News from Team Jardevall

2008 - Photos & Results from 2008
• Sep 2008 - Rally ColoradoL Another Top 5
• May 2008 - Podium Finish at Oregon Trail!
• Apr 2008 - Olympus Rally nets a Top Ten for Team Jardevall

Rally Colorado: Another Top Five Finish

Rally Colorado was kind to Team Jardevall this year, resulting in a fourth place finish for the only Mitsubishi team in the event. Driver Carl Jardevall reported no major issues on the two-day rally held in the Rocky Mountain foothills west of Steamboat Springs. Jardevall and co-driver Chrissy Beavis finished about seven and a half minutes behind the winner, Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana. They also took third place in the Open Class.

“We did have some problems to overcome,” reported Jardevall, “but we were able to keep the car on the road. Since the car ran a bit hot at Oregon Trail, we had the engine computer re-mapped, and added in that this event ran at higher altitudes. The result was that we only had about half the boost pressure, and the car occasionally stalled in tight corners.”

Tire choice was another factor that may have cost time to other competitors. “I selected a medium compound Hankook rally tire, but probably should have used a soft compound.” A flat tire on one stage dropped the team a little farther behind the leaders.

Jardevall and Beavis were most competitive with eventual third place finishers Laughlin O’Sullivan and Scott Crouch, swapping stage times back and forth. O’Sullivan, who used to drive for Team Mitsubishi in the U.S., has been absent from the rally circuit for a few years, but was entered in Rally Colorado with a Subaru in the Production GT category. In the end, O’Sullivan and Crouch finished 52 seconds ahead of Team Jardevall, and captured first place in PGT.

Jardevall had this to say about his co-driver for Rally Colorado: “Chrissy is an extremely talented navigator. I was also impressed that she wasn’t afraid to pick up a wrench and get involved with repairs.” This was the first time that Beavis had co-driven with Jardevall.

There was an addition to the service crew at Rally Colorado as well, Carl’s 17-year-old son, Alex. “Alex used to travel to many rallies with me when he was about 10,” said Jardevall. “He has been more into basketball in recent years, but it was nice to have him along as part of the service crew this weekend.”

Podium Finish at Oregon Trail!

Experience and attrition helped lift Team Jardevall to a third place finish at the Oregon Trail Rally. Driver Carl Jardevall and co-driver Amity Trowbridge finished just over eight minutes behind rally winner Travis Pastrana of Subaru Rally Team USA to share the champagne at the post-event festivities. Second place went to the privately funded Mitsubishi Evo 10 driven by Canadian Andrew Comrie-Picard (a.k.a. "A-C-P"). Only 15 teams out of 33 the that started the Oregon Trail National Rally were scored as finishers.

Weather in the coastal mountains between Portland and the Pacific where the Oregon Trail is held is usually cool, foggy and rainy, but this year saw temperatures in the 90s and dry, dusty roads in the mountains. Many teams, including Team Jardevall, came supplied with softer compound tires that work well in cool, damp conditions. As a result, many of those teams were struggling as their tires wore away more quickly than anticipated.

The Jardevall/Trowbridge Mitsubishi suffered some suspension damage after hitting a culvert on the Saturday morning Spectator Stage. The right rear was badly toed-out which affected the handling. The crew was able to procure used replacement parts from A-C-P's Mitsubishi team, and immediately replaced the lower control arm. The car ran that way all day without incident, but was still not quite right so the crew replaced the upper control arm before Sunday's stages. Despite the damage, Jardevall posted top ten stage times throughout the event. "Not bad for running with a bent axle," quipped Trowbridge.

In the meantime, many front running teams fell off the road attempting to push too hard on the tricky Oregon mountain roads. The roads are higher in the center to allow rain to run off quickly and the transition leaves many corners with an off-camber curve. Drivers carrying too much speed would find themselves off the edge of the road on the outside of a corner.

Jardevall, who had been conservative in his driving on Saturday due to the suspension issue, turned it up a bit on the final few stages and his stage times were more competitive with the remaining front runners. The win was 2007 Rally America champion Pastrana's first victory this season. A-C-P's second place finish gave him the Rally America points lead.

"Yesterday, Carl was saying 'I am too old for this'," said co-driver Trowbridge, "but his experience, wisdom, and steady perseverance paid off."

"When was the last time two Mitsubishis were on the podium together?" she added.

Olympus Rally nets another Top Ten for Team Jardevall

Photo © by Jim Culp, ProRallyPix.com Photo © by Matthew Poppoff, airpoppoff.com Literally on the edge.

More Photos & Results from 2008

Pomeroy, WA

The 2008 running of the Olympus Rally in Washington State was fast, much faster than most rallies in the U.S. After permits for the traditional twisty mountain roads in the Olympic peninsula were denied, organizers were forced to find a new location for the event. So they moved the rally to southeastern Washington, headquartered in the small town of Pomeroy. That meant entirely new roads, and entirely different conditions.

Team Jardevall started Olympus eighth on the road, based on past rally results. Shaking the rust off after many months away from the sport dropped the team's Mitusbishi Evo 8 to tenth place after the first stage, but driver Carl Jardevall quickly recovered his rally rhythm and the team placed as high as 6th overall on one stage. However, the high speeds of the new Olympus course were not favorable to the Mitsubishi.

"All of the front running cars were professionally prepared and most had the best performance parts for rallying," said Jardevall. "Our Evo 8 was built by me with help from the guys at the shop, and we upgrade as the budget allows. Even so, I think we were losing only one or two seconds a mile to the front runners. The engine mapping by Franz Diebold gave a lot of useable torque."

Jardevall also felt that his limited rally schedule worked against him.

"The front running rally teams are competing once or twice a month, and often practicing in between, so the drivers are more mentally alert and physically in shape than I am. And as much as I hate to admit it, they are all younger, so to be able to be competitive with them proves that I'm not ready to retire yet."

Team Jardevall co-driver Amity Trowbridge indicated that the reconnaisance of the stages prior to the event (known in rally circles as "recce") helped a lot.

"There were places where a turn came up after a crest and, though it was marked in the route book, knowing just how far or how much of a turn it was made us faster through those sections," said Trowbridge. "I think we also gave up a little in top speed to the front running teams. I saw 135 mph on one straight downhill section, while other teams said they hit 140 mph. That may seem insignificant, but it adds up over the many miles of a rally."

In the end, Team Jardevall finished in ninth position overall and in Open Class. They were a little over five minutes behind rally winner Ken Block, who drives for the Subaru team, and one-and-a-half minutes behind 8th place finisher Andrew Pinker in another Subaru.