In The Garage

'Fascination quattro' by Frank Sprongl

2012-01-30T15:30:00.003-05:00

Also see previous entries:

Audi vs Subaru

The Dreamer and the Legend

Sprongl's A2 and The Dreamer

Sprongl Rally Montage

And here's Frank talking about the car:

2012 Sno*Drift Report

2012-01-29T15:35:00.021-05:00

"In my 20 years of rally, this was the most difficult", David Higgins (Isle of Man) overall winner.

That might be an understatement. A combination of lack of snow and freeze-thaw cycles in the days before the rally, left the roads covered with ice. There's always some amount of ice, but this was beyond anything anyone had seen. Treacherous and unyielding. To make matters worse for us as the Safety Sweep car (last car to complete each stage), the 65 cars ahead of us polished the ice down even more ... it became so bad as the temperatures dropped that during a night stage, the Rally Wabbit was simply unable to climb one of the longest, steepest roads in the rally. Even one of the 4-wheel drive Heavy Sweep trucks was stopped and spinning right alongside us. You couldn't stand on the hill without holding onto the car. Luckily, one of the 4WD trucks had studded tires. Even he struggled to get to the top and after several attempts, was able to pull us and the heavy sweep truck to the top. Thanks!

For Day 2 we decided to switch to Tim's 4WD truck. The roads were very slightly better thanks to light snow that at least gave a hint of traction. To top it all off, the rally ended in a white-out blizzard that forced the cancellation of the last stage due to zero visibility. But we all still had to transit several miles through the blizzard to the awards banquet. I'm friggin' exhausted. ~~And having recurring nightmares of blind, over crest, off camber, downhill turns lined with large trees~~ ....

Thanks to Tim for a fantastic job behind the wheel. I don't think we went off all weekend. Well, except for a freak electrical fire inside the car while we were on Stage that caused us to quickly exit the vehicle! At first, I thought we were going to watch the car burn to the ground in the middle of the forest. By the time I got the extinguisher, the smoke was gone. After a few minutes of checking things, we were able to jump back in and 'press on regardless' :)

Some on-board footage in Chris Duplessis' Ford R2 Fiesta, 2WD winner. You can see him searching for traction, mainly by running along the very edge of the road where some snow and gravel was visible in spots.

An aerial shot by Matt Johnston* of Chris Duplessis testing the R2 (click here for full wallpaper size):

*How'd he do that? Go here: Aerial Camera Platform

Remnants of LSPR

2012-01-24T22:12:00.001-05:00

I guess I haven't had the rear wheels off the Rally Wabbit since LSPR. Not sure if this might have been the source of the wheel vibration ..... the Sno*Drift prep continues.

Nowicki/Brandt Fire Arrow

2012-01-24T21:22:00.001-05:00

Talented graphic designer Dan Christie came up with some awesome stickers for Sno*Drift. Of course, they're not quite as full of awesomeness as the new livery for the Rally Wabbit ... which should be unveiled tomorrow night.

Early 911s in Rally

2012-01-24T01:11:00.006-05:00

From Forum-Auto:

And a Carrera 6 at Dijon 1968:

The Car Collection of Juha Kankkunen

2012-01-23T19:26:00.006-05:00

Click here: Juha's Incredible Collection!

Hmmmm, these look vaguely familiar:

4-time WRC Champion Juha in action:

The One That Got Away

2012-01-22T22:19:00.001-05:00

Magnum Opus Mini-Poster

2012-01-20T19:14:00.000-05:00

Click here: RALLY AMERICA MAGNUM OPUS 2012

Monte Carlo Rally - Day 1

2012-01-18T16:55:00.003-05:00

As if it isn't always difficult to follow the WRC events, this year it is nearly impossible. The loss of promotor North One has left the official WRC website dormant. And Rally Radio Live appears to be Rally Radio Dead. The live timing & scoring app for my Droid is also dead. So it's down to fishing through enthusiast websites for info. Apparently, Latvala was leading before he missed a pace note, rolled and went out of the event. Heavy snow predicted in the mountains for tomorrow and Friday should make it anybody's rally to win.

At least Michelin are still on top of things. Here's Day 1 highlights:

286,789

2012-01-18T14:52:00.002-05:00

Not too bad. I took my 2004 VW Jetta TDI out of regular business service today. 7 years and 286,000 miles and it looks and drives pretty much like the day I bought it and still gets 42MPG. Followed the VW recommended service schedule to the 'T'. The only thing that ever failed was a turbocharger at around 200,000. Sweet car. And the KBB retail value is still $8,400!

T-Minus 3 Months and Counting ....

2012-01-18T09:14:00.000-05:00

Is it possible? Only 3 months until the running of Magnum Opus? Holy crap.

Rally America - Magnum Opus Rally 2012

Audi Pro Skiing Championship

2012-01-15T18:42:00.002-05:00

Fire Arrow Lives

2012-01-14T11:46:00.005-05:00

Nowicki's Fire Arrow nearly ready for Sno*Drift!

Here's a pic I snapped at POR in either 79, 80, or 81. This is not Steve's car.

And then there's this .........

Nice Cage.

2012-01-13T08:02:00.001-05:00

Tunnel Fun

2012-01-12T08:12:00.000-05:00

On the way to Daytona in 2007:

His Father Was a Mudder

2012-01-10T06:52:00.002-05:00

"This horse loves the slop. It's in his bloodlines. His father was a mudder, his mother was a mudder."

Harri Rovanpera at WRC Argentina 2005 in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo:

Porsche Does It - 1970

2012-01-09T07:53:00.002-05:00

Separated at Birth?

2012-01-08T21:35:00.002-05:00

My buddy Karl sent me this postcard. Shades of the Graywolf! I might need to add some nose graphics for this year's events .....

The Evolution of F1 in a Single Photo

2012-01-05T10:37:00.002-05:00

A friend sent this to me. Pretty much sums it up ....

D Mack

2011-12-31T00:02:00.002-05:00

Drill Here. Drill Now.

2011-12-30T13:46:00.001-05:00

Nice to be reminded every so often of what our reliance on MidEast oil goes to support (well, besides terrorism, wars, and mundane stuff like that ... ). I present, the all-Porsche, all the time, Qatar police force:

Gymkhana ... Euro Version

2011-12-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

Best Taxi Ride. Ever.

2011-12-29T20:08:00.001-05:00

Click here: BEST TAXI RIDE

Lotus Exige R-GT WRC

2011-12-27T11:34:00.002-05:00

Lotus will enter the WRC next year with the Exige R-GT. Unfortunately, it's a tarmac-only car. It will run in the GT category with the Porsche GT3. It has some distant roots to the late 70's Talbot Sunbeam Lotus shown in the background.

More info here: THE RETURN OF THE RALLYING SPORTS CAR

Swamp Rocket

2011-12-22T19:11:00.005-05:00

More here: THE SECRET 10-STORY SPACE ROCKET BURIED IN THE SWAMPS OF FLORIDA

A Day at the Auction

2011-12-21T22:33:00.003-05:00

So Tim & I headed on down to the Flint auto auction the other day to find me a new car for one of my employees. The only way to describe this place is organized chaos. This is a dealer-only auction and they run somewhere around 3000 cars in 1 day! There are 8 auctions going simultaneously in one large building all day long starting at 8AM. 8 long lanes of cars snake around the building. There are a 100 or more drivers who somehow figure out which cars to get in at the right time in the right lane. Then the average auction lasts only 60 seconds - the car barely comes to a stop and the auction is over and the next car is driving up right behind it! We had several cars we were interested in, all in different lanes of course. So we had to continually run back and forth between the lanes to keep track of where the cars were and how close they were to the block. Absolutely crazy.

Petter Solberg & Ford 2012

2011-12-16T21:33:00.002-05:00

Porsche in Le Mans - The Early Years

2011-12-12T22:43:00.005-05:00

A long run-up to 2014:

Hopefully, they won't have the aero problems that plagued the GT1!

And then there was Mercedes' GT1 with the same problem:

These 1990's blowovers were almost identical to the Unlimited Hydroplanes:

Block Does LA

2011-12-09T19:11:00.000-05:00

Love him or hate him, this dude is having way more fun than the rest of us!

December 8: The Day The Music Died.

2011-12-08T19:37:00.003-05:00

Most would think John Lennon. Me? This is the day the FIA banned Group B rally cars, 25 years ago. Turn it up. But I don't need to tell ya that.

FS: 1985 Audi Sport - $234,000

2011-12-06T15:53:00.000-05:00

Just in case you bought that Audi Sport brochure on eBay last month for $4800, here's the matching car for only $234,000.

eBay Audi Sport quattro

More Fotos Here

No Way to Treat an Early 911

2011-12-04T19:54:00.002-05:00

Kronos Team at the 2011 Safari Rally:

Testing of the Ford Escort RS Cosworth 1997

2011-12-04T00:13:00.000-05:00

1974 Porsche Carrera USA Performance

2011-12-03T10:08:00.002-05:00

Click here for my white paper in PDF Format:

Observations on 1974 Porsche Carrera USA Performance

"North America's Big Rallies"

2011-12-01T19:15:00.002-05:00

March 1975 Road & Track magazine.

Ford Model T Factory

2011-12-01T15:52:00.001-05:00

So I was on ghetto assignment again today and had some time to kill. This is Ford's Model T factory which was a few blocks from my assignment. One of the most historically significant buildings in the world, this is the site of the first automobile assembly line. The building is in a poor state of repair. There is some sort of warehouse or trucking company that uses part of it. It's a pretty sad state of affairs. There isn't even a sign indicating what it is. 99% of people just drive by without giving it a second glance. They built one of those 'urban-renewal' strip malls and a McDonalds in front of it a couple of years back and named it the "Model T Plaza" .... it almost entirely blocks the view of the factory from Woodward Avenue.

The factory is surrounded by some nice real estate .....

1983 Porsche 911 SC/RS

2011-11-30T19:08:00.000-05:00

Limited to 20 cars, this was Porsche's spectacular Group B rally car. Available in a street-legal 'touring' version!

The Real ur-quattro

2011-11-29T19:53:00.000-05:00

Make sure to pick up a copy of the January 2012 Octane. Great article on IN-NE 3. This is the first quattro to rally. The car that changed the sport forever. Hannu Mikkola used it as the course-opening car in 1980 at the Algarve Rally. Had he been competing, he would have won the rally by 30 minutes ....

FS: Halda Rally Computer-e

2011-11-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

Bid high, bid often.

eBay: Halda Rally Computer-e

Waldegård Wins Safari

2011-11-28T20:05:00.000-05:00

at age 68! I want to do this when I'm his age:

Camel Filters and Road Racing. They're Not For Everybody.

2011-11-28T14:51:00.001-05:00

The hottest road racing series in the world in 1975.

Duplessis Airborne

2011-11-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

At Wales Rally GB:

More 1973 POR Rally

2011-11-22T18:59:00.003-05:00

From the February 1974 issue of Car & Driver:

Shred Dog Extraordinaire

2011-11-22T15:47:00.000-05:00

Skip ahead to the 1:00 minute mark or so .....

74 Carrera Fog Lights

2011-11-22T11:04:00.001-05:00

I finally found a set of factory fog lights for my 74 Carrera. These Bosch units are quite rare since they were a 1-year only chrome style. Luckily, they came with all the original wiring, rubber grommets, mounting hardware, etc. They should clean up quite nicely. Now on to my search for an original 74 front valence-spoiler to bolt them to ....

Didier Auriol's Car Collection

2011-11-20T13:44:00.002-05:00

1973 Press On Regardless

2011-11-18T21:33:00.000-05:00

1973 was the inaugural year for the WRC and Round 11 was Michigan's POR. The rally started on Belle Isle in Detroit, wound its way up to the Upper Peninsula and than back down to Alma. The following year in 74 is when several of the big European teams showed up for POR. Here's some great video of the 73 rally in 3 parts.

The Fastest Production Porsches Ever Made

2011-11-18T19:00:00.003-05:00

.... as of 1972 that is. My fleaBay find of the week. Interesting that they used SAE Gross HP numbers which wildly inflate the numbers. DIN HP was only 190 for the 911S, 165 for the E, and 140 for the T!

2011 East African Safari Rally

2011-11-16T21:02:00.002-05:00

My buddy John Glynn is in Africa covering the event for Tuthill Porsche and Race4Change. The rally gets underway Saturday and there are no less than 21 Porsche 911s entered!! The rally is for cars constructed prior to December 31, 1975.

EAST AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY WEBSITE

Tuthill is fielding cars for several drivers including rally legend Bjorn Waldegard. American Travis Pastrana is also competing and will have none other than Fabrizia Pons as co-driver! Pons was Michele Mouton's regular co-driver in the Audi quattro Group B days.

You can follow the rally on Race4Change's website where John will be blogging: Race4Change Blog

Pons and Mouton in the Group B days ....

R26

2011-11-16T18:25:00.002-05:00

A good read here on Todd Corey's works Group B quattro. I've corresponded with Todd a few times and he's always been generous with information, dimensions, photos, etc. about his car. Best I can tell, Todd is sort of a regular guy who happened to buy this car years back before the prices went into the stratosphere. Looks like he's finally sold it and it's headed back to der Vaterland.

RallySport Magazine: ex-works Audi Quattro leaves Australian shores

Halda Rally Computer-e

2011-11-15T20:31:00.008-05:00

Most everyone in the vintage car hobby is familiar with the now uber-expensive and collectible Halda TwinMaster and Speedpilot - mechanical rally computers from the 60s/70s. But in the 1980's, Halda replaced these with an electronic rally computer. It was 'de rigueur' in most all Group B rally cars.

We happen to have one in the Rally Wabbit. It's a nice unit that is highly intuitive and it was put to good use at LSPR last month. It was the last item on the punch list prior to the rally and we finally got it working in a rain-soaked parking lot with only minutes to spare. There was plenty of cursing and 'persuasion' used before we discovered the drive gear itself had a problem. We cobbled up a fix and all was good.

A Halda Rally Computer-e came up on eBay and the auction ended today at an astounding $1800! Apparently, they are rare and in high-demand in Europe for owners/restorers of 80's rally cars. If we had known, the computer would never have been mounted in the Wabbit, much less been subjected to the abuse of a rally! So, out it comes and up it goes onto the auction block .... to be replaced by a new TerraTrip 2 Retro, another 80's icon but now being reproduced by Terratrip for the burgeoning vintage rally market.

The Rally Wabbit at LSPR 2011:

Group 4 Audi quattro 1981:

Group B Audi quattro 1982:

Michele Mouton, Audi quattro, Safari Rally 1983:

Walter Rohrl, Audi quattro, 1986 Monte Carlo:

Wales Rally GB in 6 Minutes

2011-11-15T01:53:00.003-05:00

Loeb vs The Spectator

2011-11-13T07:04:00.001-05:00

Loeb taken out of Wales Rally GB on a transit stage by a Spanish spectator driving on the wrong side of the road! No matter, he's already locked up the championship.

Block Helmet-Cam

2011-11-12T21:50:00.000-05:00

A different perspective from the usual on-board views:

Wales Rally GB Pics

2011-11-12T20:26:00.004-05:00

Unbelievable shot by rally photog extraordinaire Petr Elias. Ken and Alex doing a handstand! Maybe a new move for the next Gymkhana video ....

Trivia question: who had the largest payday in motorsport this weekend? A top driver from F1, NASCAR, WRC, ... ? No, it would be WRC's development division, WRC Academy, running identical spec Ford Fiesta R2s. Craig Breen won $800,000 this afternoon! The guy is fast.

Duplessis/Atkinson in 4th After Day 1

2011-11-10T20:10:00.001-05:00

Incredible result and proof that Chris can run with the best of them.

WRC Wales Rally GB - Results After SS3

Speed is Relative

2011-11-09T17:39:00.003-05:00

I pinched this from my buddy Dave's blog. In addition to a 2.8L twin-plug 1970 911S, Dave has a street-legal VW Beetle that looks relatively stock and runs 10 second 1/4 mile times ... with a 4 cylinder VW bug motor. That's insane. 7 second / 177MPH 1/4 mile times with a 4-cylinder bug motor are even insaner:

Graywolf Status Update

2011-11-09T14:50:00.002-05:00

The Graywolf will be featured in the upcoming issue of Total 911. It even made the cover with the tag line, "CLASSIC TARGA Proof that open-top 911s can hack it in the world of rallying." Outlaw tarmac rallying? Yes. Proper stage rallying? Ummm, not so much :)

Tuthill Porsche Ice Driving School

2011-11-09T13:01:00.000-05:00

With snow predicted for the next 3 days here .... I figured it is safe to post an ice driving video. Found this at my buddy John Glynn's blog here:

John Glynn's Classic Porsche Blog

WRC Finale: Wales Rally GB

2011-11-09T11:50:00.001-05:00

The final event of the season is this weekend. It's either going to be Loeb or Hirvonen for the title. But what's really cool about the rally is American Chris Duplessis is entered in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta R2! He will be running in the 'WRC Academy' category - a class designed for up & coming stars from around the world. Chris has had some amazing results in Rally America, generally in somewhat 2nd-rate 2WD cars. Hopefully, he'll have a good result.

Chris Duplessis Blog

Team O'Neil Rally Blog

VW Polo WRC Testing

2011-11-08T19:27:00.002-05:00

Do they really need another full year before this thing is ready to go? Looks fairly well sorted to me! And this is just the first test. Good to see Carlos Sainz back behind the wheel of a proper rally car.

Coming Soon To A Forest Near You!

2011-11-06T21:34:00.001-05:00

Magnum Opus 2012. So Tim & I are resurrecting the Magnum Opus, last run over 10 years ago and HQ'd in Munising, MI. This will be a 1-day regional gravel stage rally HQ'd out of Newberry, home of Tahquamenon Falls. We spent last weekend picking out the special stage & transit roads. We're working with Rally America for sanctioning and early interest amongst competitors is strong. We're shooting for April 21 and the road conditions could be snow, ice, mud, wet, slush, dry .... or, more likely, a combination of them all.

74 Carrera Running Report

2011-11-05T19:43:00.002-04:00

This car continues to amaze. It starts first time, every time and runs without so much as a hiccup. The status of the engine was largely unknown when I bought it over 2 years ago. In fact, it didn't even run when I made a tentative offer on the car. The main oil return line to the tank had dry-rotted and cracked while it sat outside for a couple of years. I replaced the line before making a final offer, got it started and drove it a few miles. Everything seemed OK, but it was a complete crap-shoot.

[KNOCK ON WOOD] 2+ years later, the grand total spent on the engine is a few oil changes and some cleaning supplies. [/KNOCK ON WOOD] Yeah, there are a couple of oil leaks that will need eventual attention, but that's it!

FS: Audi Sport quattro - $4800

2011-11-05T15:29:00.002-04:00

Not the car. Just the brochure. Of course the problem with this type of item is you know there's a box of a few hundred of these brochures sitting in a warehouse somewhere. If somebody eventually finds it, you are the biggest idiot in the world for buying this brochure. If not, well, you still might be the biggest idiot in the world.

LSPR MedSweep On-Board

2011-10-31T21:08:00.002-04:00

Some video footage on-board the Rally Wabbit GTi at LSPR. Pretty sure this is Special Stage 10 Menge Creek. Unfortunately, there is no connection between our headphones and the GoPro. Although we are at a fast pace, we are not at race speed, thus the lack of helmets. We've also got the rally control network talking to us through the headphones and it gets quite chaotic at times trying to read the route notes while also listening for cars off course, etc. Too bad the true speed and elevation changes don't translate well on 2d video.

YouTube LSPR OnBoard

Rally Wabbit Video LSPR 2011

2011-10-27T19:27:00.003-04:00

Tim and I have arrived. We're on YouTube ;) .....

Freud Was Wrong

2011-10-26T18:16:00.002-04:00

2012 Sno*Drift Rally Preview

2011-10-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

So the word on the street is 25 Special Stages this year (that's 7 more than last year!). In 2 days. That's insane. But the Rally Wabbit will be up to the task!

LSPR Foto

2011-10-21T21:03:00.000-04:00

Nice shot of the Rally Wabbit by Thomas Dolaskie:

2011 LSPR Report, cont'd.

2011-10-19T19:25:00.006-04:00

So on the way to Houghton, Tim was convinced the GTI would break early in the rally. "I have a really bad feeling about this" was the exact quote as I recall. Now I was equally convinced the car would barrel-roll several times on the 1st corner of the 1st stage (how could it not with that ride-height and suspended by Audi quattro springs?). Given the choice, I'd rather break. But that's just me.

Neither happened. In fact, by the 3rd Stage, I was completely comfortable in the car. It seemed totally hooked up, the ride was compliant on all surfaces and the car was mechanically perfect. Tim was beginning to go faster and really tossing the car around. The car was on friggin' rails. By dumb luck and circumstance, it seems that we stumbled into a suspension setup that had no right to work, but did. Even the ride height turned out to be an advantage as the roads turned to deep mud. With normal ride-height, we probably would have been stuck at least a few times.

As mentioned previously, the weather Friday night was abysmal. But everyone continued on, including the start/finish control workers standing outside all night long.

Now the GTI has a very small fuel tank (12 gallons?) and we knew we were going to be in fuel trouble in the stages around Kenton Service. The last Special Stage started around 11:53PM and then there was a 70 mile transit back to Houghton. There are no late-night gas stations anywhere in the vicinity. We had an extra 5 gallons in a Jerry can strapped in the back and used it after Special Stage 6.

After running Far Point 2, there was no way we could run the last stage of the night (Bob Lake 2) and still make it to a gas station. So we bailed out and made a beeline for Baraga where there was an Indian gas station open 24 hours. We pulled in on fumes.

Saturday's first Special Stage was Menge Creek at 10:52AM. The day was relatively dry and the road conditions were fantastic. The day's stages were based around L'Anse and consist of some of the best gravel roads anywhere. What a great day of driving!

M-Plate Sighting

2011-10-19T18:13:00.001-04:00

A Honda Civic with M-Plates was entered in the LSPR rally by Honda Performance Development. Not sure if it means they want to get involved in rally or if they were just testing? OTOH, I don't care.

RC Helicopter Footage of CRC

2011-10-18T19:02:00.003-04:00

I had the chance to check out an awesome remote control helicopter set up with a GoPro while in the UP last weekend. This stuff has become unbelievable and may be the perfect tool for video coverage of rally ....

2011 Lake Superior Performance Rally Report

2011-10-18T11:09:00.008-04:00

There's a reason why it's called the "oldest, meanest, toughest rally in North America". And all anyone had to do was see the conditions on Day 1 for proof. The rain started Thursday, turning to driving sheets of cold soaking rain driven by 50MPH gusts off Lake Superior and never let up until Sat. At any other rally, I'm pretty sure a couple of the stages would have been cancelled. Not here.

At one point late Fri night, Tim & I were going down a stage in the Med-Sweep Rally Wabbit and looking at the 8 inch deep ruts in front of us, I couldn't tell if we were driving through deep snow or deep mud! 9 cars went out on the last stage of the night around 1AM. Many of the crews and workers didn't get back to Houghton until 4AM.

The weekend started for us on Wednesday morning in Newberry as we tried to finish up the car. Although Tim got a massive amount of work completed in the 3 weeks since we purchased the GTI, there were still lots of things to get done before the car was ready for the rally. We finished up around midnight and backed the car out of the garage for its very first shakedown run. We managed to move about 3 feet, when a loud noise brought us to a dead stop, both with panicked looks on our faces. What first seemed to be a clutch or gearbox problem turned out to be the front tires rubbing on the struts. We thought that was the end, but managed to raise the ride height a bit more to eek out just enough clearance.

Then it was off to the nearest gravel road for a quick shakedown and to align the driving lights. It was a bonzai run down a dark gravel road with no seat belts installed and no roll bar padding ... and no confidence that the car would actually run! But everything seemed OK, so we loaded the car up and headed to Houghton Thursday AM.

There was more to finish on the car at the hotel on Thursday and Friday morning (working in the driving rain and cold of course), enough time since the 1st stage wasn't until around 1PM. But with Stage 1 fast approaching, we still didn't have a working rally computer. We finally took the car out on the odometer check route so I could calibrate the computer. But as soon as we started moving, the odometer wasn't counting at all! It worked on the shakedown run Weds night, WTF? Great, let's try to do a rally with a non-functional odometer ..... we eventually traced the problem to the drive gear in the speedometer sensor and cobbled up a quick fix with less the 30 minutes to go.

Having never used this rally computer before, we entered the Super Special Stage at the gravel pit in heavy rain. By the time we got to the first corner, the wheel spin through the muddy gravel had already added 2/10ths to the odometer, completely throwing off the notes. And I had no clue how to add/subtract mileage from the computer! The stage was too short to do much manual adjustment and Tim was basically forced to drive it alone.

A few pics and more on the rally later:

Arvon Tower Stage

2011-10-17T23:00:00.002-04:00

My favorite special stage from the 2011 Lake Superior Performance Rally this past weekend was Arvon Tower in the Huron Mountains. It starts out with righthander into a downhill section full of multiple jumps, a lot like a Rally Finland stage. Here's some in-car from a Grp 2 Golf that rolled on one of the jumps. Too bad there is no way to get a sense for the elevation changes, crests and speed on 2-dimensional videos. This really isn't even close to what it's actually like to run the stage ....

Since you're prohibited from continuing in the rally with a smashed windshield, these guys found somebody with a windshield for a Mitsubishi at the next service stop and duct taped to the car. I believe they finished the rally.

RSR Engine on Dyno

2011-10-10T15:08:00.000-04:00

Mike Moore's insanely-accurate 73 RSR Martini replica nears completion:

Rally of Scotland

2011-10-08T22:04:00.002-04:00

A real classic shaping up this weekend .... rain, mud, cold, slop. It's a beautiful thing.

Rally Scotland day two highlights

The BMW Days

2011-10-05T21:23:00.001-04:00

Found an old foto of the M3's. The original e30 and the (then) brand new e46.

2011 Lake Superior Performance Rally

2011-10-02T23:50:00.000-04:00

Yo. A cougar was spotted near LSPR headquarters last week!

Mining Gazette - Cougar Sighting

The "Oldest, Toughest, Meanest Rally on the Circuit" is coming up in just a few weeks. The rally is back to a 2 day format with a bunch of new stages! Workers are still needed if anybody is available. Go here: LSPR 2011 Website

Spotted on the Road

2011-10-01T19:57:00.000-04:00

Mitsubishi Delica righthand drive AWD turbo diesel spotted in Big Rapids, MI.

Holy Ride Height Batman!

2011-10-01T19:27:00.000-04:00

The Wabbit GTi has officially been converted to stage rally duty. Using a spare set of springs from my rally quattro on the coilovers, we wound up with this:

Foto of the Day

2011-10-01T12:14:00.000-04:00

Rallye de France Live

2011-09-29T09:32:00.007-04:00

WRC is trying out a live webcast of the rallye this weekend on WRC.com. Friday's live broadcast was actually pretty good! Loeb is out and Sordo is in the lead in a .... wait for it ..... Mini.

Saturday 6:45AM to 2:00PM EST

Click Here: Rallye de France Live

Loeb had an engine failure and is on the trailer. At least it's a short ride back to the Citroen factory ....

1970 Sebring 12 Hour GP

2011-09-28T08:05:00.002-04:00

1989 IMSA GTO Audi Poster

2011-09-26T19:48:00.001-04:00

A new poster for the shop:

At Home With Jari-Matti Latvala

2011-09-26T16:57:00.004-04:00

Bring a Trailer

2011-09-26T09:13:00.008-04:00

... over the bridge, around the lake, and back. Just 1300 miles this time.

But well worth the effort as we scored this 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTi track car from a great seller - thanks Steve! This will be the basis for our new rally car.

Maybe this some day ...

But enough about cars, the highlight of this marathon run was lunch at Mickey-Lu Bar-B-Q in Marinette, Wisconsin. Forget about In-and-Out Burger, 5 Guys, et al. This is no hipster hamburg stand built new to look old - this is the real deal, pretty much sitting as is since 1942. The best cheeseburgers in the world? Quite possibly.

A simple menu. As it should be.

King Kenny

2011-09-24T06:21:00.003-04:00

.... reunited with his 1980 Yamaha YZR500 GP bike.

The New 'Safety Sweep' Rally Car

2011-09-22T21:24:00.002-04:00

Talk about cutting it close, Tim & I have been talking about buying a dedicated Safety Sweep car for a year or more. With only 3 weeks until LSPR (Lake Superior Performance Rally), we scored. This is a 1984 VW Rabbit GTi, a former Neuspeed Cup track car. So some modifications will be needed. Mainly, raising the ride height, skid plates, a co-driver seat, rally computer, light pod, etc. Between getting all that done and shaking this thing down, we've got our work cut out for us the next few weeks.

Real Texas Horsepower

2011-09-21T15:40:00.000-04:00

Not even on Jalopnik yet .... ;)

Grp B Lancia S4 - 1st Snow Test

2011-09-19T22:07:00.001-04:00

Cool vid of one of the fastest Group B rally cars ever built - the turbo+supercharged Lancia Delta S4 testing in Lapland:

In The Beginning .....

2011-09-18T18:30:00.006-04:00

there was IN-NE 3. The very first competition quattro, infamous as the course opening 'zero car' at the 1980 Algarve Rally in Portugal. The zero car is the first car to run each stage and is intended only to make sure the course is clear of spectators and vehicles, and that various marshals and start/finish controls are in place. Nonetheless, with Hannu Mikkola behind the wheel and Arne Hertz reading the notes, they would have won the rally by 30 minutes had they actually been competing ... a little taste of what was to come for Audi's competitors! The car is now for sale:

For Sale: Audi quattro IN-NE 3

Renault 5 Turbo

2011-09-17T20:30:00.000-04:00

From Bennorz's Collection on Flickr ....

S1 E2

2011-09-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

Some cool fotos on Motoring Con Brio! Here's a couple of them:

1967 Can Am Road America

2011-09-16T16:54:00.000-04:00

Can Am 1972 - 917 Crushes the Competition

2011-09-16T16:38:00.001-04:00

Giotto Bizzarrini

2011-09-13T18:51:00.000-04:00

Found these on My Car Quest. Giotto Bizzarrini himself testing one the last P538's!

Will It Blend?

2011-09-13T13:34:00.003-04:00

The answer to the question: what would be the result if I threw my Porsches, VWs, and my wife's Corvair into a Blendtec?

"Please no timewasters or dreamers" .... talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Pic of the Day

2011-09-12T21:59:00.001-04:00

From the recently run Gstaad Rally and Meals n' Wheels Blog

Click for full size pic ......

Marquette Auto-X

2011-09-12T20:28:00.003-04:00

Go for a ride on the roof of Tim's urq last weekend in Marquette, MI:

Home Movies: Drag Racing

2011-09-11T16:40:00.002-04:00

20 Minutes of really cool footage from early 1960's drag racing in Arizona. What sets this apart from most film of that era is the quality of the sound (not sure if it is original to the film or dubbed in later, but who cares?).