2005 Shitepoke Rally
Team Shows Speed, mechanical failure end day early
After an finishing Saturday’s Dryad Quest rally in good shape, and getting a feel for the car, the driver/co-driver team of Kris Dahl and co-driver Ed Dahl were eager to tackle the Shitepoke Rally stages June 5th in a Production Class Acura Integra GSR.
Read on for more information!
The value of the previous day’s experience was immeasurable. “I was a lot more comfortable in the car, and confident in my ability to control it.” said Kris about how the weekend was shaping up.
Although the team had already improved a lot, it was obvious that they hadn’t even come close to maximizing their potential and that they would steadily improve over the season.
On the first stage of the day, Cougar Meadow I, the team set a respectable 3rd place time in Production, and 2nd place time in Northwest Driver Class 3. The stage would be run twice, so it was important to attempt to be as smooth as possible and reinforce the driving lines they would use on the re-running of the same stage.
The second time through Cougar Meadow, Kris was able to pilot the car much more effectively, a dramatic improvement over their first pass. Unfortunately, things got a bit out of sorts roughly
half-way into the 8.27 mile run, when the car ran wide of the road and struck an unknown object of significant bulk that had been lurking hidden the the grass The impact bent the car’s lower control
arm, pushing the wheel several inches back against the wheel well.
In spite of the impact, the car was still drivable, and the team continued on course at a far reduced speed. Handling of the car was affected dramatically, with some unusual noises coming from the
wheel area where the tire was rubbing on the fender well. When the brakes were applied the right-front wheel would lock pitching the car 30 degrees to the right. After the stage, Kris said “Driving
the car with a damaged, yet surprisingly still largely functional suspension was…’interesting’ is perhaps best word. I hope we never have to do it again.”
Towards the latter parts of the stage, the road narrowed with trees just inches away. The unpredictable pitching of the car became a major liability and the team backed off even more, concerned that they may not be able to finish the stage and make it back to service.
They finished the stage, and despite suffering the crash and limping the last 4 of the 8.27 miles, were able to set a 5th fastest Production class and 3rd fastest Driver Class 3 time. “We lost nearly 30
seconds due to the damage, which means we probably would have set the fastest stage time in both our classes. We were flying.”
When the team got back to the service, they realized the damage was significant, and the team did not have spares available. Despite some gallant efforts with a BFH were not able to resuscitate the bent and broken parts and were forced to withdraw.
The team was a bit disappointed, but overall were pleased with their performance. “We learned a lot, and we were able to accomplish much without over-driving the car. We are optimistic about the
rest of the season and can’t wait to get up to Mountain Trails in Canada in two weeks!”
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