SCCA
ProRally: Oregon Trail: Metalmarks Rally Team summary
Blown gasket sidelines Metalmarks team on Day One HILLSBORO, Oregon - A blown head gasket put an early end to the Metalmarks Rally Team effort at the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Oregon Trail ProRally. The engine overheated on the second ...
Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 6:07 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Blown gasket sidelines Metalmarks team on Day One
HILLSBORO, Oregon - A blown head gasket put an early end to the Metalmarks Rally Team effort at the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Oregon Trail ProRally. The engine overheated on the second competitive stage of the event, causing the Metalmarks Volkswagen Golf IV to lose power. Driver Chris Havas was able to nurse the car into the scheduled service following the stage, but there was insufficient time to make repairs.
"To drop out so early was quite a disappointment," said team driver and owner, Chris Havas. "This was the first time I had run the Oregon Trail and I was looking forward to the challenge. I loved the roads, at least the two I did get a chance to run. Dave (co-driver Dave Kean) said those weren't the best of them, so I guess I'll have to look forward to running there again. Fortunately the repairs should be fairly easy so we will be ready in time for the Maine Forest Rally in a couple of weeks."
Havas and Kean were the fastest of the two-wheel drive cars on the first stage, which was over 14 miles in length. They were faster than all but six of the all-wheel drive rally specials entered at Oregon, and were four seconds ahead of local driver Scott Fuller, also in a Volkswagen. Though Havas was taking it easy due to the engine running hot, they remained competitive on the next stage, placing third among the 2WD cars. They were able to make it to the service area, where the diagnosis was that the thermostat was not opening, so coolant was unable to circulate through the engine.
"I really appreciate the help that was offered so far away from home," said Havas, who lives in Vermont. "Peter Van Bogart of Cascade Autosport in North Bend, Washington, lent us use of his shop prior to the event so we could give the car a once over following Pikes Peak."
The Metalmarks rally steed is a current chassis VW Golf with a 1.8-liter turbo engine. It runs in the Group 5 class, which is for two-wheel drive cars with turbocharged engines, or normally aspirated engines between 2.4 liters and 6.9 liters. Though the basic chassis must be from a production car, modifications to the engine, transmission and suspension are allowed.
The class victory and first place points went to Doug Shepherd and Pete Gladyz in a Dodge SRT-4. Havas and Shepherd are now tied for fourth place in points at 24 apiece, but only 6 points behind class co-leaders Brian Vinson and Dave Hinz. Havas and Kean took the VW to a Group 5 win at the Susquehannock Trails ProRally in Pennsylvania early in June.
The next event on the Metalmarks Rally Team schedule is the Maine Forest ProRally on August 1-2. Havas and Kean were the Group 5 winners at Maine in 2002. There are three more events following Maine on the 2003 ProRally Championship schedule.
-mrt-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article ATCC: Bira qualifying notes
Next article SBR Queensland Friday report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
Latest news
Jorge Martin faces 'very difficult' challenge at Qatar GP as pain strikes back in qualifying
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
34 min
Jorge Martin faces 'very difficult' challenge at Qatar GP as pain strikes back in qualifying
Ayao Komatsu: Esteban Ocon axing ‘surprised everybody at Haas’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
40 min
Ayao Komatsu: Esteban Ocon axing ‘surprised everybody at Haas’
MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix: Marco Bezzecchi storms to pole ahead of Marc Marquez
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix: Marco Bezzecchi storms to pole ahead of Marc Marquez
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe