23 June 2004

LIGHTENING DOES STRIKE TWICE

For the second time in as many years, the Arrow Mach 2 Racing team has suffered an engine failure in testing on the mountain.

The weather was again good to the Pikes Peak challengers on Wednesday with dawn breaking to clear blue skies. Because of the previous day’s weather problems at the summit, all challengers were assembled in the same group during the second day of testing. Starting from the Ski Area, the test would run to the summit, now accessible due to a thaw of the snow.

The first session of the day brought many red flags from its start at 5:30.

The Arrow Mach 2 Racing Ford RS200 Evolution started the stage as the final runner at 07:50. However at the 16 mile post, driver Stig Blomqvist realised that the car was suffering from a turbo problem and halted his run. The car was brought back to the team’s base at the Ski Area and the AM2R technicians immediately went to work on resolving the turbo problem. Team Manager also was in contact with Garrett Turbochargers in California for live consultation on the remedial action. The team was working to the 9AM deadline for the halt to testing as it was important that the AM2R RS200E completed another run on the upper part of the hill to gain comparative engine management data.

Despite Herculean efforts by the team’s technicians to change the turbo in less than 30 minutes, it was realised that the turbo failure had also caused serious damage to the engine.

Perhaps remembering the problems experienced by the team’s efforts in 2002, a replacement Mountune prepared engine had been prudently air freighted from the United Kingdom on Monday. The team are now fitting the new engine in an attempt to have the AM2R RS200E ready for qualifying on Thursday.

Team Manager Alan Greenwood, Arrow/Mach 2 Racing team manager, commented “It was like Groundhog Day at Pikes Peak for the team; after all the exasperation we experienced in 2002, we find ourselves almost back in the same position. However we learnt from the past and we are now in a much better position to react quickly to these type of problems. The Arrow/Mach 2 team are aiming for something very special on the hill this year and with our trying to extract the maximum performance from the RS200E, problems will inevitably occur during our quest for a very fast time”

-ends-

Last modified: July 21, 2009