TIM/Alba Rallysport at Delta Imports

The 4th Annual 28th Street cruise in Grand Rapids was quite something this year. I don't think I've seen such a variety of cars on one street before. Cars ranging from American Muscle to British Classics, Custom Hotrods to Import Tuners; and the people, there were thousands of people. It was quite something.
We had the rally car on display at Delta Imports for most of the day where people stopped by so excited to talk rally and find out more about the car and the sport. We joined in the fun and took an hour to drive along 28th Street where we made a few heads turn. Naturally, it was the younger kids who connected with the car having seen similar versions on computer games or TV. It was pretty cool to have them run up to the side of the road and shout "Colin McRae Rally Car!" as we drove by. We handed out TIM stickers and postcards which made them smile even more. Who knows, perhaps we'll see some of those kids out stage rallying in 10 years. It was a great day.

Michigan Super Rally

This weekend TIM/Alba Rallysport will compete in a first of it's kind event in the Midwest. Auto City Speedway in Clio, MI will host the first mixed tarmac/gravel rallycross with two cars on the track at once battling it out for a share of $2500.
Still on a high from our recent success in West Virginia we've had to make some slight changes to the car setup to stay competitive and to have a hope in winning some of the prize money. It's a knock out style of racing where the winner progresses to the next round and with $1000 going to 1st place we'll be driving flat out from the start!
This is very much an experimental event but one we hope to see more of in the future.
More information can be found at misupermoto.com

Astonishing Appalachian Success

NASA Rally West Virginia, August 1st -2nd, was the first gravel rally for the TIM/Alba Rallysport crew in their Super Stock WRX.
In the weeks running up to the 2 day event the team prepared the car for the 19 twisty, rocky stages throughout the hills above the town of Elkins. The prep time paid dividends with many cars literally being torn apart by rocks and trees that lined the narrow stages. There was no room for error and of the 33 entries only 21 finished the event, many cars succumbed to the unpredictable, sharp turns and endless drop offs. Despite the carnage and starting 13th on the road (unlucky for some) TIM/Alba Rallysport achieved a remarkable 1st in class and 5th overall. “Our goal was simply to finish the rally by driving cautiously along the middle of the road” stated co-driver Tammy at the end of two long days in the car. “I can’t believe it!” exclaimed driver David when he heard the final result early Sunday morning, “It’s a shame our class competitors Scott Wilburn and Jimmy Brandt went out so early with mechanical failure. We were really looking forward to seeing how our times compared on gravel. Next time…”

During day 1 the husband and wife crew traded times with car #10 but the #28 car of Eixenberger/Slocum was snapping at the WRX’s rear bumper until an unfortunate puncture moved them back down the order. “We had great fun swapping seconds with the O’Leary lads in the #10 Evo but they were consistently faster than us on Saturday.” said David. Following heavy rain on Saturday morning the second day’s 10 stages (2 were dropped due to delays) proved a challenge for the crew who decided that a calmer-calmer strategy was in order. “I’m amazed the car took the abuse it did.” stated David who quietly admits to giggling uncontrollably on the fast, smooth 6.6 mile Boney Turk stage, “SS9 was the first time we had the chance to open the car up properly. It’s got some grunt in it and that stage is bloody fantastic.”

As usual, Paul Eddleston, Team Illuminata Motorsport owner was on hand in the service parks with Mark Buskirk. “It was a bit boring actually. We just swapped the Team Dynamics wheels front to rear once and checked the oil level a couple of times.” jested Paul who continued, “The most mechanical work we did all weekend was on the tow rig on Sunday morning as it needed new brake pads before the drive back to Michigan. I consider that a successful weekend’s rallying.”

Photos curtesy of James Shoulders.

The TIM/Alba Rallysport team would like to thank;
Chad @ Racecraft Engineering
Jan and Tony @ speedindustry.biz
Stan @ Delta Subaru of Grand Rapids

teamilluminata.com
rcmvinyl.com
nasarallysport.com

Heading for the Hills of West Virginia

This weekend, TIM/Alba Rallysport will face the challenging gravel stages of NASA Rally West Virginia, the 3rd round of the Atlantic Rally Cup (ARC).
Following a successful first outing to Tennessee in May where the husband and wife crew achieved a pleasantly surprising 2nd place in class, the rocky forest roads around Elkins, WV will require quite a different driving strategy.
“I grew up driving twisty tarmac roads in the highlands of Scotland so I felt quite at home on the stages in Tennessee.” said driver David Allan who continues, “Gravel is a completely different game. There’s a lot more that can go badly wrong and we have a great deal to learn. Suffice to say, we’ll be treading very lightly among the other 36 cars.”
In the first year with a 2004 Super Stock Subaru WRX the team are focused on finishing events, building experience and continuously developing the car. Over the past few weeks the car has been transformed from tarmac to gravel spec. TIM owner Paul Eddleston, “It’s important to have a strong reliable wheel and tyre package for gravel events and what better combination than Team Dynamics wheels and Hankook tyres?”

Co-driver Tammy gets the last word, “Finish, finish finish. This is our goal. It will be a long, two-day event and with no recce we plan to take it easy, become familiar with the stages and learn from the other crews.”
TIM/Alba Rallysport extend their thanks to Chad Klungle from Racecraft, Stan in the parts department at Delta Subaru of Grand Rapids and of course friends and family who have contributed or put up with the long hours spent preparing the rally car.

teamilluminata.com
albarallysport.blogspot.com
rcmvinyl.com
nasarallysport.com

Car setup, crap times!

The fifth round of the 2008 Detroit SCCA rallycross presented by Team Illuminata Motorsport was the first chance we had to take the WRX out to play locally. Here's how it went...

Although the prior week had been extremely dry, the morning of July 12th saw torrential rain resulting in conditions more akin to off-road racing, not rallycross. I was in two minds whether to get the car dirty...oh come on, this is a rally car not a Shine and Show trailer queen.

Photo by Chris Amos - chrisamosphotography.com

We loaded up and headed out on the epic 20 minute drive to Clarksville. Coming off the back of a successful first outing in Tennessee our goal was to see how the car handled on dirt. Since the addition of the Racecraft cage and legit gravel suspension the car was a totally different machine and I'm finding that I'm having to re-learn how to drive it. We set the chassis up to turn in well but not to be too twitchy, the last thing you want at 60-70mph flying through the forest. As a result we discovered that the car understeered too much on the tight rallycross course although that was also partly due to the fact I hadn't driven hard on gravel for 6 month. I was a little rusty. The first couple of runs weren't the smoothest and upon inspection under the car I discovered the rear sway bar end link bolts had worked loose, probably contributing to the understeer. As the day progressed I explored several cornering techniques, some which worked better than others. I learned a great deal from the 14+ runs and we've tweaked the chassis considerably since then and will be testing this weekend. Hopefully we'll see some improvements in both the car and and driver!

5 days until we leave for West Virginia...

Rally withdrawal...

It's been 5 weeks since Rally Tennessee and we're getting really restless. After tearing the car down to check out the wear and tear we were surprised to find very little wrong with it. Of course the tyres and pads look like they've seen some abuse but nothing out of the ordinary. We raised Tammy's seat a little so she could see over the dash and she'll test it out at the next rallycross in 2 weeks time.
We need to get the Terratrip fixed or replaced as it stopped working before it's very first MTC! It most certainly is a faulty unit so should be under warranty.

Some new Team Dynamics Pro Rally 1 wheels are on order thanks to Team Illuminata Motorsport so we'll get the Hankook's mounted as soon as they arrive.
We're hoping the roof vent arrives before August so as to keep the cabin a little cooler. I need to rewire the light pod harness for no other reason that it looks untidy and annoys me! Change the oil and fluids and we'll be ready for the next stage rally, round 3 of the NASA Atlantic Rally Cup, Rally West Virginia on August 1-2nd.
August will be a busy month what with the very first Super Rally event in Michigan on the 16th; details can be found at misupermoto.com. The following weekend sees the 4th annual 28th St Cruise in Grand Rapids so bring the family out to see some cool classic cars and keep your eyes peeled for a few rally cars during the weekend!