John said I should only put up the most interesting videos instead of all of them, well even though the audio cable pulled out of the intercom and there's little to no sound, this one qualifies as interesting! (I'm still going to put them all up anyway...)

Stage 2 was our first pass inbound, and we had a couple issues... At 1:04 there's a fun uphill right that has a big honkin rock on the outside exit. We got a little closer to that than I intended! At 1:44 there's a flat out jump with a 6L, 6R and then a 4R/Cr. Unfortunately I thought the 6R was the 4 and braked waaaay too early. John yelled at me for being slow, and in my distraction I completely botched the next left at 2:02!

At 2:27 there's a 5R/Cr which a few years ago Robin Fleguel and I got a little more familiar with than we'd have liked on a test day, and I got wider than I'd like on this pass too!

At 5:27 we turn into the quarry, and shortly after we get to the first splash, which I took WAY too fast! From there to the finish it was a struggle just to keep the car running, every splash causing the motor to cut out almost entirely. The last couple corners are almost comical how slowly we were going!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH5_hdjOiDI

Hi everyone,

If you are getting tired of reading about a top rally team  , you can check here for an account of a newbie driver at GCFR: http://www.mco.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14460

HUGE congrats to Ryan and John!!!

Story and video by Ferd on the Rally forum at www.mco.org.


Jeannie and Ferd
Car 17, GCFR 2012

I may as well post our videos if someone wants to see a slower perspective Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the suspension back in the car until the Thursday night before the rally. What I didn't know is there was a problem with the steering gear as well after either the testing day off or Black Bear. So, if the car seems nervous and darting around on the straights, yeah, that's the gear. A busted clip resulted in a larger center dead spot than usual. Anyways, on with the video.

Stage 1: No issues, straightforward. I've had a bad habit of going too easy on SS1, so this year I tried a bit harder without going crazy, and it worked out well.

http://youtu.be/fOwtlmmoMjk

Stage 2: The steering problem was quite annoying when the car was going over jumps. I always backed off over the big jump this rally for that reason. However, on the triple jumps at 1:35, after jump 2 the steering pulled us to the right. So for jump 3, we go over it on the bad/wrong side and do a nice nose down jump that I have to get collected back up before the next turn. I then proceed to drive like a wuss in the quarry in the interest of not wrecking the car and lose too much time. We pass poor Chris Haid in here who is having water issues with the Mazda.

http://youtu.be/mnmV05FWLR4

Stage 3: Nothing big happens in here, but it's my fastest outbound pass. Stage 7 would have been it, but...

http://youtu.be/rkVIAoJ6u3Q

Stage 4: Again no drama. We're trailing close behind Gary Sutherland, which is amazing because he's in only his, what, 3rd rally? That's a darn good pace!

http://youtu.be/l9TVXpc-t6o

Stage 5: No drama, but we've fallen farther behind Gary. It looks like this point it's lost. But not quite.

http://youtu.be/aywh_mQHr2Y

Stage 6: Early into the stage, the car starts sounding odd. Louder, and meaner. Two things happened. A big exhaust hole has opened up, probably from the heating/cooling cycles of the watersplashes, and also because the exhaust is original. From when Four Star built it. So, doh. The second thing is the rear hatch opened up! We had it closed at the start of the stage obviously, but it looks like it wants some attention too. When we get to the end of the quarry, it was closed again. If it wasn't for Tracy Lee Puusa, we never would have known until these pictures came out I then proceeded to spin in the quarry, and I thought Gary was out of our reach. But he had watersplash and fogging problems. The fight is still on!

http://cdnrally.s3.amazonaws.com/pictures/gallery/gcfr-2012/_MG_0399.jpg

http://youtu.be/EIVskwhmozY

Stage 7: Trying to catch Gary, we're pushing harder than usual and the time was looking good. Just before the triple jumps though at 4:35, the rear end steps way out on the L4. Keeping the power on I was able to save that one, but then it snaps the other way and we take a small trip through a ditch. No damage, but the time loss means that's it for my 2nd place hopes. Congrats to Gary!

http://youtu.be/v3ZAtc--nNw

So now I have a rear hatch latch, exhaust leak, steering gear, suspension fixes and more before Pines. Thank goodness for a 3 month break!