From derek@rchco.com Thu Apr 7 09:07:31 2005 Envelope-to: skye@f4.ca Received: from 216-163-80-94.client.cypresscom.net ([216.163.80.94] helo=smtp.rchco.com) by seattle.f4.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.42) id 1DJZXU-000ONP-Ez for skye@f4.ca; Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:07:31 -0700 Received: from pop.rchco.com (PC240.rch.inside.rchco.com [192.168.1.240]) by smtp.rchco.com (8.9.3/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA47369 for ; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 09:02:13 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from derek@rchco.com) Received: from [192.168.1.40] by pop.rchco.com (Merak 7.4.5) with ASMTP id JFY74625 for ; Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:02:41 -0700 Message-ID: <42555AA0.6030802@rchco.com> Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:06:56 -0700 From: Derek Bottles User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Macintosh/20041206) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Skye Poier Subject: DooWop Report Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Antivirus-Scanner: Cleared by Exiscan & ClamAV X-Spam-Score: -- X-UID: 2170 X-Keywords: Status: RO Content-Length: 7174 Lines: 133 The event was a mixed bag. We started the day a bit nervous since I had not driven the car in a year and to start things out 2 stages I had never done prior. Talking to Dave Hintz prior to the start, he said the stages would be good in FWD very technical lots of places to get caught out and spin losing lots of time. We started the stage a little slow, I gave the tires time to come up to temp but drove hard once they warmed up. Had to slow for 2 cars off but felt real good by the end of the stage and just caught Nat T Stow who started the min. ahead at the end of the stage. At the service park we started to ask times. We were shocked to learn we set 2nd fastest overall 2 seconds down on Dave Hintz and a about 6 up on 3rd Cavett in the other Open Class WRX. So a good start and I thought I was not trying too hard yet. We when to run the stage again and I picked up the pace a bit. Had to slow about 3 miles from the end when I caught Dash in another Subie and then the brakes faded out so again had to slow a bit. Still back at service learned we again set 2nd fastest over all but 6 seconds down on Hintz this time. Next was a long stage Taholla. I knew this stage was not so FWD friendly but what the hell we were 2nd overall in the rally so we would try hard. In the stage I could not find my braking points and just flat ran out of top speed in some places sitting on the rev limiter (8000rpm) in 5th gear (108 MPH) for long bits of time. Also found the route book a little inconstant at these speeds. That was never a problem prior but at these speeds it started to show up. Still managed 4th fastest overall but down the 3rd place overall as Gary Cavett set a blistering time. We had a good lead on 4th so felt safe here and would try to maintain for the last two stages. At this time we had a good 30 or seconds on Nate so felt safe there too. Started 2nd run of Taholla and did much better got the braking sorted out and felt I was going to be on pace with Cavett and Hintz here. Then about 3 miles from the end I broke a drive shaft just as I was about to pass Dash again. That slowed us a lot. It is hard to get going up hill out of a turn with one wheel drive. Back a service we found we twisted the end off the CV where it passed into the hub. Changed out the shaft and put the car back together with time to spare. Found we had fallen to 4th overall 3 seconds down on Nate Tennis. Back out for the last stage and I felt we could find 3 seconds with out too much problems. There was a pause as the stage was cleared off cars off and then it started to rain. Sitting in line we got the defrost working and the wipers worked fine. Started the stage and on the first turn the wiper on my side came loose and would not wipe more than a few inches of the window. I could not see crap but drove as fast as I could. I found if I held my hand out the window I could push the wiper down a bit and then it would take a few swipes. So I started driving with my hand out the window. I quickly learned there were branches near the road as they kept whipping at my hand as we manages 60 to 70 MPH. Jason then started yelling at me, something he never does, to settle down. I am like what? He lets me know I am driving in the ditch not on the road. Oh, OK. I knew we had lost lots of time but felt if we kept going we would loose less than stopping and trying to fix it. Got to the end of the stage - well that sucked. Ended the day 5th Overall and 2nd in 2wd. A real hartbrake as I think we showed we were the fastest 2wd car out there. Someday I would like to win one of these dam things in 2wd. Day 2 started out with a tarmac stage. I took it easy here to preserve the tires and also since I had never driven the car on tarmac I was not sure what to expect. I think we managed a good time but 1 or 2 seconds down on Nate. Back to the woods. Pico - again I could not get the car going and was a bit scared since I bent the rear beam here last year on a log. Near the end I started to go faster and we entered a set of turns I took flat out 2 years ago in the old Golf... I though I could make these without lifting, well the new car is a lot faster - overcooked a turn big time. I fought to get it back but we slid wide and then fell of a ledge onto another road that joined the stage right here. When we fell of the lip the front outside tire debeaded off the rim and then I lost all grip - off we went into a small ditch. I wave some spectators over and we got a push but lost a lot of time and we had 1.5 miles to go with a flat front. Got to the end and changed the tire out. At service we found we head fallen down to 5th or 6th in 2wd about 50 seconds down on 2nd and 1.6 min down on 1st. Time to make up time. Running Pico the other way drove real clean but not supper fast, back up to 4th 3 seconds down on 3rd and 15 seconds out of 2nd in 2wd. First run of Brooklyn found us taking more time off everyone and back up to 2nd in 2wd so we found we could make up time. At the start of Smith Creek however we broke the other drive shaft and had to to the whole stage with one wheel drive and then turn around and do it again prior to service. Ouch lots of time lost. Back at service we change the outer CV in under 10 mins. Only one thing to do now, try an brake the 2wd/Gp2 record on Brooklyn. We took everything out of the car not required to save weight. Off we went. Doing a little magic a the start control I managed to get my self a 2min window the the car on stage ahead of me as we had moved back in the field after smith creek so we were a lot faster than the cars we started with. I started the stage fully committed. Jason later noted he had never seen that type of commitment to a turn. This is the only time I ever crossed my arms with my 2 turns lock to lock steering. We would be sideways for ever fully on the power never pointed down the road. In short I was on fire. I had no idea I could drive this fast. About 3 miles from the end the pressure plate explodes when I miss a 4th 5th shift at 8000 RPM to see 9500 rpm. We lose all drive at 100 MPH. Well the good news, a car coast for a long way at 100MPH, and it was mostly down hill to the finish. I think we average 30MPH for the last few miles and with drive we would have average 60'ish so we lost about 1 min by our math. We still set a strong time faster than half the cars at 7:53. I think we where on pace for a 6:50, that would be 2nd fastest 2wd time and 20 seconds faster than any other GP2 car. Well next year... So as you can guess I have my self some new bigger drive shafts. These are off a Porches 930 and are 30% larger. They say the are good for 550HP but we will see. They have special polished CrMo cages and Spring Steel shafts to lower the shock loads. I also got a new high performance pressure plate and flywheel that is lighter and balanced to lower vibration when at high RPM. It is touted as capable of 3 times more HP/Torque than the unit I had. We are going to win at OR Trail - it is about time, I have been 2nd too much. Have fun at the rally. Derek