RE: FIA Wild West International Rally
>Hey Dave, you left out the best part. After two days and
>133.51 stage miles, the results looked like this:
>
>Eklund/Price 2:40:58, average speed 49.7655
>Iorio/Ho 2:41:08, average speed 49.7141
>Hintz/Hintz 2:41:08, average speed 49.7141
>
I want to thank Matt and Philip for coming out from back East, renting Cascade Autosports' BEAUTIFULLY PREPARED EVO7, being great competitors, figuring out the car (they usually drive a blistering fast Subaru), driving a perfectly clean rally, and spanking us on every stage on Sunday. They and the Hintz brothers were TERRIFIC to race against (as well as LeBlanc and DeLeeuw from Canada and SubieGal in PGT)
We had a big cushion from Saturday (luckily) and managed to fend Iorio off despite driving the last 4 stage miles (down a STEEP mountain)with a cracked rear caliper (like Patrick Richard a few rallies ago). But we somehow managed to lose only 26 seconds to them on that final stage, despite bouncing in and out of the ditches and finishing with a flat rear tire (which I think helped us slow down in the switchbacks). The pedal literally went to the floor with no fluid in the system. The finish control wondered why we just glided past them...
It was a good rally for anyone who could make it. Hopefully next year we can run a bit more mainline and a little less fresh rock.
Thanks to everyone, including Subaru Western Region, and all the great rally workers from the Northwest. They hope to someday bring the Olympus Rally back in full form and I hope they can do it. This was a small victory on a long road to achieving that daunting goal. I hope all competitors continue to support the tireless efforts of the organizers in their areas by ENTERING events, rounding up stage workers and fresh faces, and providing feedback directly to organizers by attending the planning meetings on occasion.
Pe
