Category: Rally

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GRC Round 5: New Hampshire

Doug Patterson

Editor’s Note: Here’s the latest in a series of fan-submitted commentary on the Global Rallycross Championship from Mike Shaw (@oregonwings). We hope you enjoy it as much as we here at OpenPaddock have. The X-Games was over. Loeb returned to France, Toomas Haikkenen is recovering with his broken ankle after a gnarly collision with the jump ramp, and Marcus Gronholm was still out after his bad concussion. Round 4 of the GRC was going to New Hampshire, and I was beginning to lose interest in this new take on a…

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GRC Round 4: X-Games 18 – Was there any doubt?

Doug Patterson

Editor’s Note: Mike Shaw (@oregonwings) continue to provide us with excellent insight to the Global Rallycross Championship. My apologies for the delay in the release of this and a post that will be released tomorrow. Those of you know me know what’s been occupying every scrap of my spare time lately. –Doug Patterson The X-Games round of the Global RallyCross Championship was supposed to be an epic battle. We have had 2 time World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm dominating the season in his Ford Fiesta, and then coming into the…

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Rally – New England Forest Rally Preview

Doug Patterson

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…

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GRC – Event 2 Review: Texas

Doug Patterson

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…

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Global Rallycross Championship – Event 1 Review

Doug Patterson

Contributed article by Mike Shaw (@oregonwings) — So the first round of Global Rallycross Championship took place two weeks ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Unusually this GRC event was 100% tarmac instead of the 50/50 tarmac and dirt split. Apparently the folks at Charlotte didn’t like the idea of a couple of tons of gravel and dirt being dumped onto their precious asphalt and being ground in by 600 plus horsepower fire breathing 4wd rally cars. That meant the 70ft gap jump present at all rounds last year was missing…

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Rally – 2012 STPR Review

Doug Patterson

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…

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Rally – Photos from the 2012 STPR

Doug Patterson

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.

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Rally – 2012 STPR Preview

Doug Patterson

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…

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Rally – Fan Perspective of Oregon Trail Rally Pt. 3

Doug Patterson

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…

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