team illuminata

We were honored to be invited to the Eyes On Design show this year and surprised to win a Designer's Choice Award. We guess all that lack of preparation paid off.

Early bird gets the designated spot they would have had even if it were late.

IMG_9254 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


This was an unexpected surprise. No mention of Michelle Mouton though.

IMG_9255 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Our "class"!

IMG_9257 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


and some competition. Uh oh.

IMG_9256 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Breakfast with a view.

IMG_9258 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


More surprises

IMG_9261 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_9271 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


We got to keep this. Now we'll never forget what kind of car is under all that vinyl.

IMG_9270 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


More pleasant surprises. Designers Choice Award

IMG_9263 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_9273 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Next big event is the Concours Of America. All Show and All Go!! (no Q-tips either)

team illuminata

As the car is red hot now we thought we'd be sensible and install a fire extinguisher before we need one. We went with a 2.5lb dry powder with a quick release mounting bracket.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


There were a few options for mounting: on the cage behind us, on the cage leg in co-drivers foot well, on the transmission tunnel in front of the shift lever. Finally we decided to mount it to the floor in front of the co-driver's seat as it would be most accessible for both driver and co-driver.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

team illuminata

We took the "All Show and All Go" 911 to the Concours d'Elegance of America over the weekend to hang out with some other rally cars. There were two groups invited to this concours: real works rally cars with provenance and the rest of us "pretenders". We all participated in the peripheral cars and coffee type events but only the provenance-full cars were allowed on the concours field. The rest of us were allocated a club parking spot on the grounds. Still, it was good to meet people from the Historic Rally Cars Group in person and see cars we haven't seen live for thirty years or more.

Here we are with Colin McRae's Ford Focus.

13681052_10153840850640773_613571543239034219_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


This is Richard Burns' Impreza.

13873118_10153840866175773_3091764464965576359_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


MK2 Escort

13900215_10153841595860773_849473300453993226_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Quattro

13873205_10153841604180773_1374115887097938155_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Always use your mirrors. You never know what you might see.

13873249_10153841607125773_3927042831902103633_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Rally cars thrive in these conditions, even at a concours. Opel Manta (red)

13900175_10153843149890773_2217456065079588490_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Great taste

13895194_10153843809655773_6838901992570114493_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


What a nice spread.

13659137_10153843815950773_6211746530854529816_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Safari 911

13895441_10153845947010773_3575181668371423713_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


13882160_10153845949220773_5484836095242208361_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Lancia 037

13901517_10153846611820773_8511592043114990343_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Fiat 131/Brava

13920726_10153846616115773_8701512770684640796_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


All business inside

13872743_10153846623510773_3707973688107080020_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Videos:

team illuminata

More non-action action for our All Show and All Go Carrera RX this weekend as we took the car along with the dog and pony show to the Northernworthersee (NOWO) show in Frankenmuth. An apt setting as it is a German themed town and home to one of the largest Christmas stores in the world.

On the way up we had some fun racing our RALIVAN.

14102414_10153920428550773_5135555444382968590_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

14141681_10153921327755773_8275879391650679308_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr



Here we are setup.

14117875_10153921341705773_1590308552399782254_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


The event was well attended, mostly by lowered Golf's Jettas and Audis but we did manage third in the Porsche class. Unfortunately festivities were cut short by the weather so we had our Flint Water Crises on the way home while going through Flint.

14068102_10153921344515773_6067306237827137296_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Enthused by our jaunt to pseudo Germany we are inspired to take the car to Canada next weekend, the real Canada though.

team illuminata

Another outing for the 911 Carrera RX, this time with a bit of speed involved; only a bit mind. We were happy to sponsor the 3rd iteration of the Empire Hill Climb Revival in Empire, Michigan again this year and as a bonus they let us use the car as course opening vehicle. This meant our duties were to lead the convoy of race cars from the village center to the bottom of the hill, run ahead of them on the hill (at a moderate pace), lead them back down then around the block to the start again for two more climbs then back to the village. Despite our "moderate pace" on the hill we still had a lot of fun and would not have been last if we were entered.

You can watch some in car video of one of our faster runs here:

The weekend began early on Friday morning loading up the van and the car but by just after noon we were on the road.

14449920_10153995837300773_7768782427491728067_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

14457554_10153996363560773_7388397804251531478_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


It's only a little over four hours to Empire so we pulled up to our hotel for the weekend a little after 4pm.

14470419_10153996801100773_3168013211352773176_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


After checking in and getting our key it was off to registration where we encountered this beauty

14390871_10153996805545773_220223840476211351_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr
14390768_10153997143090773_6630894368609593365_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


No, it's not a real one; well not quite. It is an actual rally car, just done up in period Rothmans livery. Looked and sounded great.


The Empire Hill Climb attracts quite a bit of vintage kit as indicated by this Mercedes 190 E 2.3-16 Cosworth in the hotel. Yes, those are BRAID wheels too.

14457334_10153997144625773_53461698358570873_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


and this 72 911 with 3.2 engine. An actual rally car.

14484822_10153998707850773_5489386153679671105_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


There were plenty of other interesting vehicles running including a vintage Lola and a Toyota Starlet with a Sadev transmission! Yes, the Starlet won overall!


14440945_10153998734735773_5513267077937877283_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

team illuminata

We are taking the car to the Lake Superior Performance Rally next weekend. It's not in the rally nor is it a course car but it has been invited my members of the Historic Rally Group to display the car with theirs and also to perform a few parade stages for the benefit of the spectators and maybe some lucky passengers. We will be spending three days in the company of two Audi qauutros, A Rothmans Escort and possibly a Lancia Delta Integrale.

So of course that meant "UPGRADES". Well, some little tweaks anyway.


First we added a small decal to the rear. The car is officially the "Carrera RX" now.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

Carrera RX front Silhouette by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Then we fixed the door opener strap that fell off a few weeks ago when a small circlip let go. We went with a small screw and nylock nut this time.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


We changed the transaxle fluid. We have been hearing stories of GL5 oils disloving the brass synchros of older cars so wanted to address that. Miller's assures us this stuff won't and we have been very impressed with their engine oil so far so thought we'd try it out. The old (not so old) oil will be sent away for anaysis.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Finally we bolted back on our modified front skid plate we received from Thompson Racing Fabrication. We were never fully satisfied with the original iteration though it worked fine. We tested it out on our trailer once. We just thought it need dressing up a bit. Looking over pictures of factory cars from back in the day it soon became clear what was needed: reinforcing ribs running the entire length.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


The welds are pure art!

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


We are also hoping to get these door pockets on as we don;t have anywhere to keep our knick-Knacks in the car.

pockets by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Finally, we thought you might be interested to see our next project. It's a UR Quattro Rally Build. A bit like this only we are doing a full restoration and rally shell to base the project on. You can find out more here.

team illuminata

This past weekend, along with a few friends we were invited up to show off our historic rally cars at the Lake Superior Performance Rally (previously Press On Regardless) on the beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.That's Peninsula Squared! From the display in the spectator guide it looks like the were expecting us.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

It's quite a long tow for us from all the way down state so we broke the trip into two sections which allowed us to meet up with the two quattros in Newberry on Wednesday evening and trundle the rest of the way to Houghton Thursday morning.

Plenty of rest stops and email checking on the way up. Work never stops.

14702229_10154046589985773_5844510491358958746_n (1) by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Obligatory photo crossing the Mackinac Bridge. Windy and wet.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Here we are pulling out of Newberry. Even colder and wetter now. (33F)

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


From the road it appeared we were going to hit peak leaf peeping season.


image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


All arrived safely at race HQ hotel.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


As it was only around noon we had lunch and went for a drive up the Keweenaw Peninsula. But first an obligatory stop at a parts store for some running repairs. Apparently a quattro tradition this time of year.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Once we fixed the 84's errant turn signal we found some winding roads to open up the cars a bit.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FTCKpmfBEXw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Then a rest by Lake Superior.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


before heading up Brockway Mountain where the other quattro promptly overheated due to a melted fuse holder. After lunch we headed back to Houghton as we'd been asked to park the cars outside the SAE Rally Forum at Michigan Technology University where they caused quite a scene.

Photo by Tim Maskus


The next day was the start of the rally so we were up bright and early to stage the cars at the entrance to Parc Expose, basically a car show before the event. Our number was swelled by the addition of a MK2 Ford Escort and Saab 96.

14720358_1302961056416062_8584377533190844013_n Photo by Tim Maskus

Spotted this in Parc Expose.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Once the event was underway we packed up and moved Historic Rally Cars HQ an hour south to Baraga to be closer to the action. Once back in our trusty (or not) cars we shot over to the first service in Sidnaw where a few spots had been set aside for us to pose. Fortunately thre weather had improved tremendously by this time.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


We were thankful to get an early night after all the driving the last few days. Even more thankful when the bar bill arrived as our hotel was owned by the local tribe so, seemingly no federal alcohol tax! It was just a short jaunt over to L'Anse in the morning to exhibit the cars once again at the parc expose and hang out with rally people once more. It was a great venue being right on the water and the cars were as popular as ever.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Our next engagement was to run the spectator stage in downtown Houghton but before we could get there we needed lunch, and to visit another parts store. This time the Escort needed a new battery.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Here's a video of our exhibition runs through Houghton by Ben Newburn. The stage was a great way to end the rally and very popular with the spectators.


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<script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>

and here's one very happy future rally rally driver.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


On the way to dinner the Escorts transmission decided to end it's relationship with its engine so we had to stop again. Fortunately there were enough tools and bolts to effect repairs and, as a bonus, were were in a great spot to experience the sunset.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr



Another cheap night in the bar capped of a great few days hanging out with car friends and showing off the cars. The CarreraRX never missed a beat and only required the attentions of a gas station while the, oh, never mind..........

If you get chance you really should attend this event; it possibly the best rally in the country. Thanks to Tim Maskus for making this all possible.

team illuminata

Our car has been sidelined by our 85 UR quattro that recently came back to life after a 2 year engine refurbishment. With winter looming we have been driving that every chance we have gotten, as you can imagine. However we did register for the Detroit SCCA RallyCross on December 3rd which, by happy coincidence is where Ryan Symancek of /DRIVE filmed most of this last year. Enjoy.


<iframe width="840" height="472" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wSZLJDqGZPg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

team illuminata

We put the winter tires on a couple of weeks ago:

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Not because it was snowing but because we entered a local Rallycross.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


and the conditions were cold and wet. Not great for proper rally tires.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


We still slid about quite a bit

ScottBanes2 by Scott Banes

ScottBanes1 by Scott Banes


Video:


<iframe width="840" height="472" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/isgkskSCt-M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


In car video:


<iframe width="840" height="472" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CErVHkBJyNQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


We didn't hit any cones all day and finished a respectable fifth in class. Not bad considering we haven't driven in anger for six months. When we finished the car was very dirty:

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

Safari911

Looks like you've built yourself a great car. Thanks for keeping this thread going throughout the process!

team illuminata

Thanks. To be honest I feel Porsche built a great car. I just removed some of it and put some stickers and wheels on it but I appreciate the sentiment.

So who is Safari911?

Safari911

I'm getting ready to build a replica of the 78 East African Safari car. I just picked up an 84 SC with a built 3.2 as the base.

https://porschenewsroom.s3.amazonaws...al_720x1_5.jpg

team illuminata

Splendid!

team illuminata

Last weekend was our annual pilgramage up north to the Sno*Drift Rally. As usual we had a vendor booth and used the Carrera RX in our display and to go spectate. However, before we set off we had some winter prep to take care of. Our 911 does not get very warm in the winter, the inside does but the oil does not. We rarely see it rise above 160F so we took Tuthill's advice and replaced the Miller's 10W50 race oil with their 5W40 race oil. Tuthill runs an ice driving school in Scandinavia during the winter and swears by this stuff.


image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr



We also shielded the engine oil cooler with cardboard to retain some heat. We have found this to give us around 10-20 degress more oil temperature.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Then we were off.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


No snow on the ground and temperatures in the 40s but we were assured that 4 hours north of us it would be below freezing and snowing. Good, as conditions up there had been quite warm and melted the snow pack they had built up already on the stage road turning them into ice rinks. A good snow covering would help all the competitors out. We were not too disappointed but even more snow would have been welcome.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


We unloaded the car and retired to how rental house to catch up with friends. We spent the next two days camped out in our display and driving between stages enjoying the rear wheel drive traction from the Nokian R2 winter tires. At one stage we thought we would need help after parking on an ice covered steep hill but the care just pushed its self out to the amazement of all around. We even manage to recruit a new fan and future rally champion.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

by EVAN SANDERS


When we returned home we were happy to find a magazine from Norway in our mail box with a story about our car in it. Thanks BIL. Anyone speak Norwegian?

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

team illuminata

We were honored to have our 911 Carrera RX invited to the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn last week. It was displayed in the atrium outside a meeting hall in some very distinguished company. First we had to bring it home

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/, on Flickr

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/, on Flickr

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/, on Flickr

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/, on Flickr


Some Porsche/Audi love

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/, on Flickr


Next day we took the winter tires off and mounted the summer BFG Rivals in readiness for our next adventure in New Jersey. Stay tuned.

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/, on Flickr