Dirt 2, first impressions.

Well, so far I really like the game.  I could do without all the buggy racing and other non rally crap but the base, underlying game is a ton of fun and I suspect that we will see many more Rally courses become available as DLC since I suspect the most vocal complainers will end up being us Rally folks screaming for more tracks.  So, start the emails to Codemasters, give us more Rally tracks!

Slideshow from summer Subaru meet

Here are some photos from one of our Cincinnati Subaru meets:





This site should make it alot easier to post new photos up from future events!

Mods, so far.

Well, so far I've gotten a Rally Armor 3/16" skid plate:

 Rally Armor UR mudflaps:

 

Winter / RallyX Rims

 

 Ram Mount video mount:

 

The video mount works wonderfully, *but* if you plan on videoing your runs you need to use a CCD equipped video camera.  CMOS camera's suffer from an effect called "rolling shutter" that will make your video look, well, in the words of top gear, "Rubbish". 

Here is some video from the mount while I was in Tennessee:

Yes, very loud techno.  But I didnt crash, unlike what you would expect if you watched this:

Remember kids, techno and driving kills.

New Rims (well, new to me!)

Yesterday I got my set of 07 STI rims I picked up on NASIOC.   For the low price of 375$ shipped I now have a nice (well, nice enough.. lol) set of winter and RallyX rims:

 

And:

 

 So they have a little bit of road rash but overall, not to bad.  Now I just need to get some winter rubber for them.  After a bit of research and a little bit of price shock, I think I'm probably going to end up with the General Altimax Arctic.  Its got excellent ratings on Tirerack by other subie owners, other RallyX drivers seem to like it on Dirty Impreza and it seems it also durable has a pretty good tread life as well.  Did I mention their made in Germany as well?

Now I only need to figure out how to get brake dust of the rims that sees to be welded on.

Dirt 2 coming soon!

Well, only a few more days before Dirt 2 comes out and its shaping up to be pretty cool.  I was a bit dissapointed to hear that pure point to point rally makes up less then 25% of the game, but hopefully that will be enough to hold me over until Gran Turismo 5's WRC racing and hopefully someone else has some good stuff on the burner for us rally fans.  Either way GT5 comes out in Dec, and Sno*Drift happens in Jan and 100 Acre Wood in Feburary so I should be able to have my Rally fix for a good while.

Check out the review:




Of course, I'll also need a G25 or G27 racing wheel, but I've been salivating for one of those for a long time anyway.  Here is a cool setup (though I could do without the white colored seat..)

Brake dust sucks.

Seriously, brake dust is lame.  I haven't cleaned the dust off the rims of my car all summer.  I personally believe its like a thick coating protecting the rims from harm.

So I finnally decided to get out a couple rags and wipe them down, right before I drove over to a friends farm, and his gravel road.  Smart eh?  Anyway, here are the results of about 30 minutes of cleaning:

See, all pretty now, well except for the curb rash but we can ignore that.  The previous owner did it, I swear.

This is another reason why RallyX is such a cool sport.  See in a AutoX people have their shiny 18" rims and fancy cleaning products and show off their clean cars and then make lots of noise driving slowly in a parking lot.  In RallyX no one cares if your rims are dirty, your cool if you show up with 15" rims and *smaller* brakes, your car goes sideways half the drive and your tires (usually) last longer then a AutoX so its cheaper.

Now I just need to hurry up and get a site ironed out for us Cincinnati/NKy RallyX folks so we have a place to play!

Ojibwe Forest Rally finished

OFPR is done and over with, and you know what?  I really wish Rally America would secure some decent coverage.  Come on speed channel, there has to be some room in your lineup between repeats of  "pinks" and random Nascar oval madness.

Block rolled on Friday.   Ouch. He and his Co-driver made it out ok.  Bad luck.

 (Copyright Rally America)

Pastrana took the win with a nearly NINE minute lead.  All that tells me is we need more competition in open class in RA.  I wonder if there is enough money in it yet to get the attention of a PWRC or some of those drivers.  They should at least drop in and wipe the floor with everyone for a race or two for fun.  Just so they really push themselves on the next event!   Pastrana also mentioned "there were deer all over the road, I just knew I was gonna hit one".  I know the feeling bud!  Once you have a bad wreck you see those giant rats out of the corner of your eye at night all over the place.


Final results from RA: 


Car #199 Pastrana / Edstrom
Car #176 Mancin / Wislawski
Car #684

Open
Car #199 Pastrana / Edstrom
Car #176 Mancin / Wislawski
Car #54 Fox / Blattner

Super Production
Car #684
Car #59 Moro / Wimpey
Car #418 Keeney / Keeney

2 Wheel Drive
Car #90 O'Sullivan / Wagner
Car #155 Conley / Rudolph
Car #600 Van Way / Knott