Keep it up

The fifth round of the Detroit SCCA Rallycross Championship, presented by Team Illuminata Motorsport, took place at Bob’s Family Raceway in Clarksville. Having taken the PA class win at round four the Alba Rallysport team aimed to keep up the pace and build on championship points. Recently returning from a successful stage rally debut in Canada the team’s co-driving star Tammy Allan was unable to attend the event due to work commitments overseas. Driver, David Allan, was let off the leash (a dangerous prospect) and as this was the season halfway mark the final standings were far from decided. Anything could happen.
It was a sunny but cool day, which made a change from the heat wave of recent weeks. Dust was going to be an issue without a doubt. PA class was looking desperately sparse as I stood on the start line awaiting the M4 class cars to finish tearing up the twisty track. There were only four cars entered, Jennifer Glass (#64) and I were the regulars. Mark Bates (#4) moved up from SA class in his WRX wagon and returning competitor Rob Backis (#7) in the Subaru Sti had driven all the way from Illinois. True dedication.
I like the track at Bob’s. Not just because we’ve won there in the past, which undoubtedly gives a psychological edge that should not be underestimated, but it’s very close to Alba Rallysport HQ! It’s the only event where we don’t have to get up before 8am to make registration and I like that. There was a new format to this event and one that turned out to work very well; 3 runs, 5 laps each. Run 1 was clean and it was nice to be back behind the wheel of the AWD Subaru WRX. There wasn’t much of a gap between runs to compare times but I had to step it up, as dark horse Backis (#7) in the Sti was only 0.005min off the pace and snapping at my heels. I rolled up to the start line for run 2 with only one goal in mind; forge a large enough gap that couldn’t be recoverable. This is why I like the 3 run format. It’s all or nothing from the start. You can’t afford to spend time warming up; the pressure is there immediately. I made the choice to take the corners wider and faster staying in 2nd gear rather than slowing down to shift. It paid off and resulted in FTD. We went into the lunch break knowing that there was only one run left that could make or break it but I would have rather been chasing than leading. There was everything to lose in the championship point race. The final run was somewhat sloppy. The dusty conditions had called for the watering truck although there was a little more water dumped on the course than we bargained for. With a marginal lead over 2nd place contender Rob Backis (#7) I took off from the start line hoping the gravel tyres would give me the advantage I needed.

The first lap was slippery and I took out a cone on a left hairpin as I tried to keep to the driest, tightest line. We fought it out over the remaining 5 laps and incredibly finished with exactly the same time, 2.856min. and 1 cone penalty each! A mere 11.8sec. separated 1st and 2nd place overall after 15 laps, remarkable considering the Sti is shod with wide 17” snow tyres. Jennifer (#64) achieved a well deserved 3rd place having struggled with less than ideal gear ratios on the tight track and Mark (#4) finished with a respectable time in 4th place on his first outing in PA class. With luck we’ll see more of the regular PA competitors at the next event in September. See you on the gravel! Photo by Team Illuminata Motorsport.

Special Stage Success

August 11th was an unforgettable day for the Alba Rallysport team. On the build up to their stage rally debut a great amount of effort was focused on simply finishing the Galway-Cavendish Forest Rally organized by the Peterborough Motor Sports Club, in Ontario, Canada. Little did the team know, they would do more than just finish the event. We had been recommended this event by many long time rallyists and it made good sense. Round four of the Ontario rally championship consisted of a single 5 mile road, 6 stages during the day and a 2 pass recce. It was the perfect first rally. Our three goals for this event were simple; Learn, have fun and FINISH!
Tammy (co-driver, team CFO, DJ and my beloved soul mate), Mark (rally car owner and crew chief) and I set out early Friday morning for the 500+ mile tow over to Peterborough, Ontario. Upon arrival we met up with Jeff and Deb Secor who were also crewing for us. Saturday morning was an early start as we headed up to rally HQ in Catchacoma. We had prepared all we could. The car had been tested, broken and the axle rebuilt by Brian Burroughs a week earlier. Tammy had learnt all the stage rally co-driving skills she could in a classroom environment and I had been brushing up on keeping the car on the road at local rallycross events. We just needed (read, wanted!) to race...right NOW!
There were 18 cars entered on the day and we were Car #15 on the road in the 3 strong Group 2 class. The well built Golf Gti passed tech without problems, the crew meeting was short and sweet and recce was complete. Suddenly we were in the car driving through our first MTC to begin the event. We were both a little nervous. Jeff, Deb and Mark wished us good luck and we were checked out onto the short transit towards the first stage. Due to the nature of this single road stage rally there were two turn around points at either end of the closed road creating two stages. Each stage would be run three times with a service after Stage 4. We checked into the ATC on our calculated minute and were sitting in line for the start behind Car #14, a Mazda 323. It was hot. Temperatures were in the high 80’s but it felt hotter in what Tammy describes as one-piece oven mitts. Due to the huge amount of dust, we were separated by 2 minute intervals and the clock ticked by quickly. We checked harnesses, helmets and intercoms. Everything was as it should be. Car #14 took off, leaving a plume of dust. We slowly rolled up to the start line and presented our time card to the starter. The 1 minute countdown began…30 seconds…10 seconds…5, 4…I had a brief flashback of all the advice I had been given from various seasoned rally drivers. Keep it smooth and steady and don’t drive at 100%...3, 2, 1, GO! We took off up a short hill into our first corner, the 1.8 16v engine pulled magnificently in 3rd and 4th gear into a long straight with 3 consecutive jumps…brilliant! I could hear yelps and giggling through the intercom. The nervousness was gone and we were having fun. The stage was a beautiful winding road with cambered corners and Tammy was calling the notes right on cue. About half way through the stage we came into a Left 3 Uphill corner when we saw frantic waving hands and Car #14 stopped at the side of the road, spoiler hanging off the roof. The car was damaged. We slowed down and then stopped alongside the car to ensure the crew was ok. We got the thumbs up so took off again on our way to the end of our first rally stage. The exhilaration was incredible and we couldn’t believe we actually made it through without incident. The surface was very loose gravel but after a few passes this would quickly change. For the first two stages we had planned to hold back a little until I was comfortable with the feel of the car at higher speeds. The VW Golf handled wonderfully. Over-steer was extremely predictable and the Quaife diff pulled us out of corners and up hills with ease.
On Stage 3 we pushed a little harder finding a good rhythm that was just comfortably within our skill level. We passed stranded Car #3 of 2006 winners Vanos & Ockwell who sadly went out later in the day with electrical problems. We were half way through the rally heading into Stage 4 and what a stage it was, clocking our fastest time of the day and 11th position, close behind Group 2 Car #11, another Golf Gti. It was going to be all out for the last two stages but first, back to service. We left the stage and headed along the road to Catchacoma, helmets off, suits open and windows down. Unfortunately we later discovered that we miscalculated our arrival time and entered the MTC a minute too early resulting in a 1-minute penalty. It’s a learning process we told ourselves. C’est la vie! Mark and Jeff dusted off the car, checked the tyres and filled it with fuel. Not that we needed it! Off to Stage 5 and anything could happen. We were flat out through the stage, a little too flat out. The problem with running a stage more than once or twice is that you begin to think you know it. We could see the dust from Car #18 and in places visibility was pretty limited. At one point Tammy asked me if I could actually see where I was going. Politely translated, NO was the answer and I relied on her notes to keep us on the road. It was only a matter of time and towards the end we went far too fast into a Right 3 Over Crest, the car over rotated and we barely kept it out of the trees. We backed up and kept going, although noticeably a little slower. To our relief there was no mechanical damage and we looked forward to the final stage of the rally. Stage 6 was a blast. At one point we hit an uncovered rock with the left front wheel and feared a puncture but thankfully it wasn’t so. We weren’t quite as fast as we were on Stage 4 but after passing Car #18, a BMW 2002 that went out with a bent control arm, we took it as a sign and eased off for the last kilometer to ensure we came out of the stage in one piece. We crossed the finish line laughing and yelling our heads off. We had our time card marked and made our way quickly back to service. A rally isn’t over until you are through the final MTC and I was going to feel much better once I saw the car on the trailer in the service park! Tammy calculated our final in-time and requested it as she handed our timecard in. We were finished! It was a brilliant feeling. We finished 14th overall and brought home the 2nd place trophy for both Group 2 and the Classic Division. The result was totally unexpected but a perfect finish to a superb day of rallying. Thanks must go to Peter Watt and all the other Peterborough Motor Sport Club organizers and competitors for putting on a great event. We certainly hope to go back to Ontario in the future. All images courtesy of Performance Rally Images.

The shakedown shookout

In preparation for their up and coming North American stage rally debut the Alba Rallysport team took to the dirt in a Golf Gti rally car. Driver David Allan, along with co-driver Tammy Allan, describe their day.
The goal of this shakedown test was two fold; 1) Evaluate the mechanical condition of the car under rally conditions and 2) Re-learn how to drive a fwd car after 7 years behind the wheel of awd cars. The car in question is a 1987 VW Golf Gti 16v Group 2 rally car and although it is a very well built machine it has not seen competitive rally action in several months. We therefore felt that is was sensible to shake out any old cobwebs and identify potential mechanical issues before we get into the forest. This will hopefully save time, money and a lot of frustration. We really want to finish our first event! Recently back from a successful Pikes Peak hill climb race, car owner Mark Buskirk and PPIHC driver Colin McCleery joined us for shakedown. Once we were fitted to our seats and belts and given a brief introduction to the car we headed out of the pits.
Session 1 - After a few easy laps we stepped up the pace and found the car just handled brilliantly in the dirt. It is incredibly well balanced and I could throw it into corners without worry. This is an extremely predictable car, just what we want for our first forest rally. Towards the end of the session we noticed the water temperature creeping up but this was more than likely due to the relatively slow course and high ambient temperature. Having been in 110% attack mode on the rallycross circuit for the last two years was obviously noticeable to the on looking crew. Colin greeted me as I took my helmet off wisely reminding me that forest stages are much longer and that I had to pace myself and drive at 85-90%, not flat out. The old adage, “To finish first, first you must finish” is highly apt at this point and this is something I’ll need to remind myself at the start of each stage. The fact that I am driving someone else’s car helps this cause greatly!

Session 2 – Again, we eased into the course, this time taking wider lines and smoothing the turns out, trying to replicate a forest stage, albeit a tight one. We seemed to be just as quick but without the drama and physical effort required to sustain a 110% attack mode driving style. Forest rallies last for hours so it can be as physically demanding as it is mentally. Pacing yourself and the car is great advice. As we came out of a long left turn I felt a shudder from the front wheels. Going into a tight left it got worse so I slowed the car down and took it off the course. As I pulled up to the pits I first thought I had steering issues until I slowly drove away and BANG, no drive. We had destroyed the left CV joint.
That was the end of our shakedown. The car went on the trailer and we’ll need to order new axle assemblies but we achieved what we set out to. We found the weak link and now we have two weeks to rebuild before we head out to Ontario. This is why we test. Look out for our event review from the 2007 Galway Cavendish Forest Rally on August 11th.

Finally!

The fourth round of the Detroit SCCA Rallycross Championship, presented by Team Illuminata Motorsport, had been long anticipated. Sitting in fourth place in the championship the Alba Rallysport team was desperately needing points to move up the standings and it was on June 23rd that the team was awarded their first PA class win of the season, finally!
The 2007 season has been a tough battle so far and I can’t imagine that it’s going to get much easier what with the level of talent in the rally prepared AWD class. This is a class owned by Subaru and despite Sti drivers Justin (#77) and Dan (#177) being absent on the day Jennifer (#64) and Dmitriy (#42) were up for a fight to the bitter end. It was a warm, sunny day and the track had recently been graded with new gravel. With 8 runs and arguably the best course Scott Harvey Jr. has designed to date we were hungry for points and, plenty of sideways action. Run 1 felt great. I’m still trying to figure out where the 0.199 penalty came from but it had been a long, rough week and even at 11am I wasn’t quite awake. The Impreza RS twins of Jennifer and Dmitriy had clean runs. We clearly had to get our act together, and fast. We improved on run 2 but picked up a cone penalty. Car #42 caught a couple of cones also so we were in good shape. Lucky. Come on, take it easy and keep it clean my co-driver reminded me. Run 3 felt fantastic, clean and it was to be the fastest time of the morning session. Run 4, we just got down to business. Our times weren’t ideal but were becoming consistent, our primary goal this season. We went into the lunch break somewhat relieved. The course was reversed for the afternoon session where we had the option to go either left or right at the final hairpin. We spent some time watching the first cars out and argued the merits of each direction until finally the co-driver won suggesting we stay left to carry maximum speed into the turn. Drivers, always listen to your co-driver! We went flat out, pushing every bit of the way with run 5 matching the time to the thousandth of the previous run. Incredible. Dmitriy had an unlucky off, which resulted in a DNF, a 150% time penalty, and a battle scarred Impreza. On run 6 we almost had a major incident when we entered the infield section of the course far too fast and as the car over rotated for a moment I thought we were going to catch a rut on the left side and put it up on two wheels. Amazingly we kept the rubber side down and missed every single cone, managing a quick 360 to make it back through the gate. Our time was slower but clean. We were very lucky! The last two runs of the day were smooth and clean and oh so enjoyable! Run 8 was to be our fastest of the day at 0.899m and netted us the Primitive FTD Challenge win in addition to 20 championship points that moves us into 2nd place. Brilliant!

Considering the wide, open course favoured the turbo power of the Alba Rallysport WRX over the normally aspirated cars it was a great competition were everyone drove 110%. What more could you ask for?

Photos by Team Illuminata Motorsport

Pre-summer testing

With nearly a 2-month break between events 3 & 4 the Alba Rallysport team were getting restless.
As with any motorsport it’s important to keep practicing. The key is seat time and some more seat time and when you think you’ve had enough, more seat time. There are very few things more important. To this end we headed to a local undisclosed location, owned by rally friend Mark Buskirk, where we carved out a short course for some training. The course was similar in length to what we’re used to but with a rough, grassy surface, similar to Coultard’s Farm for those who have competed there. We combined straights, long sweeping turns, slaloms and a hairpin that was extremely challenging; particularly for one vehicle that evening, a Jeep Cherokee that popped a tyre off the rim!
All in all it was a beneficial exercise with the added pleasure of receiving a few tips from stage rally driver Colin McCleery as he rode along with us.
Colin will be competing in the 2007 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb next month sporting new colours in his freshly re-built Ford XR8. John Atsma will be in the silly seat carrying out co-driving duties.
In addition to the driver training we also tested some new parts that were provided by Paul at Team Illuminata Motorsports. The anodized red aluminum Group A rear sway bar links not only look great but held up to the abuse of the bumpy twisty course providing improved rear end rotation compared to the stock plastic units.
See you on the gravel at Fowlerville!

Bring on the speed

We had planned that the third round of the Detroit SCCA Rallycross Championship, presented by Team Illuminata Motorsport, was to be our turning point in terms of class point standings. We needed a first or second place finish, preferably first and 20 points. Like many situations in life, things don’t always go to plan.
The April 21st event was to be held at a new venue, Lenawee Fairgrounds in Adrian. Due to geographical location the Alba Rallysport co-driver wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of leaving before 6am on a Saturday morning. As a result, we prepared and packed the car on Friday night for the drive over to the east side of Michigan and stayed in a small hotel, just minutes from the event. With a few absentees, PA class was down to 6 entrants although this didn’t make the competition any easier. The weather was warm and dry. The new track was smooth but with a very loose gravel surface. The course also appeared to flow well on the walk through however the large amount of strategically placed cones meant that high penalty points may be the decider at the end of the day. 7 runs were planned, starting off with 4 in the morning.

Sitting on the start line we were mentally ready to take the win. The car had been running well and we’d had shown good speed at past events. Just keep it clean and this would be our day we told ourselves. 3, 2, 1, GO! We were off and through the first slalom and into a long sweeping right hander where the WRX laid down the power in a beautiful drift. The back straight slalom was fast, very fast and as we crossed the line our time was a good couple seconds faster than our closest rival, Garant #177. The timing official stepped up to our window, “You missed a gate”. I couldn’t believe it, my co-driver confirmed, we had indeed missed a slalom gate on the back straight, which accounted for it being so fast. Luckily for us the #177 car also missed the same gate taking the 10-second penalty. We couldn’t believe our luck. Run 2, a clean run and the fastest in class, although Kollien #77 had electrical throttle issues and his Sti went into safe mode. We were back in the game and in 2nd place behind Martynov in car #42. Just keep it together my co-driver told me. Run 3 was faster still but one cone penalty kept us in 2nd so on run 4 we went for it; a little too much. Clean through the slalom into the sweeping right hander we were too fast, much too fast. The car over rotated and although I held it from spinning we passed on the inside of two gates much to the disgust of the expletive shouting co-driver on my right. We were nailed with a 20-second penalty for two missed gates and an additional 2 seconds for a cone, just for good measure. This moved us down to last place. Lunch was tasteless to say the least and it wasn't just the soggy sandwich.
We did the calculations, worked out a plan and prepared for the afternoon. 4th place was within our reach, IF we kept it clean and kept the speed up to the level of the morning runs. It was a tall order but we always seem to achieve better results when we have nothing to loose. Run 5, WHAM, fastest run in class and clean. Run 6, KA-POW, fastest again, and clean. Run7, KA-BOOM, “Did we just pull FTD?” Confirmed, fastest time of the day and clean. Not only did we crawl back up to 4th place but also brought home $25 thanks to Primitive Rally. Martynov #42 took the win, proving power and speed are not always the answer rather, cone free consistency. Following car #42 were Kollien #77 and Garant #177.
As previously mentioned, many situations in life don’t always go to plan but sometimes those are the most fun and rewarding days.
Photos by Richard Worden

Down to business

The second round of the Detroit SCCA Rallycross Championship, presented by Team Illuminata Motorsport, couldn’t come soon enough for the Alba Rallysport team. It had been 6 weeks since the last event due to a weather induced postponement and the team was eager to get back on the dirt and fight for points. The weather forecast did not look promising for Fowlerville Fairgrounds, MI on Saturday March 31st. Luckily, nothing came of the 30% chance of afternoon rain on the day and the competitors welcomed the dry, dusty and very fast conditions after the snow and ice the previous month. We went into the event hopeful of collecting badly needed championship points but it wasn’t going to be easy. PA class again had a record number of entries, 10 in all, and it was great to see some new faces join us in the fun. 7 runs were planned for the day with 3 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. We had no option but maximum attack. After a brisk course walk there were a couple of chicanes that we took note of but after the first run of the day we realized just how fast the course actually was.

We came out of the start gate like a bat out of hell and once the times were in we realized how fast we were! Even though we took a cone penalty it was a good start. We just had to keep it together and fend off the Sti of Kollien and Garant. We calmed the speed a little on the second run to reduce the risk of over driving but the first run must have woken the two Sti drivers who were almost neck and neck, a good 4 seconds faster than us due to our cone penalty. We had to act and on run 3 we stole some time from the #177 car but it wasn’t enough and we went into the lunch break in 3rd place. On run 4 after lunch we came out fighting, perhaps a little too hard, taking our third cone penalty and a good 3 seconds off the pace of Kollien who was increasingly faster. Run 5 was clean and quick…it felt quick; as we came across the finish line more than a little sideways we were laughing our heads off. We were having a lot of fun and that run put a good dent in the gap between us, and the #177 car of Garant, who picked up a cone penalty. We gained 4 seconds back but it wasn’t enough to catch the #77 car driven by Kollien who was on fire. Not literally.
We made a small error on run 6, just clipping our fourth cone, although still 1/3 of a second quicker than the #177 car. 1st place was untouchable; we had to fight for 2nd. Kollien pulled more time out of nowhere to take FTD (fastest time of the day) beating us by just 0.72 seconds on the final run. We made it, 2nd place and badly needed 15 points. There were just 1.26 seconds separating Garant and us overall in one heck of a 7 run rallycross battle.

Photos by Nate VanderVeen