akuhner
06-10-2005, 10:30 AM
North Coast Rally Attacks STPR with Three Entries
The North Coast Rally Team supported the largest number of team entries at the 2005 Susquehannock Trails ProRally presented by Rally America, with a total of three Subaru STI entries. Team driver Otis Dimiters, with co-driver Peter Monin, overcame the loss of time with two off road incidents to take 8th overall and 4th in Group N for the National Rally in Dimiters’ 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. NC Rally customer Daniel O’Brien, with co-driver Stephen Duffy drove a strong, clean rally to claim 11th overall and 7th in Open Class in their 2005 Subaru WRX STI. O’Brien also claimed the honor of taking 1st place in the experimental Super Stock class, adopted from the NASA rally program due to it’s popularity. Cyril Kearny and co-driver Charlie Bradley brought their NC Rally supported 2005 Subaru WRX STI to an 11th in Open Class and 22nd overall.
The NC Rally Team is accustomed to bringing 3 to 4 crew to support Dimiters’ car, and adding two cars to the service area was a new challenge that was met head on by the crew. The service crew was expanded to nine and split into teams of three to manage each car, while the service fleet grew to 4 vehicles to accommodate the crew and extras such as four 55-gallon drums of Sunoco GT Plus race fuel.
After a hectic Friday getting all three cars through technical inspection and out to the practice stage, the team arose early Saturday to present the cars to the public at the Parc Expose on the Wellsboro Green. All three NC Rally cars finished Stage 1, the famous “Subaru Splash” stage ending in the middle of a substantial mountain stream, without any mechanical issues. Dimiters set the 10th fastest time on Stage 1, only 3 seconds behind the time set by current national champion Patrick Richard.
Stages 2 and 3 went well for Dimiters and Monin; the pair set the 7th quickest time on Stage 3, less than 2 seconds per mile off of former world rally champion Stig Blomqvist’s pace. O’Brien continued to increase his pace and moved up the board to 16th overall, while Kearny continued to adjust to the new car and working with a new co-driver.
The 4th competitive stage, an 11.2 mile challenge that averaged 65mph for the top drivers, went as planned for O’Brien and Kearny, but spelled disaster for Dimiters. Approaching a fast “right 3” about ¾ through the stage the car went off the competitive line and apexed the turn early. Unable to recover, the car slid off the road, over the embankment and into a tree, taking out the driver’s door and side window sending glass through out the cabin. Co-driver Peter Monin promptly climbed out and placed the safety triangles, as required by Rally America rules, while Dimiters worked the car back onto the road. The pair lost 2 ½ minutes to the incident, dropping to 19th overall and 8th in Group N.
All of the crews returned to the Morris service area for 30 minutes before moving back into Wellsboro for the afternoon Parc Expose. During service the mechanics cleaned up Dimiters’ car and installed a window net and inspected the suspension and drive train for damage, but found the car to be in perfect mechanical order. Both of O’Brien’s and Kearny’s cars received full “nut ‘n bolt” inspections before heading out to Wellsboro. During the Parc Expose break O’Brien decided to have his Pirelli PZero rally tires cut, removing 2 centimeters of tread from the middle of the tire, in a gamble aimed at clearing the gooey mud from the tread blocks. The service crew rushed to fire up the generator for the tire cutter, and was able to put 4 cut tires on O’Brien’s car before leaving.
While the service crew set out for the Germania service area 45 minutes outside of Wellsboro, the rally cars attacked Stage 5. On the first run through the grueling 21 miles of the Lee Stock stage (run as both Stage 5 and Stage 8), Dimiters set the 8th fastest time on stage and moved up the leader board to 11th overall, and 8 position jump in just one stage. O’Brien and Kearny continued to set safe, conservative times, but moved up the leader board as more and more teams dropped out of the event.
Stage 6 was uneventful, and all three NC Rally Team entries set consistent times, but on Stage 7 a top competitor blocked the road and all teams were awarded the same time. The cars came into the Germania service area for the last major stop before the end of the rally, and all three cars were again “nut ‘n bolted” and prepared for the final stretch.
Stage 8 was a rerun of the 21 miles first seen on Stage 5, and O’Brien took advantage of the familiarity with the road to set 11th fastest time, 9 places ahead of his first run through the stage. Dimiters set another top 10 time, taking 9th, while Kearny continued his steady pace. The drivers and co-drivers arrived at the start of Stage 9 to find a delay caused by drunken spectators, which eventually caused the stage to be transited at low speed.
The final stage of the rally was just over 10 miles, and O’Brien attacked it to set the 12th fastest time. Dimiters and Monin, however, ran into more problems when a small off road excursion became a significant delay as the car would not select reverse gear. With the assistance of spectators the car was pushed back onto the road, but the loss of time put Dimiters in the back of the pack for the final stage. The incident dropped the team one place overall, allowing Matthew Iorio to take 7th place above Dimiters.
Dimiters and Monin took 8th overall and 4th in class for the National Rally, and in the process they won the Finger Lakes Regional Rally of the day (representing stages 5 through 10) over a large field of Open Class cars. O’Brien and Duffy finished the day in 14th overall, 8th in Open Class and 1st in the experimental Super Stock class, also taking 5th overall in the Sherwood Forest Regional Rally (stages 1 through 4) and 4th overall in the Finger Lakes Regional Rally. Kearny and Bradley finished 22nd overall and 11th in Open Class for the National Rally.
Otis Dimiters and the NC Rally Team would like to give special thanks to: North Coast Subaru of Glen Cove, NY; Vivian Levy; Autosport Engineering; Subaru of America; and the all volunteer NC Rally service crew, including Matthew Johnson of Carolina Rally Sport!
Photos: http://www.ncrally.com/index.php?pid=5348
http://rally.subaru.com/rally/images/02_18.jpg
The North Coast Rally Team supported the largest number of team entries at the 2005 Susquehannock Trails ProRally presented by Rally America, with a total of three Subaru STI entries. Team driver Otis Dimiters, with co-driver Peter Monin, overcame the loss of time with two off road incidents to take 8th overall and 4th in Group N for the National Rally in Dimiters’ 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. NC Rally customer Daniel O’Brien, with co-driver Stephen Duffy drove a strong, clean rally to claim 11th overall and 7th in Open Class in their 2005 Subaru WRX STI. O’Brien also claimed the honor of taking 1st place in the experimental Super Stock class, adopted from the NASA rally program due to it’s popularity. Cyril Kearny and co-driver Charlie Bradley brought their NC Rally supported 2005 Subaru WRX STI to an 11th in Open Class and 22nd overall.
The NC Rally Team is accustomed to bringing 3 to 4 crew to support Dimiters’ car, and adding two cars to the service area was a new challenge that was met head on by the crew. The service crew was expanded to nine and split into teams of three to manage each car, while the service fleet grew to 4 vehicles to accommodate the crew and extras such as four 55-gallon drums of Sunoco GT Plus race fuel.
After a hectic Friday getting all three cars through technical inspection and out to the practice stage, the team arose early Saturday to present the cars to the public at the Parc Expose on the Wellsboro Green. All three NC Rally cars finished Stage 1, the famous “Subaru Splash” stage ending in the middle of a substantial mountain stream, without any mechanical issues. Dimiters set the 10th fastest time on Stage 1, only 3 seconds behind the time set by current national champion Patrick Richard.
Stages 2 and 3 went well for Dimiters and Monin; the pair set the 7th quickest time on Stage 3, less than 2 seconds per mile off of former world rally champion Stig Blomqvist’s pace. O’Brien continued to increase his pace and moved up the board to 16th overall, while Kearny continued to adjust to the new car and working with a new co-driver.
The 4th competitive stage, an 11.2 mile challenge that averaged 65mph for the top drivers, went as planned for O’Brien and Kearny, but spelled disaster for Dimiters. Approaching a fast “right 3” about ¾ through the stage the car went off the competitive line and apexed the turn early. Unable to recover, the car slid off the road, over the embankment and into a tree, taking out the driver’s door and side window sending glass through out the cabin. Co-driver Peter Monin promptly climbed out and placed the safety triangles, as required by Rally America rules, while Dimiters worked the car back onto the road. The pair lost 2 ½ minutes to the incident, dropping to 19th overall and 8th in Group N.
All of the crews returned to the Morris service area for 30 minutes before moving back into Wellsboro for the afternoon Parc Expose. During service the mechanics cleaned up Dimiters’ car and installed a window net and inspected the suspension and drive train for damage, but found the car to be in perfect mechanical order. Both of O’Brien’s and Kearny’s cars received full “nut ‘n bolt” inspections before heading out to Wellsboro. During the Parc Expose break O’Brien decided to have his Pirelli PZero rally tires cut, removing 2 centimeters of tread from the middle of the tire, in a gamble aimed at clearing the gooey mud from the tread blocks. The service crew rushed to fire up the generator for the tire cutter, and was able to put 4 cut tires on O’Brien’s car before leaving.
While the service crew set out for the Germania service area 45 minutes outside of Wellsboro, the rally cars attacked Stage 5. On the first run through the grueling 21 miles of the Lee Stock stage (run as both Stage 5 and Stage 8), Dimiters set the 8th fastest time on stage and moved up the leader board to 11th overall, and 8 position jump in just one stage. O’Brien and Kearny continued to set safe, conservative times, but moved up the leader board as more and more teams dropped out of the event.
Stage 6 was uneventful, and all three NC Rally Team entries set consistent times, but on Stage 7 a top competitor blocked the road and all teams were awarded the same time. The cars came into the Germania service area for the last major stop before the end of the rally, and all three cars were again “nut ‘n bolted” and prepared for the final stretch.
Stage 8 was a rerun of the 21 miles first seen on Stage 5, and O’Brien took advantage of the familiarity with the road to set 11th fastest time, 9 places ahead of his first run through the stage. Dimiters set another top 10 time, taking 9th, while Kearny continued his steady pace. The drivers and co-drivers arrived at the start of Stage 9 to find a delay caused by drunken spectators, which eventually caused the stage to be transited at low speed.
The final stage of the rally was just over 10 miles, and O’Brien attacked it to set the 12th fastest time. Dimiters and Monin, however, ran into more problems when a small off road excursion became a significant delay as the car would not select reverse gear. With the assistance of spectators the car was pushed back onto the road, but the loss of time put Dimiters in the back of the pack for the final stage. The incident dropped the team one place overall, allowing Matthew Iorio to take 7th place above Dimiters.
Dimiters and Monin took 8th overall and 4th in class for the National Rally, and in the process they won the Finger Lakes Regional Rally of the day (representing stages 5 through 10) over a large field of Open Class cars. O’Brien and Duffy finished the day in 14th overall, 8th in Open Class and 1st in the experimental Super Stock class, also taking 5th overall in the Sherwood Forest Regional Rally (stages 1 through 4) and 4th overall in the Finger Lakes Regional Rally. Kearny and Bradley finished 22nd overall and 11th in Open Class for the National Rally.
Otis Dimiters and the NC Rally Team would like to give special thanks to: North Coast Subaru of Glen Cove, NY; Vivian Levy; Autosport Engineering; Subaru of America; and the all volunteer NC Rally service crew, including Matthew Johnson of Carolina Rally Sport!
Photos: http://www.ncrally.com/index.php?pid=5348
http://rally.subaru.com/rally/images/02_18.jpg