First event of the season for saabrally.com team provides new challenges and a unfortunate learning experience.

Sandblast rally, which is based in the rolling sand hills of south carolina, provides a unique set of roads with conditions quite different than any other rally on the east coast. The roads range from wide hard packed sand , to narrow and twisty with deep sand washes. The event started well and we were running in the top 50% after the first service and re-seed. The car was running very well and needed little attention during the first service. The 3rd stage contained some steep uphill climbs through very deep sand and tested the limits of our traction. After successfully negotioating one very tough uphill our cockpit started to fill with smoke and the clutch pedal went soft. The smoke subsided quickly and then we became stuck in 3rd gear. After several exciting corners the clutch was started to slip very badly and we could not maintain speed. We coasted to a safe section of road to stop and put out the trangles. When we popped the hood to determine if there was anything we could do to fix the situation we saw flames coming from the clutch area. We grabbed the extiguisher and put out the fire.  

 Dissapointing to say the least especially since a brand new carbon metallic clutch had been planned for installation before the next rally as clutch slippage has been on ongoing issue on tarmac roads. We had believed that the loose nature of the sand wouldnt provide enough friction to aggrevate the problem, but it turned put to have quite the opposite affect.

Teardown of the cluth reveiled a severely overheated disc with no friction material remaining.

Below are some picture at the event and of the aftermath.