Armath Racing
2010 was the debut of the Armath Racing Eagle Talon-imported all the way from sunny Arizona where it lived life as a PGT rally car in the SCCA circuit. Our team is based out of Edmonton, Alberta and our philosophy of parsimony allows us to compete in this otherwise very expensive sport. After a one year hiatus we're back now for the 2012 WCRC Season! Visit www.rallywest.com/rally for more information on rally racing in Western Canada.
Latest News
Team Prepares for Cochrane Winter Rally
-Posted on 20 Jan 2012-
This year, the team is happy to announce Shane McAssey will be co-driver for the majority of the 2012 season. Shane has driven in rallies, TSDs and rallycrosses, in addition to acting as crew chief for the Armath rally team. His driving experience should help us go faster as a team. After a year of regrouping and rebuilding, there are only a few more minor tweaks to do to the car in preparation for Cochrane. It's very exciting to be back.
1st Place Novice for Co-Driver Matt in the 2010 WCRC!
-Posted on 08 Feb 2011-
Good work Matt and congratulations of your first place finish in the 2010 season! Thanks go out to all our sponsors, supporters and especially all the volunteers that make this sport happen. Mark finished the season just short with 2nd place Novice and 2nd place PGT. Both Matt and Mark also claimed 5th overall spots.
Armath Talon Overheats at Kananaskis Rally
-Posted on 08 Feb 2011-
With driver Mark Lea-Wilson taking a hiatus after the birth of his daughter, Service-guy-turned-driver Shane McAssey jumped into the driver's seat with trusty Matt riding shot-gun. Here's his story:
Thank you all for your help on the weekend. You know who you are, and I think you know who you ‘not are’. It was my first stage rally, and Matt and I had a great time, even though we didn’t finish. I know we made the best possible effort, though, and now we are buying an engine (if you didn’t know, heh heh).
These events seem to run so smoothly, and the attention to safety is appreciated. Thanks.
Tomasz, during your novice drivers meeting you nearly had me physically sick. “When the car is upside down and burning, don’t immediately release your harness – check your buddy – are you OK?- then BRACE! and release your harness, and keep your helmet on.”
I couldn’t help but think what I had got myself into (oh boy, here we go). I’m sure I was ghost white (I think the last time I felt like that was in the air during a mountain bike crash). I thought you all might like that story.
Thanks for putting in the time and effort to make these things happen.
--Shane McAssey
Disappointing 13th Place Finish at Pacific Forest Rally but we're lucky to have finished!
-Posted on 14 Oct 2010-
Many, many stories to tell. It was our first night rally and it bit us hard: we posted a few good times, and decided to push a bit, even though we were only making 10 psi boost. We cut a corner a little too much on Princeton and bottomed the front right corner on a burm, puncturing the radiator and bending the car a bit. Says driver, Mark Lea-Wilson: "We didn't crash or go off, the car went exactly where I told it to go; I thought it could take it." That put us out for the day but we stayed up until 3am that night fixing the car to run tomorrow. We used all the tricks we could think of: borrowed a come-along (thanks Gary!) and used it as a 'frame puller,' used solder and JB weld to fix the leaky rad, and carried an extra case of water in the car just in case. Thanks to Shane service-guy-extraordinaire McAssey for getting us back on the road!
A few hours sleep and some coffee and we were ready to race Saturday, yipee! The day started, we had about 8 psi of boost and overheated on our first stage--damn. Topped up with water, made it to the next stage 2 minutes late and ran the rest of the day with the heater blasting to help the radiator out. We were down to 6 psi of boost by the time we made it back to service. What's going on!? Turbo bolts were loose. Hmmm, lets tighten them, that should help. There's a crack in the exhaust too (from the weight of the turbo sitting on it!). Oh well, that shouldn't affect power. On the transit to the next stage, we were down to 4 psi of boost. Something is definitely wrong: this is when fears of not finishing were coming real!
Well, we ended up making it through the rest of the day with some electrical issues, overheating again on the transit up to Helmer, and 0 psi of boost (90 hp isn't fun). On the plus side, with the extra time to think while on stage (since we were so slow), we had a chance to think about which lines to take, where braking points should be, and how to better make and deliver pace notes. All-in-all it was still a fun weekend and we still learned a ton.
1st Place Novice at Mountain Trials Rally
-Posted on 15 June 2010-
Our first full gravel event and our first event making our own pace notes. Things ran pretty smoothly, the weather was awesome and the car held together -- in spite of the Princeton Cutoff stage. We finished 5th overall, first novice. It finally feels like we're heading towards smoother, faster and safer.
9th Place Finish at Rocky Mountain Rally
-Posted on 01 June 2010-
Extremely challenging conditions with rain, snow and mud made for treacherous racing. We managed to keep it on the road with a few close calls including destroying a TV camera! Hopefully that gets us on TSN ;). Pictures coming soon.
Come visit us at Powerama this weekend!
-Posted on 22 April 2010-
The Armath Racing car is on display along with the Edmonton Rally Club(stall B148)
5th Place Finish at Trail of the Gnu
-Posted on 22 April 2010-
Good times were had by all at this navigational event. A couple mistakes held us back from placing higher. Live and learn!
3rd Place Finish at Cochrane Winter Rally
-Posted on 16 March 2010-
The stars aligned for team Armath, placing us just 15.8 seconds behind second place. A few competitors went off and one blew an engine, allowing us to sneak our way up the rankings. We had one off that cost us about four minutes and came too fast into the last set of chicanes on Stage 10, which cost another 30 seconds. For our first special stage rally though, we're happy with the results. We ascended further up the proverbial learning curve than expected; mind you the curve was a lot steeper than we thought! The Cochrane Rally positioned us well for our next major event: Rocky Mountain Rally. Many thanks to our generous Sponsors, without whom, this would not be possible!
Team Prepares for March 7th Cochrane Winter Rally
-Posted on 22 February 2010-
Armath-Racing.com Website Launched
-Posted on 20 February 2010-
