| March 2002 The Prospect By: Travis Pastrana LAST MONTH I FLIPPED an RM250 into the Grand Canyon. That leap rivaled the greatest moments I've ever experienced in our sport. Leaving the jump site that day, it was apparent to me that there was nothing in the world (apart from winning a 250cc SX championship) that could even come close... Boy i was wrong! Turns out that Alpinestars is more than just a small boot company. As a matter of fact, Alpinestarsis a high-profile, multi-million-dollar corporation that sponsors everyone from Formula 1 drivers in Europe to cricket players in Australia. Somewhere in that range they sponsor newly-crowned World Rally Champion Richard Burns, as well as the remainder of team Subaru. Gabriele, the president of Alpinestars, invited me to watch the final round of the WRC, go through a rall school and take a rally car for a test drive. A few weeks later, Malcolm McCassy and I were on our way to merry old England. Watching the rally was an unique experience in itself. First we would drive to a stage with the Subaru team, then jump out and sprint a few miles in near-freezing temperatures and constant rain to find the most treacherous corner with the gnarliest cliff. We would make it to our final destination only seconds before the first car came sliding by at over 100 mph. The spectators seemed to get some kind of rush by trying to stand as close as possible to the narrow, muddy, single lane roads. One of the top contenders plowed through twelve spectators. The fans are so die-hard over there than they righted their hero's car before attending to the scattered and broken victims. Myself and 80,000 other rally car driving wannabes ran and drove, muddy and frozen all day, from stage to stage. Rally is definitely a made-for-TV event, but i recommend being there in person at least once. The next day Gabriele, Malcolm, a substantial part of the Subaru team and I headed to Phil Price Rally School in Wales. The sun was out for the first day since I'd arrive, but the track was still slicker than Mt. Morris on National day. Aside from tough conditions, the steering wheel was on the right (or "wrong") side of the car, which made for left handed shifting. The car we drove was small, beat-up and rear-wheel-drive. It was really fun, but the speeds was relatively low and no one even rolled one over. The winner out of the student drivers recieved a plaque as well as a ride with Phil in a much faster car. I devastated a fellow student who tests cars for a living by sliding my way to the fastest lap times of the day. Having faith in my instructor enabled me to get in the codriver's seat without hesitation. I should have known better. I truly thought we were going to die numerous times in that brieft period. Phil had the car swapping sideways with all four tires off the ground, hanging at least one wheel over the edge of every cliff for the entire "ride". He didn't seem to think it was a big deal, and he laughed everytime i gasped for air. Much respect goes out to that lunatic. The time finally arrived for me to drive the $750,000 world championship-winning rally car. Mark Lavell, U.S. National Rally Championship, reminded me taht id 0-60 on th dirt faster than a Ferrari on pavement. He was flown out to be my designated co-driver, but Mark really didn't want to be at the mercy of another driver. He asked how experienced i was with an eight-horsepower go-kart until i snapped the frame in half while jumping it off a loading ramp, he almost fainted. Mark wasn't even the least bit impressed, and i fully understood! Giving a motocross racer the keys to anything valuable is very bad idea; putting someone in a fast car with a motocrosser is just plain ludicrous! A track was laid out with tires in the middle of a slick, muddy field. Mark let me know of the dangers on the course and told me to consider that the car won't stop sliding sideways until i apply power to the wheels. Due to the cost and potential risk of ruining the car, i was only able to drive for 10 laps. With the time restriction in mind i took off like a bat out of hell, and my National Championship co-driver instantly had a white-knuckle grip on the roll bar. The car allowed me to hold the gas pedal to the floor without using the clutch during shifts. It was raining buckets at a time, but the machine accelerated to the first corner like an F-16. Two fingers on the handbrake and we were completely sideways at 90 mph. The look of horror on the faces of every Subaru mechanic as i completed lap one was worth the trip itself, and it only got better. Sadly, my first lap in the car was by far my best. I had gained overconfidence in an amazing handling ability of the car. That, combined with the feeling of invincibility a strudy roll bar provides, is a disaster waiting to happen. On lap two the co-driver stopped talking and started some of the same gasp sounds that i had made the day before. We missed sliding into a stream on lap two by mere inches, then sprayed a heavy roost of mud and rock into the side of the factory Subaru semi trailer. They pulled me in to tell me that i could charge up to and away from the trailer, but not power through the middle of the corner. Promptly forgetting that advice, i entered the corner going jjust shy of 100 miles-per-hour. With no power pulling the car forward and out of the slide, i accidentally parallel-parked myself. The car side of he semi-rig. At the end of the ten laps i had done $5,000 worth of damage to the car and $1,000 to the semi rig, and my co-driver shook fr almost an hour after the "drive." On the side note, the top brass at Subaru offered me a car to race at selected rounds of the U.S. Nationals Championship Rally series. Go figure. P.S. Don't think doe a second that I'm at all distracted from my goal of winning titles on my RM250. No one thinks i can do well this year against guys like Carmichael, McGrath, Windham and Lusk. Say it can't be done and i usually find a way. Thanks to all my critics for the motivation! See you at the races. |