Here are a couple better pictures of the lights hooked up and installed on the Primitive Rally Light Bar.
Latest
Fiesta Aux Lights Installed
Here are some pictures of the lights installed. I’ll show more pictures and how the project went soon.
Running Lights
Head lights and running lights
PIAA Fogs, Head lights and running lights
Hella driving lights, PIAA Fogs, Head lights and running lights
Fiesta Aux Lights Installed (Partially)
I have installed the lights on the Fiesta (Hella driving lights and PIAA fogs), now I just need to find the time to wire them up.
Primitive Racing Rally Lightbar. Hella Driving Lights and PIAA Fogs sourced through Primitive Racing.
2011 Season Wrap Up
2nd Place Trophy - SF Class
The Brickin’ It Rally Team had a good season in 2011 and we are looking forward to having an even better season next year.
A couple weeks ago I attended the joint Oregon Rally Group and Cascade Sports Car Club (Geargrinder’s) 2011 Awards Dinner. I was really excited to pick up my ORG RallyCross series Stock Front-wheel Drive Class 2nd Place Trophy. I while I am happy to pick up any hardware, I was a little bummed I didn’t get 1st Place. I lead all of the first part of the season 
and only lost the Championship lead in the last event of the season to Eric Laugenslager, who beat me out by 2 points. Congrats Eric on a fun duel this season! I’m bringin’ it harder next season.
I’m happy with the results being we switched to a new car mid-season. From the 1984 Ford Escort to a 2011 Ford Fiesta. It has needed a bit of getting used to driving, being it has more power and a lot better grip and steering response than the Escort. I have been working with Paul Eklund at Primitive Racing to develop some cool bits for the Fiesta. We are rockin’ a prototype skidplate that will go into production for the Fiesta. And just this week, Primitive has finished the prototype light bar for the Fiesta, and it is really friggin’ cool.
Hopefully with some help from Primitive Racing, setting the Fiesta up for RallyCross next season, and my getting used to driving the car will lead to taking 1st place in SF Class next season!
Additionally, this season we picked up a new Navigator, Matt Jaszkowiak, for TSD Road Rallies. Matt and I work well as a team and even had a little success winning
Ford Fiesta Rally Lightbar by Primitive Racing
our class on a CCSC Friday Nighter Rally. I look forward to running more events with Matt in 2012.
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As for what 2012 holds, I am hoping to sit down this weekend and to put together a tentative schedule. My family situation is a bit different and that may limit some participation, but we’ll do our best. I would have loved to run the Alcan 5000 in late February, but that is a huge time and money commitment. Both of which I don’t have right now. Hopefully I can run it in 2016, it’s on my ‘bucket list’. If you don’t know what the Alcan 5000 is, check out the website.
I am hoping to run more unpaved/gravel TSD rallies this year in the Fiesta. Hopefully starting with the Thunderbird Rally in British Columbia, CA in February. I would like to run all or most of the Pacific Coast Challenge Rally Series. It will depend on time and money again, part of being a budget team.
As for RallyCross; the 2012 season is still up in the air, while ORG finds a suitable venue to hold the events. It would be great if they could work out something soon, because I want to get the car dirty. Should they come up with a venue, the ORG RallyCross Series will be our primary focus, still running in the Stock Front Class.
I may run an Autocross event or two, just to have some fun on the pavement. But that is low priority on the schedule.
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Thank you to those of you who followed us in 2011, and I hope you check back throughout 2012. We are not the most flashy or exciting rally team to follow, but this is what a budget effort is all about. You have to start somewhere. You can have a lot of fun, without high-end cars or the big bucks. Please feel free to comment or email if you ever have any questions.
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COOL RALLY FORD FIESTA PICTURE OF THE DAY
"Suspension Travel". Ken Block testing at DirtFish Rally School. Photo by Jamie "Subie Gal" Thomas.
Check out Subie Gal’s website: http://www.subiegal.com/
RAP 2011 Recap
2011 Ford Fiesta ready to get on the track at Portland International Raceway for Rally Against Parkinson's 2011.
Even though we didn’t have that great of a showing, we had a great time running the 2011 Rally Against Parkinson’s this past weekend. It was a blast running the regularity runs in the Ford Fiesta on the track at Portland International Raceway (PIR). I have to go through the driver school at the track so I can run track days.
I was planning to videotape both laps on the track with the GoPro, but unfortunately, I screwed up the recording after the first lap. The first lap was fun, but we realized we safely had room to go much faster on the second run. However, the goal of the regularity runs is for the team to match the time of the first run exactly. We discuss before the first run, if we should try to nail the timing or just go out there and have fun on the track. We decided to go have fun! It is really too bad we didn’t get a recording of the second lap, because it was a lot more exciting.
After completing the regularity runs at PIR, we headed out to run the TSD portion of the charity road rally. The course took us through some of the best driving twisty and beautiful roads in Northwest Oregon. We had a good time driving these roads, many of which neither of us have driven previously. There was one section coming down a twisty road cover in gravel that really challenged you to maintain CAST (assigned speed) because of the looseness of the gravel. I have to admit I really had a blast negotiating this section of road.
The rally ended in Longview, WA for pizza, beer and awards. We finished in the bottom half of our class, but fret not, we had a great day!
Matt Jaszkowiak, Navigator
Dave Haworth, Driver
Driver's Meeting
Cars lined up to get on the track at Portland International Raceway
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COOL RALLY FORD FIESTA PICTURE OF THE DAY
The Night Before RAP 2011
After what has surely the worst week of my personal life, I am so excited about the distraction and fun that the Oregon Rally Group/Oregon SCCA Region’s “Rally Against Parkinson’s” (RAP) is going to provide tomorrow. RAP is a charity tour TSD rally that is a fundraiser for “Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon”.
I will be handling the driving duties, while Matt Jaszkowiak will be navigating. We will be competing in the Stock class, which allows the use of timing equipment, the stock odometer, pencil and paper for TSD navigation.
I am especially excited to run the 2011 Ford Fiesta around Portland International Raceway (PIR) for the ‘regularity runs’ that are always popular. I just looked at the General Instructions for the rally and we will be limited to 75 MPH on the track. While that is going to feel slow down the main straight, it will give your more than enough room to have a great time in the corners. It is also enough to get yourself in trouble if you are not careful.
The goal of regularity runs is to complete the first run at speeds of your choice within a range (<75 MPH). There are unknown checkpoints that will be timing your first run. On the following runs (one in the case of RAP), you need to match your times of the first run as measured at the unknown checkpoints. I have to be honest, being I have very few opportunities to have fun driving around PIR I am more concerned with the fun factor over TSD timing.
I will have a GoPro video camera mounted on the car, so check back in a week or so for the video.
Once we have completed the regularity runs around PIR, we will proceed to run the rest of the TSD rally on some of the best Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington roads, ending for Pizza in Longview, WA.
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As I mentioned in the beginning the last week has not been a good week for my family or me. We are going through a major change in our family, which is most likely going to preclude me from running any more rallies in 2011. We’ve had a good year and I want to thank all of you who have supported us! We’ll still be posting on occasion and definitely check back towards the end of the year to see our 2012 Rally Schedule. I am hoping to expand my horizons next year in Rally.
Additionally, if you haven’t check out my other rally related website that I am working on growing into a community website about North American Road Rally and RallyCross, please do.
Dirty Cones and Checkpoints
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COOL RALLY FORD FIESTA PICTURE OF THE DAY
Hirvonen - WRC Germany 2011
Brickin’ It Rally Team Update
We have been rally limbo since the end of July, waiting for the next rally event in which we can participate. Our next event will be the Oregon Rally Group’s (ORG) and Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) charity tour rally “Rally Against Parkinson’s”. We will touch on that a bit more later in the post.
First, we will touch on the ORG RallyCross Series situation, which is the premature end of the RallyCross season due to losing the field the club has used since the inception of the RallyCross program in 1999. The club had an ongoing great relationship with the Washington County Fairgrounds and the relationship remains intact; unfortunately, the field we use will not. The county is building a road through the field.
At this point, though several people are searching, we have not secured a suitable replacement venue and the club has officially announced the cancelation of the remainder of the RallyCross season. This wasn’t a big surprise to those who attended at the last RallyCross. With that said, it looks like I have ‘unofficially’ (at this time) wrapped up 2nd place in the Stock Front-wheel Drive (SF) Class in my second full season of RallyCross.
It was quite an eventful season for me: I improved my season finishing position from last year’s 3rd place, mainly due to my much-improved consistency in my finishing positions. I have finished 1st or 2nd (in class) in all the events this year. We replaced the 1984 Ford Escort with a 2011 Ford Fiesta as our primary RallyCross car. Interestingly, even though the Fiesta is a much improved car over the Escort, my two wins this season came while driving the Escort in the mud. Though I think this trend will change as I get more seat time in the Fiesta. Sadly, unless something changes, it will be March of 2012 before I get to RallyCross the car again.
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On to our next event: The “Rally Against Parkinson’s”, a charity tour rally organized by the Oregon Rally Group (ORG) and sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). This charity event is a fundraiser for Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon. The event is held on September 10, 2011, starting at the Portland International Raceway (PIR) south paddock concessions at 10 am. Matt Jaszkowiak will be handling the Navigator duties.
The rally starts with two ‘regularity’ runs around the PIR course. The goal of the regularity runs is to match the timing you set on your first lap around the course. You will be timed at unknown locations on the second lap around the course to check how close you are to your first lap times. Penalty points are awarded for being either early or late. After the regularity runs, the rally will progress to a simple tour rally traversing the twisty roads of Northwest Oregon, ending in Longview, WA.
I last ran this event in 2009 using my Mazda CX7. It was a blast driving around the PIR course, which is by far the best part of the event … well besides helping raise money for the charity. I can’t wait to run the course in the 2011 Ford Fiesta for I am sure their will be some tire squealing. I will have a Go Pro video camera mounted for this event. In 2009 I finished 9th in Limited Class and 13th overall. Here is a video of our 2009 regularity laps around PIR.
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As far as the rest of the season, I am searching for more TSD rallies, paved and unpaved that will fit within our personal schedules. I have yet to run an unpaved TSD and I have really been wanting to give that a go … more so than ever since the cancelation of the RallyCross season.
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Cool Rally Ford Fiesta Picture of the Day
How can a Playboy sponsored Rally Ford Fiesta not be cool?
Video: ORG RallyCross Double-header, Chehalis, WA
I finally got time to edit the video footage I shot at the ORG RallyCross Double-header in Chehalis, WA on July 30-31, 2011. This video includes some footage of me as well as other competitors.
Helmet Mounted GoPro – RallyCross Video
I did a quick edit to post up a video of my first RallyCross run this past weekend. I mounted a GoPro on my helmet visor, which provided a cool view of me negotiating the course; you can see where I am looking.
I will be posting more videos from this past weekend’s ORG RallyCross #4 & #5 in Chehalis, WA when I’ve had time to edit the videos. Probably this weekend.
- Dave
ORG Chehalis, WA RallyCross Double-header Wrap Up
A frame grab from Saturday's video of my runs.
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2011, Chehalis, WA – We wrapped up the ORG/SCCA RallyCross double-header with another 2nd Place finish, which has dropped me back to 2nd Place in the ORG RallyCross Series Points for SF (Stock FWD) Class; two points out of 1st Place. This may have been the last event of the season (or maybe not); it all depends on finding a new venue to run our events.
I would have liked to have left the weekend with at least a win one of the days, which would have kept me in the points lead, but I just didn’t have an answer for Erik Laudenslager’s speed this weekend. Congrats to Erik! Should the season be over I am happy with my 2nd Place outcome. This is my second full season of RallyCrossing and I have bettered my finishing position of 3rd Place in last year’s series. I have scored a 1st or 2nd place in each event so far this season. While I am really enjoying the switch to the 2011 Ford Fiesta from my previous car, a 1984 Ford Escort, I have second guessed the timing of the switch. The two events I won this season were in the Escort. I have finished in second place since switching to the Fiesta.
Making sure the tires are going to stay on.
It has taken and will take a bit more seat time to learn the differences of the Fiesta in order to improve my comfort level with the car. This has been a factor in my lack of winning since the switch. The last three events (my 2nd Place finishes) have been dry with fast courses, this tends to suit Erik better while I tend to do better in the poor conditions. If I had been in the Escort, I may have finished lower, being the car was not suited for the quicker courses. As I got more comfortable in the Fiesta through the weekend, my times closed in on the times that Erik was turning; I beat him on the last run on Saturday. On Sunday, my raw times were all within a second of his on every run. Unfortunately, I was a ‘cone killer’ this weekend. I haven’t hit any cones all year and I took 1 out Saturday and set a personal record of 5 on Sunday. That equates to 10 seconds in penalties on Sunday. I just struggled for a clean run. I knew I was hitting a cone in the slalom, but I could figure out where I was hitting the other cone (or could the other people I was with on Sunday).
I did have the opportunity to have my wife Megan, ride with me on a couple runs this weekend. This was her first time in the car and she now has a whole new perspective of RallyCrossing. Videos don’t do it justice; it looks slow. there is a much better sensation of speed in the car. She was surprised how much I moved my hands and feet (I have a video I’ll be posting soon that shows the handwork). It was fun to have her in the car.
To wrap up Sunday here are my run times compared to Erik’s:
Run #1: Erik = 1:02.876 raw 0 cones Total 1:02.876
Dave = 1:02.886 raw 2 cones Total 1:06.886
Run #2: Erik = 1:00.776 raw 0 cones Total 1:00.776
Dave = 1:01.265 raw 2 cones Total 1:05.265
Run #3: Erik = 1:00.090 raw 0 cones Total 1:00.090
Dave = 1:01.796 raw 1 cone Total 1:03.796
Run #4: Erik = 59.709 raw 0 cones Total 59.709
Dave = 1:00.409 raw 0 cones Total 1:00.409
I still would have finished in 2nd Place had I not hit so many cones, but it would have been a lot closer. I’m also getting closer and closer to Erik. The cones really hurt me, but that is how it goes in RallyCross. The 2011 Ford Fiesta is a great RallyCross car and I am sure we will be back to winning soon!
I have to thank Primitive Racing for developing a skid plate for the Fiesta. Had I not had the skid plate on a rough course like this, I surely would have been more cautious and slower. The skid plate gave me the confidence to drive the Fiesta like I wanted to win …. which I did!
If the season has ended with the conclusion of this weekend, then I’ll have finished the season in 2nd Place in SF Class. Hopefully with time left in the season to run more events we’ll find a new venue for ORG RallyCross to call home. Oh … and I’ll have time to fight it out for 1st Place with Erik.
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COOL RALLY FORD FIESTA PICTURE OF THE DAY
I am shamelessly going to show my Ford Fiesta some love today! It deserves it for RallyCrossing well on a rough n’ rutting course for two days.
2011 Ford Fiesta. ORG RallyCross Event #3 May 22, 2011. Photo by Jared Cooper.
- Dave
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Dave Haworth
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