03-21-2004, 06:33 PM
The drive out there was a lot of fun, plenty of switchbacks up and down the mountain. I got lost in Orange. They have a hard time coming up with different street names there as two different roads 50 years apart carry the same name and then intersect with each other.
Got there with plenty of time. Got teched and had a look at the other cars. A ton of SubaruÔÇÖs, an Evo, one 1968 Volvo (he was fun to watch), and others.
I was in the first run group. The course was smooth for the most part. Fast in sections and slow in the others ( had to drop into 1st for one nasty corner). Driving was a ton of fun, way better than autoX. I tried not to side around too much but I did get a bit loose around some of the corners ( was exciting and scary as hell at the same time). With only two runs (IÔÇÖll explain later) I was just starting to get a feel for the car on dirt and the course itself. Then the trouble struck.
Two cars from my run group flipped, both had roll cages. One made it back on his wheels and finished the course, dunno about the second guy. Both cars had major body damage and cooked windshields. So with those delays they cut my run group down to only 2 runs each (supposed to get 3).
Run group two starts and about half way in another guy flips. This one was right in front of the crowd. Some guy got it all on his camcorder. At this point, they called the event. They could not risk any other problems for fear of losing the site. This was the right call in my opinion. Although I HATED IT and would like my runs, it needed to happen. The three guys that flipped were all from this Bolivian racing crew. There were severely over driving poorly prepared cars.
So I will be emailing them and asking for a partial refund or a discount to the next event (they hinted towards this when they shut it down).
All said and done the time in the car was AWESOME, and i want to do it again. It did not seem to hard on the car. The course was pretty free from rocks so paint chips were not a problem. I would say that the stress on the car was close to that of an AutoCross day (except if you flip). Plus the drive out there was shorter than expected and quite scenic.
Edit- I talked to one of the guys running it and he said that they had only one flip in three years of RallyCrossing there, today was due solely to driver retardedness. I dont want to scare anyone off.
-Justin
Got there with plenty of time. Got teched and had a look at the other cars. A ton of SubaruÔÇÖs, an Evo, one 1968 Volvo (he was fun to watch), and others.
I was in the first run group. The course was smooth for the most part. Fast in sections and slow in the others ( had to drop into 1st for one nasty corner). Driving was a ton of fun, way better than autoX. I tried not to side around too much but I did get a bit loose around some of the corners ( was exciting and scary as hell at the same time). With only two runs (IÔÇÖll explain later) I was just starting to get a feel for the car on dirt and the course itself. Then the trouble struck.
Two cars from my run group flipped, both had roll cages. One made it back on his wheels and finished the course, dunno about the second guy. Both cars had major body damage and cooked windshields. So with those delays they cut my run group down to only 2 runs each (supposed to get 3).
Run group two starts and about half way in another guy flips. This one was right in front of the crowd. Some guy got it all on his camcorder. At this point, they called the event. They could not risk any other problems for fear of losing the site. This was the right call in my opinion. Although I HATED IT and would like my runs, it needed to happen. The three guys that flipped were all from this Bolivian racing crew. There were severely over driving poorly prepared cars.
So I will be emailing them and asking for a partial refund or a discount to the next event (they hinted towards this when they shut it down).
All said and done the time in the car was AWESOME, and i want to do it again. It did not seem to hard on the car. The course was pretty free from rocks so paint chips were not a problem. I would say that the stress on the car was close to that of an AutoCross day (except if you flip). Plus the drive out there was shorter than expected and quite scenic.
Edit- I talked to one of the guys running it and he said that they had only one flip in three years of RallyCrossing there, today was due solely to driver retardedness. I dont want to scare anyone off.
-Justin
