MaxAttack! IS for you...so run the series

I figured that this deserved its own thread.

This is how I would rally, if I still did.

I would put a priority on doing at least the MaxAttack! series. The event to event timing is great, the events are great, the chance at payback is great, and the competition is now very good and going to become incredible. The towing is a bit tough, we know, but It does a good job of reaching around the country. It is a national series.

This series is for you guys. It's time to start pitching it to your potential or existing sponsors. Your team IS valuable. As Burmeister said, the onus is on YOU the competitors to step up your game. Get a website, update it, put out press releases, get to know a few local folks in the press. Rekindle you business contacts, let them know what you are up to. They aren't going to unlock the safe for you but create awareness. That is exactly what we are doing with MaxAttack! and its working.

There has been this mentality that 2wd teams have no worth. That is completely wrong. When I sat at the McGregor road spectator point the MaxAttack cars all got big cheers. You guys are what you make of yourselves.



This
> is at odds with a competitor whose intent is to
> run the whole series (either RA or USRC), and
> needs to get the car through each and every event
> without undo damage (unless you're independently
> wealthy or are like the Subaru Factory Team with
> five backup cars).

Each team needs to figure out how they want to rally. For a long time there hasn't been a choice. Budgets are tight and teams running the national series need save the car, the crew, the tow rig, and their ability to feel like they are living their life in a sustainable way.

MaxAttack! presents a different choice. It's consumes less of your life, pocketbook, tow rig, and crew. It's a completely different mindset. This series was designed to work for people who have families or other hobbies or just plain don't want to live in their tow rig and garage 24-7. It also rewards teams by creating a competitive field and paying out lotsa cash.


>
> I think right now it's possible to win MaxAttack
> with only a moderately well-prepped car driving at
> 88-90%, but if this catches on, the ante is going
> to steadily increase.

It has caught on. The second we put out our press release things began to explode. People are building cars right now that won't be seen for a bit but things are definitely moving.

At least four of the top six
> finishers in MaxAttack were National contenders
> who just entered MaxAttack on a lark, and their
> real goal was to make it through the whole
> season.

Top six were Havas, Sarasin, Burmeister, Hoche-Mong, Burens, and Sans. Out of those 6 I suspect that Hoche-Mong and Sarasin were the only ones doing the RA Series


>
> I'm predicting that one of three things will
> happen:
>
> 1) MaxAttack will catch on and become the biggest
> 2WD Rally Championship the US has seen since the
> late 70s. In this case, you will see people
> prepping really high-end cars with tweaked turboed
> motors and dogboxes and uber suspensions and big
> tire budgets. The sponsorship money will go up and
> that will cause the ante to go up, so we'll see
> extremely good drivers in extremely well-prepared
> cars, driving at 92-95% of the Open Class cars,
> and even beating them if the circumstances are
> right.

We intend to build this thing. The bar will definitely be raised. There already are SRT4s and Lurch's beast. Soon my RX-7 will be a beast and will be in the hands of driver who pedals it like Buress. The cars are on their way and by LSPR there is going to be some serious iron entered in MaxAttack! Heck, WV is going to be a dirt flingin' party.

The 2wd talent is already there. More car prep will make a difference. Here in the central Dave Cizmas put 4 stages in at Ojibwe 04 at 90%. On Delaware Mine in 05 we drove at 93% of the stage winning car. All over the country there are drivers who can do this. In a car that is built according to the criteria that we already discussed in "What kind of cars" a talented driver will have a good chance at getting into the money.


>
> 2) MaxAttack will become big, but will expand to
> include more events. In this case, we'll see the
> same high-end cars, but the driving speeds will go
> down to 89-91% as teams start thinking about
> "saving the car".




>
> 3) MaxAttack will continue to be an auxiliary to
> the regular series, and we'll continue to have
> troubles getting coverage of 2WD, which means
> fewer sponsorship dollars

Don't fence us in. This mindset has been like a plague on 2wd. We all have a lot to offer. As MaxAttack! continues to move forward things will only improve.

, and it will be the
> teams with moderately-prepared cars who don't have
> anything to lose by driving the living snot out of
> them who will win. In this case, we'll see the
> majority of competitors driving at the 88-90%
> level, with a few "one-shot" teams driving at at
> 89-91%.

Yeah Baby pound that thing like you hate it!!!!!!!!!
>
> As for me, I said right up front that I wasn't
> going to be going all out for the MaxAttack. I was
> definitely "driving to save the car", and braking
> early for turns and not pressing overly hard. I'm
> sure this annoys Jake and would put JVL to sleep
> if he saw a video of it,

You looked great where I saw you. You were smooooooooth. It was a race to survival and your were rewarded pretty good for saving the car.

but that's our season
> game plan and my co-driver has instructions to wop
> me upside the head if I deviate from it and start
> pressing too hard. There's a weird Catch-22 I
> hadn't anticipated though -

That's a good thing to do. You will get even faster as you work on being smooth. I wouldn't change much of anything about your approach. You can always drive "dumber" but you are smart enough to know the keys to speed and good things will continue to happen.

apparently I'm boring
> to watch on stage, which means I don't get much
> media coverage, which makes it hard to get
> sponsors.
>
> You are a 2wd racer. That's where the lack of exposure comes in. That's why we formed MaxAttack!
>
>
>
>

hmmm....

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
Spitfire EFI | Product Apparel | JVAB Imports | NLS | AP Tuning | USRT

Add us on Facebook | Next Event: 2013 Olympus Rally June 22-23 Olympia, WA

I'm in, see you at Rally West Virginia...

Oscar

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

I'm in, too. We've thought long and hard about this, and as funny as it is, we had decided to mothball the car right before Maxattack was announced. We have now decided to rework the car, consisting of a full cage removal and up to date reinstall. Our first event will unfortunately not be be until next OT, but that will give me plenty of time to get everything updated. Thanks again to those of you that made this possible!

Cable

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Cable Rhodes
Boise, Idaho
'87 Mazda RX-7 Turbo

cablerhodes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm in, too. We've thought long and hard about
> this, and as funny as it is, we had decided to
> mothball the car right before Maxattack was
> announced. We have now decided to rework the car,
> consisting of a full cage removal and up to date
> reinstall. Our first event will unfortunately not
> be be until next OT, but that will give me plenty
> of time to get everything updated. Thanks again to
> those of you that made this possible!
>
> Cable
>
> <br /><br
> /&gt;<br />

Good to hear guys. This series is built for regular folks who want some serious competition. It's already something special and its growing. You guys would be surprised if I could tell you all my secrets.

Tom: I know you have the competitive spirit in you to will your way to WV. Go to everyone in your network and let them know you kick butt. Tell them you think you could whip any team out there and that you guys are crowd favorites. Those WV roads are like the ones you drive already except there is more oxygen for your motor.

Turoc: Sweet

Cable: Sounds like you are taking the right approach. Dave Cizmas told me the exact same story last night. He's taking his time to make sure that the car is 100% when he gets out there. I suppose you know that those turbo rotaries can make sick power right? Heh Heh. Throw some dirt buddy.

I saw that the Burress bros. have a pretty nice team website. The Himes bros. are working on theirs, and subsequent rally plans. We decided that we need to market our team because we don't have enough ching layin' 'round to barely buy enough pasty to keep our families fed.

Tom,

Check this out. http://www.gti16v.com/tpcc.htm

Give em a ring and see if they have some guys who can help you get out there.

In fact, I'd be pimpin on vwvortex.com or something to see if there are folks along your route out there that can put you up for the night so you can save on hotels.

look all over http://www.gti16v.com/ for resources, too.

maybe you can get a vw shop or club to help with expenses. Funny thing about VW owners. They are usually pretty fanatical.

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Lurch
Eric Burmeister
The west coast...of Michigan

I'm planning to be in for RWVa and LSPR. Max-attack was the only reason I could justify bending over and paying the national license fee for Rally America....