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anyone else going to NEFR in July?

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#1
I just signed up to work on the New England Forest Rally, headquartered at Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine on July 20th-21st, as well as booked my room nearby.

Anyone else planning on going (some of you NH/Mainers could be close enough to not have to stay over, costing you nothing but food/fuel)?

This may be the last chance I will get to see a fully prepped, Escort Cossie RS driven in anger down the stages once again (by Ken Block, as it's his 'new' ride, ancient as it is), so it is worth the 8+ hour travel time for me, and all of the expenses.
(Also get to see many different variants/prep levels of OUR cars as well, pushed to their limits. ;) )
 


OP
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Was ANYONE on here there??

Obviously it will never even be a fraction of the amount of Scooby product owners that show up to spectate/work these events, but there were more; FiSTs, FoSTs, and FoRSes there than I have ever seen in 5 years out on the roads driving around.

There was even one of the workers in my group wearing an orange FiST shirt I had never seen before (it was NOT the blipshift one) that his club/group must had made up, but I never got the chance to speak to him since he left long before the worker group meeting was over, and I never saw that car again all weekend. [:(] ANYONE on here??).

I believe that he 'belonged to' the Magnetic FiST I saw out in the lot of the lodge building in which that meeting was held, and it had Mass tags, silver Method 501VT spec wheels and 185/60-15 old style Atlimax Arctics on it.
(I wanted to ask him what pressures he was running in those tires out on the stage roads since I had the same exact setup, except mine were the newer, XL rated, Arctic 12s in 195/60-15. ;) )

I also kept passing a Kona Blue one out on the road going into the Sunday River complex, and a couple of white ones moving around the area, with many parked all over.
 


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I was not there. It sounds like you had a lot of company! Any pictures to share?
 


JDG

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Was ANYONE on here there??

Obviously it will never even be a fraction of the amount of Scooby product owners that show up to spectate/work these events, but there were more; FiSTs, FoSTs, and FoRSes there than I have ever seen in 5 years out on the roads driving around.

There was even one of the workers in my group wearing an orange FiST shirt I had never seen before (it was NOT the blipshift one) that his club/group must had made up, but I never got the chance to speak to him since he left long before the worker group meeting was over, and I never saw that car again all weekend. [:(] ANYONE on here??).

I believe that he 'belonged to' the Magnetic FiST I saw out in the lot of the lodge building in which that meeting was held, and it had Mass tags, silver Method 501VT spec wheels and 185/60-15 old style Atlimax Arctics on it.
(I wanted to ask him what pressures he was running in those tires out on the stage roads since I had the same exact setup, except mine were the newer, XL rated, Arctic 12s in 195/60-15. ;) )

I also kept passing a Kona Blue one out on the road going into the Sunday River complex, and a couple of white ones moving around the area, with many parked all over.
What pressures do you run? I run max pressures ~48 PSIG hot when I rally-x the winter tires...

Also, it would be interesting to hear more about what working at one of these events entails..

I spectated at the Pagoda Hill Climb in Reading, PA back in June and was considering volunteering at the Duryea Hill Climb this August.

Also, pictures of your weekend would be sweet if you have any.
 


OP
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Sorry, no pics as I forgot the old 5 mp Kodak camera my girlfriend at that time got for me many years ago (like 2006), and I don't have a smart phone.

I do need to correct that for/by STPR next (early) June.

I am planning on going to either Duryea, or Weatherly (or BOTH if I can make it), since I missed Pagoda.

I ran the 195/60-15 Arctic 12s at 50 psi cold front, and 47 psi cold rear, both for the 9 hour trip up there and back, and for getting to and running down the stage roads.

I figured it was better to wear the centers down more so than the edges which are needed more for cornering bite on gravel/dust/mud.
Also, someone at Team O'Neil once told me that the Arctics need to be run at much higher pressures than actual gravel tires, obviously due to the much thinner, 100 times easier to puncture/slice on sharp rocks, and mushier, NOT reinforced side walls than the 'cast iron' hard, reinforced side walls of real rally tires (as you know/have discovered from running SCCA Rallycross events).

I barely have a single scratch on the Skid Plate Guy plate, so I guess I was raised up enough on the factory suspension, and big side wall 24.2" tall tires, to avoid contact (and they painted mostly all of the 'baby's head' rocks with day glow orange safety paint, making them easy to avoid - THANK YOU stage prep crews!! [thumb]).

The Rally Armor flaps also came through unscathed. :)

To work these events now one must register with USAC, YES, the very same mostly dirt sprint car, 'roundy-round' sanctioning body which now owns the American Rally Association, and provides their insurance ->(which is supposedly the main reason that the SCCA dropped Pro rallying in 2005, due to overly elevated premiums for Pro Rallying).

This could have something to do with WHY Hoosier has started to make real rally tires (which like half of the field now runs instead of Michelin, D-Mack, Pirelli, Yokohama, etc.), since that coincided with the USAC/ARA becoming a US rally sanctioning body. [dunno]

You do NOT have to pay their dues/membership fees to work the rallies, but you can if you want to be a full member (the competitors MUST join, just like all participants in any SCCA event above the Solo level of competition).

From there, a Stage Captain will contact you by email to give you any pertinent info on what to bring, and where/when the first main stage crew meeting is to be held at the event.

There are only two in our even general area though, STPR in the Wellsboro area, up near the NY state line, almost out to Bradford, and NEFR set in central western Maine/eastern N.H.
Unless you feel like traveling to the upper midwest, inter-mountain west, or Pac West coast for events, in which case you might as well go to Mexico for a REAL international/world class event, with top level cars and 'pilots', the WRC round held in the Guanajuato region.
A LONG time ago, before I got into working these things, there was a national Pro Rally held in the Poconos, but the last one was like 1986 or so. :(

IF using your personal car (vs. a rental car), working these events is NOT for the OCD/overly meticulous/car show crew, like some on here who always garage their FiST, wash it every other day, wax it once a week, and store it for the full winter, since it WILL get VERY dusty if the conditions are bone dry, or caked with mud/silt if wet.

The dust is this ultra fine soft stuff that makes fine baking flour seem downright gritty, and it gets EVERYWHERE, especially in the engine compartment, (YES, even with a skid plate blocking so much of the bottom of the engine bay!), and I'm sure the radiator, and intercooler (which I will air blast from the inside out this week, along with changing out the cabin and engine air filters), and on the interior/dash.
 


OP
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Yeah, I was working the radio check point about 5 miles back up the stage road from that point when we heard about a crash, and the woods on fire over the radio network.

I about CRIED when I drove past the burned out shell of that poor Cossie on my way out of that stage. [bigcry] [:(]

That one article says he will GET another one, but the HHIC (Head Hoonigan In Charge) already has another one, albeit just a street version, and NOT a Ford Motorsport prepped, early Group A, homologation special (one of 2500), like the one he roasted on that stage.

So he has A LOT of work ahead of him to prep that car.
 


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JDG

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OP
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Thread Starter #9
Yeah, I never got to see that particular spectator point, and there could have been an organizer installed, auto/rally cross style cone chicane installed right before that sweeper to slow them down, replete with time penalties for either hitting one, knocking it over, or just blowing right through the whole thing (60 second penalty), a la a/x, which I thought was funny, since the marshals had to decide/judge the competitors' "intent" based on whether or not they seemed to TRY and brake for the obstacles, or not. [???:)]

There was one on the stage I was working, right at the point of the 'loop' intersection which was used on the immediate previous stage, to slow them down to prevent them from going headlong into trees from a FAST downhill straight, into a 90 left.

The one point I was working on Friday (the stage where Block rolled) was on a long downhill straight, from over a crest, and then over one of those low wooden forestry bridges and into an uphill sweeper, which would have been catastrophic had anyone mis-judged it, and slammed into the opposing creek bed/banks, since the top cars were carrying about 3+ times the speed as in that vid above.

Now you can see WHY I say that the dust gets EVERYWHERE!!, and I could barely see out the windshield following other workers into the stages, even at 1/3rd the speed or less of the competitors (especially where the sun shone through the trees into that dust)!! [crazyeye]
Most on the stages looked like bandits with bandannas over their faces, and yes, the stones/gravel kicked up, especially by the faster, more powerful cars were almost like bullets.
(Some of the RWD cars, especially the older 3 series Bimmers running had "Gravel Machine Gun" stickers on them. LOL)

IF McKenna could keep that 'hybrid' Super 2000 class based (but 2 liter turbo Focus WRC engine/drivetrain equipped) Fiesta on the road, or in one piece, he could kick the azz of the BIG COIN FACTORY backed Subieroos, since it was VISIBLY quicker down the stages than the MUCH BETTER supported/funded Vermont Sportscar/Subaru Rally Team USA cars (and he is a good driver in his own right, even if not 'gentle' on the equipment). [wink]


I already 'de-rallied' my car for the rest of the summer (skid plate off, winters off, pure summers on), so sorry, I don't want to do any rallycrosses.
(I might want to try some in the future IF I ever get actual TRUE gravel wheels/tires, and a REAL suspension under this car.)
 


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