We were all hoping for a great season opener but nobody expected what turned out to be the best snow & ice event we’ve had to date. The Detroit Region SCCA Team Illuminata Motorsport rallycross season got underway in spectacular style under sunny skies.
Granted, temperatures were well below freezing but this didn’t prevent 46 cars from competing against each other over 8 runs. With many new competitors in attendance word of the successful 2007 season had obviously spread.
For Alba Rallysport, the time had come for co-driver Tammy to exercise her skills behind the wheel. With the WRX out of action the team’s Subaru Forester XT recce car was brought in to contend with a 14 strong SA (Stock AWD) class. Equipped with sump and diff guards the only thing it lacked was a set of snow/ice tyres, however the BFG T/As performed better than expected.
The first two runs were taken with caution to get the feel for the course and the varying surface conditions yet managing to fend off the #77 Sti. We pushed hard on run 3 then backed off for a few runs until run 7 where Tammy achieved her fastest time of the day. It wasn’t quite enough however and we dropped a position on the final run after a spin. Not entirely the driver’s fault, I did shout for her to get on the gas just a little too early coming out of the first turn causing the car to over rotate and hit a snow bank. Refusing to check her times after every run was the tactic of the day and it paid off, taking only 1 cone penalty (better than any of my events last year!) and a well-driven 12th place. Consistency was the goal for this first event and with that in mind we consider it a resounding success.
See you in Fowlerville on March 15th!
Granted, temperatures were well below freezing but this didn’t prevent 46 cars from competing against each other over 8 runs. With many new competitors in attendance word of the successful 2007 season had obviously spread.
For Alba Rallysport, the time had come for co-driver Tammy to exercise her skills behind the wheel. With the WRX out of action the team’s Subaru Forester XT recce car was brought in to contend with a 14 strong SA (Stock AWD) class. Equipped with sump and diff guards the only thing it lacked was a set of snow/ice tyres, however the BFG T/As performed better than expected.
The first two runs were taken with caution to get the feel for the course and the varying surface conditions yet managing to fend off the #77 Sti. We pushed hard on run 3 then backed off for a few runs until run 7 where Tammy achieved her fastest time of the day. It wasn’t quite enough however and we dropped a position on the final run after a spin. Not entirely the driver’s fault, I did shout for her to get on the gas just a little too early coming out of the first turn causing the car to over rotate and hit a snow bank. Refusing to check her times after every run was the tactic of the day and it paid off, taking only 1 cone penalty (better than any of my events last year!) and a well-driven 12th place. Consistency was the goal for this first event and with that in mind we consider it a resounding success.
See you in Fowlerville on March 15th!
Photo by chrisamosphotography.com
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