For many rally teams, they will face the question of whether or not to continue the season following a major mishap. With Rally Delaware was right around the corner, our team needed to make a decision quickly. We had a little over 8 weeks to get the car back on the road. So I quit my day job.

Just kidding. Knowing that this was going to take someone looking at it full-time if we could hope to have the car ready by the next rally, we handed it over to RKT Motors to help us out.

Yes, this shell. this could work…

1 week later:

Well. It was definately a race to finish the car right up to the night before the rally. Some pretty significant brake fitment and engine management issues creeped up on us at the last minute. For a while there, things were looking grim, but we finally finished everything at about 2:30am this morning. This stock heavy evo 9 build is done and as of this morning we’re on our way to International Rally New York 2011. See you guys out there!

Cheers,
Alvin

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suspension – check
brakes – check
dash – check
34mm restrictor / bane of my future existence – check
spares… this’ll probably get us through at least one rally…

–Alvin

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Awesome find today – we were able to pick up a set of used Ohlins MIR gravel suspension!

Interior looking spectacular after coming back from the paint shop!

Proportioning valve installed

heater core/hvac back in the car.
pedals – check.
gearbox – check.
steering wheel check.
handbrake -check.

–Alvin

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PPD just sent us over some pictures of the cage – As you can see, it’s done! As soon as the car gets back from paint, we’ll start seeing the “rally” part of the rally build; seats, suspension, underarmor, rally pod, brakes, wheels/tires, mudflaps, intercom/rally computer, etc. etc!

Also got a box with our KC lights for the rallypod!

–Alvin

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Over the past week, the car was stripped to the bone to get ready for the cage. Our Sparco Pro ADV seats also came in, along with some sweet Yokohama A035 gravel tires!

–Alvin

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This is our Production AWD Evo 9 rally build. PPD Motorsport in chicago is helping us with the cage and getting some of the more rally specific parts.

We’re shooting for Black River Stages taking place Fri 9/23- Sat 9/24
(http://blackriverstages.com/), and are looking forward to competing in the RallyNY series in Oct, Jan, and March.

For those of you that know us, this will probably come as no surprise. We’ve been rallying since 2005, starting out with TSD’s, mainly in the FLR Winter Rally Series. Performance Rally is something I’ve always wanted to pursue since our first rally; the 2005 Pine Barrens Express.

It’s going to be a race to get the car ready for RNY! Look for the Black Box Evo there!

Cheers,
Alvin

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—UPDATE—

Due to the cage being delayed, we weren’t able to make BRS. Instead, we’re refocusing our efforts on RallyNY taking place Sat 10/22- Sun 10/23
(http://www.rallynewyork.net/), and are looking forward to campaigning the 2012 Rally NY Championship.