The first SCCA Rally Sprint in the Pacific Northwest was wet and wild, but still a major success. The Northwest has been battered with rainstorm after rainstorm saturating the soil causing floods, landslides, and even a tornado hit Vancouver.  Thankfully the venue at DirtFish Rally School was free of tornadoes, and the early morning albeit cold was looking rather promising with only a light shower.  That all changed once the racing commenced as the clouds descended and the rain came.

The harsh wet conditions made the event that much more of a spectacle.  After all, rally cars were meant to spend half their time sideways flinging dirt and mud right?  I have to say DirtFish Rally School and Kito Brielmaier had a great setup.  The old mill warehouse building was used for tech inspection, a staging area, and housed the Motofish coffee and Wicked Pies Pizza food trucks.  Spectators could stay out of the rain while watching the entire rallycross course from inside the building.  A short walk outside to Gazebo Hill also offered an enclosed structure (with a heater!) that provided great views of the Rally Sprint.  For those that were dressed properly to bear the brunt of mother nature’s might, there were some great views from other locations around the facility too.

If you don’t remember what a Rally Sprint is and what makes it different from Stage Rally and Rallycross, I highly recommend you listen to the first part of our podcast we did a few weeks back where Kito explained it in detail. That link is here.  The basics are that a Rally Sprint is longer than Rallycross, shorter than Stage Rally, but the cars have to be caged and equipped with many stage rally safety features.  The scale of the Rally Sprint makes it more affordable and yet the number of smiles per mile were not diminished.

To read the full article and see more great photos from the event, visit OpenPaddock.net.