Unfortunately, my trip to West Virginia was canceled, so the twitter experiment was unable to be performed at this time. I'll post updates on twitter when exciting things happen, however. Thanks for subscribing!

Our next outing is the Waterwerks VW show in Tacoma. Now, what would a rally team without a car be doing at a car show? Well, you'll just have to show up and find out! See you there!

I'll be co-driving for another team this weekend for Rally West Virginia (as early reconnaissance for our participation some day in the second round of Max-Attack). As a test for more future Demon Rally participation, I've signed up for Twitter and will attempt to broadcast updates for the team I'm working for out there. Just sign up to follow demonrally on Twitter (or watch via the web here) to see how the service might look for our team in the future!

Yes, it's been quiet around the Demon Rally camp, but changes are on the way! To help prepare for our return to stage rally next March, I've converted all the videos to flash files so that more people can watch them without downloading extra software. They're also all streaming videos that way, so you don't have to wait forever for a large file to download if you have a slow connection. Check them out and let us know what you think.

Also, we're still offering many of the parts for sale from the Rabbit. It is officially in small pieces now and headed to the scrapper. Feel free to pour an adult beverage out for our dead homie. Things are in the works for a new car, look for information about that soon. Also, merchandising (stickers an t-shirts) may become a real possibility if you're looking for a way to support the team. Stay tuned!

if you need parts for your rally rabbit, your rallycross rabbit, or your well-driven street rabbit, we may have the parts for you. check out our list of parts for sale below. of particular interest may be the collectible numbered doors! get them while you can! if you see a part you like, contact us to arrange payment and shipping/delivery.

updated 7-24-2008

2 Sparco 70" H-style five-point camlock racing harnesses SFI Build date 5/2004 $250/pr ($600pr new)
1 Sparco 70" H-style shoulder harness (ONLY) for cam-lock 3' belt sets SFI Build date 10/2003 $40
1 Terratrip Terraphone Professional Intercom $75 ($100 NEW)
4 Kumho R700 Rally tires 205/60/15 not a ton of tread depth left, but very little corner wear $75/all

Damaged Demon Rally numbered Doors $40ea donation

Reinforced VW Rabbit A-Arms, new ball joints, poly bushings $75ea/$100pr
Rear rabbit Euro bumper $30 (Rally legal tow points attached, driver's side scuffed from roll)
Rabbit Bilstein Front Rally Struts/Springs $300 (1.1 rallies)
Rabbit Biltema Front Rally Struts/Springs/Bearings $225 (new)
Rabbit KYB Rear struts/spring assembly $50 (used, not rallied on)
Rabbit New Short Driver's Side (fresh CV's) 100mm axle $100
Rabbit Power Steering Rack, new complete tie rods $225
Rabbit 10.1" rotors $20/pr used
Rabbit Fuel Pumps $50 ea
Rabbit Fuel Accumulators $20 ea
Rabbit Fuel Tank $20
Rabbit nasty 2.25" exhaust with a bunch of metal welded to it, dents $20
Rabbit Front poly engine mounts $20ea
Rabbit rear beam $20 ea
Rabbit Carbon fiber look PVC Sintra Door panels $50
Rabbit driver's side flag mirror $20
Rabbit H4 Round Headlamps $50
Scirocco shifter box w/rocco leaning handle $20 (works in a Rabbit, puts the shifter closer to you)
Scirocco 16V exhaust manifolds $60 ea
Scirocco 16V stock downpipe and newer catalytic converter $45
Demon Rally Blue Modded (trimmed unprofessionally for a-arm damage) Early round headlamp fenders $30 ea
80 rabbit hood w/hood pin hold-downs $20
80 Rabbit non-defroster hatch $20
83 GTI non-sunroof ROOF SKIN $20
77 Rabbit (lightweight) doors L & R $40 ea

Schrick 276 Cams, exhaust cam has very light keyway damage from a timing belt slip, was never an issue, just need to torque it down properly gears are pressed on already $450 (~$750+ new)
New in Box 60 Amp Golf II 8v alternator $70
9A 020 8V GTi Transmission Used $180
4 14" Snowflake Rally Wheels $50/set

4 Fluent warrior tires 195/60/14 Nearly new, almost 0 wear $100/set
MKII 9.4" hub set nearly new with race pads, lightly used rotors, Kelsey-Hayes Calipers and newer good ball joints, comes with 2 sets of Porterfield R-4S (race) pads used, $600 in parts, $150 takes it (the pads run $100/set alone)
16" ADR 6-spoke rims, all with light to moderate curb/scrapes, all fixable, worn tires (still hold air) rabbit/golf specific hub-centric spacers, will need 5mm spacers on the rear for proper fitment $250

I just uploaded a couple hundred pictures from Doo Wops 2008 and Olympus 2008 and some technical pictures of the damage from the roll. I also uploaded a video of the sweep crew rolling us back over on stage. Fun!

We're still analyzing options for future plans. The goal is to be back out there by Oregon Trail at the latest. Stay tuned for more updates!

I've updated the schedule, results and video pages to reflect our Olympus experience. Next on the update schedule is an updating of the photo gallery with pictures from Doo Wops and Olympus.

We're working on some ways that people will be able to help us build a new car. Look for those updates as soon as we get a plan for a new car solidified.

stage 1: 13th overall national, 1st overall regional. fantastic. a couple late note calls, but nothing too scary.

stage 2: lost it on a right into a left, tried to correct, but it spun too far. met a dirt bank on the front driver side corner, which increased the velocity of the spin. sent the passenger side corner deep into the dirt, flipping the car on it's top. spun another 180 on the top and came to a rest. destroyed pretty good. to make matters worse, the video recorder got pulled off the mount and did not record the roll.

we've already had several generous offers for assistance. rest assured, our rally career is not over until the money runs out. keep checking here for some ways you might be able to help.

look for us out on stage again soon!

Please welcome SpitfireEFI.com to the DemonRally family. If you need a MegaSquirt standalone engine management system, you need SpitfireEFI. Check them out and support them!

the car is rolling around and visiting various sights around the city. it took gus to the DCI BBQ on 4-5-08. it visited the dyno on 4-6-08. it may head out on a little cruise with some other early VW's on 4-12-08. everything is pretty sorted and we're filling in the final details for our trip to eastern washington. it should be fun.

preparation is happening for the Olympus Rally. we're getting the car back together, improving the design of some car bits, drilling holes in our helmets for head and neck protection, and generally getting ready for some fun in eastern Washington. Dyno time is on the agenda as well as a little gravel testing to make sure everything is sorted. More news to come in the following weeks before our next event!

I have organized a semi-official, regional 2WD prize fund for Olympus Rally 2008. Details are available at specialstage.com. First prize is already worth over $1000!

In less exciting news, the DemonRally Rabbit will be unable to attend the VW show at XXX Drive-in. It would have been fun, but the car was unwilling to travel that far in it's current state. It's very stubborn, you know.

All of the in-car videos from DooWops 2008 are uploaded and ready for viewing, as well as some links to some videos of the outside of the car. For the in-car, we went back to MPEG-4 for the format after getting complaints about DivX. We'll probably convert the DivX to MPEG-4 at some point in the future. We also tried a new format, 3GP, that is very small and low quality but can be viewed on your fancy cell phone and your not-so-fancy low-bandwidth internet connection. contact us with any problems or suggestions!

Our hard-charging effort has been noted in an official press release for the DooWop Rally. Check it out here.

The car may head out for a car show on March 16th at the XXX Drive-in in Issaquah, Washington. That is, if we can get it back in reliable condition by then. Check the schedule for updates on this. If we go, stop by and say hi!

What a weekend, after a good long break after LSPR, we finally got the car prepped for Doo Wops, and what a Doo Wops it was. On the first day we taco'ed the rear beam on the first stage causing a rear tracking issue. We were able to get the beam semi- straight for the next stage, but the beam needed to be replaced. After the first day we were able to track down a new beam and get it installed at a local rallyist's shop.

On Day two we were at maximum attack after a 3rd place finish overall on the first day. We took stage wins on the first two stages. Unfortunately, on our way out of service just before the stage start, the fuel pump died. we got flat towed back to service, but unfortunately we were unable to get the car back out to the stage start before the rest of the field had finished the stage. After speaking with the Rally organizers we were allowed to run the rest of the rally, minus the one stage that we had missed.

Despite knowing that our day was done, we were dead set on setting great times for the rest of the day, and great times they were. We broke a seven year old record set by Todd Hartmann by six seconds on the first run of the famous Brooklyn Tavern Stage. On the second run of the stage we beat our own record by three seconds. We are second on the record list in a two wheel drive car, behind only Carl Jardevall in his rear drive turbo charged Volvo.

Had we completed the stage we had missed, chances are we would've won the rally overall, however, we take concession in our first day results, as well as our obscene stage times on day two. We are looking forward to our second running of the Olympus Rally on all new roads in April.

Just a quick update, since I'm at "work" and still dead tired from the weekend.

Unfortunately, we DNF'ed for the series due to failure of our fuel pump. It is quite possible that we could have taken the overall honors without this mechanical set back. Fortunately, we got towed back to service and got the new fuel pump in for the fun stages of the day. We set 2nd overall fastest time on Brooklyn W, 4th overall fastest time on Smith Creek W, 3rd overall fastest time on Smith Creek E, and 2nd overall fastest time on Brooklyn E. We broke the Gp2 record for the Brooklyn stage by 9 seconds!! So, despite the DNF, we still feel like we achieved victory. More thanks and stories to be posted as soon as we can see straight

Well, day one is over. We did quite well, scaring many of the Open cars with high hopes. We finished on the podium with 3rd overall, 1st 2WD and 1st Gp2. Our experience on the extraordinarily rough stages at LSPR had a lot to do with our winning today. What we learned about the car and driving despite ridiculous potholes was applied to the rough taholah stage today. Only a rub of a chicane marker or a couple missed notes or a couple driver errors kept us from 2nd. 1st was about 40 seconds beyond our reach. However, a brush with a log on the first stage left our rear beam bent and the passenger rear wheel an inch or more towards the middle of the car than it should be. A bit of careful sledghammer application by the trusty crew of Rob, Gus, and Chuck left the car operational enough to do well on the last two stages.

Though day one went well, competitors really come to DooWops for day 2. As such, the boys are out at Gene McCullough's shop in Elma, WA replacing the rear beam that we bent on the first stage. Otherwise, the car is running well and should put down some good times tomorrow if things keep going this well. Look for an update sometime soon!

we are on the road to Aberdeen. we'll definitely be posting some regular updates, as ian has let me use his fancy phone. it will be about 2 hours until we arrive and start registration. if you see us, say hi!

We leave tomorrow for the short drive to the headquarters for the Doo Wop Rally Series. Though Saturday has been shortened to just one stage, we are thoroughly looking forward to getting the car back out there. As I type, the car is going through some final testing and tuning and I'm putting off making the final itineraries for service, car, and press people.

Our goal is to have fun out there. Apart from that, we aim to survive Saturday and go all out on Sunday. We're currently starting at the head of the Gp2 pack and are looking forward to some stiff competition for overall 2WD win. John Lane/Ray Damitio in the fire-breathing Volvo are the current favorites for that title, but we'll do our best with what we're given. We also have to hold off threats from Dash/Taylor, Barnes/Crawford, Decker/Craig, C. Crane/TBA, A. Crane/Nielsen, and Brown/West, any of which could contend for the top 2WD title this weekend as well. It will be a tough battle, to say the least. There will definitely be some stories to tell from this one! Keep checking back for updates throughout the weekend if we have internet access.

See you on the stages!

Only one week left until our favorite rally of the year: Doo Wops. Put on by the best people who pick the best roads and run against the best the northwest has to offer, this rally is not to be missed. If you can make it to a stage, show up on Sunday and watch the Brooklyn stage. Quite possibly one of the best stages in the nation, this will be our third shot at getting on the record list. And this time, it's all out.

See you on the stages!

We have listed our intended season schedule on the site.

The car is currently still at Bow Wow in Lynnwood, make sure you drop by and check it out!

We will be gearing up for The Doo Wop rally soon, so make sure you drop in again soon!

There are a few places in the next few days where you can see the DemonRally rabbit in action or in person:

In action:
ESPN 2, 2pm pacific time, 11-20-07

In person:
Bow-wow Import Auto Parts
2200 196th St SW
Lynnwood, WA 98036
M-F 9-7, Saturday 9-5

Check it out at either venue if you can!

I met Jake first at Oregon Trail when we entered the inaugural MaxAttack! event. It was coincidence more than anything, we had planned on running Oregon Trail and the chance at an $2000 grand prize was a hell of a calling for a grass roots effort. I told Jake my intentions at the rally, he knew that we would fight hard …unfortunately we had trouble on the first two days of the event that put us out of contention. I spoke to Jake on the last day, I said we will be pushing harder than we ever have, we may not win anything, but look at the stage times.

Sure enough, we pushed hard, in fact I don’t know if we have ever driven that hard before. If not for a ten minute road penalty we would’ve been third overall in the regional. It left an indelible impression on Jake, he noticed a couple of images that were taken of the car at MaxAttack! speeds and he commented on our tear at the end of Oregon Trail non stop for months afterwards. We exchanged some e-mails and spoke a number of times.

Over the next couple of days we began talking on the phone about how we could make it to the rally without breaking the bank. I wained a little thinking about how hard the extra work would be, how difficult it is to find sponsors that are willing to put money into a 30 year old car. I started thinking about how easy the local rallies would be on the car and the budget...and while still in the back of my mind LSPR began to be more of a dream than a possibility.

The crew and I began working on assembling the car and making the big repairs needed after our off at Olympus on the second day. There was alot of body work to be done and we were working on cleaning up a lot of the possible issues with vehicle wiring and fuel injection. That’s when we got the news.

Jake’s death took me by surprise. I had been talking with him not less than two weeks prior. I asked him how he was doing, he said that he had his good days and his bad days, but quickly switched back to telling me that he could shack us up with someone locally to save hotel costs, and that we HAD to make it out to LSPR.

I wasn’t expecting Jake to pass, when it happened he made the decision for me, we abandoned any attempt to make the next couple of local rallies and we began focusing on LSPR. I contacted Fine Tuning, my main sponsor and let him know that we were going to Michigan to compete in a national event in Jake’s memory, I stopped by another sponsor’s place and let Bow-Wow import auto parts our intentions as well. I contacted a good friend of mine with an enclosed trailer and asked permission to borrow it. I was contacted by a local clothing company called Product Apparel, they supplied the Demon Rally Team with a nearly new F-350 pickup and supplied everyone in the crew with custom silk-screened gear for the event.

It seemed like everywhere we turned people wanted to help us get to LSPR. The car was completed early and we began tuning the motor when the worst happened, the motor blew up a week before the event. When the car stopped on the side of the road I knew that the rally was over. I called up my crew chief and let him know what was up, Gus said ok, well lets put my motor in.

By the end of the next night we had the new motor in and running we got a breif tuning session in. By the end of the week we had everything loaded for the long haul out. When we got out to LSPR we were happy to see trees again. Knowing very little about the rally other than the weather was very unpredictable and there were tarmac stages.

On the first stage of the event we snagged a rather large rock which lead to a very loose ball joint. We discovered it at service but with only five minutes left we had no choice but to drive the 90 miles to and trhough stage two hoping that it would make it back to service. We had no choice but to lift and lost A LOT of time on the stage…although we still managed to get some good air on the large jump mid-stage.

At service the ball joint was changed, but the rest of the first day we were dealing with very poor tulips, but were still managing to beat a ton of Subaru's and even some top national group 5 guys. Passmore would've been a fun stage with notes, with tulips it was probably the most unsafe driving I've ever done. On the first run through we came up on our group 2 rival Christopher Duplessis, both were out of the car waving us on, I saw a cracked windshield....and heard later that he had gone off slightly and rolled about three times...tough luck we were looking forward to a battle with him.

On the second day the first stage was more like mud bogging in some areas, Cizmas (our only competition left) was out with engine failure. The second stage was an embedded rocky mess, we attacked lightly avoiding damaging the car. The third stage, Delaware, was a fast smooth flowing stage....wish we would have had more power for it.

Brockway was canceled due to a large wreck, we were disappointed to say the least, we were looking forward to setting some amazing times on this stage. We ran through the first three stages again in reverse.

We lost a tire on the bumpy stage after pushing a little too hard, we drove it to the end of the stage and swapped it at the end of the stage. The tire was a reminder to keep our speeds down unless we wanted to ruin our guaranteed group 2 win.

We slowed for the next couple of stages nailed the delta in the Delaware stage. We came upon a rolled Subaru 3/4 of the way through the last stage and the red cross was thrown on the last stage.

Overall we finished the rally 1st place in group 2 nationally, and 16th overall out of 37 national entrants and 64 total entrants. As well as finishing Fourth place in the Max Attack due to some help from a hard charging Eric Burmeister stopping to pull out Kyle Sarasin with a broken axle and handing his fourth place to us on the last stage of the rally.

During the event I had the pleasure of meeting local group 2 competitors Dave Cizmas and Matt Himes. Dave is a great driver, I would love to run against him again, both Dave and Matt kept us entertained the entire rally…I laugh every time I think of the way you guys say sauna. Matt, you definitely have a part of you brother in you, I saw so much of Jake when we spoke at the event it was amazing and refreshing yet again.

I found that this rally gave me focus again. Previously, I began to start looking beyond my group's stage times and start pushing the limits of the car and driver. You reach your limit and stretch beyond it you break stuff and gauge your abilities, you think about if rallying is really worth it.

I have some of the best sponsors out there, but before a rally I will spend almost every spare minute I have trying to get everything arranged and ready prior to the event, sometimes for up to two months before. With a grassroots effort and a relatively small bankroll there are those days where you have to take a had look at what you are doing and see if your efforts really are worth that two or three days of insanity.

Jake and this rally made me realize they are; because in this community you are respected for your efforts, you are known for your talents and you are defined by these events. A commonality with all rally drivers is their passion to succeed at the highest levels and when you do they money spent is insignificant; the glory lasts long beyond the event itself, it transcends time. These events are truly mystical.

Jake, it might have broken the bank a little, but it was well worth it. You taught me more about rally in the brief time that I knew you than you could ever imagine, Thank you.

While at LSPR, we were without the luxury of an internet connection. I'm back now and Tom will be back on Wednesday, so here's a quick update while we work on recovering from the trip.

LSPR went well for us. We finished 16th overall, 4th in 2WD and 1st in Group 2. This is our best national-level finish to date.

In the end, I think we made a great impression on the large spectator crowds. As video and pictures come in, we'll be sure to share them with you.

Thanks to everyone who supported us, including Fine Tuning, Bow-Wow Import Parts, Meister Gauge Faces, Product Apparel and our other fine sponsors. We'll be posting more details soon.

Our first day on the road proved to be highly uneventful....I'm writing this from the not so fabulous but very cost effective Motel 6 in lovely Missoula, Montana. No internet service here so this one will be posted up a day late a crappy cable feed no coffee until seven so I will be tired... again...

We had an issue with the trailer lights early on from Seattle, but it must have worked itself out. Our borrowed F350 super duty is a little weak in the braking and power department for the FULL load of equipment we have, but we are making due. An ABS light early on in the trip had us a wee bit worried but it has seemingly worked itself out as well. My rough estimates on fuel costs were a little under estimated as the truck is getting around 9 mpg into Missoula. Somewhere between Spokane and Butte we lost one of our sweet Meister Gauge Faces magnetic number backers from the truck, so those are going to stay in the truck from now on....someone got an awesome souvenir.

The weather has been fantastic so far, we seem to be following clear sky and only saw a bit of rain as we started over the Cascades early in the day. Temperatures ranging from as low as 39 at the top of Snoqualmie Pass to 59 in the flatlands of Montana. The snow at the top of the passes is a bit unnerving, but we'll deal with that if we have to.

I've never seen so many deer hit areas in one road trip before....Montana is a dangerous place for animals crossing the road, and a great place for yocals to pick up dinner. Mullet Central. Found a couple of names, numbers and addresses of some gentlemen Charlie is interested in meeting from the local Rest Areas here in Montana, apparently the men-folk are friendly out here.

At one point today while coming up on Spokane I noted that we must be getting close to civilization again as a Jet was taking off at a pretty high rate of climb. Phil said, "Yeah there must be an airport around here." I said, "Thank you Captain Obvious."

I'll be posting some images I took on the fly

820 miles down...on to day two.

Next week, we'll be in Michigan's scenic Upper Peninsula for the Lake Superior Pro Rally and the third round of Max-Attack!. We're excited for the opportunity to test our car against some of the finest competitors the midwest has to offer. As I type this we're currently starting 24th and the highest ranked VW, the highest ranked Group2 car (ahead of the 2007 national champ!), and the 7th highest 2WD car (Group 5 is very popular in the midwest, apparently). If we can hold this position, we should be in the rankings for Max-Attack and the national rally. This will be fun.

While Tom, Gus, Charlie and Phil worked on the car and packing all week, I've been working non-stop on designing the new website. As you can see, it is done. There are likely some bugs or design flaws I've missed, so please contact us and let us know if you find any.

Of particular interest might be the re-designed video gallery and the re-designed photo gallery. While the photo gallery is a little slow, it looks very nice. There are plenty of videos (25 in all!) to watch, including most of the 2007 Doo Wops Rally. We hope to bring back some great footage from LSPR, as well.

Tom, Phil and Charlie will be leaving for Michigan on Monday morning and will arrive Thursday. Gus and I will be flying in the same day. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it to the practice stages. If you see us there, be sure to ask for a ride!