[robm]

I happened to be on the last corner of the final stage on Sunday when I caught what I would consider a "moment".
I'm just glad nothing serious occurred - blue umbrella/tent is the finish line, red things in trees are humans.

Kudos to Mr. Eklund for pulling off the save!


http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/eklund_ww01.jpg

http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/eklund_ww02.jpg

http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/eklund_ww03.jpg

http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/eklund_ww04.jpg

http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/eklund_ww05.jpg

http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/eklund_ww06.jpg

Short video clip (sorry 'bout the blur - gotta get me one of them cleaning tapes) is here.

http://home.attbi.com/~marssdorf/Eklund_Save.avi

Rob

 

[Roving Rally Man]

Just out of interest............Where are the triangles, the driver, co-driver?????? Did any spectators warn following cars???? Did the photographer (apparently standing on the outside of a sweeping corner....ahem!!!!) try to warn them?????

Like I said, just out of interest???

 

[john teeter]

I was there as well

Trinder was still moving/running...albeit VERY slowly(5 mph?).

as you can see from the pictures...he was trying to go to the inside to theoretically give paul the outside racing line...but unfortunately paul came through just as trinder was moving from outside to inside.

No one's fault. Great driving by Paul. Kudos

Oh, and the red jacket in the left side of the road...Doug Plumber with speedvision camera... Course I am not sure what he got...

And we did try to slow paul down...not sure if he saw us or not... it SEEMED like he slowed down in the corner...but was still going very fast when he came up on trinder

john

 

[KristenT]

According to Scott (Paul's co-driver, my boyfriend), he told Paul to go as fast as he could, as it was the finish of the last stage, they'd already run it once that day, and knew it was open, wide, and smooth. So Paul floored it, and they were going about 100mph on the approach, slowed somewhat for the corner, started swearing, swerved to miss, and barely missed.

From what Scott tells me, as they went by, he thought they had made contact, but it turns out it was just the rocks being thrown up by Paul's tires. But that's how close it was.

Scott figured when he saw Trinder that is was going to be either an extremely near miss, or a 100mph t-bone.

Too close for comfort! Don't know why Trinder just didn't pull his car through flying finish on the side of the road he was already on, and get out of the way instead of meandering that slowly (like, 5 mph) across the road. Something of driver brain fade, there.

Glad everyone is okay, though!

KT

 

[Primitive]

> So Paul floored it, and they
>were going about 100mph on the approach, slowed somewhat for
>the corner, started swearing, swerved to miss, and barely
>missed.
>
>

Well, truth be told, we probably were approaching the corner somewhat less than 100 MPH, because I was not quite at redline in 4th gear, but I was indeed moving and Scott was telling me not to lift...

I did see one person (spectator) give me the "slow down" sign and I did lift as I entered the sweeping corner. I estimate about 70MPH entry speed.

I did then see Trinder's car on the OUTSIDE of the corner and slowed to take the inside line. I then saw he was creeping along. As I committed to my corner, he veered directly across the road. He had no idea that I was there and was trying to get to the "safety" of the inside of this high speed corner. I can perfectly understand his actions (although I was a little "hot" when I got off stage and was still cleaning out my shorts).

I thought that I was going to hit him and get flung into the small group of red jacketed spectators...

Turns out the spectators were the AV Sport Team, including David Higgins I believe and Doug Plumer from SpeedVision (actually Replica Productions).

I had to toss the car into the ditch containing the spectators to dodge Trinder's nose, then get it pulled out before mowing down the now "diving for cover" group of red jackets. It could have been bad and I was bracing for a small, glancing impact--but luckily it didn't occur.

Just one of those things. Wrong place at the wrong time...

Now let me tell you about the deer that crossed in front of us and the other deer that ran in front of us for 250 yards then along side us for another...

Pe
more reports at: www.get-primitive.com under racing news

 

[Primitive]

RE: Wild West with a Very Wild Finish!

I forgot to mention my thanks to RobM for posting his video clip!

Nicely done.

Pe

 

[robm]

RE: Wild West with a Very Wild Finish!

You're welcome!

I'm very glad everything turned out ok. I was somewhat shocked to have the footage - was just focusing on the cars coming through, expecting you to pass him on the left since he had gone to the outside of the corner when he passed us and people were trying to wave you to the inside.
Didn't expect it would be quite that close though!

Congrats on a great weekend!

Rob Marssdorf
Crew guy for Styles/Dillon #374

 

[Primitive]

RE: Wild West with a Very Wild Finish!

>
>Congrats on a great weekend!
>
>Rob Marssdorf
>Crew guy for Styles/Dillon #374

I also want to say congratulations to your team. Leon and Jon were hounding our behinds all the way and were leading the ClubRally after the first couple of stages in that Audi. We worked hard to stay ahead of them for the rest of the weekend.

Also wanted to say that Mr. Trinder had an inspired drive going until that last stage. He was over a minute ahead of us, and up dicing it out with some of the overall leaders. It apparently was a burned up coil or similar that slowed him to a crawl on that final stage.

Great to see Primitive, Knight, and Widget (and Rage Racing, SAS Motorsports, and Tree Tamers etc) all having a great rally, good clean competition, and a lot of fun racing in the woods.

That's what SCCA ClubRally is all about. Pe

ps. You will see Primitive at many more Club events next year and probably less Pro events (unless or until this third tier thing ever gets off the ground)

 

[Paul Westwick]

Speaking as Scott's co-driver Paul (not to be confused with Paul's co-driver, Scott...)

Our car started losing power early in the stage, and it got progressively worse, until the very end, when everyone saw us creeping along. We discussed the mertis of stopping to try to locate the problem versus limping along to the finish, and decided to limp - not knowing if stopping would result in not being able to start again...

>I did then see Trinder's car on the OUTSIDE of the corner
>and slowed to take the inside line. I then saw he was
>creeping along. As I committed to my corner, he veered
>directly across the road. He had no idea that I was there
>and was trying to get to the "safety" of the inside of this
>high speed corner.

Coming into the super-fast final few sweepers at 5-10mph, we chose to change sides of the road several times, based on where we would be safest and most visible. On the entry to a corner, we wanted to be visible from further away - hence on the outside, rather than just out of sight, hugging the apex. On the exit, we wanted to be on the inside, so that the car behind could easily drift out and avoid us.

Paul managed to catch us at the worst possible time, as we were changing sides.

Scott and I are gratefull to Paul for his expert driving in managing to avoid us, and apologize for any excess laundering of underwear that the incident may have necessitated.


Paul Westwick
Co-driver, Car #102

 

[Primitive]

>
>Paul managed to catch us at the worst possible time, as we
>were changing sides.
>
>Scott and I are gratefull to Paul for his expert driving in
>managing to avoid us, and apologize for any excess
>laundering of underwear that the incident may have
>necessitated.
>


:7 It was worth the thrill (now that I am safely back at home and can brag it up...) Needed new fire-proof undies anyways... Pe