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Birmingham, Michigan Latest News:
Feb 3rd, 2010
TIM
/ Alba Rallysport
Jan 25th, 2010
TIM
/ Alba Rallysport 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
July 13th, 2009
TIM
Rally Wagon 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.
Follow the build on Dirty Impreza or MISubie
July 13th, 2009
TIM
gets down and dirty
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
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) more footage here
February 8th, 2009 TIM wins at Sno*Drift! 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.
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. .
Can't wait for next year's event . January 24th, 2009 TIM off to Sno*Drift 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". Archives |
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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.
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.
