Ideally I should preface this post with a description of what the Al Hussein International Rumman Hillclimb actually is all about, including its rich history full of famous competitors and importance in terms of the motorsport scene for the little country of Jordan. Perhaps that is worth an essay of its own to be put in a separate thread on ADPCC later. Suffice to say it's a 3 km hillclimb with a 257 meter elevation change (average rise of 8.5%), consisting of 27 bends (including 4 hairpins), and has been running for over 50 years now. Legendary is not too far-fetched of a term to use with the Rumman Hillclimb in my opinion. Here is a link to the map, as well as a link to the top times over the last few years:

http://www.racj.com/rumman_map.html
http://www.racj.com/results_87_04.html

For now, this thread will be a detailed pictorial review of the events that led up to last Friday's (October 2nd) second overall result by the UAE-based Jordanian driver Fadi Bikawi on board his HC400R (loosely based on an EVO VII). The quest for a podium finish at the Rumman has been close to 15 months in the making, and has been a very challenging project for everyone involved. Needless to say, such an ambitious endeavour will involve much blood, sweat and tears, and there was no shortage of any of that in this case. Without further ado, and in chronological order:

Sunday, August 16: Dyno tuning at Patriot in Abu Dhabi

It took almost an entire year for HC400R to be in a condition fit enough to be to taken to a dynamometer for tuning. In that year, countless obstacles were encountered, but that is better left for another separate thread. On this hot and humid day in August, we went to Patriot Performance in Musaffah to get some tuning done on the car, as there was nowhere on the road where we can tune a car without aircon or windows. Driving the newly acquired trailer to a dyno in Dubai was not an option as both of us had day jobs, and by the time we arrive there the dyno shops would have closed for the day.

After spending 10 minutes strapping in the low and delicate car, our dyno session was cut short for several reasons. First, the Daztek dyno there would not read horsepower figures when run in 4WD mode. We were hoping to get some idea of the engine’s potential HP output to compare to last year’s motor, but accepted our fate and went ahead and used the dyno simply as an engine loading machine. After doing the first power run it became apparent that the retarder at the front axle was not working, since the engine was revving so fast across the rpm range that it was very difficult to do any useful tuning. This meant we couldn’t even use the dyno to provide a simple load. There was a silver lining though, since we did catch a glimpse of some vapour being released from under one of the fuel injectors. It turned out that there was a bad seal under one of the injectors which allows fuel to leak under boost into open air. It was a good thing we caught this hazard before it escalated into a disaster! Another discovery made on the dyno while the hood was open was that the fuel pressure was dropping fast, and the twin Bosch 044 fuel pumps were making weird noises while struggling to supply flow. This led us to replace the fuel pressure gauge at the fuel rail with one that sits INSIDE the car so it can be monitored all the time.



Monday, August 17: Fix fuel issues

Four new adapters were fabricated for the injectors, and a new more robust fuel system was ordered to replace the 044's. Here is the humble garage in Musaffah where this and a lot more work was done on HC400R:



And this is the perpetually energetic Bengali mechanic, Raju, beside Fadi.



Saturday, September 5: Dyno tuning at TAM Auto Engineering in Dubai

After much waiting, the new fuel system arrived via DHL express, including filters, pump, suitable AN fittings, baseball cap and a poster of a scantily clad buxom. Everything was fitted along with a fuel pressure gauge in-car to keep tabs on the pump's performance. Earlier in the week we drove the car on an empty stretch of road in Musaffah to make sure the fuel pressure was not dropping under boost, but after 5 minutes of driving the car sprung a coolant leak and we had to take it back to the garage. After getting the coolant leak repaired at 1000 Dunes Garage in Dubai, we went to TAM's dyno dynamics dynamometer to tune the new engine and see what it will make in terms of hp. As luck would have it, we ran into more obstacles. Starting out at low boost, the car was gradually tuned for optimum air fuel ratios. 5 minutes into the tuning session, we almost suffocated from the exhaust fumes and had to leave the dyno room. This was due to the side exit exhaust which was nowhere near the extractor fans located behind the car. Luckily TAM had gas masks at hand, so the tuning continued with both of us wearing masks the entire time. This is the only picture I have, but mtarifi should have some better ones from that day. It was a comical sight indeed to see two guys sitting in a car on the dyno, wearing gas masks, tuning a car with a laptop:



Around half an hour into the tuning, we lost boost completely. After some fiddling about it became clear that the stock recirculating dump valve (a metal EVO MR unit) had burst its diaphragm. With no replacement on hand, it was blocked off and tuning commenced sans DV. After a few more runs, the vacuum hoses to the boost controller came off, and we lost any control of boost. Not wanting to risk overboosting the new engine and damaging something, we chose to end the tuning session, having done no tuning at high boost. Lesson learned: new blow off valve needed as well as cable ties on all vacuum hoses.

Tuesday, September 8: Registration at Abu Dhabi Muroor

The car's registration had run out while it was jumping between garages all year. Time for a renewal. Like any other vehicle, we had to queue at the Muroor in Abu Dhabi, and since this was in Ramadan after iftar, the queues were long. To me this was a ridiculous sight, seeing a race car go through the Muroor test procedure (including exhaust emissions testing), but rules are rules. The employees there had a heck of a time crawling through the FIA approved CustomCages rollcage beams into the driver seat, and a harder time operating the dogbox and twin plate clutch. Eventually the technicians there gave up on doing the roller braking test and chassis check, but the car did fail to pass due to a color change. Last year it was black. After the crash in Rumman 2008, it was painted Pepper White, taken from the R56 Mini. Police permission had to be obtained for this color change, delaying registration till the next day.





Saturday, September 19: Arrival in Amman

The car was trucked off to Amman and luckily it arrived without any unusual delays or incidents, unlike another competitor whose car fell off the truck while in transit from a neighbouring country. HC400R found its new home in the shop at Bayader, where it spent a few days parked over Eid before getting minor work done to it during the 2nd and 3rd days of Eid:



This is Atef's new 2 door Subaru with a 22B body kit. A nice machine and the only GC8 2 door STi in Amman so far:



Some interesting machinery in the vicinity of the shop:





These posters were all over Amman, on every major road, probably as a result of the Greater Amman Municipality’s support role for Rumman 2009. No other Rumman event in recent memory has had such advertising:



Rami (owner of purple E21 turbo above) testing a more reliable means of transport:



Sunday, September 20: Test drive

This sight of Anas filling the tank became very normal as this car does go through fuel fast. Here it is being prepared for a drive on public roads around the shop to make sure no wheels fall off or something:



Monday, September 21: Minor work

Some minor fixes were done today, some at the shop, and some at Zidan's. Yes that is an E36 convertible turbo that weighs over 1600kg. Yes that is a NOS bottle. Yes it is scary fast on the ultra-smooth Amman tarmac where grip is non-existent:









Tuesday, September 22: Minor work again

The Bikawi brothers trying to figure out how to activate the anti-lag on the Autronic in order to make loud exhaust noises, which will consequently scare off other competitors before and during the race. The louder the car, the faster it appears to be:



TJ and family showing up in his extraordinarily mint R32T. Yes, T as in turbo:



Wednesday, September 23: Rewiring

It became a chore trying to drive the HC400R up the ramps with the low lip on the bumper even though we had it raised to the max before it left UAE. Hence the bumper came off completely to facilitate moving around the industrial area in Bayader:



As desertevo found out, there is no shortage of interesting machinery in Jordan:



A T88'ed E30 that is worthy of a magazine cover:



A Fiat Bravo with the heart of an Integrale and a big turbo:



HC400R's underdash wiring being redone for the sake of safety and reliability. Suffice to say it was a mess when it left UAE, and could have resulted in a fire if Abdullah had not taken care of it:



Thursday, September 24: Alignment

Driving the car to get lowered and have a 4 wheel alignment:



A special car this is, even though it’s a Lancer at heart:



Friday, September 25: Engine and suspension tuning

On Friday we rented the Madaba race track (50+km south of Amman) in order to give Fadi some seat time in the new car with the new engine + suspension. It would also be a chance to tweak the suspension settings. Along the way to Madaba we decided make a stop-over to do some road tuning at an area behind the airport called Qastal. This would be our first opportunity to drive the car at WOT to see what the new engine was capable of. After having failed to get any indication of horsepower from either of the two dyno trips, our well-calibrated butt dyno will have to suffice. So we loaded the car on the tow truck:



Then we filled her up with fuel, installed the wideband, and hooked up the laptop:



We did about 20 minutes worth of road tuning, which was something we could not do in the UAE due to the weather. The engine ran well, and the car's performance was impressive at low boost. In the last few runs, we increased the boost and tuned accordingly. As we were approaching the base location to load the car on the truck, it started to misfire. We figured we had run out of fuel, so thought nothing of it and continued to Madaba race track. As it turned out, on the final pull at high boost we had unknowingly blown a headgasket.

On the way to Madaba we stopped over at a petrol station to repair a puncture we had obtained while driving in Bayader the day before:





Passing through downtown Madaba:



Arriving at the track:



We had to wait for the little Corolla to finish "testing his new rear differential". Some impressive drifting action was shown by the young driver in his turbocharged Corolla.



For the first few laps HC400R would misfire at medium levels of boost. After less than half a dozen laps around the circuit the car started misfiring badly on any level of boost. The traces of green coolant coming out the side exhaust, as well as the bloated aluminium KOYO radiator, said it all. The headgasket was toast:



Three hours later the car was back at Zidan and the head was removed to reveal the extent of the damage:





The car had to be finished that same night since the Rumman was ours for private practice on Saturday, and this would be the last chance to book the Rumman before the official practice on Tuesday. Some pizza was ordered, a new virgin EVO VIII cylinder head was supplid by Zidan, and everyone chipped in with any support they could offer to get this car ready by Saturday morning:



To complicate things, the rod bearings were slightly damaged due to the mixing of coolant and oil:



Zidan has stock of EVO rod bearings, but as luck would have it, the rods we run don't use EVO bearings. They use bearings from a the 6-bolt Eclipse 1G. After running around looking for these bearings, it turns out a set was under our nose all this time in the back of the drawer so to speak.

New bearings being drilled for rod pins, and clearances being checked. The machinist was called from his home on this eventful Friday, and being the petrolhead that he is, he willingly complied:



At around 9pm we got an invite from the Subaru mechanic Ashraf down the road, where Rami Kaghdo had cooked a meal (cooked on charcoal for over 3 hours) consisting of chicken with some korma-like sauce. It was a very pleasant gathering of competitors and mechanics. Taking a break from the headgasket disaster, more thana dozen of us enjoyed a much needed delicious meal:



With the high boost being run, it was decided to transfer the upgraded valve springs from the damaged head to the new head:



It was 4:47am when we left the garage and headed home to catch a couple of hours of sleep before we headed to Rumman:



Before leaving the garage a test drive was done around the block just to make sure it will run fine the next day at the Rumman. Testament to Zidan's motorsport background, all was well and the car was packed up in the garage, ready for its practice day at the Rumman:

Saturday, September 26: Private practice at Rumman

Before setting out to the Rumman, I dropped by to buy some oil for the car in case we need it. I came across this rare Martini 5 in the showroom:



Since we could not quite figure out why the headgasket had blown, I got the fuel injectors tested to make sure their flow was matched. The test did not reveal any problems, but one injector flowed slightly less than the other three, and so it was delegated to injecting duties in cylinder number 4:



Testing at Madaba also revealed that the rear fenders were rubbing the tires, so we got that taken care of too:



11:30am and we are finally on our way to Rumman:



Arriving an hour later, we filled her 5 gallon ATL tank with the good stuff and started the descent to the bottom:



Khalil had arrived before us, but only managed one or two runs up the hill before encountering overheating problems in his E30:



When it was Fadi's turn to drive, we realised that he had forgotten his race suit in the EVO VI, which was still in Amman. So Anas set off in the rented Hyundai Accent to fetch the suit from Amman. While waiting we did some testing on the short section of road leading to Rumman and found that the car misfires badly under boost, so we decided to change the spark plugs. Only problem was that the plugs were in the Hyundai! So we were sitting in the Rumman, enjoying the views and cool breeze for an hour until Anas returned:



Another fuel stop:



At 4pm Fadi was good to go, testing the car in the Rumman for the first time:



The car was misfiring badly even with the new Denso spark plugs. It was very frustrating, but Fadi had to complete the 2 hours of practice at the lowest possible boost setting, and even then the car would misfire. I think he did a total of 4 runs up the hill that day, but unfortunately he did not experience the full power of the car up the hill and hence could not establish any braking points.

Sunday, September 27: The misfiring

On this day we struggled to solve the misfire issue all day. We tried different spark plugs, tried removing the Sparktech CDI COP setup, tried leaning out the air fuel ratio, but to no avail. We still could not solve it. It was a frustrating day.

Monday, September 28: The cure

After suffering from misfires all day on Sunday, and not being able to source any suitable NGK plugs in town, Ayman came to the rescue and offered us 3 sets of NGK plugs (BR8EVX) that cured the misfire. We were back in business. What a relief.



E30 with individual throttle bodies. Makes some nice noise:



Tuesday, September 29: Official Rumman Practice, Day 1

Veteran Michel Saleh arriving from Lebanon in his VI:



Barkev arriving in his mad spaceframed Scirocco, complete with quattro drivetrain and General Motors V6 engine:





HC400R being topped up with fuel, again:



Lining up at the top, preparing to descend. That is Abdo Fegali's EVO VI with the red bull livery:



Misfortune strikes again. On the way up the hill, the wideband clamp came loose from the side exhaust and hit the tire's aluminium valve and broke it. This resulted in COMPLETE loss of air in the front right tire. We had to remove the wheel, and drive half way to Jerash to find a gas station with a machine that can do 18" wheels. That's more than an hour of delay right there. Dhanna trying to consol Fadi in yet another episode of the Rumman saga:



Salem's showcar of an E30:



Antoine Dao in the blue race suit. Date of birth, 1940. Racing his EP3 Civic Type R up the hill. Respect:



Descending down the hill to the start line:



Barkev doing his thing, powering out of those corners like nobody else can:



Khalil's luck strikes again. After overheating on Saturday, he hit a barrier today, but that did not stop him from completing the practice session since the damage was only superficial. The car was repaired that same night, but he managed to hit it again on race day, on the exact same barrier!



Dhanna walking up the hill:



Dhanna carrying a little too much entry speed and almost losing it in the same sweeping corner where Bikawi crashed his black EVO VII in Rumman 2008:



First time racer Thair getting to grips with his newly built EVO VI:



Two monsters:



Khalil losing a fueling jet or something from one of his six carburetors and ending his practice session:



Wednesday, September 30: Official Rumman Practice, Day 2

Unloading the fuel barrel from the van:



Group N EVO X with Abu Dhabi plates. Impressively fast up the hill for such a heavy car:



BMW 2002 on carbs. Classic:



VW GTi ended his session early when he locked his front tires under braking and hit a barrier:



Lining up at the top, preparing for the descent:



A picture taken from the top, to give you some idea of the elevation change. Start line is at the water level:



The road is very narrow in some sections, and merely narrow in others. Yes there is a large drop behind the barrier...



Practice over, the HC400R is back at Zidan, safe with her fellow EVO's of various generations:



A mandatory visit to Racing Dimensions to show Dhanna the level of the local tuning scene compared to Egypt:



Thursday, October 1: Scrutineering

The Amman municipality has recently embarked on a campaign to number and name all streets and houses in the capital. Someone got lucky. This one's for "Black Z":



All this time we were so paranoid about the engine blowing up that we ignored the Active Center Differential, which is the life of the CT9A’s 4WD system. It turns out that the ACD has been malfunctioning all this time, effectively making the center differential open. It's unfortunate that Fadi had to practice on an open center diff, as the car's behavior is quite different when the ACD works as it should, locking when exiting corners, allowing faster exit speeds. Abdullah mixing and matching parts from three different ACD pumps to make one that works:



Hossam and Raed_Himmo arriving straight from the airport to the shop, to the heart of the action:



Front bumper going on before taking the car to scrutineering at the local Royal Automobile Club of Jordan:



With the front bumper now on, it became very very hard to load the car onto the tow truck. With only 30 minutes remaining till the deadline for scrutineering, the car was driven in rush hour to the club, sans ACD pump:



Queuing up for scrutineering:



Fadi putting his number on the doors:





Here Naser, the ASN Scrutineer, is sealing the turbo's 38mm restrictor as per FIA rules, to prevent any funny business:



Hossam and Dhanna with Rami Kaghdo and his yellow GC8 beast:



Driving back to the shop in Bayader to get the ACD pump installed and tested. Small mirrors, wide body and dogbox are not conducive to driving in rush hour:



Adel Metni's ex-Integrale, which won the Rumman back in the August 21st 1992 with a time of 2:15.62. Back then it was Lord Blue, now it’s yellow:



A Skoda Fabia with a turbo the size of a large pizza:



Desertevo finally arriving at the shop, enjoying the excellent weather and the smell of petrol and burning rubber:



To prepare for the race on Friday, it was decided that HC400R would be loaded on to the tow truck late on Thursday night. So at 11pm the tow truck arrives, and Fadi does one final test drive around the block before loading the car. A massive boost leak appears. Panic struck. A leak test was quickly done, and the boost leak was located. It turns out to be the throttle body. It's very unusual for the cover of the idle control valve to pop off, but that is what happened. Since it was past midnight and Zidan had already closed, we opted to remove the throttle body and eliminate the idle control mechanism altogether, using some epoxy to hold the cover to the throttle body housing. Eliminating the idle control valve will allow more air into the engine at idle, necessitating a retune of the anti-lag, but it was the only option. Once again Abdullah was there to help with the wrenching. It must have been 2am before the car was tested around the block and loaded on the tow truck. There was still minor boost leak which we were unable to trace for lack of time, but at least the car ran reasonably well.



Friday, October 2: Race day

The three musketeers obviously happy to be at the Rumman and feeling the adrenaline already:



This is what the service park looked like, early morning at the Rumman:









Park fermé is the new rule introduced to Rumman this year, with only 30 minutes of servicing allowed after every session, and every minute beyond that costing 10JD (up to 20 minutes extra):



Driver's briefing:



Walking over the hill to the highest point:







Yes it is that narrow:



Dhanna taking a photo of the Police's speed radar, so that he can locate a detector for it later on...



All those hours at the gym paying off for desertevo, leading Hossam who has chosen to take a line in the middle, with Dhanna bringing up the rear on the inside...



Hossam powering out of the hairpin and catching up with desertevo at the finish line, leaving Dhanna in their collective dust...



For the final (3rd) run, only the top 10 cars were eligible. Abdo’s car got a fresh rear differential and a fresh set of slicks for his record breaking attempt:



Trophies ready for those who come up the hill unscathed and victorious:



Spectators rush back to the trophy giving ceremony once the last car crossed the finish line:



The top 3 cars were scrutineered again at the finish line for fear of any foul play:





Battle wounds on the HC400R, held together by duct tape:



Prize giving ceremony at the top:



Bikawi and Bikawi Jr:



Fadi receiving trophy for much deserved second place:





The top 3 overall champions, Abdo, Fadi and Naser:



Fadi's TV interview with Jazeera Riadhiyah:



All the boys who came from UAE, Egypt and Bahrain to support Fadi in his mission:



Fadi and myself after a year of much suffering and learning, now in need of a long vacation away from cars and races:



The car blew its head gasket in the latter half of the 3rd run, and arrived at the finish line smoking like a steam train. After the trophy ceremony was over it wouldn't restart, probably due to fouled plugs, so it had to be towed off once again to the shop to have its wounds tended to:



Celebratory dinner with the gang at Applebee's, Mecca Road:



THE END