Rally Craziness!!!! (56K warning, lots of photos)
02-11-2003, 05:21 AM
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Rally Craziness!!!! (56K warning, lots of photos)
I went to my first organized car race of any kind on Saturday, the Perce-de-Neige Rally in Maniwaki, Quebec.
The area where the rally was held is about a two hour drive from home, so my buddy Tim and I hit the road at about 8 a.m. to get there for about 10. Tim owns a 96 VW and is a huge rally fan and has competed in a few amateur rallies, so he made sure our route included many snow and ice covered back roads. On these roads, we spent most of our time going between 70-100 km/h, taking turns sideways and bottoming the suspension over large bumps, while I made sure we didn't make any wrong turns.
Our first stop was to park near the end of the second stage and walk about a kilometre up the stage (before the stage began, obviously) to find a good place to spectate.
The spot we settled on was in the middle of a short straight between a high speed right turn and a slower left. Thus, we got to see the cars come sliding out of the right turn, slow down and set up for the left. It made for some interesting situations.
The most action we saw here involved a white Subaru Justy whose driver went into the first right too fast.
He stuffs the nose of his car into the bank:
It doesn't take long for the driver and co-driver to get out and start digging, with the help of some spectators:
(My friend Tim is on the right in the photo)
The driver of this red Justy stopped to help out... they pulled the white car from the rear, but unfortunately, this only did two things: it got the white car stuck more, and bent the driver's door way out... you can see the door sorry state in this photo:
We watched all of the competitors drive by, and then we trekked back to the car to drive to the other stage we spectated at. This one was nifty... the cars came bombing down a gentle right hand curve and braked hard into an off-camber (where the road is sloping down to the right) left 45 degree hairpin turn. Then, after negotiating the turn, they had to get up a slope covered in ine and packed snow. This turn was hard enough for the AWD cars to manage, and some of the FWD cars spun their front wheels for a good 20 seconds while slowly moving up to the top of the hill.
My description does not do this part of the stage justice, and needless to say, this is where many drivers lost a lot of time.
This guy looked like he was going to execute the turn very nicely:
But he stalled the car... he started it up again, but then he got stuck in some deep snow, so a bunch of spectators run out to push:
Here are some random photos of some of the more interesting entries in the rally:
One of several rally-prepped Subie WRXs... (there were also a couple 2.5 RSs and Mitsu Evos):
And last but not least, the lone Hyundai entry in the rally, an Elantra, fitted with modified AWD running gear from a Tiburon rally car. These guys finished second overall! (The winning car was a 97 Mistu EVO IV)
If you are a rally fan, I suggest you look into finding out if there are any rallies held within a two or three hour drive of where you live. After the cars start going by, you learn pretty quickly if you like the smell of race fuel and burnt brakes and clutches. And theses cars are LOUD. With no mufflers and no catalysts to interrupt the flow of exhaust from the engine, the noise of some of the cars is deafening, but is it ever F***ING COOL.
While the speeds are nowhere near those achieved by WRC cars, these guys are still really good drivers, and are hauling *** over snow and ice covered roads.
All in all, a fun and cheap day out, if you don't count the $160 CAD I spent on film and developing for the 300 (
) or so photos I took.
The area where the rally was held is about a two hour drive from home, so my buddy Tim and I hit the road at about 8 a.m. to get there for about 10. Tim owns a 96 VW and is a huge rally fan and has competed in a few amateur rallies, so he made sure our route included many snow and ice covered back roads. On these roads, we spent most of our time going between 70-100 km/h, taking turns sideways and bottoming the suspension over large bumps, while I made sure we didn't make any wrong turns.
Our first stop was to park near the end of the second stage and walk about a kilometre up the stage (before the stage began, obviously) to find a good place to spectate.
The spot we settled on was in the middle of a short straight between a high speed right turn and a slower left. Thus, we got to see the cars come sliding out of the right turn, slow down and set up for the left. It made for some interesting situations.
The most action we saw here involved a white Subaru Justy whose driver went into the first right too fast.
He stuffs the nose of his car into the bank:
It doesn't take long for the driver and co-driver to get out and start digging, with the help of some spectators:
(My friend Tim is on the right in the photo)
The driver of this red Justy stopped to help out... they pulled the white car from the rear, but unfortunately, this only did two things: it got the white car stuck more, and bent the driver's door way out... you can see the door sorry state in this photo:
We watched all of the competitors drive by, and then we trekked back to the car to drive to the other stage we spectated at. This one was nifty... the cars came bombing down a gentle right hand curve and braked hard into an off-camber (where the road is sloping down to the right) left 45 degree hairpin turn. Then, after negotiating the turn, they had to get up a slope covered in ine and packed snow. This turn was hard enough for the AWD cars to manage, and some of the FWD cars spun their front wheels for a good 20 seconds while slowly moving up to the top of the hill.
My description does not do this part of the stage justice, and needless to say, this is where many drivers lost a lot of time.
This guy looked like he was going to execute the turn very nicely:
But he stalled the car... he started it up again, but then he got stuck in some deep snow, so a bunch of spectators run out to push:
Here are some random photos of some of the more interesting entries in the rally:
One of several rally-prepped Subie WRXs... (there were also a couple 2.5 RSs and Mitsu Evos):
And last but not least, the lone Hyundai entry in the rally, an Elantra, fitted with modified AWD running gear from a Tiburon rally car. These guys finished second overall! (The winning car was a 97 Mistu EVO IV)
If you are a rally fan, I suggest you look into finding out if there are any rallies held within a two or three hour drive of where you live. After the cars start going by, you learn pretty quickly if you like the smell of race fuel and burnt brakes and clutches. And theses cars are LOUD. With no mufflers and no catalysts to interrupt the flow of exhaust from the engine, the noise of some of the cars is deafening, but is it ever F***ING COOL.
While the speeds are nowhere near those achieved by WRC cars, these guys are still really good drivers, and are hauling *** over snow and ice covered roads.
All in all, a fun and cheap day out, if you don't count the $160 CAD I spent on film and developing for the 300 (
) or so photos I took.
02-11-2003, 05:35 AM
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Great photos mang.
Did you get to talk to the guyz from the Hyundai team?
This is why I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT to get to Ft. Carson Colorado. I'll get to see the Pikes Peak Challenge every year.
Hells yeah.
Did you get to talk to the guyz from the Hyundai team?
This is why I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT to get to Ft. Carson Colorado. I'll get to see the Pikes Peak Challenge every year.
Hells yeah.
02-11-2003, 11:39 PM
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Thanks guys! 
Redz, no unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the service area when the drivers and cars were there. That was the only hitch in our day, but the rest of the day was great.
Pikes Peak would be a great event to be at... The Tiburon always does well in that.
Redz, no unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the service area when the drivers and cars were there. That was the only hitch in our day, but the rest of the day was great.
Pikes Peak would be a great event to be at... The Tiburon always does well in that.