Lake Superior Rally 10/26-27

[outofideas327]

This Friday and Saturday is the final round of the Rally-America national series. This event is the toughest rally of the year, taking place on the rough roads near Houghton Michigan. Competitors will run from ~2:00pm-1:00am Friday, testing the ability to stay focused in the cold and possibly slippery night stages. Saturday will feature both gravel and tarmac stages. With the possibility of rainy, snowy, or even warm and sunny weather all in the same weekend, it makes tire choice and vehicle setup quite the challenge. The fight for the overall championship has come down to this rally, with the top 3 drivers as follows:

Pinker:112pts
Pastrana:108pts
Block:108pts

Tanner Foust is out of the hunt for a chamionship, but has also shown he has the speed, and will be battling for the win. PGT points are still close, with no champion crowned yet in that class. Max-Attack! (2wd contingency program) is in full effect with an unbelievable field of 2wd cars.

I noticed a couple threads stating that theres a general lack of dsm's in road racing (although growing!) so you should be excited to see the turnout for LSPR. There are 7 dsms and a handful of GVR4's and Evo IV-VIII's signed up among the 72 total entries! Adam Markut and Larry Parker are both members here if I remember right, and they'll also running this weekend, goodluck to both of you.

For anyone that's coming out, it will be a great show! If you're in town, be sure to stop into the Rally Seminar Thursday evening. It will be held in the Fisher building, rm #135 on the MTU campus. Various drivers, codrivers, crew and workers will be giving presentations, and theres food!



LSPR start order/entry list
LSPR main site
Live updates!
You can also follow the overall and individual stage results from the drop-down box on the upper left.
I'll be working with the Nunnemachers in car #686, so be sure to say hello if you see us! Anyone here coming out for this one?

Chris

 

[Jeff91AWD]

i really would love to, but I know it is 6+ hours away from me.

Also, I have a whole new program at work that I have to babysit for a while.

 

[my_precious]

how do you know Nunnemachers ?

a couple good friends of mine went up to visit their cousin at tech. their cousin is pretty good friends with the driver, and i guess their neighbors or something.

As for me, I was doing a one mand band pit crewing for Matt Noble in the 94 red imprezza 4door. Rally FTW baby!

 

[aDee]

Ripped the front wheel on last stage of day one. Fortunately we managed to fix it.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8885641809373511594

One of the "moments" @95mph:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=101030743313241444

Not the best event for me as my stage times sucked. For me rally started on the last stage of day 2 but that's little too late.
Took 1st in PGT and 3rd overall in regional on day 2. If I didn't oversleep first stage would be 2nd.
I definitely need some real suspension.

 

[SpeedAddict62]

That is some awesome video! Glad to see people rallying DSMs. Do you have any more pictures or video?

 

[aDee]

I have some onboards but not uploaded yet. Some pics:

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PICT3105.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
PICT3107.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Marcin Czaicki : photos : LSPR 2007- powered by SmugMug

Brokway Mtn. stage was canceled because of this guy. So I missed the most waited stage.
Carlton McMillan - Photography- powered by SmugMug

I ran it in 2005. It's FUN.

LSPR 05 Rally - Brokway Mnt.

 

[my_precious]

I remember you guys telling me that first place won 5000 dollars or something? I talked to you guys at tech. We went in about the same time as you did (in the red imprezza).

 

[aDee]

Yes, I remember.
$2250 but you need to run national in 2002 and up WRX.
Just the signup will give you back $500.
Running DSM = $0.0

 

[my_precious]

yeah that sucks. but its for the experience right? I really want to rally but i cant afford it right now. someday i'll do targa newfoundland.

 

[SpeedAddict62]

yeah that sucks. but its for the experience right? I really want to rally but i cant afford it right now. someday i'll do targa newfoundland.

yeah same here. For now I guess I'll just start going to more local rallyX and getting some experience on the loose stuff. Have to start somewhere! That and I wouldn't know the first thing about setting up a DSM rally car.

 

[my_precious]

Yeah i definately recommend rallyx. If anything just go help with cones. Ive been to maybe 5 or 6 this year for the Detroit region and never ran once. I got to ride in the imprezza I pitcrewed for, thats kinda how i met Matt, but otherwise I was pretty much helping out.


btw aDee. my names Zach. Even though I was pit crewing for an imprezza, i was routing for you and the other talon guys nice air btw! you sure look like you've got some talent.

 

[outofideas327]

I forgot I even made this thread. Our first day was a bit rough, put the car up on it's side but only caused some cosmetic damage. I picked up some plexiglass and made a replacement window for day 2, which I have to say turned out quite nice for a quick fix! We lost something like 7 minutes while the car was overturned, which put us at the back of the pack the rest of the weekend. Heath had some good times on day 2, but like Adam said, a little late then. Overall I think the Nunnemachers had a successful season, we finished 5 out of 5 events entered this season and had a PGT win in Ojibwe.

Zach- I met the Nunnemachers through rally.

Adam- I love the video of Brockway in the rain. I went up Brockway mountain after they shut everything down for the day and WOW! That is a hell of a stage, the video just does not do it justice. You always set some impressive times, and it shows that a ~15yr old car can still compete. I imagine if a dsm was built as well as some of the top PGT cars (proper suspension, diffs, ecu) it would still be very competitive. If you don't mind me asking, what suspension are you on, and what are you looking at?

Oh, and did anyone else get caught in the blinding snow on the transit back to the mall Saturday night? Crazy UP weather.

 

[aDee]

Until last Ojibwe I was running modified KYB AGX and 325/225 lbs Eibach springs. It's the least expensive alternative but that's the only advantage(unless you have to replace them every event). I bent both front struts after big jump on Brockway. Another one after hitting stone at Ojibwe. Not strong enough, dumping/rebound not really for a rally.

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At LSPR as an experiment I was running some modified EVO9 shocks. These are better as they are stronger and didn’t bend but again dumping/rebound not for a rally. Hitting all the big bumps wasn't the nicest experience and had to take it easy.

Besides DMS and HotBits there isn't really anything else out there. HotBits aren’t inverted design so I pass on that. DMS are about $4.5k and I don't think my limited budget can handle that. That’s why I tried with EVO9 suspension to check if it can be done, so maybe I could by something used made for evo.

Suspension and diff would really help me out.

 

[my_precious]

I talked to a guy who was running open class in a 90 Eagle talon with 92 front end on it. He had DMS coils and said they were NOT the thing to buy. he said they were very very expensive, and then he had to get them rebuilt because they werent good enough. I cant remember the other suspension he said most talon guys run but he said he'd rather have went with that. I think Larry parker was running it on his car.

Anyhow, the brockway mountain stage video was amazing! I am very amazed at your car control. I dont think i'd be able to have the courage to jump and keep going at speeds like that. I guess its really alot about seat time and I dont really have that.


and for the snow....I was racing ahead of the storm in a Ford Van that was more like a bus. Powerstroke diesel and all that, driving rally style around those windy roads trying to avoid the ice and rain and snow haha. What a blast! (i always keep it within reason of course)

 

[aDee]

I'm planing to run 100AW and by that time I need to get something decent. At LSPR there were too many "ohh shit" moments caused just by the suspension not being able to take the bumps.
As far as my rally seat time that 2005 LSPR was my third rally ever, second with the pace notes. I wish I could do more than 1-2 rallies/year.

 

[my_precious]

that is freakin nuts then! you have some skillz

 

[outofideas327]

Just a reminder, LSPR will be on ESPN2 (and espn2 HD!) tomorrow at 5pm eastern.

 

[my_precious]

holy crap so soon?! definately watching that!

 

[outofideas327]

For those of you that missed the LSPR show they've tossed it up here, along with the rest of the season episodes. Episode 5 is the Lake Superior show.
Here's couple of my pictures from the UP. Don't have any of Adams dsm at LSPR but I might be able to dig some up from Ojibwe.

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Looked like Cline was busy swapping a transfer case at Park Expose Saturday.

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Merkur with a Ford 302, this car looked like a hoot.

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PGT Podium

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My favorite shots were from the top of Mt Brockway. It went from rain, to hail, to snow, to sunshine in the brief amount of time I was up there.WTF

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Don't lose it in this section!

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LSPR Gallery

 

[matthewdesigns]

WOW! That LSPR 2005 video is crazy! I think I puckered a few times just watching the thing...can't imagine driving or navigating!

Please post more vids as they are available!

 

[aDee]

I shouldn't see that "Don't loose it.." picture.

 

[aDee]

I reuploaded vids with streetfire.net as they got better quality. Besides the old ones I added:

LSPR 05 Brokway jump from outside:
LSPR 05 Rally - Brockway Mtn. jump, Car #684.Bent both front KYB AGX struts.

Some snow and ice fun at Sno*Drift 06:
SnoDrift 06 Rally - Old Black RiverCar #684
SnoDrift 06 Rally - MeafordCar #684

Dust and gravel at Ojibwe 07:
Ojibwe 07 Rally - RefugeCar #684

Rain and mud at LSPR 07:
LSPR 07 Rally - BurmaCar #684
LSPR 07 Rally - Gratiot Lake 2 Car #684

 

[everbruin]

great to see budget dsm "underdogs" do well! you stage rally guys have guts; offroad tsd is as far as i have gone and will ever go =).

 

[dsmrsturbo]

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those legs stickin out from under the car are mine...
it was an oil pan that needed some attention.. UP roads + a cheap road sign skid plate = changing oil pans in caulmet