My history with our 900

     Until a few years ago I knew nothing about cars.  Then one day I watched an episode of a British car show called Top Gear.  At first I only watched it because I thought it was very entertaining, but then my interest in the cars that they had on the show began to grow.  Now because of Top Gear I know quite a bit about cars.  It must be said that the cars I do know about are mainly super-cars and that I still don't really know much about the inner workings of any car.

       Around the same time that I started to watch Top Gear my brother Pascal started to race in Rally-x and Hill climbs.  I started to learn more about rally racing because of Pascal.  Since he introduced it to me my enjoyment and knowledge of it has only grown.  One thing that made me really start to get interested in rally racing was when Pascal took me to the New England Forest Rally.  At first I wasn't very exited about going, but after the first day of spectating I couldn't wait for more.      

      About a year ago my brother came to me and asked if I would like to buy a Saab 900 SPG with him.  My fist reaction was no, because I was only 14 and would have to wait two more years before I would be able to drive it.  Pascal then explained to me that it would be a car that we could use for racing and also that it didn't run and would need a lot of work.  Reluctant at first but with ever growing enthusiasm I agreed to pay for a portion of the car and to help work on it. 

      After we bought it we had it towed to where my brother worked.  For the first few months we didn't work on the car, because it was winter and we didn't have a garage to work in.  We decided to wait until summer to work on the car.  Just before summer we found out that our house had been sold and that we would be moving.  We also found out that our new house would have a two car garage that we could use to work in.  So we delayed working on the car until we moved, thinking that it would be best to wait  until we could permanently set up shop in our new house.  By the time we moved into the new house it was nearly September and me and Pascal both had to go back to school.  When Pascal came back for winter vacation we started to work on the car.  At first it was just Pascal who worked.  Slowly I began to work as well, and by the end of winter vacation we had stripped most of the car.  

After Pascal left for school I tried to put in a few hours each week on things that he had left for me to do.  Now with time running out he's been coming home every weekend so that we can get more work done.  So far we've made some good progress and will hopefully complete it before the first event of the season.  

Course de côte SPG

I am excited to say that work on a new car for 2011 is currently well underway, and with the first event of the season fast approaching, the pressure is on.

This project started about a year ago when my younger brother and I purchased the car, a 1985 900 SPG. It was in a pretty sorry state when we got our hands on it, but we were attracted to it for several reasons. First, the shell lacked a lot of the typical rust so often found on New England cars. Second, the interior was gone, except for the dash. Since the interior would have been removed anyway, it was convenient, and helped lower the price. Finally, the suspension was in good shape and included Koni adjustable shocks and Swedish Dynamics springs that should be well suited for hillclimb.

The first step was to pull the engine and suspension off the car so everything could be cleaned, refurbished or replaced. This was also a good time to box the A-arms for added strength, and despite being in good condition, select bushings will also be changed. We did find three areas of rust that had been hidden. Those areas were cut out and new metal was welded in. Of course, we also had to remove the interior sound deadening material. This was done the old fashioned way, with a hammer and chisel, and I have to say it was a miserable job. While the shell is bare, the engine bay, wheel wells and interior will be getting a coat or two of white paint. Unfortunately, we will be forced to wait for warmer weather before we can start spraying.

After removing the engine and transmission we found that they had previously been replaced with an 86' unit. We decided to send the transmission to Charles River Saab where Peter Maitland and Mike Clancy are rebuilding it. We also made the decision to use a 92' Turbo engine, instead of the old 86' unit. With the new engine having over 200,000 miles, it seamed like a good idea to pull things apart to see what was what. Luckily these engines are very robust, and not much was needed. The factory cross-hatching was still present on the cylinder walls, and the oil pump surfaces looked brand new! After cleaning the block it got painted a nice cream color, a new timing chain was installed, and everything was re-assembled with new gaskets and seals.

Currently, the engine is 95% assembled and will be ready to go in the car once the transmission is finished. The front suspension components are also ready to go back on the car. The most recent progress has been on the cars roll cage. More on that, and other details later.

The full album of build pictures can be found at my picasa account.

A Brief History

My interest in rallying was spiked soon after receiving my license, when I participated in a scavenger hunt based road rally that was organized by Charles River Saab as a part of Swedish Car Day. I ended the day with a solid last place finish after taking a wrong turn as I tried to navigate my way back to Watertown from Fenway

Park. Despite my poor performance, I was eager to start rallying.

After some research I decided that the best place to start would be with the SCCA RallyX program. RallyX are timed events, run through a course designated by cones laid out on an open grass or gravel lot. It only took me one event to get hooked after taking a second place finish in stock front wheel drive class driving a 1991 900S. I ended the 2007 season in second place in the SF class. After competing in a second full season of RallyX I got my first taste of driving on a track when I took my mothers 9000 Aero to an instructional day hosted by SCDA at New Hampshire International Speedway. While I had enjoyed RallyX very much, blasting around a track at speed was something I needed more of.

It was at this point that I stumbled upon the New England Hillclimb Associations web page. (www.hillclimb.org) After reading through the rules I found that they allowed cars with minimal safety prep to run as long as you drove above a certain "break out" time. Great! So I signed up for an event after installing the required fire extinguisher in a stock 1992 900 Turbo and drove to Vermont's Burke Mt. After attending a mandatory rookies meeting and taking a drive up the course I was both a bit nervous, but very excited. The fully paved road twists up the mountain and is lined by rocks, trees and some stunning views. In short, every run up the course would be like a rally special stage!

At the start of the event competitors take a familiarization run up the course as a group. These runs are taken at a brisk pace, although not at full race speed. I had tried to hang towards the back of the group when lining up in order to not slow any of the faster cars. Despite my efforts, after passing the start line and putting my foot down, I looked in my rearview only to see a V8 powered, open wheel monster, coming up behind me. The look of this car behind me was intimidating to say the least. Combine that with the excitement of driving up the course and it leaves, me, at the top of a mountain, filled with adrenaline and ready for more. Over the rest of that weekend I drove consistently faster with every run and ended the event with a respectable time. I went on to drive the rest of the seasons events, enjoying every minute of it.

I returned in the 2010 season where I continued to improve my times while driving the same 900 Turbo. I was even faster at hills where in the previous year I had been driving a faster 9000 Aero with superior tires. Unfortunately, my 2010 season was cut one event short when my downpipe broke at the turbo flange, blasting everything on the right side of the engine bay with intense heat. Many plastic pieces were destroyed, including part of the wiring harness. Fortunately, all the damage was later repaired and the car is now fine.

The highlight of the 2010 season was competing in the New England Forest Rally as a co-driver. My original goal when I got into this was to compete in stage rally as a driver, and I was only a few feet from that position! It was very exciting to be competing at the top level of U.S. rallying alongside drivers like Travis Pastrana, Ramana Lagemann and Ken Block. I would be sitting next to Kevin Hans in the naturally aspirated Audi 4000 that he had secured to use for the event. I met Kevin for the first time just two days before the rally. Luckily we got to spend one full day getting to know each other as we participated in "recce", where we drove through the rallies stages while going over the stage notes. It took me several stages to familiarize myself with all of the symbols that are found within the provided stage notes, but I eventually got the hang of it.

After spending the next morning in "parc expose", where all the cars are parked and competitors mingle with fans, we set off on the first of two super special stages. These stages are very short and are designed with the fans in mind. Despite the short nature of these first stages I could tell I was in for a treat with Kevin at the wheel. Being a Team O'Neil rally school instructor, Kevin knows his way around a rally car. Despite our underpowered Audi he managed to post some impressive stage times on the first day as we moved up through the field of 65 cars. Unfortunately, the second day was cut short for us. During the days third stage the car began suffering from a failing fuel pump, the loss of power forced us to a crawl and we had to pull off the road as it became unsafe for cars coming hurdling up behind us at full speed. Despite this, I had enjoyed the experience, and will hopefully have a chance to compete with Kevin again.

Well, that was not so brief, but should give an idea of what I've been doing leading up to 2011. This season is shaping up to be very exciting, with a new car being prepped for competition, and some exciting events on the calender. Updates about these things will be coming soon!