Kei Rally!

So in a last minute decision I decided to ride with Masa and Kuga up to the 1st K-Rally of the year, where they would be running their Daihatsu Opti. You can check out the full set of pics, here! Here is the beast, in all her glory!
In the morning free session they let me take the car out for 5 or so laps, and its actually the 1st time I have ever been wheel to wheel with other cars, not counting 5 car tandems 😉 But wheel to wheel grip is way harder than wheel to wheel drift, and for sure more intense! Although that cars don’t really fly around the track, its so much fun to always be full throttle.

krally_1.jpg

Here is me getting in, aside from the dash slamming me in the leg over ever jump, it was some of the best fun I’ve had in a car. While the car was on gravel tires, they were quite old and didn’t offer much traction. It basically felt like driving an FF car in the snow. But with only 60hp its not able to power through slides just by putting your foot down.

The race itself consisted of A-group and B-group, that are decided by a one lap time attack. The top 11 were in A-group and the bottom 11 were in B-group. Masa qualified 4th overall, putting the team on the grid with A-group. The race itself is a 2 hour enduro split between 4 or 5 drivers. Sadly while still in 4th place about 30mins before the checkered flag, the pass side driveshaft broke, ending the day.

We plan to fix the driveshaft and replace the shocks all around, about 1/2way through the race they seemed to blow and the car was bouncing all over the place. The next event is in the 2nd week of June and I plan to be the 5th driver on the team! I can’t wait. Here is a quick video of me behind the wheel. While it doesn’t look so fun, I can assure you its a F’n blast!

Again, you can check out the full set of pics, here!

9 comments so far

OMG so sweet. I saw an article in SCC that covered a Kei Car Rally.

Ham
April 20th, 2008 at 6:57 am

mentioning honda is the snow, makes me miss driving my integra in the snow… fun times1

Maggie
April 20th, 2008 at 8:38 am

wow that looks so fun even with 60hp haha.

are you even working over there?!

miata995 (henry)
April 20th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Thanks guys. Yes chicago + snow + honda = FUN! And yea I am working, 6 days a week!

Rob
April 20th, 2008 at 8:37 pm

legit to the max! where are you working?

epic
April 20th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

Looks like a lot of fun. I wish we had events like that here… These pics remind me of the short rally course they had at Laughlin a couple years ago. Bad ass. Or maybe they look kind of like a motor cross course. Either way, fun.

whoisfelix.blogspot.com

Chris – MN TMF covert Ops

Felix
April 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm

Yooooo Chris man, hope your doing well. Yea I’m told they run everything from kids motocross to all japan rally at this place. The roads to up to , and around the course are actually crazy touge that they uses as stages in the larger rallys.

Epic: I am working as a teacher in a jr high & high school

Rob
April 21st, 2008 at 9:04 pm

Sounds like a lot of fun. I must admit that I am jealous. When do you expect to be back stateside?

whoisfelix.blogspot.com

Chris – MN TMF covert Ops

Felix
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:09 am

Not too sure man, if I can swing it I want to maybe make it to a DD later in the year. If not, holidays/formal for sure

Rob
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm

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