La Malbaie, Quebec, CANADA -- Having worked feverishly to prepare car and tow vehicle after returning from the grueling trip out west to contest the Washington and Arizona ProRallies, Andrew Havas loaded up and departed for another solo tow 1200 miles north to Quebec. Contesting the FIA sanctioned Rallye International Charlevoix (RIC) has been a priority of this young rally team all season. The team chose to forgo the final round off the SCCA ProRally season having clinched 2nd in the Group 5 National Championship, in order to attend the more prestigious RIC. The extensive rally publicity, television coverage, and massive crowds in Quebec are a boon to the teams' efforts to garner recognition. Andrew's Orange Electric Mazda is already well known in Quebec after sixth and ninth overall finishes on the 1999 and 2000 Charlevoix rallies. The team has developed a loyal group of supporters who enjoy the spectacular sights and sounds of the team on course.

Having hastily rebuilt the van and rally car, all seemed well despite the late departure Friday night following the completion of the engine installation. Unfortunately for an already exhausted Andrew, the team's trusty but aging Ford van stripped the timing gears after 215,000 miles of dependable service. The trouble came at the worst possible time, 12:30am in the middle of Virginia, only 120 miles from home. At first contemplating defeat, the official motto of rally prevailed:

Press on Regardless!

After a towing service was finally located, Andrew had the disabled rig brought to a local auto parts supplier. Arriving at 3:00am, the seemingly endless mechanical repair commenced once again. In the blustery and frigid Virginia air Andrew disassembled the van as far as possible until the shop opened. At 8pm, the shivering traveler obtained the necessary parts to effect the repair of the timing components. Twelve hours later, the rig was rolling again!

Elation was short lived, however, after only 15 miles, the van started losing oil pressure. An astute, albeit weary Andrew caught the problem before terminal damage could occur. After limping into another parts store parking lot, a shell-shocked Andrew contemplated how to effect a repair. The oil pump pickup screen had obviously become clogged with debris from the timing gear failure.

Unable to remove the oil pan because of the van's frame configuration, the only choice was to cut the bottom of the pan out, clean the debris, then figure out how to patch it back up! After six more hours the pan was patched with aluminum, epoxy and sheet metal screws, and refilled with oil.

Sixteen hours after the initial problem, the Havspeed wagon train was back on the road, with only 1100 miles to go to Quebec! Despite not sleeping for thirty-four hours, Andrew soldiered on for another twenty-one hours straight, in order to arrive in time to start the reconaissance, or recce of the RIC.

After these contretemps, Andrew met up with one time "super-sub" Rod Hendricksen (Cherokee Trails ProRally) and Frank de Kat (co-pilot and service crew chief assembled for this years running of the RIC).

Since then, Rod and Andrew have successfully completed the recce and the car is tested and ready to go. Two runs through the practice stage revealed that changes made in the last-minute engine rebuild may have solved a front rotor misfire that has plagued the prototype Havspeed.com peripheral port rotary engine since it's build, before Cherokee Trails..

Based on this encouraging news, and simply having completed what may have seemed an impossible journey, the team are energized and eagerly anticipating the start of the 14th running of the Charlevoix Rallye!

Stay tuned for more news... Or visit the official rally website at: http://w ww.rallye-charlevoix.com

The new http://www.havspeed.com is coming soon. Be sure to check out the December issue of Sport Compact Car that features the Team Havspeed Mazda!

Team Havspeed is supported in part by Orange Auto Electric, Bosch, EarlsIndy.com, Panasport, DMS, and Mazda.

Andrew Havas
Havspeed International Racing
http://www.havspeed.com