Snow Drift Rally Action!

Video Courtesy - Geoff Lowery

Run Through the Darkness

The last stage of the rally was Bonfire Alley. Our average speed for the 6.0 mile stage was 50mph. We were 2 seconds off of the leading Group 2 car's pace on this stage - not really what I was expecting as this stage was pretty fast, and being the first time on this road, grip was excellent.  Nonetheless, we hung on for the win in the Drift Regional rally.  We had a pretty decent lead in class with 3 stages to go, and having decided to be conservative, that lead was trimmed and we needed to pick it up a bit.  The driving is pretty conservative and straightforward - meaning that I still didn't have the confidence to attack and throw the thing around entering the corners. A bit more of a road racing line I guess you might say. A far cry from the past-I have some work to do.  Hope that you enjoy.

WOW! WE WIN G2!

Jim and Steve won the Saturday regional portion of the Sno*Drift rally weekend, the Drift rally in the Group 2 class.

Film at 11 ( well, just wait, we will have some updates).   In an unimagined surprise, the old school Mitsubishi came home first, mainly by keeping on the road on the quite slippery stages.  in a reversal of last year, where we spent tons of time off the road digging out, we never had to pop out of the car to do any heavy lifting, while others struggled and either crashed out or slipped up and down the leader board.  Believe this_we BACKED out of this one unscathed! 

Photo by Evan Gill

More updates to come, in the mean time.....

http://www.rally-america.com/events/2013/DRIFT/results

Going Back, Going Forward

Whilst (love that little st thing) taking a break from getting the vintage motor car prepared for another crack at Sno*Drift, we were thinking back at some of the car oddities in rallying that you just don't get today.  Among current model vehicles. there are just a small handful of brands, and within those brands, an even slimmer choice of models that seem to hit the forest trails.  So just for fun, I felt the urge to throw this classic out there, a nice photo from my archive that I would like to share.

This is from the Marquette 1000 rally in da UP, 1976.  This was a scouting trip to see what the hell was going on in the woods, as it was my first rally to watch and spectate at, after working the El Diablo rally in Green Bay a month or two earlier.  From this experience, a vortex opened the money pit in my live called rallying.  Ain't it G R A N D!

Preparations for Sno*Drift

With the new +Rally America season nearly upon us, the Nowicki Brandt Rally team will once again contest the first rally of the year, +Sno*Drift in Atlanta/Lewiston, Michigan. One year older, three rallies more seasoned, the 1980 Fire Arrow won't have many of the planned updates due to some technical and scheduling issues, but that won't curtail the fun in the north woods. What better is there to do in late January other than some winter mountain biking or vintage rear wheel drive rallying?

Here are our two rigs for winter fun

We have been training hard for this years event, no doubt, and even have a few car improvements to roll out as well.  But as fate would have it, some are going to be last minute additions and won't have the time to be proven or tested before the big event, January 25 and 26th.  A few things got in the way, not the least a nasty stuck in bed virus over the Christmas break (generally a great time to head to the shop for tweaks and maintenance). 

 

Rally testing for Sno*Drift

 

We have been doing some testing nonetheless.  Last year it was duly noted that we could have ridden our bikes faster on some parts of the stages than the one wheel drive Fire Arrow was traveling.  Not Anymore.

We have a secret weapon, two actually.  Two wheels driven with a welded differential whereas we had to use an open diff last year.

Damn this is going to be fun this year!

New England Forest Rally

NEFR TT !

The Nowicki/Brandt Rally team treated the New England Forest Rally (NEFR) as an extension of the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR) in June.  With a long “service” between events, the 1980 Mitsubishi Plymouth Fire Arrow was set to go in similar specification for both events, with a few minor tweaks and improvements to help reliability and confidence on the stages.  Some of these “improvements” did nothing to insure confidence – such as the new starter that wouldn’t start the car 30% of the time.  What is it with re-build quality these days?  This is the second starter that we have had issues with, this one being completely unreliable and requiring parking on downhill sections waiting to start, or even getting a push out of the delayed start at a control! With OEM starters non-existent for the car, we have to find another source for the next event.  It was quite nerve wracking to play roulette with the starter key.  Nonetheless, we completed the rally, or rallies as it actually is since we entered the regional competition which split the full distance into separate events, finishing THIRD in class (Group 2) both Friday and Saturday.  Not bad for a fossil car, and dealing with a few minor distractions along the way.

First distraction was a low hanging header pipe that hit a rock and crushed one of the four downtubes nearly shut, and turned the 2.6 liter engine into an anemic 3 cylinder unit with 5 stage miles to go in Friday’s competition.  We were fortunate, as service was open for the evening, with no time limit placed on regional competitors.  Three hours of volunteer cutting, fabricating and welding a repair on the vintage header, and we were good to go for the Saturday event!  My special thanks to all who helped directly and in-directly with this repair, and allowed me to make the beer run!  Much thanks to my crew and supporters, Ken, Jim, Mason, and for the super welding support and get it done attitude, Jesse Lewis from Exhale Performance Engineering and his support group.  The service area was a pretty cool setup, as multiple teams that were nearby all worked together and shared equipment and tools to get everyone back on the road.  That was a highlight of the event, experiencing the team approach of multiple competitors!

Back to the rally.  Roads were great with the exception of the huge rocks to deal with in a few areas, especially the one that got our right front four miles from the stage finish on the second day.  We didn’t lose too much time but couldn’t make left hand turns at speed.   Tire changed in transit we were good to go to the end, with just fuel and minimal checks along the way.  We are happy with our third place finishes, and with Jim Brandt in the co-driver seat, we had a great run considering we didn’t get to to the reconnaissance due to a Delta issue getting him to Sunday River a day late.  Fortunately we were only a dollar short but made that up with some DMACK Rally Tyres coin from the US distributor Greasecar, and some Hawk brakes contingency!  Thanks Guys!

So with three rallies down, and three finishes, we have hit all the goals for this year.  Get back on the stages, be reliable, be quick and tidy with the driving, and finish in the top 3 in class.   Not sure what is next. Stay tuned.

Steve Nowicki in the Fire Arrow at STPR.

photo by Jason Swoboda

Finally had a chance to check the car's damage from Susquehannock Trail.  Really dented the skid plate on one of the Waste Management stages, to the point the oil pan is pushed in a bit.  So it is time to push it out, reinforce it again and run Maine, one more event before a new skid plate is designed and built.

The performance of the car at the end of STPR left a lot to be desired. We used nearly a full tank of fuel in about 70 miles, and it was touch and go just to get to the fairgrounds for service and the last stage.  Found out today, the carburetor adapter plate bolts were loose, as one of the carburetor mounting nuts was missing!  Obviously a vacuum leak, along with a dirty air filter caused some issues with performance, and must have caused the plugs to foul on the way to the last service.  After replacing the plugs, the car ran a lot better, but still a bit lethargic.  We will take care of this issue, along with the oil and coolant leak that started this investigation!

Tire wear was quite minimal, and expect to just swap the rears to the front and front to rears, possibly using the Rillfit to do a little experimental grooving.  Some minor tweaks to the front sway bar are in the works and other than a nut and bolt in addition to the above repairs, we should be good to go.  This will be my first trip to the rally in Maine, and should be a good hootin time!