Two Guys Rally

199 Lives on MTV

So I was flipping through the TV to look for something fun to watch for an hour. I ran across 199 Lives: The Travis Pastrana story being aired on MTV. My buddy texted me a few hours later asking if I was watching it on MTV2. So I guess MTV is airing it somewhat regularly. 

If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out. Check out MTV or MTV2 one of these days. It is a documentary worth watching, granted most of it doesn’t have to do with his Rally career.

If you want the DVD buy it on amazon (affiliate link).

Sno*Drift 2009: A Strong Looking Field

So unlike the WRC, most of the teams in Rally America are back for the 2009 season. However there was a significant change of vehicle for one of the top contenders. Tanner Foust drove to second place at this years Sno*Drift in his Hyundai Tiburon. It’s good to see that a non-Subaru/Mitsubishi can be competitive.

Travis Pastrana took first place in his 2009 Subaru, but worried about deer strikes through out the competition (it ended his 2008 Sno*Drift lead). ACP rallied his Mitsubishi Evo into 3rd place, although I think he should’ve done better…he’s Canadian. They get a lot of snow up there, eh (har har har I can make canned jokes about Canada. WOAH! Puns too ).

These results make me happy. They give me hope for Rally’s future. Some diversity is present in the field, unlike the Citroen v Ford WRC. I’m eager to see how this season shapes up. Next up for RA is 100 Acre Wood in Missouri. Woo!

Rally Ireland 2009

The WRC’s Rally Ireland opener for the 2009 season took place this weekend. No surprise that the dominating force Citroen took 1st and 2nd place (Loeb and Sordo respectively). But that’s not the interesting part of Rally Ireland. What is more interesting is that there are only 2 manufacturers placing. While it is technically considered 4 manufacturers (for points) it is only Citroen and Ford.

What the hell? I know the global economy is in shambles but only two manufacturers in the premiere Rally racing league? It is good to see that Chris Atkinson tranistioned into a Citroen succesfully (and Solberg will be showing up in a Xsara in Norway), but it is sad to see such homogeneity in what used to be one of the most diverse racing leagues ever.

Maybe the P-WRC will be the league to watch for diversity’s sake. Subaru hinted that it might stick around for some P-WRC action. Redbull just confirmed a Skoda for their 2009 P-WRC team. I imagine you’ll see some Puegeot S2000s kicking around too. 

Or better yet, 2009 could be the year the US Rally viewership approaches that of Europe (we can hope).

Petter Solberg Fans Have Something To Look Forward To

It turns out that Petter will be racing in a Citroen Xsara in the upcoming Rally Norway. That’s some pretty exciting news, since it will be the first non Subaru he has competed in since the year 2000. Almost a decade ago. 

Citroen Xsaras were fast a few years ago, and I wonder if Petter will be able to claw out a decent position in a non-factory supported car. However, for all we know he could be factory supported by Citroen, but I doubt it if he is running a Xsara. 

I’m real excited to see Petter back for another year.

Not All Is Lost In Racing

Or is it…?

I know many of you guys realize my love for all things Volvo at this point, but this is something pretty interesting to me, and is proof that you can turn almost anything into a race car if you want to. I happened to find out that a team, K-PAX/3R Racing, is entering into the SCCA World Championship with two Volvo S60s.

This news is pretty contrary to me, with major teams pulling out of racing left and right. For a while, the future of automotive racing was looking pretty bleak to me. But this reminded me of something that we said a while ago: Smaller teams stand a chance of doing really well, since it seems that many of the top competing teams are taking a leave of absense. This announcement is proof of that. Who would think the epitome of safety and (maybe undeserved from my perspective) sluggishness would find it’s way to the track in racing form?

So to all of you smaller teams out there: Pull through! The future of rally racing may rest on your shoulders at this point, and it is your time to show everyone what you are capable of.

What To See in 2009

New Years bring new seasons of racing, new cars, new toys and new feats of engineering. There is plenty to look forward to in what is going to be a great year.

In contrast with Subaru leaving the WRC, American leagues (NASA and RA) will still feature Subarus as their most common race car (and possibly still their winningest).  With DIRT’s possible new entries into the sport such as their ProjectRS you’ll have plenty of new Subarus in NASA. 

Fans of Petter Solberg will hopefully be able to watch his driving, albeit in most-likely a non Subaru as he is now a free agent. Rally Norway has even extended its entry deadline for Petter until January 13th.  

Rally America is still expected to have its big names return: Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, Andrew Comrie-Picard and the not so well known Kyle Sarasin. So there will be plenty of competition to watch. Infact, with such big names dropping out of the WRC, Rally America could gain in popularity (world wide even).

2009 is set to be an exciting year. Do any of you have big rally plans this year?

The Volvo Chronicles: Upper Engine Mount

With a new year comes new car parts that need replacing! I probably mentioned it in the past, but I noticed that my upper engine mount on the S70 looks like someone took a chainsaw to it. As you can imagine, this isn’t a good thing. Worn engine mounts allow more engine vibration, which can lead to poor feeling shifting, accelerated wear on other mounts, and in the extreme case, weird handling quirks and reduced power.

To fix this, I got a solid polyurethane upper mount from iPd to replace the hard rubber OEM piece:

As you can see, the Volvo part looks somewhat abused… it was originally a one piece design! Installation was pretty simple, I only needed 13mm and 15mm wrenches, along with a hacksaw and screwdriver to cut out the retaining ring on the old mount (the alternative was a bushing press to push it out of the mount, something I don’t have).

Before and after shots of the engine mount in question:

After installation, I took the car out for a test drive. One thing that I found a lot of complaints about was the increase in cabin noise and vibration. Granted, I am hard of hearing, but I honestly can’t see why someone would complain about the nice growl that is added upon acceleration.

However, the noise was the second most noticable difference, right after the feel when shifting. The actual shift engagement feel did not change, but rather the way the power is transferred to the ground when the clutch is released. In comparison to before, it feels much more solid, and throttle response is slightly better.

Those are really the only two things I noticed. No changes in handling through turns, which makes sense because that mount is designed to not support any load from the sides.

The moral of this story would be to make sure you stay on top of any bushings, especially on car that is exposed to racing conditions. The higher road speed, bumps, acceleration, braking, hard shifts, etc, all wear down the bushings that much faster, and introduce slop into components that usually do best without any.

Happy New Year!

Hooray! It is 2009. Happy New Year!

Hopefully you’re enjoying your new year! We all at TwoGuysRally are. It is going to be a good year. I know it because I just got a Helmet camera and that will enable some new camera angles for TwoGuysRally videos. Expect good things for the future.

I hope you all are making the best of your new years like I am: hot tub, champagne and fun!

A Witness Report: Drunk Driving

So the holidays bring out the best in people. Thanks and giving, peace and goodwill towards men, and of course drinking. Unfortunately there are plenty of people who choose to get behind the wheel after drinking.

I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the effect of a drunk driver on a stop light post right by my home. At first I heard what reminded me of clanging I-beams, then I drove around the corner and saw an econoline style van in a ditch (with significant dent/hole in its front) with a stop light attached to the side of it. So I did what any good Samaritan would do: I stopped and got out to see if everyone was okay.

Everyone was a man who stumbled up the hill/ditch on the driver’s side of the van. He was an older male with a moustache, some balding and lots of slurring (and not of the head injury variety). He said he was okay and no one else was in the car. He also asked me for a ride home (which I refused, of course). Boy was he drunk, or at least seemed it, because he fell away from my car when i locked the doors and dialed 911. Apparently he though it was a good idea to run up the street away from the accident while I was on the phone with the cops. They caught him just up the street after I gave a description to them (by the way eye witness reports suck, I claimed he had a Tan Jacket, but it was blue, however his pants were tan/khaki so that must be where I got confused)

At first I felt bad for the dude on what a shitstorm he got himself into, but then I realized: his van travelled across the point where I yield for traffic on that road and I would have yielded to that very van because of the direction he was travelling (and he only got there a minute or so before me). That would have ruined my night and car (and possibly life), so I didn’t feel bad at all about IDing the guy after they arrested him.

One interesting tidbit I learned that night: cop cars have TERRIBLE traction in the rain. Terrible. When I was in the cop car to drive by to where they arrested him in order to ID him, the officer lost traction right away and slid a bit. But it wasn’t only that cop that lost traction, every single cop that went around that corner did. I could totally out accelerate the cop car in the rain in my stock WRX. NEAT! (Observation: the cops may just be doing that for fun, since I bet they get bored just driving around all night.)

Anyway, what this reminded me of was how stupid it is to get behind the wheel of a car drunk. You already are in the, statistically speaking, most dangerous common situation. Adding alcohol will only make it even more so. So be safe out there when driving, especially around last call.

Merry Christmas!

I’m spending time with my family, hope you all are enjoying the holidays! Have a fun time.