Workin’ the Rim
I shall start by mentioning that we started our trip by delievering a get-well care package to a co-worker of mine in Thousand Oaks. The poor girl went in for hip surgery which got totally screwed up, and has needed multiple return trips to the hospital and “fix-it” surgeries (they put the wrong size screw in her hip, and eventually took it out). She seems to be doing a LOT better now, and I wish her the best. She’s getting married at the end of the summer!
So, on to rally stuffa… This weekend Kris and I ventured up to Lancaster, CA (LOL - I almost wrote Lancaster, PA - no, we were NOT going to visit the Amish, although that WOULD have made for an interesting rally weekend…) to spectate the Rim of the World Rally. Well, at least we thought we would be spectating. We arrived VERY early in town, too early to check into our hotel room, and before they started charging for admission at the fairgrounds. In an effort to try to kill a little time we wandered around looking for some cars/people we knew in the service area. Next we walked around the vendor booths, which were mostly Subaru dealerships (where we got some free schwag), or not really set up yet. Finally we wandered over to the tech inspection. We spent a good deal of time in this pavilion, watching the process, taking pictures, checking out the Mitsubishi display of cars. Some of our pals (Jeff, Shea, the GC) came through, and we got to chat with them, as well as talk to a few other teams. Eric and Amy were super nice, and they have fun though they’re not in the fastest car. Rob and Matt were another new team we introduced ourselves to since we noticed they had the Brantz rally computer we’re eventually going to buy.
Sounds like we killed a lot of time there, doesn’t it? It was STILL way early, so we wandered around the vendor booths again, thinking some more stuff would be set up. It was then that I noticed a flyer saying the spectator area was canceled. I don’t think Kris until I asked, “Is this serious???” Steaming, and feeling robbed of the only spectating area available, Kris surveyed our options. We found Donna Hocker and asked where we could volunteer to work at the event, because we figured, that would be the only way we could see anything.
So we found the volunteer station, and noticed that Brent, someone we’d met at the Ridgecrest Rally School was on the list (he had told us he’d be at Rim). They signed us up to be in his group, gave us the goodie bag of (more) schwag, and hard-carded us. Now we could park in the service area, go on stage, and got free feed! We met with Brent and got organized to meet the next morning for the Magic Mountain stages. Our wrap-up for the evening was watching the super special stage as an “exhibition” stage (slower than a competitive stage) in the rain, but we got free chili, and knew they next day would be more exciting.
Got up early and headed out to the stage. Since we were working the finish, and then the turn-around start, we had to drive the entire length of the stage. I was definately a bit scared, but thankful that we hadn’t tried to make Rim OUR first rally. Brent showed us how we needed to get set up, and everyone else (who’d helped at the stage during the previous night) helped too. It was decided that I would be the “card runner” - grab the timecards from the teams, bring them to the scoring table, double check the calculations, and bring them back to the teams. Kris could help too, but he mostly took pictures of us working which was cool. My favorite moment - I run back to a team who I hear say, “We need to be under 10 minutes…” As I handed back the cards I would tell the team their time, so I said, “Your time is 10:47.” “SHIT! Thank you!” “Sorry….You’re welcome.” 
For the arrival time control, Brent was the card runner, and I was the person writing on the actual time cards, while Kris did the hard calculations to give teams enough time to get to the start, but also send them out from start in 1-minute increments. Having a CRO (competitor relations officer) made the whole process a bit easier, letting us know if two cars would be coming in on the same minute. Having this experience was amazing. I know I learned a lot about what actually happens in the time controls (and understand what we learned at the rally school back in February) for when we run a full stage rally. We also both saw things in competitors cars that we would like to incorporate into our design (handy pockets on the door for timecards, certain switches, and general placement of items). It was really fun.
On Sunday we were able to enjoy breakfast and the awards ceremonies with the competitors. I learned so much, mainly that the best way to spectate a rally is to work it (especially if the spectator stages are canceled!), and also about how the rally itself works. I think we both made some new connections and confirmed old ones. Going to that rally school was the best thing we could have done this year. I can’t wait for Treeline and Gorman Ridge this summer!
