Rally Racing Team - RTI Motorsports

Yet another consistent top finish for Maciek and Kristin Przybysz! The local Maine team in the cherry-apple-red Subaru Impreza STI performed beautifully through their favorite stages at the New England Forest Rally, July 17-16, 2009. This is Maciek's fifth year running the event and second year with co-driver, and wife, Kristin. Maciek's calculated yet aggressive driving style has kept him between the ditches and top five in results.

Their goal, this rally, was to experiment with the stage notes to add more performance advantage. Mission accomplished. A brake upgrade after a toasty tarmac event at Rally New York was in order. Thanks to their friends at Performance Friction Brakes and Somerset Subaru, the car had 75% more stopping power. “At first the car felt a little loose so I had to adjust my driving style to adapt to the new brakes” says Maciek after the already loose gravel stage in Berlin, New Hampshire.

Due to many stage miles being canceled on day one, results were based on two short super special stages and Concord Pond. The Przybysz team narrowly gave away first place to Maine neighbor, Allen Downs and Bernie Obry of New York. They experienced a truly “flying” finish at Concord Pond due to brake failure but managed to make it back to finish the first regional rally. Unfortunately, a broken rear differential kept them from joining the fun for day two. The Przybysz team finished third overall in regional – a notable feat.

Saturday's Berlin Rally was a jam-packed day of lengthy stages plus an additional stage to make up for Friday's loss. Maciek kept it steady through the unpredictable newly graded stages in Berlin then unleashed his more aggressive style on the team's favorite flowing stages in Middle Dam. Remarkably, the only damage to the vehicle was a minor shift in skid plate, radiator support, and bumper caused by striking a large rock sitting in the middle of the road on stage twelve. After a long day, they took second overall in the regional rally and first in open class.

The Przybysz team would like to thank their sponsors at Somerset Subaru, Performance Friction Brakes, and 7^th Sign for their support as well as their enthusiastic crew: Justin, Dave, Jim, and Eric.

M.Przybysz K.Przybysz

Rally New York - April 3-4^th, 2009 - Ellenville

The “Vowelless” team is back for the first round of the Rally New York Championship. As defending champion, Maciek, planned to push hard all weekend where he is most competitive: tarmac. Unfortunately, mother nature was not so kind, bringing wind, rain, and snow. Notes were adjusted throughout the day from “Slippy maybe” and “Mud maybe” to “Slippy!” and “Mud, remember last time?!”

The usual rally obstacles hit early, in fact, before racing even began. After ceremonial start he noticed a vibration in the steering. The service crew changed the tire but after two stages the next morning it was back. No choice but to change out the axles or face disaster. The right axle turned out to be broken. Disaster one averted. Back to rally.

The Tempaloni and Seigel stages were a favorite with “JMP into JMP” and a tight hairpin “caution rock piles outside.” A close shave with a chicane spun the car to a stop but they pressed on twice as hard. Disaster two averted.

Pressure was building into Concord South – so much that the blow off valve blew off – literally. Fortunately, the end was near and the car sputtered across the flying finish. A few restarts were necessary to get to the stop control then Maciek and Kristin had to push the car out of the control zone. Sure enough, the blow off valve had blown clear off at the welds and left a gaping hole with a flange. Navi Extraordinaire with her magic bag of tricks supplied sticky Velcro to block the hole and make it back to service. This was turned into a permanent fix and the official reaction on stage was “WOW! This car has balls now!” Lesson learned, didn't need that thing anyway. Disaster three averted.

Day two brought long fast stages. Driver's dream, Brake's nightmare. Brake failure set in after the first nine mile stage, Steve Bogart. Maciek had to down shift and brake early before corners, killing his times. The violent shuddering upon braking meant the pads and rotors had been damaged. A short service followed. Front pads were replaced and brake fluids were bled. The team hit the road for two more stages thinking everything was repaired. Not so. By the end of the stage the brakes were on the outs again. Without another service, Maciek did his best to press on regardless til' the end of the rally.

Despite the typical bumps in the road, (literally and figuratively) the RTI Motorsports team was happy with a top 6 finish regionally and top 7 national. They will come back strong with better brakes and eager to slide in the dirt for the rest of the season.

This event would not happen without the generous support from our sponsors at Somerset Subaru of Massachusetts, www.subaruofsomerset.com, Garcia Racing of Swansea Massachusetts, and 7^th Sign of New Bedford, Massachusetts. We would also like to thank our dedicated and very experienced crew, fellow competitors, Allen and Kevin.

Maciek and Kristin with their Rally New York Championship awards at the banquet Dec 6th 2008.

(Thanks Pete)

RTI Motorsports was established five years ago based in New Bedford, Mass. The team is made up of rally enthusiasts who like to tinker on cars and drive through the woods at ungodly speeds. All members of the team have different ethnic backgrounds hence the name Rally Team International. Countries being represented by the team may include, Poland, Portugal, United States, Greece, and beyond.

 Driver: Maciej "Matt" Przybysz, Maine

 Co-Driver: Kristin (Chute) Przybysz, Maine

 Crew: Paul Lourenco (MA)
          Elio  Dobem (MA)
          Victor Texeira (MA)
         

Team Photographer: Pete Kuncis - www.onalimbracing.com

 Garage: New Bedford, Mass

 Car: 2006 Subaru Impreza STi

 Equipment:

           Tires: Michelins, BF Goodrich

           Suspension: Proflex

           Fluids: Motul

           Engine: 2.0 Turbo

           Transmission: Close ratio  Modena dog engagement  box

           Cage: Custom Cage multi- point

           Seats: Sparco

           Belts: Sparco

           Computer: Coralba

           Fuel: VP Racing

Somerset Subaru

We are actively looking for sponsors for 2009! Please contact us for more info!