In this episode Mike, Matt, and Tom welcome new member Ian Holmes to the show. Ian helps us debate VW’s exit from the World Rally Championship and where the drivers might go. We also discuss the big announcements last week from Subaru and the American Rally Association which appears to cement the new series as a real championship. We go over the 2016 Rally America Championship results, what the ARA announcement might mean for Rally America, and we finish things off with the Red Bull GRC announcement that they plan on adding all electric cars in 2018. If you would like to add any of your own thoughts or questions for our show, please let us know in the comments!
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Show Notes:
WRC News –
- Wales Rally GB – Yeah, seems everyone forgot we just had a rally!
- VW Pulls out of the WRC aka “Vexit”
- Saved WRC from great recession, brought in a level of commitment, marketing, and professionalism that set a new standard.
- 4 consecutive driver and manufacturer championships
- VW won 42 of the 51 WRC rounds since it entered with its new Polo program in 2013 (potentially 43 if they win in Australia)
- What does “Vexit” mean for the sport?
- VW developing the POLO R5 for customer sale in 2018
- The big question…where do the drivers go?
- Ogier
- Latvala
- Mikkelsen
- WRC “anti-Ogier” rules reverted for 2017
- Where does Red Bull take its sponsorship?
American Rally Association –
- Released latest draft of technical rules, very much in line with CARS. Some upset that there are now engine limits for Group 5
- 2017 ARA championship schedule released
- Rallye Perce-Neige; Maniwaki, Quebec; Feb 3-4
- Oregon Trail Rally; Columbia Gorge, Oregon; April 21-23
- Olympus Rally; Shelton, Washington; May 13-14
- Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally; Wellsboro, Pennsylvania; June 2-3
- New England Forest Rally; Newry, Maine; July 21-22
- Ojibwe Forest Performance Rally; Detroit Lakes, Minnesota; August 26-27
- The big news, Subaru announces sponsorship of ARA for 2017 season
- Subaru confirms both Higgins and Pastrana to compete all rounds of ARA
- Subaru Contingency Program – Increased money for “Restricted Open” class and only eligible for ARA events
Rally America –
- Season Finale results from LSPR
- LSPR Results
- 2016 Rally America Championship Results
- Overall
- Higgins and Drew -Decided earlier
- SP champ Troy Miller
- NLO champ Seamus Burke
- Super Production
- Troy Miller
- Agatino Fortunato
- Lauchlin O’Sullivan (partial season)
- 2-wheel drive
- Cameron Steely
- Ryan Millen
- Steve LaRoza
- B-Spec 2wd
- Jordan Guitar
- Keanna Erickson-Chang
- Tommy Passemante a.k.a. “Street Bike Tommy”
- National Limited Open
- Seamus Burke
- Adam Short
- Garry Gill
- Overall
- Rally America – 4 events confirmed for 2017 so far
- Studless Sno*Drift; Atlanta, Michigan area; January 25-28th
- Rally in the 100 Acre Wood; Salem, Missouri area; March 17-18
- Colorado Rally; July 20-22nd;
- New Location, new organizers, new roads, but exciting to see that they have worked with the mayor and governor to plan a Denver, Colorado city stage to start the event!
- Lake Superior Performance Rally – Confirmed to stay with RA – No dates given as of yet
- Will RA survive?
Red Bull GRC
https://performanceparts.ford.com/download/pdfs/2016_Contingency_Program.pdf
Under the heading Rally America. Its actually a pretty damn good deal, they clearly have it structured to get people into Fiesta’s. Considering Tim O’Neils desire to get people into 2wd cars, in a structured series that produces GOOD DRIVERS rather than “america champions”, this approach makes sense. Cross fingers the Focus RS gets a contingency spot for 2017 as the cars were only released recently.
Thanks for the Ford Contingency link Adam! I personally agree with you that starting out with 2WD does tend to produce better drivers. That said, I also agree that we need to keep Open Light alive for the regionals because the older model normally aspirated Subarus are a very reliable and therefore inexpensive platform to run for the group of racers that can only afford to compete sporadically. If someone wants to move up the rankings though, fwd and learning to maintain momentum through corners is the better place to start. And I fully agree that the Focus RS needs to be added to the contingency list. The bigger Focus is a more likely car for Americans to buy than a Fiesta, so it fits better with the WOSSOM (Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday) concept.