Once again, we are really excited to have our APRS tracker up and running for the Prescott Rally. This has the best native APRS coverage of any rally out west. What this means simply is: Friends, fans, and family can watch our progress in real time on the internet! Updates should be around every 5 minutes. The map interface is Google Maps, so it’s very easy to use and navigate. If you click on the dots on the tracked route you will be able to see the following:

KI6IUC-9 - Is my Amateur Radio call sign.
(The -9 is to indicate the rally car.)
Date and time in 24 hour UTC
speed in MPH, direction, altitude in feet
/Short message that will indicate our status.
[how that packet got to you]

Itinerary for the Prescott Rally 2008 Times are all PST
Thursday - October 2nd: Drive out from California to Phoenix, AZ (10:00AM - 7:00PM)
Friday - October 3rd: Reconnaissance (6:00AM - 10:00AM)
Friday - October 4th: Rally day one (4:00PM - 10:30PM)
Saturday - October 5th: Rally day two (8:00AM - 3:00PM)
Sunday - October 6th: Drive back to California (10:00AM - 7:00PM)

** Don’t miss Friday and Saturday, these are the days to watch. We will be in the rally car racing at speed on the roads around Prescott!
Times are LOCAL - Pacific Standard Time or GMT -7:00
This may help…

Live scores and results of the Prescott Rally will be available here!
Check out other APRS data from the Prescott area here! You should be able to see other rally cars, sweep vehicles, etc.

Next weekend, the 21st Annual Prescott Rally, held in beautiful Arizona will be the location for some great NASA Rallying. With an impressive 35 teams on the entry list, six USRC Production 2WD entries, and seven total teams battling for top California Rally Series P-Stock honors, this will be an exciting final event for the USRC Pacific and CRS regional championships. The team will be pushing hard for USRC points and a top spot in order to win the CRS P-Stock class championship for 2008.

The Dodge Rally Neon is in great shape after the grueling Gorman Ridge Rally. No major damage was incurred and the car has been thoroughly looked over. Updated Bilstein rear struts will keep the team in control for the speed and jumps seen on these long stages. The new Tuff Rims continue to impress and will be tested on the large imbedded rocks known to dot the course.

The team is excited about the competition and the course this year. The rally will be running two 22 mile stages which will test the entire field. “Our Gorman strategy was to go slow and save the car. At Prescott – I want to be setting the pace for the Production cars all weekend. The last time the 22 mile stage was run we set 7th fastest overall. I would like to do better then that this year.” exclaimed driver Kristopher Marciniak.

The team is charged up for the penultimate round of the United States Rally Championship. They are ready to tackle the roads and competition at the Prescott Rally!

The Current Plan:
We drop the car off at a reputable transport company after Prescott. They then get the lowest price on getting the rally car to Newark, NJ by the 24th. ($1400 to $1600 one way BTW) We have flights booked to get us to NJ a day before the rally and back on the following Monday. When we arrive we’ll need to rent a trailer for the weekend from U-Haul and borrow someones (yet to find) truck for service. We’ll need to borrow tools and we’ll only have some light spares for the rally, as the car can’t be crammed full of stuff for shipping. We can then pay to ship it back, or drive it back ourselves after Christmas. These Christmas plans have yet to be made - and YES - I did say we’d drive the rally car back. It’s been done before. This couldn’t be done with an open class, dog box, monster turbo, rally car. As you can see to the right - we can make it blend right in!

This plan is rough because we won’t have our tow dolly or service vehicle. We’re super limited on spares and tires. It’s also very expensive.

Other Ideas:
We calculated the cost of driving the Blazer & Rally Neon. With gas and $80 a night hotel rooms we’re looking at a $2300 round trip. Much closer to the $2000 tow fund budget. The problem is - I don’t get paid time off, and my schedule is already booked. I know I can drive it back, but not both ways. We’re now looking for friends, fellow rallyists, long lost acquaintances, to drive the whole rig from Southern California to Newark, NJ. We would even be willing to fly them out (or back) here for such a trip.

The ideal solution would be to get with a team already going from the West that can step a 1 car trailer up to a 2 car trailer. A little more fuel - but the total cost of the trip for them would be less. We can then take spares and tools and team up for Rally New York. We would be willing to spend $2300 for the round trip. One team has already come and gone, and we need to find others interested.

We’ve posted and emailed and called. If you can help us out, or have a suggestion that I haven’t thought of yet, email or post a comment!
Prescott will be here before you know it. I’m heading down to the shop tomorrow to maintain and prepare the car. Hopefully a plan will arise in the next week.
For even MORE granular detail on the subject - check out my Rally New York post on Special Stage.