David Higgins set fast time on the day's first two stages but his WRX was one of several cars plagued by overheating problems. "We're having a problem that's making the engine go to 'safe mode'," he said after SS6. "On the last stage we actually stopped twice [to let it cool]. Going downhill, we're on the absolute limit because it won't pull going uphill."
Rhys Millen dropped five minutes on the last stage, Seamus Burke retired on the final transit and Prodrive reported problems as well. Delays getting samples of the new spec Sunoco fuel now used in Open Class caused difficulty mapping the various engine management systems.
SS1 started in a pouring rain with Mark Higgins first on the road. Driving with a broken foot, Higgins found the new Tiburon to have a few problems. "We had a little problem with the brakes going from the front of the car to the rear," he says. "When you braked, you got a lot of understeer." Then the wipers jammed.
"It was a long right-hander, a bad corner anyway," Higgins says. "I misjudged it. The car understeered, so I pulled the handbrake. She went into the tree backwards which flicked it into the other tree. That spun it around in the air and that was it. We dropped about six minutes but got it to service and the guys did a fantastic job and got it going again." Despite smashing three corners of the car and badly damaging the rear suspension, Higgins set fastest time on the rally's final five stages, finishing less than four and a half minutes behind his brother. Teammate Choinieire fell victim to a rear differential failure at the start of SS5 but not before giving teammate Higgins a short tow after he ran out of gas waiting to enter service.
"What a bloody funny day we've had," says Mark Lovell. "It's a new car and we knew we were pushing our luck bringing it out so early. We're pleased to finish third because we found all the teething problems. We stopped for 30 or 40 seconds on one stage with gear selection problems, had the belts off and everything." The Prodrive crew did another 14-minute gearbox change after SS6 and Lovell was able to continue. "We had a small fire on the last stage but apart from that it has been a normal event," he adds. Subaru Rally Team USA teammates Lagemann and Kidd finished fourth with boost problems of their own.
Kulig's day seemed to go well, the Polish crew even had time to wash the car during service. Second overall and first in Group N, he had this to say, "After 160 km of stages, the difference was only 1 second. I will never forget this second. I like it; I think next year we come here again."
Patrick Richard was 12 minutes behind the Poles, breaking in both a new car and a new co-driver while finishing second in Group N, just 9 seconds ahead of Tim O'Neil and Martin Headland. "I love being back in a car," says O'Neil. And things will only get better as his near-stock WRX is brought closer to full Group N spec.
Local hero Randy Bailey once again won Group 2 in his '88 Isuzu Impulse. Denying rumors "runnin' corn squeezin's" is the secret to his back-woods success, Bailey says, "we just drive as hard as we can and hope it stays on the road."
The rain stopped after SS2 and the roads gradually dried. Major delays caused the rally to end after 32 cars had run SS7. SS8 was run as a transit at the request of the NFS as the time limit for the road use expired and the roads were returned to two-way traffic. We can only hope the organizers and the Forest Service can work out their differences or this may well have been the last Cherokee Trails International Rally.