RE: Maine Forest Rally

[Mark Nelson <mnelson@brls.com>]

<<I think these gear boxes are worth it if you can benifit from them.>>

I would agree completely.  I've experienced the difference a
transmission makes just when I used to race shifter karts alone.  It
made a tremendous difference in the Porsche 911's my father has built as
well.  The merits of something like this begin to show their worth when
you get a good feel for the machine your driving.

I think in some circumstances though, cars such as the 323 GTX Paul and
I run, would benefit right out of the box with a Mazda Motorsport rally
transmission from two aspects. (1) Strength.  It is well known how the
stock trannies in these cars love to kill themselves...especially second
gear synchros.  (2) This car REALLLLLLLY needs a close ratio box.  The
stock gear ratios are simply too far apart, as Paul quickly found out at
Virginia City.

<<I am preparing to get one for my Toyota eventually. Prices for new are
in US$11 K range. I hear Mitsubishi goes for 17K. I am trying to locate
a used one in UK for around 5 or 6K but it has to be one built with
gears from reputable company so that I can still get spare parts.>>

Isn't it nice to know that you are getting into Porsche price territory
(no offense Chris Gilman ;-).  I am still searching for boxes in
Germany...but no luck yet...did find that complete A8 drivetrain with
6-speed for $8K USD though...

<<Looking forward to Minisota. I am sorry that I will not be there this
year.>>

That's OK.  We won't be there either, for obvious reasons ;-).

<<By the way my european connections are talking about Audi returning to
rally with A3 converted to WRC spec like Corolla.Turbo 2000cc and 4WD
will be used.>>

Hmmm.  I haven't heard any mention of it on the WRC list.  I asked if
anybody knew if Audi was planning to reenter the WRC and nobody had
heard anything...I dunno...

<<My car held up well and I finished divisional.>>

Wish we could say the same for our waterpump at Goreman last weekend =).
We had an AWESOME first stage (Paul was having lots of fun), then on the
transit to stage two up this steep grade, the temp gauge pegged and
never came back down, and that's all she wrote...we were pretty much
screwed at that point...but heh, we had a good first stage, so I think
we would have done pretty well otherwise =)

<<I plan to run RAC in Canada in October. >>

We *hope* to be at Prescott then with a BIG A** radiator, a BIG fan,
etc.

<<My front breaks will go in the back as I learned that rally car breaks
work harder in rear than in street cars. My break biast is set so that
when I break by rotating my car sideways it stays there.I wore out my
rear breaks completly in one race. It deffinatly needs help in rear.>>

Exactly why I'm putting big 13.3" diameter rotors all the way around
with big 4-piston Willwood calipers on my car...

<<How is your car progressing ?>>

Slowly at the moment.  I got the car back from the frame shop, after
having the right front frame rail pulled back out ~ 1/8", and right now
I'm just burning off all the tar paper and undercoating in preparation
for chemical dipping.

It's going slow at the moment, because I've realized how sick I am by
how many cars I own now (anybody wanna buy a 323 GTX and/or GMC K-2500
Suburban 4x4 =).  So I am trying to get myself down to a sane amount (I
realize this is a relative thing), to hopefully get some money back to
dump into the Audi.  In the meantime I'm trying to get rid of my NA
motor (I've found a 20VT in the Midwest), and sell some other
miscellaneous pieces.

Anyway, it just gets down to the fact that I'm a sick, sick human being
=)

Lecture over, now go play.

cya!

-Mark Nelson
'90 s2 quattro (eventually will be built for SCCA Pro Rally)
'85 4ksq (may become hotrod street car ;-)
'88 mazda 323 gtx (Black Trash (ex. GTI Killer ;-)
'91 jeep cherokee laredo 4x4 (White Trash tow vehicle and 'muter)
'86 gmc K-2500 suburban 4x4 (Forget the road up the side of the
mountain, you just go straight over it =)