Here’s some news for Jay (Jdmego) Moto GP star Valentino Rossi will take part in this years Wales Rally GB in an as yes undisclosed car, Rossi had a pretty respectable showing in Rally New Zealand a few years back but went off the road early on in the first stage on Rally GB.

Wish him luck hopefully he’ll have a better event this time, check out the scheme from Rally New Zealand a few years back, I love the black with gold gravel wheels and the reflective windows on the rear.

There’s not much happening at the moment in the UK, the show season is pretty much done and it’ll soon be winter. But yeah i’m an Evo fanatic i’ve got a framed X poster on the wall, Tommi Makinens Evo 6 WRC in RC car form and there’s a model of Tommi’s Safari Rally 6 on the desk.

My dad was always about the Impreza, but i’ve been a diehard Evo guy since I first saw Tommi back in the Evo 4 in the WRC i’d love someday to own one but i’ll just make do with the Swift for now.

So here’s two Evo’s i’m liking, if your not familiar with Gymnkhana its basically Autocross against the clock

I’ve featured both these before but what the hell.

So Sunday see’s me starting yet another day at 6am with the onset of Winter the days are getting shorter, rallying was one of the reasons I bought this car Suzuki’s dominance in the JWRC did wonders for the brand but anyway I digress.

After filling the car to the brim with camera equipment and my spectating gear its time for the off.

Well ok just one more, joining the M6 I headed south then east to North Yorkshire (On reflection I should have just ventured East)

So I arrive at Pickering showground the Rally hub and home of the service park and showground superspecial stage, i’m never a big fan of superspecials and this one is one of the shortest.

It’s weird seeing WRC’s at national level these are the most common but they still look hard, I remember Richard Burns sliding one of these round on Rally GB back in the day.

Check out this recce car most of the bigger teams have a recce car for making gravel/tarmac notes during the planning stages of the rally, typically just a road car with gravel tyres and a sumpguard.

Gwyndaf has been there and done it, if there was ever a guy who deserved a WRC seat its the original fast Welshman, Evans doesn’t really have much to prove anymore he’s more than capable of taking it to the younger guys.

So here’s the obligatory Mk2 with group 4 arches

The historic rally championship is traditionally dominated by the MK2 Escort, I loved this classic Toyota Celica.

The Swift Sport Cup entrants poured into the service area around lunch, here i’m trying not to be run over by Ross.

Its always great to see female rally drivers in the sport more often than not they easily show the men how its done, here is Shelly Taunt’s Group N STI.

One of the Swift competitors managed to hit something fairly substantial bending this lower arm these seem to be the weekspot on both the rally and road car, clammering a rock usually does the trick though.

Mark Gamble took the championship on the Trackrod, having a fairy relaxed service here he just had to claw back the lost time to secure the championship often taking 20-30 seconds out of the other guys on the stages, impressive considering how short both the day and the stages were.

And Mark Gamble again, some of the prep on the cars is fantastic and all undertaken by MSE check out the weld in cage, nearly all the cars had some form of body damage this one in several peices and the owner of the bent control arm posted earlier

I’m wondering whether this would make the OG-made guys smile or cry, Enkei gravel rims are some of the best. Tommi Makinen used to rock these on the championship winning Lancer in the WRC for years when the other teams used OZ Racing wheels. On gravel its really only a choice of Enkei’s or Speedlines. Even in rallying you get what you pay for

So your probably sick of my car now right? but I managed to score us a club stand in front of the Pirelli tyre truck courtesy of the organisors.

The Superspecial didn’t really blow me away so myself and a friend headed to Dalby Forrest to see some real action, the 2wd S1600 Puma shown here was flat on the throttle before making the hard left, showering me with gravel, good times. I managed to fall in a ditch again which has now become a rallying tradition lol

Nothing beats a screaming 1600, the pops and bangs reverberating off the surrounding tree’s of Dalby forrest, the dusty conditions made it hell for the spectators and by the time I came to leave I felt at one with the gravel, literally.

Daren Gass is always on it here peddling the Pirelli EVO

Henry Catchpole from Evo Magazine has been an eyeopener in this years series with little experience he’s mixed it with the buy guys on more than one occasion but seemed to be struggling on the sharp gravel.

Congratulations to Mark Gamble and Steve Link on their inagural Swift Sport Cup championship win, after loosing a chunk of time in the early stages with a puncture, Mark recovered to finish second overall allowing him to take the title.

Mark was on it in the stage pictured nobody was as sideways as mark through that corner, although I did get a face full of gravel.

The site of a Group N Impreza sideways on Dalby Forrest’s razor sharp gravel and the resulting gravel rash would make any serial polisher wince, but I love the stuff. I’m dusty as hell, as is the car and my legs hurt but nothing beats a days spectating, expect a bumper Trackrod Rally Report soon.

Pretty great start to the winter season, check back soon, i’ve lashings of Evo shots for Jay too

I first came across Amuse in the popular Playstation game Gran Turismo, back then I didn’t really know much about the company or what they stood for, back then the Amuse s2000 epitomised to me what tuning was all about and kick started my interest in quality Japanese parts and influenced my outlook on Japanese tuning in general.

The Amuse Carbon-R is the engineers car product development is usually dictated by a desire for profit as well as a means of improving a car’s performance, but this is where one man’s obsession and imagination took him, Hideki Tanabe.

Who else could create a carbon bodied rear wheel drive 600hp GTR that weighs less than a Suzuki Swift, Ben from Bespokeventures posted a very moving tribute to Hideki Tanabe who sadly passed away recently, a great loss to the tuning industry.

Go read Ben’s post http://www.bespokeventures.com/blog/?p=1288

Just a collection of Japanese Dirt Trial photographs from the Dunlop Motorsport website in Japan, for those who are unaware the Japanese Dirt Trial championship is a class based championship held on short dirt courses rather than forrest stages. As with rallying cars are timed against the clock mixing the more traditional rallying format with the British invention Rallycross.

Daihatsu seem’s to have involvement heavily in rallying in Japan with representation in both Dirt Trial and the Asia Pacific series, check out this Boon X4 i’d rock one of these having a smaller car makes you appreciate driving such a machine.

Osamu sport Evo 9 rocking a replica WRC spoiler from the last incarnation of Mitsubishi’s WRC program

I love the scheme on this car, Integra’s look hard in rally specification

Evo 9 from speedhouse

The EK9 Type R Honda Civic has a following in Irish rallying circles often the weopon of choice on the tight twisty stages of Northern and Southern Ireland

It’s always weird seeing an Integra rallying they dont really strike me as an idea platform for the sport but evidently i’m mistaken check out the Gram Lights wheels and Ings+1 spoiler.

Well the X finished in a very respectable 25th on what was essentially the cars shakedown, to finish and run so well throughout the race with an unproven chasis is testement to the engineering behind the X

I love the chrome Mitsubishi uses for their paintscheme, the livery on this car matches closely that on the ADR Motorsport prepeared Evo 9′s in the British Rally Championship. I’m really not liking the wheel selection though but Speedline have a proven record in motorsport supplying Toyota’s GT1 program at Le-mans a few years back.

Fuel usage seemed to have been the problem with the car making frequen pitstops, i’m really not liking the rear wing though.

These photo’s were taken by  http://www.image-rich.com/ hit up his site

This thing looks hard rolling out of the ADR motorsport workshop check out the full Test & Service aero used on the Super Taikayu Evo x’s, Mitsubishi nailed it, looks great in Mitsubishi now trademark red and chrome scheme. It’ll be interesting to see how the car fares over the 24 hours at Silverstone.

 Round 4 of the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup see’s the championship head to the Ulster Rally in Ireland, the last tarmac round of the season was contested by 7 crews in total. With only two gravel events remaining the stage is set for a final season showdown on the Tempest rally, who’ll take the prize drive on Rally GB?

Richard Boot would eventually take sixth, you can just see one of our Suzuki Swift club owners stickers on the rear quarter panel. I had a chat with Richard on several occasions at the Chatsworth rally. Hopefully the club will be able to cheer both Richard & Mark Gamble on at the Trackrod rally in a week’s time.

Henry Catchpole of Evo magazine had a steady run to a point, hitting a bank on the penultimate stage the pitched into a light roll Henry crawled to the finish without brakes eventually finishing fourth. Henry isn’t a seasoned rally driver but run as high as 2nd during the Toddsleap an impressive result.

Mark Gamble in the Jam Motorsport car fought back to take a well earned third after the problems on Friday

Ross Forde would eventually take the event win after a hard fought battle with Mark Gamble, Gamble still recovering from a puncture late on Friday evening.

With only two rounds to go the series is still close, I think Mark Gamble could be the guy to take the 2008 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup its great to see Suzuki supporting the national scene. With an abundance of one make championships in the UK the Swift Sport cup offers the first step on the Suzuki ladder with the winner receiving a prize drive in a s1600 on Rally GB bring on the Trackrod