Lake Superior Performance Rally in Autumn Color

October 16^th and 17^th have just barely passed and already Barefoot Racing is looking forward to the next Lake Superior Performance Rally.  LSPR is always a team favorite and 2009 did not disappoint.  Coming into the event Barefoot Racing was sitting in 3^rd place in the Rally America Central Region G2 Championship and ready to push to the maximum and try and pick off the leading two teams.  With a capable car and a co-driver reading notes for the first time the team was up for the challenge.

The weekend began with a tow through the breathtaking scenery of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at peak autumn color, something that just cannot be truly experienced through pictures and words alone.  Seriously, if you have never been, do yourself a favor and take a drive U.P.

Thursday was pretty uneventful, which is always nice.  Tim and Paul registered, had a quick visit with tech., and checked into the cabin.  Later in the evening they headed to the KRC for some passes through the practice stage, a short, muddy, slip and slide. This also gave Tim his first shot at reading pace notes.  They ran a few passes with some old Hankook tires and then with some Michelins.  “Why did we ever run Hankooks?  Oh yeah because they were cheap.” commented Paul after just 3.6 miles on the Michelins.  Thursday night meant a trip to Carl Seidel’s house for a brat, a beer and some “smart” conversation.  Thanks again Carl, always good stuff.

Friday morning began late but little preparation was needed before the first day of competition.  Cole and Len gave the car a quick once over and a wash, Tim fixed a shorting intercom, and Paul tried to stay calm.  Parc Expose’ was quick and wet with a surprisingly large turnout of fans numbering close to the one thousand mark.  By early afternoon the cars were beginning to head to the first stage through the Moyle gravel pit, Green Acres.  Tim was excited and nervous for his first stage on notes but with a little sideways action everything went pretty well and they finished without incident, one down.

The next stage, Beacon Hill, was the first “real” traditional stage, open and insanely fast beginning with four miles of flat out turns and crests.  However, about a mile into the stage Paul noticed the #744 D2 VW Golf was down on power, more than usual, and had began to miss intermittently.  The car was having a hard time surpassing 70 mph… rather disappointing on a stage where the top teams were seeing 125mph or more.  A deep water splash on the next stage, Camp 18, confirmed what Paul and Tim had been discussing, failing plug wires! “Luckily” service was next if the car would get us that far.  Paul nursed the stumbling, chugging engine back to service where Cole and Len quickly jumped on the car at the first of three service stops in Kenton, pulling out the wires, checking the plugs, and swapping the coil.  The problem ended up being 3 of the 4 plug wires.  With time to spare they checked out the rest of the car finding little more to do after the engine issues.  This gave the team time to chat with spectators and fans.  The entire Barefoot Racing crew would like to extend a warm Thank You to Hoppy’s Bar for the sweet service location and all the Kentonians who welcomed us at every service from the VIP Lounge in the back corner of the bar, pretty special!

The ailing engine issues had impacted performance and after only the first three stages Barefoot Racing was trailing the leaders by a little over one minute.  The next two stages were fast and flowing necessitating huge commitment and trust in the notes.  With a minute to make up and the engine fixed, Paul and Tim were flying through the night stages.  Tim was beginning to get a feel for the notes and feeling more confident, Paul was pushing hard and taking chances.  The team was still a bit off the leader’s pace but they knew they would be on the high speed stages and felt good about their runs.  Back to service.

After service the previous two stages, Passmore and Farpoint, were run again and Paul and Tim knew they needed to pick up the pace.  They kept the little golf pinned as long as possible and tested the grip of the tires, occasionally surpassing it.  One left four almost ended their rally on Passmore 2 as Paul ran out of talent and slid off the road jumping a large bank and missing trees by inches before finally finding the road again.  Some others were not so lucky with two of our main competitors having problems. The Bushores had a major off and decided to talk to some trees on stage, pushing their engine into the firewall.  Chad and Chris had a flat tire which allowed us to make up some much needed time.  Barefoot was into second place in class with two more tight and technical stages to go!

Back towards Houghton, the next stage was Herman, one of Paul’s favorites.  The stage was tight and twisty with lots of linked corners and good grip.  Tim and Paul were really beginning to click and set a good stage time.  Alas, the final stage of the evening, Menge Creek, Paul’s favorite stage of the entire season.  A hard packed sandy base gave way to crazy sideways action perfect for the car and Paul’s driving style.  Above it all, the stage was dedicated to Tom Bell and was boasting a nice pay out to the top teams on the stage.  The duo let it all hang out and the engine scream for mercy as they set the fastest time in the regional, 7:42.2 on a stage measuring over 7 miles in length.  The time was fast enough to take an overall regional stage win the first of Paul’s five year career! They were over two minutes faster than Chris and Don who were leading the class (they had some problems) and 14 seconds faster than the open class Subaru who won the event…

At the awards banquet the Barefoot Racing took 2^nd in class in the regional, $300 and a limited edition bottle of Bushmills whisky for their efforts on Menge Creek.  Not a bad start to the weekend.

Saturday started early after only four hours of sleep with a quick look over the car, some gas station breakfast and hurried drive up to Calumet for Parc Expose’.  The racing began with a quick run through the revised Gratiot Lake stage, a stage that once ripped the rear axle off of Barefoot Racing’s old VW Gti.  This time everything ran fine but the team was a little off the pace of the leaders.  Next was the infamous Delaware stage in the uphill direction, not optimal of the weak engine and not optimal for a good run at the Delta, the most famous spectator corner in the USA.  Paul and Tim were determined to get back the time they lost and over the years Paul had nearly memorized the entire stage.  “I have never driven so hard with as much blind commitment as that run through Delaware.  I don’t know how we didn’t wreck it.”  Paul explained at the first service in Copper Harbor.  Yet, they still could not match the pace of the front runners.

The third stage of the day, Burma, was a tight, twisty, bumpy, muddy, rocky, POR show of force that is signature of LSPR, perfect for Barefoot Racing.  The team slid, jumped bounced through the stage back onto the pace renewing their spirits and hopes for a good finish.  “This stage almost broke my teeth, I got lost twice because I could barely hold onto the notes” Tim exclaimed after his first experience on Burma. Off to service to check the car over and get ready for Brockway.

Brockway Mountain is a stage like no other; most noticeably it’s an entirely tarmac stage.  This is something that most central division racers can only experience once a year in Copper Harbor.  The speeds are insane with unforgiving jumps that lead directly into trees or a sheer rock face drop off.  No guard rails, no safety cables, just some aging white posts that will most certainly snap like toothpicks if struck.  Simply stated, do not go off the road! Heading out from service, Paul was a little worried the power of the D2 Golf would be a problem and Tim was a little nervous from all the horror stories he had heard in the past, but there was no time to think about either, just focus and be fast.  The clouds broke; Paul slapped on his H30 Polarized Sunglasses, no reason to let Mother Nature slow you down if you’re packing the right equipment.  Tires burning from the start and engine screaming up the hill they slid a few corners and had some nice jumps but all and all the stage was a bit lame.  The engine had a very hard time pulling the car up the hill, probably to Tim’s comfort.  The next run up the mountain would be better.

Another run through Delaware and Burma were to follow.  Paul tried to tidy up the drifts on Delaware to reduce the time to no avail, another mediocre run.  Off to Burma to make up some time.  Tim called Burma very well despite the course becoming even rougher on the second pass.  The duo pushed all they could from the car on the slippery stage taking a much needed class stage win.  If only there were more tight and twisty stages like this… back to service then another run up the mountain and past all the spectators on Delaware.

Determined to not let Brockway get the best of them (wise choice…) Paul and Tim pushed over the limit.  On the first tight corner Paul tried to late brake and locked the tires, sliding sideways with screeching tires… back on the gas.  They were launching off jumps that Paul had not noticed in previous years and letting the rear step out on turns. They were flying heading toward the big jump.  Paul missed the call and launched off the big jump flat out at over 80mph, only realized what had happened when he saw photographers scattering at the bottom… Then came the landing, hard and on the up slope of the next rise in the road, completely bottoming out the suspension and forcing the skid plate up into the engine.  No time to worry about it, POR.  At the end of the stage Paul and Tim were giggling like little kids in a candy store, there was the essence of Brockway Mountain.  On the way to Delaware it was noticed that the power steering was gone, the engine smelled of coolant, and the oil pressure was too high.  Oh well, the engine was getting pulled after this race anyway, run it.  With some stroke of luck it held fine through the last stage and to a 5^th place finish.

With the 2^nd and 5^th place finishes this past weekend Barefoot Racing was able to secure 3^rd in the Central Region G2 Championship and 4^th in the Central Region Overall championship including all the huge horsepower, turbo, and all-wheel-drive cars.  This is a testament to all the hard work from everyone on the team all year long.  Thanks Cole, Len, Tim, and Heath.

Barefoot Racing would like to thank all the competitors that made this year the best yet.  Especially those in cars 319, 687 and 586 for the fierce competition that constantly made us work for each second and forced us to be better every race, really amazing.

Thanks to Davenport Racing (DavenportRacingUSA.com) for yet again letting us borrow a Hidja 300 Rally Computer and helping Barefoot Racing to continue to rally over the past 5 years.  Thanks to TerraFirma (TerraFirmaClothing.com) for their recent support and sweet swag.  Watch out everyone, they are going to take off!  Thanks to H3O Polarized Sunglasses for an amazing product and their support over the season and giving all our fans a discount at H30Polarized.com (enter BAREFOOT09), I swear they take seconds off our time.  Thanks to Anthony Devney of D Squared (www.DevneyDesigns.com) for his skills creating and maintaining the Barefoot Website and for driving to every event this year to take thousands of pictures, support Barefoot Racing, and have a beer all on his own dime.  Tony you really went above and beyond, thanks.  Last but not least thanks Cole, Nate, Marla and Garry Steinke of Steinke Storage & Body Repair.  I know I say this all the time but we could not be rallying without you guys, you all do more than I could ever ask, thanks again.

Now it is time to swap out that old tired engine for a fancy new Japanese ABF… Those of you who know what that means… yeah it’s going to be sweet.

See you all in the snow in a few months!