STPR ProRally press notes 3
6 June 1999
STPR ProRally Press notes Page 3 19.) Roughly a half mile from the creek crossing, near Bergeron’s Corner, the organizers set up a radar gun to see who was really fast. Noel Lawler, first on the road, turned in 84 mph. Paul Choiniere was a tick slower, at 83. However, Frank Sprongl, the meat in the Hyundai sandwich, dusted everyone at 91 mph. 20.) As anticipated prior to the start, reports coming in from the early stages indicate that dust is the major factor that everyone expected that it would be. In fact, about the only driver or co-driver not grumbling about the dust was Kenyan Arthur Odero-Jowi. He and Jim Hurley were just motoring along pretty happily. 21.) Jim Anderson reported that he was happy with the new brakes, but is bothered by the dust and is a little concerned about the overall balance of the Prelude. Without any turbocharging or supercharging, he feels that he is still well down on power to other Group 5 cars. 22.) Dust is a factor for Ralph Kosmides and Joe Noyes, in the Group 5 Toyota Supra. However, it has warmed up noticeably since this morning, and heat is their big concern, both for the car and the occupants. Like a like of veteran co-drivers, Noyes had gotten ill during the last event as a result of the high heat. So they are running the car with the windows removed and window nets in place. While dust is a problem with respect to visibility, Noyes reports that they aren’t getting that much into the car until speeds get up around 100 mph. The engine cooling problem was in fact related to the failure the “mister” which sprays water onto the radiator for improved cooling. 23.) Group 2 frontrunner Chris Havas was among the first DNFs in his Golf GTi. He and Eric Tremblay got into heavy dust as they were catching the car ahead of them, dropped a wheel into an unseen ditch or hole and broke the right-front halfshaft. They had been running well and were enjoying their new six-speed transmission. 24.) Alex Eristoy and Ben Greisler had made a major charge through the field. At the end of the first four stages, they had moved up to 27th, after starting 58th. However, they had to disconnect both front driveshafts on their Audi 90 quattro after experiencing problems on the first leg. 25.) John Kemp and Rod Hendricksen lost boost in their Audi quattro on the second stage, but were able to repair the problem between Stages 2 and 3. 26.) Grisha and Sonia Trepetin struggled through the first four stages with a car that just didn’t want to put out any power over 5000 rpm. After getting to service, they checked the onboard diagnostics and traced the problem back to a loose plug on the controller for the VTEC technology. They also had a flat on the transit after Stage 4, but it didn’t hurt their time. 27.) Lesley Suddard and Marc Goldfarb are experiencing problems with the engine cutting out in their Dodge Charger. It gave them a bit of a scare when it quit in the middle of the water crossing. 28.) Jim Anderson says that this is the fastest STPR he’s ever seen, a sentiment shared by a number of others. The flip-side of that is that they also say is it unusually slippery for dry conditions.