cool youtube video of us at the spectators hairpin, not sure who the videographer was, so it was a nice find on youtube.
I've also added the in-car from SS2 to youtube, you'll see I had a bit more trouble with the hairpin on the 2nd pass, losing about 4 seconds at the corner, although faster on SS2 overall than on SS1. However, not pushing on both stages as it was the first time racing the car in a year (and icy conditions yet)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
2008 Summary
Well, 2008 was not the best year of racing!!
Kananaskis rally just finished up last weekend. The rally car was running good, we were just winding up the car, starting slowly since it has been a full year since I've raced the car. We made 2 passes of the Forest Loop spectators stage when one of the competitors behind us had a serious incident. The co-driver was seriously hurt and the ambulance we had contracted expended all their supplies caring for him while STARS air ambulance was on the way. Unfortunately, the ambulance could not be re-deployed for the remaining stages without supplies, and the rally was over :(. Obviously, the real dissappointment is one of our fellow competitors being hurt but the rally also ended much sooner than anyone anticipated.
So the car is parked for the winter, waiting for the 2009 Cochrane Rally.
Chad.
Kananaskis rally just finished up last weekend. The rally car was running good, we were just winding up the car, starting slowly since it has been a full year since I've raced the car. We made 2 passes of the Forest Loop spectators stage when one of the competitors behind us had a serious incident. The co-driver was seriously hurt and the ambulance we had contracted expended all their supplies caring for him while STARS air ambulance was on the way. Unfortunately, the ambulance could not be re-deployed for the remaining stages without supplies, and the rally was over :(. Obviously, the real dissappointment is one of our fellow competitors being hurt but the rally also ended much sooner than anyone anticipated.
So the car is parked for the winter, waiting for the 2009 Cochrane Rally.
Chad.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
2008 Kananaskis Rally Preview
Date: November 8 and 9th, 2008
Location: Kananaskis Country, AB
Weather forecast: snow flurries off and on up to the event, near freezing temps
The car is all ready for the trailer, for the ~8hour trip to Calgary. In fact, it's running better than it ever has, so now I'm almost scared to touch it. It looks like there are 15 teams entered which, I think, is about average for this event. It's a mix of fast competitors and even some people who are relatively new to the sport. Christa Monasch of Calgary, AB will be co-driving for me at this event, and I'm very thankful that she has agreed to join me. There have been no significant changes to the car over the summer (besides fixing the overheating problems I was having), although the car has not yet been raced since some significant improvements to the power of the car. However, with the forecast being for snow, power may not matter too much.
Check out the entries, team profiles and, eventually, results at:
www.kananaskisrally.com
Location: Kananaskis Country, AB
Weather forecast: snow flurries off and on up to the event, near freezing temps
The car is all ready for the trailer, for the ~8hour trip to Calgary. In fact, it's running better than it ever has, so now I'm almost scared to touch it. It looks like there are 15 teams entered which, I think, is about average for this event. It's a mix of fast competitors and even some people who are relatively new to the sport. Christa Monasch of Calgary, AB will be co-driving for me at this event, and I'm very thankful that she has agreed to join me. There have been no significant changes to the car over the summer (besides fixing the overheating problems I was having), although the car has not yet been raced since some significant improvements to the power of the car. However, with the forecast being for snow, power may not matter too much.
Check out the entries, team profiles and, eventually, results at:
www.kananaskisrally.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Kananaskis 2008
Quick Post: It's been a very busy summer and fall (still is), but I'm doing everything I can to get the car on the trailer for Kananaskis Rally on the November 8 and 9 weekend. Kananaskis rally 2007 was the last time the car was actually raced, so I hope I remember where everything is :)
Chad.
Chad.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Rocky Summary
Well, bad news again. I discovered what seems to be a cracked head on Wednesday night before the rally, 2 hours after I was supposed to have left for the event. I had an overheating problem develop a couple of weeks ago, and replaced virtually every cooling system component trying to resolve the problem. Too bad I'm not a better mechanic, or I may have diagnosed the real problem more quickly. I'm hoping it's not a cracked block, as I have spent a great deal of money on the block.
We had to withdraw from the rally again....2 rallies, 2 withdrawals...very dissapointing.
We left for Calgary anyhow as my family had made many plans for visiting. I hung around the rally for the weekend visiting with everyone and watching some of the action, and helping with scrutineering. Thanks to everyone who expressed concern and wishes that we were there competing.
The weather was quite difficult for the competitors, and extremely difficult for the volunteers at the event. I think they all deserve a HUGE thanks. Pat Richard won the event in his new 2008 Subaru Sti. Results are at www.rockymountainrally.com
I've got to take the summer off and develop our basement (buying more rally time from my wife). John will be competing with Brian Maplethorpe in the upcoming Mountain Trials Rally (www.rallyBC.com). I wish them the best of luck.
We had to withdraw from the rally again....2 rallies, 2 withdrawals...very dissapointing.
We left for Calgary anyhow as my family had made many plans for visiting. I hung around the rally for the weekend visiting with everyone and watching some of the action, and helping with scrutineering. Thanks to everyone who expressed concern and wishes that we were there competing.
The weather was quite difficult for the competitors, and extremely difficult for the volunteers at the event. I think they all deserve a HUGE thanks. Pat Richard won the event in his new 2008 Subaru Sti. Results are at www.rockymountainrally.com
I've got to take the summer off and develop our basement (buying more rally time from my wife). John will be competing with Brian Maplethorpe in the upcoming Mountain Trials Rally (www.rallyBC.com). I wish them the best of luck.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Rocky Preview
10 days away from Rocky, and I'm getting excited. 36 cars entered so far, including Pat Richard who is supposed to be debuting a 2008 Subaru STi. Most mechanical issues with my car have been sorted...I've been working in the evenings to clean, check, re-check everything to try and eliminate potential problems during the race.
Rocky is a personal favorite event. This is the first event I ever attended (2004), and decided on the side of that dusty road that this was something I wanted to do myself. We are entered as national competitors this year so that we can run the Friday stages in Kananaskis. We won't be pushing on the Friday stages, however, as we don't want to risk breaking the car before the regional portion of the race begins. I'm hoping for warm dry conditions, as that is where I have performed best in the past (although I haven't been given a lot of opportunity as most rallies I've competed in have had snow and ice to deal with). Last year we finished 12th of ~28 regional competitors (iirc) and we were having mechanical issues that seriously limited power. This year we have more power and more experience, so I'm hoping for a top ten regionally.
Link to the event page:
http://www.rockymountainrally.com/
Take care all. I'll post stories, pictures and video (hopefully) following the event.
Chad.
Rocky is a personal favorite event. This is the first event I ever attended (2004), and decided on the side of that dusty road that this was something I wanted to do myself. We are entered as national competitors this year so that we can run the Friday stages in Kananaskis. We won't be pushing on the Friday stages, however, as we don't want to risk breaking the car before the regional portion of the race begins. I'm hoping for warm dry conditions, as that is where I have performed best in the past (although I haven't been given a lot of opportunity as most rallies I've competed in have had snow and ice to deal with). Last year we finished 12th of ~28 regional competitors (iirc) and we were having mechanical issues that seriously limited power. This year we have more power and more experience, so I'm hoping for a top ten regionally.
Link to the event page:
http://www.rockymountainrally.com/
Take care all. I'll post stories, pictures and video (hopefully) following the event.
Chad.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Cochrane Results....
....did not include us, except for a "DNS" at the bottom. We had ignition problems that ended our rally before it started. A HUGE thank-you to everyone who tried to help us, most of all to Colin Armstrong (who went on to win the rally, btw - some good karma perhaps?).
The car was running excellent after all the work done to over the winter and we were even planning on pushing a bit more at this rally to move us up the leaderboard. During recce, the car started missing and then quit all together. The distributor rotor had blown apart. No problem, right...just get a new distributor. So Colin provides us with his tow rig so that we can finish recce and tow the car back into Cochrane. He also offers up a distributor he has in his garage in Calgary. We had the car 'tech'd' on the trailer back in Cochrane, then I followed Colin to his place to pick up the new distributor. I put the new distributor in and the car starts right away. I tried to set the ignition timing, but the timing was all over the place and I couldn't find a spot where the car wanted to run right.
Sidenote: The tach is plugged into a pickup on the back of the MSD ignition box (my car runs dual sidedraft carbs now). When the car started missing, the tach started fluttering up around 10,000rpm (but the car was barely running).
So, when I'm trying to set the timing with the new distributor we check and the tach is doing that fluttering thing again. I get the car so that it's running ok, but the timing light tells me I'm wayyyyy off. I jump in the car to go for a quick spin and it dies again. I pop of the distributor cap and now this rotor is melted and in pieces. It turns out that the rotor was only a symptom of a problem with the msd box. So I have a new one coming (thanks ebay), and extensive testing will be done before Rocky.
It was a VERY dissappointing way to finish the weekend. While everyone else was racing, I was on the highway towing my car back to Saskatchewan. My biggest apologies go to John Hall, the teams co-driver. It was a weekend we both looked forward to for a long time, and it's my responsibility to keep the car running good....this time we didn't even make the start.
The car was running excellent after all the work done to over the winter and we were even planning on pushing a bit more at this rally to move us up the leaderboard. During recce, the car started missing and then quit all together. The distributor rotor had blown apart. No problem, right...just get a new distributor. So Colin provides us with his tow rig so that we can finish recce and tow the car back into Cochrane. He also offers up a distributor he has in his garage in Calgary. We had the car 'tech'd' on the trailer back in Cochrane, then I followed Colin to his place to pick up the new distributor. I put the new distributor in and the car starts right away. I tried to set the ignition timing, but the timing was all over the place and I couldn't find a spot where the car wanted to run right.
Sidenote: The tach is plugged into a pickup on the back of the MSD ignition box (my car runs dual sidedraft carbs now). When the car started missing, the tach started fluttering up around 10,000rpm (but the car was barely running).
So, when I'm trying to set the timing with the new distributor we check and the tach is doing that fluttering thing again. I get the car so that it's running ok, but the timing light tells me I'm wayyyyy off. I jump in the car to go for a quick spin and it dies again. I pop of the distributor cap and now this rotor is melted and in pieces. It turns out that the rotor was only a symptom of a problem with the msd box. So I have a new one coming (thanks ebay), and extensive testing will be done before Rocky.
It was a VERY dissappointing way to finish the weekend. While everyone else was racing, I was on the highway towing my car back to Saskatchewan. My biggest apologies go to John Hall, the teams co-driver. It was a weekend we both looked forward to for a long time, and it's my responsibility to keep the car running good....this time we didn't even make the start.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
News from Feb 27, 2008
Thought I would post a bit of news on the blog:
- 2.5 weeks to go to Cochrane rally 2008, I hope there's a huge turnout of competitors
- No "in-town" spectator stages at Cochrane this year :( , but exchanged with more stage distance and start and finish is at the service area - so it was a good trade. lots of good spots to spectate on the stages
- I've been spending 2-3 hours per weeknight working on the car, and as much time as I can get on the weekend
- Should have my car running this week (weekend?) as almost all mods are complete, but might be back on stock cams again due to setbacks during install of new cams.
- likely no new paint in time for Cochrane
- The rallywest homepage has been updated with a new look..I like it www.rallywest.com
- Almost 1000 visits to my blog...that's kinda cool
- Time to get back to work!
- 2.5 weeks to go to Cochrane rally 2008, I hope there's a huge turnout of competitors
- No
- I've been spending 2-3 hours per weeknight working on the car, and as much time as I can get on the weekend
- Should have my car running this week (weekend?) as almost all mods are complete, but might be back on stock cams again due to setbacks during install of new cams.
- likely no new paint in time for Cochrane
- The rallywest homepage has been updated with a new look..I like it www.rallywest.com
- Almost 1000 visits to my blog...that's kinda cool
- Time to get back to work!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Welcome to 2008
I'm taking a quick breath away from work for a moment to update the blog.
I am pleased with how the 2007 season went and am looking forward to 2008. 2007 really was a 'building' year as it was my first full year competing. I competed in 4 events during 2007 and the finish positions generally improved throughout the year. The car got a new engine and the team got a new co-driver (thanks John) over the summer break. I also put a video camera in the car half way through the year, so I now have some in-car vids to keep my blood warm on these cold Saskatchewan winter nights. A couple of the videos I'll post up on Youtube and put a link here for everyone else. I've also been working on the 'build gallery' that I've been promising, pretty much since I started this blog. I have all the pictures organized now, and just need to find some time to post them online.
I've been working on the car a bit recently. The car was feeling a bit neglected, as I parked it in the garage following Kananaskis in November and hadn't looked at it again until near the end of January (did I mention that work has been crazy). I've finally gotten around to putting the new cams in the car, and have also recently sourced some sidedraft carbs. The carbs are 'old-school', but the car will make more power with them than it was with the original VW fuel injection system. I'm hoping that the combination of the carbs and the new cams will really be noticeable. Now I just need to become a better driver!!
I've also decided to put a little more paint on the car. The plain white (it's actually light grey) just doesn't look enough like a race car. The painting, however, does not have priority over the engine work I am doing and will depend on my schedule between now and Cochrane in March.
I am pleased with how the 2007 season went and am looking forward to 2008. 2007 really was a 'building' year as it was my first full year competing. I competed in 4 events during 2007 and the finish positions generally improved throughout the year. The car got a new engine and the team got a new co-driver (thanks John) over the summer break. I also put a video camera in the car half way through the year, so I now have some in-car vids to keep my blood warm on these cold Saskatchewan winter nights. A couple of the videos I'll post up on Youtube and put a link here for everyone else. I've also been working on the 'build gallery' that I've been promising, pretty much since I started this blog. I have all the pictures organized now, and just need to find some time to post them online.
I've been working on the car a bit recently. The car was feeling a bit neglected, as I parked it in the garage following Kananaskis in November and hadn't looked at it again until near the end of January (did I mention that work has been crazy). I've finally gotten around to putting the new cams in the car, and have also recently sourced some sidedraft carbs. The carbs are 'old-school', but the car will make more power with them than it was with the original VW fuel injection system. I'm hoping that the combination of the carbs and the new cams will really be noticeable. Now I just need to become a better driver!!
I've also decided to put a little more paint on the car. The plain white (it's actually light grey) just doesn't look enough like a race car. The painting, however, does not have priority over the engine work I am doing and will depend on my schedule between now and Cochrane in March.
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