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!

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.