Our goal for qualifying was to have a clean run, not push the car and risk breakage, and secure a decent starting position. We executed our plan perfectly.
We pre-ran the qualifying course the night before. With every lap we put down we got more and more confident, mostly with our line on the rock face. While waiting in line for qualifying, we got word the jumps had 3' added to them. Not being super familiar with how the car handles in the air, I chose to check up pretty good on the jumps. I'm actually glad I did, because from the video, and in the car, it nosed down pretty good. This was surprising because we spent so much time trying to build a very balanced car. With more speed and more air, it would have just been that much worse. I definitely didn't want to be the guy who endo's during qualifying.
We ran the same line on the rock face that we practiced the night before. You can see on the video we had to search for traction a bit at the bottom, but she eventually stuck and pulled up. These cars go against everything we learned rec wheeling. My mind constantly says to let off and re-align, but in reality you absolutely have to keep your momentum and just commit. These cars are so overbuilt, it's amazing what they can take.
Ian Johnson who was commentating about the shifting during our run was spot on. We run an Atlas 2-speed 3:0, and there was no way in hell I wanted to shoot that face in high range. The amount of time we lost shifting to low was worth the added control.
All in all we had a solid run, but the competition is fierce. We ended up about mid pack on starting position. Props to the guys putting down 2:00 times, very impressive. Will we choose to qualify next year, absolutely.
