Local rally driver, Mark Jennings-Bates will be sitting next to a new face in the co-drivers
seat at the Big White Winter Rally and Snow Cross presented by Valley Mitsubishi on
December 5th and 6th. That is because his regular co-driver, Jennifer Daly is the
organiser of this event, a first for Kelowna and Big White.
Partnering Jennings-Bates at this event will be John Hall, a very experienced co-driver
and Edmonton native. “John has a wealth of experience that should stand us in good
stead. Unusually, it will be a very level playing field for all competitors because these
stages have never been run before. Being a snow rally, it is likely to be very fast but
also technical, a small mistake can lead to an expensive repair bill” commented
Jennings-Bates.
Daly has spent the past several months working with local authorities and Big White
who have been very welcoming hosts to put together an event in the Western Canada
Rally Association calendar that will be the only true snow rally of the year.
While Jennings-Bates and his fellow competitors are competing on closed forest stage
roads which will have some access for spectator viewing, the general public can also
enter the annual Big White Snow Cross event which is a timed event on an open course
marked by cones and needs very little safety gear to compete in. “This type of an event
is a great feeder for the rally series” stated Jennings-Bates, adding “the public can really
see what it feels like to drive technical road conditions in their daily driver without fear of
harm to themselves or their car.”
Information about the event can be found at http://okanaganrally.wordpress.com/ where
spectators and potential competitors can access all of the necessary information.
Joining Jennings-Bates’s Prescribed Burn Rally Team again will be the Valley Mitsubishi
sponsored vehicle of Craig Ross a local competitor who will be entering this as his
second event after a strong finish in Merritt in October at Pacific Forest Rally. Fans can
see the action up close and personal at the Happy Valley parking area on the Saturday
and Sunday or in the forest stages on the Saturday.
On Sunday, Jennings-Bates will be displaying his car in the Village at Big White and
signing autographs and talking about his upcoming fund raising program and entry into
the 2011 Dakar Rally with Team Bowller Offroad and Rally4Life.


The Prescribed Burn Rally team is based in British Columbia's Okanagan valley. Driver
Mark Jennings-Bates and co-driver Jennifer Daly compete in an open class Subaru
WRX STi, supported by service chief Dave Hood and a team of local volunteers. For
2009 the Prescribed Burn Team will be running the entire Western Canadian Rally
series, as well as select Canadian National and Rally America events.

Overall Recap for NASA Time Trial Nationals 2009

Just to clarify for everyone, here's what happened at the NASA Nationals event at Miller Motorsports Park on September 16th, 2009...

Ksport had drivers from 3 Classes in 2 Groups representing us and our products at the event, and all 3 did very well. In the TTC Class, Brady Dohrmann in his BMW M3 from Mesa, Arizona put down a 2:11.348 Lap, securing 2nd Place for the weekend. Dohrmann was about 7/10ths of a second faster than a Lotus Elise, and almost 3.5 seconds faster than Scion tC. Ian Stewart, in his Mini Cooper S managed to outdo Brady by a slim half-second. Another Arizona driver, Tage Evanson, managed to work his 1995 Honda Civic around Miller in a scant 2:03.031, beating out a slew of Rear-wheel and All-wheel driven vehicles. Evos, STis, 2 Corvettes, an RX7, BMW, and a Porsche all fell prey to Casper, the white EG Honda Civic. As the only Front Wheel Drive vehicle in sight, Evanson managed to impress every driver in his class, including the 2 Corvettes that managed to escape his wrath. Kenneth Smith and Geffrey Sawtelle ran their 'vettes around Miller .038 and .533 faster than Tage, respectively. Oh, and by the way- Tage is VERY close to beating Chris Rados FWD Lap Record at Buttonwillow. If he does it, he'll be the fastest Front Wheel Drive to ever hit that track. Very impressive for a guy who only does this part-time, without huge corporate sponsorships.

The star of the show however was Joe Ippolito of Cummings, Georgia. Joe has been rocking the Southeast Region in NASA and other events with his 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R for the past few years now, and this year was an awesome one for Joe and his team. Of the 7 tracks in the Southeast Region, Joe holds 3 track records for his class. Now, to some, that in itself may not be that impressive. Take into account the fact that Joe is still running a Normally Aspirated 4 Cylinder QR25DE engine in a sedan with basic bolt-ons and street suspension, and things start to come hurtling into perspective rather quickly. Almost as quickly as his Miller Motorsports Park lap time, which for the record was 2:17.990. That's 2.22 seconds faster than his nearest opponent! That's the biggest gap between a 1st and 2nd place in ALL of Group G for the 2009 Nationals!

Ok, so I mentioned that Joe is still on street suspension, right? He and Tage are both running Ksport Kontrol Pro coilovers with custom spring rates. Anybody could order the EXACT same setup. No custom valving, no high-end inverted shocks or remote reservoirs. Keep that in mind when you think about the track on your Kontrol Pros!

If you're interested in custom spring rates for your Ksport Damper System, please call us at 480 829 8100, or email info@ksportusa.com to find out more!

Bugatti Veyron into a lake

I'm sure by now, everyone's seen or at least heard of that guy in Texas who drove his Bugatti Veyron into a salt marsh. Well, here's a video that some guys got off the actual crash. What're the odds of that?

I laughed at the "I'm pretty sure that's a Lambo" comment, especially since the dude had JUST said "That'll be mine some day." Looks like he's looking to spend an exhorbinant amount of cash on an unknown car.

Video!

Jason Jiovani update

We've just received a couple of videos from one of our sponsored drivers, Jason Jiovani.

Here's a montage of Jason and some other drivers, at various events.

Nexen Tires - Bliss Frenzy from Jason Jiovani on Vimeo.

And, here's a shorter video of Jason in Aruba for his first international competition. I'm diggin' the 360's in this one!

Drifting Aruba with Jason Jiovani from Jason Jiovani on Vimeo.

Home Depot Lip?

Have you guys seen that crazy trend, the "Home Depot Lip?" For those who haven't, it's literally a piece of plastic from the gardening section at your local hardware store, and some self-tapping screws. It's that plastic you see separating gravel/wood chips/sand/etc from the grass...

Well, now all the people who love it have even more reason to. It's been used on the "Natty Dread" Porsche 993 built by Nakai-san of Rauh Welt. Rauh Welt is a Japanese body shop located in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo Japan.

Personally, the fact that this DIY lip is now going to be touted as the newest JDM mod kind of sickens me.

Oh well.

Joe Ippolito and his SE-R

One of the many great drivers we're proud to work with, Joe Ippolito, has done it again!

This time it's more than just track records, it's even bigger than a class record. Joe has gone home with the NASA National Championship Title! Ippolito and the SE-R made it around the Miller Outer Course in a mere 2:17.990, to grab the win at Nationals. Not only was Joe the fastest in TTE, but he was also faster than any car from the TTB, C, D, and TTF classes! When asked about how the weekend went, Joe had the following to say: "We beat out some much faster cars than ours and overcame a lot of protesting by the officials but we were always in spec. We even put down 179whp @ 5000ft. 5hp below our max for our car (hp v weight ratio). 2nd place was 2 seconds behind us, with our track record of 2.17.9. " Sounds like Joe had a good season!


Joe runs his 2002 Nissan Sentra Spec V in the NASA TTE Class. Starting with our basic Kontrol Pro kit, Joe and his mechanic Justin have swapped springs for a custom spring rate that allows them to keep the car planted. The man behind setup and tuing, Justin, is certain that Joe can keep him on his toes, "Joe pushes the car past the limits as it sits, he can probably push the limits of whatever I throw into the mix, and that just pushes the whole project forward." Joe and Justin definitely did a great job this season, setting track records at 3 of the 6 tracks in the Southeast Division of NASA Time Trials. By putting down scorching lap times (as fast as 1:26.98 at Carolina Motorsports Classic Full Course) and attending every possible event, Ippolito has secured himself the #1 Spot in his region, with a nearly 500 point lead over the 2nd place driver. We're working with Joe to get him some big brakes and RR Dampers for next season so keep your eyes on Joe, Justin, and the silver Spec V!

ILLTech Auto Salon Shop Profile in Performance Biz Mag

We just received the December issue of Performance Business and it looks like they've done a Shop Profile on our friends over at ILLTech Auto Salon. Check it out at Performance Business Magazine

Volkswagen Becomes #1 Car Maker; Toyota may be struggling

Just read over at the Autoblog that Volkswagen is now officially the Worlds Largest Car Manufacturer. VW and Porsche are one entity, so I guess we should say VW/Porsche is the largest car maker. VW/Porsche have sold a combined 4.4 Million Vehicles worldwide, where Toyota has only hit the 4 Million mark. Still not too shabby. Either way, looks like Toyota's struggling. First they cut production last year, then shut down their factories in February. A week ago today they completely pulled out of Formula 1. Now they've been passed up by VW for the #1 spot. Throw in the fact that they're having issues with their throttle-by-wire systems, and this isn't looking great for Toyota.

Creative Commons-esque Desert Romper!

Check out Jalopnik for the their full article on the new Rally Fighter, a desert truck designed and built by the Local Motors Community.

This is really cool. You even get to go help build your new ride after you purchase it!
The majority of parts are sourced through the big-name automakers. Honda Civic taillights, BMW powertrain, Miata door handles... It all comes together to make this bad little buggy type truck.

And for $50k, if it performs well off-road this could become a contender for the big desert rallies, like Baja and Dakar.

http://jalopnik.com/5398864/local-motors-rally-fighter-the-first+ever-creative-commons-car

http://local-motors.com/