Gronholm NOT coming to Pikes this year

We think.

This is from maxrally.com website.

Double world rally champion Marcus Gronholm has conceded that it’s unlikely he’ll tackle the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb for a second time this season.

The 42-year-old Finn set the second fastest overall time on the Colorado mountain last year at the wheel of a 850bhp Ford Fiesta prepared by Andreas Eriksson’s MSE organisation.

He said: “It’s a shame, but I don’t think the car can be built for Pikes Peak. I enjoyed that last year, the car was really funny to drive with all that power.”

Gronholm could still be heading to America this year however after he was linked to an outing in the rally section of the X Games in Los Angeles form July 29-August 1. While the event’s selection committee has yet to discuss the matter, Gronholm said: “We have to see. I was invited before but didn’t go, it could be interesting, I’m thinking about it. Why not?

So, umm, we move up one more position.... Possibly.

Now we're Fully Committed.

Well, we had quite the mission today. 1: get out of bed, have breakfast, grab the Pikes Peak-bound evo and drive from where we live in the very southern suburbs of Sydney to Brookvale which is on the very northern end of the Sydney suburbs, which took about 1.5 hours as we were going with the traffic into the city, then against the traffic once on the Northshore and over the Harbour Bridge, which meant all the traffic was now coming at us, a good thing, until you get to parts where they have ALL the lanes and we have one, which means our 3 lanes of traffic get squeezed into one lane heading north. But I digress. So we finally got to Brookvale which was our first stop ( did I mention it was Peak Hour Traffic and I was in the rally evo with a competition clutch? - creep, stop, creep, stop, brake, creep stop, bastard just cut me off, well, you get the idea..) to collect our newly purchased and imported evo 6 which had to be complianced for Australian Roads, sort of the EPA/DOT requirement to put it on the Aussie roads for the US friends out there reading this.

Anyways... Next stop was Way up north in Newcastle to drop the evo 8 off for shipment to California, which is it's next stop, providing it gets on the boat ok. Oh, which, by the way, also has our Tow vehicle on it which is coming from LA - shouldve just left it in LA and used it while we are there, oh well. So we picked up one evo (evo 6) dropped off the other evo for shipment (evo 8) and came home, except we have to do the 3 hour drive again next week to pick up our truck. Phew.

The pic is the battle ready evo 8 (black) now delivered dock side with the evo 6 sitting next to it which was our chariot home. We used Cath's Iphone to take the shot as my phone decided to now work right when I needed it to to use the maps feature to get us to our destination.

Almost there!

Well, next week sometime I will get a phone call to deliver the car to the docks, like, now. Such is the way it is currently. We are dealing with sending the car out of the Newcastle, NSW port instead of my local, and very close, port of Port Kembla, ie: 45 mins, as opposed to 3 hours. Trust me to pick the only boat in 5 years that ISNT going to Port Kembla docks. Oh well.

Today we MEEK Automotive with David Hinde (Merlin) doing ECU checks now the 1000cc injectors are in place, and all seems good. Setting intercooler spray temps and times for cutoffs etc, it was all about small numbers on a screen today, numbers only someone like Merlin can make sense of. Merlin is the Go-To guy in the industry for all ECU matters in evos, go to his download section here, and see what I mean: Here: http://www.4g63evolution.net/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=96

Today while at MEEK I got the chance to take some quick pics with my phone, and here, ladies and Gentlemen, is the car in it's Livery for Pikes Peak, 2010. Ok, ok, yes, we shouldve washed it, but we didnt. Until next time when I go digging for more info to add, which isnt that hard as there is always so much going on, have a good day. Race Safe!

some more pics:

Had these sent to me from the track day a few weeks ago when we were testing, I like them, they are very 'stark' in composition.

Brief Interruption; Some Maps. Head to that location, drive up that hill. FAST!

Say hello to some of our friends;

We just want you guys to meet a few of our friends we've met along the way to getting ready for Pikes Peak. Our new friend Andrew Phillips will be running the Peak this year on his BMW motorcycle (that's him in the pic), although it wont be THAT motorcycle, there probably isnt a calender long enough to run a vintage motorcycle up a hill with limited air available. Andrew is a Mad BMW guy (aint all us nice guys!) and races motorcycles in his East Coast semi-frozen state of New Hampshire, and my close friend Max (Max BMW motorcycles, NH, and NY,) sevices Andrew's race bikes.

As we count down we'll be paying homage to the peple we've met, and more importantly, people assisting us on their way, in particlar with their own effort. One guy in particular is 'Merlin', and he's up next!

Rhys and Team Hyundai/Toyo are flatout!

See these images? Know what they are of? Yeah, yeah, the heading gives it away a bit, but check out the work proceeding rapidly on the Millen Hyundai Toyo Pikes Peak entry. Ok, ok, I know we've already given them some space on MY blog, but hey, they're super nice people, and they are good friends of our good friends, TOYO tyres, so we can do what we like. The full link is here to the story and even more images, follow the link. http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/04/rhys-millens-unlimited-pikes-peak-car-with-a-41-liter-hyundai-genesis-v6-we-go-beneath-the-skin.html

Wasnt expecting this!

Well, we all knew Millen was redoing his effort for PP this year with a new Hyundai powered car, but I didnt expect this! He's serious, very serious about the record, and is bringing a sort-of Lemans-spec looking vehicle. I guess he's parking the famous Hyundai Drift car this time. It's going to be exciting, and if he does it, we will be there also for the thrill of it all and our own entry. Which, hey, by the way, there seems to be 3 cars in 4WD Time Attack, so we expect to at least be on the podium in third place, given we're up against seasoned Pikes Peak pros who know the mountain better than they probably know their own wife/partners. On a light stressful note, , I have to run our car over to the shop, I think we have a bent valve, and the car has to be at the docks next week for shipment...

Just a few more...

Just a few more images from our last event. This was the Mt Buller Hillclimb, it is 10 miles in Length, and all smooth tarmac, and very twisty. This was the event we used as a test bed for Pikes Peak. We were the fastest evo for most of the weekend, then just got pipped by the evo X, but then we got the position back, but in this event we lost it again due to the rules of dropping your worst run, and the evoX's worst run was worse than ours so in that scheme of things it put them back ahead. This is not a rule I agree with, as this is a rally, and on a rally there is no rule about 'droppping' your worst stage time. Before the event Cath had asked where we might end up in the results, and i said we'll be top 15, for sure, but not top 10, and we ended up 11th overall, and 1st in class. Couldnt be happier with that. Although 10th wouldve nice... Some pics.

Went digging for some more pics of some hillclimbs I did in the US. I did the New England hillclimb series in Vermont and New Hampshire and the hills were nice and long. These pics are of my Euro (Brit Registered) Sti Type Uk 300 Prodrive I imported to drive. It did well. they told me not to bring it back and changed the rules to read: all cars entered must be available for sale in the US.. but added 'showroom'. So it stopped all our Euro and JDM cars. These shots were from Burke Hillclimb, a 3.5 mile event, brilliant hill.

Some Previous hillclimb pics.

I scoured my system to find some previous shots of some of the hillclimbs I've done in the US, plus of course some here in Australia. Enjoy.

this first one is when we ran a 1995 Sti at the Aussie Mt Buller event. We did one run, took on some bad fuel (elf fuel SHOULD NEVER be used in a Subaru) and popped the engine. sat in the bar the rest of the weekend.

Next up is the Old BMW Grp A we ran at Mt Washington, we took the class record in this car and was 3rd fastest in qualifying, beating the AWD 400hp Escort Cosworth. Sweet! Sadly on race day the timing weights in the distributor froze, and we were S.O.L.

My Evo 5 at Mt Washington, going through Craigway, which was right about the halfway mark, took the record again that year. Another shot of the evo 5 coming through Craigway. Mt Washington was 30% gravel, 30% smooth tar and 40% rough pavement. Stll a fantastic hill, we certainly hope we can learn off doing this hill and apply it to Pikes Peak.
another shot of my old Grp A BMW car in line ready for a hillclimb.

Our evo 8 at the last Mt Buller, we took 11th overall, and 1st in class.

tyres, tyres, tyres!

PPIHC being 12 miles in length, 60% tarmac and 40% hard gravel, the choice of tyres is a tough one, especially when you dont have the funds to just 'throw' money at choices, test and decide. So here are our options; Hoosier DOT Wet (people who race on these in the wet love them), Kumho W710's which look very close to what we need, but if it stays hot all weekend on the hill we'll fry these babies quickly, or go with a tyre Im leaning towards, which is the Silverstone S595's. The S595 is a proper tarmac rally tyre, so it would have a very stiff sidewall, and being an intermediate weather tyre should give us the dirt and tarmac grip. If it rains with any of these tyres we'll be well ready to keep going hard. We are meeting Silverstone tyre importer this week and discussing availability. The Kunhos are out of the size we need (only 275's available) Hoosiers are in stock. We'll see where this all goes. Stay tuned.

A few announcements: Welcome IautoSport as a partner.

Along with our other partners in Motorsports, Meek Automotive, GTpumps turbos, we also welcome aboard iautosport http://iautosport.com.au/ this is a aftermarket supplier to all categories of performance, and we'll be keeping you updated with their releases and activities and their involvement with our efforts for 2010 and onwards. they always have a huge track effort and will have a stand at the Eastern Creek Time Attack world event and are constantly at most other tracks and club events. Run by Marc Hammond, iautosport support all levels of motorpsorts with a strong presence and support. So check their website over, and visit them and our other supporters. Also check out their other event http://epcc.net.au/ .

We'll be back with even more information shortly. Namely our quest for the right tyres for Pikes Peak, which is a never ending pursuit.

Millen going after the record at PPIHC

Ok, Rhys Millen has been going to the PPIHC for a while now, I think back in the late 90's he ran a R33 skyline there. His dad has won there and taken the record, and now Rhyc is aiming to take the record off the current holder, Monster Tajima.

Just a side note, I dont understand why they say 'World Record Holder'. If you have the record at a hillclimb, or track etc it is a 'record', a hillclimb record, a track record etc., heck, even I have hillclimb records from hillclimbs in the US, including Mt Washington in New Hampshire. But I would never call it a World Record! A leap from an airplane at 60,000 feet would be a world record. A run up a hill is a 'Record'.
Anyways, I digress, here is the release from all round good guy Rhys and his dad and a teaser video. Wishing them good luck and look for forward to seeing Rod Millen again, I used to compete against him rallying.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/15/video-rhys-vows-to-bring-pikes-peak-record-back-to-millen-famil/#continued

Of course, if I ever took the record at Pikes Peak, I would put 'World Record Holder' on my press release too. Oh, the complicated web we weave...

Ok, you know that evo video that shows the evo sliding off the road and rolling? This isthe incar all the way to that spot.

Just a few things to get you warmed up! the first one is a subaru that doesnt make it.


Evo doesnt make it..


And of course a quick one by Eriksson in the Fiesta wild beast.


Just to warm up the show a bit.

Well hello race fans!

An update in general proceedings. We just got a tracking system (real time) for the car, this will be installed on Monday at the electricians, and once we dial it all in and get it setup, we will hope to have it sorted so you can see us real-time (although I'm sure delayed) over the web as we climb the peak. This particular system also has a microphone installed which will be in the cabin and we will work on the possibility of letting the followers listen in as we climb the mountain, with Cath calling the pace notes, that will be exciting to listen to. - JD

Time for BIG THANKS

Just a sidestep to recognise the people who have assisted me so far with this effort, firstly, the great guys at MEEK Automotive, these guys are the premo' aussie evo service and tuned parts installers, and their ECU mappings are terrific. www.meek.com.au Meek supplied the 272 cams, the mapping, the cam timers pulleys, the 3" exhaust, etc all to make it breath better, and it certainly does, we just need to tune the cams in and get that last 15 or so Kilowatts out of it.

Also, his neighbour, Mark at GT Pumps turbos etc., Mark rebuilt our 9.8 turbo to a nicely balanced level, and it blew all the bigger turbos away at our last event. Mark also supplied a 10.5 hotside for us, and a 1.5 bar actuator. And convinced me to try the new Elig competition brake pad, and I have to say, Im impressed with these for friction feedback and bite. It took 4 track sessions to get them to bed in.

Also, my race buddies in California, Road Race Engineering, who will be recieving the car and giving it a final tune in California when it arrives to US spec E85 fuel. http://roadraceengineering.com

Visa Time!

Well, with my US Visa up for renewal in February I went through the most amazing amount of online registration formality to renew my US Visa. filled out the online forms multiple times because the system kept freezing up, and some 20 pages later it had finally accepted my Visa renewal application.

This is where it starts.

That was back in early February and as it is now the middle of April we are in a bit of a panic (should we be, or are we just being overly worried?). Now all details on the web about a US visa says DO NOT CALL, so we havent, being good people. Then Cath got a hold of the US number for the US Department of state that handles the Visa apps' and called, and was told that only 'I' can talk to them being the applicant. So, after messing with time zones for a week or so, I got up early today to call and talk to some one about my renewal application. Went through all the recordings and button pressing for the 6th or so time, and finally got put on hold to wait in a queue that was said to be 5 minutes long, which turned out to be 15.

Got hold of a lady and gave her my passport number and she then went off to look up the application, the response - "we have nothing in the system for you, sir!, there is no application".

What? Wait! What?

Fearing I would have to start again, I started to question the process and how it all goes - and the lady in Washington was getting snippity with me. I maintained pure courtesy the whole time, of course.

The end result? So remember all the info I mentioned above about DO NOT CALL, well the system actually says we will get a letter in regards to our appointment time in the mail to visit to US Consulate in Sydney, well, apparently not going by the lady in the US state Department. The lady on the phone at the US State Department informed me that WE need to CALL to US Consulate in Sydney to make an appointment for an interview. Seriously, that is what she said. So we shall do that and call today for a scheduled 'interview'. Who wouldve thought a simple VISA renewal would be this hard.

Updates soon.

Wanna see some pics of the decals?

Ok, so dont get too close, they are ten-footer decals. Here's a brief sample.

PPIHC Schedule!

YIKES!!!!

Looking over the schedule for the PPIHC event, Im hoping jet lag will kick in and stay with us for a while while there.

Day 1 Practice - 3:30 Am gates open, competitors go to upper section. Three-thirty AM! YEEESH. Given the hill is over an hour away from the hotel, that means up at 1:15AM. Practice is all over by 10am, and we are back at the hotel, sleeping no doubt.

Pikes Peak International hillclimb

Instead of just typing away, and then posting and seeing all the spelling errors, Im going to try and type slower, and reduce the spelling errors. My 6th grade English teacher wouldve been proud.

Well, Pikes Peak (PPIHC) just updated their website, and it looks a treat now. so check it out at www.ppihc.com. Navigate it a bit, there is plenty there.

This week the injectors go in, and a quick checkover at MEEKS ( www.meekautomotive.com.au ) next week should see it get a clear bill of health and we 're off to the last test day at Wakefield on the 26th of April. Im actually instructing ( www.circuitclub.com.au ) but will take the car out for a few hard laps to get some data with the lap top hooked up to keep the ECU magician happy. The we drop it at Port Kembla on the way back home that night for shipment.

Entry is paid for ($1700 USD), Hotel is paid for ($1000 for ten nights). Just have freight to pay for and a truck and trailer, as the big ticket items. Currently we budget for $500 for the trailer use and $3500 for a truck to use. then we just have airlines tickets ($2400 for two return)

A day of testing in the evo, still running the Mt Buller settings. We knew it was going to be a relatively slow day, but staying focused on what we were doing on the day was crucial, as we were testing Toe alignments, and mixing things up to find a high-speed setting. We started with a generic setting, ten a track setting, and then swung to the toe setitngs we used for Mt Buller, and amazingly, the car felt best in that setup. So we locked it in.

We havent played with the suspension since we did setup prior to Mt Buller in testing, then played with the setup at Mt Buller and found what we think is a sweet spot for the suspension we have, and we wrote it down and left it on those settings.

well, we are getting motivated now...

Pikes Peak is getting closer, and closer. the car leaves shortly to be taken to Port Kembla for transporting to California where we collect it and tow it to Pikes Peak.
so far we have set the suspension to where we think it should be, we used the Mt Buller sprint event in Victoria, Australia as a test session for the car and we won class, and got 11th overall. Which is near spot on for what we expected, achievment wise. Cath, my girlfriend, and navigator asked me at the start of Mt Buller where we think we'll end up, and being we are running an ex-street car and not a proper RS evo, I said we'll be top 15, but not top 10, so to finish 11th overall, first in class was a sweet result.

We went to Wakefield Park racetrack last week to get some data, and we found the sock injectors with the 272 cams were beyond their maximum load, and the duty cycle was running at 120% at times, which is not good at all. So this week we hope to have the 1000cc injectors in place, these will work well with the cams, and will be even sweeter when we tune for E85. We were actually slower than we've ever gone, but I put this down to the very old, and undersized (225/45/17) tyres, as we shouldve been running 235 series, and they were already 3 year old yoko's, and despite screaming in agony most of the day they didnt wear much, which tells me the balance is currently good also in the car. But also hardened tyres.

Yesterday I tried to install the Aussie-flag decals, and they were a mess. It seems the decals sheet had many crimps in the sheet, which wit the curves of the car, made it worse, but we appreciate the effort of Mike, from euro-graphics who dontated his time to make them for us and we'll try to clean it up later.

We tend to push on regardless, so we will continue to do so.

Jeff

Outside of the Cams, and 10.5 hotside the car is pretty stock.