Rally Raid 5

Andrew’s a professional writer, so I hate to scribble on his paper. He’s busy though and I’m on a break. This will be brief.  I’ve wondered sometime now, about building a truck or SUV for going fast off road.  The parts off-roaders need to creep through washouts and bog through mud holes are pretty similar to the parts a good rally car uses to blaze down Glendale.  Of course, the fast truck would still be handicapped by mass, archaic suspension design and a high center of gravity.  Andrew certainly heard it about the latter yesterday but the result speaks for itself…

IT STAYED OFF IT’S ROOF… well kind of.  Chassis stiffness is probably another handicap.  At one point the fiberglass roof section shook itself free of the car and went sailing through the air spectacularly.  On the stop watch though the result was not unimpressive. He wasn’t exactly fast, but he certainly wasn’t slow either.  A few guys with five times his horsepower fell victim, and it’s not like his tires were great for the conditions or his open differentials were helping him use all 60hp.  I’ll totally discredit Andrew’s ability to drive and attribute his small successes to a vehicle that was begging to be driven.  I’m not sure how it felt from the drivers seat, but the passenger side was a blast.  That great big windscreen and an upright driving position really help you feel involved and connected.  In the Celica you feel much more distant, almost as if your driving remotely because the windscreen is low and narrow, and the corners of the car distant and out of view.

I want it, or something like it pretty bad.