CMS Super Special Rally 2011



From December 13th to December 18th some of the world's best Rally drivers headed to Arizona to take part in a special event, an event made for the brave, an event which used incredibly powerful machines capable of developing spectacular acceleration and massive speed, combined with tight twisty tracks. Everything was set for an epic event, a true test of skill and precision where the abilities of the participants would be tested to the limit trough 12 intense tests, the way to win here.. was going 100% flatout.

The CMS Super Special Rally had started, with Manufacturer's championship and recognition for best stage times, there was a lot to fight for.

First driver to tackle the stages was circuit driving ace, Troy Dalton, setting impressive times on most of the stages, and impressing the crowds in his Peugeot 206, this was his first international Rally event but his driving was nothing short of outstanding, he will be someone to keep an eye on for future events.



Right after Provisional leader Dalton, local driver Rick Smith was ready to fly in front of his fans, and he did, he set lots of top 3 stage times and even made a small mistake during stage 11 but he could still finish the 12 stages in first position, he was now the leader and the man to beat.



Then it was the turn of Mozambican ace Chelton Nunes to try to take the lead, having just signed a contract with Citroën, expectations were high for him, however, his mechanics couldn't set up his car properly for this kind of technical stages and he had a lot of problems for most of the first part of the Rally, but setting great stage times when possible. At the end of the Rally in the service park, in front of lots of fans taking pictures of his battle hardened Xsara, he asked the Citroën bosses if they could renew his contract for next year explaining that his car wasn't good this time but he could do much better with a proper car, the Citroën bosses response was simple : C'est pas posible. This difficult event had taken it's first victim.

Next day it was the turn of European Rally machines Tõnu Silm and Magnar Haarstadsveen to shine, with both going really fast trough all of the stages, the Norwegian Magnar Haarstadsveen became the leader and set many best stage times, also the Estonian national flag was set high by Tõnu Silm.

Then it was another local hero, Steven Spears who was about to drive in front of his home crowds, his Rally was very good for most of the stages, until he received a false lecture from his car screen during stage 8, this distracted him and he ended up spinning, loosing some time in the process, certainly a good effort, almost ruined by something irrelevant, but he still managed to get a good result and keep his fans that had come all the way from California happy, alongside Steven there was another African ace, Andrew Koojo who tackled the stages at the same time, he finished only 5 seconds behind Steven.

Other local drivers, James Knowles and Joe Schmitz also participated in the event and showed some nice, precise driving, but were also deprived of a good result because their cars gave up during some stages, leaving them no option but to retire for some of the 12 tests, meanwhile, Mexican driver Manuel Samaniego did some drifting in front of the crowds with his new 2012 Citroën DS3 WRC



And then, the last driver to go trough the stages was Mexican 6 time Rally winner, Manuel Samaniego, his objective was to try to take the win at the last minute and demote the leader, Norwegian Magnar Haarstadsveen who had set the pace for most stages, but in the end, some small mistakes cost the Mexican driver a lot of time and he couldn't beat the hyper quick Norwegian, he had to settle for second place.

And so the 1st CMS Super Special Rally had come to an end, after 5 days of speed, good times for some and problems for others. The event was very successful and the contracts are already being negotiated for next year to come back.

The driver's podium was :

1. Magnar Haarstadsveen - a well deserved win, he had a total time of 18:35:01

2. Manuel De Samaniego - second place, total time of 18:50:61

3. Rick Smith - local hero, impressed everyone with his quick driving but was slowed down because of a mistake, surely could have been closer to the top, his total time was 19:04:33

The manufacturer's podium was :

1. North American Subaru Racing
2. Peugeot Rallysport
3. Clio Performance Racing

with French manufacturer Citroën left out of the podium because of reliability issues.

The overall results with individual Standings were :

1. Magnar 18:35:01
2. Manuel 18:50:61
3. Rick 19:04:33
4. Tonu 19:38:04
5. Steven 20:19:53
6. Andy 20:24:01
7. Troy 23:23:04
8. Chelton 28:10:84
9. Joe 32:13:49
10. James 34:66:11


Thanks to Rick Smith for organizing the event and Chelton Nunes for collaborating. Also big thanks to Champion Motorsports for hosting the event and to Rallyesim association.

See you next year!

(Special thanks to Manuel, who took on the double duties of driver and reporter for this event!)