Parts from Racing Beat

With the arrival of the latest shipment from Racing Beat this is a good time to remind Reliance customer's that we place fairly regular orders with Racing Beat and can order in anything from their extensive catalogue big or small. The latest shipment contained the item below - a complete Street Port exhaust system (http://www.racingbeat.com/RX7-1975-1985/Complete-Exhaust-Systems/16423.html) - not a small item - and shipping was very reasonable. Not to mention that it was shipped from the USA on Saturday and arrived here on Wednesday. With the value of the Aussie dollar against the US dollar now is a good time to make that order - have a chat to Jon.

Gone Fishing

In case you were wondering why Jon isn't in the shop - he's taking a well earned break down the coast.

Event Report - SDMA Hillclimb 23/9/12

The Reliance Team put in a strong presence at the SDMA Hillclimb last Sunday the 23rd of September. The weather was almost perfect and it was a great days racing.

Jon and Brady co-drove a GC8 WRX in the Type AWD 1/2 over 3000cc class with Jon taking a class win from Brett Jorgensen (sorry Brett) as well as setting a new class record (really sorry Brett) with a 48.60 run. Brady came a close third with a best run of 49.32.

Jon also co-drove the Lancer 13BT of John Templeton (the new SDMA Club President) with Jon also taking out the class win in Type 4 over 3000cc with a 48.03. John may not have done so well - maybe he was just saving the tyres for JW - but he sure seemed to be enjoying himself.

I managed a class win in Type 3 2001-3000cc. May have had something to do with the Team Aardvark car being the only car in that class... Not a new PB but happy with a best run of 49.25.

Thanks as always to all the volunteers and officials that make these events possible!

Link to the SDMA website: http://www.sdmahillclimb.com/

Todd

Event Report - Kumho Tyres Rally of the Bay

Car 18: 13^th Outright

For good reason the Rally of the Bay remains our favourite event of the Rally Calendar. Fabulous roads, super service park, terrific volunteers/officials and a good fun relaxed atmosphere. Congratulations to the sponsors and organisers for the atmosphere at the ceremonial start – it’s a great way to get people interested.

The event was almost over before it began, Jon was moving the car in the service park and there was a grinding noise and the engine wouldn’t start! There was some thought of having to change the starter motor but fortunately it ended up a bolt had come loose and just needed to be replaced.

The first half of the day was great fun, we were a little slow on the first couple of stages....and ever slower on the next few. We got a flat tyre but were blessed that it was on a transport! The car had been “spluttery” (yes that’s a navigators technical term) all day, but when the driving lights went on the spluttering raised to a whole new level! By the time we got to River Road things were very grim! We walked out of the forest last year and I was fearful that we were going to do the same again this year. On the transport back to the final service I gave Jon the option to bail out, I’d had a great day and was happy to call it quits if necessary. But in true JW style, he was confident it could be fixed! So it was back to the service park, some magic was performed by our awesome service crew and by the time we exited for the last two stages the car was running better than it had all day and our times improved enormously! I was so excited to see the lights and people at the final spectator point, what a great sight to finish on! The night stages were super-dusty but what a gorgeous view with a full moon! It’s enough to make a navigator lose their concentration!

A huge thanks to our service crew – Michael, Brady, Ian, Todd and Toby – thanks guys, as always you did a great job and rose to every challenge! Thanks to Jon for letting me sit in the seat again, such great fun! And thanks to the crews around us especially Adam & Nick, Matt & Karen, Karl & Anna. Huge thanks to Col and his team, bring on Rally of the Bay 2013!

Carolyn

Looking forward to Bega Valley Rally

It has been slim pickings for the Reliance Rotary Rally Team so far this year. With the first 2 events in the ACT Series washed out and not being able to get away for other events there is a definite need to blow the cobwebs out. So entries are in for the Bega Valley Rally (http://www.begavalleyrally.com.au/) on the June long weekend in Eden (not Bega) where the WRX will be getting a run. The team are really looking forward to this event.

The workshop has been busy – Targa Tasmania preparation paid off with one Reliance car finishing 8th Classic Outright and another finishing 4th Late Classic Handicap. There has also been a flurry of activity to get cars ready for the inaugural Snowy River Sprint (http://www.mountainmotorsports.com.au/) on the weekend of May 26 – 27 down at Lakes Entrance, Vic.

Event Report - Alpine Rally: 14th Outright

Photo by John Doutch - from RallySport Magazine - Gallery - Category: 2011 Alpine Rally

I’ve never done a multi-day event so was very excited at the prospect of 3 days rallying. Jon was no doubt excited as well but it was somewhat tempered by the effort required to remove his turbo engine and replace it with a naturally aspirated one. First attempt was a powerful peripheral port but after testing that out a couple of weeks prior it was clearly way too peaky and wasn’t going to do the job we needed for such an event. Bruce Power was kind enough to lend us his class winning Bridgeport engine which was extraordinarily generous but also invited much effort to get it fitted.

We arrived the day before the media day so things were all very civilised with time to settle into the accommodation and get the final car preparations done. Our run at the media day gave us a chance to run the engine on dirt for the first time since being put into the car. Our run was uneventful and all was looking up!

Day 1 – Strong start on stage 1 with JW under strict instruction that he didn’t have too much time to settle in and he had to go hard. Well that all came to pieces when the engine completely lost power mid-stage on Stage 1. It struggled through Stages 2 and 3 before being driven home for some serious investigation. A blockage in the carburettor was found so with the adoption of some advanced filtering technology (aka pantyhose) we were ready to have another crack on Day 2.

Day 2 – Some really tough stages in the morning but with the engine going strong we were feeling pretty positive again. On Stage 12 things got very hairy when we were caught in a huge random storm involving massive rain and even hail tinkling in through the roof vent! After that the sun came out and the afternoon progressed well.

Day 3 – Hearing the wind and rain pelting down on Sunday morning I fully expected that the day would be completely cancelled. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that only 2 stages were cancelled and we were on for another day. We had a few issues with timing and started a little down the order. Another great day, though not without its moments. We had our first full spin of the event, almost got bogged, had a near miss with a tree and then it was off to the service break to collect ourselves before the final 3 stages of the day. During the last stage all the warning lights on the dash flashed on and off continually.....I thought it best to keep quiet and JW did the same. At the end he told me he was nursing it to the end, to DNF on the last stage would have been devastating! Such relief and celebration to get to the end, a great achievement!

So onto the many thanks from Car 20:

Thanks to the event sponsors for making this great event happen.

Thanks to the organisers for doing an absolutely outstanding job, for being responsive to the changes and cancellations and putting on an event that was tough but great fun!

Thanks to the volunteers and officials who braved awful conditions and still managed to have smiles on their faces.

Thanks to the scorer and the CRO’s, especially for promising not to put us on the "difficult list". Seriously, thanks for your assistance in sorting timing etc.

Thanks to our fantastic service crew – Brady, Michael, Andrew, and Sonja.

Thanks to our sponsors including Revell Steering, Murray Coote and Gary's Motorsport Tyres.

Thanks to Bruce Power for lending us your precious, prize winning engine. I don’t know where we would have been without it!

Thanks to our official – Christine Bethwaite for making the trip down and officialling for us.

Thanks to JW for outstanding car preparation and amazing driving and for giving me the chance to do my very best Blonde ballast impersonation. J

Last but certainly not least, thanks to my husband for staying home with the kids. Who would have thought they could all manage for 5 days without me?!?!?

Carolyn

Reliance closed until the 29th of November

Reliance will be closed from today until Tuesday the 29th of November as the Reliance Team is off to compete in the Alpine Rally.

Good luck to all competitors!