Rally – 2013 Perryville Farm & Forest Rally

The Rally America Regional, the Perryville Farm & Forest Rally held in Perryville, MO, began early Saturday morning with sun and light winds greeting the 22 teams, ready to tackle the very fast and smoothly flowing farming and forest roads of Southeastern Missouri. Prior to the event, many teams and rally enthusiast had deemed the event to be an Open Light and Group2 showdown, with nearly 20 out of the 23 entries split evenly between the two classes. St. Louis based rally enthusiast Matt and Lauren Conte began their first…

Read More

Rally – 2013 Ojibwe Forest Rally

The sixth round of the Rally America National Championship, the Ojibwe Forests Rally held in Detroit Lakes, MN, sun and strong winds greeted 46 teams ready to tackle the narrow, sandy and extremely technical forest roads. Hoonigan Racing’s Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino dominated from start to finish at the Ojibwe Forests Rally in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota on August 23-24th, finishing first overall. This is the first career Ojibwe Forests Rally victory for Block and his third straight overall win in the Rally America National Championship. Block drove a relatively…

Read More

WRC – Rallying’s Young Chargers Line Up in Ford’s Fiesta R2 Car

DUNTON, England, April 8, 2013 – Ford’s Fiesta R2 rally car will provide the platform for the world’s best young drivers to showcase their skills when the 2013 FIA Junior WRC Championship begins at Rally de Portugal this week. Ten young hot-shots from eight different countries will compete in identical Fiesta R2 cars on gravel roads in southern Portugal’s Algarve region. It is the first of six rounds in the Junior WRC series, which supports the FIA World Rally Championship. It provides the first step on the ladder for potential…

Read More

Rally – VW Ready for Mexico Altitude

The World Rally Championship visits Mexico this weekend with many teams taking part in recce today. Mexico proves a tricky challenge not only for the drivers, but the engineers as well. For those who are new to the WRC, Rally Mexico pushes the teams to altitudes they do not experience anywhere else on the schedule. This has a major impact on the engine and how it performs. The official WRC page put up a great story here that detail how Volkswagen prepared for the tricky altitude conditions. “On the one…

Read More

Breaking: WRC – Ford Quit as Title Sponsor to M-Sport

COLOGNE, Oct. 15, 2012 — Ford of Europe today announced that it will withdraw from the FIA World Rally Championship as a title sponsor after the 2012 season. The company said it made the decision as part of a review of its European business in the current difficult economic environment. “Ford has a long and proud history in the WRC and this was not an easy decision,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “At this time, however we determined that it was better…

Read More

Rally – Olympus Rally, a Fan’s Perspective

Editor’s Note: Mike Shaw has once again given us a remarkable rally article. He and his wife attended the final round of the Rally America National Championship, the Olympus Rally. This was Mike’s second rally of the year, having been to the Oregon Trail Rally earlier this year. In spite of the on-stage spectator areas being closed, the service park and super special stage still offered plenty of excitement. We welcome Mike’s contributions and encourage the rest of you to follow in his footsteps. Have an motorsports opinion, or been…

Read More

GRC – Event 2 Review: Texas

Another excellent contribution from rally fan and fan of OpenPaddock.net, Mike Shaw (@oregonwings). Do you love motorsports as much as us? Why not contribute your thoughts and opinions? We’d love to post and share them! Round 2 of the GRC takes place at Texas motor speedway in conjunction with the IndyCar event. A little bit longer course is laid out this time vs. the one in Charlotte. It is still 100% tarmac, but the one thing everyone is talking about is the return of the large jump. This time it…

Read More

Episode 138 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike and Doug as they are left in control of the show. Shaun was in transit to Indianapolis and gave up the controls for once. The boys talk about all things Spanish Grand Prix as well as look ahead to Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Read More

Episode 136 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Doug as they look back at IndyCar in Brazil and WRC in Argentina. That and lots of great discussions on engines. Could this be the beginning of the end for Lotus? Not if INDYCAR has anything to do with it.

Read More