100 Acre Wood National Club Rally 2002
Posted 03-04-2008 at 04:18 PM by Dave532
100 Acre Wood National Club Rally
Feb 22-23, 2002
Salem, MO
Pre-Race: This was the first running of the 100 Acre Wood Club Rally as a National event. The top 3 season finishers from each division were invited to this event for the coveted 2001 National ClubRally Championship. I was not eligbile as I had finished 4 in my division due to my late start to the 2001 season. Due to our minor off at Sno-Drift last month I needed to replace the front bumper cover with a newly painted piece. The Michelin rally tires we ran on last season were worn to the point they could only be used as spares. I purchased a set of Kumho rally tires which just became available for the 2002 season. My father, who normally would drive the Service vehicle was unavailable for this event, so I grabbed an old high school buddy of mine, Chade, who was excited about the opportunity. After our success at Sno-Drift we were excited to see how we stack up against the National competition.
Friday: A 12 hour tow brought us to the northern tip of the Ozarks at Salem, MO. We took our room in the Ranch motel and proceeded to take a look around. Light breeze and temps in the 50's-60's. Excellent February weather! My favorite shop in Salem was right next to our motel...I forget the name but it is the only store I know of that sells firearms and liquor under same roof! "As long as I'm pickin' up some Southern Comfort, might as well throw that Colt 1911 in the bag!". Awesome
Saturday: We register and pass tech inspection early Saturday and get to the Parc Expose in downtown Salem. Numerous locals came to have pictures taken and autographs (??) signed by the drivers. Everybody was excited...except the Highway Patrol. Apparently they bore some ill will toward us racers for reasons I still do not know.
Stage 1: Fast, flowing and wide. I'm thinking to myself these might be the best roads I have ever driven. In retrospect we went too fast and took too many chances but no harm done.
Stage 2: The Ozarks employ numerous "Water Bridges". Basically these are concrete dips through streams that are tool small to deserve an actual bridge. I came upon my first water bridge too fast (around 80mph) and...you guessed it...tore my front bumper cover off again! The car suddenly became much louder and a small loss of power. At the end of the stage I see that the exhaust pipe behind the cat is barely hanging on. We wire it up the best we can until the next service.
Stage 3: I decide these roads are the best I have ever driven on. Fast, wide, nice base and lotsa curves. Power is down a bit but I push as hard as I can. The interior of the car is so loud, Bob is yelling the notes to me.
Service: We tear off the exhaust behind the cat and secure the remaining pipe as best we can. Luckily we find no more damage caused by the water splash. Temps in the high 50's and some good local food keep us happy. Chade is enjoying himself looking at what the other teams are running...especially the new rally supercar...the WRX
. A couple of my buddies harass me to no end about how I go through bumper covers like Spinal Tap goes through drummers.
Stage 4: Off we go again. So far so good. Bob and I are clicking well. We are setting a good pace and enjoying the scenery. I love how wide these roads are and how predictable the surface is. You can really throw the car around with confidence. Not alot of cars off as everyone appears to be taking it easy as this is the first event here in many years.
Stage 5: Due to our success at Sno Drift, we are now Seed 4 which gives us a better road position. Because of this the road surface is less rutted and much more grip can be found.
Stage 6: The new Kumhos appear to be gripping and wearing well. So far so good. Playing with tire pressures to achieve the best balance.
Service: Night is falling so we mount our KC and Hella lights. We all have dinner and talk about how much we enjoy the event so far.
Stage 7: First stage at night. The wide corners and long straights really lend themselves to our 500 watts of lighting. We really take this opportunity and start inching up the field. I believe the fastest I ever drove the rally car at night was on these stages (120 mph+)...For very short periods of course.
Stage 8: We have a good problem. We are starting to catch the cars in front of us. However, the light breeze has ceased and now we are fighting some dust in the slower sections of the stage. This is slowing us down, but it is slowing everyone down. I eventually catch and pass a dust-generating Starion from Pennsylvania at the end of the stage.
Stage 9: Arguably the best stage of the day. I have a few Colin McCrae moments which keeps Bob awake. He remembers looking up from his notes during one of the early corners seeing the trees going perpindicular to the right while I am at full opposite lock while bouncing off the rev limiter. Like a true professional he just puts his eyes back on the route book and continues to call the notes...giggling a bit.
Service: I am starting to worry about the car a bit more. The exhaust if falling off again and there is a plethora of rattles coming from the car. We have never pushed this poor old DSM this hard, this long before and it is starting to complain a wee bit. I believe we can make 3 more stages but it will be close. Suddenly we hear the remainder of the rally is cancelled. Apparently a team from Colorado in a Mazda 323 pinballed into a pair of trees and needed to be airlifted out to St. Louis. We eventually find this happened on the last stage on the same corner where most of the teams almost lost it...including myself. We also remember them as the team that was borrowing brake fluid during the event due to a brake line leak.
Saturday night: We finish 2nd in class and 12th overall. Not bad against the National field. If we were eligible, we would have taken 2nd in the National Championship...maybe next year. During the after rally party, we hear some good news; the driver and co-driver in the Mazda will recover fine but will have to stay in the hospital for a while due to some head and neck injuries. I load my beaten and battered DSM on the trailer and go to sleep in preparation of the long drive home on Sunday.
2001 Season finish:
2nd in Regional Championship Standings
4th in Divisional Championship Standings
3 class wins, 3 overall podiums.
1 DNF
Photo: The motel photo includes (from left to right) Chade, Bob and one of the rally photogs.
Disclaimer: The exact order and/or number of stages may not be entirely accurate as I am generating this recap entirely from memory. I am conferring my strongest memories from each event. Everything recorded is true...just not necessarily in the correct order
Feb 22-23, 2002
Salem, MO
Pre-Race: This was the first running of the 100 Acre Wood Club Rally as a National event. The top 3 season finishers from each division were invited to this event for the coveted 2001 National ClubRally Championship. I was not eligbile as I had finished 4 in my division due to my late start to the 2001 season. Due to our minor off at Sno-Drift last month I needed to replace the front bumper cover with a newly painted piece. The Michelin rally tires we ran on last season were worn to the point they could only be used as spares. I purchased a set of Kumho rally tires which just became available for the 2002 season. My father, who normally would drive the Service vehicle was unavailable for this event, so I grabbed an old high school buddy of mine, Chade, who was excited about the opportunity. After our success at Sno-Drift we were excited to see how we stack up against the National competition.
Friday: A 12 hour tow brought us to the northern tip of the Ozarks at Salem, MO. We took our room in the Ranch motel and proceeded to take a look around. Light breeze and temps in the 50's-60's. Excellent February weather! My favorite shop in Salem was right next to our motel...I forget the name but it is the only store I know of that sells firearms and liquor under same roof! "As long as I'm pickin' up some Southern Comfort, might as well throw that Colt 1911 in the bag!". Awesome
Saturday: We register and pass tech inspection early Saturday and get to the Parc Expose in downtown Salem. Numerous locals came to have pictures taken and autographs (??) signed by the drivers. Everybody was excited...except the Highway Patrol. Apparently they bore some ill will toward us racers for reasons I still do not know.
Stage 1: Fast, flowing and wide. I'm thinking to myself these might be the best roads I have ever driven. In retrospect we went too fast and took too many chances but no harm done.
Stage 2: The Ozarks employ numerous "Water Bridges". Basically these are concrete dips through streams that are tool small to deserve an actual bridge. I came upon my first water bridge too fast (around 80mph) and...you guessed it...tore my front bumper cover off again! The car suddenly became much louder and a small loss of power. At the end of the stage I see that the exhaust pipe behind the cat is barely hanging on. We wire it up the best we can until the next service.
Stage 3: I decide these roads are the best I have ever driven on. Fast, wide, nice base and lotsa curves. Power is down a bit but I push as hard as I can. The interior of the car is so loud, Bob is yelling the notes to me.
Service: We tear off the exhaust behind the cat and secure the remaining pipe as best we can. Luckily we find no more damage caused by the water splash. Temps in the high 50's and some good local food keep us happy. Chade is enjoying himself looking at what the other teams are running...especially the new rally supercar...the WRX
. A couple of my buddies harass me to no end about how I go through bumper covers like Spinal Tap goes through drummers.Stage 4: Off we go again. So far so good. Bob and I are clicking well. We are setting a good pace and enjoying the scenery. I love how wide these roads are and how predictable the surface is. You can really throw the car around with confidence. Not alot of cars off as everyone appears to be taking it easy as this is the first event here in many years.
Stage 5: Due to our success at Sno Drift, we are now Seed 4 which gives us a better road position. Because of this the road surface is less rutted and much more grip can be found.
Stage 6: The new Kumhos appear to be gripping and wearing well. So far so good. Playing with tire pressures to achieve the best balance.
Service: Night is falling so we mount our KC and Hella lights. We all have dinner and talk about how much we enjoy the event so far.
Stage 7: First stage at night. The wide corners and long straights really lend themselves to our 500 watts of lighting. We really take this opportunity and start inching up the field. I believe the fastest I ever drove the rally car at night was on these stages (120 mph+)...For very short periods of course.
Stage 8: We have a good problem. We are starting to catch the cars in front of us. However, the light breeze has ceased and now we are fighting some dust in the slower sections of the stage. This is slowing us down, but it is slowing everyone down. I eventually catch and pass a dust-generating Starion from Pennsylvania at the end of the stage.
Stage 9: Arguably the best stage of the day. I have a few Colin McCrae moments which keeps Bob awake. He remembers looking up from his notes during one of the early corners seeing the trees going perpindicular to the right while I am at full opposite lock while bouncing off the rev limiter. Like a true professional he just puts his eyes back on the route book and continues to call the notes...giggling a bit.
Service: I am starting to worry about the car a bit more. The exhaust if falling off again and there is a plethora of rattles coming from the car. We have never pushed this poor old DSM this hard, this long before and it is starting to complain a wee bit. I believe we can make 3 more stages but it will be close. Suddenly we hear the remainder of the rally is cancelled. Apparently a team from Colorado in a Mazda 323 pinballed into a pair of trees and needed to be airlifted out to St. Louis. We eventually find this happened on the last stage on the same corner where most of the teams almost lost it...including myself. We also remember them as the team that was borrowing brake fluid during the event due to a brake line leak.
Saturday night: We finish 2nd in class and 12th overall. Not bad against the National field. If we were eligible, we would have taken 2nd in the National Championship...maybe next year. During the after rally party, we hear some good news; the driver and co-driver in the Mazda will recover fine but will have to stay in the hospital for a while due to some head and neck injuries. I load my beaten and battered DSM on the trailer and go to sleep in preparation of the long drive home on Sunday.
2001 Season finish:
2nd in Regional Championship Standings
4th in Divisional Championship Standings
3 class wins, 3 overall podiums.
1 DNF
Photo: The motel photo includes (from left to right) Chade, Bob and one of the rally photogs.
Disclaimer: The exact order and/or number of stages may not be entirely accurate as I am generating this recap entirely from memory. I am conferring my strongest memories from each event. Everything recorded is true...just not necessarily in the correct order
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