RDRC S6 Round 3 - Sno*Drift Rally (26th - 29th April)

[Magnus Lindgren]

1. Forgot to change my car. Drove my A8 Evo 9 instead of what I should be drivin
2. Miserable first stage
3. Miserable second stage
4. Miserable third stage
5. Miserable fourth stage
6. clipped a photograher right after start on fifth, then rolled at five different places before first split-Point
7. Decided to do something else with my life this beautiful monday evening
Have a nice time out there!

 

[Alasdair Beck]

As a side note, Aberdeen is the worst place in Scotland to drive, except Glasgow.

You're not wrong there. I was in the town centre on Saturday while Aberdeen were playing at home and it took us 1hour and 15 minutes to go 6 mles

 

[Ross McGregor]

Jeez, and there's normally only 243 people at Aberdeen games! Had to drive through union street the other day, I wanted to kill somebody...

 

[Roy Magnes]

Joined the EU-session tonight.
Did okay on most stages, but I was driving mostly with the brakes on. It was so slippery that I dared not attack at all.
Despite this I had a head on collision with a tree that killed the oil pump after 200 meters of Greenhills the first time.

I do not expect a top 10 this week, though I enjoyed the challenge. Will hopefully be better on the gravel and more on the tarmac. Hopefully

 

[Ross McGregor]

A much better run than last round, but my lack of practise came back to bite me when I rolled on Diamond Creek 2 and Hualalpai Nation first time round, then went off on the first run through Prospect Ridge and lost around 15s trying to get back on the stage! This cost me in total one CFH and an extra 40s on top of that. But, I finished the rally without a DNF! Hurrah!

No idea where I finished, but I do know I really enjoyed that rally!

Thanks to the organisers again!

 

[Manuel De Samaniego]

So I finished the Rally, what I call my home Rally when Rally México is not part of the season.

And to make things better I had the pleasure of running alongside my teammate Michael as we tackled the snowy fast stages of this Rally.

I can say I feel absolutely satisfied with this Rally, every single stage went perfectly, I pushed like hell from the very beginning to the very end and did just the times I wanted, I'm very very happy (I know I always say that but this time I am very much) it went just the way I dreamed, I don't think I could've gone 3 seconds faster on the whole Rally, SS10 in the dark was scary as hell, a nice thrill and every stage was a nice experience.

Great choice of stages and as every single time great organization.

Thankyou very much to the organizers and congratulations to the finishers and offcourse good luck to those who are yet to race, you're in for a crazy ride!

I Sno*Drift

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

The gearing of the Corsa is really going to hurt me on the USA stages... I wonder why it only has options for short and medium drop gears?

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

SS1: Made a few silly mistakes - my handbrake stuck at the last turn. Could be quicker.
SS2: Out of the swimming pool and into the volcano. Not only did I realise I had been practicing with the reverse version of Hualapai Nation, but right near the end I made an error and hit the marshals, then more contact with a wall. DAMAGED CAR YAAAAY
SS3: I like the USA stages when they're gravel, but they're terrible on any other surface. I couldn't push, and when I did, I paid for it.
SS4: I know the Rally School stage off by heart, so why can I not go under a minute 20?
SS5: I hate the Australian stages too. Really wish the pacenotes were more consistent.
SS6: Better run on Hualapai than last time. Still disappointed...
SS7: More disappointment. I'll get an accident-free run one day.
SS8: This is properly frustrating.
SS9: Ha! How ironic that the stage I like the least is my most successful one so far.
SS10: I had an awesome run, and then killed the car on a rock with the finish line in sight. brb, breaking stuff
SS11: A good run? On Greenhills? No mistakes? What sorcery is this???
SS12: Gaaah, killed the car again. Done.

Really not happy with my season so far. My lack of clean driving coupled with the fact that the guys in the RRC cars seem untouchable is starting to kill my motivation. Oh well - soldier on...

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Rally finished. I went for the rally without any tests, it was just make a copy of gravel setup and let's go racing...

First stages, I strugled a lot without any confidence and knowledge about the grip etc etc etc...

In terms of speed, I think about 50/60% of my real speed, but the main goal for the rally was accomplished. Finish without any call for help and DNF.

Let's wait for the final classifications and see how bad it was

Best of luck for the rest

 

[Jack Hintz]

Managed to *just* make it due to OC4 being an hour early and me just finishing my work.
No testing whatsoever, or touching RBR since Round 2 for that matter!
So I'm not going out searching for podiums

SS1: No issues, nice and clean...ish.
SS2: Distracted a little by the snow, so didntt go flat out.
SS3: Going well until the final section where I went wide and damaged the radiator..luckily I managed to put it in neutral and coast to the finish line.
SS4: Bit slower on this pass, got a little distracted
SS5: Took it cautiously, and still had a half spin...setup needs tweaking a bit I think.
SS6: Again cautios, but no big moments.
SS7: Never done Greenhills with snow before..that was an experience!
SS8: Very pleased with that run, only lifted off a few times, felt quite fast...to me anyway.
SS9: Not bad pace, but not perfect either.
SS10: Ok I officially hate this stage. Perfect run until the very last corner when a *small* rock makes me spin and lose 10 seconds. FML
SS11: Surprised my wheel isnt on fire after that stage..Had to wrestle to keep the car under control the entire stage, Way too tail-happy.
SS12: Pushing the car a little too hard I think...drastic setup changes needed for the next events I think.

Interesting event for me, surprised I had no retirements, although almost ending up with one on SS3!

Tiago, if that is 50/60% of your real speed, that is disturbing!

Hopefully my times are all collated, my net wasn't downloading the end of stage results all night

Good luck EU4 guys!

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Jack, let's say 70%. Just keeping car on the road.

 

[Jack Hintz]

I would really love to see you in an RDRC car... those times were immensely quick!!

 

[Jonatan Åcerclinth]

Really not happy with my season so far. My lack of clean driving coupled with the fact that the guys in the RRC cars seem untouchable is starting to kill my motivation.

You'll find a way to avoid incidents and going quicker matr, I'm sure of it

I don't like the s2000 cars but if it's setup I'd happily try to help out a bit.

If it's notes, I'm certain someone here could link to some mod or addition?

 

[David Jundt]

Okay, now it's my turn to throw the Porsche over the stages.

TBH though: I am not sure if that was a good idea, found a Fiesta with a brilliant paint scheme to drive

 

[Karl Raudsepp]

Prologue - I didn't found time to practice at all, so I'm heading to SS1 without any testing kilometer. Hoping for clear run, but knowing that I've never driven those stages on snow, everything may happen. Fingers crossed.

Here are my post-stage comments.

SS1 - Car felt really oversteery and no grip at rear at all. Really uncomfortable drive... Hopefully I'll gain some confidence on next stages.
SS2 - Woah. Got though somehow. Even with normal grip it is so slippery, so I don't want to know how it will be next time with worn tires... Something disturbed me and I lost focus, so I made haldspin. I also hitted armco at the last corner, I think I bent steering arm or something. Fingers crossed.
SS3 - Oh god. Lack of focus again, so I drove into people. Not good at all.
SS4 - All OK. I wish other stages would be easy as this...
SS5 - Meh. Hitted some tree at quite slow speed in 90° turn and gearbox broke down. 1st gear got stuck and couldn't start the engine with manual clutch. Really Sad. That was one of my favorite stages in this rally and I already felt myself as one with car, but s**t happens.
SS6 - Everything went well, but still angry about last stage. I'm trying to keep my head calm and car on the road
SS7 - Rear is so loose again, very hard to keep it straight... But everything was OK though.
SS8 - Drama free, flat out run. Enjoyable.
SS9 - Hah. Good stage, everything went well untill last sector, where I drove into tree and then some corners later I stalled my engine. Next time I'll do better, hopefully. I was amazed that it was dark
SS10 - I hate night stages when they are on some kind of flat out, blind crests road. I just can't trust myself nor pacenotes to go flat out on those places...
SS11 - Trouble free run, luckily.
SS12 - Stalled my car twice this time. Not happy at all. But on brighter side I finished rally, shame about that off into spectators and SS5 DNF...

 

[Norman Bruce]

Due to poor results in the first two rounds I decided to take a bit more care here. That was going well until the last stage when I hit a photographer and the a little further on I slid and hit a tree. I had still 4km to go but I was stuck in 4th gear and my oil light was flashing, I tried to make it to the end but it was not long before the engine died.
Despite my last stage retirement this round felt better for me, thanks to all organizers.

 

[Jack Hintz]

Results are now up!

Congratulations Manuel, Magnar and Emil for the Overall win!

 

[Jonatan Åcerclinth]

Best GrA car again

Don't mind if I do

Unfortunate that the others hit troubles as it could have been very close otherwhise

Well done everyone, looks like it was a close rally for all of us

 

[Emil Pribanić]

Nice. Grats to all who participate in this championship, driving and organizing great rallys like this one. Grats to "M&M" dudes (Manuel & Magnar), also grats to newcomer Tiago and Silvio for podium. Wish more luck and speed to all other who didnt taste podium champagne this time. Great to see some new names with good driving skills. This will be awsome championship again. Cant wait till next rally to race you.

 

[John Cunningham]

Didnt say thanks after that round, so I thought I would have a go at a proper report:


ss1 party'd all night
ss2 woke up with a hangover
ss3 had to sit down for a while till the room stopped spinning
ss4 sectionally removed the dead tree in the back garden, climbing etc with chainsaw
ss5 sat down till the barfyness left me
ss6 mowed the lawn
ss7sat down again
ss8 did the rest of my chores
ss9 sat down and contemplated the horror of hangovers
ss10 realised I had to race
ss11 did one lap for gear ratios and then straight into the session
ss12 sat down one last time


One killing of the bobble hatted spectators

4 flat-out spins

Great race I think, but it's really all a blurry barfy distant memory now...


Thanks again to everyone, and especially to the organisers. Jack had a bit of a bad week by all accounts, not feeling great himself etc so man of the match award goes to him. Can anybody stop the Mexican flyer???


See you all on the next run.


jc