Our pal and auto show booth professional Do You Come With The Car raised a question over the Twitters today about Fraulein Zed-Eff that hadn't crossed our minds in the sweaty confines of the Detroit Auto Show press room. Having not witnessed her in person, I'm loathe to offer a final answer, but given how many people make it their job to look under every chassis, I'm sure the truth is out there somewhere. Whether you keep your brats free, tucked or flame-roasted in the half-burned hydrocarbons of a 100-year-old engine, top performance requires preparing for the wurst, as bearslayer did in his first rally race:
I entered in my first rally this past weekend with a friend as a navigator. The conditions went from cold and dry to white out and 4" of snow. Bad enough that at the break, they forced all groups to drop a speed class.
It was definitely the most fun, challenging driving, terrifying driving, I have ever done. Visibility 100ft at 60mph through turns. Sideways for probably 40% of the 145 miles. Couple times we thought we were going off, into a ditch... and were not going to walk away from it.
26 cars started and 20 finished. Two cars were totalled; one rolled and the other went off backwards so hard all the airbags went off.
We won our class.