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Part 2: Driving in the Desert - or With his Head in the Clouds
It's all in a day's work for rally star Lauchlin O'Sullivan
By David Gee

<< Read Part 1: Driving in the Desert – or With his Head in the Clouds

And now he brings all of that experience to this weekend's Desert Storm Rally, in Blythe, California, conveniently located in the middle of nowhere; 225 miles east of L.A., 160 miles west of Phoenix and 205 miles south of Las Vegas.

"It is truly a desert event and that's how you have to categorize it," said O'Sullivan. "It's what I grew up doing in California during my teenage years. The car that we're driving belongs to Vermont Sports Car. They of course prepare and campaign the Subaru factory efforts for Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra in the Rally America national championship series. They also built the car for Pastrana's 269-foot Red Bull-sponsored jump on New Year's Eve in Long Beach. They're the best rally car builders in the U.S. right now, so I know the car is going to finish if I don't do anything crazy."

Lauchlin said he was elected to be the driver of the car so the event could have a top-line car, and to do some sponsor activities with Lucas Oil.

"It's not a fully-blown Open Class car, but it will be nimble. I can't wait to drive it because I haven't been in a full-on race rally car since Doug's car a couple year's ago. I'm really looking forward to it."

And how long will it take for LOS to get up to SPEED?

"I always tell Scott Putnam, my co-driver for Desert Storm, and my last co-driver in Rally America, it would probably take me three full events to get back to where I was when I was a full-time factory driver. Because seat time, like every other form of motorsport, is what rallying is all about."

With rallying you don't get any practice time per se. So pretty much every moment you are in the car you are actually on stage at race speed in an event.

"So, the first stage is always a little funny. It's nice if you're writing pace notes prior to the event, and we will have that chance at Desert Storm. I'll get the little click in the brain where I'll say, 'Oh yeah, that language.' Because let's face it, it is a whole different language."

C'mon, you mean that Mrs. O'Sullivan doesn't walk around the house saying, "50 caution jump into right 2 tightens, don't cut?" I did make that suggestion, however, that she start doing that a couple of weeks before an event just to train Laughlin's brain.

"I'm okay at notes," he says honestly. "I'm not great because I don't do it all the time. It's tough coming into an event not knowing the car and not knowing the notes, but I seem to have adapted okay."

I have had the chance to ride shotgun with Lauchlin in a deep snow-covered course through the woods in northern Michigan prior to Sno*Drift. Let me tell you, the guy is a synchronized master of steering inputs, handbrake applications, left foot braking and accelerator pressing. The multiple rally winner is decidedly more than okay at this.

"Going into each event, I throw around the car a lot because I want to see where the car is happy and where the car is not happy. You've got to kind of push it in the first couple stages to find that place. Your mind then settles down with the car and concentrates on the notes a little bit more. At that point 100% of my brain capacity is not worried about this little hit that the car just went through, and that the suspension is lightening up, or that I'm getting a little cross and Scott's giving me an instruction at the same time. I'll ask Scott to repeat himself a lot in the first couple of stages. It's just how it happens. It's a slow process of creeping back up to where you want to be."

And during that process, know that O'Sullivan will be fully focused on the busy task at hand as he tools through the Sonoran Desert near the California/Arizona border.

"Luckily I have good concentration. I can rally all day and all night and I feel like I'm always concentrating on the road. My mind rarely wanders to things at home or this or that. I hear from other rally drivers that can be a huge problem for them. My brain does concentrate 100% on rallying when I'm rallying. We'll see where that gets us in our Subaru this weekend."

And if you would like to follow the Desert Storm Rally exploits of Lauchlin O'Sullivan and Scott Putnam and their Group N Subaru WRX, the capability is as close as your computer.

Go to http://www.subaru.net/rallyvideo/ and you will see a multi-part display showing their elevation, car speed, an in-car camera view of driver and co-driver with audio, as well as a view out the windshield along with a Google Earth display of where they are on the stage.