Went to the Rally Cross!! (with pics!)
#1
Went to the Rally Cross!! (with pics!)
Bringing Quattro back to the Rally world!!
There's been a ton of "my car broke"/"Oh Em Gee car wont run"/"what is this problem" type threads, it's depressing, so I thought a little pick-me-up thread about a fun race was in order.
My college has a new car club and we're putting together some local races. Last year I competed in the AutoX event which was a lot of fun. But a week or two ago we had a RallyX that was an absolute blast. There were almost 30 cars that participated everything from a Ford Contour to souped up STi's. There was even a full rally built UR Quattro with a GT35 turbo!!!
I did quite well in my mildly modded A4 I think. I came in 7th overall out of the 30, which put me right in the middle of the STi guys.
So who wants pics??
Parade lap to learn the course
My favorite pic
Two quick pics of it in the driveway with my housemate's car (which I sold him, haha)
There's been a ton of "my car broke"/"Oh Em Gee car wont run"/"what is this problem" type threads, it's depressing, so I thought a little pick-me-up thread about a fun race was in order.
My college has a new car club and we're putting together some local races. Last year I competed in the AutoX event which was a lot of fun. But a week or two ago we had a RallyX that was an absolute blast. There were almost 30 cars that participated everything from a Ford Contour to souped up STi's. There was even a full rally built UR Quattro with a GT35 turbo!!!
I did quite well in my mildly modded A4 I think. I came in 7th overall out of the 30, which put me right in the middle of the STi guys.
So who wants pics??
Parade lap to learn the course
My favorite pic
Two quick pics of it in the driveway with my housemate's car (which I sold him, haha)
#6
I'll post the rest of the times up tomorrow night, I have to copy them from an excel file and it's getting late now. I'll also talk about some of the driving techniques I learned and how it's just made me want to spend more money on my car now (coilovers coming soon haha)
Starfish, if you're referring to the UR Quattro, that's not mine, I just took pics.
Starfish, if you're referring to the UR Quattro, that's not mine, I just took pics.
#8
Here's a copy of the times sheet. Unfortunately it doesnt have the cars listed. The very first time at the top of the list (did not return for the second half) is the UR Quattro. He could have been much faster I think, but I doubt he pushed the car very hard, It's kind of his baby so I think he takes it easy on it.
My car number is 11, I'm in the Prepared AWD class. Number 999 was the overall winner and that was a well built STi with a pretty skilled driver.
I learned a lot from watching other drivers who obviously had a better idea of what they were doing than the rest of the group. There was one very tight hairpin corner at the end of the course that was at the end of a straight section which lead to another straight. It was a complete 180 turn around a single cone. A lot of people were loosing time on it, either swinging wide at the start and not cutting tightly enough, or cutting it too tight and under-steering wide after the corner. I then saw one guy in a subie that was doing pretty well and he was taking the corner by doing a really tight drift and pivoting the very front of the car right around the cone. So on exit he still had some momentum going and was already lined up perfect for the final straight. So I attempted this the last 3 laps of the day and was finally able to nail it perfectly on the last go. As I approached the corner I lined up on the inside of the lane near the inside cone. Quick let off the gas to transfer weight to the front wheels, then a quick half turn to the outside to start the whole "scandinavian-flick" move, and then steer hard back into the corner and jab the brake pedal once to help transfer more weight to the front and swing the back end out. As soon as the backend started to slip out I started straightening out the wheel and apply a smooth amount of throttle to hold the slide. I was so happy to see the front end pivoting perfectly around the cone and then I was lined up for the last straight and the tires hooked back up and gave it more gas and took off with a good bit of momentum. My codriver let out a big cheer and when I crossed the line one of the guys from the car club who was watching gave me a thumbs up. It was so rewarding to finally get that corner right, being able to control a car like that is just sooo much fun.
My car number is 11, I'm in the Prepared AWD class. Number 999 was the overall winner and that was a well built STi with a pretty skilled driver.
I learned a lot from watching other drivers who obviously had a better idea of what they were doing than the rest of the group. There was one very tight hairpin corner at the end of the course that was at the end of a straight section which lead to another straight. It was a complete 180 turn around a single cone. A lot of people were loosing time on it, either swinging wide at the start and not cutting tightly enough, or cutting it too tight and under-steering wide after the corner. I then saw one guy in a subie that was doing pretty well and he was taking the corner by doing a really tight drift and pivoting the very front of the car right around the cone. So on exit he still had some momentum going and was already lined up perfect for the final straight. So I attempted this the last 3 laps of the day and was finally able to nail it perfectly on the last go. As I approached the corner I lined up on the inside of the lane near the inside cone. Quick let off the gas to transfer weight to the front wheels, then a quick half turn to the outside to start the whole "scandinavian-flick" move, and then steer hard back into the corner and jab the brake pedal once to help transfer more weight to the front and swing the back end out. As soon as the backend started to slip out I started straightening out the wheel and apply a smooth amount of throttle to hold the slide. I was so happy to see the front end pivoting perfectly around the cone and then I was lined up for the last straight and the tires hooked back up and gave it more gas and took off with a good bit of momentum. My codriver let out a big cheer and when I crossed the line one of the guys from the car club who was watching gave me a thumbs up. It was so rewarding to finally get that corner right, being able to control a car like that is just sooo much fun.
#9
That last picture was way to small, so here's the time sheet in a larger size.
This whole thing has just made me want to do more racing. So now I'm really eager to hop-up the car some more. Hopefully this spring I'll get a set of Adjustable-Dampening coilovers and a new set of wheels and tires. Maybe over the summer or sometime in the next year I can get one of the F4h-l "Frankenturbo" modified K04s to make more power than I have now, but not loose my good spool. What do you guys think?
This whole thing has just made me want to do more racing. So now I'm really eager to hop-up the car some more. Hopefully this spring I'll get a set of Adjustable-Dampening coilovers and a new set of wheels and tires. Maybe over the summer or sometime in the next year I can get one of the F4h-l "Frankenturbo" modified K04s to make more power than I have now, but not loose my good spool. What do you guys think?