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OCTOBER 2001
Somewhere in Africa

RALLY TEAM CONQUERS KILIMANJARO?
Okay, so we had to leave the Subaru behind.

Oct. 1 - The Primitive Team reaches the summit of Africa's tallest mountain.
Paul Eklund and Karen Price climb Mt. Kilimanjaro -- 19,340 feet. It's not racing news, but this climb was certainly the event of the year!

Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world, accounting for the beautiful views so often depicted. Originally scheduled for a Sept. 11 departure, Paul and Karen managed to reschedule for several days later. The ascent was planned to allow time for acclimation to the very thin air, but it could not be described as "leisurely".

The summit was attained in the early morning, with the temperature about 7 degrees. Frozen water bottles complicated the ascent, and the very thin air made breathing very difficult. The climb was made without supplementary oxygen. Not all of the climbers elected to make the final assault on the peak.

After a descent much more rapid than the climb up, Paul and Karen then went on safari for a few weeks. -MORE-

SEPTEMBER 2001
Wild West ProRally, Shelton, Washington

Primitive Subaru USX Takes 6th Overall,
Third in Open Class
Sheesh. One second behind 5th place winner.

Sep. 8 - Shelton hosted the Wild West ProRally this weekend with almost 70 cars starting the 150 mile long event. Subarus and Mitsubishis dominated the finish.

Seamus Burke in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO finished on the podium for the 8th consecutive time this season with a 3rd overall! A huge feat and worthy of additional praise in light of mounting factory efforts on both sides of the ocean. Ramana Lagemann showed his continuing improvement by finishing 2nd overall in his Group N Subaru Impreza. He posted an incredible time on Stage 3 and won the 8-mile stage outright. The winner was the ever-pleasant Richard Tuttle driving a very purpose-built Lancer EVO. Tuttle came from behind on day two, aided by both Choiniere's Hyundai and Lovell's Subaru retirements due to mechanical failures on the rough roads.

Karl Scheible drove a steady rally in the Group N Subaru WRX and finished fourth, his car only suffering some scuffs and dents from an apparent spin. Newcomer Nat Stow finished 5th overall in a PGT WRX only one second ahead of Primitive Racing's Paul Eklund in the Subaru Impreza. The two had an incredibly tight battle for the entire race with only 15 seconds ever separating the two NorthWest region cars. Eklund started day two in the lead, but Stow steadily reeled him in with a strong run, gaining a few seconds each stage.

The roads were indeed superb, with changing conditions and lengths making the rally incredibly diverse. On one long straight, top rally cars were clocked by radar at a reported 133 MPH! Primitive Racing's speedometer on the USX registered 120MPH but the radar gun reported 121MPH on that same stretch. The Silverstone tires run by Primitive held up well for the event and were the same tires run for all of day 2 at the Ojibwe Forest Rally. "We even ran the first part of the second day at Wild West on the same tires we ran at Ojibwe," said team captain Eklund, "including the 28-mile-long stage." Primitive reports no flats whatsoever this season on our Silverstone tires and DMS suspension - and 3 top finishes.

The team celebrated the 3rd consecutive top ten finish at Wild West (3rd in 1999 and 5th in 2000) with a splash of champagne and big smiles. They took 3rd in Open Class and some needed driver's championship points. The team may attend the season finale in Michigan if sponsorship materializes.

For additional information or sponsorship opportunities, please see Paul Eklund's racing resume.

Primitive's Proud Sponsors:

• Royal Moore Subaru: www.royalmoore.com
• T-Scandia Motors: www.t-scandiamotors.com
• Drummond Motor Sports (DMS): www.dmshocks.com
• R&R Racefab of Aloha, OR
• Pantera Specialists of Santa Barbara, CA
• Schneider's Race Cams of San Diego, CA

AUGUST 2001
Ojibwe Forests ProRally, Bemidji, MN
Postcards from the Ledge

JULY 2001
Tigard, Oregon

PRIMITIVE READIES USX "GEARBOX WITH TEETH"

Jul 7 - The hardworking crew at Primitive racing have been doing dual duty since the hard-won finish at the Rim of the World in May. Richard Buckner has been assembling a "double hardened" gearset from Prodrive into one of the spare gearboxes for the venerable USX. This "Group N" kit will feature 4.44:1 gear ratios allowing quicker acceleration, but more importantly, more time spent in 3rd gear, thereby reducing the stress on a finicky 2nd gear. The conversion has required several custom parts to be manufactured (thrust washers) since the Legacy Turbo box is not the same as an STi version. -MORE- Meanwhile...

PRIMITIVE BUILDING THE "UBERLIZARD" 2002 WRX

Other Primitive crew members have been making progress on the team's new 2002 WRX rally car. The Group N style roll cage is in place and suspension from DMS is ready to go underneath. Skidplates, HID lighting systems and other rally prep are underway. "We have stretched ourselves a bit thin trying to prepare two rally cars, but feel that having the additional car will give us some flexibility on which events we can make in the future," says owner/driver Paul Eklund. "Plus, it will be really fun to have a WRX to drive." -MORE- And...

PRIMITIVE TO COMPETE IN WRX AUTOCROSS CHALLENGE

Eklund will be competing in the WRX Challenge at the SCCA National Tour event in Bremerton, WA, on July 28 and 29. The NT features a special challenge between WRX drivers in G-Stock class. Paul hopes to brush up on his autocrossing skills prior to that weekend. His street car - a yellow WRX - will feature BFG Comp T/A tires, K&N airfilter and adjustable struts, but is otherwise stock.

The National Tour will attract about 250 autocrossers from across the region for a 2-day time trial event. Many will go on to the Solo II Finals in Topeka, Kansas in mid-September.

MAY 2001
Rim Of The World Rally, Palmdale, CA

SUBARU DOMINATES!
FIRST WIN FOR NEW WRC IMPREZA
Oh Yeah - And the Primitive USX Blows Up Another Gearbox, Finishes 11th Overall. Heroic "Press On Regardless" Efforts!

May 5 - Mark Lovell and Steve Turvey never looked back after the first, short superstage of the grueling event. Their bright blue WRC-spec Impreza definitely impressed the crowd as it rounded that stage and won nearly every other stage in the 2-day event. Rhys Millen, who won the opening stage, held on to 2nd overall with an excellent finish in his factory EVO. Seamus Burke took 3rd (yet again) with his privateer entry. Fourth was Paul Choiniere in the Tiburon.

The Rim of the World lived up to its heritage of being one of the best and one of the toughest rallies on the North American circuit. Many teams suffered overheating, suspension breakage and transmission failures. Noel Lawler got off to an inauspicious start with his steering wheel coming off during the initial spectator stage and later the car suffered a broken halfshaft and retired. Lee Shadbolt suffered a broken differential as he launched on the spectator stage. An EVO even rolled at the end of that stage. With that much carnage occurring early, it looked to be a typically tough Rim.

Primitive Racing had its own share of minor problems the first night (mostly the turbo downpipe coming loose from the constant pounding of the infamous waterbar jumps) and was forced to use safety wire (can you say "baling wire") to hold the header on, causing some worries about engine fires as the 1500-degree exhaust singed nearby power steering hoses and wiring. But the team finished the night in eighth position overall, just behind Paul Choiniere in the Tiburon.

Day two started just fine with another superstage and then the classic Del Sur hillclimb stage. Primitive held its own up and down the mountain and even played a key role in helping another Subaru team repair a broken halfshaft during the turnaround stage (allowing them to later beat the Primitive team to the finish line).

It was on the tight and twisty Leona Stage following Del Sur that the unthinkable again happened. While in a steady uphill acceleration in 2nd gear, Primitive Racing's newly rebuilt transmission again shattered second gear. "Second's gone again!" was the call from driver Paul Eklund as he shifted to 3rd, and co-driver Scott Huhn immediately responded, "five point seven miles to finish, and we have some uphill hairpins!"

The team struggled past the spectator area only able to shrug their shoulders as they limped past the cheering rally fans and then slipped the 6-button copper clutch mercilessly as they rounded the hairpin and slowly climbed the steep hill in third gear. Any other clutch would have failed with the amount of slipping that was needed to carry the team off that mountain. But the team made it back to service with the transmission stuck in 3rd gear. During the brief service interval, the volunteer service crew was able to pour the broken teeth out of the damaged transmission, and fill with new gear oil, but there was not time for Primitive to change the entire gearbox.

As Eklund sat disgusted in the back of the service van removing his driving suit, his dedicated crew (Richard Buckner, Jason Grahn, Bill Maley and Justin Foldesh) along with co-driver Scott Huhn, pounded the gear selector out of third. But it would not go back into 3rd gear. So now the team had 1st gear, 5th gear and reverse only. Press on regardless was the word of the day (and Huhn really wanted one of those cool "Rim 2001 Finisher" lapel pins) so Eklund suited up and the pair headed off on the 30+  mile transit to Libra Mountain stage. Along the way, they tried to get 3rd gear back and were finally successful on the old ridge highway just prior to the stage start. Getting the car into first gear required coming to a complete stop and getting into 3rd gear required finding the right location and literally pounding the shifter forward.

Despite these problems, Team Primitive finished both Libra Mountain and Maxwell Stages and returned to service. At service, crew chief Buckner noted a hole literally blown through the bottom of the transmission. Somewhere along the Maxwell stage, a gear tooth had literally been shot thru the casing causing all the gear oil to escape. The team had finished with no oil in the damaged transmission!

Having heard that Prodrive team had changed their Group N gearbox in about 17 minutes at the previous service, the Primitive volunteer crew went to work and swapped the transmission in only 48 minutes! At times it looked like a Three Stooges movie in fast-forward, as Eklund barked conflicting commands and helpers responded as best they could with wrenches and hammers and blood and sweat.

But the crew got the job done and by the end of service the Impreza USX was cleaned, fueled, and ready to finish the rally. Many thanks to Hairpin Racing for the support and tools to complete the swap.

In the end, Primitive had dropped about 4 positions to 11th overall, but the thrill of finishing this rally despite these hardships was well worth it and to still have a respectable finish was a bonus! The team used only two sets of Silverstone 525 soft compound tires during the event and found the tires to work well on the varying road surfaces ranging from asphalt to deep sand.

MAY 2001
Tigard, Oregon

SCREAMING YELLOW USX GETS NEW GEARS

May 2 - After several transmission problems already this season, the Primitive Racing team has turned to ProRally sponsor Diversified Cryogenics to help stop gear tooth breakage cold! Using technology developed for Frozen Rotors, the team has "frozen" an entire gearset in liquid nitrogen. The process realigns the metal molecules, and creates a denser, more stable structure. The result will hopefully be longer life for the temperamental 2nd gear in the Primitive Racing screaming yellow Subaru Impreza USX rallycar.

"This engine, designed around a SOHC 16 valve head, develops a ton of torque which can punish transmissions," states team owner Paul Eklund. "We have looked at solutions across the ocean, but this (frozen) setup was all we could get completed in the short interval between Oregon Trail and Rim (of the World Rally)."

APRIL 2001
Oregon Trails Rally, Tillamook, Oregon

ANOTHER TRANSMISSION FAILURE!
Um, this is getting expensive.

April 8 - The excitement of the Oregon Trail ProRally came to a swift end for the Primitive Racing team as yet another transmission broke, forcing the team to retire and replace it. Despite a swift gearbox change and delays in the rally, the team was not allowed to continue on Saturday. The team did rejoin the rally for the Sunday stages which had a mixture of mud and snow (unusual for this time of year), and finished out the event.

"We obviously need to look again at other sources for transmission gears, as the second gear failures are coming more and more frequently," states a dejected Paul Eklund, team owner and driver. "We are talking with Subaru Research and Development about maximum sustainable torque in these [gear] boxes, and what may create momentary high levels of pressure on the gear teeth and specifically second gear."

Solutions for the tranny problems will likely come from outside the USA in the form of gearsets from STi (Subaru's performance arm), Hollinger, or Prodrive.

Many thanks to the service help and volunteers who replaced Primitive's transmission on Saturday during a hail storm. "This reflects the dedication to the sport and the excitement that rally generates within the fans," says co-driver Scott Huhn, "it was really wet and cold out there."

Prodrive's Mark Lovell won the rally in an open class Subaru Impreza followed by Richard Tuthill in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. The top places were a mix of WRXs and Evos. The event saw very slippery conditions and several cars ended up sliding off the road and rolling over. One was Seamus Burke also in an Evo, but he righted the car and soldiered on to take third place overall (missing several windows).

Primitive's next scheduled event is the Rim of the World ProRally in Palmdale, California, on May 4th-5th. The team's new 2002 WRX rally car will not be ready for that race, but should debut in early summer. Prodrive is rumored to have its drivers in the new WRX for the Rim event.

APRIL 2001
Tigard, Oregon

PRIMITIVE AWAITS OREGON TRAIL!
Back to the old engine this time.

Apr 2 - The US National ProRally team of Paul Eklund (driver), Scott Huhn (co-driver) and Karen Price (crew chief) have put their screaming yellow Subaru Impreza USX back together again after a difficult first race of the season, and are ready to "run with the big boys" at the Oregon Trail ProRally this weekend in Tillamook, Oregon.

"We found out that we had actually broken the ring landings on the brand new pistons in our WRX while tuning it just before the Cherokee Trails [rally]," said team owner and driver Paul Eklund, "so we went ahead and put last year's motor into the car with just new rods. It earned us two top five finishes, so I hope the motor can last one more event."

"It is putting out about 270hp through the Subaru all-wheel-drive system down to four Silverstone Rally tires. We aren't as fast as some, but should be near the top of the pack."

Last year the team suffered a massive transmission failure which forced them out of the rally while running as high as 4th overall. The rally will take place on gravel logging roads in varying terrain in Western Oregon.

Spectators can watch a 1 mile "super stage" at the giant blimp hangar just south of Tillamook at 10:00am Saturday morning April 7th which marks the start of the 2-day event. The Primitive Racing USX will be the 9th car to start.

MARCH 2001
Cherokee Trails Rally, Chattanooga, TN

PRIMITIVE FINDS THE LIMITS
Lesson: when driving, worry first about the road.

Mar 26 - The Cherokee Trails Rally came to swift conclusion for the Primitive Racing team. The team was preoccupied with a bad cylinder in their new engine the night before the rally and were uncertain whether the motor would hold up under 3 days of hard racing. The #4 cylinder was very low on compression indicating a possible broken ring or ring landing. "The engine smoked a bit under hard acceleration and we calculated that we would add about a quart of oil at every service," said interim crew chief R. Dale Kraushaar.

But the plan was never executed as team owner and driver Paul Eklund set up wide for a corner and ended up overshooting the turn. "The car began to understeer and we simply shot off the road surface and down a steep enbankment," said Eklund matter-of-factly. "It was simply driver error in allowing for the slippery conditions and cold tires," admitted Eklund, "I can see from the video that the other cars were staying in tight and ditch hooking, which worked much better than my approach for that slippery turn. Our triangles and slow down signals saved several other teams from a similar fate."

"Slow sweep was able to quickly pull us back onto the road, but we elected not to continue due to the engine's uncertain condition," said co-driver Scott Huhn after driving the screaming yellow Subaru Impreza USX back to service. "I guess this new engine made just a little bit too much power and broke something. We are performing our own development of the EJ22 closed-deck motor, and this is just a small setback that is expected when pushing stock components to their limits. I continue to be amazed at how much power a stock block can produce."

The team is now tearing down the motor to learn exactly what is causing the low compression and plans to have the 280hp motor back up and purring by the start of the Oregon Trail rally on April 7th. "We just got the car back from the long tow home, but the great people at Royal Moore Subaru in Hillsboro, Oregon (the closest Subaru dealer to the race) are helping us to get the car ready for the race," says Eklund. "This event is virtually in our backyard, so we hope to put in a good showing. We have consistently been one of the top finishing privateer teams, and we know we can finish in the top 5 if we can get the USX a little more reliable."

FEBRUARY 2001
Tigard, Oregon

Primitive Enters Cherokee Trails International ProRally
Debut for new "thunderlizard" motor.

Feb 21 - The West Coast-based privateer team of Paul Eklund (Seed 1 driver) and Scott Huhn (co-driver) have made plans to attend the FIA-listed rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

"This is a 6,000 mile round trip for our racing team, but we feel that that this [Cherokee Trails] is a significant event and important for some Championship points early in the season," says team owner Eklund. "The logistics for moving the car and service van are large, and we will need to rely on some volunteer help to assist in service, but we feel that we can run with the big boys."

Eklund and Huhn will be racing the screaming yellow Subaru Impreza USX, with a big thunderlizard on the side, a fresh 265hp turbocharged motor, DMS 50mm suspension, and a host of performance upgrades from Primitive Enterprises. "We are coming off of two top-five finishes at the end of last season," co-driver Huhn says, "and we hope to pick up right where we left off. This rally allows pace noting, so things should get interesting."

Primitive Racing is sponsored by Royal Moore Subaru, DMS USA, Driving Force Racewear, T-Scandia Motors, Silverstone Tires, Taylor Made Labels and www.subaru.net. The rally will be televised on SpeedVision in April.

The team has spent a busy winter with experts at Royal Moore building a new motor featuring ceramic coated, low compression, turbo pistons, Pauter racing rods, Total Seal rings, an Extrudehone intake manifold, enlarged throttle body, and reworked TEC II engine management. The transmission sports a new 2nd gear cluster to help survive the increased engine output. "We are still losing a few horsepower to the other Open class cars," Eklund thinks, "but we currently don't have the resources to mount a major engine and transmission development program."

Also over the winter, the service van and race trailer were rebuilt to make the long tows easier. "We shed about 1000lbs and things should be a little cleaner and more organized for our service crews," commented crew chief Karen Price.

While driver Eklund flew to Europe for testing and training in January, the yellow USX made the car show circuit, going on display at the LA Autoshow, the Portland Autoshow and the Oregon Sportsman Show. In the meantime, plans were being put into place to campaign a new 2002 WRX later in the season. "All-in-all, we have been busy campers getting exposure for our sponsors and paving the way to take the next step towards becoming a top rally team. I won the Co-driver's Championship in PGT in 1998 and several other SCCA driving Championships, but I really would like to take a shot at the overall driver's Championship in ProRally," said Eklund in a recent interview.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2001
Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR

Primitive Begins Race Season on the Floor
The Auto Show Floor, that is.

Feb 2 - While other teams wrenched on their cars over the winter and others scrambled to make the SnoDrift ProRally event in chilly Michigan, Primitive Racing gave their sponsors some exposure at major autoshows around the country.

The Primitive Racing Impreza USX spent 14 days in the Subaru booth at the huge Los Angeles Autoshow in early January. Hundreds of thousands of people and press passed through the gates of the show. Driver Paul Eklund and navigator Scott Huhn made personal appearances throughout the show and Hairpin Racing's Lee Shadbolt and Bob Sherman spent the entire show educating the public on rallying and the history of Subaru performance in America. Their green WRX conversion car sat right beside the 2002 Subaru WRX which arrives March 15th in the USA.

"The public really reacted positively to the new performance image that Subaru has begun to develop," said Eklund at a dinner for long-time Subaru and rally enthusiasts in LA. "We were surprised how many people knew about rallying and actually followed the US series on the Internet and occasional Speedvision broadcast. It was good to give our long-time sponsors like Taylor Made Labels, T-Scandia Motors of Tigard, Oregon, www.subaru.net and Royal Moore Subaru some additional exposure."

The LA Autoshow was filmed by Speedvision for a upcoming documentary event.

With rallying poised to become even more popular in America, the time is perfect to reflect how rally cars such as Shadbolt's and Eklund's have paved the way for the introduction of the new turbocharged WRX, and how Subaru is no stranger to the victory circle.

Eklund's screaming yellow rally car and Shadbolt's emerald green machine are currently on display at the Portland Autoshow giving their local sponsors a little boost. The show runs through Sunday. The cars make an appearance the week after at the Portland Sportsman's Show for 4 days. Subaru is popular with the outdoors crowd, which of course includes rally fanatics.

Primitive Racing has announced that they will be racing a new WRX beginning this summer. More details to follow in the upcoming months. "We are still looking for sponsors to make this endeavour a complete success," says team owner Eklund. "The car should be the darling of the ProRally circuit and get good press."

JANUARY 2001
Banbury, England

EKLUND TESTS FOR PRODRIVE TEAM POSITION
This is the phone call you dream of getting.

Jan 5 - Prodrive, the world-renowned race-team sponsor, invited Primitive Team leader Paul Eklund to test for a driver position in the new Subaru Group N car. Paul was one of only eight drivers from Europe and the United States participating in the exclusive testing event in Banbury, England. Two drivers will be chosen to field a North American rally effort.