Rallye Star!

	April 23, 2005 The day began with one of my first parc exposes. This was an exposition where fans could meet the competitors and rally cars, and as such I put out all of my stickers, fliers and Rallye Star beads on Prince’s windshield and hood. Amy and I handed out beads to everyone. Stig got some and he wore them all day. Leon and I put some on the long antenna of Matt Iorio’s Subaru, which amazingly stayed on through the whole rally! Little kids liked them and so did the older people and it made me feel really happy to see people wearing them. Before we left for the forest, we got to drive over the official Oregon Trail Rally ramp. I love ramps! Everyone watches you and takes pictures. Even if you’re at the end of the line, you feel just as important as the first car out. The transit was long and it was raining again. Amy ran through the stages with me and gave me some advice about driving in the rain. Being from the East coast, she was used to wet weather. After climbing a big hill and testing my brakes and braking distances (I’m still getting used to breaking hard) we were at the start. It was raining even harder and I had to borrow a handkerchief to clear the fog from the windshield. Prince’s vents weren’t working. I thought things would be pretty miserable when we started, but the windshield stayed clear and the rain wasn’t that bad. From the start, I was faster than I have ever been before. Leon had told me to be smooth on the throttle and breaks and to keep my right foot all the way down on either the brakes or the throttle. As I sped over the slimy and muddy ridge, I kept away from that pesky half on the throttle gray area, wanting to bring everything together, not to just finish but to get aggressive and to do what my co-driver friend Ole Hoelter called “taking names.” The name I was out to catch up to was Lockheart- Andrew and Robin, a brother and sister team in a Honda CRX whom I had literally been following since they were first in front of me at Gorman. They weren’t that far away from me and even on the first stage I made everything count. Perhaps I wouldn’t catch them, but I would try to run closely with them. It was a motivating goal for me. The stage was over before I knew it and I was very happy with my driving. And I was having lots of fun! We stopped in at service and Leon gave me some tips before we left for three long stages. Stage 7 was okay, but it really played with my head. It started on an incline and just kept climbing. First gear was too much and second was not enough. I kept switching gears and everything felt so slow! In reality, things weren’t so bad but I got frustrated and began to be ragged with the breaks and throttle. My lack of smoothness made Prince twitchy and I hit a few slippery parts of the road, making Prince walk and slide. I knew not to lift, but that little uncertainty made me question everything that I was doing. Stage 8 was just lackluster. I felt myself falling into the survivalist “just finish” mentality. For Stage 9, I stepped it up. Going up a hill, Amy got lost in the notes as I came into a L3 that tightened (Amy normally co-drives for a fast car and we were still finding our rhythm). I saw the corner as opening, but it wasn’t and I soon saw a mess of recently felled logs and branches over my hood! Luckily I didn’t damage anything and I got out of there while remaining calm and collected and blazed on up the hill. I still wasn’t as smooth as I wanted to be, but Amy kept rooting me on. I even overshot a corner once and according to Leon that means you’re really trying! We had another service and Leon took a walk with me. He told me that I was in fifth place in Group5 and reminded me to be smooth and to brake deeply. I didn’t want to be fifth- today was my Western States Rally Championship points day and everything counted! Yesterday I had worn a shirt that I made that said “I want to be like Michele.” Well, I thought, I’m ever going to be like Michele, I better start driving like her! And it was true- if I wanted to be fast in Prince, I would have to throw him around just like a Group B car. Stage 10 and 11 were repeats and I got angry- Why was I driving so slow? Why was I letting the corner win!?!? I was running hard and it was here that I discovered that happy hour is between six and eight, that is that between 6000 and 8000 RPM, Prince’s engine is on cam and producing maximum power. Warp speed ahead! I stayed for happy hour and kept my foot on the floor. Prince was dancing and we flew over the hills. It was way easier to drive and everything was coming together! At last, I was finally utilizing what Leon had told me and most importantly gaining confidence and knocking down mental hurdles! Stage 12 was one of the repeated hilly stages and again I went into attack mode. But there was a problem. Prince was stuttering between 4000 and 5000 RPM. The problem freaked me out and I drove harder, for certainly I was losing time! I finished the stage and drove back to service, afraid of DNFing and most significantly afraid of losing the car just as I was beginning to bring everything together. I was very negative and irritable and I yelled at Aaron and Leon. I immediately felt stupid for doing it. I took a walk to calm down. Before we left service we were told that we had a cracked exhaust. It had been heat wrapped and I would have to drive him hard enough to push beyond 5000 RPM. So he would make power. The next stage was short and we pushed through to the end. The rally was over and I had WSRC points! And it was fun! At the end of the day, for the Oregon or Bust Club Rally, Amy and I had taken third place in Group 5 and we were 25th out of 45 starters! I was really happy- I had gotten there with my hard work, not just because others had DNF’d! As we drove back to HQ there was a roundtable discussion about what we wanted to do tomorrow. If the exhaust could be fixed I wanted to keep running, to keep pushing myself harder than I ever had before. I also wanted the seat time and competition coefficients. There were a few concerns about Prince’s health as we got close to Rim, but the seat time would be worth the risk. Now all we needed was a welder! We stopped at rally HQ to look for scores and a welder. We didn’t find scores and Amy retired to the evening to prepare for tomorrow. Aaron and I split up to look for a welder. Behind HQ were all of the big teams. I went that way and thought about who had the biggest outfit and the most equipment. The clear answer was David Sutton Motorsports. I didn’t think that they would help someone like me, but I really wanted to run tomorrow. So I asked the DSM technicians and they were very much obliged! I couldn’t believe it! We had the exhaust out in 10 minutes. I held the flashlight as the kind Englishmen welded the huge rupture closed. They did an awesome job and even helped us to get it back into the car. They liked Prince and with Stig’s car coming out spotless, were glad to have something to do. We were very tired and hungry when everything was done. I don’t remember what I had for dinner, but the shower and warm bed were unforgettable! Back to Diary of a Driver.

April 23, 2005

Stig signs.

The day began with one of my first parc exposes. This was an exposition where fans could meet the competitors and rally cars, and as such I put out all of my stickers, fliers and Rallye Star beads on Prince’s windshield and hood. Amy and I handed out beads to everyone. Stig got some and he wore them all day. Leon and I put some on the long antenna of Matt Iorio’s Subaru, which amazingly stayed on through the whole rally! Little kids liked them and so did the older people and it made me feel really happy to see people wearing them.

Before we left for the forest, we got to drive over the official Oregon Trail Rally ramp. I love ramps! Everyone watches you and takes pictures. Even if you’re at the end of the line, you feel just as important as the first car out. The transit was long and it was raining again. Amy ran through the stages with me and gave me some advice about driving in the rain. Being from the East coast, she was used to wet weather. After climbing a big hill and testing my brakes and braking distances (I’m still getting used to breaking hard) we were at the start. It was raining even harder and I had to borrow a handkerchief to clear the fog from the windshield. Prince’s vents weren’t working.

The famous hairpin.

I thought things would be pretty miserable when we started, but the windshield stayed clear and the rain wasn’t that bad. From the start, I was faster than I have ever been before. Leon had told me to be smooth on the throttle and breaks and to keep my right foot all the way down on either the brakes or the throttle. As I sped over the slimy and muddy ridge, I kept away from that pesky half on the throttle gray area, wanting to bring everything together, not to just finish but to get aggressive and to do what my co-driver friend Ole Hoelter called “taking names.” The name I was out to catch up to was Lockheart- Andrew and Robin, a brother and sister team in a Honda CRX whom I had literally been following since they were first in front of me at Gorman. They weren’t that far away from me and even on the first stage I made everything count. Perhaps I wouldn’t catch them, but I would try to run closely with them. It was a motivating goal for me. The stage was over before I knew it and I was very happy with my driving. And I was having lots of fun!

We stopped in at service and Leon gave me some tips before we left for three long stages. Stage 7 was okay, but it really played with my head. It started on an incline and just kept climbing. First gear was too much and second was not enough. I kept switching gears and everything felt so slow! In reality, things weren’t so bad but I got frustrated and began to be ragged with the breaks and throttle. My lack of smoothness made Prince twitchy and I hit a few slippery parts of the road, making Prince walk and slide. I knew not to lift, but that little uncertainty made me question everything that I was doing. Stage 8 was just lackluster. I felt myself falling into the survivalist “just finish” mentality. For Stage 9, I stepped it up. Going up a hill, Amy got lost in the notes as I came into a L3 that tightened (Amy normally co-drives for a fast car and we were still finding our rhythm). I saw the corner as opening, but it wasn’t and I soon saw a mess of recently felled logs and branches over my hood! Luckily I didn’t damage anything and I got out of there while remaining calm and collected and blazed on up the hill. I still wasn’t as smooth as I wanted to be, but Amy kept rooting me on. I even overshot a corner once and according to Leon that means you’re really trying!

Going fast.

We had another service and Leon took a walk with me. He told me that I was in fifth place in Group5 and reminded me to be smooth and to brake deeply. I didn’t want to be fifth- today was my Western States Rally Championship points day and everything counted! Yesterday I had worn a shirt that I made that said “I want to be like Michele.” Well, I thought, I’m ever going to be like Michele, I better start driving like her! And it was true- if I wanted to be fast in Prince, I would have to throw him around just like a Group B car. Stage 10 and 11 were repeats and I got angry- Why was I driving so slow? Why was I letting the corner win!?!? I was running hard and it was here that I discovered that happy hour is between six and eight, that is that between 6000 and 8000 RPM, Prince’s engine is on cam and producing maximum power. Warp speed ahead! I stayed for happy hour and kept my foot on the floor. Prince was dancing and we flew over the hills. It was way easier to drive and everything was coming together! At last, I was finally utilizing what Leon had told me and most importantly gaining confidence and knocking down mental hurdles!

Stage 12 was one of the repeated hilly stages and again I went into attack mode. But there was a problem. Prince was stuttering between 4000 and 5000 RPM. The problem freaked me out and I drove harder, for certainly I was losing time! I finished the stage and drove back to service, afraid of DNFing and most significantly afraid of losing the car just as I was beginning to bring everything together. I was very negative and irritable and I yelled at Aaron and Leon. I immediately felt stupid for doing it. I took a walk to calm down.

Before we left service we were told that we had a cracked exhaust. It had been heat wrapped and I would have to drive him hard enough to push beyond 5000 RPM. So he would make power. The next stage was short and we pushed through to the end. The rally was over and I had WSRC points! And it was fun! At the end of the day, for the Oregon or Bust Club Rally, Amy and I had taken third place in Group 5 and we were 25th out of 45 starters! I was really happy- I had gotten there with my hard work, not just because others had DNF’d!

David Sutton Motorsports stepped up to help us.

David Sutton Motorsports stepped up to help us.

As we drove back to HQ there was a roundtable discussion about what we wanted to do tomorrow. If the exhaust could be fixed I wanted to keep running, to keep pushing myself harder than I ever had before. I also wanted the seat time and competition coefficients. There were a few concerns about Prince’s health as we got close to Rim, but the seat time would be worth the risk. Now all we needed was a welder!

We stopped at rally HQ to look for scores and a welder. We didn’t find scores and Amy retired to the evening to prepare for tomorrow. Aaron and I split up to look for a welder. Behind HQ were all of the big teams. I went that way and thought about who had the biggest outfit and the most equipment. The clear answer was David Sutton Motorsports. I didn’t think that they would help someone like me, but I really wanted to run tomorrow. So I asked the DSM technicians and they were very much obliged! I couldn’t believe it! We had the exhaust out in 10 minutes. I held the flashlight as the kind Englishmen welded the huge rupture closed. They did an awesome job and even helped us to get it back into the car. They liked Prince and with Stig’s car coming out spotless, were glad to have something to do. We were very tired and hungry when everything was done. I don’t remember what I had for dinner, but the shower and warm bed were unforgettable!

Back to Diary of a Driver.