2097 Racing Returns to Rally!

On Friday October 1 and Saturday October 2, 2004, 2097 Racing members Eddie Fiorelli and Erik Christiansen ended a three-year hiatus from SCCA ClubRally when they competed in the Prescott Forest Rally, based in Prescott, AZ. The team returned to the scene in a fully prepped 1987 VW Golf GTI purchased recently by Erik from a fellow California Rally Series competitor. The new car is visually similar to “Lumpy,” the team’s former Golf, but underneath the white shell aftermarket 16v cams, a super-short final drive, huge brakes and a limited slip differential means the new car is ready to be competitive right out of the box. Filling out the team for the weekend was fellow Cooper Union graduate Denise Ng who worked tirelessly as the team crew chief. The team considered their return a success, finishing 20th overall in Friday’s rally, and 17th overall in Saturday’s rally out of an initial field of 29 starters.

Friday’s event began just after dusk with the First View stage, which starts out of the old mining town of Jerome on what used to be a narrow gauge railway bed that winds through the mountains. The Prescott Forest Rally is known for its rough roads, and the first stage was no exception. Indeed, the first stage was so rough that an electrical connector to the car’s ignition system worked itself loose just two miles into the first stage. The car rolled to a halt on the stage, but the team quickly identified the problem, fixed it with a generous amount of duct tape, and continued to finish the stage without incident. The second stage, Witty Tom, came up quickly, and was similar to the first, but without the steep exposures. After a service break, the two stages were run in reverse. A bad off by one of the other competitors forced the cancellation of the last run through First View, but luckily there were no injuries.

Saturday morning began with another run through First View; now in the daylight giving co-drivers a chance to admire the scenic views of the valley below. After First View came the highly touted Perkinsville stage. With smooth roads and fast, sweeping corners, we clearly understood why. Perkinsville was followed by a service break, and then a run through the Limestone Canyon turn-around stages. Limestone was billed as the roughest stage of the rally, and it lived up to its reputation, with enough large rocks to remind us of Maine. It was also the tightest and twistiest stage of the event, which also gave it an East-Coast feel.

Limestone Canyon was followed by another service during which Denise helped us mount the driving lights early, in case the rally falls behind schedule. The rally stayed on schedule with another run through Perkinsville and Witty Tom. Knowing it was our last run through these stages in the daylight, we pushed to improve our times. The run back through Perkinsville turned out to be our best stage finish of the event; only 26% behind the stage winner. During the last service, we enjoyed some turkey sandwiches and relaxed with nothing more to do than wash the windows since the lights were already mounted. After nightfall, the organizers extended the intervals to 3-minute windows to help alleviate the dust hanging in the air between cars and reflecting driving lights right back in to the driver’s eyes. Despite the 3-minute window, some persistent dust hung around and we were constantly dimming to low-beams throughout the last two stages, a repeat of Perkinsville and Witty Tom. Not content just to finish, the team continued to push and improve our position on the leader board.

Having competed on both coasts, the team is excited about the competition in the California Rally Series for 2005. The top six finishers of the Prescott Forest Rally were two-wheel drive cars, demonstrating the high level of drivers in the region. The next event for the team will be the Seed 9 Rallysprint in Goodsprings, NV in March of 2005. See you there!

For more information on the Prescott Forest Rally, including results from the event, see http://www.prescottrally.com/. For more information on 2097 Racing, see our website: http://2097racing.50megs.com.