Thanks for Rallye de Paris

[perodi]

Richard/Juanita et al.,

Just a quick thank you to you and all the workers for Saturday. We
had a great time. We were able to get class wins on every stage
in both events. (This feat was made easier by running unopposed.)

We did have some drama before the event (like trying to get thru tech)
and during the event (throwing a fan belt on the penultimate stage) but
the pick-up kept on humming.

Thanks to Dave Weiman for co-driving, and to "Mad Mike" for letting me
take CORT out for some stage time.

More later.

Rally On,
Patrick
truck #300

[J Cox]

Please pass along thanks to all who helped make the Paris rallies happen. We really enjoyed the events. Here's a "Top 13 List" of things we especially liked, because there was so much good stuff that I couldn't cut it down to 10:

13 -Small deer - We thought they were coyotes until we saw what appeared to be a 80 lb. 4-6 point buck! These little cute creatures would only damage your car instead of total it and potentially kill you (like the forest cows we are used to).

12 - Variety of cars (and trucks). Old, new, RWD, FWD, AWD, big motor, little motor, Production, Open, Air cooled, water cooled, water-then-air cooled (Chad), foreign, domestic, beautiful fresh prep, old backyard builds, classic rally cars, wierd stuff, ...

11 - Organizers ordered more pizza at dinner when they noticed they ran out.

10 -Concrete paddock - made service in the cold rain MUCH MUCH better than it would have been on grass or dirt.

9 -Tulips - A nice change of pace (literally) from Notes and keeps those road reading/odo skills from getting too rusty.

8 -Visual blockades - Since there is no tree line to read in many places, these allowed a much faster pace (more fun) on many parts of the course.

7 - Special tests - The tank trap and water crossing were great! I love to have to make these kinds of decisions (how fast to I dare hit that monster?, where do I put the tires?, etc.)

6 - Nice hotel at great price

5 -Free/warm/prepared lunch, indoors. This was HUGE given the weather!

4 -Multi-pass stages to allow practice at writing and changing notes at speed

3 - Supplied maps with instruction locations to allow you to get a head start at adding instructions before the event even started. Almost like 3-4 pass recce in some cases.

2 - Nice friendly people eveywhere, tech, workers, organizers, hotel staff, gas station cashiers,... Southern hospitality is real and wonderful ("Minnesota nice" does not even come close). I remember one particular female start control worker who would come over to warm her hands on our hood at each start, she was always smiling even though she was obviously getting quite uncomfortably cold and soggy as the day went on.

1 - Road quality and variety - I was prepared for monotonous, but was very pleasently surprised (and challenged) by a wide variety of surfaces, corners from 1-6, gottchas, forest and prarie style roads, and the rain changed things up a lot in some areas while not at all in others. A real drivers' treat/challenge IMHO.

Jim Cox
and the #558 team

[Mad Mike]

Richard/Juanita et al.,

Just a quick thank you to you and all the workers for Saturday. We
had a great time. We were able to get class wins on every stage
in both events. (This feat was made easier by running unopposed.)

We did have some drama before the event (like trying to get thru tech)
and during the event (throwing a fan belt on the penultimate stage) but
the pick-up kept on humming.

Thanks to Dave Weiman for co-driving, and to "Mad Mike" for letting me
take CORT out for some stage time.

More later.

Rally On,
Patrick
truck #300

Drama? The CORT had three events in its logbook - all dated in 2001! One fuse, one old Budweiser bottle cap, a small chunk of duct tape and a freon horn from WalMart was all the thing needed to pass. Shoot, there was more drama before tech getting Dave's belts clipped in! And then wedging Dave in that seat ... ;)

But it was a good display of teamwork, especially since the entire service effort consisted of offloading the CORT, adjusting the toe after a hard first pass through the tank trap, a splash of gas, replacement of the fan belt & a gallon of coolant, and lashing the CORT down after Patrick drove it onto the trailer at day's end. That's my kinda rally service!!!

Kudos to the three rookie teams who came to RdP and acquitted themselves admirably! Brianne Corn codrove the Acura for Dave Carapetyan a year ago but jumped into the driver's seat this year after removing the supercharger assembly so she could run in G2. She rounded out a busy month of November by logging second in class at both rallies (without leaving more bodywork scattered along the course than Dave tends to) despite having just run Baja! Lieutenant Murray and his dad were steady, unafraid to ask for clarifications, finished both events, took a pristine car home, had a great time and would have been first car on the road at one point had they not pointed out a 10-minute flyer to officials (a 10-plus-mile stage done in THREE minutes! Now THAT's haulin!). Then there was the hard-luck Huebbe Bros. who were the only rookie team debuting both their rally acumen and their car-building skills! Unfortunately, a minor hiccup like forgetting to top up fuel prior to starting the first stage found them logging a DNF even though they did get back out to log some stage miles prior to lunch. Then the tank trap took a bite out of the Bug's butt and ended their maiden rally effort three-point-five stages too early. Never the less, I thought they had an admirable first time out since there were no signs of red mist or other adrenaline-laced idiocy so often seen during rally debuts.

Finally, many thanks to the Millers for continuing their RdP legacy and thanks to everyone who shared the Paris rally experience last weekend. It's always fun rallying in Texas!