Armin Schwarz newsletter 2010-03-01

Totally sideways at minus 30 degrees ...

Dear Friends, Partners and Sponsors,

I send you my iciest regards from Ivalo in Finland, about 200 km north of the Polar Circle. At around minus 30 degrees Celsius I'm conducting my annual winter training. For two weeks, I welcome new groups of rally enthusiasts every two days to share a few secrets about driving on ice and snow.

Space enough to go totally sideways: our handling track

We enjoy driving our Mitsubishi and Subaru rally cars on the handling circuit, on a frozen lake and on three special stages in the forest with high snow banks.

Big surprise: the Monte Carlo studded rally tyres allow very high speeds

We're having an absolute ball, and my "sideways-students" learn a lot about driving at the limit on seriously slippery ground. The big surprise always comes when they go out on studded "Monte Carlo Rally" tyres: nobody expects so much grip and such incredible cornering speeds.

Fantastic visitors: Baja ace Roger Norman and his wife Elisa

It was a big pleasure for me to welcome Roger Norman and his wife Elisa in Ivalo. These two are great fun to be with and really nice people. Roger is one of the big names in the Baja racing scene. He won the Baja 1000 in 2001 and clinched the Baja Wide Open Challenge twice -- to name only some of his major successes. Roger and Elisa had a great time, and Roger said he was surprised how precise and technical you have to drive if you want to be really fast on snow and ice. And he promised to apply this new technique when we are going to race each other in the upcoming SCORE San Felipe 250 (12 to 14 March).

And that's what I'll do in two weeks time!

Well, I'll be ready! At our AGM teambase the preparation of our car goes smoothly, we've got a new gearbox with a sturdier housing, and we will be the first Buggy on the race circuit. On 7 March I'll fly home from Finland, repack the suitcase and jump in the plane to California the next day.

I'll be back here with hopefully great news from the San Felipe in four weeks.

Until then

Best regards,
    Armin Schwarz

-source: armin-schwarz.com