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Birmingham, Michigan

Photo  by Chris Amos
Photo by Chris Amos
"racing at the speed of light"

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.

Photo  by Chris AmosWith temperatures hovering around freezing all day the conditions were variable with snow over patchy ice in the morning to slushy, sandy dirt in the afternoon and freezing mud by early evening. We used the Blizzak snow and ice tires all day and they proved a good choice as guest driver Rob Heiser trounced the M4 field in his first ever drive in a all wheel drive vehicle. Beset by cone issues all day regular team driver Paul Eddleston finished a creditable third in M4 once again managing to solidify his third place overall after Ryan George had more than a few cone issues of his own and went back to Chicago to change his name to Ryan "I like Bob's Family Raceway better" George as he seems to kick butt there.

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."

Photo by Rob HeiserExploding cones were an interesting additional feature of the event and helped distract the course workers from the frigid conditions. It seems our cones were getting somewhat brittle due to the low temperatures and if hit in just the right place would spontaneously explode in mid air making for great entertainment but still carrying a 2 second penalty.

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.

Photo  by Chris AmosAugust 18 saw us at Bob's Family Raceway. One of the farthest venues but also one of the funnest. Guest TIM driver Bob Martin was again sharing the Outback due to his Mazda 323 being unfit for duty. Today the region introduced a new format of 3 runs of 5 laps over the usual 6-8 runs of one lap. This resulted in more overall seat time but required more concentration, particularly after three laps when you actually start to get tired! Main driver, Paul Eddleston ended up 3rd in M4 and unusually, beat Bob by 0.336min. Ryan George surprised everyone including himself to win the class despite hitting quite a few cones. Needless to say he was flying.

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.

Photo  by Chris AmosReplete with a new canopy (in team colors now) and new livery the single driver team set out for Bob's Family Raceway again on November 10th for the Light of the Moon RallyCross so called because it was to be an afternoon and evening event. The new paint must be heavy as driver Paul Eddleston finished a lowly 4th in class as Ryan George trounced the field at his favorite venue again hitting plenty of cones but making up for this with shear speed. Me thinks it might be time for more power for the Outback delivery wagon.

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 Guest driver, Bob Martin, slides through a fast gate. Picture by  Mark Bateswith a quick overview of our racing activities.

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

With the RallyCross series taking a break till June 23rd we thought we might get back to tarmac and do a few autocross events. To prepare the car we lowered it 2" on its GroundControl coilovers and installed 35 offset, 15 x 7 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1 wheels with Kumho V710 tires in size 225/55x15. We also removed the front Primitive skid plate as it weighs close to 15lbs and only takes five minutes to take off.

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

Nate VanderVeen  http://members.fotki.com/nate49509/Team Illuminata Motorsport driver Paul Eddleston narrowly missed class victory in last weekend's RallyCross event hosted by the Detroit Region of the Sports Car Club of America. The Modified All Wheel Drive victory went instead to Scott Harvey Junior in his 1990 Eagle Talon by just 0.034 minutes, about 2 seconds. This after 7 runs on the challenging but fast Fowlerville Fairground track. Eddleston managed to hit a total of six marker cones on his way to a total time of 5.732 minutes which included 12 seconds of cone bashing penalties. If he'd missed just two of those he would have won the class easily. "Next event I need to drive with a little more control." he said after the carnage. "Those cones are really costly." Indeed, most of the 36 competitors had a sizable cone tally by the end of the event but it was interesting to see that the class winners typically had much fewer proving that sheer speed is not the only attribute required, precision counts for a great deal too.

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
Triumphs in Season Opener

Nate VanderVeen  http://members.fotki.com/nate49509/Team Illuminata Motorsport guest driver, Bob Martin conquered the snowy conditions to win the Detroit Region's Season Opener Rallycross held on Feb 17 at Bob's Family Raceway in Clarksville, Michigan. Martin held off second place, Scott Harvey in his Eagle Talon by just 0.12 seconds, one of the closest margins of victory since RallyCross came to the area less than two years ago.

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:

offers the finest equipment and clothing from North Face, Arcteryx, Patagonia, Suunto, Chaco, Marmot, Mountain Hardware and other top name outdoor brands. They have stores in Lansing, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe, Rochester Hills and Ann Arbor as well as stores in Chicago and Deerfield, Illinois and an extensive web site: www.moosejaw.com


Team Illuminata is especially excited to be partnering with Moosejaw because we need good quality outdoor clothing to keep us warm and dry during events as many of or competitions requires us to be out in the elements for hours at a time. Towards the end of this month team owner, Paul Eddleston will be trying out his new Mountain Hardware parka against all the weather the Sno*drift rally can throw at it and then again at the Team's Season Opener RallyCross in mid February where temperatures could be frigid.

Check out their web site and see if anything is suitable for your next event.

 

of Birmingham is committed to providing effective sign and graphic solutions that meet your timelines and budgets. They'll help you promote your products, events and services and help your business or organization get noticed. From a simple banner to a complete sign and graphic makeover, they can do it all.

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.


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