--April 2 2026--
Finished in a provisional 4th place in No Fear Rally - Tarmac Rally 84 driving the PBR Fiesta R2. Very happy with that result! Drove leg one of VGTR Round 3, and got decent stage times, including my fastest time for the conditions on Karowa 2009.
Drove the dailies in the Fiesta R2, the BMW M3 e36, and the Toyota WRC 2018. Gravel stages, but my bmw setup was tarmac for the first stage so i bled a lot of time fighting understeer. The WRC car is terrifyingly fast, but i made it through both stages with some FL suspension damage picked up on the first stage, going a little too energetically across the final jump.
--April 1 2026--
Won VRC Kenya Overall
Recce for VGTR Lithuania, not a lot of driving time cause of work this week. Midas and I rippin some HVRC Kenya in A7 class Golfs yesterday.
--March 29 2026--
Dailies in R2 Fiesta (PBR) and A8 Volvo 240.
Adding Midas liveries
--March 28 2026--
Finished the Open Gravel rally without incident today and am sitting in provisional p3 & p2 in class by only 12s! The most rewarding stage time was the top 3 or 4 drivers being within a second of one another on the final stage, a weird finnish spectator stage that I usually struggle with due to the very long, blind, sweeping corners that have to be handled carefully lest you end up either bogged down or in a tree.
Ripped the Volvo through the A8 dailies, snagging a provisional p2 in class against a field littered with AWD monsters. Was proud of my ability to translate my Escort experience to a much more stable car without much of an adjustment period, and keep up with an Evo II and a 555 on Newbobs II. The loose gravel and rough terrain of Carvalho de Rei 2008 (night) punsished my drivetrain choice much more harshly. I ended up 27s behind the leader, and over 30s slower than my Rally3 record.
--March 27 2026--
Crashed out of Open Finnreactor rally on Komoran II. First bus-stop chicane grabbed the car and insta-killed my starter. RIP
Entered "Gravel Tour RWD". The Escort is such a fun car to whip around on gravel, or tarmac with gravel tires. I've been improving my ability to "drift" or finding the throttle needed to steer effectively on both the Escort and the Volvo 240, one of my favorites. I've been driving this as my other "Dailies" car next to the Rally4 Fiesta.
Speaking of Daily rallies, I accidentally drove the Citroen C2 GT S1600 today, and my god I hate it. It's the default selected car for the low class Daily rally, and its stock transparent texture is tinted so blue that the night stage felt like being at the bottom of the ocean. Managed a decent result for the car's power/weight.
--March 26 2026--
Finished VRC Kenya today. Two small spins limited my progress, but overall I'm happy with my pace. Most stages were a PB, and I felt that most of my mistakes were simply due to a lack of experience with the brutal terrain on the Kenyan stages. Even without spins I burned through three radiators in less than 16 stages.
After VRC I indulged in some Openfinnreactor rallies. I took the 106 GrpA6 for a spin, and was doing quite well before losing focus on the last stage of Leg 1. One Super Rally later I put up a respectable performance on Leg 2. I was being conservative, but a deceptive looking corner and a small lapse in focus cost me an otherwise clean run. Having 3 beers beforehand certainly didn't help, so maybe it's best to do my driving BEFORE dousing myself in delicious, delicious PBR. [PBR livery for the 106 coming soon]
Since I've hit my goal of having a 90% finish rate at 100 rallies, I've tried to spend more of my time in Online Rallies than practice. Actually driving a recce car through stages first and the rallying is probably the best, but my attention span makes that tough. I'm at least less self-judging when I crash out on a no-name rally. Afterall, no one is going to check my stats, it's simply a way for me to understand how I'm improving. Still, I'm happy with how I've been gaining pace. I think I'm in a phase of learning where my limits are, and unfortunately that's going to end in some wrecks.
--March 25 2026--
Second leg of VRC Kenya today ended in a destroyed engine. A relaxed recce wasn't the best match for a detail oriented rally like Kenya, and I paid for it. About a third of the way through SS5, a narrow pinch in the road with protruding rocks hadn't jumped out to me during practice. The smaller width of the recce car (a peugot 106), and my lack of rigor resulted in a pretty wild crash. I rolled at least 7 times, having enough time in the air to consider my options and restart the engine before coming to a stop on my passenger side door. Some helpful locals flipped us over, but the damage had been done. Either through the initial impact or a bottom out from the resulting suspension damage, my radiator quit radiatin'. By km 7 my engine had quit and I resigned myself to my first Super Rally of the VRC season.
Of all the rallies to necessitate the dusting off of the backup car (begrudgingly funded by Rainforest Cafe), I'm glad it was Kenya. Monte was tough as well, but I think retiring from the first rally would've been demoralizing.
All in all VRC is a valuable learning experience, but my driving still has a ways to go in Rally4 before I can really make use of the Rally3. Kormoran Shakedown, one of the first stages of Leg 2, felt quick. The AWD's ability to square up early and power out of corners is incredibly satisfying coming from the patience needed to coax the Rally4 through traction. I keep reminding myself I have a long way to go. As easy as it is to get trapped in a loop, wishing for immediate progress, I know the only way to get quicker is to gain experience and challenge myself.
