Rally TN photo

[321go]

I forgot to come here and post pics of the car on stage. It was our second event with the car, but first one where it ran good. We weren't that competitive, but it sure was fun. Those roads are fantastic!
We're entered for Ojibwe next month and hope to do LSPR in Oct.



Can look at the other photos here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v217/ ... nd%20Paul/

[321go]

Had a fun run at LSPR last weekend. It was our first Max Attack event, which had 23 2wd entries, which was great.
I had two minor offs on stage 3. That stage had lots of loose gravel plus our really old tires made for a lot of sliding. They seemed benign enough, besides some slight damage to right front corner. Not sure if that was the cause, but our radiator fans quit working and on the next transit the car was overheating badly at start of stage 4. A marshall happened to have a gallon of coolant which we used and pressed on, but lost 15 minutes messing with it.

There was a lot of night stages and found our ancient rally lights to be less than desirable, plus lots of hanging dust with our 30th on the road position, made for less speed than I hoped for. We weren't last, but do have lots of room for improvement.

Here's a couple good pics Jerry Winker got of us:

[Crazyswede]

I suggest you get a set of the (Michelin) now Bfgoodrich asymetrical rally tires in the" 16/65" size. They are pricey but have amazing traction. If you look around you might be able to find some deals on some lightly used ones. After running a fresh set at BRS I am convinced...and I was only in the passenger seat!

[SwedeSport]

Great Job!

So you didnt beat the pants off the competition, but you had a blast, finished, and kept the shiny side up. And you probably learned a thing or 2 along the way. Next time youll be cleaning some clocks!

[321go]

Found this nice photo of the car from last month's Rally Paris. I wasn't in the car this time, but it they finished both events and progressed nicely over the day.



One question though. We ended up getting a new set of Silverstone rally tires and they wore quite heavily on the fronts, esp. through the center of the tires. Could that have to do with the wrong tire pressures or just what we get for getting some cheaper tires?

[Geoff]

I've had that happen with rally tires that are too wide for the rim I'm running them on. Such as Silverstones on soccerball wheels (5" wide) and some wide Hankooks I've had on 5.5" wide rims. It might be that those tires would prefer a wider rim, the rims in that picture are 5.5". Tires with stiff sidewalls will bulge in the center when mounted on a skinny wheel. You could take the rears off the car (they're less worn) and stand them up on a flat surface and try to see if they look like they're flat across the width of the tread or if they're bulged (sometimes they'll rock side to side). One of my (ghetto) solutions has been to run lower tire pressures.

[Hans]

So the soccer balls are 5 inches wide? Hmm... My friend just got a set for the TSD car. We were going to put our Falken rally tires on them unless the collective genius here says no.

Also, just an FYI @ 321go -- we bent the $h1t out of those manhole rims, just from gravel/snow brisk TSDs, no stage rally.

[Crazyswede]

Also, just an FYI @ 321go -- we bent the $h1t out of those manhole rims, just from gravel/snow brisk TSDs, no stage rally.

yep...manholes are one of the softest wheels that Saab came out with....on par with the Inca rims.

[321go]

hmmm, hadn't heard that about the manholes too. We just have the one set and several soccer balls. Ours are a little bent too.
We got the skinniest tires Silverstone made and same as the old ones we had. I haven't seen a skinnier rally tire out there in 15in than these other than maybe a Michelin which I'm trying to avoid due to price and the fact that we aren't that competitive.
Will try different pressures next time.

[Crazyswede]

Best wheels you can run for rally are the shelby 8 spokes. They can often be found for pretty cheap. They are 5.5 inches wide, strong, and look cool.