Ken Block is featured in a new GoPro video camera ad barreling through a forest in Potosi, MO as part of his preseason training. For those not familiar with rally car racing you can see just how close drivers come to hitting trees and other obstacles in the off road course. That’s where driver skill and co-driver navigation are critical, something that Ken and is co-driver Alex Gelsomino have in spades. Enjoy.
For more Ken Block check out his previous Gymkhana videos, here and here.
This past weekend, Team RedlineNorth headed to beautiful and tranquil Bancroft, Ontario, Canada to experience the sights and sounds of the annual Rally of the Tall Pines. As the official final stage in the Canadian Rally Championships, Rally of the Tall Pines is home to a very competitive atmosphere as race results are critical to winning the national championship.
Action from Rally of the Tall Pines
The Canadian Rally Championship is comprised of six events held nationwide in a season that extends from February to November. The series is presented by Subaru Canada, supported by Yokohama Tire Canada and officially sanctioned by the Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS). The all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over closed-road courses that typically cover more than 150 kilometers of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.
Rallying is one of the most grueling and difficult of all the motorsports since it combines both driving ability and technical know how as teams must make repairs to the cars on the fly in between the various stages. To be successful, a team must have a skilled and fearless driver along with an experienced navigator who can read the maps and communicate instructions seamlessly to the driver. In addition, teams also need to have talented mechanics and technical support staff to be able to repair the vehicles in order to continue through the multiple stages. Here is a glimpse of the action from the service area after the first stage on Saturday.
And this year did not disappoint fans once again, as it was another close race that saw Patrick Richard and Alan Ockwell’s Subaru edge out Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard’s Mitsubishi for the victory. However, the championship was not on the line since Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard had officially been crowned the 2012 Canadian Rally Champions with their victory at the 2012 Pacific Forest Rally in BC in mid October. Nevertheless, the event was well attended by both local and regional fans along with rally enthusiasts from all over who come to Bancroft to experience Canadian rally racing in its finest form.
Be sure to keep reading the blog as we will be publishing a follow up story soon.
See here for more information on the Rally of the Tall Pines and to check out the final results.
Source: www.carsrally.ca
From November 23rd-24th the annual Rally of the Tall Pines will take place in Bancroft, Ontario about 2.5 hours North East of Toronto. The Rally of the Tall Pines is the sixth and final leg of the 2012 Canadian Rally Championship season. This year RedlineNorth will be covering the 42nd running of the rally and taking in all the twists and turns throughout the day.
Here are some pictures from past Rally of the Tall Pines.
Service Area
Rally of the Tall Pines
Rally of the Tall Pines
Automobile Dacia S.A is a Romanian based car manufacturer, named after the historic region that makes up much of present-day Romania.
Founded in 1966, the Automobile Dacia company was created under the Romanian name Uzina de Autoturisme Pitești (UAP). Its main factory was constructed in 1968, in Colibaşi (now called Mioveni), near Piteşti, Romania. The company began through the acquisition of the basic tooling and designs for the Renault 12. However, until the tooling was fully completed the company decided to produce the Renault 8 model which became known as the Dacia 1100 as seen below.
From 1968 to 1972, some 44,000 of the Dacia 1100 were produced and the design did not change aside from some slight modifications to the front end coming in 1970. Also produced during this time in limited numbers was the 1100S model, which included twin headlamps and a more powerful engine. It was primarily used by Eastern European police forces and local racing and rally enthusiasts.
A Dacia during tougher times.
Although Eastern Europe has had many recent ups and downs economically, Dacia remains the number one export product from Romania with 10% of the nation’s total exports. The company is now a subsidiary of French automaker Renault and currently makes a variety of high quality cars and trucks which are sold throughout Europe for use by both industry and private enterprise. For more information check out their full line up here.
One the most interesting models from Dacia is the Duster. The Dacia Duster has been used as a platform for rally cars in Europe over the years. Here are some pics of the current rally ready Duster models.
Many people may also be aware of the Dacia Sandero gag from the UK’s Top Gear TV show. Top Gear has had a running gag for years now at the expense of Dacia. After Dacia sent the show a press kit during season 11 about the new Sandero, presenter James May would say “Good News!” about the Sandero, while Jeremy Clarkson would say “Great!” and then immediately change the subject. Here’s a clip of the infamous gag in action.
RedlineNorth 