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Despite very quick scoring after the event's end, many folks had to leave early for long treks home. (Otis Dimiters came drove all the way from NY alone; that's dedication!)
The top 3 finishers were:
Jake Rowlands: SU2 - 2.23 minutes
Josh Wimpey: MU2 - 2.25 minutes
Sean Witmer: MU2 - 2.32 minutes
The fast time of 0.68 was set by both Jake and Tim Aro.
Yes, the top 4 cars were 2WD, not 4WD, and those are very small total times. The event had some twists and turns due to the weather, as follows:
The course was set up in a grassy field over VA red clay with lots up hill and down dale sections. This would have been fine and interesting......except it showered the night before and rain fell throughout the first 2 hours, turning the red clay into a morass, that the 4WD cars in the first group run were struggling with. Some of the 4WD times were approaching 4 minutes over 0.6 miles, and many 2WD cars were stuck during the drive through; fun factor was nil and the event was halted. The course was changed out to take out the uphill tight sections, and the decision was made to score the best 3 stages instead of all 6.
After that, the rain stopped, the sun appeared, the course dried out, and the times dropped to 50 seconds or less...until the rain started again. Almost everyone had a shot at 3 runs where the course was drying; and we had some definite adrenaline induced "Yee-haa's" and "Hoo-ees" coming from the finish area by the end of the day. I definitely want to want to thank everyone for being understanding and agreeable to changing the event course and scoring structure in mid-stream.
Lessons learned for the organizers: On VA red clay, have both dry AND wet courses ready to go.
Lessons learned for competitors: If it looks like rain on a VA red clay rally-X course, switch to a modifed class and put on those Kuhmos. (We had 2WD cars on Kuhmos kicking tail over the 4WD cars with snow tires when it was really mucky.)
Special recognition goes to Todd Cohen who negotiatied the land use and really was the spark plug behind this event. And kudos to Glen Thompson (BRR's R.E.) who handled registration and did a fine job scoring.
For results, email me at [email protected] or to [email protected] for results. If I get some help, an HTML resutls sheet can be posted here. And they will make their way onto the Blue Ridge Region site (www.brr-scca.org) and and hopefully the DC Region rally site very soon.
We will know in a month or 2 if we can return to the Oak Ridge site, after some grass grows back from the reseeding! They are positive on racing, but maybe were not prepared for the bare paths beaten in their beautiful field. In the meanwhile, other sites will be sought in the area.
Please email me your comments and thoughts on the event, or just post them right here for the world to see. (Gawd knows I deserve whatever I get on this forum!)
And thanks again very muich for coming down, and making the event successful.
Mark Bowers
The top 3 finishers were:
Jake Rowlands: SU2 - 2.23 minutes
Josh Wimpey: MU2 - 2.25 minutes
Sean Witmer: MU2 - 2.32 minutes
The fast time of 0.68 was set by both Jake and Tim Aro.
Yes, the top 4 cars were 2WD, not 4WD, and those are very small total times. The event had some twists and turns due to the weather, as follows:
The course was set up in a grassy field over VA red clay with lots up hill and down dale sections. This would have been fine and interesting......except it showered the night before and rain fell throughout the first 2 hours, turning the red clay into a morass, that the 4WD cars in the first group run were struggling with. Some of the 4WD times were approaching 4 minutes over 0.6 miles, and many 2WD cars were stuck during the drive through; fun factor was nil and the event was halted. The course was changed out to take out the uphill tight sections, and the decision was made to score the best 3 stages instead of all 6.
After that, the rain stopped, the sun appeared, the course dried out, and the times dropped to 50 seconds or less...until the rain started again. Almost everyone had a shot at 3 runs where the course was drying; and we had some definite adrenaline induced "Yee-haa's" and "Hoo-ees" coming from the finish area by the end of the day. I definitely want to want to thank everyone for being understanding and agreeable to changing the event course and scoring structure in mid-stream.
Lessons learned for the organizers: On VA red clay, have both dry AND wet courses ready to go.
Lessons learned for competitors: If it looks like rain on a VA red clay rally-X course, switch to a modifed class and put on those Kuhmos. (We had 2WD cars on Kuhmos kicking tail over the 4WD cars with snow tires when it was really mucky.)
Special recognition goes to Todd Cohen who negotiatied the land use and really was the spark plug behind this event. And kudos to Glen Thompson (BRR's R.E.) who handled registration and did a fine job scoring.
For results, email me at [email protected] or to [email protected] for results. If I get some help, an HTML resutls sheet can be posted here. And they will make their way onto the Blue Ridge Region site (www.brr-scca.org) and and hopefully the DC Region rally site very soon.
We will know in a month or 2 if we can return to the Oak Ridge site, after some grass grows back from the reseeding! They are positive on racing, but maybe were not prepared for the bare paths beaten in their beautiful field. In the meanwhile, other sites will be sought in the area.
Please email me your comments and thoughts on the event, or just post them right here for the world to see. (Gawd knows I deserve whatever I get on this forum!)
And thanks again very muich for coming down, and making the event successful.
Mark Bowers
