiator hose back together after it exploded and sweep hung out long enough and gave us all their water so that we could finish.

Also, your garden variety scissor jack really sucks, and there's not many options out there for one that doesn't.

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si
Also, your garden variety scissor jack really sucks, and there's not many options out there for one that doesn't.

http://rally.build/evocrk-quick-lift-hydraulic-rally-jack/

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si

Also, your garden variety scissor jack really sucks, and there's not many options out there for one that doesn't.

grab a mercedes pin jack of ebay for $20

---

-KTurner
Stomp down on the exhilarator and hold on to the wheel.

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KTurner

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si

Also, your garden variety scissor jack really sucks, and there's not many options out there for one that doesn't.

grab a mercedes pin jack of ebay for $20

I'm a huge fan of the Toyota screw/bottle jack. They lift up to about 20in I think.

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johnhuebbe

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si
Also, your garden variety scissor jack really sucks, and there's not many options out there for one that doesn't.

http://rally.build/evocrk-quick-lift-hydraulic-rally-jack/

That would be the 'not many options' - but $900 ain't in the cards for a jack.

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KTurner
grab a mercedes pin jack of ebay for $20

Can you be more specific? A quick search on this doesn't turn up informative results. I did some searching when we got back and saw that Mazda 626 and Dodge Neon OEM jacks were apparently hex-head scissor jacks, which would be nice - but the head size was odd and they're not terribly easy to find either.

I think most of us are using 17mm or 19mm lugs, and they seem to be 21/24mm heads.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 10:08AM by si.

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si

Can you be more specific? .

like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-06-Mercedes-S-Class-S500-W220-OEM-Emergency-Spare-Tire-Lift-Jack-/171831296223?hash=item2801f180df&vxp=mtr

we made one with a nut on the top for the impact but it ended being slower to use that just cranking away.

---

-KTurner
Stomp down on the exhilarator and hold on to the wheel.