Michael South Engineering, MSR, Michael South, WRX, STI, Subaru, Jetski, Rally, Nissan Silvia, RS, S12.

2008 Update:

Team MSR takes out Co drivers NSW State Rally Championship title.

Wife and Co Driver in the MSR rally team has taken out the NSW Title in what was her first yr at co driving in rallies, " It was good year and enjoyed it with such a buzz at the speed you can travel on gravel roads through the bush" says Sue South.

Team MSR also took out second outright drivers title and both Co and drivers class titles for the NSW State Rally Championship. " I have enjoyed the year learning pace notes was the highlight of it, it is also good to see the speed of the car increasing with each rally as i delveloped car through the yr, which to me is as much fun as the driving" Says Michael South

MSR Wins class & 2nd outright at Rd3 of the NSW State Rally Championship held at Myall Stages

Rd3 was run last weekend on the north coast around Myall lakes, this was the place where we had our last huge crash, so it was in the back of my head...just a little. This event was pace noted and reci went well, the event was super fast roads, doing close to 200kph many times on one lane dirt tracks is not for the faint hearted.

The car ran well, although the setup was a little too soft for the roads, it was still easy to drive fast, ss1 we set equal fastest time with new up and coming driver Nathan Quin, second stage on a very long left 4 something was wrong with the note and long didn't make it to my head...so I ran out of road on the exit and speared off at 115kph, pulled it around to back it in to a tree, lost 30seconds and got back on the road. I was a little tentative for the next few stages not trusting the notes fully. The first 4 stages were re run and then I had to up the pace as our second spot was under threat, we managed to hold on to still.

Quin had an off on ss6 and this was a sniff then of catching him as well, so last two stages we were on maximum attack, winning second last stage by 13seconds with a gap of 13 to first and 8.5km to go, it was a big ask but worth trying, pushed very hard but it wasn't enough, we ended the rally in 2nd 14 seconds behind first, 1 min back to 3rd. We still lead the NSW Rally Championship, next round is the Bay where we with Officiate at and then prepare for Nat Cap in the ACT.

Some pics and a Vid from the weekend.

http://www.pbase.com/blacky_rally/2008_myall_stages&page=all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzcWP2aYrcw

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Sunday 9th June Rd2 was run in testing conditions in NSW mid north coast at Port Macquarie, in very wet and muddy conditions, we pushed and set an early lead of 1min after the first 3 stages, then played it smart and kept the gap just over a 1min for the rest of the event, car worked very well, good traction, good power. We won by 1min 11sec, winning four of the 8 stages. Now with 2 wins from two events we look forwards to Myall stages in August, second of 3 pace noted rallies for the yr.

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MSR Rally team took out round 1 of the NSW State rally Champioshion, winning all 8 stages with a lead of over 5mins. The Lithgow event was pace noted and held around pine forests of Oberion. The car ran faultless all day Dunlop tyres worked very well. The next event will be Port MacQuarie on the June long weekend.

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MSR wins round 1 of the NSW state rally sprint championship held at Nabiac!

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MSR powers 2007 Targa Tasmania winning Subaru!

MSR built and tuned the engine to a winning class against many exotic higher power cars, working on a package that gave good power right up to the 8000rpm limiter in power limiting rules with the use of Motec M800, and a suspension setup that gave driver confidence to push to a whole new level of grip in the winning 1999 WRX RA.

2007 Update

MSR rally team takes out round 2 of the NSW state rally sprint championship held in watagan Mountains, car worked well and driver and co driver were pleased with the second win in a row.

Nabiac held the 1st round of the NSW rallysprint championship which was the first outing for the new car, please with our results as we come away with a win.

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Vid uploaded from Bega 06, incar with Dale Moscatt Co driving, it was damp and first stage with over 100cars entered the largest dirt rally in Aust, This stage was one that we won, Link found HERE (21Mb)

2006 Update:

It was time for our local club to hold a rally sprint at Awaba which is very tight and twisty, it was a good chance to play around with low speed settings within the active center diff, we were pleased to come away with a better set up for the slow corners which was also an area i had noticed that wasn't that flash, after the event i was very happy with the way the car responds now, next event is Port Macquarie state rally which we always hope for good things but never expect anything.

After the Bega rally the engine was in need of a rebuild, so with less than 2 weeks till the next event (Coffs rally sprint) it was all action, also the suspension was also due for some more development. Thursday before the event it was all back together and ready to race. This was my first time to rally at Coffs, everyone tells you how good the roads are, so I was looking forward to this event! Well the rain come again and this event was called short after only 50% of the event, BUT there was more good to come from it, the car now has the latest engine spec which was by far the best spec I have built, power band is very wide (wide as it can sucking through a 34mm turbo restrictor!) with a great spread of power made it much easier to drive. The suspension has made a huge leap forwards again, grip on the rough is extremely good, also active center diff maps also were improved which now has made the package very strong. While there wasn't a strong field at Coffs, we used the event to test and won all the stages with a new level from the car making it extremely fast and easy to drive.

After the 3 rounds of the NSW State rally sprint championship which we have won all 3 of the 4 run, we now lead with 2 rounds left to run.

The team has run the Bega valley rally with a field of just over 100 cars the Bega rally is the largest dirt rally in Aust, with some good and bad....good is we were on the pace now with more changes to suspension and diffs, we were pleased to say that after stage 4 we were leading outright, stage 5 was to be the last stage due to rain shortening the event, (although we didn't know it at the time) we had an idea it could be called short, so it was time to have a big go, all going well till 4km in when we lost power, seemed the fuel system was dying which lost us over 1min, and we failed to finish the transport back to service to claim a position. The good of it was the car is now better to drive, has more grip and better corner speed, which in turn gives me the conference to push harder.

The car has been run in Rd 2 & Rd3 or the NSW State Rallysprint championship, and pleased to report "Won both”. Also ran the Rd1 of the NSW state rally championship, which seen us take 3rd outright and now hold second in the championship due to the winner only contesting the local championship. It has all been made possible with support from www.sfars.com who supports up and coming talent. The car is constantly evolving with power and handling, and the driver coming to terms with AWD and finding a set up that gives confidence to push to new levels which have never been seen before.

The next Rd is Bega on the June long weekend, and with the car at it's best yet we are hoping for good things!

PROJECT STi Spec C

Photo album of the build up

I would like to thank a few people who have given me support, Go Fast Bits , Garry's Motorsport Tyres, MRT Performance and HiTech Mufflers

UPDATE:

Shell has come back with the new roll cage fitted, went off to the painters, everything painted white.

Got it all back and put all the gear into it, which took the best bit of 2 days with some help from a good mate.

Car just needs a few last things to get the log book inspection done, then off to try get rally rego, few issues between the RTA and CAMS at this point, so that might have to come later...I hope :)

Once i have log book done i will remove the engine and gear box again for mods, proflex should be here in the next 2-3 weeks. I will also pick up the Motec, but i will run the new engine in on the std ecu, don't have to dick around with AFR's while it is bedding in rings, which is very important for minimum leak down.

UPDATE:

The building has begun........

The car has come back from the panel beaters all repaired, so we stripped it out and sent it off to get the roll cage fitted, also strengthening is being done to the front and sill pin holes. When it comes back I will weld in some seat mounts, then it will go back to the painters to be painted.

The nearly finished project.....