We’re as ready as we’re going to be. We left the Blazer basically packed from NNR and Idaho. I had to replace a rear wheel stud on the Neon. The Blazer however was more complicated. Our $6,000 truck just sucked about $2500 out of us in the last 3 months. New shocks, engine mounts and helper springs in the rear. When we got to Idaho the car no longer started - so - New Chevy fuel pump. (Sideline - don’t EVER buy an aftermarket one for a Blazer. If it’s lower then 50psi it WILL NOT start.) Special thanks to Dick and Marie for taking care of that for us. Then - let’s see… Oh, a nice new whining noise from the rear end that started when we hit Vegas on our way home. That turned out to be a diff bearing, or should I say the LAST differential bearing in the case. Larry at Full Tilt Off Road in San Clemente helped us out and also found a stuck brake caliper that was obliterating the right rear inner pad. Rear brakes are now fresh. Even with all that - We’ve certainly pulled our monies worth out of the truck. It gets 15+MPG towing with the dolly. I installed a tranny cooler before any towing and the motor and trans are running strong. We’ve got about 134,000 on the clock and I can see having it for the next 65,000. Now if I could only get the drivers side window motor for less then $300. That stopped rolling down about 4 months ago…

Gorman is going to be a party - I’m sure. Our goal for the event is the same as it was in 2005. Just finish. I got word that the roads are as rough as ever, so there is no need to be a hero out there. This rally will be won by the survivors. I’m sure the standings will change radically on SS1 and as soon as the sun sets. Check your ego at the door - wish us luck. The after-party looks to be epic.

For your viewing pleasure:
Gorman Ridge Rally Results on RallyData.com
We will be running APRS and the coverage ’should’ be good. Check out APRS Rally Car Tracking.
I fixed the video camera! As some of you may have noticed (or been following), I had glitchy video on day 2 of Idaho. This turned out to be a crimped and broken wire in the connector for the bullet cam. I localized it, and soldered up a new camera cable that is longer and removable. The old one was always attached to the box ‘umbilical style’. I’m going to be experimenting with all kinds of different shots for this rally. I’ll also have my other handycam with me for an inside look at the rallynotes.com team. I don’t know how it will be shot or edited yet - or even what I’ll shoot - but it should be good for some YouTubery.

UPDATE: The rallycar is up and tracking on APRS. You should be able to enjoy our tow through LA in the morning on Friday. Look for the good stuff to start at 10AM PST on Saturday, August 16th. - Kris

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!

Stage 4 of the rally, about 3 miles in, it begins to rain. This amps us both up as we haven’t done a stage in the rain in a LONG time. I heard a lot of complaints about traction and I have to tell you it didn’t seem to get any better or any worse for us. The wipers were on and I was trying to go faster then anyone who would slow for a rain storm.

I moved to an inside view for this rally, and I’m pleased to see that my steering wheel antics are not that bad. Two hands on the wheel except to shift. You can see the tach and how pinned I had it up the hills. Right around 12 minutes in, Christine gets a little nervous as we slide a bit for a caution right 4.

2008 North Nevada Rally - SS4 - 108.6MB WMV
Low-res preview of SS4

And as a little bonus:
2008 North Nevada Rally - outside hairpin video - 12.1MB WMV

Ben Simpson took some fab shots of the rally - check out his gallery here!

We’re back from the North Nevada Rally with some great news. Crew was great, team did great, car is fine and ready for Idaho. Look for the full story to be posted here soon. I’m waiting for some FTP and email uploads of pictures and video. I have some in-car that I attempted to post to Google Video, but they have been having upload problems (Along with past issues that usually takes my videos a day before they are available.) I created a YouTube account, and we’ll see how that pans out tonight.

Eighty miles Northeast of Reno, past the Black Rock Desert, the 2008 North Nevada Rally will be held on the roads around Purgatory Peak. Smooth twisty stages and stunning scenery are all part of this revived California Rally Series event to be held on Saturday, June 21st. Cars and bikes will be on the route as this race will include a NASA Rally Sport RallyMoto™ event as well.

The Rallynotes.com team makes this their first stop on a trip continuing on to the USRC Rally Idaho in July. Driver Kristopher Marciniak explains. “It didn’t make sense to drive all the way up to Reno and back to Southern California, and then head up to Idaho three weeks later. As we really want to support this CRS regional event, we made plans to do both rallies in one round trip.” To do so, the team will instead tow to Boise, Idaho following the North Nevada Rally on Sunday, then fly home and back later. “Needless to say we booked our flights early and we’re saving a lot of money over the cost of towing and time off work. With the cost of fuel you can’t expect to get there for cheap anymore; it now has to be budgeted like tires and parts, but we’ll be out on the stages!” added Kris.

Co-Driver Christine Marciniak started her season early by co-driving for John Black in his recently purchased Ford Ranger pickup at the Plan B rally in Ridgecrest, California. “I was more than happy to help John, and get some early season seat time. Our goal was to have fun and finish, but we also managed to go fast and place first in class. It was also a great opportunity to navigate for a different driver in a different type of vehicle.”

The Dodge Rally Neon will be in top shape, driving on new Tuff Rims! These strengthened steel wheels use laser cut rings to support the outer and inner edges of the rim. This design will help prevent punctures, leaks and damage to the rally tires. For those of you who missed the silver wheels on the car, the new Tuff Rims have been powder coated to match!

One trip for two rallies means everything will need to be accounted for and triple checked. The team will need to make sure extra spares and parts are packed for the long haul. 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/

Rallynotes.com is ready to have some fun at the North Nevada Rally!

A couple weeks ago at the JV rallycross, John Black hesitantly asked if I would co-drive for him. I exclaimed, “Yes!” Of course we talked about the fact that Kris and I had already signed up to crew for the Stage Notes Radio teams of Erik Christiansen & Amy Floyd, and Eddie Fiorelli & Brent Ellzey, so I had to double check with them before fully committing, and also about figuring out how to get/borrow/beg/steal a HANS device and helmet that would fit me.
(more…)