Grassroots Motorsports: The Hardcore Sports Car Magazine

Here you can see the new pushbutton horn switch and the two light switches.

The lug wrench, tow strap and triangles will live in this toolbox that has been bolted to the trunk floor.

We used trailer wiring flat-four plugs for our lighting. This way we can remove the light bar for daytime stages and reinstall it quickly for night events.

Work progresses on our Subaru. In the past few days we’ve wired up the horn to a push button switch on the dash, bolted a toolbox to the floor of the trunk and put plugs in our Hella’s wiring harness so that we can quickly remove them. Today, we’ll be heading back to the junkyard to get a few plugs to make a harness that will get our reverse lights working again.

There are lots of bridges in the Florida Keys, with many dating back to Henry Flagler’s railroad. When the railroad was washed out in 1935, the bridges were then converted to car use—meaning they were narrow. Most have since been replaced with modern, wider bridges.

Hard to believe, but there’s a lot of seafood available in the Keys. We got some good grub here, although we’re pretty sure our waiter had A.D.D.

Another bridge shot.

And of course, I found a bunch of subject matter for the Ran When Parked section of Classic Motorsports. This Alfa can be found next to Glass Reunions on Duval Street.

Well, originally we were going to spend our honeymoon in New York City. However, when the MTA and the transit union started trading tougher and tougher talk, we made new plans.

A quick call to Delta changed our destination to Key West, and we just spent a few days down there at Hawk’s Cay on Duck Key. This particular island is located more or less in the middle of the Keys. Margie gave us a to-do list, and we hit most of the items on it—saw dolphins, ate a lot of marine life and crossed a lot of bridges.

Some after Christmas shopping at Walmart netted us a trio of triangles and a 30′ tow strap.

We braved a horde of mutants at our local Walmart on the day after Christmas to shop for more needed items in our rally preparation. The first score was a 30′ tow strap (required) that set us back $18.83. This was followed by 3 warning triangles (also required) for $7.47 each. Last week, we scored a second fire extinguisher, so we’re paring our list of things to do down rapidly.

Next up, we’ll be fixing the skidplate and changing the oil at the same time. Our Impreza hit 78,000 miles at the last RallyCross and it’s time to change the oil. The skidplate has to be removed for the oil change anyway, so it’s a great time for the fluid change.

45 minutes later, we have a completed spring and shock assembly.

Being double-adjustable, the DA Koni has a compression damping force adjuster at the bottom of the shock housing.

We drove into Orlando yesterday to pick up all of the bits necessary to create complete rear spring and shock assemblies. It took a few weeks for the parts to come into Downtown MINI, but they all arrived and appear to be correct. The springs were ordered from our VIN, so they’ve got the correct spring code for our options and the color coded stripes on the springs match our originals. Assembly of the shock and spring is pretty straight forward, although we did need to drill out the center hole in the upper perch and the dished washer so the fatter Koni shaft could fit. Putting the spring and shock package together takes about 45 minutes and requires a spring compressor (not our favorite tool to play with) so we’re happy that we’ve now got these complete assembies that we can bolt on in less than 10 mintues at the track. It was worth the $424 that it cost in extra parts.

While we were at the MINI dealership, we had them program our car so that it has daytime running lights. Why? Because on our way to Orlando, we had no less than 3 credits-to-humanity try to run us off the road. We can only guess that our MINI is so small, the traffic around us has a hard time seeing it. Even if it is bright freakin’ red.

featured events

Jan. 21-22: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Balsam Lake, Wis., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Jan. 26-29: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Fla., www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com
Feb. 2-5: SCCA National Convention, Kansas City, Mo., www.scca.com
Feb. 4-5: NASA HPDE/Race, Rockingham, N.C., www.nasa-southeast.com
Feb. 9-12: SCCA Drivers School, Roebling Road, Ga., www.buccaneerregion.org
Feb. 24-25: Rally America 100 Acre Wood, Salem, Mo., www.100aw.org

southern pacific

Jan. 12: SCCA Club Race, Phoenix Int’l Raceway, Ariz., 480-832-1327
Jan. 13: SCCA Grand Canyon Tour Rally, Arizona/Nevada, 928-758-0651
Jan. 21-22: San Diego Region PCA Time Trial, Willow Springs, Calif., www.pcasdr.org
Feb. 11-12: SpeedTrialUSA event, Buttonwillow Raceway, Calif., www.speedtrialusa.com

southwest

Jan. 21-22: The Drivers Edge track day, MotorSport Ranch Houston, Texas, www.thedriversedge.net
Feb. 4-5: The Drivers Edge track day, MotorSport Ranch Ft. Worth, Texas, www.thedriversedge.net

central

Jan. 7-8: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Garrison, Minn., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Jan. 14-15: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Garrison, Minn., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Jan. 21-22: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Balsam Lake, Wis., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Jan. 27-28: Rally America Sno*Drift, Atlanta, Mich., www.sno-drift.org
Jan. 28-29: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Lindstrom, Minn., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Feb. 4-5: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., St. Paul, Minn., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Feb. 11-12: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Centerville, Minn., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Feb. 18-19: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Thunder Bay, Ontario, Can., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace
Feb. 25-26: Int’l Ice Racing Assoc., Balsam Lake, Wis., 612-330-0080, www.angelfire.com/mn/icerace

midwest

Feb. 2-5: SCCA National Convention, Kansas City, Mo., www.scca.com
Feb. 24-25: Rally America 100 Acre Wood, Salem, Mo., www.100aw.org

northeast

Jan. 8: AMEC Ice Racing, Algonquin Lake, Wells, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Jan. 15: AMEC Ice Racing, Algonquin Lake, Wells, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Jan. 21: SCCA Vermont Winter Rally, 802-263-5678
Jan. 22: AMEC Ice Racing, Algonquin Lake, Wells, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Jan. 29: AMEC Ice Racing, Round Lake, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Feb. 5: AMEC Ice Racing, Cossayuna Lake, Greenwich, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Feb. 11: AMEC Ice Racing Time Trial, Round Lake, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Feb. 12: AMEC Ice Racing, Round Lake, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Feb. 19: AMEC Ice Racing, Cossayuna Lake, Greenwich, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Feb. 25: AMEC Vintage and Historic Ice Races, Lake George, N.Y., www.icerace.com
Feb. 26: AMEC Ice Racing Championship, Lake George, N.Y., www.icerace.com

southeast

Jan. 18-22: PBOC Race/Enduro/School, Sebring, Fla., www.pbocflorida.com
Jan. 21-22: NASA HPDE/Race/School, Moroso Motorsports Park, Fla., www.drivenasafl.com
Jan. 26-29: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Fla., www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com
Jan. 28: Chin Motorsports track day, Moroso Motorsports Park, Fla., www.chinmotorsports.com
Feb. 4-5: NASA HPDE/Race, Rockingham, N.C., www.nasa-southeast.com
Feb. 9-12: SCCA Drivers School, Roebling Road, Ga., www.buccaneerregion.org
Feb. 10-12: PCA Club Race, Sebring, Fla., www.pca.org
Feb. 18: SCCA Rally 201, Old Dominion, Va., 804-266-3135

Registration and License
1) Become a NASA member. Status: form is filled out, on Per’s desk, waiting on a check for $40.
2) Apply for NASA RallySport license. Status: Form is filled out, on Per’s desk, waiting for a check for $50.
3) Fill out medical questionaire. Status: Done, waiting to go out.
4) Sign liability form: Status: Done, waiting to go out.
5) Photocopy Subaru registration and insurance card, send in with entry to event.
6) Photocopy tow vehicle registration and insurance card, send in with entry to event.

Personal Safety Gear:
1) Driver’s Suit: Have.
2) Nomex underwear, socks: Have
3) Helmet: have SA2000 close face
4) shoes: Piloti DTMs…
5) Neck protection: have high-density collar from Pyrotect.
6) Gloves: have

Car Prep:
1) Basic car status: It runs and is reliable. Need to wire up horn so it works and check all bulbs for functionality.
2) Rollcage. Status: Done..check with NASA guys to insure legality…done, added gussets.
3) harnesses. Status: brand new GForce harnesses installed.
4) Rollcage padding. Status: new high density padding installed.
5) FIA legal seats. Status: have 2 Racetech seats, need to mount.
6) seat brackets to mount seats. Status: on way
7) Fire bottles: Have one 1a-10bc, bought second…just in case.
8) Tow Hooks. Status: installed.
9) skidplates. Status: installed….need to fix intereference with engine after last event.
10) mudflaps. Status: Found OE ones at junkyard, need to install.
11) Window nets: have, need to install. Not required but recommended.
12) Rally computer: not necessary, but helpful. Cherokee is a Recce event, so not as important there. May hold off on this purchase.
13) 3 warning triangles: need to get from SafeDrives
14) First aid kit: need to get from Safe Drives
15) Tow Rope: need to source and buy 25′ one.
16) Intercom: need to source and buy. Terraphone?
17) Paul Eklund recommended some spares of the lower control arms and struts. Got several front LCAs, looking for a few spare struts.

Event Stuff:
1) Tow vehicle. Make sure we have a tow vehicle and trailer to get up to TN. Status: working on that.
2) pack food (Paul Eklund recommends lots of comfort food to calm driver/co-driver down. Good idea!)
3) Get car teched.
4) Go through novice orientation to complete license requirements.
5) Buy the stage notes.
6) Go on Recce with tow vehicle with co-driver taking notes.
7) Find some darn fool that would want to be our co-driver.

The front gusset is actually a 1.5″ tube that connects the halo to the downtubes. This strengthens an area that can get hit hard in a rally car.

The added rear support protects the driver’s head and torso, in addition to helping support the main hoop and halo.

FIA Approved, Racetech seats are our choice for this project. We’re using their 4000Ws

The additional gussets and tubing took another 2.5 hours at BSI Racing. They’ll bring us up to the letter of NASA RallySport’s rules and keep us even safer in the event of an off.

A pair of FIA-approved Racetech 4000W seats with side brackets arrived today. They’re comfortable and safe. We’ll be bolting them in our Impreza as soon as brackets arrive. The seats retail for $640 a piece, while the aluminum side brackets were another $80. This is quite reasonable for a shell-style FIA approved seat.

Yep, we had a busy weekend, as I am now Mr. Wallens. Oh wait, I mean Michele is now Mrs. Wallens. Here are some photos: pics at TheRaceSite.com

Happiness is revalved, double-adjustable Konis.

We’re going to experiment a bit with our shock absorber set-up. While the FSDs are clearly well-suited to autocross (We’ve hit top index three out of three events since their installation) we’re going to try using a revalved, double-adjustable shock on the rear of the MINI, keeping the FSDs on the front position.

To make the swaps back and forth easier, we’re ordering new springs, hats and bumpstops so that we can have two complete sets of rear shock assemblies. This will make it very easy to swap out the FSDs for street use and DAs for autocross. We’ll let you know how it goes!

We picked up some spare parts at the junkyard.

This weekend, we went to the junkyard to pick up some spare parts for our Subaru. We found front lower control arms ($13.99 a piece, with balljoints), mudflaps (99 cents a piece) and even a spare alloy ($12.99).

The car is now back at BSI Racing. After some discussion with NASA RallySport tech inspectors, we realized that we needed some gusseting and additional reinforcement–Both from a rules standpoint and the “it’s a darn good idea” angle.

So, now we can check off “check rollcage” and “get mudflaps” from our list of stuff to do.