Trade my camera for a set of stage notes? I'm in, NEFR here we come.

We're at the tail end of July 2013 and it's finally time for the New England Forest Rally (NEFR).  This time around I put down the camera, grab my helmet and stage notes and yup you guessed it, this photographer is co-driving!

So lets fast forward the beginning... We start with what feels like a billion hour drive from Michigan, through Canada over to New Hampshire.  Side note, if you're ever in Canada do yourself a favor and get some Rolo Chocolate Milk.  It's simple amazing and not sold in the U.S.  Once state side again, we head straight to Team O'Neil Rally School for testing.  Unfortunately for me my driver couldn't make it to testing SO... it was a good time for me to stretch my legs and get some shooting in.

Other than shooting pretty much the only corner we could get to, if you find yourself roaming around the O'Neil Rally grounds, you will find that there's probably more wheels than cars around...

Just to show off a few... There where still many MANY more...

Anywho... after testing at O'Neil's we head back to get all our stage notes in order, my driver, Matt Peterson, arrives in NH, then to the cabin where the crew is taking care of all the final prep for 3 cars, Noble Star Rally's black GC8, Flying Frog Rallying's green GC8 and Peterson's Honda Civic. 

Next day, recce day.  It was a shaky start for Peterson and myself.  This is both Peterson's and my first ever rally.  Not to mention I have NEVER done a TSD rally either and have no clue how to read tulip notes.  We got so turned around trying to recce the first stage, but luckily Derrick Rudisel, Noble Star's co-driver was able to help me out over the phone!  Giving his driver Amanda Skelly AND ME directions at the same time!!!  Once we had our heads on straight it was smooth sailing the rest of the day.  We even caught up to the rest of the teams!

MCampbell iPhone photo

About 12 hours of recce and it's a success!  My Forester was a great recce car and Peterson and myself are really starting to mesh pretty well (did I mention we've only met ONCE before this event?).  Before long it's dark out and time to help button up a few things on the car and try to get some sleep before our first big day.

Photo credit: Bill Sawyer

My office for the next couple days, Peterson's '94 Honda Civic.  Now don't be fooled, this light weight hatchback is no ordinary Civic.  This green machine houses a built K20 along with it's 6 speed transmission and LSD counter parts.

Nerves are starting to get to me the morning of race day one... Shake it off, tighten your harness and focus, it's go time.

Photo credit: Eric Delaney

We head out to stage one of NEFR.  Stage: Concord Pond.  Arrive at start, time card checked, notes ready, on the start line... 5...4...3...2...1 GO!  It's all such a blur.  The sound of the K20 revving through gears, the dirt, peddles and rocks bashing the skid plates and hearing myself shouting notes over the comms.  I remember at one point getting off the notes because I really wasn't ready for the speeds Peterson was going to be driving our first time out.  I even remember getting a little frantic and cursing a couple times before hearing Peterson calmly say "Relax... I've got it, just find your place!" at which point my brain FINALLY caught up and got in tune with Peterson and the car.  Turn after turn we're just flowing through when suddenly... I remember calling "100 Tarmac Over Crest..." and BANG!!!  that was a hard transition to tarmac but the car feels good so Peterson is still hammer down through finish.

Next thing you know someone runs up to us at the finish and says "You're leaking something!  Pull over PAST the finish and check it out before you continue!  Peterson gets out and checks the driver side to find some oil... then checks the passenger side... "CUT IT OFF! WE'RE DONE!!!".  As it turns out, that harsh transition to tarmac was SO harsh, it flexed our skid plate right into our oil pan and cracked in pretty bad leaving us with next to no oil.  And so ends day one for us.  We are unable to continue BUT... we can't give up that easily.

MCampbell iPhone photo

After making plenty of phone calls to local junk yards, with the help of a couple volunteers.  A couple guys from our crew show up with the truck and trailer as well as some good news.  As it turns out, back in service, someone found out there's a local welder who might be able to help us out with the oil pan.  The only catch is... he's pretty far away and we've got limited time before he closes up shop.  We get the car back to the cabin, but with a really steep, narrow driveway there's no way to tow the car all the way up to the garage AND have time to pull the oil pan off... So... we get the car off the trailer and drop the oil pan out in the road.

Oh and did I mention?  We were having some kind of electrical issue as well.  We were hoping it was an old battery so we swapped batteries with my Forester.  Right before starting stage one we had shut off the car and it had trouble starting back up.  We need a new alternator now too... for a K20! Apparently one of the guys found a local NAPA Auto Parts store that could get us a new one first thing in the morning.  Thankfully they also said they'll show up and open almost an hour early so we can get it in time for Expose... MAN do we like cutting these things close?!

Thankfully, I still brought my camera so while I had some down time I was able to catch all the other teams taking care of their issues.  Rally can be very cruel and NEFR is one of the few events that like to really remind the teams to always be on their toes.

MAP Rally Team

Tag Rally Sport

Nameless Performance

Flying Frog Rally

Tingwu Song

NEFR Day Two.  Guess who's ready for park expose with a newly welded oil pan, modified skid plate and new alternator (NIB yet to be installed).  You guessed it "The Matts" (as referred to by the rest of the crew) are back! Let's do this!... Oh wait... we need to take our newly recharged battery and hope to have enough power to get us to expose, swap alternators then have enough juice to fire it up and get that alternator charging. It's always nice to start your morning bright and early and under a rally car in the dirt.  LOVE RALLY!

 

 

Photo credit: Josh Pembleton

No issues with transit this time and more than a single good stage!  I only managed to get lost in the notes a couple more times which barely slowed down Peterson if at all.  We dodged a LARGE rock that Peterson knew I spotted when he heard "Left 3 100 into oh sh*t right 3..."  accidentally worked it right into the notes.  We even drove a small straight half way in a ditch before Peterson was able to pull the car out and right into the next turn!  Peterson's got plenty of skill behind the wheel.

First mishap of the day, Peterson mentions being worried about the alternator again.  He points out that the gauges keep going nuts then finally just stop working, then again a stage later.  Next thing you know we're in transit and he can feel the car losing power.  We pull off the road into a dirt lot where some locals are fishing.  In case of needing to push start the car I instruct him to park with enough running room and just as he does... the car shuts off.  We both pop out of the car to assess the situation, Peterson gets under the hood and I check the battery under the hatch as well as open up our tool kit.  As it turns out, a harness was no longer secure, got sucked into a radiator fan and was ripped apart.  Some duct tape, a couple zip ties and a push start later, with some help pushing from some sweep drivers, the car is BACK and running strong!  We get to the next stage and if I remember correctly we're only seconds late.

Photo credit: Bill Sawyer

We're getting through our day when, in transit, we discover Amanda Skelly and Derrick Rudisel (of Noble Star Rally) are on the side of the road and Rudisel is under their car.  No communication needed, Peterson starts pulling over and I'm already unbuckling my harness.  We run up to find that their exhaust had broke and is dangling off the car and they need to secure it or they might risk further damage.  Rudisel has some wire and Peterson helps him get the exhaust in position while I grab the cutters out of our tool bag so they can secure it in a couple areas to make sure there's NO chance of it coming down.  Now their exhaust is in place and off we go! Next stage!

Next thing you know, we're back on stage 8 and we're really cooking now.  Communication between Peterson and myself is on point, the car is feeling strong and we're all working together as one complete machine.  Now I remember looking up and seeing 2 or 3 other cars off on the side of the road on this stage and the most faint scent of fuel.  I think to myself, "that's gotta be one of those other cars."  At that exact moment I feel our car begin to slow down, look up and we're just getting onto a straight.  Before I can even start to ask "What's wrong?"  Peterson says "There's something wrong, we need to stop!".  When the car finally comes to a halt, that faint fuel smell rushes up to the front of the car and it's very obvious it's US!  Peterson and I are both running out triangles right before the next rally car comes through and we wave them on with thumbs up. 

After waiting for the last few rally cars to come through and for sweep to make it's way to the other cars that broke before us, Peterson informs me that even though I saw 2-3 cars down before we were... there was 5 and we were now number 6!

Then we finally had a chance to assess our more recent damage.  From inside the car it appears we busted a fuel line, no big deal.  But once we're able to jack up the car and get a better look... Peterson suddenly goes "Oh... our rear skid plate is gone... and so are the straps for the fuel tank... we've been DRAGGING our tank by the fuel lines!"  He then proceeds to pull the tank out from under the car and well... it's doing it's best to become a pancake.

MCampbell iPhone photo

Thus our rally adventure comes to an end for the New England Forest Rally.  From here we spent the next few hours sitting in the shade in racing suits going through all of our snacks and water telling our tail to passing spectators while waiting for our ride. 

All in all we had a great time and learned a LOT from this event.  Matt Peterson has since made some adjustments and upgrades on his Honda and is currently gearing up for Sno Drift 2014.  As for me, I've got a few plans/ideas for myself as far as co-driving and hope to continue co-driving for Matt.  Running this event and having the same passion and drive for the sport has really helped us work together very well.  Will "The Matts" rally story continue?!  I sure hope so! 

From here on out my story will continue back in New York for a while.  I've got two dreams and it's time to get focused and make them both realities.    I'll have two main budgets, Photography and Rally.  Till the next blog post, thanks for following.

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