Well ****. That's rally. Nice steady pace just wanting to finish the rally and setting top 10 stage times, 'cept for stage 2 where we found an error inthe pace notes and came into a R/L combo at a rate of knots that did not allow said combo to be negotiated and we modified an emankment with the RR wheel, which responded with 3 inches of toeout which made for very interesting handling for the rest of the stage. Cost us 2 minutes but we made it back to service, where we found a lower hub/link bolt, you know, the really long one, with a 90 degree bend in it between the rear hub ear and the rear toe link! We took phone pix cuz I ain't never seen anything like it. Why it didn't just snap is beyond me. Sawzalled it outta there, and started sweating as to just how we're gonna improvise a replacement, when just by dumb stupid luck I found one in the bottom of one of my parts buckets. Hot diggety. Go out and set a decent time on stage 3, 6:25 for 7.7 miles and the car feels better in the back than it did before we used it to do some landscaping; something back there musta been a bit loose from the getgo.
So things are going swimmingly till instruction 4 on stage 4, crest into 90 left at the end of a 4th gear straightaway, and I redmisted, got stupider than usual, pitched the car sideways a fraction too soon and clipped the apex a foot inside where i intended to be--which was at least 3 feet tighter in than I should have been -- and found the hidden tree stump. Thus endeth the rally for us.
The damage looked fatal at first, but I think we can put Humpty together again after all. I'll know later today when I remove what's left of the skidplate. Incar vid to follow, some of it is rather amusing...
So things are going swimmingly till instruction 4 on stage 4, crest into 90 left at the end of a 4th gear straightaway, and I redmisted, got stupider than usual, pitched the car sideways a fraction too soon and clipped the apex a foot inside where i intended to be--which was at least 3 feet tighter in than I should have been -- and found the hidden tree stump. Thus endeth the rally for us.
The damage looked fatal at first, but I think we can put Humpty together again after all. I'll know later today when I remove what's left of the skidplate. Incar vid to follow, some of it is rather amusing...
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