A couple years ago I was hanging out with some friends at casa’de trunkmonkey and we were watching all the rally footage available to Sean’s PVR. This included a “Legends of Motorsport” from the 1981 Acropolis Rally.

About 3 minutes into the show, begins this sequence of radio calls. Service crews are trying to contact each other, back and forth, etc. They layered the audio over a deep electro beat. Ambient radio chatter along with a track you might hear from Fischerspooner or Prodigy. A wicked tune matched up with 80’s rally cars. Sean, Andrew, Brian and others wondered if we could ever figure out where to get it.

Yesterday I stumbled upon the remix site to “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts“. A project recently remastered and re-released by Brian Eno and David Byrne. This album - way ahead of it’s time - was released in 1981. I’ve been a fan of Byrne’s work, so I click to hear some of the tracks. “Mea Culpa” hits me right off the bat. “I’ve heard this before”. My brain jumped into trainspotter mode. It took me about an hour, but when I came back to my desk I knew I had the song from the Acropolis Rally Video.

A quick dip into the DVD rally video collection when I got home yielded “Chariots in the Sun - The 1981 Acropolis Rally.”
The song is “Mea Culpa” off the album “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” done by Brian Eno and David Byrne.
Oh… and you can download the video here - please enjoy it.

We started with Kumho tires last season, but they let me down in the summer. I was unable to get any in the country even after calling Tire Rack and Kumho directly. *cough We contacted the Tabor Rally Team and they got us setup with a fresh set of Silverstone tires, which we ran in Prescott, and have had good luck with. They seem to be stiffer then the Kumhos and be up for a little more beating. Unfortunately they were almost $40 more a tire and it stretched the budget far enough that we ran them on the front of the car with the rallycrossed Kumho tires on the rear. Yes - mismatched tires… We’re no WRC team here.

After looking at the contingency programs, and reading reviews on the Hankook Ventus R201’s - we ordered some up from Todd Swift at Frisby Performance Tire. The tread pattern is certainly unique and designed for a wide range of surfaces. We got them in the hardest compound for two reasons. 1. They last longer. 2. It’s hot and it never rains here.

Bilstein 36mm inverted strut inserts with custom digressive valving. Yummy sounding - aren’t they? Next we’ll get some strut bodies built and get them on the car.

A fresh transmission is on it’s way and a small pile of boxes are filling up one corner of the living room. Normally this would drive the woman of the house crazy. Instead, Christine only asked what tire compound we should order from Hankook and moved the parts into a neat order by the door. ♥

I’m really stoked about what we’ll be able to do this year. We’ll be bringing the performance of the Neon up to it’s highest production level and pushing ourselves to finish and do our best.

< < Are these BEEFY or what?!

The Southern California chapter of Neon America had a meet on Saturday and we stopped by Tustin Dodge to attend. I will say that it was not exactly what I was expecting. For starters, they are really organized and we went over past and future events and club items. More like a board of directors meeting then a ‘parking lot gathering’. What can I say - I’m used to 200 people showing up to a park in CT and when the cops show up asking who’s in charge, they point at me…

It’s a small family crew that was quite welcoming and made us feel right at home. After recording the minutes, we all strolled over to the cars to go grab some fast food in the area. That’s when the talk turned serious and I wanted to get some Neon owners opinions on my upgrade path.

So I’m looking for a fresh transmission from a sport model with the 3.94 final gear. I’m going to install a Phantom Grip with the diff saver brackets (mopar 05134957AA), and a fresh clutch. While I’m in there I’ll install the solid bobble strut and new shifter bushings. For the engine I’ll get an MSD coil pack for better spark and try to get my O2 in a place that the exhaust + skidplates won’t crush it. I’ve also ordered stainless steel braided brake lines finally. I need to get down to the salvage yard to grab some more rear trailing arms and other spare parts for the bin.

Bilstein has always been a driving force in the development of automotive suspension technology. From Dakar to the Baja 1000, more races have been won on Bilstein shocks then any other major shock absorber manufacturer. We are delighted to announce Bilstein will be partnering with the rallynotes.com team for the 2006 season!

The Dodge Rally Neon will be riding on Bilstein’s patented performance gas pressure shock absorbers in several rallies starting with The Rim of the World Rally in Lancaster, CA. “I can’t wait to get them on the car and start testing for Rim.” said driver Kristopher Marciniak. “Rim can be a harsh event with lots of water bars, dips, and broken pavement. I’m sure the new Bilstein setup will excel in this area.”

Watch for the installation and testing to be covered on http://rallynotes.com
You can check out Bilstein’s full product line at http://www.bilstein.com