We had a great time at STPR this year. Managed to get un-invited by the camp ground to come back next year, and stuff the Impreza in a ditch. Probably wouldn't have gone back to that camp ground again anyway and the front of the Impreza is just slightly more damaged then it already was, so no big deal.
Our friend Jim Perrin from Buffalo along with his navigator, Lee McElhinny, competed in his first pro Rally event. They didn't quite make it to the end, but very nearly did so before a mechanical failure left them stuck on the side of the road. They were able to get going again and the event officials allowed them to drive in the Super Special Stage to end a long day of racing. Here they are showing everyone that Jeeps can fly. Thanks to Marnie Soom for snapping this great picture.
Our second event of the season was held this past weekend at Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, NY. We started off with Test and Tune on Saturday and had a chance to try out our new tires. We've been using the Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R's and are now using the new and improved, and much wider, Potenza RE-11's on the front of the car. We'll continue to use the 01R's on the rear for the time being and staggered set up seems to be very good. It's going to take a while to get used to and we never quite got the hang of it this weekend, but it looks promising. We had a chance to try out different tire pressures and settled on 34 psi front/52 psi rear.
The event on Sunday went pretty well. We aren't getting the most out of the car yet, but seemed to be doing better then Saturday. With 6 drivers in STS and 103 overall, Cory finished 1st in class/10th overall, Marnie 4th in class/34th overall, and Dana 5th in class/59th overall.
This weekend we're going to Wellsboro, PA for the 34th annual Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. Cool cars going very very fast through the woods on gravel roads barely wide enough for two cars.
The following weekend is the Finger Lakes Region National Tour at Seneca Army Depot.
The car, a 1990 Honda Civic CRX Si, belongs to our good friend Marnie who will sharing her ride with us this year and we'll be competing in the STS class. During the off season we did a lot of work on this car replacing most of the suspension and rebuilding the engine. We were barely able to get everything done in time for the first event, but the car made it and I have to say I'm really impressed with how good the car was right from the get go. We've got a little more work to do to get the suspension dialed in, but this car is great. We finished 1st (Cory) and 3rd (Marnie)
