New England Forest Rally 2012 Recap
This year, we decided to skip recce and drive up Thursday morning. Expecting the trip to take longer than planned, I figured we'd leave by 7am and arrive there after tech closed (at 7pm). To my surprise, we got on the road a little earlier and made excellent time. We arrived in time to register and tech that night so we didn't have to rush in the morning. We were off to a good start already!
The first stage of the rally on Friday is a short super special at Sunday River Ski Resort (where rally hq is). We don't do especially well on these short stages because by the time it's our turn, the start line is a mess and we can't find any traction. Stage 2 is Concord Pond. This one is famous for being fast with some good yumps. I made 1 mistake and overshot a turn, so we lost a little time there, but still did alright, but more importantly, the truck feels pretty good. The next 2 stages are the same 16 mile road run forwards and then backwards. About 6 miles into it, something happens and the car loses all power. I'm on the gas and all it does it makes noise, but doesn't really rev at all. I look down and the oil pressure looks ok, but the water temp is a little high. Fearing the worst, I pull over at the next clearing and decide that it's not worth pushing it another 10 miles if there is any chance we can fix it overnight. We have to wait for the last couple cars to finish the stage, then for everyone to finish in the other direction before we can get picked up, so we get the folding chairs out and relax. This was at approximately 4pm. Antoine is the first to go by in the other direction, and that's when I suddenly remembered 1 critical fact about spectating - ROCKS!!!!!! I dove behind the Jeep to avoid getting hit, but I have a welt on my thigh still. I thought after Crazy Leo went by, we might be safe....but Will Orders in the Silvia managed to break the rear window with a spray of rocks.
Around 8pm is when Jesse finds us with the trailer. It's going to be another hour or so before we make it back to Sunday River, so Pat and Lee take off to see if they can secure some parts (head gasket, spark plugs, etc) and some food while we load the trailer. About 9:30 we arrive at Sunday River, and I get a call from Pat. They couldn't find any open parts stores at that time, and they are at the pizzeria. As the story goes, the place was closed, but there were some locals in there drinking still. The owner said "f*ck it!" and decided to make us food anyway. While chatting, one of the other locals sitting there overhead them say they were looking for parts. He asked for what, and when they said "a Jeep", his response was "are you screwing with me?" It turns out that this guy, Jeff, has a repair shop and a bone yard with 200+ Jeeps. He's the local Jeep God. He said he might have a head gasket at his shop, and we were welcome to use his place to do any work we needed.
We show up at his place a little while later. He asks us what we need to do, and since we aren't really sure what's wrong, we decide to start testing stuff. He hands us a coolant pressure tester and says "you should probably do this because I'm pretty drunk". Coolant system checks out. Spark plugs look ok. Compression test is fine. Fuel pressure is in spec. He even had an ODB1 scanner to read the ecu with (I didn't even know you could do that on a Jeep). Since everything seems ok, I take it for a quick spin to see if it's still acting up. Sure enough, same symptoms, no power, just exhaust noise. He asks me some qualifying questions about the nature of the sound and concludes that it's probably the cat. He checks the temp of the exhaust pre and post cat to confirm. A few minutes with a torch and that problem is solved. He even tossed in a new rear window for us, and it's only 2am at this point...I will actually get to sleep!!!!
Saturday starts off the same way, same Parc Expose, same Sunday River super special stage, same crappy start. But the car actually feels faster than it was before (and it probably is a little). The rest of the day was a blast. The roads were really flowy, mostly 5s and 6s with the occasional 4 or 3+. I think there was only one turn that was a 2 all day. With ever corner, the car feels like it has more to give, so I slow escalate my driving....until I tried to take a slippery corner a shade too fast. Slid wide and into the ditch. I thought we were going to roll over with how deep it was, but since we didn't slide sideways into anything and didn't roll, I got right back on the gas and drive right through that ditch for 15-20 feet before I got out of it. Thank god there wasn't anything large and immobile hiding in the brush. I asked the stage finish workers if all the tires have air, and when the said yes, I didn't give it a second thought. It wasn't until we made it back to service that I saw the damage on the wheel....but it held air so we just loaded a second spare tire in the truck just in case.
The rest of the day seems to fly by, and we keep the pace up...even on transit (I wanted to make sure I had enough time to stop at Subway for food on the way to Service). The wheel held out just fine, and we get back to Sunday River in one piece. I check the results, and I can't believe how well we did. On Stage 6, we were 2nd fastest regionally, behind an Evo.
A huge thanks to Jeff and Matt at Gaudreau's Repairs, 560 Walkers Mills Rd, Bethel, Maine.
I can't forget to say thanks to
Warrior Products and to the crew, Jesse and Pat - these events wouldn't happen without you guys!
Saturday Regional Results:
http://rally-america.com/events/2012/BRR/results/
