A grand total of three cars made it to the event -
@doubleg213 in the Sentinel Classic,
@Nuschel01 in the GB200 and myself in the Omnis.
After some.. learning curves, shall we say? Pun very much intended, by the way - the rally got ready to start just in time for the night-time Paleto Bay Super Special, a spectator stage around Paleto Bay.
I opted to go first, seeing as "host advantage" and so the others knew what road to take, because apparently I'm bad at making these things obvious
Around the hairpin..
..and on to the gravel section!
Then, on my second lap, I had a bit of an accident.
Shaken a little, but not too badly. And yes, that sentence is a reference to something.
What followed was a significant transport section because Warp checkpoints are actually useless, but eventually we got ready to start SS2 - Raton Canyon.
The Omnis was flying right from the start..
..sometimes literally.
Despite the 15 second gap between cars, there were still instances where one could see the other.
Onto the second section of this monster stage.
This section takes you down along the river. Very picturesque.
Being the first "real" stage, there was only one speed - flat out.
..I see you there, you sneaky bugger.
Now just the final run along a narrow cliff to negotiate..
..I used these signs to indicate sections of a stage where falling off the road is particularly likely.
Not that I paid too much attention to them myself.
The FIA did not approve of these stages. Not enough grandstands.
Then I ran into a spot of bother.
Many seconds were lost to the GB200.
..and across the line for the first "real" stage. A few seconds were lost to the GB200, but after the Sentinel got into trouble early on, it was looking like a two-horse fight.
Stage 3 takes the cars around the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness, starting in the tunnel.
Almost immediately, I encountered a brake problem.
Nothing to do but give it the beans and hope for the best.
Just this Stage to go before Service, after all.
Onto the tarmac section that ends this stage.
Will I have made some time on the GB200?
The answer: A definitive yes, as the GB200 had found themselves in a situation on the narrow gravel section.
Then, the teams headed back to Paleto Bay for Service. When we came back to start SS4..
*Insert
this here*
The rain made the already slippery asphalt even.. slipperier? Yeah, that's a word.
..I will be honest, I had hoped we'd get to run at least one stage in the rain. Wish granted, I guess.
The gravel section didn't really help.
..no, really, it didn't help.
There was, however, some good news - the early splits indicated the GB200 losing time hand-over-fist in these tricky conditions. So I took all the chances I could, and by the end of the stage, I was ahead by 20 seconds.
Time for the final stage - the reverse run of the daunting Raton Canyon - this time the direction I also dubbed
God's Rally Stage. And, fortunately, the weather was clearing.
So I braved to go flat out again, and try to put the GB200 under pressure.
Then I hit a small rock.
Had I but known that this loss of a handful of seconds was just the start of my problems..
Of course, I was now pushing hard to salvage what I could from this stage.
Then, just as I'd passed a billboard with one of my sponsors' logo on it..
..I rolled it..
..and before I knew..
..the GB200 had passed me on stage. That's bad news, because that's effectively 15 seconds lost there already.
With the car right-way-up again, I was on a mission.
If I finished the stage more than 5 seconds after the GB200 crossed the final timing beam, I'd be second. And nobody wants to be second.
So I channeled my inner Walter Rörhl.
..and maybe just a little Colin McRae as well..
Every millimeter of gravel was used in the hunt for the GB200..
And there it was - visual contact!
I could see that I was slowly catching..
..but would it be enough to hold on to the top spot?
That night, upon return to Paleto Bay, we got the results:
The Omnis had done it! By 0.4 of a second*, I had saved it and claimed victory in the 2018 Rally of Paleto - a bit too close for comfort, that one!
*Please note we haven't actually done timing on this, as. I guess with three people we just frankly couldn't be bothered. Besides, it really ended up more as a test session than anything else. I just figured this story made it so much better.
