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| The Racing Side of Primitive Enterprises |
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Our ProRally Car Running with the Big Boys |
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Check this out: Also See: More Pictures! |
Contact Us:
PaulEklund@aol.com 8425 SW Ashford St. Tigard, OR 97224-7501 1-503-624-2139 Pacific Time Zone 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM only |
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http://www.worldrallying.com |
Race News and Events -- 2003
Totem Rally 2003 Cache
Creek, BC November 15-16, 2003
Eklund/Rounds Take Second in Calculator Class -6th
Overall
 In very snowy conditions, the Primitive
Team fought hard for a win and had to settle for 2nd place in Calculator Class
at this brisk TSD event (see Thunderbird Rally below as well). The team
had consistent good scores, but trouble finding ZEROS and a couple of early
arrivals took the team to 159 points and second place behind the team of Chung
and Monsach who scored 94. Here is what it looked like when the team got
held up by a Mazda RX7 flogging it just to keep moving (yes, photo taken by
driver -Paul Eklund- in the middle of the stage) |
Interstate 5 Volunteer Cleanup Olympia,
WA November 9, 2003
Eklund/Price/Rounds Help Give Back to Community
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Pictured to the right are Paul Eklund, Jeff Price and Kala Rounds as they helped 8 other SCCA Volunteers pick up trash along NWR's "adopt-a-highway" 2-mile section. The group picked up dozens of bags of trash for the rally club. |
SCCA Awards Banquet Portland,
OR November 8, 2003
Gala Party a Success
Picture to come. Paul Eklund
dressed up for the season end banquet!
Picture still not yet available (sorry!)
The Mt. Hood ClubRally: Hood
River, OR October 25, 2003
Eklund/Price Take 2nd Overall in the ClubRally
The second running of the Mt. Hood Rally went smoothly and the 50 mile event ran from noon into the night (great format, just need more miles and shorter services!). Ross Foster in his spanky new, rented EVO VIII was brutally quick and although the Primitive Team got back some time in the evening and night stages, they had to settle for 2nd place. Early in the rally they were dicing it up with both the Hintz Brothers (2002 WRX) and Cavett and Lyden in the GC8 Turbo Impreza. As night fell, the Primitive Team began setting top times (helped by being ahead of the dust) and finished almost a minute ahead of those teams. |
The ORG RallyCross Championship:
Hillsboro, OR October 12, 2003
Eklund sets fast time on course of his own design.
Paul Eklund designed a course that
delighted 113 participants at the Washington County fairgrounds. Heavy
rains the day before and a little during the event keep the ground just slick
enough to keep the water truck away. The course was .7 mile long and had
some great features including the "Fallen Log", the "Bus Stop"
and "the car blocking the road in front of the bridge" which forced
drivers to take an outside line into a narrow section of track while accelerating.
Paul finished 2nd in the OPEN clas driving the WRX rallycar.
The Mountains to the Sea Annual
TSD Rally: Pacific City, OR September 27, 2003
Eklund/Vohs Enjoy the trip to the coast!
Paul Eklund and Vicki Vohs drove the
white Subaru Wagon on this long rally from Portland to the Pacific coast on
a wonderful fall day with Kala Rounds. The TSD was written by Bruce Tabor
and featured some lovely roads and ended at the Bob Straub State Park in Pacific
City with a tremendous BBQ bratwurst feed on the beach. Paul helped prepare
and cook for 65+ hungry rallyists and workers after the event and the bonfire
and victory dance (of Russ Kraushaar and Katie Wood) went on late into the brisk
night. The Primitive team put on respectable performance using only a
pocket calculator and running in the EQUIPPED class.
The ORG RallyCross Championship:
Hillsboro, OR September 14, 2003
Eklund sets fast time on course.
Paul Eklund set the fastest single lap time for the OPEN and PGT class while driving his completely stock Subaru Wagon at this water-truck mudfest of an event. He finished 4th in the PGT class.
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The Wild West Rally: Olympia,
WA September 5-7, 2003
Eklund/Price Take 3rd Overall in the ClubRallies on
Both Days!
The team extended their lead in the Open Class of the Western States Rally Championship with consistent 2nd place finishes both days in the Open Class. Scott Fuller in Group 2 was the winner on both days.
More to follow, but great rally!
The Gorman Ridge Rally: Gorman,
CA August 16-17, 2003
Eklund/Price to Compete in Round 5 of the Western States
Rally Championship!
As points leaders, this event is important to maintain a chance for the overall championship title. The team plans to use COURSE NOTES for the first time with co-driver Jeff Price. Well, the team was in an safe 3rd overall position when they hit a dirt embankment and SNAPPED a forged lower control arm. Despite frantic attempts to hold the suspension in place with the tow strap, the team could not make it back to service and were time barred 2 stages from the finish... |
The Road Not Taken Rally: Grand
Rhonde, OR August 9-10, 2003
Eklund/Rounds Tackle the classic all-night rally to
the coast and back.
More on this gravel rally and round
3 of the Pacific Coast Challenge as info becomes available... visit
www.trnt.com for info.
It was a long night and the team did
OK finishing second in the Equipped Class.
Bremerton National Tour SoloII:
Port Orchard, WA July 26-27, 2003
Eklund Finishes Fourth in Class in AutoCross.
It has been 2 years since driver Paul Eklund has competed in a major SOLOII event and the rust shows. Jumping into a 2002 Nissan Sentra Spec V running in the D-Stock Class, Eklund could not keep the Acura Integra Type R's and the BMW 330CI behind him. He picked up he pace on day 2, but fell back to fourth after hitting a cone on his final, and best run.
Oregon Trail ProRally: Hillsboro,
OR July 12-13, 2003
Primitive Takes 2nd Place in ClubRally on Both Days.
It was a very somber event after the terrible racing accident involving championship driver Mark Lovell and his long-time co-driver Roger Freeman who were fatally injured when their rally car hit a tree on the opening leg of the rally. The team apparently misjudged the high speed corner and hit a large tree at the exit of the turn.
When the rally resumed, the Primitive Team kept a safe pace and finished second on both days. Because the Oregon Trail rally was part of the Western States Rally Championship, the second place points keeps Eklund and Price well ahead of the other competitors in the Open Class. More on this rally later...
Larison Rock Hillclimb: Oakridge,
OR July 5-6, 2003
Primitive Makes an Attempt at the Record.
After becoming a member of the "Under 2-Minute Club" last year in the venerable USX, Paul returned for a 1-day assault on the 1.9 miles of paved hill located just outside of Eugene, Oregon. This time he brought the 2002 WRX rally car, lowered and on 225x50x16 race rubber. He hoped to beat his 1:59 second run and beat the 1:56 class record.
The new car was fast, setting a fine 2:02 on the first run. But on the second attempt, after hitting 76.1 MPH on the straight following the carousel corner at mid-course, Eklund locked the left front brake coming into Turn 10. The car had been on a record breaking pace, but those hopes vanished as he lifted off the brakes and wrestled the car into turning at the corner. The car briefly left the course and as he pulled back onto the track he knew the run was finished. The THUMP, THUMP, THUMP ended up being a flat spot on the front tire right down to the steel belt... Better luck next year!
Dyrad Quest RallyFest: Shelton,
WA June 7-8, 2003
Primitive Makes Lemonade from ClubRally Suspension
Lemons and Takes Home Some Trophies.
The team wins one gimmick Rally and takes top prize for the Equipped Rally Car Class in this ClubRally turned RoadRally. To meet landowner, township, and sponsor commitments, the rally format was quickly changed from a performance rally to a series of TSD and Gimmick Rallies in which 30 teams entered.
"The only event that we didn't do well in was the Poker Run," says driver Paul Eklund, "and that was just bad cards..." Due to the current suspension of SCCA ClubRallies, the Dyrad weekend format was changed. It was one of the first TSD events for co-driver Jeff Price and made for a lot of calculation and a little bit of getting lost on course. The 3 parties (Jaegermeister welcome party, Saturday night Budweiser Pizza Feed, and traditional Awards Banquet) made the weekend even more enjoyable.
No Alibi Rally: Ephrata,
WA May 25-26, 2003
Primitive Enjoys a Terrific, 600 Mile Jaunt Through
Washington
This watersplash along the 600 all-gravel route of the No Alibi Rally was just one of the highlights. It was part of the Pacific Coast Challenge, which is a 4-event series of brisk, gravel TSD rallies. The course went from Snoqualmie Pass to Spokane and back over a 2-day period. The team of Kala Rounds and Paul Eklund suffered from a failing Alfa Elite Rally Computer and finished 12th overall.
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Rim of the World: Palmdale, CA May 2-3, 2003
Primitive Survives Rim of the World!
3rd in Club Class Both Days
"Wet and Wild" Describes the 20th Anniversary
Rim of the World Rally!
About 40 Club Class cars and 40 Pro Rally Cars arrived sunny Palmdale, California on Friday May 2nd. but the sun breaks
soon turned gray as a massive
storm system settled over central California bringing inches of rain, flash floods, and general havoc.
Teams looked to the darkening skies as ominous flashes of lightning
bouncing off the hills they knew that they were heading for.
Some contemplated tire choice, others their lights (or lack of fog lights), but team Primitive was thinking about all those
unfortunate course workers who were standing in whipping winds, driving rain, and even hail just to let us play. Indeed
it was raining and the mountain was enveloped by cloud cover when the rally began.
The rally cars left the beautiful grounds of the Pelona Vista Park promptly at 7:00pm towards the wonderful Magic Mountain tarmac stage. The grip was still very good and the Primitive Team had a great run on the 90% tarmac. Unfortunately, on the 10% dirt near the end, Paul Eklund was looking for a left hand turn when the road went right and the lizard-shod 2002 WRX went into the dirt and rock berm on the left side of the road. The impact was gentle, but enough to flatten the left front tire. They finished out on the flat, but the team was still about 11th overall despite the flat tire. Co-driver Jeff Price was beginning to feel a bit "green-in-the-gills" with the constant turns, fog pressing in, and looking down into the route book. It turns out that dozens of co-drivers got motion sickness despite pills, bands, ginger...
After the tire change and short transit to Stage 2, the team pressed on charging hard into the dirt and rock. Despite the rain, the stage was not yet muddy, but many of the infamous "rockadillos" began to appear in the road. These are LARGE rocks (shoe box size and larger) that begin to emerge from the apexes of corners and from below as the first cars disturb them from their resting place deep within mother earth.
Many teams sport large creases in skid plates, broken shocks, bent wheels and yes, flat tires from these critters. For Primitive, it was unfortunately the latter that affected them early in the stage. After crashing hard through some rocky areas, a rockadillo tore a hole through a right front tire flattening it instantly. The tire thankfully held onto the rim, but steering was greatly impeded. Doug Havir and his spanky yellow Prodrive WRX caught the pair by the end of the stage.
Bummer to lose a bunch of time. Bigger bummer not to have brought 2 spares. After exiting the finish control, the Primitive team spied a blue WRX amongst the control crew cars. Team captain Eklund shouted to the dark hillsides, "whose WRX is this! We need to borrow your mini spare!" After some confusion, a young gent named Josh came forward and said "it's mine." Primitive quickly moved a rear tire to the front and then mounted the "donut" onto the rear of the car. Thanking Josh and roaring off into the night to try to make up time on the toughest transit, Primitive barely made it to the start of Stage 3 on time.
Needless to say, the handling of the WRX was not quite the same with a mini spare, but Primitive finished the stage
with a decent time (despite one 360 degree spin and stopping to make sure that Doug Shepard was OK in his rolled Neon--no
triangles or OK showing). Stage 4 was the great Gleason Mountain hillclimb, and the Primitive pair set a top-ten time
(with a fresh tire from service). The stage is mostly paved, but HEAVY FOG made it a matter of who had proper lighting and
the biggest commitment to the turns. The last stage of the night was a re-run of Stage 3, this time slick with
accumulated mud.
Stages 4 and 5 ended up being thrown for the ClubRally due to an ambulance coming off the mountain with
a person (course worker?) reportedly suffering from hypothermia leading to chest pain and fear of heart attack.
It's not all clear exactly what happened yet. In the end, Primitive was 3rd overall in the ClubRally, just a bit behind Ralph Kosmides in his Impreza. Leon Styles was further ahead, enjoying a great run in his EVO (and eventually finishing 4th OVERALL in the ProRally!!!!).
Day 2 started with rain delay as course workers determined whether the stages were even passable. The answer in general was "no." Most stages could not even be reached, let alone raced. Paramedic locations were adjusted and it was determined that only Del Sur and Leona could be reached and raced safely.
The run up Del Sur was a muddy mess. The Primitive Racing Team took it easy, maybe just a bit too easy. It was not known at that point that the rally was already very near the finish, so there would not be enough miles to relax even a moment. The team posted a 16:26 up, and then pushed hard down posting a good 16:29 on the way down. Going down was hair raising, but somehow more fun than going up!
Leona is a terrific stage, and even in the fog and light rain it held up well. Primitive was catching up to Kosmides on the sandy stage, but after the Spectator Area, Eklund's IQ dropped near zero and he put the car off the road onto a large sand berm. Co-driver Price reminded him to be gentle engaging reverse and after some coaxing, the car slowing pulled itself off the embankment. The team continued, but had lost precious time. And when it was announced in service that the rally was officially finished, that time became critical, dropping the team from a solid 2nd into 3rd place. Still, not a bad finish to a wild rally. Leon Styles had indeed turned up the wick and finished minutes ahead of all other ClubRally competitors.
Adding up the times, Primitive would have still finished 8th or 9th in the overall ProRally had they chosen to enter the Pro. The team retains its first place standing in the new Western States Rally Championship. The next WSRC event is Dryad/Shitepoke in Shelton, Washington on June 7th-8th.
Due to the rains and visibility, Rim was actually much easier on cars this year, with fewer DNF's and much less car damage. Maybe next year. Maybe next year...
The rally ended back at the Pelona Vista Park, where Nicky Grist had been wandering around giving autographs, the Pirelli girls were displaying Lycra, and many vendors had set up booths to display their wares. Most were Subaru-related as Subaru Western Region had done a lot to give the rally a professional look and provide the amenities to attract a lot of fans. And despite the "iffy" weather, the field was packed with fans and vendors (like www.get-primitive.com) reported heavy foot traffic and good business as people took advantage of "at-the-show" specials.
Forgive any lack of info about all the other teams, but I am sure that info like David Higgins winning overall in the Mitsubishi is well covered by SCCA... More info and leg scores available at: www.rimoftheworldrally.com.
| From the Primitive Racing News Release April 7, 2003, Reno, NV: Primitive Racing Takes 3rd Overall Second Day Rough course takes toll at Reno Rally April 5-6 The Reno Rally had about 20 cars start on the high desert roads behind the Reno-Fernley Raceway complex outside of Reno/Sparks, Nevada. The landowner had made a series of roads that interconnected to make some very long stages (the first one was 16 miles long!). The roads were typical for the Reno area, a combination of dirt; dirt and rocks; dirt and silt; dirt and silt and rocks; rocks and rocks; and dirt and boulders. It was the last one that caught a few cars and munched some skidplates and suspensions. No one crashed out. This rally was great prep for Rim. It was very challenging for suspensions, but I think as the roads get used a bit more, they will become even more fun to rally on. Right now, some are just too rough for most rally cars--but good preparation for what can be encountered at Rim! The landowner and organizers and workers, put a lot of effort into getting this rally off the ground. There were a few struggles as the vast desert is hard to control at the many intersections. Many workers spent a day before the rally moving the larger "rockadillos" off the racing line. In the end, a small group of people accomplished a lot. The first day results were mixed. None of the OPEN class cars finished. All mechanical, there were no significant "offs" that I am aware of. Primitive blew a front tire about 2 miles from the end of the first stage when the team got wide after a corner and found a big, embedded rock in the sagebrush along the side of the road. It also blew the LF strut. The team still took fastest time on the stage by a good margin. But during the transit to stage 2, the overworked RF strut also gave way. Now both front struts were useless and the car pogo'ed like it was loaded with flubber. At the end of the shorter second stage, the car hopped and when it landed the LR axle shaft snapped and the team was out. Cavett's Impreza suffered ECU control issues and died on stage one. Rui Brasil's Quattro seemed to suffer problems out of the gate and eventually dropped out. The Talon quit as did others. The last remaining OPEN car was a 323 GTX from Texas, which everyone pitched in to try to get it to the finish, but I believe it too came in on a rope before the end of stage 6 (final stage). It was driven by two novices just getting into the sport. I was driving the service truck to the U-Pull -It junk yard in Reno to get a RF strut out of a 1990 Legacy wagon with 189,000 miles on it... (only brought one spare WRX stock strut... -- doh!!) Scott Fuller did well in the G2 VW GTi, but he too blew a strut and was not at the top of his potential. He just wanted to finish. It was the PGT cars vying for the overall win. Andy Sharples (in a 2.5RS) and Jamie Thomas (in a WRX) swapped times on most stages, but some controversy surrounded the long stage one. Banner tape at one intersection had been accidentally torn down by the lead car (I thought they we supposed to be putting it up...) and Sharples turned right when he should have gone straight. This reportedly cut off about 6 tenths of a mile off the course. He started behind Jamie on the stage, finished just ahead of her, and never passed her on course... The rule book states that if a competitor does not complete all the numbered instructions (i.e., shorts the course) that they should receive the time of the slowest finishing car (page 67). The organizers gave him the time of the other PGT car (Jamie's). This allowed Andy to win by a few seconds over Jamie. I was a bit surprised he accepted the win under those circumstances. I was a bit dismayed that the organizers choose to handle it that way. He probably would have been the winner anyway, but he never had to complete that .6 miles fraught with jumps, rocks, turns and other potential hazards. I had trouble with the "probably would have won anyway when he made the error, not Jamie." Jamie has had things go her way (remember Ojibwe and cow paddy 1)in the past. This time they did not. On day 2 she came out of the box with a commanding stage win on Stage 1 (we were limping with stock struts in front and a right side tire on the left side and a broken front swaybar and yadda yadda yadda...). But on Stage 2 she jumped onto a large rock and bent her subframe up causing the weak-link (power steering line connectors) to come loose and spray power steering fluid over the turbo and out with a flash fire... Cavett's car made it about 25 feet when the ECU again decided to take a dumper... Of the few cars (eleven?), like Carey Wright in his RX7 and several novice teams who finished day one and started Day 2, only about 7 finished. Freyling in the Production Class truck finished both days, the Ford Focus suffered but finished. Wright finished with a flat tire. Primitive suffered a starter failure, EGO sensor and subsequent ECU partial failure (ran like crap) but finished 3rd overall on day 2. Andy Sharples ran consistently and took the PGT win on Day 2 and 2nd overall (6 seconds ahead of Primitive). Scott Fuller drove an extremely smart Day 2 and won by over a minute. Probably missed a lot of details, but the Reno rally, despite being rough around the edges this time will become a very good rally with time. The central service and SHORT transits are great. The enthusiasm of Dave Hackett, Matt Tabor, Diane Duran, Matt Sweeney and other organizers and workers (thanks Mark Nelson, Kevin Needham, Rich Olmstead, Chris Hale, Gloria Hale, John Nispel, John Forespring, all the great HAM operators, and all the others I don't know by name) will ensure this rally gets better and better. I took the land owner, Rich, for a short ride, and showed him how we need the rally roads to be smoothed. Hopefully his equipment, budget and the desert will allow him to continue to improve the road surface. ps. It is a 10.2 hour comfortable tow from Portland to Reno. Not bad. We got back last night late. |
| From the Primitive Racing News Release March 3, 2003, Hoquiam, WA: Primitive Racing Takes Win at Doo Wop Rallies First in Class and First Overall Primitive Racing begins the season with a win and an early points lead in the Open Class of the Western States Rally Championship! The Doo Wops ClubRally is the opening event for the new WSRC Championship and the first rallies for the NorPac Divisional Championship. Saturday's rally was sunny and bright with perfectly groomed roads, damp from previous rain. 40 cars set off on the roads of the Quinault Indian Nation north of Hoquiam. The wide, smooth roads were very fast and allowed high powered 2wd cars to set blistering times and reach speeds well above 100mph. Primitive Racing's AWD Subaru WRX performed well, but finished a few seconds behind the awesome Group 2 Volkswagen GTi of Scott Fuller on Saturday. Fuller's new machine features a 240hp motor and a 6-speed sequential gearbox. Scott used both to full advantage while the traction was good taking top times on most of the stages. The Primitive team took top time on one short tarmac stage, but a high speed spin and stall cost the team 20 seconds on stage 3. That would be the margin of victory for the day, but the Primitive Team was happy with 2nd overall and first in Open Class at the end of the first day. Other 2wd cars did not fair as well at the extreme speeds. John Lane's infamous 500+ hp Volvo Turbo kicked the tail out while accelerating past 100mph and the subsequent rollover sent spectators scurrying and caused enough damage to knock the car out of the competition. Several other cars succumbed to mechanical maladies including Cavett with a blown motor in his Subaru. The brothers Hintz (Dave and Rick) took a terrific 3rd overall in their Group 5 Mazda RX7 Turbo. They were fighting to stay ahead of Jay Streets in his Volvo and took the fastest time over Eklund on the last stage of the day to seal a podium finish. Hard charging Streets finished 4th for the day, but his motor would go away early the next day forcing a retirement. 5th overall on day one was Richard Buckner and Lee Shadbolt in the orange Subaru Impreza Turbo. The team remained consistent and quick, taking the second place honors in Open Class. Day two of the Doo Wops dawned drizzly and damp. The clouds would not lift throughout the day, but neither would most competitors! The days stages included the Pico Watershed stages above the town of Montesano, the famous Brooklyn Tavern Stage (run in both directions) and the Smith Creek Stage (also run in both directions). Primitive Racing started strong with a solid win on both the Pico Stages. The stages were tighter than the day before with varied surfaces (mud, gravel and packed dirt) and included a wood bridge crossing and some elevation changes. Primitive's softer compound Silverstone tires provided excellent bite for the changing conditions. Scott Fuller's hot GTi would suffer a steering knuckle failure early on, opening the door for the Hintz brothers to take top 2wd honors. On the Brooklyn Tavern stage, Eklund set the fastest time up with a 7:12, which was a good time for the stage run uphill, given that it was wet outside and loaded with fresh gravel. (Not the best traction at 100mph!) Radar had him at 104mph on one of the long straights. Hintz was about 15 seconds behind on the stage and had a 103mph. Ross Foster in a PGT Mazda 323 GTX fought hard to get up to 2nd place behind Eklund in the sloppy conditions, but fell 10 more seconds back after Brooklyn. Then they pushed even harder and missed a corner on the Smith Creek stage. They were pulled out by sweep and continued. The jump on Smith Creek down was a rush at 90mph, but all cars made it through without incident. By the time the Brooklyn Tavern East stage started, it was getting dark and the fog was settling in. Combined with the fresh gravel, it looked like none of the stage records were in jeopardy. Eklund took it easy with a 7:25 at 105mph and Hintz pushed on the downhill to hit 109+ mph and had a 7:21. The day finished with Primitive Racing in first overall and first in Open Class. The Hintz's were second and won Group 5, Richard Buckner third overall and second in Open Class. Full results to be posted later. |
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Thunderbird
Rally Course |
Thunderbird Rally -- British Columbia; Merritt -
Kamloops - Merritt February 15-16 Primitive Racing nets 2nd Overall With treacherous mud, mud/ice mix, gravel, and just plain snow, the 32nd Thunderbird Rally presented unusual challenges to driver and co-driver/navigator both. Well over 500 kilometers in length, the rally course also featured an icy hill popularly dubbed "The Luge". The Primitive Team, driving a Subaru 2.5TS Wagon, noted that the rear end was trying to pass down this slope, but Paul managed to get things straightened out. Kala Rounds, Paul's novice navigator, quickly learned the intricacies of the Alfa Elite rally computer, and with careful driving to minimize wheel slippage, the team attained all zeroes except for a 3-point penalty on Day 2. With just 35 points total, the team managed 2nd overall, edging out the team of Hill and Bishop. The winning team (Lee and Rod Sorenson of LA) scored 22 points. |
