The last round of the Rally America National Championship is almost here! Next weekend, 78 teams will take to the back roads in the mountains around Olympus, WA. That’s a record turnout for the Rally America Series! All season long, the Rally America events have been recording record entries and seeing record crowds come to enjoy rally racing. It all points to the rising popularity of rally racing and seeing competition between real cars. IndyCar racing is exciting, but the cars are nothing like anything you’d see in the showroom,…
Read MoreCategory: North American Rally
News from the various stage rally organizations throughout North America.
Rally – New England Forest Rally Preview
The 2012 New England Forest Rally is this weekend, and our friends at Last Ditch Racing return to Rally America to compete in their home event. Driver John Cassidy and co-driver Jennifer Daly will be taking his 2003 Subaru WRX-STi to the difficult Maine roads in their one Rally America appearance of the season. “We haven’t missed a Maine Forest Rally / New England Forest Rally for the past thirteen years, but I think we still have more speed to show on our home roads. We really enjoy the rough…
Read MoreRally – STPR Day One Recap from Rally America
Rally – 2012 STPR Review
The following article is a contribution by Mike Shaw, @oregonwings. Have something you’d like to contribute? Send us an email! After all, our motto is “Motorsports commentary for the fans, BY the fans!” As expected there was drama in the woods this weekend at the Waste Management Susquehannock Performance Trail Rally®. STPR isn’t a long rally, but it is no less exciting. With its wide nicely cambered and sweeping gravel roads, its many drivers’ favorite event. The flowing nature of the stages allows for high speeds and corner cutting, but…
Read MoreRally – Photos from the 2012 STPR
Tom and Brenda survived the severe weather on Friday, although their camp site was quite battered. They were able to recover on Saturday and continue taking some fantastic images of the 2012 Susquehannock Performance Trail Rally. We’ll have a full review of the event soon, but for now congratulations to Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard for overcoming Day 1 cooling issues and taking the overall win. O’Sullivan and Putnam took the Super Production victory, and Duplessis and Kihurani survived the 2WD battle with the Aussies.
Read MoreRally – 2012 STPR Preview
Editor’s Note: Mike Shaw is a regular visitor to OpenPaddock.net and rally fan. His contributions to our rally coverage began with his articles summarizing the rally action and fan experience from this year’s Oregon Trail Rally, and he continues his contributions here with coverage of the Susquehannock Performance Trail Rally. Be sure to check back regularly throughout the weekend for new articles and give him a follow on Twitter, @oregonwings. 2012 Susquehannock Performance Trail Rally Preview – Round 4 of the Rally America National Championship Although the Open class seems…
Read MoreRally – Fan Perspective of Oregon Trail Rally Pt. 3
Editor’s Note: This is the 3rd and final part of Mike Shaw’s (@oregonwings) summary of the recent Oregon Trail Rally. As Shaun mentioned in Part 1, we are very happy to have great contributions and insights from fans like Mr. Shaw. After all, this is exactly what we at OpenPaddock are all about: motorsports commentary for the fans, by the fans! Enjoy Mr. Shaw’s Day 3 summary and be sure to check out the great collection of photos he captured at the rally. OREGON TRAIL RALLY – DAY 3 This…
Read MoreRally – Fan Perspective of Oregon Trail Rally Pt. 2
Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of Mike Shaw’s (@oregonwings) summary of the recent Oregon Trail Rally. As Shaun mentioned in Part 1, we are very happy to have great contributions and insights from fans like Mr. Shaw. After all, this is exactly what we at OpenPaddock are all about: motorsports commentary for the fans, by the fans! Enjoy Mr. Shaw’s Day 2 summary and be sure to check out the great collection of photos he captured at the rally. OREGON TRAIL RALLY – DAY 2 Day 2 of the…
Read MoreRally – Photos from the Oregon Trail Rally
We extend huge thanks and MAD props to Mike Shaw for his contributions to our coverage of the 3rd Round of the Rally America National Championship, the Oregon Trail Rally. Not only did he offer up a very nice summary and write-up, Fan Perspective of Oregon Trail Rally Pt. 1, he also offered us a collection of outstanding images from the event, all taken from the spectator areas! His work should be proof-positive that you don’t need the fancy media vest or the monster glass to take some great images…
Read MoreRally – Fan Perspective of Oregon Trail Rally Pt. 1
Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Mike Shaw for his write up of the event as a fan. The article will be broken up by three parts to cover each day of the event! Enjoy! I’ve been a rally fan for a few years now. I had always heard of the rally racing heritage of the Subaru WRX, and I even bought a Subaru Outback back in 2005 with the same 2.5 Liter turbo engine. At the time I still thought it was something done in far away reaches of the…
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