Some car events often feel solely focused on the cars, but Overcrest Rallies are also about the people who drive them, and roads that can make everyone put the phone down. From October 21–24, CSF joined Overcrest Productions as a title sponsor for this four day event through the Lost Coast of Northern California.
What is the Overcrest Rally?
The Overcrest Rally is an organized driving experience built around one idea: Take the Car. Participants get a number, a route book, and a stretch of the best backroads the organizers can find. No timing, no trophies, just the best roads we can find and the cars you actually own. But the roads are only the reason to show up. The people are what you keep. You can’t find the real thing on a screen. It’s the opposite of a screen. You have to take the risk, get out there, and have the adventure. A few days driving roads less traveled with the same group, in person, is where the genuine stuff happens. That’s the part that lasts.
It is less a race than a shared journey and community. People arrive knowing a handful of names and leave knowing a lot more.
Why the Lost Coast?
The Lost Coast is the part of California too rugged to pave an interstate through, so it has simply been left alone. It has 3,000 year old redwoods that block out the sky and fog that rolls in off the ocean and settles into the trees. A temperate rainforest sits on one side of a ridge, and dry inland scrub on the other.
The roads twist, climb, and go quiet for miles. It is the kind of loneliness most people need but rarely get. Overcrest came to drive them, and to fill that emptiness with the people they’ve brought together.
Night Zero
The rally started before the first car rolled out. Night Zero was dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse, built in the 1890s by the Vance lumber mill to feed its crew. Around 500 workers at a time once sat down at its long tables after a hard day’s labor. The Cookhouse had been closed for more than two years and was opened back up for the Rally.
Out front was a 1965 Porsche 912 that came out of Montana rusted and dead, with no floors and every part already pulled. It was turned into a fire pit, with fires burning in the cab and the frunk. When the marine layer rolled in after dark, the 912 held it back, and everybody ended up close enough to feel the heat on their faces.
Registration Day
Registration took place at Trinidad Harbor, where cars were parked out on the pier with the permission of the Trinidad Rancheria tribe. The sky was grey and low and the wind came in cold off the ocean.
One by one, drivers checked in and picked up their Overcrest number, a meatball, and a collector bag. It was a big group for a small spot, and it took some patience, but people made room for each other.
The Rally
Day 1 started early, in blue hour, the part of the morning nobody else has a claim on. The route began at a lookout near Orick and climbed Bald Hills Road through the redwoods into open prairie. From there it dropped into Six Rivers National Forest and followed the Salmon River.
Parts of that road weren’t finished until 1925, and long stretches are still one lane with no shoulder, just a few inches past the tires and a very long way down to the water. The route then continued through Etna, Trinity Center, Weaverville, and Willow Creek before ending in Arcata.
Day 2 began in Eureka and ran through Fortuna, Garberville, Scotia, and the Avenue of the Giants. It then reached the westernmost point of California on the coast. The route passed under redwoods too tall to see the tops of and out to the Lost Coast, then climbed into the rainforest above it. The Rally finished at the Humboldt Bay Social Club, on grounds where the Navy once flew blimps during World War II.
CSF takes the car
The CSF team took on the Rally in the owner’s (Ravi Dolwani) Porsche 996 Ruf Turbo. CSF brought along Rhys and Dylan from R44 Performance who drove their recently restored BMW E30 M3. Much of the drive was spent alongside the team from FCP Euro, and the convoy made the long stretches between towns fun and exciting.
Looking Back
Pulling four days loose from everything else that needs you is never easy, and something always gives. CSF would like to thank everyone who made the time to be there. Overcrest really outdid themselves this year and planned a truly amazing automotive adventure.
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