Buena Vista Hill Climb Report and In-car!
29-06-2009, 09:42 PM
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Buena Vista Hill Climb Report and In-car!
My car is technically a Merkur XR4ti so powered by Ford 2.3 engine. Thought some here might be interested though...
So in the aftermath of a thunderstorm, Mark and I departed Denver for the Buena Vista Hill Climb. This is one of the most favorite events as it's the most rally like road with tight and twisty sections and fast sections. Approximately 3 miles in length the road has wide and narrow sections, jumps, deep cuts, and is definitely one of the most technical roads raced on in Colorado. There were 8 entries in Rally 2WD but our sights were set on first place taking on John Conley in his Dodge Neon SRT4 (Andrew Sutherland's old car.) After the first practice run we were 10 seconds back on John and 5-10 seconds ahead of third place. I'm typically slow the first run and taking it easy so this made me very optimistic that we could catch him. The second run on the third corner the hood started lifting. Fuck! I forgot the hood pins. Trying to limp the car to a safe place to pull off near a radio control the hood flies up and takes out the windshield. We park and then drive back up to service once the road is reopened. I start making calls and sending messages looking for a windshield. Meanwhile, Vicky Keeney went around and talked to her husband Jim Keeney who's the tech director as well as all of the rally class and it was agreed that we could run without a windshield as long as we wore eye protection. A fellow 2WD rallyist, Aaron Helton, had a brother racing quads and he loaned us two pairs of goggles to use. We finished removing the windshield and cleaning all the glass just in time to make it for the third and final run of the day. We cut 11 seconds off our first run and were only 9 seconds off of John. A few beers, a huge Colorado Rally Cup BBQ in service, huge bonfire with Mark Malsom doing ninja rolls across a 10 foot tall fire, three more recce passes to figure out where we felt we could get more time and to further familiarize myself with the course then off to the tent. Morning comes and I run into town to buy more water and get one last solo recce run up the road before the driver's meeting. First run comes and we cut 6 seconds off our fastest time and get within six seconds of John. We review the in-car video and figure out a few spots where I can make up some time. Final run of the day comes and we have an absolute blast even though the intercom starts cutting out. In the end we settle for second place only 3 seconds behind John, and 6 seconds off of the overall 2WD Rally record. I think if we'd gotten that 2nd run in we possibly could have gotten closer, and maybe even beaten him. Regardless we had a blast and learned alot. The 125 mile drive back to Denver without eye protection other than our glasses kinda sucked, but other than that it was a great weekend! I'll post a picture of myself with the trophy probably tonight or tomorrow. And maybe some of the pictures of the Colorado Rally Crew all sporting Juha moustaches for this event. There were 15-20 or more rally guys that all grew them and wore them for the weekend. Some full beard rally drivers got shaved when they got there too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceyGqdzjrvQ
So in the aftermath of a thunderstorm, Mark and I departed Denver for the Buena Vista Hill Climb. This is one of the most favorite events as it's the most rally like road with tight and twisty sections and fast sections. Approximately 3 miles in length the road has wide and narrow sections, jumps, deep cuts, and is definitely one of the most technical roads raced on in Colorado. There were 8 entries in Rally 2WD but our sights were set on first place taking on John Conley in his Dodge Neon SRT4 (Andrew Sutherland's old car.) After the first practice run we were 10 seconds back on John and 5-10 seconds ahead of third place. I'm typically slow the first run and taking it easy so this made me very optimistic that we could catch him. The second run on the third corner the hood started lifting. Fuck! I forgot the hood pins. Trying to limp the car to a safe place to pull off near a radio control the hood flies up and takes out the windshield. We park and then drive back up to service once the road is reopened. I start making calls and sending messages looking for a windshield. Meanwhile, Vicky Keeney went around and talked to her husband Jim Keeney who's the tech director as well as all of the rally class and it was agreed that we could run without a windshield as long as we wore eye protection. A fellow 2WD rallyist, Aaron Helton, had a brother racing quads and he loaned us two pairs of goggles to use. We finished removing the windshield and cleaning all the glass just in time to make it for the third and final run of the day. We cut 11 seconds off our first run and were only 9 seconds off of John. A few beers, a huge Colorado Rally Cup BBQ in service, huge bonfire with Mark Malsom doing ninja rolls across a 10 foot tall fire, three more recce passes to figure out where we felt we could get more time and to further familiarize myself with the course then off to the tent. Morning comes and I run into town to buy more water and get one last solo recce run up the road before the driver's meeting. First run comes and we cut 6 seconds off our fastest time and get within six seconds of John. We review the in-car video and figure out a few spots where I can make up some time. Final run of the day comes and we have an absolute blast even though the intercom starts cutting out. In the end we settle for second place only 3 seconds behind John, and 6 seconds off of the overall 2WD Rally record. I think if we'd gotten that 2nd run in we possibly could have gotten closer, and maybe even beaten him. Regardless we had a blast and learned alot. The 125 mile drive back to Denver without eye protection other than our glasses kinda sucked, but other than that it was a great weekend! I'll post a picture of myself with the trophy probably tonight or tomorrow. And maybe some of the pictures of the Colorado Rally Crew all sporting Juha moustaches for this event. There were 15-20 or more rally guys that all grew them and wore them for the weekend. Some full beard rally drivers got shaved when they got there too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceyGqdzjrvQ
30-06-2009, 09:15 PM
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Not sure on the SRT4's displacement, but it's a high spec car with around 450 hp. We're closer to 200. The difference is way noticeable in the speeds at end. They radar an in speed and out speed in the last straight. We were in at 80 mph, the Neon was 81 mph. We were out at 87, the Neon was out at 97.
Car has a roof, just camera couldn't see it.
We drove the rally car the 125 miles to the event. The service area is at the top of the road so we were like, we should just do the first pass of recce on our drive up. We camped all weekend and the only thing we had to write on was paper plates. Then we thought it'd be funny to keep using the dinner plates for our notes.
The 125 mile drive back without a windscreen wasn't much fun but luckily didn't hit any rain.
Car has a roof, just camera couldn't see it.
We drove the rally car the 125 miles to the event. The service area is at the top of the road so we were like, we should just do the first pass of recce on our drive up. We camped all weekend and the only thing we had to write on was paper plates. Then we thought it'd be funny to keep using the dinner plates for our notes.
The 125 mile drive back without a windscreen wasn't much fun but luckily didn't hit any rain.
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