Portland, OREGON -- The hardworking crew at Primitive racing have been doing dual duty since the hard-won finish at the Rim of the World in May. Richard Buckner has been assembling a "double hardened" gearset from Prodrive into one of the spare gearboxes for the venerable USX. This "Group N" kit will feature 4.44:1 gear ratios allowing quicker acceleration, but more importantly, more time spent in 3rd gear, thereby reducing the stress on a finicky 2nd gear. The conversion has required several custom parts to be manufactured (thrust washers) since the Legacy Turbo box is not the same as an STi version.

Meanwhile, other Primitive crew members have been making progress on the team's new 2002 WRX rally car. The Group N style roll cage is in place and suspension from DMS is ready to go underneath. Skidplates, HID lighting systems and other rally prep are underway. "We have stretched ourselves a bit thin trying to prepare 2 rally cars, but feel that having the additional car will give us some flexibility on which events we can make in the future," says owner/driver Paul Eklund.

The Primitive service van also received some TLC with the addition of a side window, CB, new stereo, attic space, and spare tire carrier. Co-driver Scott Huhn is especially proud of the newly installed searchlight.

The team is looking forward to competing in the Ojibwe Forest Rally on August 17th in Bemidji, MN. The USX rallycar will be brought out to Morrie's Subaru in Minnetonka two weeks prior to the event and will be on display until the start of the race. There will be a special open house at the dealership on Wednesday August 15th at 6pm. Everyone interested in rally (and nice cars) is invited.

The new, Primitive WRX is scheduled to make it's debut at the Wild West Rally in September. The team finished 5th overall there last year.

After Wild West, nearly half of the Primitive Racing team will take off to Africa for a month. The rumor is not that driver Paul Eklund will be scouting the roads used in the African Safari Rally, but rather will be climbing the legendary Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,300 ft) and spending some time on photo safari. The team will visit Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe returning just prior to the Prescott Forest Rally.

Before these events, Eklund will be competing in the WRX Challenge at the SCCA National Tour event in Bremerton, WA (7/28-7/29). The NT features a special challenge between WRX drivers in G-Stock class. Paul hopes to brush up on his autocrossing skills prior to that weekend. His yellow WRX street car will feature BFG Comp T/A tires, K&N airfilter and adjustable struts, but is otherwise stock.

The National Tour will attract about 250 autocrossers from across the region for a 2-day time trial event. Many will go on to the Solo II Finals in Topeka, Kansas in mid-September.

For more information on Primitive or the SCCA ProRally Series please visit:

www.get-primitive.com
Or simply email: PaulEklund@aol.com

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