Rallye Star!

	December 10, 2004 Once again it was sunny and warm, perfect weather for rallying. We got to sleep in a bit as I was starting near the end of the line. Leon had sweet-talked the organizers into letting him be the zero car (the last official’s car to pass through the stage before the competitors) so he could get out and drive and also so he could watch me finish the first few stages. Alex and I made a quick drive out to the first stage, but just as we were ready to drive up to the starting line, the stage was halted- a car had rolled close to finish. I wasn’t all that scared- while not very tricky, this stage had plenty of small berms and off camber parts that could catch you out, especially if you were going fast. I decided that fast wasn’t going to be my style this time. The stage was re-started and I made it out. The first things that I noticed was that Prince could really go now and that Alex is a really good co-driver. I went into fourth gear on some of the long straights, testing to see how fast my car could go. I slowed down for everything and lifted was too often. My photographer friends Barry and Ralph almost passed me in their Eclipse, but I beat them to the finish. There was a re-seed. I was nearly last, but I didn’t care. There were three DNF’s already! I was happy to be still in. The second stage was the first run backward. This time I drove faster, charging over blind crests and getting a little bit sideways. It was totally different than the parking lot. Whatever I did, it was good enough to take a minute off of my first time. Back at the service area, Prince was loaded onto Leon’s trailer. After losing parts of his exhaust and a fuel pump, Leon decided to stay as chief of my service crew. He just didn’t have good luck at this rally. We headed out 50 miles or so to stage three. We got there in time, but we had to unload behind everyone else and were nearly late! Good thing Alex is a star volleyball player and can run fast! For some reason, the start order of the stage got scrambled and I had a lot of faster people behind me. And this, a five mile hill climb, was not a stage to pass on. But that was the least of my problems. I hit the gas to start, and thing weren’t sounding too happy. Prince was sputtering, bogging down. This stage was the reason I had begged for a new engine and now it was acting like the old engine! I was frustrated. I climbed nearly 5,000 feet and each foot was agony. First gear made too many revs, second gear not enough. Then I got passed by Don Shrier in his RX-7 who should have been six or seven cars ahead of me, so I was angrily riding near the edge of the hill, getting mad. Then at the top it was super slippy from melting snow, and I missed the gear change into first gear… and then it was all over. I had finished another stage and was only one stage away from finishing day one, my first mini-rally! But I was still not happy with my car. After a short break, we all caravanned back down the mountain for a short service. The guys jumped on the car immediately- apparently they knew what was wrong as soon as I drove Prince to the start. Luckily, before I lost it, Alex told me not to worry and explained the probably cause of our problems- unlike injected cars, cars with carburetors don’t have an air/fuel sensor that adjusts the air/fuel mixture to compensate for altitude changes, so as they climb higher the carburetors get flooded and literally ‘choke’! And that’s what was happening. Duh. I’m not too keen with car anatomy yet, though I am trying to change that! Big Tom changed the jets in the carburetors; while Leon fixed my engine’s timing- it had slipped 16 degrees out of time! Both problems were fixed in less than ten minutes and needed only a screwdriver. I was back in line for the next run with lots of time to spare. I waited alone, watching the sun set as Prince burbled away. Everyone else would get to run in the daylight, but I’d get stuck in the dark. At least the RX-7 was in front of me. This time around it was a much better run. There was lots of sideways and more power, although the space between first and second gears felt funny, like there was too much space. The important thing was that I was having fun this time! I was a lot more comfortable going fast and I took a good 90 seconds off of my first time. It was very cold on top of the hill, in the dark windy desert, so I saved the victory dance for the service area below. And it would be a big dance because I had just conquered a little rally, and 1/3 or a big one! We made it back to the hotel in time for me to drive over the ramp. I liked that ramp and wanted Alex to experience it too! I ate early and stayed away from the party in the main service area. I had just finished a day, but had quite literally 100s of miles ahead of me! I felt like the rally had barely begun. Tomorrow would be a 5 a.m. start. I was so tired that night I was asleep before my head hit the pillow! Back to Diary of a Driver.

December 10, 2004

Once again it was sunny and warm, perfect weather for rallying. We got to sleep in a bit as I was starting near the end of the line. Leon had sweet-talked the organizers into letting him be the zero car (the last official’s car to pass through the stage before the competitors) so he could get out and drive and also so he could watch me finish the first few stages. Alex and I made a quick drive out to the first stage, but just as we were ready to drive up to the starting line, the stage was halted- a car had rolled close to finish. I wasn’t all that scared- while not very tricky, this stage had plenty of small berms and off camber parts that could catch you out, especially if you were going fast. I decided that fast wasn’t going to be my style this time.

Chris Burns rolled his car on the first stage. A reminder that motorsport is dangerous.

Chris Burns rolled his car on the first stage. A reminder that motorsport is dangerous.

The stage was re-started and I made it out. The first things that I noticed was that Prince could really go now and that Alex is a really good co-driver. I went into fourth gear on some of the long straights, testing to see how fast my car could go. I slowed down for everything and lifted was too often. My photographer friends Barry and Ralph almost passed me in their Eclipse, but I beat them to the finish. There was a re-seed. I was nearly last, but I didn’t care. There were three DNF’s already! I was happy to be still in. The second stage was the first run backward. This time I drove faster, charging over blind crests and getting a little bit sideways. It was totally different than the parking lot. Whatever I did, it was good enough to take a minute off of my first time. Back at the service area, Prince was loaded onto Leon’s trailer. After losing parts of his exhaust and a fuel pump, Leon decided to stay as chief of my service crew. He just didn’t have good luck at this rally. We headed out 50 miles or so to stage three. We got there in time, but we had to unload behind everyone else and were nearly late! Good thing Alex is a star volleyball player and can run fast! For some reason, the start order of the stage got scrambled and I had a lot of faster people behind me. And this, a five mile hill climb, was not a stage to pass on. But that was the least of my problems. I hit the gas to start, and thing weren’t sounding too happy. Prince was sputtering, bogging down. This stage was the reason I had begged for a new engine and now it was acting like the old engine! I was frustrated. I climbed nearly 5,000 feet and each foot was agony. First gear made too many revs, second gear not enough. Then I got passed by Don Shrier in his RX-7 who should have been six or seven cars ahead of me, so I was angrily riding near the edge of the hill, getting mad. Then at the top it was super slippy from melting snow, and I missed the gear change into first gear… and then it was all over. I had finished another stage and was only one stage away from finishing day one, my first mini-rally! But I was still not happy with my car.

Lugging it up the hill.

After a short break, we all caravanned back down the mountain for a short service. The guys jumped on the car immediately- apparently they knew what was wrong as soon as I drove Prince to the start. Luckily, before I lost it, Alex told me not to worry and explained the probably cause of our problems- unlike injected cars, cars with carburetors don’t have an air/fuel sensor that adjusts the air/fuel mixture to compensate for altitude changes, so as they climb higher the carburetors get flooded and literally ‘choke’! And that’s what was happening. Duh. I’m not too keen with car anatomy yet, though I am trying to change that! Big Tom changed the jets in the carburetors; while Leon fixed my engine’s timing- it had slipped 16 degrees out of time! Both problems were fixed in less than ten minutes and needed only a screwdriver. I was back in line for the next run with lots of time to spare.

I waited alone, watching the sun set as Prince burbled away. Everyone else would get to run in the daylight, but I’d get stuck in the dark. At least the RX-7 was in front of me. This time around it was a much better run. There was lots of sideways and more power, although the space between first and second gears felt funny, like there was too much space. The important thing was that I was having fun this time! I was a lot more comfortable going fast and I took a good 90 seconds off of my first time. It was very cold on top of the hill, in the dark windy desert, so I saved the victory dance for the service area below. And it would be a big dance because I had just conquered a little rally, and 1/3 or a big one!

We made it back to the hotel in time for me to drive over the ramp. I liked that ramp and wanted Alex to experience it too! I ate early and stayed away from the party in the main service area. I had just finished a day, but had quite literally 100s of miles ahead of me! I felt like the rally had barely begun. Tomorrow would be a 5 a.m. start. I was so tired that night I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!

Back to Diary of a Driver.