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Ducks On Fire

June 14, 2025 By Mike Daily Leave a Comment

Recap and results from last night’s Just Redux.

Leg one began with the same odometer check used in last year’s Just Ducky event, taking teams north out of Eastgate via 148th Ave NE to Overlake. Then a stint on SR-520 to Union Hill with the transit ending by Fire Station 13. The competitive portion of the leg zig-zagged north, ending just shy of Woodinville-Duvall Road. There was a first/second counting trap with a small penalty just before passing Fire Station 33.

Each leg had some dead mileage to travel before arriving at the Restart for the next. Restarts were used this month in response to competitor feedback about cars bunching up.

Leg two was a short one, heading east on WDR and then picking up the twisty stretch of Old W-D. All teams managed single digit scores, with 80% scoring under 5. The next Restart was 3 miles away, on the other side of the valley.

Leg three started in the outskirts of Duvall’s downtown core, where the Ziply Fiber crew placed a trailer mounted warning sign on the shoulder at the Restart point, leaving room for just one car. Fortunately, this was discovered several hours before the event started and at the drivers’ meeting teams were cautioned to keep a standoff distance until their out time. A long confidence test (more than 9 miles) with no course-following action brought teams back to SR-203. We went past Carnation Farm and ended the leg on NE 100 near River Run Ranch. Accuracy on this leg would depend largely on executing the speed change note at the correct sign, seven times – 40, 45, 50, 40, 30, 25, 40.

Leg four took us across the newly completed Ames Creek Bridge (closed in 2024 for replacement, it forced major changes to Just Ducky) then turned north to pass through Broadhurst. Teams would find an on or off course route control depending on how they chose to execute the NRIs. As it turned out, all cars visited the off-course control. The route continued past Fire Station 14, then picked up the end of the final leg from Just Ducky, taking Union Hill Rd west to a checkpoint on 236th Ave NE. A short hop east on SR-202 took teams to the final Restart on 244th Ave NE. Car 5 made a fairly catastrophic mistake, but persevered and found their way back to the route albeit very late. They took the maximum 19:30 Time Allowance, avoiding a max late penalty.

Leg five was another short one, at just four minutes. With no traps, it was just using up the viable distance to reach the finish. It had one unfortunate victim, as Car #5 did not put in a Time Allowance despite being late to the Restart. If they had put in 19:30 for leg 5, their 19:40 lateness would have been scored 0:10, though this had no effect on finish placement/standings.

There was great discussion and exchange at the finish. It’s exciting to see some new faces and both of the novice teams seemed enthusiastic to try again next month. With only five cars entering, FOOTZ didn’t recoup expenses for this one. June can be tough for attendance with it being commencement time and this year it was also Fathers’ Day weekend. Please try to spread the word and help draw more people into our sport. We’ve seen five novice teams so far this year. Two are my coworkers and three are from the rallycross community that we’ve reached through FB/IG.

The use of Restarts to maintain car spacing was well received. One thing that could be implemented in the future to help first-timers with the odometer check is adding a Restart at its end. The wait-out-your-extra-time concept is clear enough when you’ve done it a few times, but making the odometer check into a separate leg (Leg 0?) might provide a more consistent and intuitive format for newcomers. The Richta system worked very well during the event. A delay in the release of the next update to the Competitor app meant teams still heard ‘Restart’ at the Route Control. Incorrect voice announcement is a known bug in v1.28 and was explained at the drivers’ meeting.

FOOTZ thanks John and Derris Humphrey for volunteering to do a checkout of Just Redux. It takes a village.

See you next month!

Mike

March Madness, Meet April Anticipation

March 27, 2025 By Mike Daily Leave a Comment

In just two weeks, the NWRC 2025 Friday Nighter season begins, when Puget Sound Rally Club presents “Sprung Spring” on April 11th.

Rallymaster Dave Treen describes it as “a 2 hour driving event with no intentional traps” which sounds perfect for waking rally skills from winter hibernation.

Don’t forget to grab the updated General Instructions new for 2025.

Season Championships will be run for Novice, Seat-Of-Pants, and Masters classes. Run the April Friday Nighter to establish yourself as point leader! Note that due to the six-way tie for 1st place in the 2024 Novice championship, all participants remain eligible to compete as Novices in the 2025 championship.

Signs Of Rallies Past – Results and Recap

September 10, 2023 By Mike Daily 1 Comment

Scores for 9/8/23 Signs Of Rallies Past NWRC Friday Nighter

(pictures courtesy of N. Hightower)

Rallymaster (and NWRC President) John Humphrey writes:

First, I would like to thank Mike Daily, our NWRC Vice President for all his help in measuring, pace assistance, scoring, and trophy making.  Secondly, the world is an imperfect place, which brings us to rally night.  I had a premonition the night before that there would be a ‘road closed’ on the rally.  I attribute this to my Native American ancestry.  I was so taken by this thought that I wanted to drive the course on Friday before the event but didn’t have the time due to other priorities.  And, finding an impaled dead bat (most likely collected during our rally checkout) in the grille of my X3 at rally registration was confirmation of an imperfect night ahead.

My premonition was right as there was an emergency road closure for a bridge repair on SE 156th ST which was announced late Thursday 9/7 and effective Friday 8AM 9/8!!  The Leg 1 Checkpoint was on that road.  This forced us to throw Leg 1.  Mike, on the fly, figured out how we could potentially save Leg 2, but several cars were already beyond the selected restart point.  Hence, Leg 2 was thrown also!!

We did send out Broadcast Messages however at the end found out, that due to the differences in Android/iPhone functionality/behavior and the issue of gaps in cellular coverage for the variety of open vs. wooded vs. commercial areas we drove through, not everyone received the messages in a timely manner or at all.

I hope you were able to view all the wildlife that SE King County has to offer – a small posse of Elk (12?) between NRI 35 and 36 (258 AVE SE); a jogging coyote after NRI 56; and ‘observing raccoons’ watching us near NRI 69 and NRI 72!!  Fortunately, the suicidal deer encountered on checkout just after NRI 56 were no shows!!

Anyway, despite the turn of bad luck for Legs 1 and 2, I hope you enjoyed the balance of the rally.

Greg Hightower is the Rally Master for October and I know he will have an entertaining rally for all of us!!

Again, thank you all for attending and understanding that life happens.


JRH III

April 3, 2023 By Mike Daily Leave a Comment

The Season Begins!

Coming Friday, April 14th, get an introduction to the Richta GPS checkpoint system when FOOTZ presents “Appetizer” to kick off the 2023 NWRC Friday Nighter series. Rallymaster Mike Daily has put together a fun route with no traps, so teams can get acquainted with the Richta system. The rally ends in Maple Valley at Farrelli’s Pizza.

You’ll need to have the Richta “Competitor” app on your iOS or Android smartphone. Do yourself a favor and get it installed ahead of time. We put together a short guide to getting and using the Competitor app. The guide can be found in the Documents section here on our website and while you’re there, grab the April Supplemental Generals. April (and beyond) will run under rules modified to use the Richta checkpoint system.

The Friday Nighter Championship is back. The 2023 Championship will track NOV and SOP participants. 

NWRC Friday Nighters start at the Eastgate Park & Ride, 14200 SE Eastgate Way, Bellevue WA 98007.

Registration is open from 6:45pm-7:15pm. The cost is $30.

Come on out and join us. Bring your friends!  

https://nwrally.org/1009-2/

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