Rallye Star!

	April 24, 2005 The morning opened with another parc expose and some new problems. Prince was running well with the fixed exhaust, but was no down on power. Something wasn’t right. Leon and Aaron popped the hood and checked the engine. There was oil in two of the four cylinders and that wasn’t good. He had also been misfiring. Amy and Aaron rushed out for new spark plugs while I sat around helplessly handing out beads. We put a new set of spark plugs in and there was a possibility that the oil in the cylinders was from the valve guides. We got the okay to rally, but we’d have to push it to the max. Prince anemically made it over the start ramp. He felt tired and I’m sure that he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a nice and cozy box trailer. The trip out to the stage was slow. Prince couldn’t rev higher than 3500 RPM and would stutter as soon as he hit that level. Being that low in the revs meant that we had no power at all. We figured that we were running on two cylinders. It was very hard getting up to the hill where the stage began, but we did it. Right there and then Amy and I decided that we would press on regardless and go until we couldn’t go anymore. Three miles in everyone left at the back of the line had passed us. A huge hill lay in front of us and the fast sweep was close behind. Prince was giving that hill his all, but he was coughing and sputtering at 500 RPM. We stopped moving forward and Prince’s engine stopped. We slid backward, nearly hitting the sweep but the sweep somehow managed to tow us to the top of the hill. When they told us that we’d be there for at least five hours as the stage would be ran again, I had to take action. I wasn’t going to sit around in the woods for five hours so I defiantly said that if I did not get helped out of the stage I’d drive out the way I came in. Having been a volunteer stage worker before I knew that if I drove backward on the stage, the stage would have to be shut down. They wanted to keep the stage hot so the heavy sweep was called in. I really didn’t want to be mean like that but the weather was not so nice, we had no food or water and I didn’t feel safe alone in the woods. The heavy sweep threw us a rope and we hung on for dear life. That morning I had asked Stig how to drive an old, sick car relatively fast and he told me to keep the power on with my right foot and brake with my left. Ironically that was what I was doing now as I worked to keep the tow strap tight and to keep Prince’s RPMs up. The road was very nice and I hoped that I could come back next year. Leon and Aaron met us when we came out. The sweep guys were very nice and stayed until they knew that we were okay. All of the fuss aside, the course workers were really great. Alongside the road Aaron and Leon discovered that the distributor cap was completely fried. We didn’t have another one. We searched for one in the town where the service area was situated but everything was closed on Sunday. We happily called it a day. Today would have just been practice anyway. Amy left early for North Carolina while the rest of us socialized around the service area. Of course David Sutton’s team wanted the whole story and nearly everyone else asked too. Their support meant a lot to me and in turn I went out to cheer on my fellow competitors. When everyone left for the last stages of the day we packed up and headed home to ready for the awards banquet. The banquet was held in a beautiful roadhouse. The food was good, but unfortunately with my braces, I couldn’t eat much of it. As I ate I was really excited and nervous about what I was going to say when I got my trophy. I had many people to thank and I didn’t want to forget anyone. They gave the ProRally awards first and many people left after that. When I got up there I had to thank all of my sponsors; Tombstone Paintball, Worr Games, Chaste Automotive, and Techno Square. Leon, Aaron and Amy were great, taking care of Prince and I. I also had to thank Marko Lovell and Roger Freeman who lost their lives during this rally a few years ago. My brother was lucky enough to have met them at the Rim of the World Rally. They were very friendly and their kindness helped bring my brother and I into the rallying community. We will never forget them. At last I had to tell people just how cool the DSM team were and how they had helped me. And of course Stig, who is full of useful advice about how to drive slow cars fast. The rally was just awesome and I had to let everyone know. I procured an Oregon Rally poster and made everyone sign it. Leon did, so did Lauchlin O’Sullivan even though he thought it was a funny thing to do for a friend. Jamie Thomas, a fellow female driver signed it too. Stig signed it and so did all of the guys who fixed my exhaust. I was looking for my friend Kala to sign it and I found her talking to David Sutton, who had partaken freely of the libations at the banquet. He quickly grabbed Kala on one arm and me on the other and began rambling on about hooking up with us at rally HQ. I tried to get him to sign my poster and I had to give him some beads before he did it. Then he tried to kiss me and I ran off! Stig left me with some more advice and after a long time we all made it back to our hotel. I was very tired and happy. I was looking forward to keeping up the aggressive driving I’d done here and to keep pushing the envelope as I tackled Rim and began taking names! Back to Diary of a Driver.

April 24, 2005

Amy and I were ready to press on regardless.

The morning opened with another parc expose and some new problems. Prince was running well with the fixed exhaust, but was no down on power. Something wasn’t right. Leon and Aaron popped the hood and checked the engine. There was oil in two of the four cylinders and that wasn’t good. He had also been misfiring. Amy and Aaron rushed out for new spark plugs while I sat around helplessly handing out beads. We put a new set of spark plugs in and there was a possibility that the oil in the cylinders was from the valve guides. We got the okay to rally, but we’d have to push it to the max.

Prince anemically made it over the start ramp. He felt tired and I’m sure that he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a nice and cozy box trailer. The trip out to the stage was slow. Prince couldn’t rev higher than 3500 RPM and would stutter as soon as he hit that level. Being that low in the revs meant that we had no power at all. We figured that we were running on two cylinders. It was very hard getting up to the hill where the stage began, but we did it. Right there and then Amy and I decided that we would press on regardless and go until we couldn’t go anymore.

Heading out in limp mode.

Three miles in everyone left at the back of the line had passed us. A huge hill lay in front of us and the fast sweep was close behind. Prince was giving that hill his all, but he was coughing and sputtering at 500 RPM. We stopped moving forward and Prince’s engine stopped. We slid backward, nearly hitting the sweep but the sweep somehow managed to tow us to the top of the hill. When they told us that we’d be there for at least five hours as the stage would be ran again, I had to take action. I wasn’t going to sit around in the woods for five hours so I defiantly said that if I did not get helped out of the stage I’d drive out the way I came in. Having been a volunteer stage worker before I knew that if I drove backward on the stage, the stage would have to be shut down. They wanted to keep the stage hot so the heavy sweep was called in. I really didn’t want to be mean like that but the weather was not so nice, we had no food or water and I didn’t feel safe alone in the woods.

The heavy sweep threw us a rope and we hung on for dear life. That morning I had asked Stig how to drive an old, sick car relatively fast and he told me to keep the power on with my right foot and brake with my left. Ironically that was what I was doing now as I worked to keep the tow strap tight and to keep Prince’s RPMs up. The road was very nice and I hoped that I could come back next year. Leon and Aaron met us when we came out. The sweep guys were very nice and stayed until they knew that we were okay. All of the fuss aside, the course workers were really great. Alongside the road Aaron and Leon discovered that the distributor cap was completely fried. We didn’t have another one. We searched for one in the town where the service area was situated but everything was closed on Sunday.

Despite our problems, I had a good time.

Despite our problems, I had a good time.

We happily called it a day. Today would have just been practice anyway. Amy left early for North Carolina while the rest of us socialized around the service area. Of course David Sutton’s team wanted the whole story and nearly everyone else asked too. Their support meant a lot to me and in turn I went out to cheer on my fellow competitors. When everyone left for the last stages of the day we packed up and headed home to ready for the awards banquet.

The banquet was held in a beautiful roadhouse. The food was good, but unfortunately with my braces, I couldn’t eat much of it. As I ate I was really excited and nervous about what I was going to say when I got my trophy. I had many people to thank and I didn’t want to forget anyone. They gave the ProRally awards first and many people left after that. When I got up there I had to thank all of my sponsors; Tombstone Paintball, Worr Games, Chaste Automotive, and Techno Square. Leon, Aaron and Amy were great, taking care of Prince and I. I also had to thank Marko Lovell and Roger Freeman who lost their lives during this rally a few years ago. My brother was lucky enough to have met them at the Rim of the World Rally. They were very friendly and their kindness helped bring my brother and I into the rallying community. We will never forget them. At last I had to tell people just how cool the DSM team were and how they had helped me. And of course Stig, who is full of useful advice about how to drive slow cars fast. The rally was just awesome and I had to let everyone know.

I procured an Oregon Rally poster and made everyone sign it. Leon did, so did Lauchlin O’Sullivan even though he thought it was a funny thing to do for a friend. Jamie Thomas, a fellow female driver signed it too. Stig signed it and so did all of the guys who fixed my exhaust. I was looking for my friend Kala to sign it and I found her talking to David Sutton, who had partaken freely of the libations at the banquet. He quickly grabbed Kala on one arm and me on the other and began rambling on about hooking up with us at rally HQ. I tried to get him to sign my poster and I had to give him some beads before he did it. Then he tried to kiss me and I ran off! Stig left me with some more advice and after a long time we all made it back to our hotel. I was very tired and happy. I was looking forward to keeping up the aggressive driving I’d done here and to keep pushing the envelope as I tackled Rim and began taking names!

Back to Diary of a Driver.