Two Guys Rally

XGAMES 15 - oh my oh my [ August 2nd, 2009 ] By:Charles Smith

For any of you who missed the XGAMES 15 coverage of Rally Racing, here’s some stuff that went down:

Ken Block clipped the inside of a corner in practice and rolled it. His crew managed to get his car in working order for the race against Brian Deegan.

Foust is using an electro-somethingmotive sequential transmission in his Ford Fiesta rally car (hmmm, hopefully rally america starts letting this happen).

ACP succesfully landed his second jump of compeition vs Pastrana, but sadly spun at the end. Pastrana won his first race of the event. After the race there was a quick shot of Pastrana and his car being weighed on four scales (random scrutineering?).

Ken Block raced against Deegan. Ken Block tapped the rear right corner of his car against a jersey barrier and did not have enough speed to hit the jump, so he skipped it. Block DQ’d himself by skipping the jump, luckily for Deegan, who had a turbo hose pop off, essentially making his car naturally aspirated (read low power/torque).

Tanner Foust raced Kenny Brack (who beat Dave Mirra). Both fords jumped astonishingly well. Foust either pushed too hard, or was late with turning coming off of the second hairpin and overshot. This mistake cost Foust the race and Brack advanced to the Final.

Travis Pastrana lined up to race Brian Deegan. Deegan’s turbo hose couldn’t get fixed in time. Deegan’s car could not clear the jump with 1/3rd of the power, so he skipped it and was DQ’d. Deegan was shown in car so frustrated and angry to the point of crying. This is understandable considering something so simple as a turbo hose ruining your shot at an X-Games medal.

Travis Pastrana raced Kenny Brack (former Indy Racer) for the gold. Kenny Brack lost his bumper (mostly) on the first jump. Sadly, Travis Pastrana wedged himself into the trickiest corner of the race. Brack won, and this is Travis’ first loss in Rally at the XGAMES.

Kenny Brack: GOLD
Travis Pastrana: SILVER
Tanner Foust: BRONZE

Some notes: Everyone seemed to be using a sequential transmission (hooray new Rally America rules), but I’m pretty sure the Fiestas were using Electro-something sequentials, which would be hopeful for rule changes in Rally America.
These cars are much more powerful than during the normal season. The restrictor preturbo is larger in diameter, and these cars are at least doubling their power just for this event.

Ken Block and Gymkhana [ November 18th, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

So far, it seems like everyone and their mothers have seen this. A video of Ken Block practicing in his Gymkhana car: 

What is Gymkhana?

I first thought it was some sort of Hibachi bar (seriously…I am that dumb). Then I found out it is like Autocross’ cousin from Japan (at least I got the country right). But bigger, longer and way more technical. The ‘longness’ of the courses is partly what makes Gymkhana so difficult and that is exactly why someone like Ken Block benefits from this. Rally racers see the same corner only a few times during a race. The same skill that goes into memorizing a Gymkhana course translates right into memorizing a stage (during recce). 

Apparently it has a big following in Japan and has dedicated tracks and whatnot. However its following is growing in the US (especially with the help of people like Ken Block).

While it may seem like Ken Block just got into Gymkhana, he’s had the car for a while (at least a year). Aaron from DirtyImpreza has proof of that posted on YouTube. That video has also seen quite a boost in hits. While it is not purely Rally this type of coverage is great for the sport.

Thanks for Idiot Cyvant for reminding me about the video.

Eagerly Awaiting Snow [ October 23rd, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

Snow is, by far, my favorite type of weather. I just love it so much. With snow coming soon (it is supposed to flurry this week) I figured I would start watching snowboarding videos and then I came across a video I had seen before: Ken Block Driving With Snowboarders. You should watch it and become just as excited about the upcoming winter as I am.

Link for you RSS peeps. Oh how I cannot wait until it snows for both driving and snowboarding in. 

Rally America 08 Season is OVER [ October 22nd, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

Rally America’s 2008 season ended this weeked with their final event of the year: Rally Michigan (aka LSPR). Travis pastrana had already locked in the overall championship win but decided to get a podium finish anyway (~2 minutes behind first). Travis’ well known teammate, Ken Block, ended up winning the Rally to keep Sarasin out of 2nd overall. Kyle Sarasin didn’t give up on second easily and ended up with a 2nd place finish at the Rally (~1 minute behind Ken).

Kyle Sarasin did, however, end up 3rd in the overall championship this year. I would say this has been a good year for this up and coming rallyer. Did you know he is still a teenager and barely a legal adult? There is a lot more that is going to come out of this racer in the future (or so I hope his budget permits). He’ll be someone to watch, for sure.

I guess the competition pushed ACP into DNFing this weekend. He still ended up 4th in the championship but a DNF is a demoralizing way to end a season.  You should go watch ACP’s videos and make him keep racing.

Either way, it was a neat end to a season and I hope to see some more exciting races next year. Sno*Drift here we come!

Rally Michigan Next Weekend [ October 10th, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

Rally America’s 9th and final rally of the season is next weekend (October 17th, 2008). It is called the Lake Superior Rally, but I like to refer to rallies by the State they are in or a convenient abbreviation (LSPR would be this rally, but that is not as fun to say as STPR). So I call it Rally Michigan as it is more fun and I’m sticking it to the man…YEA!

Racers will be swept off to Houghton, Michigan. It will be a race for the podium, but only the last two spots as Travis Pastrana locked in his 1st place this season with 116 points overall. Compare that to Kyle Sarasin’s 2nd place of 66 points overall. But watch out for Ken Block and Andrew Comrie-Picard too, they are not far off of 2nd with 64 and 62 points respectively.

Enough people are within points ranges for 2nd and 3rd place that this Rally will be an all out race to the finish line with only 1st place being locked in. There will plenty of broken hearts (and cars to go with them), and hopefully some upsets leading up to the final podiums. Unfortunately for Tanner Foust, it is not possible for him to get 3rd place overall, even if everyone DNFs but him. So expect to see 7th place overall and up fighting it out for the podium in Houghton, Michigan next weekend. It is going to be fun and your final fix of Rally America until 2009.