TeamD Adventures

I don’t know if David Lynch wrote that himself or if he borrowed it from the novel when he adapted Frank Herbert’s “Dune” into a movie. The skilled navigator will stabilizes their factor and do their part in having the car arrive at checkpoints on time. When you read rally navigators grousing about the factor or how much they had to tweak their factor, remember that they’re just playing follow the leader.

Most of the TSD rallies we Team D folks participate in are touring style. The style we usually discuss, consisting of gravel (and snow and ice and the occasional tarmac) roads, long days, many miles, and very specific copious route instructions whose purpose is to keep you on the correct road. Our fourth leg score of 9 was actually valid. We caught the trap(s) and while I wavered all over the place with the speedometer, we kept it together reasonably well. Shockingly enough, our score was good enough to net us a first in class and indeed the best non-unlimited score of the evening.

Had a small adventure tonight. There I was, on a dark cul de sac, in the rain, too far from my car with two black Mastiffs charging out the gate at me. I glanced at the car — could I get on top of it? I looked back at the dogs and realized that hell, it didn’t matter. Those menacing looking creatures could easily leap to the Saab roof if they wanted to. Last week I saw on craigslist that a guy was parting out a Saab. In the eternal search for seats that don’t suck, I contacted him about what he had. .

Saturday October 6 saw three TeamD cars converge on Snoqualmie Pass for the 2007 running of Night on Bald Mountain. Held every year by ORCA, this one day, usually night, event brings rallyists from the region and gravel together in what usually signifies the start of the fall/winter season. Start time this year was 6pm so the majority of the event was in the dark. It’s times like these where I really enjoy the big PIAA driving lights I mounted on the front of the car. With those lit, the path ahead is much clearer. I can’t even imagine how I coped without them the first few years. The route took us up into the cascade mountains and looped us through the starting location (the Family Pancake House at the pass) at mid-break for gas. Despite the cold snap the previous week, there was no snow on the ground. There was, however, mud, as rain followed us most of the evening. ” times are right, we started losing time and gaining points. We exited regularity 6 with 29 points. Ick. Now, being conscientious rallysts, we noted our error (after the fact) and noted the location of the checkpoints so the next time through that route, regularity 8, we applied add-hock corrections on the way up the hill and finished the same drive with a much more reasonable 10. Eric and Steve in car 1 (they won last year) came in second overall and second in Unlimited class with a 28, 9 behind winners Ben Bradley and Russ Kraushaar. In reality, Eric and Steve tied third place finishers April Smith and Marcus Song who also finished with a 28 but were awarded 2nd by tiebreaker (most zeros, 8 versus 4). Joe and I came in third in our class (equipped) and 10th overall with a 67. Dan and Hans finished fifth overall and in class (unlimited) with a 44.

Hans and Dan don’t have as much experience working together as some of the more venerable TeamD pairings. In preparation for Alcan 2008, they figured to do as many events together as possible in 2007 to get Hans picking up some Timewise skills, and for Dan to remember how to drive. in October, where we should be seeing all the TeamD regulars making an appearance.