Rada Auto OÜ

Tundub, et Eestis hakkab ka võistlushooaeg vaikselt pihta. See nädal möödus suuresti rallikrossi ettevalmistuste saatel. Kellele amorte, kellele sillaseadet/nurgakaale. Aga @kaarelkurvits_crosskart crosskardile paigaldasime uue dashi ehk näidikupaneeli, millest ehk ka veidi kasu on. Dashist näeb mootori andmeid, ringiaegu, aga ka näiteks pidurirõhke mis aitavad piduritasakaalul konkreetselt näppu peal hoida. Kui juba siis juba, uus armatuur ning lihtsuse jaoks kõik vajalikud nupud roolile. Kuna crosskarti sisse-välja ronimine on keeruline, on rool kiirliitega. Nii sai rool tehtud juhtmevabaks. Nüüd ei pea kogemata väljasuretades käsi roolilt võtma, saab kiirelt masina uuesti käima. Eelnevalt olime Kaarli kardile juba paigaldanud käsipiduri mis oma töös ka siduri ära lahutab, nii ei pea jalaga samal ajal ringi vehkima ning stardis ka sidurit eraldi hoidma. Kes karte lähemalt ja kiiremas vormis näha soovivad, siis selleks on võimalused homme lauluväljakul @crosskartrallisprint il ning laupäeval Kulbilohus @rallikross il. IN ENGLISH: Looks like the racing season is slowly waking up in Estonia too. This week was mostly all about getting ready for rallycross — shocks for some, alignment and corner-weighting for others. For Kaarel's crosskart, we fitted a new dash, which now shows engine data, lap times, and brake pressures, so keeping an eye on brake balance is a whole lot easier. And since we were already at it, the kart also got a new dashboard and all the essential buttons moved onto the steering wheel. Because climbing in and out of a crosskart is never exactly graceful, the wheel uses a quick-release hub — so we had to make the steering wheel wireless too. Since the starter is on the steering wheel, there’s no need to take your hands off it to restart it. Earlier on, we had already fitted Kaarel’s kart with a handbrake that also disengages the clutch, so there’s no need to dance around with your feet or hold the clutch separately at the start. If you want to see the karts up close — and in a bit more action — you’ll have the chance tomorrow at the rallycross sprint at the Song Festival Grounds, and on Saturday at the rallycross in Kulbilohu.

Nädalavahetusel toimus Austraalia autoralli meistrivõistluste 1. etapp. Kui kõik algas üsnagi rahulikult, siis ralli 2. päev suutis väikese vimka ikka visata. Ilmselt ca 400m enne katse lõppu järgmisest kraavist läbi sõites sai tagumise diffri radikas kivi täpselt sinna, kuhu teda hea meelega ei ootaks. Nii sündis suur tuleleek. Veits liiva peale ja tuld. Õli oli selleks hetkeks kõik välja jooksnud, aga millal õli või selle puudumine Xtraci ülekandeid seganud on. IN ENGLISH: Over the weekend, the opening round of the Australian Rally Championship took place. Things started off fairly calmly, but day two of the rally still managed to throw in a bit of drama. Around 400 metres before the end of the stage, coming through a ditch, a stone found the rear diff cooler in exactly the one spot you’d never want it to hit. This resulted in a bit of a fireball. Throw some sand on it and job done. By that point all the oil had already escaped, but then again, since when has oil — or the lack of it — ever stopped an Xtrac transmission.

Vahest võiks suvi küll mõne päeva hilineda, aga hetkel ei tundugi olukord kõige hullem. Enamus tehnikat juba ratastel. Summer could sometimes maybe hold off for a few more days, but at the moment, things aren't looking too bad. Most of the cars are already on their wheels.

Samal ajal kui kodus garaažis käib kibe-kiire suveautode putitamine, avasime veidi eemal talvehooaja. Austraalias nimelt suvel suure palavaga kõik seisab, kuid see-eest antakse talvel kõvasti minna. Aitame see hooaeg seal noorel Jackson Longil astuda esimesi samme R5 (Rally2) autoga. Enne kui päris Austraalia meistrivõistluste hooaeg aprillis pihta hakkab, tegime soojenduseks kaasa Bathursti ralli. Kõik läks täpselt nii nagu minema pidi, kõik katsed probleemideta lõpuni ning tasuks kolmas koht. Tõotab tulla põnev hooaeg! IN ENGLISH: While things are flat-out in the home garage getting the summer cars ready, we’ve also kicked off the winter season a little farther away. In Australia, everything more or less stops during the brutal summer heat, but winter is when the action really gets going. This season, we’re helping young Jackson Long take his first steps in an R5 (Rally2) car. Before the Australian championship gets properly underway in April, we used the Bathurst Rally as a warm-up event. It went exactly the way you’d hope: no issues, every stage completed cleanly, and a third-place finish to top it off. It’s going to be an exciting season.

See nädal ei hakanud suuri asju ette võtma. Skipped the big jobs this week.

Kuigi tundub, et talv sai selleks hooajaks ka korraliku paugu lähenevalt kevadelt, tegelesime veel veidi jäärajaprojektidega. Imemees Markus pani 20 sekundiga kokku jooksu Evo X amorte ja vahetas ühel GR Yarisel tagaülekande. Yarise nelikveosüsteem tehasest on küll vägev, aga meie kandi jäärajahuntidele kahjuks sobimatu. GRid tulevad tehasest nimelt mitte 50:50 ülekandega, mida siis vastavalt vajadusele väikese sidurpakiga juhitakse. Jääradadel aga tähendab see pidevat libistamist, mis omakorda tähendab ülekuumenemist. Ülekuumenemine tähendab aga lõpuks esiveolist õnnetust. Eriti paha on, kui see juhtub põhjagaasiga keset kurvi. Et seda arstida, on üheks variandiks ülekanne ära vahetada. See muide, on Toyota originaalvaruosa, leiutama midagi ei pea. Kui esimestel GRidel vahetati vahekastis ülekannet, siis nüüd on otsustatud seda teha töökindluse pärast tagumises differentsiaalis. IN ENGLISH: Looks like winter got a proper hit from the incoming spring, but we still worked with some ice-track projects. Our MacMarkus threw together a set of Evo X shocks in about 20 seconds and swapped the rear final drive on a GR Yaris. The GR Yaris AWD system from the factory is impressive, but not not ideal for the ice-track fans around here. The problem is that GRs don’t come with a true 50:50 split from the factory. Instead, the system relies on a smaller clutch pack to manage torque distribution as needed. On ice tracks, that basically means constant slipping, which means heat. And this means overheating, which eventually means your AWD hero turns into a sad front-wheel-drive disaster. This can be especially interesting when it happens in the middle of a flat-out corner. One cure is to swap the drive. For this, we use genuine Toyota parts. Before, the idea was to change the drive in the transfer case, but now the preferred method for reliability reasons is to do it in the rear differential instead.

Vahepeal möödusid nigu niuhti Sarma ja Rootsi ralli. Kui Sarma ralli läks täitsa korda, siis päris sama ei saa vist Rootsi kohta öelda - 3 katset enne lõppu tuli keps päevavalgust uudistama. Õnneks on nüüd talverallid selleks korraks läbi. Neli nädalavahetust jutti kõlab küll lahedalt, aga tegelikult on elus ju muid asju ka. Kes samamoodi rallijuttudest väsinud on, võib hoopis Yuki tegudest Intercarsi ajakirjast lugeda. IN ENGLISH: In what felt like five minutes, Sarma Rally and Rally Sweden flew by. Sarma went pretty much to plan, but Sweden… yeah, let’s just say it didn’t end with champagne. Three stages before the finish, a connecting rod decided it had seen enough of life inside the engine and went out to have a look at the Swedish winter. Luckily that’s it for the winter rallies. Four rally weekends in a row sounds cool, but it turns out there are other things to enjoy as well. And if you’re getting bored with the rally stuff too, check out Yuki in Intercars magazine.

Nädalavahetus möödus külma trotsides. Rovaniemis, Arctic Rally Laplandil oli terve nädalavahetuse temperatuur mõnusasti -30°C juures. Mis sellisel temperatuuril juhtub? Külm on otseloomulikult, aga lisaks igasugu soojendus ja muudele käivitusprobleemidele lähevad asjad üpris hapraks. Juhtmesidemeid tuleb enne külmas kasutamist soojendada ning porilapakad, mis ralliautodel on 4mm paksust kummimaterjalist, muutuvad nii jäigaks et neist saab lihtsalt tükke murda. Kleepsud autol muutuvad jäigaks nagu värv ning hakkavad kildudena autolt eralduma. Rääkimata muidugi jää tekkimisest väga veidratesse kohtadesse. Aga muidu pole viga! Võistlusauto edenemist otseülekandes on ka päris mugav vaadata. Enne katse finišit jõuab juba stange valmis panna. Tuukkalt ja Topilt kena kolmas koht Evansi ja Lappi järel. IN ENGLISH: The weekend was spent bravely ignoring the cold. In Rovaniemi at the Arctic Rally Lapland, temperatures hovered comfortably around -30 °C all weekend. So what actually happens at those temperatures? Well, yes — it’s cold. Obviously. But on top of various heating and starting issues, things also become impressively fragile. Cable ties need to be warmed up before using them in the cold, and the 4 mm thick rubber mud flaps on rally cars turn so stiff you can literally snap pieces off them. Stickers on the car harden up like paint and start flaking off in little shards. And of course, ice forms in places you didn’t even know could have ice. But other than that — all good! It was also nice to watch the car live on stages. You could prepare the spare bumper even before the car finished the stage. A solid third place for Tuukka and Topi, right behind Evans and Lappi.

Lõpetasime vahepeal ühe pusle ja käisime temaga Lätis rallil. Finished a puzzle and took her to a rally in Latvia.

Eelmine nädalavahetus külastasime Tokyo Auto Salon autotuuningumessi. Sel aastal käis messil kõigest 272 383 külastajat. Kuna teeme koostööd paljude Jaapani brändidega, on see mess hea lihtne koht kõigi tuttavatega ühes kohas kokku saada ja muresid ning rõõme jagada. Et aga messil aega vähe, korraldas Tom's enne messi ka väikese vabas olus kokkusaamise erinevate põnevate ja põnevamate masinatega. Messi enda jõuab läbi joosta päevaga. Kui aga teasel päeval ka minna õnnestub, avastad järsku hoopis rohkem asju, mida eelmine päev justkui ju polnud. Ja kui päriselt aja võtad ja süvenema hakkad, on iga väljapanek ikka täitsa sisutihe. Ilmselt olekski õigem kolm päeva selleks kulutada. Meie kolmas päev kulges aga talve nautides juba tavaks kujunenud Gunsai Touge rajal. Lisapilte leiab Facebookist. IN ENGLISH: Last weekend we visited the Tokyo Auto Salon car tuning show. This year, a total of 272,383 people attended the event. Since we work closely with many Japanese brands, the show is an easy and convenient place to meet everyone we know in one spot and catch up—sharing both concerns and successes. Because time at the show itself is always limited, Tom’s also organized a small outdoor pre-event meet beforehand, featuring a selection of interesting and not-so-ordinary cars. You can easily rush through the exhibition in a single day. But if you manage to go again the next day, you suddenly start noticing many things that somehow felt invisible the day before. And if you really take your time and dive in properly, every display turns out to be genuinely rich in content. Realistically, three days would be ideal. Our third day, however, was spent enjoying winter conditions at the now-traditional Gunsai Touge course. More pictures uploaded in our Facebook

Tere taas! Viimane hetk vist aasta kokku tõmmata. Vahepeal täitsa mitu võistlust olnud. Viimane neist Austraalias - Tasmaania ralli Emma Gilmour ja Ben Searcyiga. Muus osas nagu ikka, klassikaks kujunenud rooste hävitamine ja allesjäänust millegi meisterdamine. Viimased autod talveks valmis ja uuel aastal juba suvemasinatega edasi. Tegelikult tahaks Teile aga ilusat aasta lõppu soovida ning ikka uuel uue ja ägedama hooga! Rada Auto IN ENGLISH: Hello again! Last chance to post for this year. We've had several competitions, last one of them down south in Australia - Rally Tasmania with Emma Gilmour and Ben Searcy. Otherwise, same old - classic destroying of rust and then trying to patch up the rest of it. Last winter cars ready and now onwards to the summer ones. Have a lovely New Year! Onwards and upwards! Rada Auto

Paide ralli.