Words and Photos by Scott Fisher
After an absence of more than three decades, the forest roads around Olympia, Washington resonated with the sound of high-performance engines on October 6 & 7, 2018, as the Tour de Forest Rally returned as part of the 2018 American Rally Association National Championship.
Ending an exciting year that included a total of nine rallies across North America, the Tour de Forest Rally offered roads that virtually no current rally competitor had seen, leveling the playing field for competitors ranging from factory-sponsored series champion, Dave Higgins, driving for Subaru Rally Team USA, through private entrants like Garth Ankeny’s Toyota Starlet.
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| American Rally Association national champion, David Higgins, and co-driver, Craig Drew, line up for the start of special stage 2, deep in the Washington forest. |
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| Garth Ankeny, whose family tire shop services most of the motorsport participants in Portland, Oregon, drives this very sharp Toyota Starlet in rallies around the Northwest |
Last run in 1983, the Tour de Forest Rally had been one of the events in the Sports Car Club of America’s Pro Rally championship since the late 1970s. Rally legends John Buffum and Rod Millen ended up with two victories each during the four years the Tour de Forest was run in Washington. In 1983, the rally moved to Tualatin, Oregon where Steve Millen took the victory. After that, it morphed into the Oregon Trail Rally, which has been a key event in Northwest rallying ever since.
For 2018, the
American Rally Association, a wholly owned subsidiary of the United States Auto Club, chose to showcase the revived Tour de Forest Rally as the final event of its national championship series. Rally teams compete in five classes: Open 4WD, with essentially unlimited modifications; Limited 4WD, which runs turbocharged AWD vehicles in something much closer to stock configuration; Naturally Aspirated 4WD, for vehicles without turbochargers; Open 2WD, for highly modified 2WD cars; and Limited 2WD, for cars closer to stock specification.
At the Tour de Forest, this season’s final event, the forest roads around Montesano, Washington provided a picturesque, scenic, and challenging venue for rally competitors on this wet October weekend. Thanks to Subaru of America’s Chuck Ballard, we were able to take a look at two of the rally stages during Friday’s reconnaissance (or recce) runs, a limited-speed traversal of some of the roads that would see competitors sliding and scrabbling for position over the next two days.
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| With an aggressive look closer to the 2005-2007 Forester XT than seen recently, the new Forester Sport delivers AWD capability in luxury and style, though lacking the power of the EJ257-powered models |
Our mount for the recce drive was an early-issue 2019 Subaru Forester Sport, a sharply-dressed version of Subaru’s newest incarnation of their iconic compact SUV. The Sport is available in a limited number of colors; ours was a deep metallic blue with restrained (no, really) trim in a pearlescent orange in a few discreet areas of the exterior, low on the chassis to give it a visually dynamic appeal. The inside was a deep charcoal grey, with high-touch surfaces and contrasting stitching in the same orange, as well as orange highlights on the HVAC vents. The overall effect was stylish, slightly wicked, and upscale, more Audi than Outback.
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| Contrasting orange trim at the lower edges of the car help it stand out, even in a rainy Olympia parking lot |
Mechanically, the Forester Sport uses the same 182bhp, 2.5L naturally aspirated four-cylinder shared by much of the Subaru lineup. It’s a responsive and torquey engine, and while it lacks the overall thrust of the WRX or STI, the Sport Sharp (S#) mode of Subaru’s SI-DRIVE engine management system provides crisper throttle and shifting response, which made it easier to control traction by applying engine torque to the wheels. One key to low-traction driving is to remember that tires work best when they are rolling rather than sliding, and the gentle but timely application of engine torque to get the wheels to do this is key to staying on the road. With the S# engaged, we could quickly transition from a (mostly) intentional drift to controlled forward motion, even on the loose scree and wet mud that made up the recce roads.
For our purposes, crisp throttle response and seamless operation of the car’s front, rear, and center differentials made for an enjoyable romp through the woods, while coddling us with all mod cons in a very stylish, up-to-date interior. We only drove a portion of the 115 miles that would see competition over the next few days, but the mix of crests, switchbacks, sweeping corners and steep hillsides gave us a sense of the skill and nerve that the rallyists, driver and co-driver alike, would be exercising over the next 48 hours.
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| This Honda CRX is traveling much more briskly than the typical logging-road traffic in the Reed Hill section of the rally |
One final fact about the 2019 Forester: as the first US-bound vehicle to use Subaru’s stiffer yet lighter new Global Platform (“It uses lighter steel, and less of it,” said Subaru’s Chuck Ballard), the Forester’s rear hatch is not only wider than the rear hatch of the three-row Subaru Ascent, it is actually wide enough to (barely) fit a 1968 Subaru 360 through the opening. In short, it’s not a rally car, but it made a great car for pre-running the competition stages, and then for heading through Washington traffic to dinner at the end of the day.
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| Dirtfish Rally School relies on a small fleet of Subaru BRZs to teach car control, handling, and the basic skills required for competing in stage rally |
Chuck and I had the opportunity to visit presenting sponsor Dirtfish Rally School in Snoqualmie, Washington, for a meet-and-greet with Subaru Rally Team drivers David Higgins and Patrik Sandell. Naturally, because this is a rally school, the event included a fast lap of their training ground in one of the school’s Subaru BRZ cars with one of the team drivers. I was fortunate enough to be seated next to Patrik Sandell, who gave me a thrilling ride around the course, a combination of wet and dry gravel with paved sections liberally coated with dirt and mud. In short, we easily spent more time sideways than forward, all while Sandell narrated.
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| This is just part of the training course at Dirtfish; there are also dirt skidpads, a slalom, and several other areas that form part of their various training courses |
In true rally fashion, Sandell pitched the car sideways well before entering the next corner, then flicked it back in the opposite direction for the classic “steer left, go right” manoeuver. I had been taught this technique, the Scandinavian flick, at a Primitive Racing rallycross school some years before, and felt myself competent in it—at speeds up to about 25 miles an hour. Sandell was handily doubling that, while talking to me about the course and what he was doing, and I was glad of the helmet-to-helmet radio communication so that we could hear each other over the roar of the flat-four as he wove together a series of powerslides on the training course.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously wrote, “The rich are different from you and me.” Every time I go for a ride with a talented and experienced competition driver, on tarmac or gravel, I think that the quote applies even more so for truly fast drivers.
Early Saturday morning, we headed out from our hotel in Olympia to the ceremonial rally start on Saturday morning taking place in the picturesque city of Montesano, Washington, in front of the historic 1911 Grays Harbor County Courthouse.
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| According to legend, there’s a dent in the bronze door of the county courthouse from where the sheriff once shot at an escaping desperado. We didn’t investigate… |
In more than a decade of volunteering with rally organizations in the Northwest, I’ve observed that the key to a successful rally is to involve local communities in the event, and help them get a sense of our excitement and enthusiasm for motorsport. Rallying, unlike circuit racing, involves transits on public roads, typically between rural towns, because that’s where the great rally roads are. This year, the roads were all on private land owned by Green Diamond Resource Company, based in Shelton, Washington, but the two in-town activities—parc exposé to start the rally Saturday morning, and the awards ceremony Sunday afternoon—brought spectators and competitors together to taste some of the international flavor of this event in the Washington wilderness.
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| If you like a little variety in your motorsport, how about an E36 BMW, a '70s-vintage Cosworth-powered Ford Escort, and an A2 VW Golf? |
One by one, with the county courthouse as a backdrop, the rally cars motored out sedately onto the streets of Montesano, on their way to the first stage roads of the day. It was a festival atmosphere, with kids and parents alike enjoying the brightly painted (if occasionally battle-scarred) rally cars as they received instructions and documents from the starter before heading out to the woods to get down to business.
We caught up with the rallyists at the start of the second stage, where we were treated to engines wound up to provide maximum launch velocity, spraying gravel from front, rear, or all four tires, depending on the car in question. The Subaru Rally Team USA cars, driven by Patrik Sandell and Dave Higgins, launched with authority, but some of the 2WD cars were more enjoyable to watch, their rear wheels slewing the car right and left as the rally tires struggled for grip on the damp gravel roads. We watched and listened to them recede into the distance under the canopy of ancient trees.
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| We’ve secretly replaced the 16V Cosworth inline four in this European Escort with a Mustang 3.8L V6. Well, okay, it’s no secret, but Burke & Brady have found the inexpensive and readily available engine a key to their rally success |
A word in praise of rally spectators: not for these intrepid folks the comfort of bleachers and trackside facilities with a view of the circuit, as is common in other forms of motorsport. Rally spectators, in general, will drive hundreds of miles to arrive at a spectator site early in the morning; getting to that site may well involve a hike of up to a mile, over a hillside dotted with tree stumps and all but impassable with wild blackberries, bindweed and crisscrossing branches blocking what passes for a trail.
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| If your idea of a good time is standing in a field of tree stumps and brush on a rainy Northwest autumn afternoon, you MIGHT be a rally fan—and the rewards are unique in motorsport |
The truly dedicated pack in their own refreshments—we saw one group making tacos—though Dirtfish was serving hot dogs, cold drinks, and packets of crunchy salty snacks (free, but asking donations for a number of area charities). Spectators such as these are rewarded with the tearing, screaming sound of a high-output competition engine at intervals of about a minute, and will yell, blow horns, and ring cowbells to cheer on the cars sliding half-sideways over the looping whorls of a lumber-company access road at speeds far higher than the roads were meant to be driven.
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| Sometimes it’s not all about long lenses — sometimes it’s really about getting right up close to the action |
However, one perk to signing the “if you get hurt, it’s your own fault” waiver in exchange for a media vest is that you get to stand on the stupid side of the caution tape. As a veteran of road racing (as driver, volunteer, and spectator), with an immense respect for turn marshals in every kind of motorsport, I was deferential to the marshals working the corner where I situated myself, making sure to stand where the marshals suggested I’d be out of the impact zone, and with a good escape route if the laws of physics won out over traction and talent.
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| Even 2WD cars like to spray gravel now and then |
Fortunately, the only contact I experienced was getting sprayed with gravel by several of the cars, but especially the two Subaru Rally Team USA cars of Sandell and Higgins. They say you’re not a true rally enthusiast till you’ve had a bucketload of gravel thrown at you by a rally car. Fortunately, the only “red badge of courage” I came away with was a scuff on the camera body.
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| If you don’t come home with gravel in your hair, have you really been to a rally? |
Another crucial difference between rally and circuit racing: rather than having pit stops for adjustment, refueling, or repairs as in endurance racing, rally schedules part of every day for service. All teams set up an area where they can work on their cars.
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| The #75 car of Higgins and Drew was experiencing some mechanical issues, so his crew set about to find and fix it |
David Higgins’ #75 Subaru entry was having turbocharger issues during the early stages on Saturday, so his crew put the car up on its beautifully crafted jack stands and set to work trying to resolve them. Other teams used the service period to repair minor bodywork damage from getting closer to the scenery than intended, or to make other changes or improvements.
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| Welcome to the Northwest, here’s your mildew repellent |
Sunday dawned with the perennial rain for which the Pacific Northwest is so well known. Although David Higgins had swapped the lead with Patrik Sandell several times on Saturday, the 75 car slid off the road at one point and was damaged too severely to continue the rally, handing Sandell the victory. However, as Higgins had secured the championship some weeks previously at Rally Idaho, this was certainly an equitable way for both Subaru Rally Team USA drivers to have something to be excited about.
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| After swapping the lead with teammate David Higgins for much of the day Saturday and early Sunday, Swedish former JWRC champion Patrik Sandell sailed to victory in the final ARA event of the season |
Sandell was gracious enough to let a few of us capture some of his enthusiasm for the sport in front of the Washington State Capital at the end of the victory celebration:
“To be able to work with Subaru and Vermont Sports Car, it’s just like a dream come true,” Sandell said, after receiving his trophy for the victory. “All the way from being a teen, I wanted to be a rally driver, for Subaru when they were back in the WRC, and now to be a part of that in this new version over here in America, it’s just amazing. I’m staying until they kick me out.”
About the Author
Scott Fisher has been an automotive enthusiast since a ride in a Jaguar as a small boy changed his understanding of what cars could be. He has owned, worked on, and written about all kinds of automobiles, from classic sports cars to mid-'60s muscle cars. He owned a first-generation Subaru WRX for ten years and loved the experience of personalizing and modifying these exciting cars for performance, handling, and control. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, and is an avid follower of performance rally and circuit racing as well as the classic automobile scene.
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