'85 Merkur XR4Ti Rally Car

Woo hoo! Cant wait to see full report. Looks like fun

Looks pretty awesome! Not much room for error :)

Black River Stages 2016

I'd run this rally on a bike twice before, so I knew the stages are technical in places, fast in others, and have nice smooth road surfaces. This was the first event for us in the Merkur, which hadn't run a rally since 2008, and we were excited to try it out, although a little concerned given that it has double the horsepower of our old RX7 and worse brakes and handling.

We got to the hotel around 8pm Thursday, got dinner with our crew chief Brian (Paranoid_Android) and met up with Josh (irish44j)- the plan was for us, Josh, and Dan (paperpaper, I think) to share crew for this event, since they both had e30s and the Merkur is at least a pretend German car. We got an OK night's rest and headed to tech first thing the next morning.

Our car at the Rod and Gun club for Tech:

Dan's car:

Josh's car:

We passed tech somewhat easily after a slight disagreement about the legal age for fire extinguishers, and Sara, Josh, Brian, and most of the crew headed to the Novice Competitor Orientation to learn how rally works. I stayed and helped bleed the brakes on Josh's car- although I was in a largely supervisory role, telling the crew "If you screw this up it's just a mistake, if I screw this up it's sabotage"

Then it was time to head to Parc Expose- we got some pizza on the way, then parked and hung out with rally friends:

Then it was off to shakedown as the sun set to test out our lights and make sure the car was good to go- it was super dusty, but the lights performed well, the car had no issues apart from too much front brake bias (non adjustable!), and we stayed on the notes, although it was only a two mile stage. We packed up and headed back to the hotel for some sleep, since we needed to be back at the start early the next day.

Hah, I see you found all my photos on the NASA page. Excellent :)

Though, this is my favorite one

BRS 2016 Race Day

We got up before dawn and went out to Chief as agreed the night before, but where was Brian? I pulled out my phone and found that I had a text- he had been up the entire night sick! I didn't feel fantastic either, maybe the pizza from the day before wasn't the best choice. So, we drove Chief to the service area, left the keys in it, and took the Merkur up to the Parc Expose/start area. Luckily, our shared service crew got out of bed and set up the most legit service spots we've ever had, and Brian eventually recovered and joined them:

We made good use of our time in Parc Expose by borrowing a piece of tape from Josh and correcting one of my Mazda patches:

Then, we were ready to roll, starting just in front of another Merkur:

We transited down to the first stage, Thomlinson, which I had run in the opposite direction on the bike in past years- it has LONG straights with technical woods sections at the ends. I apologize for not having any real action pictures yet, I will post them as they show up.

We ran Thomlinson clean and fast, and although the car has no working speedometer I checked a gearing calculator and we apparently did about 105-110 mph on the big straight- plenty for my first time driving this car in competition! Others didn't do too well though, and we passed a partially rolled Subaru (par for the course in rally) and a blown up WRC (yes really!) Corolla.

Next up was Jayville in, an extremely technical stage with a bunch of railroad crossings for good measure. Having run it on a bike previously, I didn't realize how difficult the notes would be but it became apparent a couple of miles in as Sara started to lose her place and eventually go off the notes entirely. Thinking I remembered enough to run the stage at a slightly reduced pace, I yelled at her (did I mention the microphone on my intercom stopped working?) to stop trying to get back on the notes and let me concentrate, which sparked a bit of an argument, ending when I told her to shut up and promptly drove off the road onto a stump. We checked later and found that that particular corner was a "left 5 tightens to a 3" which is exactly the sort of thing you don't tell your codriver to shut up for. Oops.

I tried to back out but there was no way, and as Sara ran up the road with the warning triangles I got out and saw why- there was a stump between our front left wheel and the wheel well. After sitting for a minute or so, the Merkur made its' displeasure known by erupting into a cloud of steam, having burst a coolant line directly above the exhaust manifold- I was relieved to see it wasn't on fire, though.

Eventually a nice Subaru came by and tried to pull us out, which managed to break our tow strap and maybe move us about an inch. We waved them on and waited for sweep.

Sweep eventually arrived, yanked us off the stump, amazingly without breaking any suspension components as the wheel climbed a foot and a half of stump, and then towed us out of the stage. Having escaped from the stump, it was time to figure out what was broken.

Opening the hood, it was apparent that one of the lines to the heater core had had enough of my E36 M3 and exploded. No problem, we don't need a heater, so the line was looped and held out of the way with a bungee cord:

We then used a gallon of coolant from Josh (thanks!) and all of our water bottles to refill the cooling system, and apart from a massively dented skidplate and a slightly goofy fender we were good as new:

I did this to try to give myself a bit more incentive to stay on the road:

Then, we ran back out (Jayville is a dead end, turnaround stage). At a more conservative pace. On the way we passed Josh, who we later learned had cut the railroad tracks a bit too much and destroyed two of his wheels. Then it was back to service.

In the service park we checked everything over, and although the skidplate was shaped like a potato chip it looked like the car was relatively undamaged underneath- we did find some cracks starting in the guibo, however, and the crew said they'd be ready to swap in a new one at the next service.

The next stage was a repeat of Thomlinson, and we ran well again, although I approached corners a bit more gingerly after our off. Sara stayed on the notes and all was well.

Then it was time for Goose Pond, another turnaround stage known for its' big yumps and blind crests. We ran it at a semi quick pace, and when we approached the big jump we were flagged down- there was a Civic on the other side, facing the opposite direction and in need of a tow. We tried to pull him out but lacked the traction, so they disconnected the rope and we took off before another car could get there.

Then we waited in the turnaround, asking the other two Merkur teams if they had a spare guibo. Their response was "you're still running a guibo?" SO I guess that answers that questions.

Then we ran the stage back out. This time, we went a bit faster, getting some good air off the jumps and generally enjoying ourselves more- the suspension on this thing is really nice on landings. Then we came over a crest and found a stuck Merkur, so we stopped and they hooked up their tow strap. I gave it way more throttle than I should have with a cracked guibo, and after several hard launches we got them back on the road. I opened the door and yelled to let me know when we were unhooked, a few seconds later heard a "got it!", and took off to hear BANG as I ripped their tow hook off, firing it into our rear hatch. I guess that didn't mean they had gotten it detached, luckily nobody was hurt

We finished the stage and got back to service to replace our now surely destroyed guibo with a used, cracked, but serviceable one.

Josh S (bluej) got under the car with me and we removed this:

Apparently this is what happens when you install them backwards. Oops again.

So...although i am used to "everyone helps everyone out" at rallyx and autox, it doesnt slow the helper down. In a timed rally stage, stopping and helping pull people out of the ditch at the expense of your own time is standard practice, it seems? Cool.

holy crap! I didn't see that when we were in service. That is insane! Wasn't this the new one you just installed like last week?

RedGT wrote: So...although i am used to "everyone helps everyone out" at rallyx and autox, it doesnt slow the helper down. In a timed rally stage, stopping and helping pull people out of the ditch at the expense of your own time is standard practice, it seems? Cool.

For sure. In fact, when we were (as Chris mentioned above) sitting on the side of the road with our two wrecked wheels (which drivers on the course couldn't see, so it just looked like we were stuck in the sand), we had 2 or 3 cars slow down and signal if we needed a tow - including Chris and Sara.

It's one of those quid pro quo things.....at some point everyone is gonna need a tow, so you probably don't want to be known as the person who doesn't stop to help other people when THEY need a tow. I was actually kinda sad that we never came upon anyone we could try to pull out, lol....

BRS 2016 Continued

While Josh S gave me a lesson in guibos Brian and Sara fueled the car, and the other crew members installed lights, checked fluids, etc. It wasn't getting dark yet but we wanted to be prepared in case there was a delay. Then we took off for SS7.

SS7 was a semi technical stages called West Texas 1, and I forgot to turn the camera on but we ran at approximately the same pace we had used on Goose Pond Out, which was good since the giant Hellas block the radiator and cause the car to get hot much faster. It started to rain a little bit, and near the end of the stage we caught and passed a very cautious STI.

Next up was Henry 1, a stage similar to West Texas but with a few more blind crests and potential "gotchas". We had issues with the intercom again, and some issues with the notes, but ran a decent time and made it through OK. Then looped back around to run West Texas again. At this point the car was making an odd squealing noise, but otherwise seemed to have no issues other than running hot when pushed too hard with the big silly lights on the front. West Texas 2 was uneventful, I think, other than some difficulty with the intercom and the notes.

Then Henry again. This time I failed to give Sara enough feedback on the notes in a fast section, and we entered a right 4 too fast with a late call, sliding right out to the edge of the trees but luckily staying on flat ground- scary! Then back to service one last time.

Service was only 15 minutes and we scarfed down some food while refueling and took off. Sara made appropriate use of the hook when using the bathroom and decided to document it:

Then off to Jerdan Falls, a big fast stage with a big nasty rock in the middle. At night! We set off from the start at a good clip, although the lights are less than stellar- I want to replace them with LEDs I think. Then, somewhere around the middle of the stage, we started having issues with the notes again, and the lack of landmarks at night made it difficult to get back on. We slowed down and made it to the end, although the car had started to bog a bit when getting back on the throttle.

Then we transited back to do it again, Jerdan Falls 2 being the last stage, and as we waited it began to rain, then pour, and eventually lightning was flashing through the rain as we sat in our little dimly lit pretend German Ford. Sara took a cool picture:

Josh was right behind us with his far superior lighting, and I did NOT want him to catch us. Sara, on the other hand, did NOT want me to crash the car again. We set off into the pouring rain, lights illuminating the drops more than the road ahead, and hauled as much ass as I was comfortable hauling in those conditions. Nearing the end of the stage, we got lost in the notes again, and I told Sara that I could go without them. "But it's all really scary stuff, we have a mile to go but it's all E36 M3"

"OK"

So I drove cautiously but quickly through the E36 M3, and we made it to the finish with our hearts pounding. We did it! A far from perfect rally for sure, but the car was OK, we were OK, and we had made it. We drove to the awards party, loaded the car on the trailer, and had some celebratory chicken with our crew and competitors as the winners had a supersoaker fight with their champagne:

Me, Sara, and Brian:

We had fun, learned a lot about our new car, and about what we need to practice as a team. There's a long list of winter projects that we generated at this rally, for sure, but we can't wait to come back and get another crack at it next year! In addition, it was incredibly well run, with zero delays and all of the stages completed, a rare occurrence in any rally and especially Black River.

We also lost the notes somewhere in the middle of Jerdan Falls and for a couple minutes it was totally silent in the car. Happened BOTH times at around the same area, so maybe something was funky with the Jemba. Even that little non-bridge-bridge thing (the spooky little one with the concrete sides) didn't seem to be on the notes, or we were way off of them.

In reply to irish44j:

The bridge was on there, we actually used it to get back on the notes. The notes for the middle of that stage are all crests, spectators, and landmarks, making them all but useless at night in the rain.

irish44j wrote:

RedGT wrote: So...although i am used to "everyone helps everyone out" at rallyx and autox, it doesnt slow the helper down. In a timed rally stage, stopping and helping pull people out of the ditch at the expense of your own time is standard practice, it seems? Cool.

For sure. In fact, when we were (as Chris mentioned above) sitting on the side of the road with our two wrecked wheels (which drivers on the course couldn't see, so it just looked like we were stuck in the sand), we had 2 or 3 cars slow down and signal if we needed a tow - including Chris and Sara. It's one of those quid pro quo things.....at some point everyone is gonna need a tow, so you probably don't want to be known as the person who doesn't stop to help other people when THEY need a tow. I was actually kinda sad that we never came upon anyone we could try to pull out, lol....

Also worth mentioning that, when you've crashed early on like we did and effectively removed yourself from competition, there's very little downside to stopping and helping.

Good work on the finish, Chris and Sara! 'Spectators' or anything in () should not be read! ;)

It's so nice that you write up the race like this. I was there and didn't know many of these things happened! A rally service is an amazing thing to experience. I'm not really sure how to describe it even. It is a rush though!

Your intercom konked out again?! What kind is it? I might just write the company a letter . Now that I think about it, I probably missed much of this info when I wandered off during the chicken feast to talk to Rob (bobofthefuture here).

The Pitchblack Racing crew was awesome, all of them! From Katie showing me how to properly hold a fire bottle while refueling to Ozgur's Turkish feast he grilled between services. And they did set up a great service spot while I was recovering from my yak fest- sheesh!

And it may help in the future if your crew guy actually knows how to fix a Merkur- I think I will buy a book and read it this fall...

All in all, this was a great experience. I really enjoy helping you and Sara, and it was great to meet all the E30 peeps!

thewizard wrote: Good work on the finish, Chris and Sara! 'Spectators' or anything in () should not be read! ;)

She was reading the extra stuff in order to try and stay on track, I think. We had trouble staying on the notes for most of this rally, whereas we had almost no issues in the RX7 at Magnum Opus and Waste Management- the combination of a smoother suspension, faster car, quieter exhaust, more technical stages, and a lower seating position made this a really big step up in difficulty for Sara, since all of the sensory feedback from the car has been reduced but the speed variations are larger. We're already practicing with the notes and videos, and we may move the codriver seat higher for more visibility as well.

In reply to paranoid_android74:

The intercom is a Terraphone, nicknamed "Terrible Phone" on some of the rally forums- for good reason, we're finding. The plugs are very picky about position, and the volume knobs seem to have developed some dead spots, so I think we'll be replacing it. It doesn't even fail consistently, sometimes going quiet, sometimes dropping one microphone, and sometimes emitting ear shattering dubstep noises in the middle of a stage.

I should have a terror phone stashed somewhere that i could give you. Pretty sure i still have the 'pro' which came with audio output. Its a much newer model than the one you have in the car and if its the pro one, never was used.

Great wright up! Looks like a GREAT time. As to LED replacements These 9" LED's are pretty decent and cheap. They are also like the sun.

Glad you guys didnt kill each other, I know doing this with a SO can be tough at times!!

Sweet action photo by Katie Spoth:

I've got a few good vids of both you two and Josh/Jim going by spectator areas. Need to decide the best place to upload them, but I'll make sure they end up here, too.

Just youtube them. I'm waiting for Jim to get all our in-car up as well.

thewizard wrote: I should have a terror phone stashed somewhere that i could give you. Pretty sure i still have the 'pro' which came with audio output. Its a much newer model than the one you have in the car and if its the pro one, never was used.

If Chris doesn't want it, I would take it for my own Grassroots Rally effort!! Will pay shipping!

Hi Chris, wrote this a few days ago before your write up..Chris...what wire diam are you running with that welder? A lotta the little ones come with 024 and when I had a 120v Hobart Handler I had all kinds of problems with that..Switched to 030 and no problems..The wire carries the current, bigger wire means it can carry more juice.. Even doing stitch-welding I use the 030 or 032..... On the belts: if things line up good I like a 3 pulley bottom/crank pulley..2 normal going crank-water pump-alternator, and one fat for the PS pump..that's when the alt. is on pass side, also what is that idler on the block doing really?..Looked at the video, car looked like it was working good, sounded good...You should post your post event debrief on Rallyanarchy-- It is the spiritual home of 2wd rally in Merikuh.

Uh there is no backwards on that misplaced BMW part the so called guibo..Just just crack..Gotta get that Supra diff in, that will wake the car up a bit more..like A LOT!

In reply to janvanvurpa:

The welder was broken, it pooped the bed a short while later and Eastwood sent me a new one, all good now. I've got a few non-rally things taking up time over the next month or so, but will be giving you a call about Supra diffs, t5 swaps, beam reinforcements, and brakes after that.

In regard to towing a stuck competitor, what if you're fighting for an overall or class win? Do other drivers understand that you might drive passed in that situation, or should you still stop and help?