So on a whim this morning I thought I would go check out the Rally Cross event (www.oregonrally.com) being held at the Hillsboro Fair grounds. I wasnt too surprised to see about 100 Subarus, but I was really shocked to see that not one single Evo was there. Thats right, we have rally cars and not one Evo showed up. So I take a look at the previous event points and I was even more stunned to see not one single Evo on the list. Well this just wasnt going to do. After all, a friggin limo was out there owning it up, I may as well try to give those Subbies a run, even if I have never driven a car in the mud before, and drift is pretty much a foreign word for me.

So in I go. The cost was only $30, off to a good start, and the tech requirements were typical of any other "race" type event. Full requirements can be found at the oregon rally website. I got in line, filled out the release form and found that I would have to compete in the 4WD Modified class (The top class) since I missed the 4WD Prepared class runs that occured in the morning. No biggy, Im not expecting to do very well anyway, it is afterall, my first time out in mud, and I only have cheap snow tires on.

So I drive through the parade lap and it was like an ice rink out there. THey had just sprayed water down and I was, to be honest, a bit nervous about the whole thing. At the end of the parade run I line up in the starting grid and eagerly wait my turn. Now the subbie Evo haters club starts to talk the trash, "Watch for the Evo spies!", several people say to me. What the heck is that? Apparently, the joke with all the subbie guys is our warranty is so crap that the dealerships send guys out to see who is running an Evo, and cancels their warranty. Whatever, mine was gone as soon as I put cams in.

First lap goes off and I pulled a 1:47 second lap without any penalties. Not too bad I thought. It was pretty slick and I have tons of room for improvement. Next lap comes and I hit 1:24. Now we are talking. Soon after I hit 1:23, and I am getting pretty confident. The fastest lap of the day is 1:16, Im going for it. Final run comes up and I just go ***** to the walls, drift style, and try to control the angry Evo beast. Finish the run, and to my amazement, I do a 1:17, not enough for the fastest lap of the day, but I am still proud none-the-less.

Next up I had to work the corners, as all drivers do. A buddy of mine is out there with his truck and catches all the subbie guys calling me the Evil Evo. He kindly responds with, "I would call it that too, since the driver has never done this before and just posted the second fastest time."

The day finishes off and I am blown away to find out that I took 3rd place, I even have the medal to prove it, and if you ask nicely, Ill wear it for ya

This is a great event, and its hard to beat the cost!!! We need to get more Evo's out there. Time to use the cars for what they were designed for people!! Once you do this, I guarantee that you will leave that dismal 1/4 forever. They do monthly events and the next one is at PIR, so I hope to see some more Evo guys out there. Oh, I wont be able to run in the 4WD Prepared class now since I placed in 4WD modified. The director stated, "Sorry bud, you are running too fast, and it wouldnt be fair to the Prepared class." Darn, now Im stuck running with the full on rally setup cars. Oh well

 

EVO's are drag cars, not rally cars.

 

Not with you driving JJ We were wishing you were their today. Ken wants to see if there is a way to lift his car so he can run his Vette. Now that I have to see!

 

Sweet. Sounds like great fun. I have thought about trying it. Some of my club members were there racing. Your car lowered? I dont have a problem taking my car in the mud. Just woried about taring it up the under side. My car is lowered.

 

^^^ LOL Yeah what he said.

I did one of those once. The stock suspension is too hard and I still have a rattle that I can't chase down from it. The cones were too close together (meaning the lanes were too narrow) and every time I got a decent drift going I took out cones with my rear bumper.

Rally-X as far as I can tell has all the drawbacks of Auto-X (limited driving time, you have to work the cones, etc.) with additional things like getting dirt in places that are hard to clean out, rattling things loose that normally wouldn't be rattled, and when you work the corners, you get dirty as hell. I was covered head-to-toe in dirt. Plus there were cones litterally shredded and halfway burried. I wasn't sure what to do when people drove over them...

Mind you the water truck didn't show up that day so it was bone-dry and dusty as hell, but I had a really bad day of it in the blazing sun breathing dust and feeling like I took a year of life off my car.

Nope, open track and canyon carving is what I'll stick too...

 

Sorry to hear that Machron1. I didnt experience any of that during the day. The water truck was running, so things stayed well dusted. It was quite warm, but really fun watching the cars from the COM spots, and I had good company to hang with while I was out there too! It is rather bumpy, but I really felt the suspension really felt strong on this particular course. The rules state that they cant make you go over deep ruts, jumps, etc, so the course was actually pretty smooth, compared to what I thought it would be. Cant do much about the mud getting everywhere, but to be honest, I swear the car is smiling at me since doing this.

I am running the stock suspension, so the car isnt lowered at all. I wouldnt reccomend going out with a lowered car, as I am pretty sure you would be bottoming out. Did I mention I got a shiny medal?

 

Sounds like a good time to me When the next event comes around I'll definitely be up for it. At least there will be two Evo's there

 

Oh yeah forgot to mention I cracked my undertray panel that day too. I was at stock ride height. However, since the water truck wasn't there it wasn't truly representative of a normal day out, just my first and only experience. It probably would have been a lot softer if the water truck would have gone out. I know I'm probably in the minority with my experiences, just thought I'd thrown in my $0.02 as to why THIS Evo isn't out there next time you are . On the bright side, I did do pretty well even though I was on Falken RT-615 tires. I believe I was first out of all the people that ran in the time-only group.

 

When I went to the Wild West Rally in Shelton, WA last year there were two Evos in the competition. Probably 4-6 Subarus. It was pretty fun to watch.

 

There are two events scheduled for July. They are July 12th (at PIR) and July 16th (Not announced). Schedules can be found here:
http://www.oregonrally.com/schedule.cfm

You may also want to read up on the rules before you come.

 

Been there, done that . Now my car is set up for track though (lowered), so no more mudding ...

 

Damn Chris... that's sweet, and sounds fun. Way to kick some *** and represent!

Jason

 

Did you got a medal? That wasn't clear

 

I think I am going to refer to it as my medallion now

Pics at this link:
http://www.pdxsports.com/photos/show...0060611297.jpg

 

Strrong work dude!