Thanks Bernie--
We missed you and many other US/CDN rally pals at Corona.
What a wild n crazy trip. Those who stayed home missed out on amazing adventures.
High points:
--ceremonial start, with 20,000 screaming fans (approximately 50% were stunningly gorgeous females) packed into narrow cobblestone streets of a medieval city.
--Peugeot Sport Mexico pit area: 10 Peugeot tents, catered dining area, a LIFT in the pits, piles of spare parts (plus some parts cars to scavenge other stuff off like lights and bumpers!)
--Rally Mex fans. people people everywhere. Did we mention about the gorgeous females? Erik signing autographs on very exciting anatomical places (will let him tell more about this!)
--Leon Poiliforum: gigantic indoor facility where the WRC service crews were set up. Watching the WRC mechanics attack a battered, busted, rolled-over car, then have it emerge 20 minutes later shining and fully functional, well it's a whole new outlook on the concept of "service"
--competing in a true spec series. The Peugeot 206 Cup cars are really quite equal, so that you do well by driving skill and strategy instead of your equipment budget. very refreshing, and leads to excellent battles on stage.
--"Taco" our team's rental Renault Clio recce car. Little silver hot hatch with considerable POS potential, but she really rallied and absorbed all the abuse and came back for more. Can you say, "Square wheels?"
Low points:
--Loss of power steering, which resulted in hitting a tree. (actually was not as bad as it could have been, by hitting the tree they didn't launch off a high banking!)
--2 drivers, 1 helmet in the car at WRC stage start. talk about LOWS! our crew did really well at recovering from this, it's a testament to friendship and maturity
--not speaking enough Spanish. missed out on a lot of useful info. getting directions on the road trying to find stage roads, etc was way more adventurous than necessary
Don't miss this event next year. It's like a week of watching WRC on Speed, only it's real and live and you are THERE.
Nigel P
LDR Directeur Sportif
"...Embrace loose gravel, beware big trees..."
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