News from Team Jardevall

2007 - Photos & Results from 2007
• 2007 Nov 12 - Top Ten finish at Laughlin International Rally
• 2007 Apr 23 - DNF after multiple problems at Oregon Trail
• 2007 Feb 26 - Double Victory at Doo-Wop Rallies
• 2007 Feb 1 - New car to debut at Doo-Wops

Top Ten Finish at Laughlin International Rally

On the start line for the Super Specials. The crew on the recce prior to the rally.

The Laughlin International Rally, the final leg of the U.S. Rally Championship, was mixed for Team Jardevall. Driver Carl Jardevall and Co-driver Amity Trowbridge were on their way to a top five finish in their Mitsubishi Evo 8, only to be crushed by tire failure late in the event that dropped them down in the standings. The three-day Laughlin International Rally runs through parts of southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona, including the Western Grand Canyon ancestral lands of the Hualapai Indian Nation.

“Dust was a big problem right from the beginning,” said Carl Jardevall. “There were places in small valleys and gullys where the dust would hang in the air and you couldn't see for more than a few feet.” The first few cars on the road did not have the dust problem, so were able to open up a substantial lead on the rest of the rally teams. At the end of Friday's stages, Team Jardevall held sixth place overall, five minutes behind the leaders, Todd and Ray Moberly in a Subaru.

Saturday started better, with Jardevall and Trowbridge setting the fastest time on stage seven, and taking back nearly a half minute to the field. That, combined with the retirement of George Plsek's Mitsubishi and slower times by Bill Holmes' Ford F-150, moved Team Jardevall up to fourth in the standings by the end of stage eight.

But a punctured tire near the beginning of the long stage nine cost the team nearly ten minutes. Rather than suffer further damage by driving on the flat (the fate that befell Plsek on the previous stage) Jardevall and Trowbridge opted to change the tire. “That particular section was very rough, more suited to off-road racing trucks with a lot of suspension,” said Jardevall. “It was not really a road, just a dry creek bed that someone had driven through. There were a lot of large rocks, and we managed to bump into one and tore out the sidewall of the tire.” The delay dropped them to seventh place.

Rally teams returned to Laughlin for a short Super Special stage under the lights in the Motorzone stadium, and Team Jardevall was equal fastest with the Moberlys and the Mitsubishi of Wolfgang Hoeck.

Sunday's stages were all in the Motorzone stadium, with Team Jardevall winning two of the four runs at the Super Special course and setting the fastest combined time for Sunday. But with only seconds between the front runners on the Super Specials, the final results did not change from the Saturday standings. Team Jardevall finished seventh overall, and fifth in the Open AWD class. They were 14.82 minutes behind the winning team of Todd and Ray Moberly.

DNF after multiple problems at Oregon Trail

Photo © by Jim Culp, ProRallyPix.com Photo © by Matthew Poppoff Photography

Though there were moments when the Team Jardevall Mitsubishi looked good, a list of problems kept them out of the top ten, and eventually ended their rally early. The ultimate failure was on Sunday when the oil filter was knocked loose and the engine lost oil pressure.

The rally began on Friday evening with several stages designed for spectating, all at the Portland International Raceway. "We had some unforseen mishaps," said team owner and driver, Carl Jardevall. "Friday was human error. We didn't have tarmac tires for the pavement stages and gave up several seconds a stage to the leaders. On one of the later stages there we missed part of the course and lost over a minute."

As a result, they started on Saturday in 31st place. "We started out well," said Jardevall, "but we hit one of the hay bales used to keep drivers from hooking the ditches. One of the earlier cars had bumped it onto the racing line and we hit it hard enough to damage the intercooler, which meant we had no boost to the turbocharger." The crew was able to make repairs at one of the service stops late in the day, but a flat tire on one of the late stages cost them more time.

After Saturday's rain, the sun appeared on Sunday and lifted the team's spirits in hopes of a decent finish.

"The roads on Sunday were very nice," said Jardevall. "Verdier and Gubbleman were not far ahead of us in the standings and if we had been able to maintain our pace I think we could have caught them."

But it was not to be. "Something smacked the oil filter and we lost oil pressure," Jardevall continued. "I kept going, but did not make it to the end of the stage."

It is not yet known if repairs can be completed in time for the next rally in the northwest, Olympus in June.

Commenting on the capabilities of his new car over the team's former Evo IV, Jardevall said, "The Evo 8 is so much nicer to drive. When you have momentum it pivots nicely around the corners. The only real modification so far is to the engine. The rest of the drivetrain is pretty much stock.

"We will be adding a different set of gears to the transmission. It's not quite a close-ratio set, but should help. It's not in the rally budget right now, but I think a dogbox transmission would make the car quite competitive."

Double Victory at Doo-Wop Rallies

Photos © by Jim Culp, ProRallyPix.com

The debut of the new Team Jardevall Mitsubishi Evo 8 could not have gone better. The rally duo of Carl Jardevall and Amity Trowbridge took the bright red Evo to victory twice at the annual Doo Wop Rallies in southwestern Washington. Heavy rain and slippery roads kept rally drivers on their toes throughout the weekend.

Due to deep snow in the higher altitudes, the first two stages on Doo Wop I were cancelled, leaving only the Tahola stage which was run three times. The only problems encountered by Team Jardevall were a reluctant rally odometer, traced to a poor connection, and some damage to the front spoiler on a dip in the road. Jardevall and Trowbridge were the only team to complete all three passes of the stage at under 10 minutes, for a total of 29:47. Second place went to Dave and Rick Hintz in their Subaru WRX with a total time of 30:31, a difference of 44 seconds.

Doo Wop II started with a paved stage run twice which put Paul Eklund and Jeff Price into the lead in their Subaru STi, and the Team Jardevall Evo 8 in 5th place, 21 seconds behind the leaders. Carl went on to win the next six stages, erasing his deficit and taking a commanding lead by putting over a half minute on the rest of the cars in the field on stage 3. Despite the slippery conditions due to rain, Jardevall came within five seconds of the fastest time ever on the famous Brooklyn Tavern Stage, a record set by Carl in the Evo IV in 2004. When the times were added up, Carl and Amity were declared the victors once again, this time with a total of 52:29, two minutes and 9 seconds over the Hintz brothers’ Subaru. Eklund and Price were third with a cumulative time of 55:25, nearly three minutes behind Jardevall’s winning total.

Jardevall’s Evo 8 remains largely stock in the drivetrain, so there is more potential that could be gained by the addition of performance items such as a dogbox transmission. Carl also said that the brakes did not seem to grab as well as those on his Evo IV, so he is planning to investigate softer brake pads for more firm braking.

Doo Wop Rally web site

Team Jardevall's new rally car to debut at Doo-Wops.

Snorre Grunnan, owner of San Rafael Mistubishi and SRM Tuning, looks over the Team Jardevall car with Amy Bebervanzo, another Mitsubishi rally driver.

Franz Diebold uses a laptop computer to make adjustments to the Evo VIII.

The Team Jardevall Evo VIII on the dynamometer at SRM Tuning in San Rafael.

It took nearly a year to finish, but the Team Jardevall Mitsubishi Evo 8 is finally ready and should see its first rally action at the Doo Wop rallies in Washington state at the end of February. Team owner and driver Carl Jardevall did much of the construction of the new car himself as time and money permitted. The Evo 8 was purchased new from Snorre Grunnan's San Rafael Mitsubishi, which has also been instrumental in acquiring parts and with tuning the car.

Carl recently took the Evo 8 up to San Rafael Mitsubishi's performance shop, SRM Tuning, where it was mapped for optimum power on their dynamometer. Franz Diebold was flown in from out east to tweak the engine's computer. Amy Bebervanzo's Evo 8 rally car was also in the shop for similar work.

According to the figures produced on the dyno, the new Team Jardevall steed produces 372 ft. lbs. of torque, and puts out 270 hp at the wheels.

Team Jardevall has been competitive overall in NASA Rallysport and Rally America events, and in the SCCA ProRally Championship before that, beginning in 1989 with a Saab 99. Jardevall also drove for several years in Sweden before moving to the U.S. in 1985. From 2002 to 2005, Carl drove a Mitsubishi Evo IV, winning several regional rallies and finishing as high as third in the overall standings on national events. Team Jardevall won the Open Class at the 2005 Oregon Trail, finishing third overall behind former World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist and rising rally star (at the time) Travis Pastrana. From 1997 to 2001 he drove a potent Volvo 740 Turbo, and was competitive with the higher-powered all-wheel drive cars that now dominate the rally scene.

San Rafael Mitsubishi

In the market for an Evo 9? There are plenty available at San Rafael Mitsubishi.