Rocky Results

Hi all,

We finished 12th of ~30 regional competitors at Rocky Mountain Rally this past weekend.

No drama on the stages besides some difficulty adjusting to Jemba style notes (for instance: "Heath, you really need to tell me about those 'R2's with exposure' a bit sooner!!"). Actually, Heath did an excellent job with the notes considering we're both very new to the sport. Some mechanical problems, including the fuel pump which was on its last legs and at some times wouldn't let me get up over 5000rpm. The car started overheating seriously (temp guage was off scale during some of the stages). The cooling fan wouldn't run continuously so I thought the thermo switch was busted. We hard wired the fan at service to run non-stop but that didn't really seem to help. Now I think there may be a blockage of some sort somewhere in the cooling system. Even though the car was overheating, we pushed it as hard as the fuel pump would let us. One of the microphones on our intercom also broke, leaving Heath yelling the notes to me for a couple of stages untill we could fix it. As we were coming into the final time control (finish) after about a 10km transit, the oil pressure warning light was coming on (but it seems to do that when running hot - vw mechanic says I've got the wrong sensors(??)). But, the car made it to the finish and we were happy with our result (whoo hoo 12th, Yahhh 12th !!! ....seems a bit funny )

The stages were long, fast and flowing. Lots of long uphills that really made me wish I had way more power. Some short tighter sections where the car behaved very good. I'll get some pictures up once I get some.

Take care,
Chad.

Looking forward to Rocky

Rocky 2004 - My 1st time ever as a spectator at a Rally, sat on the side of a cold dusty road with Warren Currie's brother and decided that I need to do this rally thing for myself (as if I wasn't already addicted).

Rocky 2005 - Heath and I volunteer for the rally and work time control at service (both of us get severe sunburn!!).

Rocky 2006 - I was very disappointed to not have my car ready, as I had hoped this would be my first rally...had to wait until fall of 2006 to debut at Pacific Forest Rally in Merritt, BC (and then went ~14kms before I went off the road...lol). Turned out the weather did not cooperate anyways and many stages had to be cancelled as they were virtually impassable (sp?) due to mud.

Rocky 2007 - Finally going to the show with my own rally car. To say I'm excited is an understatement. Based upon the weather pattern for the last 3 years, I'm expecting sunny skies.