Hello all,
I've been a long-time lurker here on Rally Anarchy and decided to sign up and start the conversation here.
I'm just starting my rally adventures, a bit of background:
Been interested in rally since I was quite young, I can remember waking up in the middle of the night to listen to live coverage from WRC rallies and idolizing the group B rally cars (especially the Audi Sport Quattro S2). While discovering other forms of motorsport I found my interest drifting back to rally and even though I followed Rally America, I didn't discover "Grassroots" rally until the utterly amazing experience to spectate at Wales Rally GB in 2013 while working in Germany. I met a few amazing rally folks there who showed me there was much beyond the "top-tier" cars.
After coming back to the states, I volunteered for a few rallies, Hyperfest RallySprint 2014 on the East coast, Prescott Rally 2014 and Seed 9 Rally 2014 in the west. I had caught the bug and knew I wanted to participate, and spent my time researching and reading all I could about how to get started.
For some reason I was drawn to codriving, not just as a starting point, but that it was where I wanted to focus my rally career. I read forum posts, bought Mark Williams and Dave Shindle's books on codriving in North America and immersed myself in what it meant to BE a codriver. I then mustered up the courage to put myself out there as available as a codriver for Prescott Rally 2015, with the thought that I could volunteer if no one responded to my inquiries.
Amazingly I had a few responses even though I clearly stated I had no prior experience, and through some social-media wizardry I found myself in the right seat of a VR6 Jetta for my goal, Prescott Rally 2015.
The Rally went amazingly well until almost the very end after we lost the rear-left wheel due the the all too common VW stub axle failure though. I seemed to have found a rhythm with the notes and had gelled with the driver over the first few stages, and we became faster and faster up until the mechanical DNF, and were on track for a 4th place 2wd finish. Amazingly, even though I got lost in the notes in a few places, he invited me to do the whole California Rally Series (CRS) with him this year (2016). I'm looking forward to learning as much as possible while making a run at the CRS-5 championship this year
After Prescott Rally, I had been in contact with a couple drivers about codriving for ESPR 2015 in New York, though ultimately I did not end up finding a ride. To my amazement, one of the drivers I had been in contact with for ESPR called me back about codriving in 2016! Ultimately he purchased a Mk2 GTI and got the itch to race, and we ended up doing Nemadji Trail Rally (a long tow for him) in Minnesota and did decently well, placing 4th in 2wd and 8th overall (with a total of 16 cars) while still learning the car and each other. For 2016, I'll be riding the right seat with the first driver in CRS, as well as events on the east coast with the second driver, which could potentially be quite busy...
I'm here to read and learn from others and gain as much as experience as possible as I progress through this adventure we call life. I'm starting the very beginnings of a plan to eventually (years from now) build a car to rally, though I mainly enjoy codriving. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a quick start to things, and I look forward to building experience, skills and knowledge OVER TIME along the ride.
My apologies on the long introduction, sometimes I get carried away with explanations. I look forward to speaking with all of you and following some of the builds and the conversations here. I'd love any advice anyone has for a new codriver starting out, or any questions anyone has for me.
Regards,
Ryan
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2016 11:32PM by dunhamr1.
