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I was thinking of going with a group of friends to the Ojibwe Forest Rally, mostly out of curiosity, but also because it just seems pretty cool! It's also only eight or so hours away, so it'd be a memorable getaway from the city. Ojibwe Forest Rally
What rally race did you attend? How was it? What did you do, besides watch the race?
I drove or navigated in a few, in New Brunswick, but I wasn't very good at it. I was competing, among others, against Garry Sowerby, who was Tim Cahill's companion in his classic 23-day drive from Tierra del Fuego to the North Slope of Alaska,, described in "Road Fever"..
Many years ago, I was the navigator for a nighttime Road Rally along country roads in northern NJ/southern NY state.
My friend was driving us in his Triumph TR-3, but neither of us really knew what we were doing, and after it became clear that we were totally lost, we just dropped out of the competition.
When I was a kid in the 80's, I was obsessed with catching all sorts of motorsport on TV. But I especially enjoyed when Dave Despain's Motorweek Illustrated or Bob Jenkin's/Larry Nuber's Speedweek would have some more grassrootsy motorsports clips, such as showroom stock or SCCA rally. I found the cars fascinating, as well as the personalities.
I was kind of bummed when the SCCA stopped with the national rallies, and I guess sold that off to Rally America (or however that works). But RA seems to be doing a good job with this stuff. Their 8-stop national series is on NBCSN now, so I can actually watch it on the tube.
I've never been to a rally, and never really understood how spectator accomodations worked. But I do want to go to the Oregon Trail Rally some year soon. They have a parc expose (yay, I'm learning terms) in Downtown Portland, and a stage at PIR, IIRC. Looks very well set up.
I do notice that most of these drivers use cars that are several years old (including a guy that has a Saab 96 [?] that apparently tops out at 45mph [but hey, it's fun!]). I would love to eaither see WRC come back to the US for a round (they had the Olympus for a couple years back in the 80's, IIRC), or see a more elite division within RA where it would be more normal for cars to be replaced every year.
But all in all, it seems very well run. I wish my MO relatives lived closer to Salem .
I have driven and crewed for some of the grassroots rally teams out of Southern California. I also run some of the local rally cross events. They are fun to watch. I have never been to the Ojibwe but I hear great things about it.
I used to do it quite a bit and had a great time in my "normal", car, drove some really pretty countrysides, safely, and it didn't cost much more than gas, (and lodging for overnights).
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I actually won first place in my class at the British Week Car Rally in San Francisco back in 1970. Still have the trophy handed to me by Jackie Stewart. I had a 1967 Cortina GT and was competing with Jaguars and Rovers mostly. Lots of fun to drive in but didn't seem that great to watch, in fact the spectators were pretty much at the start and finish only, very few along the routes.
I want to go to one, I really want to compete in one.
Check out your local SCCA website. You can run an SCCA RallyCross event in a grocery getter or rental and see how much fun driving in the dirt really is without fear of flying off a cliff or smashing into a tree.
If you really want to run stage rally check out a rally school first. The plan on buying a used rally car rather than building your first.
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