Comment: A nice thorough article on the Olympus Rally..if one is not familiar with Tom's Hardware, it is a computer enthusiast web page with a huge following.
"Subaru invited us out to attend the 2012 Olympus Rally, so we went and watched the race, took some pictures, and interviewed some of big names in rally racing, including Ken Block, concept director of the viral Gymkhana Five video on YouTube.."
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A decade ago Lauchlin O'Sullivan was the best 2WD, production-based rally driver in America. That includes the 2002 Group 2 title in the SCCA Pro Rally series. Last weekend at the Rally America season ending Olympus Rally in Washington, O'Sullivan returned to the top spot on the Podium with enough points to claim the 2012 American Super Production title with co-driver Scott Putnam.
Actually the championship moment came halfway through Olympus when the closest competitors, second place rivals David Sterckx and co-driver Karen Jankowski rolled their car on SS3 and failed to finish Olympus. There was no champagne popping, no yelps of happiness and no hugs and grins. That was SS3. There was still a rally to run and winners don’t stop until they’ve won or can’t continue trying.
"It's pretty wonderful," O'Sullivan said after the rally. "It's one of the things we planned on doing when we got here." Rally competitors can be pretty focused during an event.
"This was the first event in a couple of years that there were no major mechanical issues or dramas, which was very nice," said co-driver Putnam. "Everything was there. Brakes, turbos, headgaskets and suspension were all there and contributing to the effort. All we had to do was race."
With early season wins at the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Missouri and the Susquehannock Trail Rally in Pennsylvania, O'Sullivan and Putnam only needed to start the Olympus Rally to gain at least a tie for the 2012 championship. But when Sterckx and Jankowski had their problem, nothing was in the way of the championship.
"It's been a lot of work over the year," Putnam said during the lengthy break Saturday afternoon. "It feels good. It'll make me sleep a little better eventually!"
Dry conditions in the region south of Puget Sound near Olympia, Washington forced rally organizers to institute a crazy schedule for the weekend. There were four stages early morning Saturday followed by an eight hour break before another five stages Saturday night. There was one closing stage Sunday morning, actually a repeat of the 20.01 mile SS4 run Saturday morning. This was done to control access to the forest roads during a time of high fire danger midday.
The real blaze, though, actually came from O'Sullivan and Putnam who were fourth overall and first in the Super Production category Saturday during the lengthy break. However, solidifying the championship Saturday morning didn't damper their resolve the Saturday night. During the night stages, the team grew their category lead over Byron Garth and co-driver Chrissie Beavis from 40 secs to 2:41.5.
"This was the only event in seven years in which I told Lauchlin to slow down," Putnam said later. "There was a section on the SS6 Taylor Towne stage that was suffering from an extreme case of hanging dust where you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of the car. There we were barreling along and I had visions of finding something in the dust, kinda like we found the rock in Maine. Hence the 'Slow Down.' Did he? It didn’t seem like it."
Championship drivers generally know only a championship speed.
"We still have a couple more things we wanted to do when we got here," O'Sullivan said before Sunday's final stage. "We needed to be clean and safe but we're still learning the car. We weren't taking much risk at all."
SS4 and SS10, Nahwatzel 1 & 2, was a 20 miler that fit O'Sullivan's tastes, evidently. He drove to third overall on the stage Saturday morning beating several of the more developed, faster Open category cars and drivers in the process.
"Things were ramping up the correct way," O'Sullivan continued. "The car has so much more in it. In the beginning I was overdriving the car being too aggressive with it. With the Mitsubishi (the car they used during the season) you had to drive it that way. There's a different driving style with the Subaru (the car they used at Olympus)."
Those who were cheering for O'Sullivan and Putnam all season were almost as frustrated as they were at the continued car problems that plagued them all year. They'd approach turns at great speed only to find there were no brakes. The turbo failed several times. There were overheating issues on several events. But the perseverance of the team and the hard work of its supporting crew during service breaks kept them in events to keep earning points toward the championship. Putnam hinted many of those problems will go away next year when the team tries to defend this title.
"What are we going to be running next year?? It’s White, not a Mitsubishi and it will lead an exciting life. That’s all for now."
Does the tenth anniversary of his first national driver's championship have any resonance for O'Sullivan after Olympus?
"We feel we've got it. Put us in a proper car and we feel we can go places," he said with a driver's smile. "We seem to overcome the tiny things like no brakes. It's not an issue." It must not be. O'Sullivan and Putnam battled through myriad problems all season to earn the Super Production title.
"We wouldn’t be here without Lucas Oil," Putnam added. "Several times during the course of the season I would be randomly stopped by people while wearing my Lucas Oil Motorsports t-shirt. After being asked if I worked for Lucas Oil, I was usually told that 'I have used Lucas Oil products for years and swear by it.'"
Winning a championship isn't easy. Overcoming car problems, road problems, rally conditions and competitor challenges are all necessary to get a title. Winning one in the highly competitive Super Production category is even more difficult. You can't buy your way into a title with more money and resources. To paraphrase the old television commercial, you have to earn a championship. And O’Sullivan and Putnam earned this one.
Winning in the Super Production category demands focus and commitment. Their championship proves that O'Sullivan and Putnam share more than a sponsor/team relationship with Lucas Oil. They share the company slogan: They both work.
A decade ago Lauchlin O'Sullivan was the best 2WD rally driver in America. That includes the 2002 Group 2 title in the SCCA Pro Rally series. This weekend at the Olympus Rally in Washington, O'Sullivan returned to the top spot on the Podium with enough points to claim the 2012 American Super Production title with co-driver Scott Putnam halfway through Olympus, the final event on the 2012 American rally championship calendar.
With early season wins at the 100 Acre Wood rally in Missouri and the Susquehannock Trail Rally in Pennsylvania, O'Sullivan and Putnam only needed to start the Olympus Rally to gain at least a tie for the 2012 championship. But when second place rival David Sterckx and co-driver Karen Jankowski failed to finish the first four stages of Olympus, the title was left to O'Sullivan and Putnam.
"It's been a lot of work over the year," Putnam said during the lengthy break Saturday afternoon. "It feels good. It'll make me sleep a little better eventually!"
Going into the evening stages O'Sullivan and Putnam are fourth overall in the Olympus rally 40 seconds ahead of Byron Garth and co-driver Chrissie Beavis who are second in the Super Production Class. Five stages are scheduled to start tonight around 7pm Pacific. There's a sixth additional stage on the schedule tomorrow morning.
It was a fight to get out of Maine with a Super Production podium finish at the New England Forest Rally. We battled for first and second in the category for two-thirds of the rally before a major problem threatened everything on Special Stage 9 of the 11 in the event.
In short, we were pushing as hard as we could when the car drifted about six inches too far on a fast right hand bend. In those six inches was a boulder buried in the grass. That boulder all but ripped off the car's left rear suspension and could have capsized the car, the stage, the rally and the season. We were able to limp into service and to the end of the event but falling to third kept us from claiming the Super Production championship with one event left in the season in September. Olympus is a great event in Washington but it would have been great to go with a championship in hand rather than going with the championship still in doubt.
Our closest competitor for the title, last year's champions Travis and Terry Hanson, left NEFR early on Friday. Oregon winner David Sterckx wasn't a factor at New England early but David and his co-driver Karen Jankowski came on strong and, after our problem, managed to finish ahead of us on the podium leaving their title hopes still a distant hope. Sterckx and Jankowski won SP in Oregon in May.
After NEFR we still lead the points standings over Sterckx and Hanson. But the points are so close we could end up tied several different ways. It's even unclear how we'd emerge from the various tie breakers. We have two wins. They have two wins. We have the same number of seconds. It could come down to who ever finishes in front at Olympus. Maybe that's the way a championship should be decided but it sure would have been nice to close it in Maine. Now we have to go to Washington wearing an entirely different hat.
Murphy's Law number 1612! All we had to do was drive through the stage but we found that rock. We have to thank John Buffum who made it possible for us to get to the end with some parts we managed to configure during service.
Australian 2WD competitor Will Orders was following us on the stage and said he kept seeing a trail of parts. He said later he expected to see a car parked by the side at the end of that trail. It's like the story: "...somewhere in here there's a pony." But that's rallying.
Even after we got the suspension worked out, the damage affected the turbo inlet pipe. The car was super slow those last two stages. ON SS8 we were fourth fastest overall. Then on SS9 we fell back to 21st after hitting the rock. Then on SS10 and SS11 we were 31st and 24th respectively. We got to the end and that, too, is rallying. Structurally the car's just fine. But that was a wild ride. We were probably going about 60 MPH when we hit the rock.
It just shows you that the rocks in New England aren't a problem until you veer off the road. Then, be prepared for anything. More later…
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