After the hard push to make High Desert Trails Rally, preparing the car for Idaho Rally was simple: fix the radiator fans, apply some vinyls, ziptie a few miscellaneous items, and reinstall the spare tire and floor jack. Loading the trailer, as always, took a few hours. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find a service crew in time for this event, which ended up being a bit of a pain ,since we had nobody to drive the service rig. We drove all day Thursday and made it just in time to finish registration. Friday morning, bright and early, we made our way to the service area in Placerville and were amazed by the beautiful scene into which we drove. Placerville is a picturesque town that was frozen in time, nestled in the woods outside of Boise and it was to be invaded by rally cars and action, all weekend long. The locals were some of the most cheerful and friendly folks I have ever encountered. It was like heaven up there.
While most people went out on Recce on Friday, we had to set up our service area since we didn't have a crew. We also went down the tech inspection list and double checked everything and made any necessary adjustments or improvements. Skipping Recce did have one advantage, though. We got dibs on where we wanted to service and managed to find a spot where we had shade most hours of the day. We had gotten a little taste of one of the stages on the drive in and we were so excited. The roads in Idaho are simply amazing. I was told that a million times, by different people, but you won't understand until you drive them yourself. We wrapped it up at the service area and made our way down to park exposé. I decided it would be a good idea to give the car a quick wash to get all of the Glen Helen mud and Cal City dust off, but that didn't go as smoothly as intended. As we sat in the drive-thru wash, water began pouring down the inside of the firewall, flooding our feet with roughly four inches of soapy water. We waited it out after being splashed several more times, only to emerge from the wash, still dirty. The next ten minutes of bailing water out of the car and drying the still-unpainted cage while anxiously watching the time on the clock melt away as we became late for park exposé was comical.
We made it to tech thinking all was in order, but that quickly changed. Our windshield wipers and horn were inoperable. After some more consideration by the scrutineer, the horn was excused, but we were given a pass as long as we fixed the wipers. We pulled out of the tech area and immediately went to work on the wipers. The first item of business was to reindex them so that they could move through their full range of travel. Upon doing that, it became apparent that the full range of travel was being restricted by more than just the blades themselves. The wiper pivot was hitting the part of the cage that went through the firewall. Frustrated, I was worried I would have to go home and modify the cage, but it is easy to miss simple solutions when you're under pressure. Jason Lightner took a quick look and bent the metal of the body shell where the wiper pivot bolted in and that solved the problem. We had wipers, we passed tech, this was going to happen without a doubt! I ran straight to the truck and grabbed a victory root beer that I had been saving for this moment. I could finally relax for a second, but two seconds later, Nick and I had to be at the Novice Meeting. After the meeting, we headed back to our premium, dog-friendly, smoker suite at the Motel 6. I couldn't help but snap this picture before hopping in the car:
With the start of the rally coming quite early and a 45 minute transit ahead of us, the morning came real soon at 4:30 am. We made it to the start of the rally where there was a brief driver's meeting and we were informed that cars that were 20 or more seconds faster than the car ahead of them would be issued a "two minute card." This would allow the following car an extra minute start interval to prevent them from catching up to the car ahead. This was our first rally and without an established speed rating, we had to start at the back of the pack. I had one goal: I wanted one of those two minute cards. After the driver's meeting, we had to wait roughly an hour and fifteen minutes for our start time in which we met many of our fellow competitors.
We made it to the start line, where I felt surprisingly more relaxed than I imagined I would be. Everything was going smoothly and according to plan. All I had to do was finish. I started my first stage and everything felt right, but there was still some disconnect between the pacenotes and my actions. I drove what I saw and tried to listen to the notes, but we just weren't on the same rhythm yet. We caught the car in front of us in under a minute. At this point, there was a ton of dust and we couldn't see a thing and Nick got lost in the notes, making it even more difficult to anticipate the next corner. Luckily, we were going slow enough that it really didn't make that much of a difference. We reached the finish and were informed that we would be receiving a "two minute card." I had achieved my goal for the morning on the first stage with a time 45 seconds faster than the car ahead of me. A short transit dumped us right back at service in Placerville which was now quite busy.
Stage two went better than stage one. I didn't catch the car ahead and was able to put down a much faster time. Nick got lost a couple times, but it didn't take much time for him to get back on track and when he was, he was right on. With two rolled cars on stage two, I began to get a little bit nervous as I realized just how easy it would be for me to be one of the rolled cars. Metaphorically, I felt like I was driving a narrow road on the edge of a cliff surrounded by rocks and trees.... oh wait, that's rally. I wanted to be fast, but I knew I needed to stay well within my own limits and finish the rally or else I would undoubtedly end my season. A twelve mile transit at the end of stage two gave us plenty of time to review the previous few stages and catch our breath. Stage three was great, we were in perfect sync flying through the forest, until one note came a little late. I had to brake hard to slow enough for the oncoming right four minus, but even then I couldn't slow down quite enough. I overcooked the corner, ending facing backwards at the exit of the corner. By the time I had spun, the car was going slow enough that it was obvious that we weren't going off the road, so it was just a game of patience while the car did its thing. I immediately turned around and continued down the stage. I caught the car ahead of me again, this time with roughly three extremely technical stage miles left to go. This was a tough section, especially with the dust. Following stage three, we returned to service and excitedly awaited our reseed.
Our times got faster as the day went on and we continued to climb our way up. Unfortunately, we had lost so much time behind slower cars in the morning, that we couldn't climb beyond 7th in our class. By the end of the day, my endurance was slipping away and I couldn't wait for the rally to be over. I knew that each stage I ran was one stage closer to the death of my car. We finished stage six and the first day had come to a close.
Sunday was a new day and our wait for our start time decreased significantly. Our first stage was a dream, it was so perfect. By this point in the rally, Nick, the car, and myself were one machine. The second stage of the day did not go as anyone had planned. One of the other drivers wrapped his car around a tree and the stage was stopped so that he could be air lifted to the nearest hospital. Luckily, neither he nor his co driver sustained life threatening injuries (I wish them a speedy recovery). We continued on through the rest of the day, getting faster and faster. At the last service of the day with only one stage left to go, I decided to have a look at the scoreboard. To my surprise, we were sitting in 3rd place in Open Light class and 14th overall. I studied the results and we were only two seconds ahead of 4th place in our class. The driver just behind me had a slower time on stage one, but had been gaining on us by three or four seconds on each stage. It was the last stage of the day and I wanted to secure that podium finish in the regional standings and I knew I needed to push just a little bit harder even though I was already at the edge of my comfort zone. I reminded myself that finishing was more important that winning, so I just drove the road as relaxed as possible and finished the rally.
We did it. We finished. It had been a great first rally. It was so smooth that the most we had to do a service was tighten the lug nuts, clean the windshield, and check the oil. There are not many rallies that one can say that about. We walked up to the time control to watch the rest of the cars come in. I couldn't help but be curious if I had managed to stay ahead of that guy or not. Peaking over the Chief of Scoring's shoulder, I caught a glimpse of the times; I had beaten the other car by one second, increasing my lead to three seconds. Life was good; my first rally was a huge success!