news from Rim? [Archive] - SpecialStage Forums

taborrally

05-03-2002, 03:15 PM

I just received a message from my sister, who is down there selling tires, who said that Paul Eklund and Scott Huhn broke the tranny on the new WRX on the press stage. Subaru America offered some new parts (they originally thought it was the diff), but apparently does not have an extra tranny to give.

I'll try to get an update later this evening from her (she'll be hanging out at the service, peddling her goods).

BTW, she hung out at the bar in the hotel lobby with Petter Solberg last night! She says he is tall!

Mark Tabor
taborrallyteam.com

Gary Cavett

05-03-2002, 03:35 PM

That is bad news about paul....he has spare units but if he put the 6sp RA unit with the fancy electronic diffs....that makes for an expensive weekend

thanks for the news thus far

Gary Cavett
Cavett Rally Motorsports
NWR SCCA
car #288

Gary Cavett

05-03-2002, 04:08 PM

Here's what i have heard via cel from an entrant....(girlfriend)

an 1.5hr line wait for registration and tech was just as bad....

900 plus signed up to meet Petter...

people everywhere...then more people.....

but when all you do is stand in line you have zero info about anything else.

Oh... and Jamie will be running in the pro event so you all better re think your picks for the top 3 finishers in prod!!! :7

Gary Cavett
Cavett Rally Motorsports
NWR SCCA
car #288

Andy M

05-03-2002, 05:02 PM

Yes, unfortunately the news about Paul's car is true. I spoke with him for the first time today and he seems like a great guy... but luckily he thinks he can get the car fixed by tonight's first stage. He has an extra tranny, but it's not as strong as the one he had in the car. It's too bad, but obviously it's better than had it happened on the first stage of the night.

[IMG SRC="http://vrpaddock.m4driving.sm/rim_2002/Solberg.jpg"]

Foghorn

05-03-2002, 06:36 PM

Check the front page of Special Stage. The most current and available news seems to be right there.

MDBodnar

05-03-2002, 07:43 PM

Love the updates on the cover page --

One question -- who and what is the third Hyundai? I can't find it on the start list, but then my eyes are tired.

Thanks,
Mike

Jim

05-03-2002, 07:46 PM

>Love the updates on the cover page --
>
>
>One question -- who and what is the third Hyundai? I can't
>find it on the start list, but then my eyes are tired.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike

Our mistake. The P car is at the event, but did not enter.

Jim

Andy M

05-03-2002, 07:48 PM

Oh... Thanks for the great updates.

MDBodnar

05-03-2002, 07:54 PM

You guys are doing a great job with the "cover page" a great scale of info and updates for the US series. Love Jeff's articles.

Mike

taborrally

05-03-2002, 09:42 PM

More Paul Eklund news...

As of the start, Paul had been fitted with a dogbox tranny from the Subaru team, which "loaned" it out to him for the event....

But, it is the "you breaky--you buy" rule...

Mark Tabor
taborrallyteam.com

Jerry Brownell

05-04-2002, 05:23 AM

Friday results are up. WOW! Of the 9 national competitors shown as DNF, 7 started in the top 17. Looks like the big boys are pushing each other hard! DNF: Choiniere, Rod Millen, Tuthill, Patterson, Lahm, Chavez. More big names at the bottom of the list, apparently with troubles: Kosmides, Sheperd, Malik, Rhys Millen. Anyone have news?

Mad Mike

05-04-2002, 06:02 AM

Cool Group 5 ClubRally results:

8 Jay Streets/Janice Damitio Volvo 760 55:14 1 Group 5
9 Dave Coleman/Ryan Cavalier Nissan Sentra 55:14 2 Group 5

Halley ...
http://www.realautosport.com

taborrally

05-04-2002, 06:24 AM

More news from sister Kristen and brother Matt:

They said that there seemed to be a lot of carnage up in the hills last night! Bob Pendergrass end-oed his Blazer, which sounds to me like a pretty amazing feat--if you know Bob and the Blazer!!

Again, a lot of co-drivers dealing with queaziness...Definitely not easy on them!! Kristen was making her way around the service area with the ginger root pills and various other remedies.

Lovell's car is pretty damaged on the co-driver's side, from the roll, but all cosmetic. Dave Latourette went out on the first stage (outside the Holiday Inn) after turning too soon on the paved portion and running into a curbed-island: both wheels broke, along with a lot of other items--a DNF.

Kristen's going to gather some more info and call me with other stories later this morning...

Mark Tabor
taborrallyteam.com

Mad Mike

05-04-2002, 06:30 AM

> Dave Latourette went out on the
>first stage (outside the Holiday Inn) after turning too soon
>on the paved portion and running into a curbed-island: both
>wheels broke, along with a lot of other items--a DNF.
>Mark Tabor
>taborrallyteam.com

Ick ... Any idea if the damage is bad enough that he's likely to miss STPR now? I thought we'd finally get the two stateside blue NB Rally Cars in the same rally next month.

Halley ...
http://www.realautosport.com

taborrally

05-04-2002, 06:34 AM

Don't think so, but talk about suspension damage. It was just not possible to continue, especially without a "legal" service after the first stage. Rod Millen, (driving the new car after a before the event switch) broke on the same stage, although he had a part failure, not really from running into anything, but without service--impossible to continue!!

Mark Tabor

Mad Mike

05-04-2002, 07:06 AM

SS1 - J.Stre 173 D.Cole 165 (up 8)
SS2 - J.Stre 1245 D.Cole 1249 (up 4)
SS3 - J.Stre 1909 D.Cole 1763 (up 150)
SS4 - J.Stre 540 D.Cole 537 (up 153)
SS5 - J.Stre 1130 D.Cole 1247 (up 36)
SS6 - J.Stre 527 D.Cole 563 (Tie breaker to Jay!)

Jeesh - what fun!

Halley ...
http://www.realautosport.com

AlanPerry

05-04-2002, 08:46 AM

So what happened to Tim Paterson this time?

alan

taborrally

05-04-2002, 09:29 AM

Just got off the phone with Kristen: The charity ride with Petter Solberg went for $1200. And, it had to be cash! No name on the winner, but was some woman, who, I'm sure, enjoyed herself!!

Kristen got Petter to sign her Leatherman case! Lon Peterson had an electrical failure of some sort last night and thus was the cause of the DNF.

More later!

Mark Tabor

Mad Mike

05-04-2002, 09:31 AM

Mark said:

>Just got off the phone with Kristen: The charity ride with
>Petter Solberg went for $1200. And, it had to be cash! No
>name on the winner, but was some woman, who, I'm sure,
>enjoyed herself!!

We need to talk to that Subie Gal! Her money is better spent on that Prod Car!! ;-)

Halley ...
http://www.realautosport.com

Rick Hintz

05-04-2002, 10:07 AM

(Coleman is not in the Pro event, so I don't know where he stands relative to us and Shepherd.)

Troubles all around. And 2 stage wins each for Hintz, Streets, and Shepherd. Hintz bros took the opening spectator stage over Shepherd and Streets.

Next stage Streets managed to find the bank on the first corner, doing some damage, but obviously not losing them too much time, since they won the stage. They?ve continued on with some minor spins and some very good stage times. They?re in the lead.

Hintz had 2 electrical problems, same results. First a wire came off to the radiator fan, resulting in extreme overheating on stage 2, loss of a lot of time on stage, loss of much coolant, and penalties in late starting the next stage while boiling continued and the car wouldn?t restart. Next 2 stages the radiator/oil cooler spray system wiring failed, causing more heating problems, but far less drastic. At service all that was fixed, and the last 2 stages were back to normal ? extremely fun! We?re first on stage times, but our road penalties put us down to 2nd standing.

Shepherd has had some fairly major problems too. Limited Slip, reportedly? He was drastically slowed on at least one stage, then very late out of MTC service (possilbly in, also). Standing in 3rd place right now on stage times, plus some additional road penalties, but with the capability he?s shown with some seriously fast stage times, he?s breathing down everybody?s necks ? winning the last 2 stages.

Everybody?s cars are in top shape for today. Should be incredible!

Bill Barfoot

05-04-2002, 10:47 AM

Just Spoke with Steve Westwood...

Steve is out due to failed trans. Only has 1st gear. Will start for PTS today.

Chris Burns had driveline probs, limped through the event, and won some "slow poke" prizes.

Pendergrass is back in today and looking good

Stonecipher is having the drive of his life in 6th overall Club

More Subaru's than you can shake a stick at!!!

taborrally

05-04-2002, 11:39 AM

Cars are heading out to Saturday's stages. Tim Patterson is back running (in the Club). Apparent culprit of last night was an electrical failure, according to John Allen, who is co-driving for Patterson. Lots of folks back running today, some missing body panels....

Car #393 (I think) Vasari/Gater broke a tranny on the charity fun runs this morning....Eric Burmeister gave Mazda Competition's manager Steve a ride--apparently looking good!

More later!

Mark Tabor

Oran Sands

05-04-2002, 12:44 PM

Ouch, That hurts!
...0ran....
www.cherokeetrailsrally.com

Jerry Brownell

05-04-2002, 02:37 PM

What happened to Bill Malik on stage 3? Looks like he lost about 6 minutes there. Without that, he would be the top 2WD car by about 2 minutes.

taborrally

05-04-2002, 03:15 PM

Just talked to Kristen:

Re: the Course Notes and faster jumping of the waterbars: Paul Eklund got done with a stage and the DMS suspension was very hot from all of the use it received--A quote from both Paul and Scott "We were absolutely flying".

They thought they lost the downpipe, but when service cheif Richard Buckner crawled under the car at the first Lake Hughes service, he laughed. Not the downpipe, but the entire exhaust from it! They were trying to rig heat sheilds to keep Scott from bursting into flames.

Ramana rolled and when Petter Solberg saw the damage he said "That looks like some of my work!". Ramana is out.

Nat Stow and Ben Bradley are out: The ECU on the WRX just plain stopped working. As of 4:20ish, the first service was just about halfway over.

More later, when KT calls me back during the second service.

Mark Tabor
taborrallyteam.com

BWargula

05-04-2002, 04:15 PM

Thanks go out to all of you that have been providing us with good little tidbits of info :9 Since there isn't much info coming from the RIM site, we appreciate any "dirt" you can send our way :) Thanks !

Barry Wargula

taborrally

05-04-2002, 05:05 PM

More news from the first service:

Jamie Thomas came in with a massive case of heat stroke. Complaining of almost passing out, with chills, and almost throwing up. Also hit a waterbar hard enough to bend one of Paul Eklund's Primitive skid plate! She also blew up her power steering pump, so whatever she did to make it last through Rim, didn't hold--ended up driving at least one stage without power steering!

Last report I heard was Doc Schrader was checking her out, but that she would probably continue.

More in a bit...

Mark

Jerry Brownell

05-04-2002, 07:32 PM

The skidplate is nothing. I've bent a Guy Light skid plate about 2". But running Rim without power steering? I don't think I could do that. Neither can Carlos Sainz. Remember Safari Rally from last year? If she makes it through, she'll have my respect forever. Press On, Jamie!

ProRallyPix

05-04-2002, 09:02 PM

SCCA says the stage notes make the rally safer.
Competitors say the stage notes make the rally faster.
It's been a while since I took a class in logic, but does this mean that faster=safer?

Jim Culp
prorallypix.com

Mad Mike

05-05-2002, 03:34 AM

According to http://www.rimoftheworldrally.com/NatlResults.htm all three Production Class ProRally entries completed the test. Way to hang in the Subie Gal!

Halley ...
http://www.realautosport.com

J Cox

05-05-2002, 09:41 AM

>http://www.rimoftheworldrally.com/NatlResults.htm

Ooooh Schieble beats Lovel to take the final podium spot! I wonder if there are any funny stories behind this such as:
Was there any groveling by Karl's ex-team to "please slow down just a bit" on the last stage to give our guy 3rd place? Was there an "up yours!" type reply? We'll probably never know. Fun to speculate though.

Jim Cox
#558

Dave LaTourette

05-05-2002, 11:17 AM

Here's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

We went wide on a very silty corner on the spectator stage (just halved the rear spring rate to solve some oversteer problems, but went too far) which created a huge cloud of dust. A couple more turns and we were on pavement headed back toward and parallel to the dirt part of the stage. There was a left turn between some hay bales and a sign, but through the dust cloud (which I created on the wide corner earlier) and the setting sun, I went to the right of the bales (in between the bales and _another_ sign -very confusing) and struck an 8" curb at ~30mph. The car has one bent control arm, broken sway bar link, two bent/broken front wheels, one ruined tire, and most fatal, a disfunctional transmission. I think the transmission broke on the pavement before the 'incident' though.
The transmission is the killer, as it will be difficult and expensive to find a replacement. I won't be making it to STPR.

Dave LaTourette
www.davesport.com

Rich Smith

05-05-2002, 01:06 PM

Anybody know why the Vintage Colt DNF'd on day two?

bazmeg

05-05-2002, 03:35 PM

Must have happened on the opening Spectator Stage, it was parked after that at our hotel along with our car:'(
Julius Vasari
#393

bazmeg

05-05-2002, 03:56 PM

Yeah, your last lap on the charity rides should always be the one before.It was well worth it though and everyone had fun I think.
I still remember my first ride in a rallycar and who I rode with.I follow this guy's career regardless of being fast or slow.
You can't beat that with points.(may be I'm trying to justify my stupidity)
Julius Vasari
#393

Mad Kiwi

05-05-2002, 05:15 PM

Julius mate, what a bummer, I hate the charity rides, thats why I only did 2, I think either everyone does them or no one does, call, email me
Leon

scottrod

05-05-2002, 10:37 PM

Ooooh Schieble beats Lovel to take the final podium spot! I wonder if there are any funny stories behind this such as:
maybe cause, lance and carl both got screwed by subaru
after last year you will have to ask ed bently

jimmy

05-06-2002, 06:37 AM

>SCCA says the stage notes make the rally safer.
>Competitors say the stage notes make the rally faster.
>It's been a while since I took a class in logic, but does
>this mean that faster=safer?
>
>Jim Culp
>prorallypix.com

Well, duh?

You remember the MG ad "Safety Fast" (remember, fast was relative in those dayes).

press on,

MattLovell

05-06-2002, 07:46 AM

I was working the spectator area on stage 8 & 9 (I think, it was the turnarround stage at the begining of Sat) and the Colt was there. when it left after the turnaround, it appeared to have very little power and no rear dampening. I could see the rear end bouncing arround as he appeared to struggle up the hill that started the stage. I have no idea what was wrong with the car, just reporting my observations.

Great event everyone, the spectators all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Matt

RalliArt4

05-06-2002, 08:20 AM

Yeah I thought that was hallarious how Karl Beat the factory Subaru. It was great payback for prodrive screwing lance and karl. BUt to prodrive rally is not sport its buisness.

Bjorn240

05-06-2002, 08:28 AM

We suffered a puncture on the front right tire with 5.8 miles remaining on the stage.

Changing it out cost us about 5 minutes. Guess what we're practicing this week.

- Christian

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
Co-Driver
Valencia Volvo R Sport

KScheible

05-06-2002, 11:49 AM

I usually don't post here due to the realistic possibility of being misunderstood. However I have to take exception to your comment about Prodrive screwing me. (I will let Lance fend for himself if he chooses to.) Prodrive and Subaru have treated me more than fairly. I was signed up front to a 1 year deal last year and I was well taken care of.

I believe that I was the correct choice to help launch the program. However, on a long term basis I was not the best candidate due to the fact that I am closer to the end of my career than the beginning. I think that you would agree with me that it would be awesome to have a young American maximize his (or her) potential and someday run at the WRC level.

Therefore, I share Subaru's opinion that it is best for the US rally scene to groom a driver who can dedicate more time and effort to the sport and gain the skill to run at a higher level. I think that out of all the next generation drivers (under 25) Ramana has the most talent.

Not only are all parties mentioned in your post on good terms (we serviced next to them at RIM), but if you notice the rear side bumper of their team cars you will see my company logo on them!

Given all that, it still was a thrill to finish third!!

I hope to be as lucky at the next event, Karl

Gary Cavett

05-06-2002, 02:30 PM

Well put Karl!!

and great finish at Rim!

You going to make it up here to the NW for Wild West???

Gary Cavett
Cavett Rally Motorsports
NWR SCCA
car #288

Rick Hintz

05-06-2002, 05:24 PM

Doug Shepherd took his repaired car out and absolutely cleaned our clocks. I had to look at the back of the rulebook and see his "Grandmaster" status to feel better!

Unfortunately Jay Streets and Janice Damitio had a flat about 3.5 miles from the end of the first running of Del Sur. They decided to finish carefully, but the rear end suspension broke. Even more unfortunate was an apparent problem Jay had with his knees. As we passed he faced away from us and dropped his driving suit to below his knees and bent over, apparently inspecting his kneecaps. Seems to be a Volvo-caused problem, as NorthWesterners will testify. I hope he recovers and never does that in our presence again.

That left Dave and I around 2 minutes ahead of Doug Shepherd. He was fine-tuning his suspension, and we still held the lead (a tiny one) at the dinner break, after 4 more stages. Doug took care of that and a whole lot more in the dusty night stages.