Still fresh from their first outing in Gorman Ridge, where the team finished without incident 20th overall, they head east to beautiful and scenic Arizona, for the 18th annual running of The Prescott Rally presented by Scott Roofing. The smooth roads and fantastic views have enticed the team to make the 400 mile journey. “I am really excited about this one. I’m no longer worried about the strength of the car. Gorman was a tough test,” said driver Kristopher Marciniak.

The survivability of the suspension and specifically the dozens of bushings on the car will be helped this time with factory support from Energy Suspension. Located in San Clemente, their engineering team has offered its services and installed a new set of HyperFlex™ components on the Dodge Rally Neon.

The team will continue its work building speed and confidence in the car. “I’ve watched the in-car video of Gorman a thousand times!” joked Kris. “After the final service I really took it easy. The skidplate was pushed up and touching the oil pan, the stages were starting to suffer from a full day of rally abuse, and the goal was to finish. At Prescott I want to turn up the speed. We’re going to have some fun out there.”

Because of the distance to the event, the local crew will not be able to attend. The guys at az2gnt.net (an Arizona based car club) will be servicing the Neon in Prescott. “This was a big concern for us that was taken care of early,” said Kris. “Kaiser Chen, one of our crew members from Gorman went out and got us the help we needed in Arizona – when he knew he couldn’t go himself. That was awesome!”

Co-Driver Christine Wittish talks about her excitement for The Prescott Rally. “On our trip across the country last year we fell in love with the scenery and beauty of Arizona. Sedona, Jerome, Prescott - such beautiful country. I am looking forward to making another trip out there, especially one where we get to rally. I want to sharpen my note-reading so we can improve our stage speeds – one of our goals for this event.”
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I was told today that TPR Magazine has an article about our overall win at the rallycross in July! I checked out their site and I guess I can confirm that - as we’re one of the small pictures on the cover! I want to again thank the Gravel Crew for hosting events and give shouts to all the readers of Tuner Performance Reports! (I was just emailed that this issue #12 goes on sale September 27th - LOOK for it!)

The Prescott preparation is going well - I hope to have a special announcement next week in regards to our suspension setup. We were able to strip off the front struts over the weekend and do a full inspection. Everything looks in good shape. We started fabrication of some front strut-top spacers. We’re going to add about 3/4″ of height with high density plastic and beefier strut top bolts to maximize the ground clearance. Right now the front sits about 6.25″ off the ground and the rear is almost an inch taller. After watching the skidplate bashing at Gorman - we need all that we can get.

Pictures of the Prescott prep.

Detroit News Article
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We here at rallynotes.com would like to send out our condolences to Michael’s family, friends, and Driver Markko Martin. During stage 15 of the WRC Wales Rally GB - Michael was fatally injured in a major accident. He was a Co-Driver at the top of his game and will be missed. We got the chance to watch Markko and Michael win in Mexico 2004 and this loss saddens us deeply.

Rally on Michael! Rally on…
- Kris & Christine

more from the BBC - more from Malcom Wilson - more from Google News

Some of the faster sections on The Gorman Ridge Rally 2005.
Gorman-good-run.wmv 43.2MB WMV - Please right click, save, and enjoy!

The Dodge Rally Neon needs a few things: Front skidplate ‘work’, control arm bushings, exhaust wrap, new mud flaps, some dents removed, and a general ‘going over’. We’ve got a full set of Silverstone 505s from Gorman and with no punctures, I’m inclined to continue using them over the Kumhos. Not being able to get Kumho spares in time for Gorman really pushed me off. I even wrote a letter to them - pleading for help - and got a polite: “Nope - we don’t have’em… Can’t get’em.”

I found a trailer to rent from the rally community and I’ll be bolting the crazy heavy ‘class III’ hitch Christine ordered onto the back of the Blazer this weekend. I’d like to find a used car dolly for $500, but they’re nowhere to be found. If you know of one in the LA/OC area - drop me a comment.

The one thing we thought would be a problem was getting a crew out there. It’s a long drive and quite a commitment and expense for our volunteers in Southern California. Fortunately the AZ2GNT crew stepped up! It’s a tight knit group of 2nd generation non-turbo DSM guys. They run the same engine block (420A) as the Dodge Neon, and a bunch of them will be helping us in Arizona!