2019 Rally Colorado Rundown

Rally Colorado is quickly getting the reputation for being a fun but challenging rally, with a couple of stages that can really take a toll on the cars. The first stage is referred to as "Carnage Canyon," for instance. Rally Colorado 2019 lived up to all of those expectations, and even managed to throw some new challenges at the competitors, like a flash flood.

For the Flatirons Tuning Rally team, this was a very challenging race, but also a very rewarding one. We had a few hiccups getting ready for the rally, but once the green flag dropped on the first day, the car and team were doing well, and setting some quick stage times throughout the day. We had some minor (in rally terms) suspension damage through the first day, but we kept the car on the road, and we found that we were in the top 5 cars by the end of Day 1.

Day 2 went pretty smoothly until we had an impact about halfway through the last stage, which ended up giving us two flat tires. We were able to get to the finish line limping home basically on two tires on one side, and two rims on the other. We expected that our hopes of finishing well would have been lost at that point, but you never know what will happen in a Rally. It turned out that the car that was ahead of us, the car of Chris and Lori O'Driscoll, had transmission issues as well on the final stage.

In the end, we were able to just sneak past them for a first-in-class finish, and a 2nd place overall!

This is the best overall finish that the Flatirons Tuning Rally team has had in our history, and given how challenging the weekend was, it was all the more rewarding that we were able to finish so well. We have to give a big thank you to our driver, Scott Crouch, and co-driver Rebecca Greek, the Flatirons Tuning crew, and the Boost'd Scoops crew as well for keeping the car running fast all weekend.

There were a number of other notable stories from the weekend. The Flatirons Tuning-sponsored team of Dave and Mike Brown ended up getting their second overall Rally Colorado victory, which is all the more impressive because their race car is a naturally aspirated Open-Light Subaru RS. They’ve got that car really dialed in, and Dave and Mike are a phenomenal team. Not only did they get the win, but they also set some stage record times as well. There is nothing that they like more than taking the race to the other turbo-charged cars, and that is exactly what they did all weekend.

Ryan Sealey of Sealey Sport was competing in his first stage rally ever (after running in Colorado Rally-X for a number of years). He was able to work through overheating issues all weekend, and ended up finishing 2nd in class. And as difficult as this race was, that is a huge accomplishment.

(Click the above screenshot to start the Flooding video)

O.D.D. Racing had the most spectacular story of the weekend. They had a mechanical issue with their Ford Fiesta that required them to stop on stage in a bit of a ditch. Then rain came through which created a flash flood that actually washed the car downstream. This rally is typically hard on cars, but this was on a completely different level.

Now that Rally Colorado 2019 is all wrapped up, we are definitely looking forward to next year!