It was kind of strange,no last minute rush,no gear to load and no long haul to the venue.Yep the Treeline rally was on my doorstep! only a 15min drive to the HQ.
We drove up to the HQ on Friday night to do the required paperwork and get the car tech'ed.All went well and we also met up with a few friends.Once everything was competed we drove for a few swift beers with the wifes.
We were up early on Saturday to load the few spares we had into the Nissan.Martin drove the Nissan and I the rally car.We had worked out a deal with Rem and Pam to carry our gear.So once loaded we were all set.A guy named Kevin was bringing up some STI struts for spares,I met him and cash/struts changed hands(thank you).
We set off on the 40miles transit to the first stage.The was a slight delay which gave us time to chat to other competitors and get a tan! We also met Peter a rally worker with a 1993 Legacy.
The Treeline rally is famous for it's low average speed but tight and technical stages with big fresh air bends!
Our time was up to start this first 4 miler and we ready for some action.5.4.3.2.1.go only after 1/2 mile I realized this was not a rally i was used too! Oh eck it was like driving on ball bearings with no room for error.Each side of the road was either a big drop or the mountain side was large meteor sized rocks.After about 3 miles and many near misses and one off I decided slow was fast so I backed off and steered on the throttle.This was all 1st or 2nd gear stuff.
We finished stage one with I thought a deathly slow pace,only to find out we were 4secs off the leader!
Stage two was 11 mile of the same terrrain.We waited to start and waited and waited.The stage was blocked by a car with a flat tyre and it could not be passed.The stage was canceled and used as a transit to stage three.
Stage three was a 7 miler packed with BIG rocks,big fresh bends and tight hairpin bends.All seemed to be going well until we rounded a blind down hill right handed packed with speckies,as we exited the corner I noticed the biggest rock right in the middle of the track.I nowhere to go except hit it and hit it we did.BANG! we got air and was launched onto the left side bank and nearly rolled.I selected reverse and quckly gone on our way.I thought Wow! that was close until the first time I braked! there was this really bad noise coming the driver front wheel followed by lots of tyre smoke.Oh Poop the suspension was broken,but it stilled steered fine and drove OK until I braked or steered right.So I didn't brake and used the Legacy oversteer setup to get a round the corners.We finished and even got a good time!
Service was next(Thank goodness) I quickly got underneath and found the rear A arm bracket was gone.We had no spares for that part.What to do??? time to check the other Subaru guys and beg for spares.Jamie Thomas in a WRX was next door so I asked if she had any spares.One left A arm,Just what I needed.Luck or what?? So now I had the task to take off the old unit and refit the new one.I was already dehydrated so working with no shade in about 100F was getting to much for me.I felt very bad and had to stop.Rem came to the rescue with a towel soaked in cold water which I put on my head while drinking gallon of cold water.After about 15mins I felt much better(THANKS REM)and tackled the problem.After banging/bolting and jacking out the X-member I managed to put on the other Arm with 4mins to spare before our due time.
Stages 4/5 went much the same as the previos stages,lots of banging and crash over large rocks.The 11miler was a real workout.Only one more stage to go now,a short 4 miler.After only 1/2 mile into the stage I knew something was wrong with the engine.It won't rev over 5000rpm and sounded rough.I pressed on,hoping it would hold together.There was also a bad smell of something burning,not good.Well we finished much to our relief.The problem?? the Cat had scored a direct hit and was flat.Hence no exhaust gases escaping and a lot of heat! The car now sounded like a Honda Civic!
We made it back to the Hotel and sat with Jen,Peter,Carolyn and had a good laugh.The awards??? went OK with some good laughs from David Sutton.A few nice comments about the Taffy Git Pete..
Results were 2nd in class and 5 O/A Thanks go to Jamie,Rem,Pam,the dude who drove the van(sorry forgot your name)Martin,Pete,Carolyn,Denise,Peter and the rest of the team that put this event together.
Yep I did more damage on this event than Laughlin,Seed 9and Rim combined! But hey that's what it's all about.
See you at Gorman.
Cheers
Chris or Christina!
Our Treeline.
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