Magnum Opus Club Rally 2002
Posted 03-22-2008 at 09:30 AM by Dave532
Magnum Opus ClubRally
Sep 21, 2002
Munising, MI
Pre-Race: After a disappointing rally last month in northern Minnesota, I was looking to increase the points gap between myself and the 2nd place competitor and give myself a greater cushion. After the ECU replacement, the new car seemed fairly sorted out.
Up to this point, my only co-driver had been mybrother, Bob. Unfortunately, the Magnum Opus rally weekend coincided with his marriage date!
Luckily my friend Chade was willing to take a stab at the right seat after some crash-course instruction from my brother. This rally was only one day with only one service location so a Service vehicle driver was not required.
Friday: A 13 hour tow brought across the UP of Michigan to our hotel/headquarters for the event. A heavy rain meant damp stages for tomorrow but thankfully no dust. With Metric Auto's help, I had my Kumhos mounted to the Raceline wheels and the car seemed to be running fine. This was a new rally for most of the competitors so a bit more of an even playing field.
Stage 1: Sandy, wide roads. So far so good. Chade is not getting us lost and he's doing his best to keep up with the notes from the route book. I'm a little tentative on these first few stages until I completely trust his calls.
Stage 2: Chade and I are working on our rhythm, building confidence between each other. A common problem amongst co-drivers is car sickness due to drastic direction changes while your head is down trying to read notes. Bob never had a problem
with this but he had always taken Bonine as a pre-emptive measure before the stages. I was a bit apprehensive about this with Chade hoping he would be immune to its effects. So far so good!
Stage 3: Still very wide roads. There is alot of speed to be had here but I wasn't pushing hard enough to take advantage of it. Apparently Chade was having a blast. 4+ years in the Coast Guard appeared to given him a cast-iron stomach; he was not feeling any motion sickness at all.
Stage 4: A local favorite called the Airport stage. Also referred to as the "Two-Track" stage. Basically 2 ruts in the forest with a very thick canopy of trees making it difficult to see corners coming up ahead. Very long straights...the most brave drivers attained incredible speeds here...especially considering it was barely a road. Also a very long stage and extremely brutal.
Service: After that last stage we gave the underside of the car a thorough look. Grabbed some dinner, mounted the lights and listened to Chade go on about how much fun he was having.
Stage 5: Night has fallen along with the wind. Oftentimes dust becomes a problem at night but because of the rain last night, we had a perfect environment for rallying. The roads were moist enough to make them a bit "sticky" while not slippery.
I don't have the comfort level with Chade like I do with Bob but we were performing admirably...about 3rd in class.
Stage 6: With even more confidence we pick up the pace a little bit. I am slowly gaining on the field and Chade is doing a great job on the notes considering it's his first time.
Stage 7: The Airport Stage again. This is the most claustrophobic stage I have ever driven...at night it is nothing more than long straight tunnels connected by sharp 90 degree corners coming out of nowhere. The ruts were so deep by this time I often felt like a passenger behind the wheel. By far the most abusive stage of the event. Chade just shakes his head, "I've never seen a car take so much abuse!"
Stage 8: The last stage. We aren't going to win but we should be able to place on the podium. I drive a decent pace complacent with our points position until disaster happens. Approximately 100 from the end of the stage the oil pressure gauge drops and the idiot light comes on. Apparently we are out of oil. My new motor sounds very rough...louder, louder, boom! We coast to a finish at the end of the stage but I cannot complete the transit back to Time Control to finish the rally. Another DNF and a brand new motor blown to bits!
Post Race: Sweep tows us to back to Headquarters and we survey the damage. apparently one of the oil cooler lines was ripped off during the last stage and the majority of my oil escaped onto the stage. It runs just enough to get back on the trailer and gives a final exhaustive gasp...never to fire again.
I apologize to Chade about not finishing his first rally but he still amazingly upbeat. As far as he is concerned he just had a blast.
After tearing the motor down I find #1 rod let go first due to oil starvation and tore out the main from there. The short block was worthless. I had one month before the last rally of the season, Lake Superior Pro Rally in October. Impossibly, I was still leading the Points...by only 2!
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
Sep 21, 2002
Munising, MI
Pre-Race: After a disappointing rally last month in northern Minnesota, I was looking to increase the points gap between myself and the 2nd place competitor and give myself a greater cushion. After the ECU replacement, the new car seemed fairly sorted out.
Up to this point, my only co-driver had been mybrother, Bob. Unfortunately, the Magnum Opus rally weekend coincided with his marriage date!
Luckily my friend Chade was willing to take a stab at the right seat after some crash-course instruction from my brother. This rally was only one day with only one service location so a Service vehicle driver was not required.
Friday: A 13 hour tow brought across the UP of Michigan to our hotel/headquarters for the event. A heavy rain meant damp stages for tomorrow but thankfully no dust. With Metric Auto's help, I had my Kumhos mounted to the Raceline wheels and the car seemed to be running fine. This was a new rally for most of the competitors so a bit more of an even playing field.
Stage 1: Sandy, wide roads. So far so good. Chade is not getting us lost and he's doing his best to keep up with the notes from the route book. I'm a little tentative on these first few stages until I completely trust his calls.
Stage 2: Chade and I are working on our rhythm, building confidence between each other. A common problem amongst co-drivers is car sickness due to drastic direction changes while your head is down trying to read notes. Bob never had a problem
with this but he had always taken Bonine as a pre-emptive measure before the stages. I was a bit apprehensive about this with Chade hoping he would be immune to its effects. So far so good!
Stage 3: Still very wide roads. There is alot of speed to be had here but I wasn't pushing hard enough to take advantage of it. Apparently Chade was having a blast. 4+ years in the Coast Guard appeared to given him a cast-iron stomach; he was not feeling any motion sickness at all.
Stage 4: A local favorite called the Airport stage. Also referred to as the "Two-Track" stage. Basically 2 ruts in the forest with a very thick canopy of trees making it difficult to see corners coming up ahead. Very long straights...the most brave drivers attained incredible speeds here...especially considering it was barely a road. Also a very long stage and extremely brutal.
Service: After that last stage we gave the underside of the car a thorough look. Grabbed some dinner, mounted the lights and listened to Chade go on about how much fun he was having.
Stage 5: Night has fallen along with the wind. Oftentimes dust becomes a problem at night but because of the rain last night, we had a perfect environment for rallying. The roads were moist enough to make them a bit "sticky" while not slippery.
I don't have the comfort level with Chade like I do with Bob but we were performing admirably...about 3rd in class.
Stage 6: With even more confidence we pick up the pace a little bit. I am slowly gaining on the field and Chade is doing a great job on the notes considering it's his first time.
Stage 7: The Airport Stage again. This is the most claustrophobic stage I have ever driven...at night it is nothing more than long straight tunnels connected by sharp 90 degree corners coming out of nowhere. The ruts were so deep by this time I often felt like a passenger behind the wheel. By far the most abusive stage of the event. Chade just shakes his head, "I've never seen a car take so much abuse!"
Stage 8: The last stage. We aren't going to win but we should be able to place on the podium. I drive a decent pace complacent with our points position until disaster happens. Approximately 100 from the end of the stage the oil pressure gauge drops and the idiot light comes on. Apparently we are out of oil. My new motor sounds very rough...louder, louder, boom! We coast to a finish at the end of the stage but I cannot complete the transit back to Time Control to finish the rally. Another DNF and a brand new motor blown to bits!
Post Race: Sweep tows us to back to Headquarters and we survey the damage. apparently one of the oil cooler lines was ripped off during the last stage and the majority of my oil escaped onto the stage. It runs just enough to get back on the trailer and gives a final exhaustive gasp...never to fire again.
I apologize to Chade about not finishing his first rally but he still amazingly upbeat. As far as he is concerned he just had a blast.
After tearing the motor down I find #1 rod let go first due to oil starvation and tore out the main from there. The short block was worthless. I had one month before the last rally of the season, Lake Superior Pro Rally in October. Impossibly, I was still leading the Points...by only 2!
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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