Emme Hall Prepares to Tackle the 2017 Rebelle Rally.

Chevrolet Forum catches up with the unstoppable off-roader to find out what it’s gonna take to bring home a win in a bone stock Colorado ZR2.

Chevy truck enthusiast Emme Hall works for the Roadshow, the Automotive arm of CNET. She is also an off-road BAJA driver and will be racing again in the Rebelle Rally, an all-women’s off-road navigation rally that is set to take place October 12 to 21 in California. We caught up with her and talked about the new 2017 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 that she will be racing this year and how it is different than the 2015 model she drove last year.

Chevrolet Forum: You drove in the rally last year. How did it go?

Emme Hall: Last year was the inaugural Rebelle Rally and my navigator, Rebecca Donaghey, and I drove a 2015 Chevy Colorado that was prepped by Total Chaos Fabrication. The truck had a three-inch lift, King shocks and the Total Chaos upper control arm. We were way more than stock of a regular Colorado and we were pretty much winning until the very last day, when a time management error caused us to lose.

With the near success behind the wheel of the 2015 Colorado, how excited were you to see the ZR2?

This year, I really wanted to continue our Chevy story, and then when Chevy came out with the zr2, we were both like, Oh, wow, this is perfect! I’m totally stoked we’re going to be driving the new Chevy Colorado ZR2.

‘Overall, I think the diesel will be better for the Rebelle Rally, because there’s more rough, rocky stuff where we’ll be able to use that front locker.’

We are going to have the diesel because we’re not necessarily worried about speed. We’re worried about having the power to climb up and over rocks to get up and over dunes. Having that extra torque of the diesel is really going to help. I’m not worried about being down on horsepower for it.

Is there any new equipment on the Chevy Colorado ZR2 that really excites you?

I’m just going to say two words: front locker. I mean it beats the competition right there.

Are you going to modify the truck at all?

I do plan to keep it wholly stock. The Rebelle Rally puts out the Bone Stock Award for the manufacturer whose truck makes it to the highest position in the rally as bone stock. We’re not adding any lights and we’re not swapping out the tires.

Does anything about the bone stock ZR2 concern you?

Honestly, the thing that scares me the most about this truck is the tires. Those tires are really tiny with the 31-inch Goodyear Duratracs, So far, they’ve done everything that I’ve wanted them to do. We’re in Lucerne Valley and it did everything I wanted to do. It crawled up everything I wanted it to do, but they’re a small tire and there’s not a lot of sidewall on there.

I’m mostly worried when in the dunes because they are a smaller tire and there’s a smaller footprint. They don’t come with bead locks and I can’t put bead locks on it because it’s got to be bone stock. That means when you’re driving in soft sand, you want to air down, but I can’t.  I have to worry about that tire slipping off the rim, so I’ll probably only be able to air down about 12 psi. It is pushing it, but I’ve done it before.

What about the diesel vs. gasoline decision? 

I think that in the dunes, the 181 horsepower of a diesel might be a hindrance, because the dunes are all about momentum. You don’t want to ever lose that momentum when you’re climbing up and over. There might be some different driving techniques I’m going to have to use, like some left-foot braking to keep the turbo spooled up.

‘Just because it is a women’s rally doesn’t mean it isn’t hard though…. The amount of stress that you experience inside the vehicle is out of control.

Overall, I think that the diesel will be better for the Rebelle Rally. And that is because there’s more rough, rocky stuff where we’ll be able to use that front locker. But then there is soft stuff in the dunes where the speed or momentum is an issue. I personally am willing to make that trade-off.

How varied is the terrain you will be racing on?

The Rebelle Rally will start in Squaw Valley this year and it will go for seven days down through California and finish up in the dunes of Glamis, California, near the Mexican border. We’ll go through everything: over rock , through sand dunes, and over silt.

Most of what we’re doing is under Bureau of Land Management, and most places you can’t go straight. There are a few places that’s open desert where you could go in a straight line, but by and large we’re on managed lands. We have to keep it to either open-graded roads you could take a Honda Accord on or on unmarked two tracks.

 The Rebelle Rally is just for women, right?

Yes. It’s great because you’re around all these amazing, powerful, strong women who are trying to race it. What’s really cool is that there are some women that are doing this that don’t have any experience. They’re just really into cars. Then, there are some women that are stay-at-home moms and they’ve never done it before. They’ve never gotten in a car and done this kind of stuff before. It’s great to be able to give these people an opportunity to get into this world.

Just because it is a women’s rally doesn’t mean it isn’t hard though. Last year, we were really working hard. We’re stopping like every 50 meters to take another heading to make sure we’re accurate. The amount of stress that you experience inside the vehicle is out of control.

Isn’t what makes the Rebelle Rally really good is the fact that you can’t use GPS devices?

Yes! You have your maps in the morning and you get a road book with a list of coordinates. Then, you plot those coordinates on your map and you figure out how you’re going to get to them. Some of the coordinates are check points, which are marked. There’s green coordinates or check points which are the easiest to find since they’re marked with a gigantic green flag. The idea is to just use those to kind of keep you moving down the course right.

Then, you have blue check points, which are harder to find and are usually marked. Sometimes you get a small blue flag, but most of the time they’re marked like with a piece of blue rebar in the ground. It’s real easy to miss and those are more difficult to find.

Lastly, there are black check points that are not marked at all. Basically, you’re driving to where you think it is and then you’re using your maps and your compass to triangulate off of known points. Hopefully, you know them, maybe you don’t, you’re probably guessing, to be honest, to figure out exactly where you are on the map. Then, you take the score of your time minus waypoints and you get a score.

Well, that sounds like a lot of stress/fun.

It’s a BLAST!

The 2017 Rebelle Rally runs October 12 to 21. Chevrolet Forum wishes Emme Hall the best of luck!

Photos: Nick Miotke and Nicole Pitell-Vaughan