2008 Lake Superior Performance Rally, Oct 17 & 18

Thought I'd start this up while everyone is still pumped from OFR.

http://lsprorally.com/

There's nothing like the roar of engines through the crisp fall air of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I'm coming straight from the Tim O'Neil Rally school in New Hampshire to the rally this year (and that's going to be a logistics nightmare), but I will be there for sure.

And for sure I'll be at the Library on Sat. night hanging out with a lot of the competitors, and drinking way more than I should be.

I'm going to drive Brockway Mountain this year one way or another, even if I have to drive back up to Copper Harbor on Sunday before driving back to Minneapolis.

I'll almost certainly be marshaling spectator points. If we could get a bunch of the MN Subie guys to man one of them, I'm pretty sure they'd let the club have it's banners up.

 

im pumped too! i will be crewing for mark again,
like everyone says, this is the best rally, too bad i wont be able to hang out at the library ... one more year

 

I've already started to gather the troops for this one. So far we have 4 committed for the rally. Tentative plans are to leave thursday evening...tentative. Either way we'll be there to work, but doesn't sounds like we'd make it there to banner thursday.

I didn't see the sign-up for working on the rally america site yet. I could've missed it though. Dan (boomer as the MNSubaru banner and it already has some fine signatures)...it would be really cool to throw it up there at the spectator point

****Cancel that, I see the worker registration on the site you provided

 

such a great rally, well worth the long haul to the UP.

 

my buddy and i will try to make it up again. last year we had a buddy with a huge house for some partys, but he graduated so now we have to find a hotel or something... but yeah houghton is my favorite place on earth.

 

im thinking about going to this along with Shane and Jason and a couple others from Fargo that missed out on OFR

 

i just signed up - hope i won't miss anything important in class. :eek3:

 

this is on my birfday!

 

I am actually making the drive up there from Dallas. I'lll be stopping in the Cities the weekend before to visit friends and family before making the trip up to my folks' summer house on Lake Superior west of Houghton. I'll probably be up there for a week before heading back to Texas.

I made the decision to make this a road trip instead of flying because renting a car for two weeks cost much more than gas. So adding 3000 miles to my odo versus driving an Impala in the UP? Easy. So if you see an LGT with Texas plates you'll know whose it is :biggrin:

 

Ok, I've finally figured out my itinerary for that week.

On the 11th I fly to Manchester, NH. I could wait until the 12th, but it would cost $500 more. Drive to Littleton, NH (looks like a Chevy Cobalt. At least the mileage, 35mpg, is good). On the 13-16 I attend the Team O'Neil Rally School. I cut out about 1/2 hour early on Thu the 16th, drive back to Manchester and hop a flight back to MSP. I get home, throw my suitcase into the Sentra, and drive 5 hrs to Iron River Michigan (about 1:30am). Get a few hrs sleep, get up and head to the Friday stages. get done with Fri (which tends to go until about midnight) drive the rest of the way to Houghton, check in (about 1:30am again), sleep a few hours, get up and head towards Copper harbor for the Sat stages, get back and eat at the awards banquet, then head to The Library until they boot us out. I don't know closing time there. I've never been sober enough to know what time it was. Sleep a few hours, check out hella late (like every year), get some food and hit the road back to Minneapolis.

Whew.

Having booked the flights and the rental car for the Team O'Neil school finally makes it feel real, somehow. Now I'm pumped!

 

It was a lot of fun last year. I am looking forward to another rally crewing for Mark. I had a great time at Ojibwe, so I am sure that LSPR will be a blast.

Don't you mean until they tell us to "get the F#%* out!" It is going to be fun, isn't it; sorry Kevin. Then again hot tub isn't all bad.

 

Yes, except I swear they didn't do it this last year?

 

Mark, they did, you just might not remember it very clearly.

 

What, are you suggesting I was in some form incapacitated? Outrageous!

Actually, I remember now. I was up at the front of the bar hanging with Pinker and his crew when they did it in the back. I didn't hear it because of that, but I remember being told by someone on the way out.

 

Meh, the Library hasn't been good since it changed owners in 2004. Food is still just OK but the beer is nowhere near as good as it used to be. If you're just looking to drink you really need to head down the road to the KBC. I usually still get to the Library once while I'm up there (I go up there a lot more often than just for the POR) just to see if things have changes with it but I've almost given up. Besides, there's more room at the KBC and it's $3 pints every day/night.

 

It ain't about the place. It's about the people you are there with.

Liquor tastes pretty much the same regardless of who serves it.

The KBC is very nice for hanging out (though I feel damn near old enough to be most of the patrons' father these days), and the beer is good and cheap. It's a good place to go on Thursday evening and have a couple.

 

i preffer the ambassador. is it still open?

 

I was up there in December and it was still open.

 

Hotels are filling up. i've been in the Super 8 for years, but didn't move quick enough this year, and I'm at the travelodge. Same or shorter distance from downtown, though maybe a bit further from the rally HQ.

 

Thanks for the reminder mark,

I just ended up at the travelodge as well. Houghton's small enough for it not to be a problem with HQ and at least it's closer to the bars

 

a bunch of us are calling home at the HolidayInn Express...all the other hotels are booked up for the size rooms we need

 

Did you ask if they have hard boiled eggs at the continental breakfast? That's my rally fuel.:biggrin:

 

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

YES, AND THAT IS WHY WE'RE AT HOLIDAYINN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they're the only place that doesn't serve them.....my gawd man, you almost killed us last time!:laugh:

 

I should really go to this. But the UP is quite the drive and with no income going to this may be very hard

 

that's stinks man...maybe next year. don't need to waste 300+ bucks on a weekend if you're unemployed.

 

I should be there again this year as a course marshall.

 

Catch a ride with someone, crash on somebody's floor. Happens all the time at rallys.

 

I want to go! However, I need that time to work on my car so I think I'll just go paddle my fail boat away.

 

does anyone have the schedule for the weekend yet? when do we have to be there for bannering/worker registration etc? who is all going and who is leaving when? it's a pretty long haul & i'm definitely down for carpooling.

Scuba Steve
aspiringRexer
boomer
ScandiaWRX
idget
MNSnoDrifter
tangledupinblu
Boss STi - can leave anytime after 4 on Thursday

 

What about me? I'm leaving Thursday morning with 4 people in my car. I know most of those guys are heading up to Boomer's cabin Wednesday night and leaving mega-early thursday so they can banner (which I can't do with my DD legacy ) <--I know, I'm a puss.

 

Typically the schedule looks like:

Friday, registration, worker registration, etc opens in the AM at the Franklin Inn in Houghton. Stages start running down south around Kenton (roughly) mid-afternoon. Service (guessing in Kenton, possibly L'Anse) around dinner time, generally cars get back to Houghton near midnight Fri.

Sat starts early, typically at Gratiot Lake on the east side of the peninsula, moving over to the west to run Burma & Brockway and Delaware, eventually getting back over to Gratiot around 5-6pm, plenty of time to get back to Houghton, grab a "disco nap" and some dinner, then off to the bars in downtown until they tell us to GTFO.

 

Willing to help out with a spec point on Fri? We need someone who can bring the stuff from Houghton, as I'll be coming directly from Iron River to the stage.

 

Yeah, I can do that. I'm bringing some first timers and I want them to get the whole experience of spectator points, service, and all that jazz. Either give me a call, pm, or e-mail with some info and I'll let you know if it works out.

 

So far it's Dave, Sheen, and I heading up Wed. to the cabin. If anyone else wants to head up with us they can. I will be looking for one person to ride with me. I think Sheen is riding with Dave. Amy will be riding with me for bannering but I could use a copilot on the way up as well.

 

If I make the road trip with the LGT I'll be heading up from the Twin Cities on Wednesday evening. I guess my folks are headed up that weekend as well so I'll just be drafting them the entire way up.

 

Eveidentially the bannering is only happening Thursday. Otherwise it sounds like worker registration is friday am. someone correct me if I"m wrong.

You're a smart girl, do some extra credit and then get out of class thursday

 

I think they may banner Saturday stages on Friday but I've not done that. Thursday's stages are very car friendly to banner except for one infamous one, Echo Lake (aka f'd up Lake). As long as you take it easy on Echo there should be no worries. We did it last year in my wagon on snows no problem.

I will e-mail the guy I normally meet to let him know some of the MN Subaru Rally Crew will be coming to help him on Thursday.

 

Heading up probably Wed PM. At the Travelodge with a couple buddies, one of whom is running this year. Probably in the GTI bringing up the rear dropping parts.

 

Last year when Kelly and I worked Echo Lake, we finished up the night with left and right WRX fender liners (from two different cars), an Audi skid plate, and a GTI rear bumper. You could say it was a little rough at our corner.

 

work there a few more times and you could have yourself a whole car...

once at Ojibwe, Brent got a bumper cover off of an wrx...license plate and all.

 

We gave the audi skidplate back to the owner. It was one of those fiber-reinforced $500 pieces of plastic that Audi's have, and it was one of the organizers, who was running 00 (or he was the other 000, I forget).

The bumper got reattached to the GTi for the second day (and fell off again by the next time I saw him). It was a P car, so he had to have it to be legal :laugh:

Dunno what happened to the fender liners.

One of the camera guys dropped his scanner while scouting down the road. We found it 1/2 covered in gravel, about 6 inches from the outside line. He was quite relieved.

 

I just made reservations today at the Downtowner Motel in Houghton on the main drag by the bridge. It's a ma and pa type of place. Not as fancy as the HQ, but stumbling distance from just about any bar up there.

This will be my 17th LSP(O)R!!! Here's the only remaining shot I have of Chad DiMarco's factory Legacy from the 1992 event:

So far I'll be there Friday and Saturday, but my lack of employment after being laid off may deter me from being there for a drunk fest at The Library on Thursday night. Try the Shafthouse Stout. Yummy!

I'll be taking my sweet-ass time getting back on Sunday. Gotta take some scenery photos (pretty trees, waterfalls, fungii, rabid badgers, etc.) after taking shots of rally cars all weekend.

If you missed Ojibwe or thought Ojibwe was cool... LSPR is BY FAR better! Trust me! College town, beer, rally cars. Hopefully the snow stays away.... Just over a month to go.

Jerry

 

I believe they'll be running the first stage just outside of Houghton in the Moyle's gravel pit at the top of the hill before heading south toward L'Anse. The stage near L'Anse is a non-specator stage. (Just an FYI if you were going to try to watch.) Service Friday will still be in Kenton from what I hear. Don't forget to grab a bowl of chili in front of Hoppy's Bar. Sounds like some new stages will be used. Hopefully, no more Echo Lake. That's all I know.

If you're spectating, I personally recommend either Burma or Gratiot Lake over Delaware. I've heard too many people that were upset that they couldn't get good spectating/video/photos from Delaware. The last time I shot at that stage was over ten years ago and I thought it was too crowded then. Just my opinions though.

Amy, try Gratiot Lake for bannering. Awesome stage!

Jerry

 

i <3 you.... haha - hilarious! see, i've started a trend!!!!! actually, i can't claim credit for this. a friend i've known since high school introduced me to the term. i'm pretty convinced he is the gayest man in america so maybe that explains why it's called a disco nap? behold, the man the myth the legend, fabulous larry (yes that is what he goes by)

 

you know i considered that, but my legal writing & research class is on thursdays and that's the only day i have that class. plus, i just pulled out the syllabus & i have an assignment i have to hand in that day & in class that day we'll be going over the directions for the assignment due the week after, which is a 10pg paper. eep!!! so no skipping class on thursday for me