Mt. Hood Rally!!

Although everything didn’t go exactly as planned, Whiteout Rally made it through the weekend in one piece and finished the event. Friday went surprisingly well, we were able to complete 2 passes on Seventeen South and Fir Mountain, and 1 on Gihouley. We felt good about our notes, especially for it being both Tuesday and I’s first time writing them. The car showed up while we were still out on recce, so as soon as we got into the service park we hoped in to take offfor tech. Just as we were going to pull out, Tuesday noticed our tail lights weren’t working. A few quick checks found a fuse under the hood was to blame and we were off to the Parkdale fire department. Just after we had got the all clear from inspection and were about to pull out, a fire was called in. Trying our best to stay out of everyone’s way, we happily sat in the car watching the volunteer fireman’s trucks come flying into the station and the occupants jumping out and into their gear. After the firetruck raced off, we headed back to the service park to put the car under the tent for the night. The brakes felt a bit soft so we planned to get up a few hours early and bleed them one more time to clear any remaining bubbles that may have been hiding in the handbrake.

November 7, 2010 · 2 min · 239 words · Colin Osborne

We got a few small bubbles out of the brakes, and started to put the wheels back on.

The rotor had cracked all the way through at what appeared to be a casting flaw.

Instead of being vented, they were solid casts, about a quarter inch thinner and smaller in diameter.

With just less then 5 minutes before our departure time, we got the car driving!

Second stage went very well, even with a small spin just a couple turns before the finish.

It was a downhill turn that was a bit more wet then other parts of the stage.

The rear end just stepped out and even with full throttle wouldn’t come back.

Before our second service, we headed back for a second pass of road Seventeen.

We again caught the car in front of us and were stuck for a little while.

Even so, we dropped 44 seconds off our first time to finish 55 seconds off the top time.

Only a mile into the stage, we experienced a major mechanical issue.

Tuesday jumped out with the triangles and I got the cable off the terminal battery.

By time we got going and finished the stage we were over 7 minutes behind our previous time.

For the rest of the event we backed off to preserve the car and just get seat time.

Although we ended up almost last, we were still happy having finished the event.