A few weekends ago, we had made the trip up to Vermont for the VT Winter Rally but due to some unknown problems with the RS and Yuri's rather loose definition of 'good' snow tires on his Audi.. both cars had to bail on the event. It's a shame because I picked up some badass Hakka1 snows and we fabbed a lightbar in the Rosner Racing garage. Unfortunately, upon startup to make the quick drive to registration, something very strange happened and the engine was loping and dumping fuel out of the exhaust. The passenger side cylinders seem to be not combusting even though there is spark and fuel. Compression is low on that side too. Mind boggling. Cam timing is right on and seems like the MAP sensor is working fine. Odd.
So, the rally mobile is still up in Vermont now being worked on by a 2nd mechanic that's a suby specialist. Numero uno mechanic couldn't figure it out. Let's hope it's fixed soon so that we can test out the driving lights in the woods!
Thankfully, I have my good buddies in Vermont that are helping me out. Hell, maybe the RS will stay up in VT and get a cage while we're autoxing down here.
Some pics of the lightbar fab below. Slick mounting... comes through the grill and we'll have 4 hella ff driving lights across the bar which we now have plenty of time to finalize.
While we're talking about Rally, check out Randy Zimmer's post pulled from NASIOC announcing a Rally series that I want to get in on!!
Kearney Rally Village (KRV) "http://www.rallyvillage.com is a privately owned rally park a bit South of Albany, NY that has just announced its 2008 calendar.Joe, start saving up for a driving suit.
Sat 15th March
Sat 12th Apr
Sat 17th May
Sat 21st June
Sat 19th July
Sat 16th Aug
Sat 13th Sept
Sat 18th Oct
Sat 15th Nov
Sat 13th Dec.
The property has great natural features and the roads built so far are every bit as good as ones found on the better full-scale rallys. They expect to at some point have a 6-mile loop available!The rules and sanction are NASA so NASA prep is required for cage and safety equipment.Because this is private property, no license tags or insurance is required, with no transits, no rally ODO is needed.
I've talked to Des Donnelly at KRV and they will have 20' shipping containers for rent so the car and equipment can be stored at the site between rounds which means once the car gets there, no towing truck or trailer will be needed!
This is a perfect opportunity for all the fence-sitters who couldn't afford to run a "proper" rally to get in, get seat time and learn the ropes without having a vast infrastructure of equipment and support in place. These events will be quicker, more technical and longer than a rallyX. The terrain and obstacles are real (harder) and the roads are more stable. This is also a perfect time to implement the Spec Sube build model which is cheap, plentiful and reliable enough to run a full season with little or no maintenance. For those that don't remember back when it was hashed out, here's an overview:http://www.specialstage.com/forums/s...ht=spec+subaru"Here it is: Spec Sube---#1 philosophy:If it costs a lot, is rare or may break other things, it isn't allowed.Any sube, ~90 Legacy right up to the Bugeye Impreza ('02)Really stock unless mentioned below:2.2 enginemax 4.1 gear (3.9 OK, 4.4 not)DMS is the most expensive allowed strut.Strip and lighten OK but all glass or nets.Seam weld OKBrake pads OKButton clutch disk OK---Any other question - answer with this question:Will it real cost money to do?If so, probably not allowed.Will it make the car faster?Probably not allowed.Will it make it safer or less prone to breakage?Probably OK but don't be cute, no Solo-type reasoning allowed.example:Can I take the door beams out of the doors? That won't cost money.Rears OK but fronts should stay in, it's safer.
randy's in-car at an event http://www.randyzimmer.com/video/kearney/12-07/
-dan
