Rallycross review

[John]

Seeing that I have a Subaru as a daily driver, and the fact that it's leased and will be turned in early next year, I decided to give a shot at rallycross. Why not, after all it's a leased vehicle, right?

The course happens to be in BFE (Orange) Virginia on a farm - basically a cow pasture with a clay track ground into it. The course comes with a variety of corners with some crazy camber transitions, and of course your fair share of ruts, mudpits, trees, and other things to avoid.

All I can say is WOW again (I remember doing this 3+ years ago after my first track event). It's such a blast to slide the car around kicking up dirt, flying thorugh mud, and sliding even more. Trail braking into a turn, rotating the car around, and powering through the turn as you toss the steering wheel - such a rush!

The format was three runs in the morning, and three runs in the afternoon running the course in reverse. As the day progressed, the course dried up, and running in reverse was much better laid out and much faster.

My first run was primarily an orientation run, and I had a high time of 1:48, but hey, it's my first timed excursion on anything other than pavement. The second session was much faster at a 1:39 as I got familiar with the layout, surface, and sliding the Superpoo around. Third session had a few mistakes, and I clocked in at a 1:41.

During the afternoon, things got a lot faster as things dried up. First session I ran a 1:37, and was notably faster through many sections since it flowed better. The second session, I came in to hot into the first signicant turn, and I found myself in the outside mud pit. Splash! The car was caked, and I couldn't see crap. Somehow I managed to make it through (in retrospect, pretty wrecklessly since I couldn't see anything out my side windows), took down a little tree, and landed a 1:42. Ouch. Third session, a passenger jumped in, and I ran hard session. Albeit a few mistakes, I came in at 1:33, pretty damn fast considering my car is stock (and I'm a n00b to rallying).

My last session was the fastest lap time out of my class, but since I was inconsistent, I probably ranked in the middle.

Now for the million dollar answer to "Is it better than road racing?" In my opinion, no, but it was nice to have a fresh racing experience once again. I'd be tempted to take the Z out there, but I know I'd break something pretty easily considering how aggressively I drive - and I'm not ready to fork out more cash for a different setup. While it's a completely different type of driving, it really helped to have road-racing experience, and as I was able to feel the car out for traction and reactionary inputs. However, where I need to work on is learning how to set yourself up for the turn - specifically sliding your way in and getting the car oriented as to where you go.

A pair of crappy photos of me and the aftermath.





BTW, on the drive home, I got all sorts of wierd looks and comments about the "custom" mud job on the left side of my car. I love it so much I'm tempted to leave it!