The Overcrest Rally trip report, life changing Options

[Optimusglen]

I wanted to share with you all my experience at the Overcrest Rally for 2021
This was, beyond a doubt, the best automotive event I've ever been to. Even now looking back it's hard to take it all in and unpack, so I'll just start from the beginning. 2 years before the event. Get comfy, grab some popcorn, because this is a doozy.


Prelude:
A couple of friends of mine, Kris and Jake, run a podcast called Overcrest. It's an automotive-based podcast and generally has automotive topics. Both of them have long hood 911's so Porsche comes up frequently. I've known Kris forever, we were in each other's weddings, etc. We've also been doing fall drives together for quite some time, so it was no surprise when they wanted to plan a rally for the podcast and their listeners. It was 2019 and I helped a bit with some of the graphics.

The 2019 rally was a great local rally, it picked up several nice roads on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. This was the last year I had my 914 at the rally, and it was the year I overcooked my brakes and had a little "off" that sent me home with my tail between my legs but more or less unscathed.

In 2020 they wanted to do a national rally, but they knew they weren't there yet. The two pulled in another friend, Jeff, to help them along. The year was thought of as a stepping stone to get to the point where a national audience would take them seriously. So it was a 2-day rally, planned and plotted out. Cool swag, and really thought out. I attended, but at this time my 4-cyl was dead and my 6 was yet to be built, so I drove an Audi TT that I rented using Turo. Again, it was immensely great for a local rally. It drew some audience from outside the midwest, but not much.

[Optimusglen]

For 2021 they took the plunge and made it national. Part of making it national was holding it in a location that would better reflect their aspirations. So even though they are Minnesota-based, the rally start point was in the south of Utah, weaving into Arizona then north and ending in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. Kris, (the organizer I've known forever) has a lot of experience in the area and they made the film "Das Ziel"  Give it a watch, it's excellent and kind of sets the tone here.

YouTube- Das Ziel

Now, I've had my 914 project going for years. My build thread is here -

build thread

 The 1911cc chewing up a rod bearing nearly 2 years ago, and I already had the 6-cylinder case at Ollie's for machining so I wasn't going to put any time or effort into the 4-cyl. Still, a 6-swap for someone who has never done a 6-swap takes time and money. It grew in intensity in the 8 months before the rally, increasing in stressfulness until it reached its peak with me 2-day shipping a new set of rear brake calipers just a few days before I was set to leave. I had a total of 500 miles on the 6-swap, oil changed, valves adjusted, and rocker shafts checked. The brakes were swapped and bled only a couple of days before.

Down. To. The. Wire.

I'm not exactly made of money, so shipping my car to or from Utah was not an option. It's 3 easy days of driving to get there from my house, then a 2-day rally, and 3 easy days back. I was planning an extra day pre-rally in case of mechanical issues, or to explore Monument Valley for a day before everyone else got there. So in all it was a 9-day road trip on a 500-mile engine.