News from Team Jardevall

2009 - Photos & Results from 2009
• Mar 2009 - Doo Wop Dominator
• May 2009 - Playing with the Big Boys in Oregon
• Sep 2009 - Winning Ways at Washington's Wild west

The Doo Wop Dominator

Photo © by Matthew Young Photos © by Jim Culp, ProRallyPix.com For more info on Lassa Tyres, click here.

More Photos & Results from 2009

Despite a mix of weather ranging from rain to snow to sunny skies, Carl Jardevall was clearly the dominant driver at the Doo Wop rallies, held in the mountains of Western Washington. Jardevall and co-driver Dave Shrenk won every stage on both events in their Mitsubishi Evo VIII except for the first one, a paved stage that was won by John Lane and Jason Grahn in a potent 2WD Volvo 262. According to Jardevall, some of the credit must go to a new tire he was using, made by Lassa in Turkey.

"I was very impressed with the performance of the Lassa Tyres," said Jardevall. "The first two stages were tarmac so we didn't try that hard, but they had good grip even at the cold temperatures. They held up very well, had good traction in a variety of conditions, and offered good takeoff from the starts. Since the roads were wet and slippery due to the rain and snow, I think the tires would have done even better had it been dry. We ran the whole weekend on pretty much the same set of tires. At a normal Doo Wop we probably would have gone through a couple sets, maybe more."

"The cold conditions may not have been the best for testing. Our car ran enormously well; I was very pleased with the way the car was performing. We spun a couple of times on the first stage, and the car stalled on the 3rd stage, but that was driver error. Sunday weather was gorgeous. As usual it was a great event. Overall we had a great weekend."

Finishing in second place on Saturday's Doo Wop I was the Subaru of Mark Mager and Miller Dumaoal, one minute and 19 seconds (1:19) behind Team Jardevall after the six stage event. Third place went to brothers Dave and Rick Hintz in another Subaru, an additional 23 seconds back.

Both of those teams repeated their performance for Sunday's Doo Wop II, with Mager/Dumaoal 2:10 behind the winning Mitsubishi, and Hintz/Hintz a full three minutes (3:00) in arrears after the rally's seven stages.

Unfortunately, the hard charging Team Jardevall Mitsubishi Evo suffered a bit of injury on the way to victory. "After I got the car home, we pulled the head because of a possible head gasket leak," said Jardevall. A slight re-mapping of the engine computer coupled with a new air intake system designed by Pete Van Bogart of Cascade Autosport allows the turbo to provide better boost. Fortunately, there was no major damage to the engine and it will all be back together shortly.

Jardevall will miss April's Olympus Rally due to a family visit to his native Sweden. Look for the bright red number 39 Mitsubishi to make its next appearance at the Oregon Trail Rally in May.

Video of Car #39 at chicane on SS1 by Jesh Steinbrugger

Playing with the Big Boys in Oregon

Photos © by Kyle Funsten Jason Grahn and Carl Jardevall

More Photos & Results from 2009

Team Jarevall's Mitsubishi Evo was one of twenty-four cars entered in the 2009 running of the Oregon Trail Rally, the fourth stop in the Rally America National Championship. There were a couple of big changes this year, one for the team, one for the event. Jason Grahn signed on as co-driver for Team Jardevall, and the rally headed east to the Hood River area for the first time.

"I spoke with Carl at a rally school in Northern California," said Grahn, "hoping I could fill in as his co-driver for Oregon. I had experience with other drivers, but wanted to run with Carl because of his reputation as a smooth driver."

As in past years, Oregon Trail opened with several spectator stages on a combined pavement and unpaved course at Portland International Raceway. The short paved sections are not Jardevall's favorite style of rallying, but Team Jardevall held 7th place overall at the end of Day One, 42 seconds behind leader Tanner Foust in a Mitsubishi Evo X, and only 1.2 seconds behind Dave Mirra in a Subaru WRX.

During Saturday's stages, Jardevall dropped as low as 8th overall, keeping Mirra in his sights the whole way.

"We had some communications issues early on," said Grahn. "It was really just a matter of different styles. Once Carl made some suggestions as to how he wanted to hear the instructions, I adjusted to suit him and we did better."

Jardevall and Grahn held a solid 7th place until the final stage on Sunday, when Mirra lost five minutes and a couple of positions, elevating the number 39 Misubishi to 6th place in the official results.

"The temperatures were quite hot in the area where most of the stages ran," said driver Jardevall. "We had some difficulty with the brakes getting hot and fading. Larger brakes are on my wish list, and we certainly could have used them this weekend.

"The Lassa tires seem to be more sensitive to tire pressure," continued Jardevall. "We didn't do a good job of monitoring the tire pressures on Saturday, and I think we might have done better if the pressures had been a little lower. Lassa also offers a slightly narrower tire that I would like to try some time."

Winning Ways at Washington's Wild West

Photos © by Matthew Young

Past performance on Northwest region rallies put the Mitsubishi Evo of Carl Jardevall and Jason Grahn first on the road, a position reserved for the fastest drivers. Jardevall made the most of it, winning both days of the Wild West Rally weekend, sanctioned by NASA Rally Sport. The event was based this year out of Pomeroy in eastern Washington.

Team Jardevall took the early lead, and went on to win seven of Saturday's nine stages. The other two were won by the team of Carl Decker and Adam Craig in a Subaru Impreza. Decker went on the finish second overall, a little over a minute behind Jardevall.

"Carl Decker and Adam Craig are both bicycle racers, so they have some experience with competition," said Grahn. "Decker seemed to have a good feel for reading the road."

Jardevall started Sunday in much the same way, but Decker did not make it easy to stay up front. Jardevall won only three of the day's six stages, with Decker taking two. Decker and Jardevall tied on Stage 4, a good 20 seconds ahead of the nearest competitors. In the end, Jardevall captured the first place trophy by only 14 seconds.

Co-driver Grahn kept rally fans up to date on their progress via Twitter.

Adam Craig chronicled his team's weekend on his blog.
http://adamcraig.net/blog.html.
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