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Birmingham, Michigan
Latest News: (2007 archives) December 22nd, 2007 Early Winter Blast Winter came early to greet the competitors for the final round of the Detroit Region RallyCross Championship at Fowlerville Fairgrounds last Saturday. Even so, it was a blast; a winter blast.
Said Rob after the event "I have to give a big thanks to Paul for the invite to drive his Subaru wagon. I was a little nervous at first, because I'd never driven an awd car before, but I gotta say that his car is very driver friendly. It went where I pointed it and seemed predictable at the limit. What a well put-together package."
SO unless Saginaw bay freezes the next outing for Team Illuminata will be the Detroit RallyCross Season Opener at Bob's Family Raceway on February 16th which should please Ryan at least. It should be a great event as it is being promoted by Team Illuminata itself and always gets a good turn out. November 22nd, 2007 Fall Roundup It's been a hectic fall schedule of racing for Team Illuminata Motorsports with most of the action taking place on the dirt.
September 22 we were at Lenawee County Fairgrounds in Adrian, MI. This was going to be a clean day for Eddleston but he again managed to murder multiple course markers with the Outback managing 2nd in class to Scott Harvey and beating Team mate Bob again. Back to the parking lots on September 30 for MSCC autocross at Great Lakes Crossing. Though a tiny lot the organizers packed in a chromosome of a course with many loop backs and even a dragway start. The Outback did not appreciate the creativity of the course design and refused to turn-in all day and finished a disappointing 7th overall beaten by a Neon, an STi and four Corvettes. After the brief asphalt excursion it was back to the dirt on October 13th for the Great Lakes Divisional Championship at Fowlerville Fairground. Team owner Eddleston finished 3rd in class behind teammate Bob Martin and Scott Harvey in this day/night event, again hitting a significant quantity of cones on the way. As a divisional bonus, contingency money was on offer from Team Dynamics, Subaru and Kumho and the Team took home a rather large quantity of the stuff though probably not enough to cover the damage to a nearby Saab incurred when the Team's canopy embarrassingly blew away.
Next and last event of the season is at Fowlerville Fairgrounds on Dec 8th, the scene of Mr. Eddlestons last RallyCross victory and the venue where the tight battle for the 2007 Championship will be settled. The pressure is on. August 13th, 2007 Busy Summer Summary It's
been a long hot and busy summer for the Team Illuminata Motorsport
contingent so we apologize for the lack of reports and want to try
to get caught up here We continued the autocross theme with a class win in the Michigan Sports Car Club event on June 10th at Great Lakes Crossing. A notoriously small lot resulting in tight but fun courses. The class win was no surprise, being the only car entered in E Modified but more notable was the fifth place overall ahead of some pretty exotic machinery. The only non-Crvette to beat us was a VW Sirocco so maybe it's time for a V8! It was a welcome return to the dirt on June 23rd for the next round of the Detroit RallyCross Championship sponsored by Team Illuminata. Guest driver, Bob Martin once again showed a clean pair of heels to team owner Paul Eddleston and indeed, the rest of the M4 class on the very fast and challenging Fowlerville course. Maybe Bob's regular Mazda will be back in action for the next round, not that he is any slower in that but at least it's better than getting beaten by one's own car. A fortuitous set of social circumstances allowed a long anticipated appearance for the team at one of Western Ohio's famed RallyCross events on July 28th. It was a very relaxed and well run occasion held on a dirt field rather than the sandy tracks we are used too. Never the less driver Paul Eddleston produced a string of consistent times in the drying conditions to finish second in class behind local legend Dan Coughnour and third overall behind a flying Elliott Sherwood in a borrowed, stock STI proving, once again that it pays to flog someone else's car if you want to win. Next week the Detroit program continues with the August Madness event at Bob's Family Raceway in Clarkesville. Always a crowd favorite this one. Here is a video from the Ohio event May 25th, 2007 Tarmac Time
A quick look at the local calendar revealed an opportunity to participate in quite a few of the Detroit Council of Sportscar Clubs rounds, maybe even enough for a class win. We missed the first event but started out with the 2nd round expertly promoted by the Michigan Corvette Club at the GM assembly plant in Detroit. As we plan on some serious mods this year (L and E Fabrication's FAST Steering Column) we started out in class EM which is basically full blown race cars, even though the car currently qualifies for a class or two below. This way, any points we scored would count for the season championship. As it happened, only one other car was entered in EM, a Corvette, but we were solidly beaten by it though we were quite fast being in the top 25 cars overall. A few weeks later came event #3 promoted by the local Alfa Romeo Owners Club and held at the Oakland University campus in Rochester, MI. This was a very tight course with actual elevation changes. The Outback seems to do well on tighter courses despite it's weight and bulk so we had high hopes going in. These were apparently justified as we pulled off a 4th fastest overall for the day and won our EM class. We were only beaten by three drivers in two Corvettes, another large and heavy vehicle but with considerably more power. The goal now is to get fastest time of the day at one of these events as well as winning the EM class. The next opportunity is on June 10th at Great Lakes Crossing then it's back to the dirt for round #4 of the RallyCross championship. April 5th, 2007 Cones Count in RallyCross
This was the second event in the 8-10 event series sponsored by Team Illuminata Motorsports and was very well attended considering the threat of storms which loomed for much of the day. In the Team Dynamics Challenge competition, in which drivers earn drawing entries by having Team Dynamics decals on their vehicles and/or using Team Dynamics wheels to compete with, all new faces were at the top of each class so nobody has pulled away from the pack yet. Justin Kolien won the prize from Primitive Racing for the single fastest run of the day (FTD) with an amazing time of 0.704 minutes. You can see the full results of the event at the Detroit RallyCross site. Next event is on Sat April 21st at Lenawee County Fairgrounds, Adrian, MI. February 19th, 2007 Team
Illuminata Motorsport Wagon
Regular Team Illuminata Motorsport driver Paul Eddleston could only manage third in class but came to the rescue of Bob Martin when it became clear his regular ride would not be ready in time for the event. Martin subsequently went on to win not only the M4 class but to post the fastest time of the day securing the Primitive FTD award of $25. This is the second class victory for the 97 Subaru Outback in the last three months, the first while being piloted by Eddleston at the Season Ender in December. "We know the car is fast but apparently I am slow" said Eddleston after the event was over. A careful look at the results would later reveal that he was not that much slower than Martin and second place in class, Harvey, but careless enough to hit five cones along the way costing him dearly. Without the cone penalties he would still have been third in class but only by the smallest of margins. Neatness seemed to be the key to doing well in the variable conditions with several top contenders sliding wide and getting stuck on a few of their runs, severely handicapping their final score. Hitting cones was another issue which befell many competitors who struggled to find consistent grip on the ice and snow covered surface of Bob's Family Raceway. This was the first event in a 8-10 event series sponsored by Team Illuminata Motorsports and the first time competitors had an opportunity to earn entries in the Team Dynamics Challenge drawing to be held at the end of the season. Drivers earn drawing entries by having Team Dynamics decals on their vehicles and/or using Team Dynamics wheels to compete with. AZ Autozone of Birmingham provided the awards (Rally DVDs) to all the class winners for this event and you can see the full results at the Detroit RallyCross site. Next event is on Sat Mar 17th, at Fowlerville Fairgrounds. Photos #1 Photos #2 Photos #3 Video January 17th, 2007 New Sponsors For Team Illuminata Team Illuminata Motorsport is proud to announce that we are bringing on board two new corporate sponsors for the 2007 season:
Check
out their web site and see if anything is suitable for your next event.
FastSigns are providing us with vehicle graphics including our new race numbering panels for 2007. Check them out at the next event to see if they will be suitable for your vehicle. January 12th, 2007 Detroit Region SCCA RallyCross Season Opener Team Illuminata Motorsport is pleased to announce that we are promoting the Detroit Region SCCA RallyCross Season Opener on Feb 17 at Bob's Family Raceway in Clarksville, MI. This was the venue we used back in October for the night event and last August for a day event. It is about halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing just south of I96. Registration should be open next week on www.MyAutoEvents.com. For the last event we had a record turn out so register early. More information can be gleaned from our Yahoo Group where you can also see the 2007 tentative schedule. It's going to be a great season. Archives |
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