Sandblast was a blast! What else can be said? This was our first outing (besides a rallycross the week before) in the rally car with its newly installed power. Having added a Ford Racing head, intake manifold, throttle body, racing cams, and larger air intake and exhaust with a high-flow cat over the off-season, we were eager to see how our extra power could be put to work. Here I am filling out the pre-tech paperwork, and Kieran is constantly studying the Route Book and Stage Notes below.

It seemed that the stages were even softer than they were last year and even though the 2WD-swallowing Fire Drill stage from last year had been dropped we still managed get stuck twice.

We have in-car video from many of the stages. The video links below should open in new window...

Stage 1, Campbell Lake (14.27 miles) [In-car video 93.6 MB] was going extremely well, the car and team working in harmony and having fun until about 11 miles in to the stage. We come on a "right 5 into water 100". The water was just a huge mud puddle and about half way along the narrow 100 yard straight was one of the rallymoto bikes on the side of the road with the rider standing in front. It spooked me and I foolishly lifted in the mud puddle. The car promptly gave up what little grip it had and went into a right hand 120° spin and slid up on the bank stopping maybe 15 feet from the bike! Yikes!

The biker later thanked me for not killing him but I think the bike and rider could have dragged themselves further into the woods to be safer. We were unable to get free and several cars passed by before we were able to beg a tow off the bank. In the heat of the moment I don't actually recall which team pulled us free but many thanks to them anyway. We lost about 8 minutes on that stage which set us well back from the other two Rally Spec Focus cars for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, our camera ran out of tape before our off so we have no in-car of the end of stage 1 or all of stage 2.

Hunter Pond stage (8.02 miles) was much better and we gained 25 seconds on Andrew Frick and Michael Hordijk in the stock Focus and was only 2 seconds off Hampton Bridwell and Josh Katinger in the SVT. It was during this stage that the bolts holding our new exhaust to the exhaust header decided to leave us and we were running very loud. The 30 minute service didn't give us much time to perform repairs but our crew (Emerson Huitt) did a great job getting us back on the road.

Stage 3, Sextons Pond (7.31 miles) [In-car video 77.6 MB] was also a good run as we shaved more time off Andrew and Michael but our exhaust repair proved temporary and separated again. The surface is very soft and slow going in sections.

Sandtrap Reverse (8.18 miles) [In-car video 121.6 MB] lives up to its name - disaster strikes three of the cars ahead of us, blocking the way and we too get bogged down and stuck in the soft sand. I had to edit out some choice words from the in-car video posted above! All the cars behind us are stopped too. We cannot get free without assistance and wait for the heavy sweep vehicles to drag us up the hill one at a time.

Stage 5, after a fuel only trip back to Patrick, is Campbell Lake Reverse (14.15 miles) [In-car video 111.8 MB]. I prefer the longer stages, feeling that it becomes more of an endurance event. Kieran and I are working well together and having fun. If you watch the in-car video you can see how fast we go when permitted but the soft sand robs an amazing amount of power from the car. At times it seems I'm bogging down in too-high a gear but that's because I know if I down-shift I'll lose even more speed. However, we make up another 12 seconds over Andrew and Michael and lose another 12 seconds to Hampton and Josh.

Back to Cheraw for the second and final service of the day. Forty minutes and we manage to get the exhaust bolted on properly this time and grab a bite to eat.

Hunters Pond Reverse (8.02 miles) [In-car video 79.5 MB] and the sun is sinking but we don't need the lights yet. The early and late parts are fairly fast but we're still bogged down at times after so many cars and bikes have passed over the surface. Sometimes the only choice is to slot the car into the existing ruts, gas the engine and hang on. But still it's fun and the car is behaving itself.

We're very pleased with the power and toughness of the engine updates. Driving at speed on sand is a unique experience, the sand will snatch the steering wheel away at seemingly innocuous points and you have to stay alert to bring it back. At other times you'll turn and nothing seems to happen. Then you must have patience and not turn the wheel even more - eventually (you hope) the car will grip and the turn will happen - it's a bit alarming. You're constantly scanning the road ahead trying to find the last scrap of firm surface.

The final stage, CJ's loop (9.13 miles) [In-car video 90.3MB] uses some of the same stages used before but this time it's full night, clear but virtually no moonlight, so it's very dark. This is better for me than dusk as I manage to dark adapt better. It's important to avoid looking at any bright lights while we're waiting and I make sure to extinguish my head lights when I pull up behind the other rally cars prior to launch. As usual we're a little bit faster than Andrew and a little bit slower than Hampton.

We manage to claw back 3 minutes over Andrew through the day but it's not enough to overcome the 8 minutes lost on stage 1 and we end the day 20th overall (from 31 starters) and 3rd in the Rally Spec Focus class. However, we're still pleased to have finished our eighth rally in a row.

Here are the three Rally Spec Focus teams posing for a group shot at Cheraw Ford before the event.

Thank you to Kevin Allen for the photographs.