Idaho Rally 2008
Idaho Rally 2008 Photo Gallery
2008 Idaho Rally - SS2 - 72.7MB WMV
Low-res video of IdahoSS2 on YouTube
2008 Idaho Rally - SS3 - 66.7MB WMV
Low-res video of IdahoSS3 on YouTube
2008 Idaho Rally - Cone - 3.7MB WMV
Low-res video of Idaho Cone! on YouTube

BONUS: Spectator views from Idaho on YouTube

North Nevada Rally 2008
North Nevada Rally 2008 Photo Gallery
2008 North Nevada Rally - SS4 - 108.6MB WMV
Low-res video of NNRSS4 on YouTube
2008 North Nevada Rally - SS5 - 72.2MB WMV
Low-res video of NNRSS5 on YouTube
2008 North Nevada Rally - Erik - 12MB WMV

BONUS: Rally411.com interviews with Chrissie Beavis / Kristopher Marciniak

Two rallies, one trip. Two CRS class victories, one USRC class win. Two great events, one fantastic time! 2007 USRC 2wd Production class champions Kristopher and Christine Marciniak achieved their goals and finished Idaho 9th overall amid a strong contingent of all wheel drive teams, thus gaining valuable points for both the regional and national championships respectively. Not putting a wheel wrong all weekend, the team’s only issue came from a chicane cone that was hit in a spectator area – this lead to some minor road points that the team later nicknamed “spectator points” as the Dodge Rally Neon was completely sideways, giving the crowd a good show on the final stage.

The beautiful Idaho stages, held in the Boise National Forest, made for some of the best rally roads the Rallynotes.com team has ever driven. Do not mistake the word ‘best’ to mean ‘easy.’ With extremely abrupt drop-offs, pine trees, downhill narrow twisty corners, short straights, and the occasional cattle making its way onto the route, these smooth roads mean business and any lack of concentration or a missed call will ruin your weekend quickly.

“Lots of fun, a solid weekend,” remarked driver Kristopher Marciniak. “We were pretty exhausted from two pass recce’, but the notes were spot on and I could really trust them the first time out. We had no issues with traction, just trying to maintain speed up these steep hills after a few hair-pin turns is really hard in a 100-something horse power car.” The Dodge Rally Neon was rolling on new strengthened steel rims provided by TuffRims.com

The Rallynotes crew teamed up with Richard Rockrohr & Marie Jacobs and their production AWD Subaru Impreza, sharing crew and resources for both North Nevada and Idaho Rallies. As Richard and Marie are local residents of Boise, their gracious accommodations felt like home. We would like to give a big “Thank You!” and add that our experience at Rally Idaho wouldn’t have been as smooth without their help. Congratulations to them on their 8th overall and 2nd in class! We look forward to teaming up with them on future events.

Smooth turns to bumpy and rough, as the team prepares themselves for the next extreme event (and self-proclaimed “rally-versary”): Gorman Ridge Rally – August 16th, 2008.

I’ve been getting some feedback that no one is watching the Google Videos, or more specifically the total lack of feedback from them + lack of views is telling me that. As I want to open stage rally to as wide an audience as I can, I’ve created a YouTube Channel. This is also somewhat confusing as Google owns YouTube, so one would think they’d be equal. I feel that the upload is faster and the video becomes available almost instantly. I’ve seen it take between an hour and 2 days with Google. I’ve already got comments rolling in on stuff I posted an hour ago. So, we’re going to the tubes! Look for me to start moving some of the 2007 videos and highlights to the channel. Watch for more stuff to pop up in a couple days.

As always the hi-res WMV video is available at http://rallynotes.com/vids

Here’s SS3 from Idaho!

More at YouTube.com/rallynotes

Sideways in Idaho! Photo by Austin Schmitz

We’re back and I got to sleep for 8 hours for the first time in a week last night. Lots and lots of driving and towing. We broke up the trip home by stopping in Zion National Park, Utah. Monday morning we took a short hike in the park and then around 1:00PM headed towards Vegas and home.

We had a very successful trip. USRC class points, CRS P-Stock class points, 9th overall for the weekend out of a very strong 4WD field of 14 finishers. Results posted here. I have some mixed news about video. 1. The bullet cam wiring seems to have been pinched and the video from day 2 blacks out every 10 random seconds for about 1.5 random seconds. It seems to correspond with the bumps, but since these roads were so smooth, I can’t tell. 2. I was having a problem pulling digital video off my tapes, but fixed the DV port on the camera that sits in the car. Now I can get ALL the video from Idaho (even the blanked out bits) and ALL the video from North Nevada! Besides time to do it, one of the major reasons you haven’t seen more then SS4 from NNR.

I got our spectator road points video up on the Tubes. Short little teaser.
Idaho Rally 2008 SS10 - “Cone!”
(You can see the blank video problem I was talking about - total bummer.)

Found a spectator photo album from Austin Schmitz.
PhotoBucket Idaho Rally 1
PhotoBucket Idaho Rally 2

Stories, video and pictures to follow!
- Kris

A little over two weeks ago, the Rallynotes.com team captured their first in class victory at the North Nevada Rally. This weekend, the City of Mountain Home will host the Idaho Rally 2008. It’s round 3 of the United States Rally Championship and event 5 of the California Rally Series Championship that the team will be vying for points. The two day performance rally takes place in the Boise National Forest just 30 miles east of Boise. Competitors will race on very technical, narrow and often elevation changing Forest roads with stages ranging from 7 - 14 miles. They will have spectator areas for the fans to come and check out the action!

The Dodge Rally Neon has been looked over and stored in Idaho for the last few weeks. The team will be flying in to make reconnaissance, held early on Thursday morning. This will be their second time writing stage notes from scratch and they’re looking forward to the challenge. “It’s a lot to do.” said driver Kristopher Marciniak. “Unlike organizer supplied stage notes, where you might have to tweak a corner or two, this is 100% on you to get it right the first time.” When asked about the pressure of writing notes Co-Driver Christine Marciniak responded: “The car is already up there, so we’ll be relaxed and ready to go.”

Coming off their win in Nevada, the team is pumped to continue the winning season with the USRC! Amateur radio APRS tracking will be on and the Rallynotes.com team progress can be tracked before, during and after the event. Check out: http://rallynotes.com/rallycar-tracking/

The team is ready to take on its first 2008 USRC event – Rally Idaho!