The four fuel injectors, the two O2 sensors, the auto shutdown relay, the alternator, the coil pack, the intake air temp / manifold pressure sensor, and an electrical noise suppressor all sitting on the same circuit as the fuel pump, the fuel level sender and the ECU. (or PCM, a.k.a. the computer! ) Any thing on this list shorts out and we roll to a stop.

The dark green wire (with orange stripe) splits off to all of these things one after the other without increasing the gauge. So you have an 18 gauge wire split off into eight additional 18 gauge wires split off into 2 long 18 gauge wires, etc. It’s like plugging everything in your house into 3 power strips hung off an extension cord. If you’re not racing your Neon you may never notice how fragile this setup is.

For those of you planning to keep with the Neon you may want to spend a weekend with the engine wiring harness out of the car. Get a big wooden board, pin everything down and start running separate wires to everything ‘plugged in’ to the green and orange power strip. I think I’m going to go so far as to separate the O2 sensors off with in-line fuses. Last time I tried to fix this problem by building an in-car override for the circuit when it popped. I see now that all I was doing is plugging the Christmas Tree into a different outlet to fix the shorted out bulbs.

Update: I added 4 more things that the sneaky green and orange go to…

This year I let Google Video take a little more of the bandwidth hit, but I still have all the videos on-line available for download. They are all 640X480 and at least 1MBps, so if you liked what you saw on Google, you can download the hi-res versions here. I will be adding more stages soon.

Gorman Ridge Rally 2006 - Highlights - 43.6MB WMV
Low-res Preview
Big jumps, close calls, and the DNF on SS7.

Gorman Ridge Rally 2006 - SS2 Powerline South - 66.2MB WMV
Low-res Preview
Tight, twisty, rough stage that gets faster and faster. Finish is two large jumps and a surprise at the bottom.

Gorman Ridge Rally 2006 - SS5 Powerline North - 66.3MB WMV
Low-Res Preview
Opposite of SS2 with two huge jumps taken flat out and the stage gets rougher and tighter. Listen to Christine struggle for breath as the calls get fast over the bumpy terrain.

You’ll notice that the video keeps rolling un-interrupted for the DNF, push, and tow out. Even with electrical problems the camera and video are unaffected. This is a specially designed system that RumbleSoft put together for use with a Sony DCR recorder and long life NiMH battery. Click here for more information on the RumbleSoft Racing video system.

Ten miles into stage seven, with three stages to go, the team was holding onto a second place in class when the Dodge Rally Neon’s computer failed. At that point an overwhelming five out of the six P-Stock competitors had dropped out of the Gorman Ridge Rally. The problem was related to an oxygen sensor that ground out, stalling the car on the transit between stages two and three.

“Of course we’re bummed, but it had to happen sometime. I’m happy we were able to at least finish all of the morning stages. It’s disappointing that our problem was most likely due to something we could have easily replaced on stage – unlike the whole transmission locking for example – but I’m also thankful the failure was not caused by something more major. I’m looking forward to getting out to our next event,” reported co-driver Christine Wittish.

“It’s our first DNF (did not finish), but we still had an awesome time! The car ate up all the bumps and jumps. The new damping in the rear Bilstein struts kept the back end from popping up and we landed flat every time,” said driver Kristopher Marciniak. “I didn’t give up when the car stalled during the transit to stage three. I pulled out the rear O2 sensor plug and got the car going again. I tried everything when she died on stage seven, but I knew when we heard the fuel pump and cooling fans running even with the keys out of the ignition that we were done.”

The Rallynotes.com Team finished all of the stages in the Hungry Valley ORV Park. These same stages were included in this year’s X Games competition. The crew of four: Harry Bushling, Jake Walters, Colten Becker, and Kevin Patterson did an awesome job of checking and repairing the car while in service.

Looking forward to their next event, the team re-joins the competition of the USRC in October at the Prescott Rally in Arizona.

Click here for pictures from the Gorman Ridge Rally!

Summary: Brake fade on SS1, Rear O2 grounded on transit to SS3, got car going for SS4, flew on SS5 & 6. Started SS7 (Libre Mountain), 10 miles in - sensor circut fries the ECU, DNF on SS7.

We had an AWESOME time!
Look for the whole story later today.

The rear Bilstein struts are back together and on the car. Fresh seals and grease for all four dampers. The skidplate fought me a little bit - as when I took it off the subrame was less then straight. Now that everything is back to spec the ‘out of spec’ holes in the plate don’t line up. We’ll need to do the front brakes when we get up there. (I’m starting a tradition. That’s when we installed the Porterfield pads last year. Yes, they’re THAT good. Four rallies!)

Ze’Neon is on the dolly and we’re ’shoving off’ around 2:00.
There be priates on the loose up in Gorman town.*

* Trash talk on Special Stage went all ‘talk like a pirate’ and I got a little too excited. You’ll see what I mean when the pictures come in. If ye’ bored - here’s how it got started.

Okay peeps… If you’re in SoCal, then this is for you. It’s an hour north of LA and a short cruise up the 5. You’ll get to see the same stages run by the X Games. You’ll get a hundred pictures of rally cars, four special stages, and two service stops. You need to roll up there for 11:00AM this Saturday (Aug 19th). Bring: $5 for parking, sunscreen, camp chairs, water, and a desire to see 30 cars tear up the Hungry Valley off road park. Print out the maps, stay 50 feet off the stage roads, listen to the marshalls, and see what this sport is all about.

Google Map to Rally HQ
Gorman maps and spectator information
Current entry list
Gorman Ridge Rally Website

Don’t forget to get crazy when you see the Dodge Rally Neon blast by!
If you’re not in the country of California - Watch the live online scores here!

“Rally with the people!”

We ordered a tire groover. It’s a giant soldering iron with a razorblade ‘U’ at the tip. It heats up to a bajillion degrees and makes quick work of cutting tread blocks. Yes - It smells exactly like that… Awesome + Cancer. We freshened a set of Silverstones and got whatever was left on our Hankooks. If you want to get another couple of runs out of $1000 worth of tires, spend $60 on a groover and start cutting. Most of my cuts just cleaned out the lower bars between the blocks. I did, however, cut one set of ‘hockey sticks’ to make two smaller sharp blocks. New tires will be ordered for Prescott.

Hungry Valley, the same stages and location used by the inaugural X Games Rally competition, will once again host the Gorman Ridge Rally on August 19th. This is a tough regional event that those local to Southern California always enjoy. We invite you to come out and see rally up close at the open spectator area! For an even closer look, you can volunteer to help at Gormanridgerally.com - Check the website for volunteer and spectator information.

This event marks the team’s first anniversary of competition and continues the excitement of their 2006 season. “Gorman is a tough rally and it was such a relief just to finish it last year. Now that we’ve driven the roads and know more of what to expect, we’ll try to have another smooth run here,” said driver Kristopher Marciniak. The team goal of this rally will be consistency and survival. “There’s no need to destroy the car on the first stages. If you watched the X Games, then you know how tight and rough these roads are. They claimed two top competitors and punctured dozens of tires.”

The Dodge Rally Neon is in top shape and ready to handle the rough stuff. Bilstein has made some changes to the rear damping and it will be pushed to the limit at Gorman over the jumps, dips, and water bars. The team has done some major work to the car over the last two months. From seam welding the front end, to strengthening a new sub-frame, the Neon continues to prove itself as a tough little car.

Constantly sharpening her skills, Co-Driver Christine Wittish attended a seminar taught by the world famous Nicky Grist following his performance at the X Games. “It was great insight from a world champion and the experience positively reinforced everything I’ve been doing as far as pre-rally prep, and co-driving in general. Gorman will be a good rally and we’ll be going a hell of a lot faster then we did last year!”

We would like to thank the following for their support!
Bilstein
RallyDecals.com
The Southern California Neon America Club

Pictures are up in the gallery!