photo by Tim Williams The Ziptie Rally Team 171 Open Class Subaru of Carl Siegler and Dave Goodman traveled to Atlanta, MI this past weekend to compete in the Sno*Drift rally. They were accompanied by crew chief Matt Alexander and crew members Martin Asao and Dan Pulles. The car had undergone a number of improvements during the off-season and the team was anxious to run the car hard. Their first opportunity came during the Wednesday test session where Carl was able to fine tune the suspension for the unique conditions that Sno*Drift offers. photo by Martin Asao Friday started with Parc Expose in Lewiston. The team had a bit of a scare when the fuel pump would not come on. After several anxious minutes of cycling power to the pump it finally primed and the car started. The fuel pump seemed to work fine after that and Carl and Dave transited to Stage 1 without incident. photo by Martin Asao Things took a turn for the worse halfway into the stage. Coming off a long straightaway, Carl hit the brakes at 105mph to decelerate the car but the calipers locked suddenly and sent the car into a flat spin. The STI did a full 1080 rotation and ended up pointing the right way down the road. Carl restarted the engine and immediately continued on. However, it was apparent the brakes were not working right which put the car off into snow banks several times throughout the remainder of the stage. Once the car had cleared the finish control Carl hopped out and could find nothing visually wrong so they continued to the next stage. photo by Tim Williams The brakes were intermittent during Stage 2 which Carl tried to adjust to but misjudged a corner and put the car off into a small creek running alongside the road. The car was so far down it was barely visible from the road. With no chance for a fellow competitor to pull them out they had to wait for sweep and retire from the Sno Regional Rally. photo by Dave Goodman Luckily the team had rented a garage from J.C. All Season Motorsports in Lewiston so they could perform the repairs out of the cold. The only major damage was to the front right control arm (one of the only spares the team was without. Adam Yeoman was generous enough to lend the team a control arm so the car could get back on the road). After some exhaust bending, bumper patching and serious mud removal the 171 STI was ready for action! photo by Martin Asao Ziptie Rally entered the Drift Regional Rally the next day and started off slow trying to shake off the poor Friday result. They even stopped to extract Evan Moen’s Integra from a snowbank twice (on two different stages – although the second time they were unsuccessful). After the Super Special, Carl and Dave began to push the car a bit harder and slowly climbed their way back into podium contention. The last few stages suited the team well and they posted good enough times to end the day 3rd in Open and 4th Overall for the Drift Regional. photo by Elliot Sherwood Ziptie Rally’s next event will be 100AW and the team is quickly working to convert the car back to gravel spec as well as repair any damage found from Sno*Drift. For more information check the team’s webpage www.ziptierally.com or their Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ziptie.rally. Their highlights video from Sno*Drift can be viewed here Ziptie Rally would like to thank their sponsors: St. Paul Media, NOS Energy Drink, Graham Evans Motors, Carbonetic/Across USA, Gearhead Graphics, and Morrie’s Minnetonka Subaru as well as Fy Racing and J.C. All Season Motorsports. photo by Mike Proulx
Love that pic of us "repairing" the exhaust. I found this video on facebook taken by a spectator. Carl takes these 2 corners cleaner than most!! [YOUTUBE]8mK_p-gtRPY[/YOUTUBE]
^^Great vid, seems like no one was using the e-brake and the caution sign meant nothing...lol. I also like the drum roll (can roll) on each car entry. Saw these pics on nasioc.
Great job guys for making a great return from your brake issue. Were you able to determine the cause? Really fast drivers don't use brakes to slow down, but for weight transfer. Kudo's pal! Also I'd like to hear more about how you managed to save the car when you didn't have brakes and went into the creek. I asked because it could of been worst, but something tells me you maintained control of the vehicle very well. How was the weather there? Can I get a caption on this photo please: View attachment 24106 "We rally on the trails and trout fish in the creeks" Thanks for the updates Carl and Team, I really enjoy reading it. If you won't mind sharing some perspectives from the drivers point of view when you're available, I'd really appreciate it. And good luck at the "100AW."
Perfectly reasonable. Sorry for the delay in us getting together. Once I shake this head cold, I'll be down for some fun time. Looks like a pretty exciting season so far and I couldn't be prouder to be a sponsor.
awww!!!! keep on rallying! That's the thing I love about rally. As long as it still runs, you can push it more. The car's are tough, to a point that is... lol
Nooo....... need to watch Initial D!!!!!! You got Wrong Gutter Technique!!! [youtube]z9c9aPQ03wU[/youtube]
