Houghton, MI, USA -- 2009 Central Open Light Champion, Mason Moyle didn’t run into the best luck at the first round of the Rally America Championship, Sno*Drift. With a new turbo, a new Co-Driver, and the most treacherous conditions the rally has ever seen, the weekend did not go according to plan.
The opening stage of the rally, the young duo of Moyle and Co-Driver Gary Barton ran into some mechanical trouble when tie-rod snapped half-way through the stage. The car made it to the end of the stage, but not much further. “We got to the start of Stage 2 on our minute, and when we went to launch the car, the tie rod decided to not cooperate anymore so we were stuck 10 feet from the start of the stage.” explained Moyle.
Things didn’t get much better for the team the next day either. After completing the Super Special with a 9th place stage time, Moyle and Barton went out to tackle the remaining stages of the day. The team fought with car after blowing both front tires. They had one spare. “We drove 22 miles on one rim!” said Barton, “We got through one of the longest stages of the rally on one rim, but as soon as we got out of the stage, the car decided to not cooperate again.”
Sno*Drift was a learning experience for the young team. But Rally in the 100 Acre Wood will be a different story.
Moyle Racing will be teaming up with veteran Co-Driver Scott Putnam again, due to a scheduling conflict with regular Co-Driver, Gary Barton.
Scott has finished as high as 6th in 2007 with Lauchlin O’Sullivan. This will be the first time Mason has seen these roads.

Well, after years and years of reading about "blog this" and "blog that" we are finally blogging thanks to WRS.

We will try and keep this up-to-date with current news in and around the shop here, new projects, new parts, new clients, specials, etc. Hopefully we can communicate with friends and clients a little better for the 2010 season.

Current project to finalize a new, more affordable CNC upright for the IMPREZA crowds. We are making a full make-over on our current part to help allow a greater flexibility for various caliper installations, as well as bump steer and camber curve corrections.

Of course, if we can get the price down to a better point, maybe we can get a few more people interested in the product as well!

-mark

Pics on our site here: http://bit.ly/99UkNQ

2010 Rallye Perce Neige was a rally of unexpectations. Unexpectations isn’t a word, but I just used it and you knew what I meant. So now YOU just had an unexpectation. You just learned a new nonword. You unexpected that. Ok, let’s get back on stage.

Here’s why the rally was so unexpectatious.

Podium. Here’s How it looked after stage 7.

Antoine L'ESTAGE/RICHARD 47:46
URLICHICH/HEADLAND + 0:01:58
RICHARD/OCKWELL +0:02:03

This looked like a somewhat predictable leaderboard with L’Estage, Crazy Leo, and Richard in the top 3. However after this stage it got crazy. Richard was reported parked on stage by several people on Twitter using #cdnrally hash tag. Early reports said his issue was mechanical and the speculation was that he blew his motor. Next, Antoine L’Estage lost several minutes stuck in a ditch until Henderson pulled him out. Their off bumped Crazy Leo into the lead which then blew Twitter up with “GO LEO” comments. Soon after, Leo had mechanical problems on stage 13 which allowed the snake in the weeds, ACP, to climb from 16th up the leader board to 2nd place. By stage 14, the final stage, ACP was reported to go off which bumped Mathieu L’Estage (Antoine’s brother) and Henderson into 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

1. Bruno Carré/Joyal 2:26:17
2. Mathieu L'Estage/Napert +0:03:22
Craig Henderson/Murphy +0:10:24

WorldRallySport.com landed the first post-win interview with overall winer Bruno Carre. Check it out here:

These podium changes are what rally is all about in my opinion. Unexpectations. Yes, of course it’s a shame when mechanical issues and offs happen, but it’s all part of the sport! It made for such an exciting event. I can’t remember the last time there was such a buzz in the service park because of the leader board shake ups!

There were other unexpectations too. Like everytime I saw someone wearing a snowmobile jacket, stone-washed jeans & sporting a mullet, I was expecting to hear a Minnesota or Yooper accent. (I’m from the midwest, I can stereotype) But what came out of their mouth was French. That blew my mind about 13 times before I got used to it.

Another unexpectation is what a difference the tires made. Some teams had “tractionized” tires which gave loads of grip on the ice. Snow tires are tractionized by running them on a roller filled with pins for a period of time which creates micro-abrasions throughout the treadblocks. This creates a gummy tire which can stick to the ice. The drawback to this is they burn up very, very quickly and can be quite squirmish and unstable on sealed surfaces.

Zedril Rallysport unfortunately didn’t have the tractionized tires. They were holding 2nd in G2 until stage 4 where the DUBÉ/LAVIGNE 1990 VW Golf passed them. From stage 4 to 13 all was well until the Zedril’s Lancer came to a ‘Left 4 Over Crest’ and went over a snowbank losing minutes. This dropped the #708 Zedrils from 16th to 22nd, but despite the off were able to stay in 3rd in G2 on stage 13. The 95 VW Golf of hotshoe NICHOLS/SCHENK took home the G2 overall win by 5 minutes.

WorldRallySport.com caught up with the Zedril’s during the 2nd service. Give the interview a listen here:

If you haven’t been to this rally, you need to go next year. The locals are awesome, scenery is epic, and the stage roads are some of the best I’ve driven in North America.

Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom are deer-magnets.

Two years after they smoked a deer at Sno*Drift 2008 while holding the rally lead, the crew ran down ANOTHER one at the 2010 Sno*Drift Rally! The damage sustained from Pastrana/Edstrom's collision at Sno*Drift 2008 put them right out of the competition, but this time they pressed on and claimed overall victory.

We have the incident on video for you to see how the SRT USA STi plows through this unsuspecting, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed animal. CAUTION: May not be suitable for all viewers. Video after the yump.

Pastrana nails deer at Sno*Drift 2010

Pastrana nails deer at Sno*Drift 2008

-

Awesome recap of the Sno*Attack 2WD competition that took place in Atlanta, MI at the Sno*Drift Rally. Watch these crews slide around on icy stages and get yourself some facetime with Chris Duplessis, an up-and-coming American driver who regularly spanks AWD cars in his 1990 VW Golf! Video after the yump.

Nice work Matt Johnston!

A Portuguese news clip shows the first video footage of Bernardo Sousa testing his Ford Fiesta S2000, which will make its debut on WRC Rally Sweden. The interview with Bernardo is in Portuguese, but the clip includes some onboard!

Video after the yump.

Official Rally America highlight video of the 2010 Sno*Drift Rally in Atlanta, MI. See the icy conditions drivers had to negotiate for yourself; it even includes Dave Mirra's encounter with a tree on the final loop of stages. Video after the yump.

See the full story with pictures and videos here: http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/events/snodrift-wrap-up/

Sno*Drift Wrap up | Terra Firma

Sno*Drift 2010 was a whirlwind experience. Partially because it was actually windy, but mainly because it flew by from the very start. Also mainly because it was windy.

Terra Firma was uber-excited for the event because it was:

1. The first RA event of the season
2. All THREE of the Terra Firma teams would be racing
3. We were just as excited as any other fan boy to see and hear Ken Block’s new Fiesta.

Zedril Rallysport #708

Let’s cut to the chase. By event’s end, Jan & Jody of Zedril Rally Sport, had driven their Lancer to a 2nd place podium finish in Friday’s Sno Regional G2 class. Even better than that result was Saturday’s finish where the Zedril brothers achieved 3rd overall in the Drift Regional and 1st in G2! Congrats guys. The #708 also achieved 3rd place in the Sno*Attack 2 Wheel Drive Challenge, which pits all 2wd competitors against each other for a wad of cash, regardless of class. The Zedrils continue to amaze everyone with their consistent podiums! The brothers are heading to Perce Neige next weekend so we’ll see them (and you!) there!

Team 600

Dillon Van Way, Ben Slocum and Team 600 took home 3rd overall in 2wd National, and 5th in the Sno*Attack 2 Wheel Drive Challenge. Co-Driver Ben “The Pirate” Slocum reported the Focus to be in “the best shape and preparation its ever been in.” Team 600’s had an impressive result considering all the talented 2wd drivers, and it being Dillon’s 2nd time out on snow and ice. Dillon told us his plan for the event was to be mistake free and wait for others to slip up. It looked like it worked for the most part, however a few more people needed to slip! Congrats guys, we’ll see you at 100 Acre Wood in Missouri!

Barefoot Racing #744

Paul Koll and Tim Knorr of Barefoot Racing had an admittedly tough weekend. A new Japanese spec, high-compression 16v motor was sourced and installed in the Golf with custom Mega Squirt fuel management days before the event. The team got it running ‘well enough’ just hours before the race start. Next, the recce car blew a water pump. Friday plauged the team with popped tires and spending 40 minutes dislodging the car from a ditch.

On Saturday the team was “Hell bent on doing well and making up for the unfortunate Friday events.” The team pushed hard from stage one until they blew another tire! Hell bent on doing well and making up for the unfortunate Friday events This caused the #744 Golf to fall down the leaderboard, but a late push gained Koll/Knorr 1.75 minutes and clinched 3rd place in the G2 Drift Regional! Barefoot racing took the “Press On Regardless” attitude to heart this weekend. You wouldn’t know they were having problems by the constant laughing you hear coming from their service area.

TERRA FIRMA

On day one, the first thing we did was stop by the HQ to donate some TF gear to the worker raffle. If you haven’t volunteered to work at a rally, you NEED to! It’s the best way to get closer to the action, cars, drivers and learn how rallies work. Also, there’s a good chance you’ll go home with a shirt, hat, and some other goodies. The Best part might be the free warm meals each day! (Sign up to work at 100 Acre Wood next month)

Next we set up at the Parc Expose, where all the rally cars are parked in downtown Lewiston, MI. This is the place to go to see all the cars at once and get some autographs from the drivers.

After we tore down our booth for the day, we set off into the dark & cold abyss to catch a night stage. The anticipation of Ken Block & the new Monster World Rally Team’s Ford Fiesta ripping around the hairpin reminded me of the excited school-boy feeling I had at my first rally. Check out the video to the right I caught of Ken ripping through the corner like somehow he wasn’t on glare ice. The video isn’t great, but that audio sure is.

On Saturday, we set up at the Parc Expose, Hungry 5 Spectator Stage, both super specials, and the final service point. Rally America is doing a great job at getting super specials at most National Events, which allows spectators to see the cars race an entire (short) stage while eating some refreshments and picking up some rally merchandise. There were even buses to cart spectators from nearby towns of Lewiston and Atlanta for a the same price as a footlong from Subway.

It was great to meet some new rally fans, Twitter friends, and old friends. We can’t wait for what’s ahead this season! Check out our 2010 preview.

Thanks to Rally America for putting on a great event, all the volunteer workers, and all the people we saw rockin’ Terra Firma gear throughout the weekend!

See you at Perce Neige and 100 Acre Wood!
Terra Firma - Sno*Drift

Credits

Post & Article Photos: World Rally Sport

See the full story with pictures and videos here: http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/events/snodrift-wrap-up/

Hello Europe,

Greetings from KB during his first 'official' WRC appearance. Get used to seeing him, after the Monster World Rally Team debut in Mexico, Ken and Alex will compete in six European rounds of the 2010 Championship.

Video after the yump.

Love,
America

Petter Solberg talks to Motors TV about his past with Subaru and his fresh start in new machinery for the 2010 World Rally Championship season. He's excited for the fights that lay ahead...so are we! Video after the yump.