Pastrana gets former world champ co-driver

[L5->R5/CR]

So, you aren't anti Subaru like you orginally professed, you're anti R-A.

That partially explains why you're banned from SS. (though I do enjoy your wordsmithery)

Here's another enigma for you to cud chew: Kyle Sarasin.

Any thoughts on him? He drives a open class rule WRX this season. Have you seen Duplessis cannonball off a crest yet, driving his Golf like a rented mule? How about him? Zedrils should be your poster child of commitment and progress over just a short time (Nearly matching Shepard this weekend) Or is this just more richboy talent making a mockery of the sport?

I think what we need is more manufacturers to offer contingency and parts trucks. That would solve the subaru problem. Oh wait, we had that, years ago. Mitsubishi went north this year.

John isn't so much anti-subaru/mitsu as he is anti-rich kids in expensive toys driving in mediocrity/the same boring cars that could be replaced with more exciting cars for less money.

I don't think even John could argue against the temptation to build a Subaru. It is all there, readily available, with contingencies, and most importantly it is easy. With that said, a lot of Subaru drivers spend more time trying to buy speed than driving their car like a squealing pig. In that I think a lot of people might agree with him.

Nothing beats seeing a rally car having the wheels driven on it. I find is as enjoyable and exciting to watch the Open class "monsters" in the hands of Tanner, Andy, Travis, Andrew, Antione, and Ken as I do Chris D or the Burress Brothers with the hammer down. The problem is that too many people think they can be Tanner et al instead of aspiring to be Chris or the Burresses (or Jon Nichols, or Andrew Havas, or any others of more than a handful of serious 2wd competitors).

[RallyCat909]

You're really going to be heartbroken to learn that the leading Hyundai and Mitsubishi retired on day 1.

I talked to Antoine at the closing ceremonies, his Hyundai clipped a bank and destroyed some plumbing. I also saw Natalie Ricard and got some pics with her and Antoine, not to mention one Derek Ringer! I was amazed at how humble and down to earth and chatty they were to me.

I also talked to Travis at the closing ceremonies and Travis was sick as all get out. He looked pretty rough. Again, he was more than friendly and even remember rallying with me in 06 at the Rally De Paris where he and 'Cowboy' Kenny Bartram were rallying a Scooby. "Dude, I suck as a co-driver man! I remember you guys were fast!" Was really great to hear compliments from someone that could easily not even bother.

I'll post some pics and I got some nice video from Day 1 and the SSS on day two. I'll get those up this week.

[RallyCat909]

Im not at all a great photog, but I thought some service pics would be appreciated since you can find all the action shots pretty easy.


Derek Ringer


John Buffum


Derek Ringer, Natalie Richard, and Antoine Lestage


Travis Pastrana and Derek Ringers Scooby





I'll post more if interest ensues.

[WRCfan]

Nice photos!!!

[VeniceBeach]

There is a crazy video of Pastrana jumping out of an airplane with no parachute on! Would I drive with him? NO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB7xlNHjduo

[Lalo]

This is a big boost for him. Ringer has lot of experience and it may improve Travis's performance. Congrats, Pastrana!

[janvanvurpa]

So, you aren't anti Subaru like you orginally professed, you're anti R-A.

That partially explains why you're banned from SS. (though I do enjoy your wordsmithery)

I'd say I'm anti hype, and see unjustified hype as the primary thing hindering broader appeal and broader participation.
People have built in BS detectors had many become kind of cynical when they see rather modest driving described as super human feats or whatever, and then they watch on You-tube and good Group H vids from Sweden or F-cup craziness from ''grannlandet till Öster''.

ANYBODY who watches just a little F-cup action needs no explanation and doesn't need to be repeatedly told "This is amazing stuff !!!!" (while yet another car farts thru a corner, revs to 3600 before the driver takes 2 seconds to shift....).

The same thing is seen in the "lower level" playing in a field stuff that Yanks decided bizarrely enough to call "Rally-cross" and which I refuse to have met and spent some time with a couple of guys who did it well: Will Gollop and Per Eklund. It would insult these guys to call playing in 1st and 2nd gear in a stock car anything resembling the crazy and exciting sport that they do. They're NUTS, and I'm impressed.
But many many of the guys playing in dirt lots talk tons of BS calling their stock cars "my rally car" and the casual meets "rallyraces" and brag about how
"I won the Championship" (in a class of 4 over 3 events with a total SEASON time of less than a stage.

As it's the same thing we see in the flashy, lots of pretty website stuff, closely coordinated with Subaru, employing the same "Talent Agency" as Pastrana and whatever the latest newb hero uses to "leverage sports and entertainment", yet they really can't do the simplest of things because they are too closely bound up with Subaru and glitz.
Look at the scandals all around Vermont Sportscar/SRTUSA in the last 15 months which have been suppressed and Rally America attempts to hide with shot-gun new Rules. Look at the unexplained 5 points off last year levied against the Blue Subies.
Look at the unpenalized blatant violation of the red-cross display rule at last years "Snow-drift". It has been tacitly and fragmentarily revealed that the excuse given "A snowmobile driver was riding along a trail parallel to the stage" is hollow and that the obvious reason was to get the stage thrown because the hero boys had a front puncture and were loosing time against Andrew Pinker. And then its revealed that the "unidentified" snowmobile rider is well known, but not named.

Look at their absurd "Don't call, Don't tell" telephone Rule.
Illogically written, impossible to enforce and a shot-gun approach to cure the problem of, allegedly, Vermont Sportscar/SRTUSA people driving ahead of the rally cars and telephoning back to the Team what the road conditions are.
Now there have always been in rally Ice Crews or Gravel Crews doing just that and realistically there's no harm, and nothing I can do to counter it: all I have is used tires anyway.
But they portray Rally America to be a "professional" organisation, and they can't write a rule to save their lives because they can't annoy their one goose that lays their Golden Egg

Here's another enigma for you to cud chew: Kyle Sarasin.

Enigma? hur så?

Any thoughts on him? He drives a open class rule WRX this season.

Mixed thoughts really, first where does a kid 18 afford to drive a GC8 Subie reliably let alone afford the Rally America entry fees which are often over $1200.
Oh wait! I've been told that Rally America owner Doug Havir is paying for the car, and waiving all his entry fees.
Can't understand why he would except to make the "image" of the "product" appeal to the "target demographic" of 12 to 20 year old boys.

But his good results, while I've chuckled at a guy in a 14 year old car nipping at the heels of the alleged "Heroes", it does sorta show that a guy with minimal experience in a basically OK car (and there's no arguing that the Subies as far back as the Legacy work well at what they're supposed to do-----when they're working) can go "about this fast", so either he's REAL GOOD, or the people in front of him aren't nearly so good as the HYPE proclaims. And I think their rather embarrassing result in the carefully chosen WRC events they have dared to enter shows where the problem lies.

Have you seen Duplessis cannonball off a crest yet, driving his Golf like a rented mule? How about him? Zedrils should be your poster child of commitment and progress over just a short time (Nearly matching Shepard this weekend) Or is this just more richboy talent making a mockery of the sport?

I think what we need is more manufacturers to offer contingency and parts trucks. That would solve the subaru problem. Oh wait, we had that, years ago. Mitsubishi went north this year.

Haven't seen any of the Eastern or Midwest guys.
And progress over just a short period of time? Well how do we measure progress? (I won't even begin to address "the short period of time" which is what Americans plan think and expect---and is central to why they do so dissappointingly in those sports that require years of experience and routine--like rallying away from the easy to tow to events here in USA)

I would be impressed if any of the rich guys, either of the Trustafarians from Massachusetts or the lucky weatlthy boys who can put together their 100,000 new cars had the balls to measure themselves in a few simple Finnish F-cup events.
Yeah, simply enter.
But despite sp[ending hundreds of thousands of dolloar to compete in paper thin fields, they studiously AVOID entering events where they cannot be certain that they have bought to best car and parts that money can buy, and therefore be assured, more or less, of what the outcome will be (because they've outspent everybody else by 5 times or more)

Indeed I think that the hype about "the Championship" gets so swallowed that boys think that if they win here it means they are good drivers.

And there it is F-cup which beckons, deep fields 40-60 drivers or more in similar, well prepped cars.

Real competitors would seek out real hard competition, rather than be the Big Fish not even in a small pond, but a Big Fish overhanging a small BUCKET.
Cause USA isn't even a small pond. (My old motorclub AMF Södertälje which was south of Stockholm, had, according to the old quarterly newsletter ''Vrålet'' over 50 entries in the rally KM or rally section's Club Championship in the mid 70s.
50 in the closed to club rally
1 club out of a dozen in Stor stockholm

The absurdity of ken Block's answer when it was posed to him why wouldn't he enter a simpler car in something like a F-cup event was some garbled
"I'm a very competitive person............therefore i want to make sure I have bought much better equipment than anybody I'll be competing against--(in so many words)" shows the confusion in the boys head.
If he was a competitive person then he would seek out the deepest hardest competition he could rather than wasting time beating garage built, shoestring budget, can't afford to crash it type guys we see mostly now.

(I think he knows he'd get his ass kicked so bad that it wouldn't even be funny if he had to drive a simple rwd car fast)

So no, not anti-RA or anti-Subaru (I did build the PNW Region winning STI motor for Dave Hintz a couple of years ago and have built 5 sets of my 50mm suspension for Subies since August), just anti-hype.

[RAS007]

Ken Block et al are all part of that marketing of the "alternative/extreme sport" thing. Take the X-Games as an example. Just as the X-Games have absolutely nothing whatsover to do with the roots and true world of skateboarding, Ken Block has nothing whatosover to do with anything remotely connected to the real of rallying. It is actually quite embarrassing.

[janvanvurpa]

Ken Block et al are all part of that marketing of the "alternative/extreme sport" thing. Take the X-Games as an example. Just as the X-Games have absolutely nothing whatsover to do with the roots and true world of skateboarding, Ken Block has nothing whatosover to do with anything remotely connected to the real of rallying. It is actually quite embarrassing.

And yet when on the appropriately named SS.com Block responded to the many people expressing dismay and disgust at the over hypping of the essentially made-for-TV or "reality TV" ex games, Block responded with a comment showing perfectly his deep character, and respect for those who have been in the sport for decades by referring to all who were not sufficiently amazed at watching 7-8 cars drive in a parking lot in 1st and second gear as
"Haters" .

Blocks latest hype fest was to rip off the idea of a pair of Golden Shoes like were presented by Alpine Stars to the great Tomi Mäkinen after he had won 5 World Championship titles. He had somebody in his shoe company make some Golden Shoes with the number 199, which is his buddy Travis Pastrana's permanent number.

So unoriginal, so classless, so delusional to mimic something like that for somebody who may, in 5-6 years, be a good driver, but who now has trouble breaking into the top 2/3 at last years Rally GB.

It is clear to all that Block anyway believes his own hype. 8(

[Tomi]

Blocks latest hype fest was to rip off the idea of a pair of Golden Shoes like were presented by Alpine Stars to the great Tomi Mäkinen after he had won 5 World Championship titles. He had somebody in his shoe company make some Golden Shoes with the number 199, which is his buddy Travis Pastrana's permanent number.

So unoriginal, so classless, so delusional to mimic something like that for somebody who may, in 5-6 years, be a good driver, but who now has trouble breaking into the top 2/3 at last years Rally GB.

It is clear to all that Block anyway believes his own hype. 8(

, quite amusing, for outsider it sounds like rally in US is more how it looks like, not how it is, when do yu think we can wait to see someone who actually can drive from the US, any ideas?