Maine Forest Rally 7/13-7/15

[saab90089]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone else was going to the Maine Forest Rally? I will be going up with some friends to spectate.

http://maineforestrally.com/

Ian

[Crazyswede]

I realized the rally was the same weekend as the century. Now I have to decide which to do. I've been to almost every Maine summer rally since 1994. I guess I'll see who is going and then decide.

[Geoff]

I'm planning on heading up Friday night, camping, and seeing some stages Saturday. When I'm not running (which I haven't for a few years) I try to work but I don't have enough vacation time this year to be there on Friday so Saturday will have to do.

[saab90089]

Ya, my friends and I are not arriving till friday. I'll be riding with them in either a black Forester-XT or a white RS.

For those that have been previous years: what is the weather like? What is the terrian like? (shorts or pants....sneakers or boots?) What about the misquito's?

Thanks,
Ian

[Crazyswede]

Its typical New England weather so it can be cool and rainy, warm and rainy, hot and rainy, hot dry and dusty, cool dry and dusty etc etc. I have not been to a Maine rally where it rained the whole time. There may be mosquitoes but this time of the year they shouldn't be as bad....bring bug spray.

If you are out on a stage to spectate you may be there for a while so bring food and drink, a chair, sunscreen, etc etc.

Shorts and bug spray should be fine. Put pants in the car, bring a fleece. it can be pretty chilly at night

[saab90089]

Cool, thanks for the info .

Ian

[Crazyswede]

Just got home from the rally. Geoff, Kelly, and I drove up in my 900 and went in the back way to get into the stages away from the normal spectator areas. This requires some rough road driving but we managed to get in without killing the car.

Apparently only about 35 cars started on Friday and about 31 on Saturday. Overall it was one of the more boring events I have ever been to. It seemed like the overall pace was a bit slower. There were something like 20 Subarus, 3 VW's, 2 Honda, 1 Hyundai, a Datsun 280Z, a one Evo. I was rather disappointed this year and hope this is not a downward trend for this event. Back in 2001? there were 122 cars signed up with another 6 or 8 on the waiting list. 60 cars for this event used to be considered a bad year. The Maine roads are some of the most fun in the USA rally scene but I suspect the high entry fees and ever stricter Rally America rules are having an impact on entries.

[saab90089]

I unfortuniatly was unable to go to this event. My orginal plans got all messed up.

I just got off the phone w/my friends who did make it and they said that they had a blast. Also heard some story about a 4door saab infront of the hotel saturday night that got picked and had it's roof-rack propped under it. I hear there are pics floating around.

Ian