After our first ever gravel event at NEFR we have had little time to talk about our occurances with the event. We have been very busy preparing the car, and others, for Black River Stages on September 19-20 in Harrisville, NY.

First, NEFR was an absolutely wonderful event! Im not sure if that was bc of the great roads, our first time on gravel or the mass amount of ppl that were there spectating. I would say more likely it was all options combined that made it a really special event for Team Broken Racing.

On Friday's Drive Your Future Rally there was only 3 stages run including the epic Concord Pond stage. The first 2 stages were Super Special Stages (SSS) One was run on the grounds at Sunday River Resort and the other at the Mexico Recreation Park in Mexico, ME making the total SS distance only 6.25 miles.

On the first stage there was a very large parking lot that was lined with spectators. We shot out of the trees into the lot and continued to drift across to setup for the accute left onto tarmac. I enjoyed this thoroughly as i was able to have lots of fun drifting across the lot without having to worry about hitting trees or big rocks.

SS2 was a classic stage where there is a jump and many spectators as well. The jump this year was smaller than in the past. This was a good thing for us as we discovered that my suspension was already on its way out before we even really got started. We set 9th overall time on this stage which was very exciting just to be in the top 10!

In my mind Concord Pond was considered my first ever gravel stage. The SSS earlier in the day merely mimicked a rally-x. And with the later start of the stage it was getting dark. With light pods ablaze, we pull upto the line with 30 seconds on the clock. Crowds around the start were anxiously waiting our launch as we were. 3,2,1 green light and we're off! Lights shaking and speeds ever increasing, I find myself trying to concentrate more than ever on the stage notes which im still getting use to in only my 3rd event, 2nd with Jeremy. As we get deeper in the stage the crowds are lining the road and they just seem to keep coming. Reminded me of the bigger european events. It was very exciting as we were driving by with flashing of lights and cheering of the crowds so loud I actually thought I heard one group. Jeremy states "long jump" over and over, but we just dont have enough speed to get off the ground. "Jump, tree outside" we finally leave the ground in what felt like a few feet of air under the car. It was long and short all at the sametime. "Onto tarmac to finish" now im on a familiar surface with the previous two events being tarmac I plant it and go. Our time, 5:26.2. Faster than some of the national entry SP teams and many of the known verterans of NEFR.

Our first Rally America regional rally was over. We were 1st in PGT class and 4th overall missing the podium by only 3.4 seconds.

Day 2 NEFR and the Berlin Rally was to begin with another SSS. During our transit we found our power windows not working anymore and at our next turn found the turn signals not working either. In a service prior to the SSS we attempted to fix the issue with no solution. We set 12th fastest time overall and 2nd fastest time out of the regional runners with only Wyatt Knox ahead by .7 seconds after the first stage of the day.

"I can't drive 55", this isn't a Sammy Hagar song and i really can drive 55, but this was the name of the second stage of the day. Things were slow going in the start with our dead suspension and were trying to get a feel for the car and surface. 16th overall respectively is where we landed.

Stage 8, 3rd of the day was the same stage in reverse direction. Halfway through the stage we came over a crest in a turn and pushed to the outside to find a large rock hiding at the edge of the road. 30 seconds later i find im fighting the wheel and fighting to keep the speed up through the rest of the stage. We ended up 3 seconds faster with a flat on the left rear than the previous running. Thankfully a quick service was a scant .8 miles from the end of the stage and we were able to replace the tire and wheel combo and hammer the rear endlinks back into shape enough to have the car driving straight down the road. The rear bumper was ripped completely off once we got to service and the license plate taped in the back window.

A long transit north would find us at the Sturtevant's Delight I stage. A 16.13 mile SS of varying types of roads and surfaces resulting in one of the most challenging and fun stages of the rally. We get all the way through to the last mile and put it off unluckily in a bad spot. Landing on a pile of boulders, we were stuck. With many spectators near by, they offered help to get us going again, but fearing thier safety i replied "No thank you". We were only .8 of a mile from the stage end and it looked like our rally was over. Once all the competition vehicles were through we anxiously awaited the sweep vehicles to help us get out. With a few swift tugs we were out! The front bumper was ripped off, front right control arm bent with the wheel stuffed into the fender well, and right rear lateral links were also bent with some minor body damage to the rear quarter. We were not in good shape, but were determined to get back to the service area on our own power. Crabbing out the rest of the stage and to the tarmac we stopped at our first "tree" and tried to get the front control arm straight enough to stop the noise and rubbing of the tire. We wrapped the tow strap around the tree and the arm and slammed in reverse a few times to get it away from the fender well. Success! we jump in the car and continue to the service area. Before pulling in which would surrendor our chances of finishing the rally, i pulled off to the side of the road and grab a hammer to knock away the sheet metal that was rubbing the right rear tire. We decided to keep moving to the running of the same stage and get to our scheduled service to repair the car.

Sturtevant's Delight II - we limped through the stage at a brisk pace for the cars condition. With the A/C on through the whole stage to keep us comfortable, we were able to get by our previous "off location" with the same group of spectators cheering us on to get through the stage. We made it back to service which was only 20 min. The crew did an amazing job of getting all work needed on the car done in roughly 16 minutes. The car was on the ground and ready to go with time to spare!

The last 3 stages of the rally we were in excellent shape to compete for stage times and set fastest time for the PGT class on all three remaining stages.

NEFR was an amazing rally for us on many levels. Every event is a learning experience and we walked away from this event feeling we all gained a mass amount of knowledge. Having many of our "firsts" happen here was invaluable.

Next up is Black Rvier Stages! Keep a close eye as we battle it out with other top contenders in the Atlantic Rally Cup for top honors. We will be in car 90 competing in Super Stock (SS). We also have two new entries from Team Broken Racing. Driver Matt Gottlieb and co-driver Austin Gager are in another SS class WRX. And driver Erika Detota and Jessie Berry will be in car number 92 in Modified 2 class running a FWD Impreza coupe.

About Team Broken Racing.
Team Broken Racing is affiliated with Broken Motorsports, LLC. Broken Motorsports was founded in December of 2007 and opened thier shop for business in September 2008. Located in Union City, NJ, Broken Motorsports specifically caters to the Subaru brand and handles anything from regular maintenance to full rally builds and can also provide any and all parts. Team Broken Racing was established in December 2008 with the purpose of rally racing. Rally is a deep rooted sport with all of the staff at Broken Motorsports.
www.brokenmotorsports.com
www.teambrokenracing.com