June 3 2026
Not great results in a historic rwd gravel rally, spun off the starting block after
recce-ing the reverse of the stage.
Switched cloudflare hosting, domain added. Can push log from terminal like a fucking nerd
May 28 2026
Decent placement in the dailies in N4 evo xi. actually really enjoy this car! feels snappy but very easy to wrangle. Also entered a rally in a rally2 car just out of curiosity. placing similarly to vgtr it seems with similar gaps. not doing recce is really hurting my ability to commit harder on some stages im less familiar with, and being able to go 9/10 all the time rather than a “rally pace” of 7.5 or 8/10 is still something to chip away at.
May 19 2026
Final standings for the VGTR Formula Rally4 are in. Our team came in second, and I placed 5th overall!
May 18 2026
Placed 6th in last round. Scoring should be pretty good for driver series and i'm confident in a 2nd place team finish. Cool championship!
Spending some time in the Favorit learning. Trying to not get discouraged by some of the time gaps i'm seeing between me and the "next tier" of drivers. Just have to focus on doing it cause i enjoy it, and taking my own pace learning. I'm making good progress, and I place respectably pretty consistently. I need to get a better feel of braking, which I think the favorit will help. It's incredibly light and doesn't get going too fast so it's easier to find the grip limit without getting punished too hard. After whipping it around a bit I already saw a 6s+ improvement on Barak in the Rally4.
I'm determined to start closing in on their pace. I've already gotten so much better that I think it's just a matter of time and intentional practice.
May 15 2026
Provisional 4th place in VGTR round 6! Everyone ate shit on Semetin 2010. I can finally stop grinding on the fiesta...
Jazz Solo cup favorit livery added.
May 13 2026
2nd place in ACM Week 19 2026 Open Rally in the Escort. 6th place in Rally4 Dailies. Finished e36 GravelWerx livery.
Nervous for VGTR Round 6, but feeling reasonably prepared. Semetin 2010 is a great stage for me if I know the trouble spots. Confidence in the car is good, but i know I'm still losing time in my slow corners.
May 5 2026
Placed 6th in VGtR round 5! Some decent placements on dailies in the e36.
More work on the e36 livery that'll be up in the next few weeks, video for VGTR uploaded, VRC Swidnica half uploaded
April 24
third in r2 dailies, fastest rwd a8. probably going to miss vrc because work has been time consuming.
reached out to matt nykanen about making his e36 livery in game!
April 13 2026
First place in R2 class in dailies. DNF in "There and Back Again: Blind Rally #2". It's amazing how the first time you think "lemme push this corner" is always the time you eat shit.
April 12 2026
Finished a clean run of VRC Round 4, Leg 2. Bonked and spun on a chicane on the second to last stage but didn't lose too much time in the recovery. Focused on driving clean this time and the results followed. There were definitely some spots I could be more aggressive and I'm far from "on the pace" but I'm still improving. Finished 35th in class!
April 9 2026
3rd place in R2 Dailies! Same split as before where I'm a few seconds off 2nd, and 25+ seconds off 1st! Crazy spread that's a bit discouraging, but nice to see i'm competitive amoungst non-aliens.
First leg of VRC Round 4. Felt good being back on tarmac that isn't a nightmare to drive on. Dealing with the rough wear of Polish/Czech tarmac is a challenge but one I feel I'm better equipped for than Monte. Decent results so far that will no doubt fade when the weekend crowd makes their runs. Tested using Wet Tarmac tires on the second leg rather than the reccomended intermediates, and I think it'll be the right choice. Didn't feel like I was giving up grip on the two shorter dry stages, and the wet tires were immensely helpful on the ~17km wet stage with lots of spooky blind and tight corners.
April 7 2026
Placed 3rd in R2 Dailies! A good day of doing some smaller rallies in the Fiesta R2. I've been enjoying the challenge it provides cause you can't rely on power, and it's fun to place up with people driving AWD A8's and Rally2/3 cars.
April 2 2026
Finished in a provisional 4th place in No Fear Rally - Tarmac Rally 84 driving the PBR Fiesta R2. Very happy with that result! Drove leg one of VGTR Round 3, and got decent stage times, including my fastest time for the conditions on Karowa 2009.
Drove the dailies in the Fiesta R2, the BMW M3 e36, and the Toyota WRC 2018. Gravel stages, but my bmw setup was tarmac for the first stage so i bled a lot of time fighting understeer. The WRC car is terrifyingly fast, but i made it through both stages with some FL suspension damage picked up on the first stage, going a little too energetically across the final jump.
April 1 2026
Won VRC Kenya Overall
Recce for VGTR Lithuania, not a lot of driving time cause of work this week. Midas and I rippin some HVRC Kenya in A7 class Golfs yesterday.
March 29 2026
Dailies in R2 Fiesta (PBR) and A8 Volvo 240.
Adding Midas liveries
March 28 2026
Finished the Open Gravel rally without incident today and am sitting in provisional p3 & p2 in class by only 12s! The most rewarding stage time was the top 3 or 4 drivers being within a second of one another on the final stage, a weird finnish spectator stage that I usually struggle with due to the very long, blind, sweeping corners that have to be handled carefully lest you end up either bogged down or in a tree.
Ripped the Volvo through the A8 dailies, snagging a provisional p2 in class against a field littered with AWD monsters. Was proud of my ability to translate my Escort experience to a much more stable car without much of an adjustment period, and keep up with an Evo II and a 555 on Newbobs II. The loose gravel and rough terrain of Carvalho de Rei 2008 (night) punsished my drivetrain choice much more harshly. I ended up 27s behind the leader, and over 30s slower than my Rally3 record.
March 27 2026
Crashed out of Open Finnreactor rally on Komoran II. First bus-stop chicane grabbed the car and insta-killed my starter. RIP
Entered "Gravel Tour RWD". The Escort is such a fun car to whip around on gravel, or tarmac with gravel tires. I've been improving my ability to "drift" or finding the throttle needed to steer effectively on both the Escort and the Volvo 240, one of my favorites. I've been driving this as my other "Dailies" car next to the Rally4 Fiesta.
Speaking of Daily rallies, I accidentally drove the Citroen C2 GT S1600 today, and my god I hate it. It's the default selected car for the low class Daily rally, and its stock transparent texture is tinted so blue that the night stage felt like being at the bottom of the ocean. Managed a decent result for the car's power/weight.
March 26 2026
Finished VRC Kenya today. Two small spins limited my progress, but overall I'm happy with my pace. Most stages were a PB, and I felt that most of my mistakes were simply due to a lack of experience with the brutal terrain on the Kenyan stages. Even without spins I burned through three radiators in less than 16 stages.
After VRC I indulged in some Openfinnreactor rallies. I took the 106 GrpA6 for a spin, and was doing quite well before losing focus on the last stage of Leg 1. One Super Rally later I put up a respectable performance on Leg 2. I was being conservative, but a deceptive looking corner and a small lapse in focus cost me an otherwise clean run. Having 3 beers beforehand certainly didn't help, so maybe it's best to do my driving BEFORE dousing myself in delicious, delicious PBR. [PBR livery for the 106 coming soon]
Since I've hit my goal of having a 90% finish rate at 100 rallies, I've tried to spend more of my time in Online Rallies than practice. Actually driving a recce car through stages first and the rallying is probably the best, but my attention span makes that tough. I'm at least less self-judging when I crash out on a no-name rally. Afterall, no one is going to check my stats, it's simply a way for me to understand how I'm improving. Still, I'm happy with how I've been gaining pace. I think I'm in a phase of learning where my limits are, and unfortunately that's going to end in some wrecks.
March 25 2026
Second leg of VRC Kenya today ended in a destroyed engine. A relaxed recce wasn't the best match for a detail oriented rally like Kenya, and I paid for it. About a third of the way through SS5, a narrow pinch in the road with protruding rocks hadn't jumped out to me during practice. The smaller width of the recce car (a peugot 106), and my lack of rigor resulted in a pretty wild crash. I rolled at least 7 times, having enough time in the air to consider my options and restart the engine before coming to a stop on my passenger side door. Some helpful locals flipped us over, but the damage had been done. Either through the initial impact or a bottom out from the resulting suspension damage, my radiator quit radiatin'. By km 7 my engine had quit and I resigned myself to my first Super Rally of the VRC season.
Of all the rallies to necessitate the dusting off of the backup car (begrudgingly funded by Rainforest Cafe), I'm glad it was Kenya. Monte was tough as well, but I think retiring from the first rally would've been demoralizing.
All in all VRC is a valuable learning experience, but my driving still has a ways to go in Rally4 before I can really make use of the Rally3. Kormoran Shakedown, one of the first stages of Leg 2, felt quick. The AWD's ability to square up early and power out of corners is incredibly satisfying coming from the patience needed to coax the Rally4 through traction. I keep reminding myself I have a long way to go. As easy as it is to get trapped in a loop, wishing for immediate progress, I know the only way to get quicker is to gain experience and challenge myself.
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VGTR Rally4 Formula Series - Team 'W-SPORT FORD' - FIESTA Rally4
final team standings: |
|---|
| 1st | Renault Sport VGTR | 194 points |
| 2nd | W-Sport Ford | 113 points |
| 3rd | Peugeot Sport VGTR | 40 points |
| 4th | AZR Motorsport | 15 points |
Final driver standings:
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Rally Villa de Adeje
Spanish tarmac rally. The first round of the VGTR and my first time fighting for team points. Finished 15th, teammate Erik P. (232) placed 22nd, scoring 16 Championship points for W-Sport Ford.
Rajd Komoran
Polish gravel rally. Rain in the morning followed by a dry afternoon let me gradually settle into the stages, building confidence as grip improved. Changed my steering from 565 to 900 degrees, and used an H-pattern with clutch simulation instead of a Sequential. Finished 12th, teammate Erik P. (232) placed 16th, scoring 26 points.
Louna-Eesti Ralli
Estonia gravel rally. Rain and damp gravel. The first leg of the rally went well, followed by a sudden DNF on the last corner of SS5. A learning experience to not deviate from the recce'd line, even if it feels safer at the time. DNF, Teammate Erik P. (232) placed 17th, scoring 9 points.
Rally Franciacorta Circuit
A tricky technical tarmac rally set in Italy. I'm not really a fan of "circuit" rally stages, but was able to put up some respectable stage times. The tricky section on wet tarmac and in heavy rain (whilst still on dry tires) proved a challenge. Placed 15th, scoring 12 points.
Silverratten
"Flowing Swedish gravel". My best placement yet! Bravery in my mid/high speed weight transfer corners has paid off, and some quick thinking on SS8 prevented a mistake from becoming a distaster. Very happy with this result as many stages were PBs. I felt like I wasn't taking unneccessary risk, and the more traditional style of recce that I did for this round seemed really helpful for understanding some of the trickier corners.
For setup I've pretty drastically increased the rear antiroll bar tension. Getting some miles in the BMW e36 has made me more comfortable with oversteer, so a more aggressive setup that allows for more early rotation has been refreshing in an otherwise somewhat understeer prone platform. Experience with the R2 Citroen C2 also showed me the greener grass that is an "on the toes" setup.
Placed 6th, scoring 26 points!
Rally Slovakia Ring
My favorite event of the series. Shitty tarmac feels like home to me, and it featured one of my favorite scary stages, Semetin 2010. Caution was king on this event, and I jumped a LOT of places just surviving Semetin. My pace was a whole 15s slower than my personal best, but this didn't cost me a position so it was worth it. Stoked to place as well as I did and secure our team spot.
Placed 6th, scoring 26 points!
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