VIDEO: Crash - Olympus Rally - Van Way

[chris]

This was the last stage of the Rally on Smith Creek road at instruction marker 6. The car ended up standing on it's nose about 50feet down the embankment. Dillion and his Co-Driver, Benjamin Slocum, climbed out with minor scratches. Dillion said the car was having sporadic understeer problems all weekend. This one happed at the worst time!

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[shockey1221]

Glad to hear that both Dillion and Ben were ok. Looks like a heck of a ride! Does anyone know if there is generally equipment available at a rally to recover a car that has, for example, gone down an embankment? Or are competitors responsible for getting their own cars recovered once the race has finished? Such equipment would surely be available at a WRC event, but about at smaller (by comparison) rally like Olympus?

[HiTempguy]

Glad to hear that both Dillion and Ben were ok. Looks like a heck of a ride!

Yes, it sounds like it was!

As to your question, its called Sweep. The course closing "car" tends to be a 4x4 SUV or truck that is equipped with various tools to extract cars. If one vehicle is not enough, usually there is a larger sweep "team" that can bring multiple vehicles to the rescue once the rally is over. We had 3-4 trucks all pulling at once to lift Hardy's WRX up from a 30+ foot drop two years ago. One thing to consider is sweep is not obligated (and rarely does) tow. They'll get you out, but after that you are on your own.

[GGrahn]

We have one of the best sweep crews in the nation up here in the PNW. I went back to that crash scene after the banquet. It musta been a little touch to get them out, but I've seen worse. The crash wasn't as bad as it looked.

[shockey1221]

Thanks for the explanation Adam! And Gary, I'm glad to hear that it wasn't as bad as it looked, hopefully the car isn't too messed up!