So there's one less E30 in the world...
When Cage This owner Bill Doyle and I left for International Rally New York early Friday morning, I had no idea that on Saturday, my world would be turned upside down again and again… and again… and again.
Since my car is still broken from NEFR, Bill asked me to sit in the silly seat for IRNY 2011. His regular navigator couldn’t make it. I said yes, despite the fact that I am directionally challenged. No matter, he said, you’ll pick it up along the way.
I thought the worst of our problems involved a pesky exhaust that kept falling off. We lost the exhaust after a few recce passes and throughout the next day and a half, random people kept bringing the exhaust back to us with the same line: “Is this yours?”
Yup, it was ours.
Then we had a windshield wiper issue on my side, which was rectified easily enough. Ironically, that part would be one of the few parts that survived the weekend.
On Stage 8, the shortest one, we came over the opening crest, screamed down the hill and got hung up in a ditch on the left, which looked like it terminated with some overgrown grass. Well, grass there was, but it was also covering a pile of rocks.
We hit those rocks at 70 mph.
That launched the car airborne, leaning toward my side, but then the tire, turned full right attempting to free the car from the ditch, caught the road and sent us flipping once end over end, then barrel-rolling three times. Each time we hit, I yelled my favorite expletive.
When we finally landed, upright thankfully, I asked Bill if he was OK. As soon as he confirmed, I smelled a huge rush of high-octane gasoline and saw smoke. Bill killed the fuel pump, which was pumping fresh, raw gas into the engine bay because, we later found out, the fuel pressure regulator had been sheared off. “Get out! Get out! Get out!” I yelled. We scrambled out our doors, which both had become stuck shut in the impacts. They popped open after some spirited persuasion and we managed to get out safely.
Bill also stopped the next rig, the Nissan truck. Along with sweep, they helped us pick up the debris field and move the car out of the way so they could continue. Among the debris, I found all four auxiliary lights lying together crunched, face-down, side by side, as if they were set there intentionally. I also found the fuel pressure regulator gauge, among a sea of other bits and pieces of Bill’s BMW.
The roll cage didn’t move a single inch. No breaks, no bends, no cracks, no scratches.
I have a Cage This cage in my own rally BMW. And now I know for sure what it can take.
Thanks again to the Nissan guys and Gary and the sweep crew, who helped us clean up and gave us a ride back to service.
This truly will be an International Rally New York I will never forget.
Kris Gove
Slapdash Racing
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/6904507...in/photostream
When Cage This owner Bill Doyle and I left for International Rally New York early Friday morning, I had no idea that on Saturday, my world would be turned upside down again and again… and again… and again.
Since my car is still broken from NEFR, Bill asked me to sit in the silly seat for IRNY 2011. His regular navigator couldn’t make it. I said yes, despite the fact that I am directionally challenged. No matter, he said, you’ll pick it up along the way.
I thought the worst of our problems involved a pesky exhaust that kept falling off. We lost the exhaust after a few recce passes and throughout the next day and a half, random people kept bringing the exhaust back to us with the same line: “Is this yours?”
Yup, it was ours.
Then we had a windshield wiper issue on my side, which was rectified easily enough. Ironically, that part would be one of the few parts that survived the weekend.
On Stage 8, the shortest one, we came over the opening crest, screamed down the hill and got hung up in a ditch on the left, which looked like it terminated with some overgrown grass. Well, grass there was, but it was also covering a pile of rocks.
We hit those rocks at 70 mph.
That launched the car airborne, leaning toward my side, but then the tire, turned full right attempting to free the car from the ditch, caught the road and sent us flipping once end over end, then barrel-rolling three times. Each time we hit, I yelled my favorite expletive.
When we finally landed, upright thankfully, I asked Bill if he was OK. As soon as he confirmed, I smelled a huge rush of high-octane gasoline and saw smoke. Bill killed the fuel pump, which was pumping fresh, raw gas into the engine bay because, we later found out, the fuel pressure regulator had been sheared off. “Get out! Get out! Get out!” I yelled. We scrambled out our doors, which both had become stuck shut in the impacts. They popped open after some spirited persuasion and we managed to get out safely.
Bill also stopped the next rig, the Nissan truck. Along with sweep, they helped us pick up the debris field and move the car out of the way so they could continue. Among the debris, I found all four auxiliary lights lying together crunched, face-down, side by side, as if they were set there intentionally. I also found the fuel pressure regulator gauge, among a sea of other bits and pieces of Bill’s BMW.
The roll cage didn’t move a single inch. No breaks, no bends, no cracks, no scratches.
I have a Cage This cage in my own rally BMW. And now I know for sure what it can take.
Thanks again to the Nissan guys and Gary and the sweep crew, who helped us clean up and gave us a ride back to service.
This truly will be an International Rally New York I will never forget.
Kris Gove
Slapdash Racing
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/6904507...in/photostream
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