Oregon Rally Group Rallycross, April 7th

I went to the first ORG rallycross event on Sunday, it was really wet but a lot of fun. I drove my '88 DX Hatch in the stock front wheel drive class and did better than I expected overall. There were a few other Hondas and a variety of other cars that made it interesting, but I was the only Accord. I took a few pics but I'm no photographer and worked timing at the start/finish so none out on the course.

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This is after the parade lap, I wasn't sure if I was going to get stuck or not, but pulled through.

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I ran some chunky snow tires on the front, I think they made a big difference in ability to get through the mud.

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This CRX was running in either the modified or prepared class, times were similar to mine.

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This hatch was also in the mod or prep class.

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There were lots of Subarus, some of them ran in the morning with the front/rear wheel drive group for time only.

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The only decent action shot I got was this 190E diving into a puddle, next time I hope to work out on the course.

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These were the recovery trucks, they saw some action pulling the stuck cars off the course, mostly the RWD guys.

It was a lot of fun, I want to do some work on the car for next time, but I am definitely going back.

If anyone has any questions about it just let me know.

That's awesome, did anything fail on the accord?

Nothing failed, I want a skid plate for next time, but I was surprised with how well it did. My competition in stock fwd was a late model fiesta and a scion XD, the fiesta and I were very close on lap time, the XD was a little slower and had some electrical failures.

Aaah! The pics are all missing! I would love to see them!!!

They show up for me, anyone else having a problem?

Gone on mine as well. You browser probably has them cashed.

Ok, they are fixed now.

Man, awesome! There is some rallycross just outside Olympia too. And looks like you might have some fun at the Dirtfish school! Great pics!

Thanks for the comments guys. Any more information on the Olympia Rallyx 2ndGenGuy? The Dirtfish school does look like fun, but expensive.

They used to do them all the time at the Straddleline ORV park. http://www.straddlelineorvpark.com/

But I can't find any info right now. I know my friend used to do them all the time. I'll ask him who he did it through and find out.

Sunday was the second rallycross of the season, between the races I did some work and got a skid plate built. I had a local sheet metal shop (Reliance Manufacturing) cut and bend some 3/16ths aluminum to my sketch. I then welded up a support that spanned the stock tow hooks and added mounting points to the transmission crossmember, one at the jack/tow point and one at the aft end. It was definitely not as easy as I thought it was going to be, and anytime I weld something I'm reminded of how bad I am at it, but I think it turned out ok, still needs some trimming on the leading edge.

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The conditions for this race were much different than last time, the ground was completely dry and it was very dusty. The ruts from last time felt like driving over a curb where they hadn't been flattened out, but fortunately the course was fairly smooth and loosened up by the time I ran in the afternoon. There were still lots of rocks but that is just the nature of the location. The skid plate definitely made me more confident and I could hear things hitting it most of time. The first pic is sitting on grid with a pic just after start following it, my mom and brother came out so I actually got some of me out on the course.

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The first part of the course was really tight and where I had the most problems, had to really use the brakes this time where in the mud I barely touched them. I also had to drop down to first to get good acceleration out of them. These pics are of one of the faster corners in the first section I think.

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I think this is one of the slower ones, mid corner.

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And through a little bit faster section..

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and heading towards the back side of the course.

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2e22e780.jpg

It was a lot of fun again, and I was the fastest (although not by much) in stock front wheel drive for this one. My competition was a Neon whose driver was getting back into rallyx after being away from it for a while and a new driver in a Golf. I was again surprised how well the Accord did, it really comes around through the corners and 2cnd gear seems to be well matched for these type of courses. If the professional photographers got anything great I will post them as well.

That's awesome! Looks like a blast! Your skid plate looks great too! How thick is that? What did it cost you?

Thanks, it's 3/16ths, feels really beefy. The aluminum cost me ~$65 cut and bent + about $15 in hardware. The steel I had laying around but there is maybe $10 worth in it.

Awesome action shots, next we need some mid air photos lol.

Ha, I think mid air would only happen once.

I vote for some action cam video!