One of my favourites the Swift enters a sharp left hander on the Pontins stage giving the independant rear suspension a work out, the independant rears really look to make a different over the cars standard rear beam setup but the car looks to be set up fairly soft suspension wise. The Alcon brakes certainley getting a workout on the tight hairpin proceeding this corner. Sadly the pair would retire after SS16 ending their challenge.
A yellow Type R screams through the splits on the Pontins stage the Type R’s always go well on tarmac but lacking torque lower in the rev range makes the high revving NA engine a crowd favourite at full chat.
John Deegan in another similarly specced Type R was sport panel damage evident of an off during the days stages.
Neil Wearden was on course car duties in his newly completed Mk2 Escort i’ve no doubt had he been entered he’d be running well up in the order. Haven’t seen Neil about for a while he used to pilot the Astra Kitcar in the British Rally championship in the late nineties.
Steve Simpson still pilots the venerable Hyundai Accent WRC after a win on last years event he was favourite to take the overall win again this year. Sadly he’d go on to snap a drive shaft after stage 16 putting an end to the pairs challenge.
Pre event favourite David Burns could only manage 4th in the Bat Motorsport Corsa unable to match the pace of the C2R2 of Stephen Chamberlain on the days stages.
Kevin Jeffray piloting the ex Gwyndaf Evans Escort came home in 11th place ironically!
Conrad Law/Chris Walton went over the limit and retired fantastic to see the car on the runs through the Pontins stage.
Tony Bardy would go on take the overall event win in his Nissan Sunny GTI-R 29 seconds ahead of Graham Coffey in a Subaru Impreza WRC.
So what better way to start a 4 day weekend than a trip to the seaside, ok so it’s Winter, the offseason and everything in Blackpool is either closed, wet or cold the day starts off at Moorland motors for scrutineering.
I’d been eager to see this Suzuki Swift after noting its entry on the list whilst externally its looks mirror the S1600 its a different animal. Gone is the 1600 MA16 Engine to be replaced by a 2 litre dry sumped motor mated to a sequential gearbox making a respectable 300hp, a hefty 82hp more than the S1600 version.
Ironically i’d argue the AE86 has a greater history in rallying before the drifters jumped on the platform, this car running steadily all weekend.
Definitely my favourite car of the event this gorgeous Toyota Starlet a very different choice to whats normally used at national level.
Another shot of the Swift sporting Alcon brakes front and rear with Harry Hockleys full independent rear suspension replacing the standard swifts torsion beam.
Lindop brought their 13b NA rotary powered Mk2 Ford Escort, seemingly still running in the 1400 class much to the dismay of the other competitors. The MSA will catch up with the rotary eventually, the car sounded amazing down the promenade the high pitched scream echoing off the ageing concrete.
The prom was slippy with a combination of sand, seawater and darkness catching out even the most experienced.
You’d not bet against Bat Motorsport to win the 1600 class their weapon of choice being a homebrew widetrack Corsa C.
Sometimes its worth standing out in the cold for that one perfect photograph and I nailed this one,
When you get a little disheartened with the whole car thing sometimes its good to really step outside your comfort zone and see whats on the other side of the fence. I’ve grown pretty tired of the club scene each new one markets itself as “better than the rest” but in reality its the same old, recycled and repackaged.
So with an open mind I went to the Unphased VW meet, VW? 12 months ago i’d have laughed at the the thought,
Mk3 Golf
I loved the stance on this Lupo i’m told these are the winter-wheels with the car usually rolling on a set of Porsche Pepperpot wheels.
I really loved this mk3 Golf the wheels really compliment the bodycolour, gets me thinking what a mk3 would look like with Work SP1′s fitted.
Not so keen on the wheels but the rest is pretty good, having a front plate seems to be a no-no.
That Mk3 again
This VW Caddy is a local one i’ve seen about a fair few times, naturally the photo had to be spoilt by the bonnet being opened haha
VW Golf R32
Nice stance on this newer generation Polo i’m not feeling he wheels though I see influences of the Japanese VIP scene on this car. It’s interesting to see how diffrent scenes interpret a similar style with a different flavour.
A lineup of Corrado’s
Staceys VW Golf, pretty clean overall
MK2 With a set of Sparco bucket seats looked to be a track machine
And another shot of the Ghia dropped on what looks to be a set of Porsche wheels, I even love how bad the paint looks. It turned out to be a pretty good night VW guys seem more friendly than what im used to and I learnt a bit about the scene throughout the night.
I’m digging the Mines Spec-x 6.0 even if it does sound like a crappy remake of an already overplayed action franchise, but with the car now nudging 600ps who’s to complain? I really love the look of this car i’m really over the hype surrounding the car i’ve seen so many standard examples and grey imports its really lost its exclusivity.
Give it 6 months and Ronaldo will be driving one, likely into the wall of a tunnel interesting detail leaving the dry carbon on a portion of the hood exposed.
Really not feeling the spoiler its just a little too small for me, i’m an evo enthusiast big wings are win. Expect a report from the Northwest Stages rally at weekend as the year finally gets underway proper.
Pictures courtesy of GTR-World.net
Porsche 996, Top Secret, perfect although it needs a rear wing i’m not by any means a Porsche man but I love the styling of Top Secret’s G-Force aero.
So thats in the Honda s2000 meets its maker at the end of June, to celebrate Honda have produced a special runout edition which looks much the same as the other editions. I’d love to own one of these some day they look fantastic with the hard top but with no imminent replacement Honda’s rear wheel drive screamer is off to the slag heap.
Apparently it snowed in the UK this week, must have missed that
The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, shamelessly stolen from Kumakubo’s Team Orange blog, Team Orange are the Tsuiso kings, Kumabuko and Tanaka came over to enter EDC and pretty much cleaned up. Maybe they’ll be back this year? one of the cars is still kicking about.
Kumakubo’s new Evo X looks fantastic at full lock the aggressive M-sports Aero complimenting the X’s natural lines.
They pull some crazy stunts, drifting at each other?
Go watch this video, its an education : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYnDHDa8pkA
I’ve been waiting for various championships to kick off for a good few months now the first to kick off is the 2009 Rally America Championship. With Travis Pastrana a clear favourite for thet season after last years near dominant performance the action got underway in the forests of Northern Michigan.
The shakedown gets underway interestingly the cars stateside dont use the skinny snow tyres of their WRC counterparts.
Ken Block had an off on the first days competition and would eventually retire with mechanical difficulties scoring no points on the first round.
Matthew Johnson / Jeremy Wimpey would go on to finish 14th overall in the bugeye.
Considering the conditions the turnout was pretty great, Travis Pastrana here battles through the snow.
For 2008 Derek Ringer partners the newcomer Dave Mirra, more at home on a BMX he’s taken well to the sport since the X-Games showing the cross over appeal within the extreme sports community for rallying. The sport seemingly now becoming a lifestyle sport amongst Americans and attracting big name sponsorship.
The snowbanks didn’t look so developed usually on a snow rally you can lean on these to push the car back on the road.
Dave Mirra’s Open class Subaru undergoing a service from the new Monster Energy support truck. Travis Pastrana would go on to claim the first victory of the 2009 season with a win in difficult conditions.
Pictures courtesy of and property of Subaru Rally Team USA
