1996 SCCA PRO Rally Series

Rally Stats and Press Releases

by Andy Schupack

Keep up with the 1996 Michelin PRO Rally Series — jump on over to Ben Bradley's PRO Rally page!!

PRESS RELEASES

PRO Rally Production Classes – The Way It Will Be

Michelin PRO Rally's Top Cars Rival Country's Best Racers

Group 5 – Two-Wheel-Drive's Day in the Sun

PRO Rally Production Classes – The Way It Will Be

With tight economic times still upon us, car manufacturers are trying to get the most promotional value for their motorsports expenditures. While many racing fans are familiar with prototype vehicles such as IMSA World Sports Cars or formula car classes such as IndyCar or Formula I racing, these racers have little in common with the vehicles we buy for everyday use and cost millions of dollars to build and maintain.

Over the past few years, many of the world's auto manufacturers who use auto racing to market their products have turned away from formula and prototype cars to production-based vehicles to showcase their product line.

One of the venues that is perfectly suited to production- based racing is the Sports Car Club of America's SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series. There are two classes of PRO Rally specifically designed for production cars, and the builder of the two new Kia Sephias, team owner Dave Wolin thinks it makes good sense.

"Car enthusiasts like auto racing not only for the excitement of the racing action, but because they like to fantasize that they could make the same modifications to their car and have the thrill of the same handling and performance," said Wolin, whose Riverside race shop has been preparing factory-backed production cars for more than a decade.

Wolin will be entering two vehicles in this year's series. Lon Peterson, from Victorville, Calif., will drive the 1996 Kia Sephia in the Production class, while SPORT COMPACT CAR Magazine editor Larry Saavedra will drive the '95 version of the same car.

Peterson has rallied up and down the West Coast for years in a highly modified, but still lowly 1977 Plymouth Arrow and has still managed to hold his own among competitors with must newer, faster cars. In past years, although entered in the divisional (or local) class, he managed better times in his two-wheel-drive Arrow than the competitors in the new Audis, Mitsubishis, or Subarus at several events.

Janice Damitio, a housewife from Montesano, Wash., will be competing in a Toyota Celica All-trac in the Production GT a class in which she narrowly missed the championship a year ago.

The Production GT class is open to vehicles offered for sale in the U.S. in the last eight years, and those vehicles—as with all PRO Rally entries—must be street legal. Engine displacement is 2650cc or larger, and limited modifications are allowed to the suspension and brakes. Critical to PRO Rally entrants is the fact that turbocharged and all-wheel- drive vehicles are allowed.

The Production class consists of cars with a displacement of less than 2650 cc., no all-wheel-drive, no turbos, and almost no modifications except for safety equipment like seat belt harnesses and a roll cage.

"The only real difference between Production and Production GT is power," said Ms. Damitio, a mother of three who only took up racing a few years ago. "The car uses almost all stock components, yet I can go 100 mph on the straightaways."

Besides the Kia, spectators can look for look for VW Golf GTIs - which have dominated the Production class for the past several years, and Ford Escorts to round out the class.

On the Production GT side, the added attraction of all-wheel- drive and turbocharging has led to a very competitive field, with Mitsubishi Eclipses along Mazda 323GTX racers dominating the class.

A further criteria for choosing a car to run in the Production or Production GT class is the strength of the chassis as it comes from the manufacturer. Because there are few modification allowed, a competitor has to choose a car that can withstand the rigors of PRO Rally across the country, from the Arizona deserts to the blizzard conditions of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Interested in getting involved with PRO Rally racing? How much does it cost? Do I need a special license? What about insurance? Where I can buy a car?

These questions can be answered by rally officials at the events, or by the Rally/Solo department of the Sports Car Club of America (303) 779-6622.
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Michelin PRO Rally's Top Cars Rival Country's Best Racers

The motto of the SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series is "Real Cars, On Real Roads, Going Real Fast." The cars in PRO Rally's top class are certainly real fast—with up to 400 horsepower—and they certainly run on real roads—with the use of public state forest and private timber roads—but are they real cars?

"They certainly are," said U.S. PRO Rally veteran John Buffum, whose Libra Racing Hyundai Elantra is the defending national champion. "The difference between IMSA WSC prototype racers and our Open class cars are that the rally cars have to be street legal, registered, and licensed, and they are powered by production-based engines," said Buffum, "but, like IMSA or IndyCar racers, we are allowed to use state-of-the-art technology and materials to help the vehicle's performance."

All the top Open class cars are turbocharged and all-wheel-drive, and most of them are based on cars that run the FIA's World Rally Championship in Europe.

Heading the list in Buffum's Hyundai is defending series champion Paul Choiniere, from Shelburne, Vermont, who will be driving a '96 Hyundai Elantra, a brand-new car prepared especially for this year's SCCA/Michelin PRO Rally series. Choiniere, who has won the series title five of the last six years, is debuting his 363-horsepower, 140 mph machine for '96 after winning the title in Audi Quattros (1990, 1992-94) and in a 1995 Hyundai Elantra (1995).

"Although we won the championship last year, we had teething problems in the Hyundai, and didn't win a rally beyond mid-year," said Choiniere, whose mechanical problems kept competitor Henry Joy in the championship hunt until the final event.

Choiniere's new Hyundai, built by Buffum's Libra Racing shop, has both a new body and drivetrain, but isn't that far removed from his old car.

"We have found that we are best off staying with parts and systems we know are reliable," said Buffum, who spurned some of the "trick" components used in Europe such as electronically adjustable sway bars and electronic suspension. Despite some nagging problems at the opening event in march in South Carolina. Choiniere beat rival Carl Merrill by 14 seconds to start his championship defense.

Perhaps the most exciting Open class entry for is the 400-plus horsepower Ford Escort Cosworth driven by competitor Carl Merrill . Merrill, from Ogunquit, Maine, is the only competitor besides Choiniere to win more than one rally during a season since 1991. His most recent victories were at the 1995 Ojibwe Forests and Maine Forest Rallies. Merrill, who owns several resorts in Ogunquit, Maine, is a former stock car driver and NASCAR North car owner who wishes he had gotten into rallying earlier in life. "The excitement of driving a rally car as fast as you can go on an unknown course is a thrill unequalled in any form of motorsports," said Merrill, who was in the championship hunt last year until an overheating problem sidelined him at the Lake Superior event. "I could have chosen other, more well-known classes of racing to pursue, but PRO Rally is by far the best for me."

Now in its fourth year of competition, Merrill's Escort Cosworth is well-developed and very reliable, and its seven-speed, "dogbox" shifter coupled to the 400 hp, turbo powerplant, allow Merrill to run near the top at all events. "All I have to do is keep it on the road," said Merrill.

Perhaps the most improved Open class driver in the series is Atlanta, Michigan's Henry Joy, whose right-hand-drive Mitsubishi Lancer scored its first PRO Rally victory at the Lake Superior event last year.

The Lancer, a successful rally car in Europe and Australia, features a dual overhead cam, 2-litre turbocharged, intercooled four cylinder engine which puts out 370 hp. The engine functions are controlled by a state-of-the-art Autronic Fuel Management System, helping the car to reach its 140 mph top speed.

"All that power is great," said Joy, runner-up to Choiniere for last year's title, "but we are more worried about the suspension durability after hitting a ditch at 40 mph than the top speed."

One last thought. Those of you who might look at the Open class rules might say, "Couldn't you build a car with 3,000 horsepower and just clean up on everyone?" Sure you could, but the body of these cars have to be tough; they have to handle well; especially with PRO Rally's rough and twisty stages, they need to handle well; and they have to run reliably for 24 hours or more at a time.

Not as easy as it sounds, but certainly as exciting.
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Group 5 – Two-Wheel-Drive's Day in the Sun

Two years ago, the PRO Rally Board introduced Group 2, a class for older, two-wheel-drive, normally aspirated cars which were too old to run in the Production classes, and not powerful enough to compete with the Open cars.

These Group 2 cars, with engines under 2.4 liters, were also allowed to make Open-class-style modifications to engine, brakes, and suspension components, a formula that often results in Group 2 cars finishing in the top five—and one time even second—in the overall results.

Older Saabs, VW GTIs, Dodge Omnis, Nissan 200-SX and others have made this class very competitive.

By what about the more powerful 2WD cars with larger displacements and turbos? They cannot compete against the 4WD Open class cars, but they are too fast for Group 2.

For 1995, we now have Group 5, for 2WD, turbocharged cars over 2.4 liters. Not only has this breathed new live into cars like the Dodge Charger of Lesley Suddard and the Dodge Shadow of Henry Krolikowski (first Group 5 winner in March), but it has spawned the construction of new cars.

Three of the most notable new cars being built have factory support, as Toyota provided two Supras and Saab a 900 turbo to veteran rallyists Bruce Newey, Ralph Kosmides, and Sam Bryan respectively. "Our Supra should be able to produce 300 HP," said Bruce Newey, a native New Zealander now living in Atlanta. "Although we won Group A last year with a Celica All-trac, I really enjoy the feel of tossing a 2WD car around corners, so this new class that combines power and 2WD is great for me."

Saab's 900 turbo will be the mount for last year's Group 2 champion Sam Bryan, from Kent, Washington. Bryan finished second in 1994 and won the Group 2 title last year in a normally-aspirated Saab 900.

"We are grateful that Saab Cars U.S.A.—which has a great heritage in U.S. rally—has seen the value in our efforts and provided us with a new car," said Bryan.

Powered by a double overhead camshaft, 2300cc, turbocharged, intercooled, four cylinder powerplant, Bryan's new Saab will produce 300 hp. The transmission is a 6-speed XTRAC with a "dogbox" (no clutch) shifter and a limited slip differential— in all, a full-blown racer.

And don't be surprised if, due to some exceptional performances and a few mechanical problems with the Open class racers, a Group 5 car wins a rally overall before the year is done.
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