Rim of the World - May 4th and 5th Palmdale, CA.
Libra Racing is coming to Palmdale, California May 4th and 5th to compete in the Sports Car Club of America's Performance Rally, "Rim Of The World". Hyundai ace driver Paul Choiniere and his co-driver Jeff Becker return to the tough sandy California stages to regain their record as the best drivers in California. Winning in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996, the duo is back, with a 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. This time bringing reinforcements, by the names of US rally legend John Buffum and co-driver Cindy Krolikowski in their 2000 Hyundai Tiburon, Noel Lawler, and his to be announced co-driver in their 1996 Hyundai Elantra.
Last year both Tiburon’s failed to finish well in the California sand. This season all three drivers plan to score well. The 1996 Elantra driven by Noel Lawler is well known as the car of choice by John Buffum. The Elantra is your normal four door family car. But this wonderful people mover has been converted to AWD (All Wheel Drive), and a 16 Valve 2.0 Liter engine has been stuffed into the engine bay and to fill in the gaps Libra has added a turbocharger based on the Hyundai Sonata. This little daemon produces a whopping 363 HP @ 5800 RPM, and 380 Foot / LBS of Torque @ 4700 RPM.
The Tiburon’s being driven by Buffum and Choiniere are prepared to beat the Prodrive sponsored 2000 Subaru Impreza STi driven by Mark Lovell and co-driver Steve Turvey. Hyundai’s Sporty Tiburon is probably one of the oddest-looking rally cars to hit the gravel in ages outside of Europe. Choiniere’s Tiburon is running with AWD and a turbocharged Special Hyundai 2.0Liter engine based on the Hyundai Sonata, producing 370HP @ 5800 RPM and 392foot/lbs of torque @ 4700 RPM. Buffum’s Tiburon has a Hyundai Motor Corp, 2.0Liter engine producing 371HP @ 5800RPM and 401foot/lbs of torque @ 4700RPM.
Hyundai / Libra Racing have appeared to become more sacred to the lands they have been racing on now that Prodrive a European Rally team has invaded the States. The Prodrive Impreza is a very advanced Subaru, which has been winning in the WRC (World Rally Championship) for many years now. Hyundai will be hard at work to beat out these European intruders. Hopefully this advance Prodrive has made into the US will help improve the chances of FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) noticing the US’s interest in Rallying. Stop back after this weekend to read about Hyundai’s adventure in California at Rim of the World.
For more information on the Rim of the World Rally or Libra racing, visit the links below.
http://www.rimoftheworldrally.com/
http://www.libraracing.com/index.htm
Images copyrighted to Libra Racing.
Text copyrighted 2001 to
Timothy Zacher
NW Rep. HyundaiPerformance.com
Tim@HyundaiPerformance.com
Timothy Zacher
1991 Excel Evo II Rally Project
#346 N
Des Moines, WA
Timothy Zacher
1991 Excel Evo II Rally Project
#346 N
Des Moines, WA
2001 Rim of the World
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