Michigan
Race of Champions is
a unique new form of motorsport which is a combination of US
style AutoCrossWRC
Super Special,
Race of Champions and X-Games
Rally. Conducted
on a 100% paved course, cars start of at half a lap apart and pursue
each other over the course of a lap or two of the tight and twisty
track. First car back to their start position wins. Often an event
will consist of timed heats with the fastest 8 drivers going head
to head in a knockout competition to determine the overall winner.
More seat time per dollar than almost anything else you can do without
a cage. Points are awarded throughout the season to determine the
season champion.
unique
head to head knock-out format
two
cars on track at a time, not door to door
challenging yet safe, sinuous all tarmac course
production based vehicles
limited safety equipment requirements
In
his first ever rally new Team
Illuminata
Motorsport
sponsored driver Dmitriy Martinov scored an impressive second in class
and fourth overall in the Sand
Blast Rally in South Carolina, a far cry from the conditions in
his home state of Michigan. Aided by rookie co-driver, but accomplished
driver, Billy Elliot, the crew drove a steady but fast event on the
sandy and wet roads of South Carolina passing many of the higher seeded
teams on their way. The weekend was not without incident, It wouldn't
be rally if it was all plain sailing, as the crew suffered through
such things sick service team members, water coming up through the
floor, poorly aimed lights and a poorly running engine but pressed
on regardless in true rally spirit. Martnov said afterwards "Thanks
to Paul / Team Illuminata for supplying the BRAID wheels and pretty
much all of the other rally equipment on the car. Everything worked
great! The BRAID Hankook combo performed flawlessly, with all of the
tires holding 100% of their pressure through the whole rally, despite
the the huge ruts and bumps."
The
crews next even is planned to be Rally
Tennessee on May 24th.
Videos
below:
Feb
3rd, 2010
TIM
/ Alba Rallysport
Ice*Drift Report
Well
that was our first attempt at Sno*Drift and it was more like ice skating.
The stages around Atlanta, MI were the slickest conditions I've ever
driven a car on. There was more traction on the ice lake last year
during testing! Unbelievable. To see the times of the top guys, I
have no bloody idea how they control a car along stages at those speeds.
We did everything we could to keep the TIM WRX out of the trees and
I still missed 4 junction turns (L2 and L3s off long straights), spun
twice and got stuck between ice banks (no snow), the second time requiring
a tow but the guy behind us had spun too so was minutes back. As a
result we dropped down from 5th to 8th in the regional. It was a silly
mistake. I just gave it too much gas through a L4 uphill and that
was all it took to wedge us in the road. Sadly that second spin ended
our rally. Tammy got out of the car with the triangle, slipped on
the ice 3 times finally blowing her knee when she went down hard.
We were on a hill so that didn't help and it looked bad. Knees aren't
meant to bend that direction. We packed it with ice (plenty of that
around) crawled through the last two stages, got her checked at the
MTC by EMS then one of the crew guys took her to Gaylord ER where
it was x-rayed and strapped. She's now on crutches, a healthy dose
of drugs and not allowed to put weight on it for two weeks. I'm all
for pressing on regardless but it's game over when one of the team
gets hurt. We didn't restart for the Drift regional on Saturday. I
think most people didn't realise just how icy it was out there. I'm
not talking packed snow, I'm talking inches of clear ice. Here we
are trying to race along straights doing 80mph (the top guys over
100mph!), 40-60mph in the corners, it was scary as hell. Add darkness
to the equation and it was just insanity pushing all your senses to
the limit. There was no room for error, somehow we got away with the
mistakes I made. Amazingly the tires still look new, the car isn't
even dirty, not a scratch or dent on it. The exhaust is bent a little
from reversing into banks but that's it. It'll live to fight another
day but it may not have had we continued on Saturday... It was a mad
rally. I'm glad it's over and looking forward to some gravel. We saw
loads of TIM supporters out there this weekend so thanks to you all
for coming out and facing the cold. Our crew guys Brian and Corey
did a fantastic job getting us ready for the event and making adjustments
to the car throughout the weekend. Finally, thanks to Paul from TIM
for all the parts that kept us going. The WRX ran flawlessly. What
next? David Allan.
Jan
25th, 2010
TIM
/ Alba Rallysport
To Tackle Sno*Drift
Birmingham,
MI based Team Illuminata Motorsport (TIM) is continuing their partnership
with Alba Rallysport for 2010, the third consecutive season. The weekend
of January 29th-30th will see the team tackle Sno*Drift, the first
round of the Rally America Championship. The husband and wife crew
will be piloting car #525 a 2004 Subaru WRX equipped with BRAID Competition
Wheels in the highly competitive Super Production (SP) class. “We’re
really excited to take part in our home event and see how we stack
up against the top SP drivers in the country.” said David Allan, team
driver who remains cautious, “This is our first true winter rally
so we’ll be taking it gently. I co-drove 000 car at the 2008 event
so have some insight as to just how tricky the stages can be.” The
team has enjoyed a fantastic 2009 season with class wins in America
and Canada however are very much focused on finishing the event and
building experience. “This is a new rally for us but we are confident
that we have a strong car, an experienced service crew and the best
safety and performance parts supplied by Team Illuminata Motorsport
(TIM).” said co-driver Tammy. Although entered in SP class the team’s
WRX is still in PGT spec. “I’m not concerned about having a smaller
32mm turbo restrictor.”
commented
David, “Suspension setup and tire selection are going to play a more
critical role on the snow and ice covered Michigan stages. With variable
weather predicted, we’re mounting all the tires we have onto BRAID
Competition Wheels.” As always, Paul Eddleston, owner of Team Illuminata
Motorsport will be overseeing the crew’s progress from the service
area and on stage, “I can’t wait to get up to Atlanta, MI and see
how our BRAID wheels perform in the snow. It’s going to be a fantastic
event. It’s always well run with a great group of organizers; we are
so pleased to be associated with it and supporting a rally team from
our home state of Michigan.” About Team Illuminata Motorsport (TIM)
Team Illuminata Motorsport (TIM) was established in 2005 to provide
competition parts for rally, rallycross and other forms of motorsport.
They import BRAID wheels from Europe and are also a dealer for Team
Dynamics wheels, Primitive skid plates and Rally Armor mud flaps.
There web site is at http://www.TeamIlluminata.com
Photo
by Jud Bartlett of Squarespot Studios
November
26th, 2009
TIM
Rally Wagon
Gets New Power Plant
IWell,
we've finally bit the bullet and comitted to swapping a new engine
into the Legacy rally wagon. We've been close before, thinking we
needed more power only to be proved wrong by lending the car to a
better driver who typically spanked the field with the current N/A
powered car. This saved a lot of money as driving schools are cheaper
than engines but now the 2.5l lump is getting tired and blowing quite
a bit of smoke out of the tail pipe and this lovely 3.3l H6 presented
itself for a very reasonable price.
3.3
liter H6 with ~60K miles out of a 94 SVX OBD1.
In
surprisingly the first outing on dirt this year for TIM
driver Paul Eddleston he came out on top this past weekend in the
Modified all wheel drive class despite the presence of ace RallyCross
exponent Scott Harvey. The event, the fifth of the Detroit Region's
RallyCross championship, was held at the Crystal Motor Speedway on
a grass surface that quickly turned to dirt. The trick seemed to be
to stick to a tight line and use as much of the remaining grassy areas
as possible as that's where the grip was. As usual, missing cones
was key and unusually for him Eddleston only hit one all day.
Surprisingly,
the M4 win was blown away by the times set by Nathan Usher in is Prepared
all wheel drive WRX wagon who now threatens to move up to M4 later
in the season. God help us when he does.
June
24th, 2009
SuperRally-X
After
a quiet start to the season Team Illuminata driver and owner Paul
Eddleston both promoted and competed in the recent season opener of
the new for 2008 SuperRally-X series
in Clio, Michigan. SuperRally-X
is a relatively new form of motorsport which combines the thrills
of Euro style RallyCross
with the relative safety of US
style RallyCross in a two car pursuit format similar to a WRC
Super Special,
Race of Champions or X-Games
Rally. Conducted on a 25% dirt, 75% paved course, cars start of
at half a lap apart and chase each other over the course of a lap
or two. First car back to their start position wins. Often and event
will consist of timed heats with the fastest 8 drivers going head
to head in a knockout competition to determine the overall winner.
The
timed heats went off without much trouble, proving the timing system
we had come up with and producing eight qualifiers for the final knockout
rounds. Eddleston, running on R compound autocross tires, essentially
very soft slicks, managed to make the finals much to the surprise
of the other, non-R compound shop competitors. "In Europe, where
they do this sort of thing a lot" explained Eddleston "they
set up the car for the predominant tarmac and take it easy on the
dirt. I was actually surprised how much grip I had on the dirt section.
The car was surprisingly driveable and I probably could have gone
faster if I'd had more confidence in them."
Eddleston
survived the first round but was knocked out in the semi final by
Jon Armstrong in his Honda Civic who went on to finish second to Justin
Kollien in his STi. Full results can be found at the event web
site along with photos and videos. A great start to the series
the next event is on August 9th.
February
28th, 2009
Two
in a Row for TIM
Now, no longer able to refer to himself as a "tarmac
specialist" TIM driver and owner Paul Eddleston slithered his
way to his second snowy victory this year in Detroit SCCA's RallyCross
at Capac, Michigan. Held at the same venue and in similar conditions
where he made the said declaration after a dismal performance, things
turned out for the better this time. The course started out covered
in snow with two tight 180 degree turns at each end of the field connected
by sinewy, back and forth slaloms between them. The track soon revealed
itself to have hidden ice patches under the snow and that the two
180s were the key to fast times, by taking them slow. By the afternoon,
in the rising temperatures the course had developed a top layer of
slimy mud on frozen dirt making it even trickier than the morning.
One spin put Eddleston out of the overall top spot but he still retained
the lead in M4 and 3rd overall behind Doug Harvey and Steve Baumbach.
A
great shout out to the Cassidy's for once again letting us abuse their
lawn and to the organization for another great event. Some great video
of the wagon in action courtesy of Chris Lanctot (red Tacoma Pickup)
Not
what you think but the team did score a victory at the Rally America
event in
the Sno-X held at the special
stage venue.
The Sno-x was a rally-x style event using the same course that the
stage rally cars ran but without the full safety requirements. Kudos
goes to the organizers of this new for 2009 event as they had very
little preparation time and a narrow window in which to run the thing
but we all had a great time. I mean, how many opportunities does one
get to run a stage of a Rally America event?
It
was kind of appropriate that we won the sno-x but only coincidental
that we sponsored the Super Special stage in conjunction with our
new wheel supplier BRAID. The
stage was a great hit with spectators who lined the rim of the bowl-like
gravel pit to see the stage cars fly through the snow between the
piles of frozen gravel.
.
As
for the rest of the event we received a lot of attention for our new
BRAID wheels at registration,
Lewiston service area and the awards dinner and had a great time hanging
out with the Rally America people too. As part of our sponsorship
package we had our famous TIM stickers on every car entered in the
event and as a result are now exposed to a much wider audience. This
years event was blessed by much milder conditions than last year with
temperatures in the upper 20s most of the time. Still, with a stiff
breeze blowing through the Super Special gravel pit on Saturday appropriate
clothing was the order of the day which is probably why Brian Line
was so happy to win the TIM beanie by being the first
person to drop in and say "WOW, these BRAID wheels are really
cool. Now where's my free hat". Brian wasted no time hitting
us up at registration on Thursday afternoon.
Can't
wait for next year's event .
January
24th, 2009
TIM
off to Sno*Drift
It's
that time of year again, the annual migration North to witness and
join in the festivities surrounding the Sno*Drift
rally. This year there's a twist though as we are sponsoring the
super
special stage on Saturday and competing in the new for 2009 Sno*Cross
that accompanies it. We are using this opportunity to introduce our
new line of European Competition wheels from BRAID
and will have samples, pricing
and brochures available all weekend. We will be at registration Thursday
(Jan 29th) afternoon and
evening,
as well as Friday
morning then in the Lewiston
service area Thursday
afternoon and evening. Saturday
sees us at the super
special stage area north of Lewiston all day then over at
the awards dinner in Hillman.
No
TIMAlba
rally car in action this event as the crew is off having
a baby (lame excuse) so the rallycross wagon, in it's new BRAID livery
will have to carry the torch for us.
So
please stop by and say "Hi". in fact, there's a free TIM
beanie for the first person to drop in and say "WOW, these
BRAID wheels are really cool. Now where's my free hat".