Category: Rally America

News and commentary on our domestic rally championship, the Rally America Series.

Rally America to Launch “RALLY AMERICA RADIO” with Jim Beaver

Mike Shaw

We at Open Paddock have been calling for Rally America to offer some sort of live coverage for a long, long time. The excitement of an event is easily lost due to time, so interviewing at stage ends when drivers are quite honestly the most emotional after a tough stage is what adds drama and excitement to rallying. Today Rally America announced it will be working with Jim Beaver of the “Down and Dirty Radio Show” to pull off this new Rally America Radio program. Jim’s Down and Dirty Radio…

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Higgins Tests New 2015 Subaru STI Rally Car

Mike Shaw

David Higgins has been shaking down the new 2015 Subaru WRX STI sedan rally car at Team O’Neil Rally School in New Hampshire.  This is the new generation vehicle for Vermont Sportscar and Subaru Rally Team USA that 4 time consecutive Rally America Champions David Higgins and Craig Drew hope to take to an unprecedented 5th title this season.  I’ve been hearing that it might also get a new wide-body kit added to it when the official launch and new livery is introduced, but even like this it looks pretty damn…

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Rally – Exclusive Interview with John Hoyenga & Chris Duplessis of Nameless Performance Rally Team

Mike Shaw

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe guys at Nameless Performance invited me out to Portland Speed Industries to see their 2.0 version of their GT-86 rally car project.  It was a heck of a beast of a machine the first time around, but as you can see from the photos, they’ve done some dramatic changes. I sat down with Nameless Performance co-owner/everything man John Hoyenga and their new official driver Chris Duplessis to chat about all the work they’ve done since the GT-86 debut in 2013.  John gives us…

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2014 Mt. Hood Rally – Full Recap

Mike Shaw

The 16 car field for the Mt. Hood Rally included many local veterans and some novices eager to take on the 6.14 mile “Road 17” just south of Hood River.  I drove the stage in my passenger car and it was amazingly fast and flowing with only a few long sweepers that would require some good timing as to when it tightens and opens back up.  I had thought it might have had a few twisty bits, but not really.  The fastest person on this stage is the one that…

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2014 Mt. Hood Rally – Latest Updates

Mike Shaw

This page will be updated throughout the event with updated text of driver quotes, stage times, and if possible audio clips from the drivers as well.  Unfortunately initial tests by Mike and Paula Gibeault of rallydata.com showed an extremely weak data signal, so times and quotes will likely be slow in coming. Live Text main site   SATURDAY: &nbsp 14:20 SS3 Completed and cars starting SS4 after another re-seed. Most have been steadily improving their times now that the road has been swept clean, although #271 Matt Tabor was a…

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RallySafe Testing at Lake Superior Performance Rally

Mike Shaw

If you follow international rally racing, you may have heard of RallySafe.  The RallySafe system is an on-board electronic device that can instantly alert safety crews and oncoming cars of emergencies.  In addition to the safety aspect, this system also provides live timing, including split times and GPS location information.  Here’s a description of the RallySafe system from their web site: The RallySafe unit is a small electronic module fitted to a vehicle for use by the navigator and driver. It incorporates a full colour display, key pad, accelerometers, a…

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Rally – OpenPaddock LIVE from Mt. Hood Rally!

Mike Shaw

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be out at the Mt. Hood Rally this Saturday providing (hopefully) live-ish stage end reporting!  I say live-ish as I don’t have live radio as an option, however I will be recording stage end reactions from the drivers and posting texted quotes.  Of course this is all relative to the signal we are able to get in the area, but thanks to the help of rallydata.com of whom I’m working in conjunction with for live texting, we should be able to make it work thanks…

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