If you asked anyone in the United States to name a rally driver, chances are they would know the name Colin McRae. Having used his name on various (rally) video game titles and having been the star of the last two X-Games rally competitions, I would say that Colin is 90% the reason why anyone here knows what rally is. I have many a desktop picture with Colin at the wheel going sideways or upside-down. He helped to inspire me to rally as I AM one of those people that grew up with rally video games.

Colin McRae died in a helicopter crash on Saturday. McRae was piloting the helicopter when it crashed, killing all four people on board, including McRae’s five year old son. The news of this tragic accident is deeply distressing to us here at rallynotes.com. We send out our condolences to Colin’s wife, daughter, and the friends and families of those who passed in this unbelievable accident.

Rally on Colin! Rally on…
– Kris & Christine

more from Google News – more from the BBC – more from Colin McRae.com

One of the main things that makes a car a “rally car” is its suspension. One of the struggles we’ve had to endure is working with a car that has an already scary low ground clearance and make it take the abuse of rally.

Most of the parts on the Dodge Neon are built surprisingly well for endurance. Cast control arms, heavy knuckles, and five bolt hubs. The brakes are a great match for this car and the drive train takes a wicked amount of abuse. The front radiator support is showing it’s life of rally now. Bowed up almost 2″, it’s a not too subtle reminder of how many times I’ve put the nose into the ground.

We have been getting away with Bilstein inserts in ‘rebuilt’ strut housings. When I say ‘rebuilt,’ I mean used KYB struts that have been hollowed out and welded. They survive the rally, but not without destroying the inside of the housing in the process. It’s kind of like trying to mount a piston inside an empty Coke can. It goes up and down a couple of times until the can folds in on itself and the piston crushes the remaining metal. With my struts I end up with a tube filled with pieces of metal bearings, grease, wiper seals, and dirt. I am so amazed at what I put the Bilstein inserts through (and they survive it) that I will probably use these inserts forever.

So, what’s the new plan? Well, Bilstein has been pushing me in the direction of custom strut tubes since the beginning and I’ve finally listened. My motorsport company – RumbleSoft Racing has ordered 4 prototype units from a CNC machine shop, hopefully in time for Prescott. They are one solid piece (almost 10mm thick at the bottom) and will accept the Bilstein Motorsports Inserts with 0.2mm of clearance. We will then weld a bottom and 1/4″ thick tabs on them, press in two bearings and a wiper seal and field test the crap out of them. If successful we will have the best struts that we can possibly afford and still have money left over to rebuild them ourselves after 3 or 4 rallies. Look for an update on these during or after Prescott.

I’m sure that some of you long time fans have noticed that the stylized Neon at the top of the page changes from time to time. Illustrated in Macromedia Flash by tracing a transparent picture of the car by hand, changes to the car, the stickers, and the design have happened over eight times. Sometimes subtle, sometimes major – see how the Rally Neon progressed through the years.

Continue reading →

Please,
please,
please,
please,
PLEASE bring the 1.8L Yaris TS 5 door to the USA.
I would buy it tomorrow.
I will use it to drive to San Diego.
I will get 36MPG for 3 years.
I would then turn it into a rally car and jump it.
Yes I am totally serious.

Thanks,
Kris
– rally driver

No, we didn’t fall off the planet. I mean, around the world to Tahiti is close, but we’re back and gearing up for our next adventure! If you’re wondering what happened – check out the new banner! See you soon!

This is the first special edition banner! (I’ll have more on 5 years of banner history in a future post.)

I went over the video from Rim. It’s all encoded. The first runs have no audio. I apparently unplugged the cable when I was in the back of the car. I saw that it was loose on Sunday and semi-hoped that it would be okay. I have to admit that I sort of lost interest in it when I discovered that it had no audio… It’s cool – but at the same time – I’ve seen the stage 27 times.

I DID get pictures off the camera and up in the Rim of the World Rally Challenge Gallery – or ROTWRCG for short. I didn’t get a chance to post a link to said gallery. I hope you found it before now.

The story here is that I’ve been busy with finding work and getting ready for a trip back east. Over the next week I should have time to write a “How was rim?” post. Other titles include “OMGROTWRC!” and “How not to DNF at a rallycross.” I didn’t even have the energy to write a follow up PR. I’m usually an example of rally marketing and I dropped the ball.

The two rallycrosses that followed right after Rim also lead to this state. We took third overall at the FRX Glen Helen III event and then threw it all away at Johnson Valley II with a botched first run. I set 2 of the fastest runs on the second course, but there was no way to make up 20 seconds. We towed out to both events and got the trailer stuck on the road back from the Johnson Valley lake bed.

CRS FRX – Glen Helen III Results
CRS FRX – Johnson Valley II Results

Oh – I want to mention that the Way Too Fast team was out at both events and did quite well in class. They are getting their Rally Neon up to speed for Gorman in August! Look for Kevin Patterson and Jake Walters in the standings. Way to go guys!

I’ll be back with stories and more – soon.
– Kris

No mistakes, no punctures, no problems. Okay, well there was that pesky water truck. I’ll be updating with pictures, video, and stories from the Rim of the World Rally Challenge later this weekend. Stay tuned!

Last night I got the rally car up from the shop and parked close. I had time to build my Byonics TinyTrak3 APRS tracker (see this post) and got it setup and firing location packets. This weekend will be a demo beta test of the system. So if you want to help me test it – Keep an eye on us and post a comment if you use it.

We’re leaving early tomorrow morning around 6:00AM-PST and heading up to Lancaster towing the Neon with the tracker active. So, the early birds in the East Coast can watch our boring tow out there. Saturday afternoon we’ll keep it running and you can watch us drive around the fairgrounds from 12:00PM-PST to 10:00PM-PST. Sunday we’ll be racing in the fairgrounds from 9:00AM-PST to 4:00PM-PST. The GPS signal looks accurate enough that I’ll bet you can tell when we’re in service and when we’re screwing around in the autocross lot. Look for the course and speed at the top of the page.

Watch for the live scores on rallydata.com – Rim of the World Rally Challenge Results