'86 RX7 Rally Car

HyperFest RallySprint 2016 Duathalon Mud Bog (Fri/Sat)

I arrived at VIR a little too late to catch the UTCC, which was a bummer, but Chief did a great job towing the new trailer and my trip down was nice and uneventful. The course looked good, and I set up shop in the corner of the rally area.

Shortly after I got my crap parked and unpacked, we went out for some really good Mexican food, a questionable choice given the long muddy walk to the port-o-potties, but delicious regardless. Then it was back to the track to settle into my luxury accommodations for the weekend:

I specifically packed extremely light so that I could sleep in there without having to put my tools and stuff outside in case it rained, which turned out to be a good call, since it did. Very hard, for a decent portion of the night.

Saturday

I woke up and drove straight over to the main paddock to get some coffee before the rest of the HyperFestivities got underway. Lots of cool cars at this event:

Oh look, an e30 I actually want to own!

And Millen's very fast Rav4 rally car, not running, just on display:

Then back over to the rally course. It was muddy- like, "you're not getting through this" muddy. I got some new stickers with my new NASA number:

Anders pointed out that 916 is a good choice since you can still read it when the car is upside down.

At HyperFest, on Saturday the rally cars give rides, and on Sunday we race. 2wd cars were advised to sit out the morning session, so I walked around and talked to people who were in line for rides, answering questions about Stage Rally, Rallycross, and RallyMoto, since apparently having one person who has done all three is a rarity. The 4wd cars went out and got nice and dirty:

Then at lunch time, we hopped in the passenger seats of some Jeep guys and instructed them on line choice, looking ahead, etc.

After lunch, I tried to make a run and got stuck in the mud. I had the tow strap ready by the time Jon Kramer came by, and he yanked my car out with his Subaru- my car made it the rest of the way back under its' own power, but I wasn't going to give any rides since I would most likely get stuck again.

Once rides were over, I drove Chief over to the paddock again, got some delicious BBQ, and kicked back to watch some drifting and lapping sessions.

Then it was back to the Rally camp, where everyone hung out around the fire until another rain storm sent us all scurrying for out tents/trucks. Because that's what we needed- more rain.

HyperFest RallySprint Duathalon Mud Bog (Sun, The Actual Race Part)

The rain overnight did not do the track any favors. It was decided that the bikes should run first since they would tear it up less- I am not good at riding in mud, but I'm even worse at riding in mud with 2ft deep ruts, so I was OK with this. What followed was the scariest Recce pass I've ever been a part of, then two complete slip-and-slide E36 M3show runs. I am absolutely amazed that I didn't fall. The bike performed as well as could be expected in those conditions, so I was happy with the work I did over the winter as well as relieved that I didn't take any soil samples with my face.

Then it was time for the cars- I stripped out of my super muddy moto gear and got into my driving suit in record time. When I pulled into line, the worker asked me if I was going to get stuck- being honest, I said "yes," and as a result he let a Civic go ahead of me.

When I did have my run, it was actually pretty good at first. I had very little grip since the rally tires were packed with mud, but once moving I could pretty much throw the car at the ruts left by the 4wd guys and it would find its' way around corners. Then, in a slower section, I came upon a dead Escort, and tried to pick a line that would lead me around it without risking contact- I should have cut it a lot closer, since where I ended up was in DEEP mud, totally, hopelessly stuck.

The Escort:

My terrible line choice:

It's worth noting that the car didn't get hot, or have any running issues whatsoever thanks to this mud bog- so that's a win.

Eventually an F350 came out to tow us all out of there. The event was called a little before noon due to a unanimous decision by the drivers to stop- 2wds were getting stuck, and 4wds were breaking things and ingesting mud.

I got 3rd in Moto, thanks to completing my runs without giving up. 2wd was decided by who made it the furthest before getting stuck, so I got 3rd, behind the Civic who made it just past the Escort before breaking down, and the Escort itself- also broken. It's worth noting that the RX7 was the only 2wd car that didn't break on course.

I got 2nd, also known as last, in the duathalon. My competition was both well versed in mud riding and in possession of a 4wd car, so I pretty much got stomped- still good for three trophies though, since I had a podium in both my classes and they gave me a codriver trophy for running my car solo- I gave it away to the driver of the F350.

After the event:

I loaded up, and helped the Escort team get their car on their trailer by using Chief's secondary battery for the winch:

Yes, those guys towed there with a Forester. The nice thing about being done early was that I got to go home instead of having to sleep in Chief again, which my back was very happy about. All in all, it was 15 hours of towing (round trip) for getting stuck twice in the RX7 and 15 minutes of terror on the DRZ, but hanging out with rally people is always fun (hint- they're all nuts) and VIR is a nice track, so I didn't mind too much. Videos will be up in a bit, and there were a ton of photographers so I'm sure I'll have more photos too.

Wow mud fest is right. I hate cleaning the mud off. Sprinklers are your friend....

Nice job on finishing on the bike! Mud riding is a workout.

Videos! Skip the bike ones unless you like really slow E36 M3ty riding and the occasional vulgar exclamation. https://www.youtube.com/embed/xMXWxRoaxAs

https://www.youtube.com/embed/EecAMkYdjTo

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sV9eHcWDL7I

I see you still don't have windshield washer sprayers lol.....

In reply to irish44j:

Funny thing is, I have dual pumps from a Volvo and some GM nozzles sitting in my garage from the last junkyard trip... I just haven't installed them yet

Air mattress in the back of the Chief would make it way more comfortable.

So the results based on distance before getting stuck were unofficial- officially, all 2wd cars are getting extra start points over what would normally be allotted but no finishing points. I did still "win" Dakar class on the DRZ though, so I get points there. Big splashy picture courtesy of Evan Sanders:

I've been doing a LOT of cleaning. First I put about $20 in quarters through one of those DIY car washes with the car on the trailer, and utterly ruined the stall (mud on the ceiling!). Then I got the car home and up on stands and ruined my garage too. Everything is clean now though, and the car doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear after HyperFest other than needing to remake my mud flaps (I backed over them trying to escape the mud pit).

I replaced by brake pads- the old ones were only about half worn but seemed to have glazed over from mud/dirt- it stops much better with a new set of Hawk pads on it. I need to keep messing with the windshield washer arrangement, I rigged it up with dual pumps (one to each sprayer) but they seem to fight and sort of steal the fluid from eachother- maybe just one good pump would be a better solution. The spray pattern on the GM nozzles is nice though.

I also realized, thinking about it, that if I had bought mud tires specifically for this event (and managed to not get stuck as a result) then the contingency earnings would have paid for them. I need to factor that sort of thing in the future I guess.

I have no real pictures to go with this post so here's one of the car as it currently sits:

Awesome. Can't wait to see you at Magnum Opus.

In reply to mazdeuce:

I'm getting nervous, Magnum Opus will be the first "big" rally for this thing. It's going to be an adventure one way or another!

In other news, I switched things around so I just have the rear pump from the Volvo running to both washer nozzles. Much better!

holy E36 M3 that's a lot of mud. I never made my way over there as I had been told not many cars were running due to getting stuck. Glad to see you still had a good time at VIR.

In reply to johndej:

You sure? I would have let you take a lap on the bike

Just park it over a sprinkler next time, it will slowly wash the mud off the underside if you move it around a bit. I find I get a whole lot less muddy that way too!

OK, with Magnum Opus coming up next weekend I think I've got everything ready to go. The only damage to the car from HyperFest is a power steering leak, which I'm going to run with and not worry about- for all I know it's just a piece of dirt crammed in one of the rack seals (it's leaking from the DS boot) and will come out when I get everything nice and hot again.

I've got a snazzy new First Aid kit from Rally.Build since my old one hadn't aged well- they actually sent me a spill kit by accident, and when I told them they immediately shipped a First Aid kit AND let me keep the spill kit for free. Excellent!

Today I drove Chief down the Rhinehart's auto parts to pick up more spares, and they gave me a really good price for a whole array of stuff (and tried to pawn off an RX8 on me, but one look at the suspension and I gave them a big NOPE- there's a reason you don't see successful RX8 rally cars). Spares carried in the car now include fuel pump, plugs, ignition coil, all major fuses, PS and water pump belts, a MAP sensor, and a TPS, as well as an assortment of things for kludging other systems back together. The service rig will now carry a spare of every suspension piece (except rear trailing arms, if we break one of those our rally is over), axles, struts and mounts, and a differential... so I'm sure I'll find a way to break something else.

It will be an all GRM team at Magnum Opus, with Paranoid_Android and Mazdeuce crewing/supporting the effort- and it will be the first multi-day rally I've attempted with this car. I'm feeling the usual pre-rally butterflies/E36 M3ting bricks trying to think of what I haven't though of yet, but it's good to have crew involved; Paranoid_Android has made checklists for extra service crew legitness, so between that and being fully Mazdaspeed contingency legal, we're practically a pro operation!

Things are mostly packed, the car is as ready as it's getting and will be going on the trailer tonight when I get home- we're leaving in the wee hours tomorrow to try to make it to Newberry in time for early registration (closes at 9PM).

Here's a rough outline of what we're looking at:
Thursday- Tow 920 miles, arrive by 9PM.
Friday- Pass tech, race 33.2 stage miles, transit 115.2 miles, end at probably 1-2AM Sat.
Saturday- Fix car if broken, race 78.1 stage miles, transit 85.6 miles, hopefully finish!
Sunday- Tow 920 miles again.

This is going to be an interesting weekend

Wow that sounds like a blast (and crazy long) weekend. Good luck!!

We just crossed the Mackinac Bridge and should be at the cottage close to the rally in a couple of hours. Getting the Deucelings all fired up to drive around a bunch and help as needed. Hoping for a smooth event but ready to pitch in!

Good luck bro. Watch out for trees

Kick some ass, seabass!

Look who I found in a parking lot in a tiny town in the UP!

As you wait for Chris's carefully thought out recap of the event (that hasn't finished yet) I'll leave you with this badly composed shot of him on the first stage of day 2.

This is how they rolled into the finish. The write-up by Chris should be EPIC.

Whoa....I had seen the results, looks like they were one of only 12 total cars to finish all stages out of like 35 that started?!

I only saw one or two outlier stages that looked like a breakdown or flat perhaps, so that's good.

I still can't believe this car continues to survive, lol. I hear that Two Hearted was basically a Jeep trail or something that was brutally rough, in particular.

In any case, many congrats. Can't win if you don't finish!

Home, tired- videos from day 2 are unfortunately no good, super blurry due to broken lens on GoPro... Recap coming tomorrow!