Friday Morning Mike (silvernslow) and myself packed up his evo with all of our rally gear and set off of an amazing weekend that we are sure not to forget any time soon. After a stop at the mitsu dealer to buy some clips for the fender liners just in case (we have damaged them in the past) and a trip into English racing for new t-case fluid we were off to Hillsboro for The Primitive Rally School!

When we got there we met up with fellow evo owners Cody (migs647) and Mike Colangelo who were taking the class with us, and Scott (Rallydsm) who was one of the instructors. Friday night was a class room session when you learned basic driving skills and theories and learned the basics of rally.

Saturday was when the action started The people who were taking the drivers school ( a co-drivers school was also in option) Were spilt up into small groups of 4 people and given an instructor and sent to working on different driving exercises in the dirt field at the Hillsboro Fair Grounds. At lunch time, the co-drivers came out and got paired up with drivers for a lunch time TSD (time speed distance) rally. Mike, Cody, and myself loaded our selves in the now brown colored evo, got our out time to leave from lunch and took off. After eating we decided that instead of trying to finishes the tsd at the perfect time (witch is the goal of a tsd) we were going to try and finished it in the fastest amount of time possible. After running an errand we started the tsd 8 minuets late and 2 miles from the start. We were car number 13 (every car left at 2 min intervals, so we should have left 26 min after the first car) We ended up being the 4th car into the finish of area. Not the goal of the race, but we counted out selves as winners do to the fact that we finished in the fastest amount of time.

After lunch we broke back into our groups to keep leaning for a few more hours. At 4pm it was time for the schools graduation rally cross. There was a nice amount of really good drivers. The ones that stood out in my mind were an 07 STI, a girl in a 1g talon, and Mike in the evo. After all the runs, there was one car that stood above everyone else… Congrats to Mike in his 03 evo on his first place finish!

Sunday was an Oregon Rally Group SCCA rally cross that everyone in the school was entered in. This event was really owned by Mitsubishi’s, With Cody Crane winning the event and getting the fastest raw time, in Mikes evo. Not to shabby for for a guy who had never driven an evo before this event. ( we made an evo fan for life)

It was nice to see Mikes evo finished the fastest in all 3 races it was entered in!

All in all I can say that the Primitive Rally School is a must for everyone. It teaches you a lot of skills that you can use in real world situations. The instructors are all top notch, and playing in the dirt is a blast. I would suggest this school to everyone! I hope to hear of more evom members attending the school in the future!

 

Cody did an amazing job, no argument there.



Scott

 

Sounds very intriguing. Got any pics of the event? I think it is awesome that Rally schools are being offered.

Scott, what is the best way to get started if one was to have an interest in rallying? Are schools like this the way to go? Or are there other schools out there that are even more focused for the beginner? I'm curious so any info you have will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Cody had a 1:14.?? raw time. It was great to see both cars out there! Next year make sure you make it out to all the events and take home that title!

 

It was a blast, I learned a ton, and getting to watch Cody destroy my times in my own car was fun as well! I definitely recommend the school to anyone interested in rally, or just wanting to learn a little more about car control.

 

I didn't see that, and I handed out the times!!! LOL... That is a fast lap, but of course it SHOULD be... cutting cones is cutting the course. LOL!!!

I know, because I'm guilty of it myself!!! (Insert Evil Laugh Here)

ANYWHO.... I missed THREE events this year. That's more than any year in the past 9 years!!!! And that totally sucks. I certainly gave it away, I know... it didn't seem to matter then. But it does now. ARG!

Scott

 

Pics are forthcoming. the only one I have seen so far is this one, courtesy of Subaru's own Subie Gal (.com):



More pics are coming soon, so stay tuned

As for getting started, I really do recommend going to a School. Not just because I love teaching Seriously, School give you so many insights and allow you to practice the techniques until they become 2nd nature. "Practicing" rally is very, VERY difficult even for a currently competing stage driver... so schools are a safe, available place for LOTS of seat time.

Some of the techniques for rally driving are counter intuitive to how you were taught to drive and what your natural instincts are. It's HARD to break your natural habits and the street is not the place to work that out.

For example, the most difficult habit to break is when you start going more sideways than you intended.... your natural reaction is to lift off the throttle or break. WRONG, you will spin MORE if you do this, so THROTTLE is the right answer to STOP a spin. Sound right? LOL

These are the kinds of things you can spend several months playing to figure out, or get told that up front at class and spend the next few hours perfecting.

Our school focuses on three levels of driving, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. So you can come as a total noob and get the information and practice to really start to understand and perform the foundations of weight transfer and weight shift for dramatic and aggressive handling maneuvers.

Then, at the Intermediate schools, we teach more aggressive turning techniques, jumping, landing and precision both on Rally Cross type surfaces as well as full stage courses.

We also are about to release our "Crash Simulator" so you too can experience being turned around, upside down and ultimately have to release your belts while inverted. All in the safety of the classroom

Advanced Schools are aggressively handling stage courses at high, competitive speeds and doing things like flicking the car in 5th gear and dealing with multiple terrain and traction scenarios. Fun Stuff.

So yes, SCHOOL. Find one, do one, Love one.

Volunteer! This is a GREAT way to get close to the players and glean great information on the world of Rallying. I learned a ton about how to prep my car and prepare my mind for events from Volunteering. You also learn about the creative fixes that will keep you in the game.

The biggest thing I learned from Volunteering is how GREAT a family the rally community is and how they are always there to help you. Amazing friendships are built there and that support is worth its weight in Gold once you start competing.

Another value is working stages is learning how checking in and out of stages works. Timing is a funny thing and it can cost you a win... so knowing this element is key to staying on task.

That's probably a bigger answer than you expected but honestly, it's the right path. Alot of guys just buy a fire breathing rally-wann-be race car and go out and stack it up on the 3rd stage... and then NEVER come back. I hate to see that.

You've started your rally journey by doing the very best thing already... ASK QUESTIONS. You may hear 1500 different answers to your question and they may ALL be wrong, but the more information you get, the better Rallyist you will be.

Feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions or need help with anything. Or anyone at the school or in the community. We are always happy to help.

And we hope to see you at a school REALLY soon

Scott

 

looks like a blast. Mike's car was a mess when he pulled up on Sunday. LOL

 

Thank you Scott! That was exactly the kind of response I was looking for. Lots of information! Keep us posted on the next one (next year I'm sure), and I hope to see you out there.

 

So, final official times were posted and I can now see, first hand, the total boner I ended up due to my silly, stupid spin.

Lap 1
Cody 2:35.533 + 13.335 sec
Scott 1:42.198

Lap 2
Cody 1:23.973 + 5.914 sec
Scott 1:18.059

Lap 3 (bone headed spin and stall lap)
Cody 1:21.620
Scott 1:34.105 +12.485 sec

Lap 4
Cody 1:18.094 + 2.182
Scott 1:15.922

The math seems funny because the event chooses to drop one lap when you run 4, so while cody lost his 2:35 lap, I lost my 1:42 lap, which basically meant that only laps 2, 3 and 4 counted. So my spin and subsequent stall? Yep, killed it for me. Despite loosing over 12 and half seconds to Cody on the spin, I lost by only 5 seconds. GOD THAT HURTS!!!

Moral of the story. Don't be a boob as I did.

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Scott

 

Oh, and I forgot... bring plenty of those round black things. Cause THIS tends to happen:

 

Nice writeup Billy!

Yeah, I didn't have the nerve to rallycross my Evo. Maybe some day. Instead, I rented a 1988 Dodge Colt rallycross car (with gravel tires). I had a blast in that little POS

Mike (silvernslow) and Scott both kicked butt on Saturday and Sunday. The best part is when I saw Scott's tire roll away from his car as he was finishing his rallycross run on Sunday morning. Incredible!

 

Hey now, be nice to Flash. He's a trooper.




Great seeing you again. Be there next year?

Scott

 

Mike we need to tune your evo before you take it out there....or any where for that matter

 

Sounds fun Billy! One day I will have time to do something like this.