Red Bull is my new hero
Over the weekend, I served as a course marshal at the 2005 Rally New York, hosted in Monticello NY. A professional photographer named Pete posted some pics on his website; http://gallery.onalimbracing.com/2005newyork . As I get more experienced with the different functions of a rally marshal, I'm being given more responsibility. The first time I did this, I hung caution tape and kept spectators in check during the event. This time around, I was helping with the driver and marshal registrations and worked both the 'start control' and 'finish time control' stations. The time controls can get quite hectic as the drivers are naturally in a hurry any time they are dealing with me. I learned quite a bit about more 'behind-the-scenes' stuff and met some more cool people. Props to Ivan and Olga Orisek for putting on such a wonderful event.
If you want to drive a rally car, it really isn't that difficult or expensive... depending on how competitive you want to be. There was one competitor that was running a mid-80's model Mitsubishi pickup that the owner payed $400 for. At the other end of the spectrum, there was a competitor running a heavily modified Hyundai Tiburon(converted to AWD and putting out 380 hp to the wheels) which can be rented for $10,000 per event. The renting idea may seem quite pricey, but compared to buying and modifying your own car to meet the same specs, it's a real deal.
I purchased a disposable camera to make a record of the event... I got some pretty good shots. I'll bring them with me the next time I'm in Rochester.
Only one rally driver was issued a speeding ticket during the event. Meanwhile, the state troopers that attended the awards dinner said that they issued tons of tickets to people that were not associated with the rally. However, the one rallyist that was issued a ticket was cited for 83 in a 30 zone. The trooper that issued the ticket said that he was 'being quite generous' when he wrote the ticket for 'only 53 over the limit'. He was on a transit stage at the time.
The reason Red Bull is my new hero: Red Bull sponsored this particular rally, and they were handing out free cans like they were Jehovah's Witnesses handing out their little 'Watchtower' thingies. Suffice it to say, I was pretty wired for the whole weekend.
There is a possibility that I could be seen on SPEED Channel at some time in the future... there was a film crew that was working on a documentary- a story about one particular race team that they followed for the entire season. The film crew was on site when I was working the stage 5 finish time control... they got footage of me f-ing up their time card. There was a bit of confusion at that point because a couple of cars before that one came in out of sequence(all of the cars leave the start in a specified order, and in this instance they didn't get to the finish in the same order).
I'm thinking that I will probably marshal another event in June- the Susquehanna Trail Pro Rally in Wellsboro, PA. Unfortunately, lodging isn't provided by the sanctioning body for that event as it is at the Rally New York. I wonder if it would be more comfortable to sleep in the hatch area of the Insight than the seats...
gotta get back to doing some mindless work... y'all have a nice day.
If you want to drive a rally car, it really isn't that difficult or expensive... depending on how competitive you want to be. There was one competitor that was running a mid-80's model Mitsubishi pickup that the owner payed $400 for. At the other end of the spectrum, there was a competitor running a heavily modified Hyundai Tiburon(converted to AWD and putting out 380 hp to the wheels) which can be rented for $10,000 per event. The renting idea may seem quite pricey, but compared to buying and modifying your own car to meet the same specs, it's a real deal.
I purchased a disposable camera to make a record of the event... I got some pretty good shots. I'll bring them with me the next time I'm in Rochester.
Only one rally driver was issued a speeding ticket during the event. Meanwhile, the state troopers that attended the awards dinner said that they issued tons of tickets to people that were not associated with the rally. However, the one rallyist that was issued a ticket was cited for 83 in a 30 zone. The trooper that issued the ticket said that he was 'being quite generous' when he wrote the ticket for 'only 53 over the limit'. He was on a transit stage at the time.
The reason Red Bull is my new hero: Red Bull sponsored this particular rally, and they were handing out free cans like they were Jehovah's Witnesses handing out their little 'Watchtower' thingies. Suffice it to say, I was pretty wired for the whole weekend.
There is a possibility that I could be seen on SPEED Channel at some time in the future... there was a film crew that was working on a documentary- a story about one particular race team that they followed for the entire season. The film crew was on site when I was working the stage 5 finish time control... they got footage of me f-ing up their time card. There was a bit of confusion at that point because a couple of cars before that one came in out of sequence(all of the cars leave the start in a specified order, and in this instance they didn't get to the finish in the same order).
I'm thinking that I will probably marshal another event in June- the Susquehanna Trail Pro Rally in Wellsboro, PA. Unfortunately, lodging isn't provided by the sanctioning body for that event as it is at the Rally New York. I wonder if it would be more comfortable to sleep in the hatch area of the Insight than the seats...
gotta get back to doing some mindless work... y'all have a nice day.