Watch at 00:10 and 03:18 for TF sightings. Wait, why don’t you just watch the whole thing

Thanks Ryan and Aaron for sporting our threads. Hope you like them!

Ok, so here’s the deal.  The first person to correctly name the Overall Trifecta at STPR will win a TF Toque.  A trifecta, in horse racing, is picking the top three, in the exact order. So all you, your mom or Uncle Johnny need to do is leave a comment below with three names in finishing order. Make sure to check out the rules below, because this isn’t NAM, there are rules. Oh, and if no one guesses correctly the prize gets bigger for the next contest.  Good luck!

The Rules

• 1. Comments must be dated before 12pm on Friday June 4th
• 2. You may only comment once. Multiple comments will result in disqualification.
• 3. List in order and/or number your picks

Big offs hurt. Physically sometimes, confidence wise always. The only way to overcome is to get back on stage at the first chance.

Following our Olympus wreck, our crew chief, Mark Richard, and pro-from-Dover (Wales), Graham “Whiskers” Evans, worked their tails off to get us back in the game for Oregon. The damage was extensive, but with new glass, fenders, quarter panels, hood, roof, floor, motor mount, lights, bumper, cage bars and hundreds of hours of work we were ready.

Despite a three week time crunch, Mr. Mark and Whiskers got us back in the game a full week before Oregon, giving us a chance to run Nemadji Trail in Minnesota as a shakedown. As a tulip instead of stage note based regional, Dillon and I didn’t fully open the car up. We just wanted to make sure the car was mechanically sound and that we were focused and ready to push out west when it would count.

The road was good, but my odometer didn’t work, causing me to sit through most of the stage and look at trees. Dillon was bored too, wanting to open up the throttle on every corner. A new-found-since-Washington sense of maturity kept his foot light on the gas and the Focus on the road. We placed first in class, but would have preferred to have been fighting for an overall win. It was a successful shakedown none the less.

Before heading to Oregon we also got a new wrap. The freshest of Terra Firma wraps in fact. The only requirement for the design was more orange, and more is what we got.

With a successful shakedown and a clean new look we were ready to push. We recce’d with purpose, looking for any opportunity to gain a second. We stayed calm, clear and ready.

Thursday press activities went well. Pioneer square was a busy environment filled with Rally fans, interested locals and street kids. Practice runs at Portland International Raceway were key, allowing Dillon to fully push the car for the first time since sailing off a mountain three weeks prior. The only bit of drama through the day was a busted drive belt on the car, which was better than on race day.

Friday started well. PIR stages aren’t at all like the forest, but they have their merits. Lots of fans, a mixed surface and a fun atmosphere. We pushed within reason but kept focused. Oregon Trail can’t be won on day one, but it sure as heck can be lost. We took a few stages, lost a few seconds on others, but left the day with a 3.7 second lead. Although small, any amount of a lead helped to boost our confidence.

Saturday morning followed the good mood of PIR. Stages five and six were both solid wins, each putting another forty five seconds between us and our competition. We decided to give the car a break and maintained our pace while our competition sped up on repeat runs over seven and eight. We kept a decent lead heading to the prairie stages near Dufur. This is where the balance tipped out of our favor.

Dust. Dust is the only word to describe the remainder of our event. Everyone had to contend with hanging dust from other cars, we were possibly the only car that couldn’t see out of our own windows. During the repairs from Olympus several holes were missed in the Focus’ chassis. There just wasn’t the time needed to fill them. Over each stage the dust in the car got worse and worse. Dillon was able to keep his mind on the game, but I could hardly choke out stage notes while I coughed up black mucus. We wore tea towels like makeshift bandito masks for the final leg, but they became more of a hindrance to me than a help.

After Stage 11 I could hardly think. I was coughing and hacking, and the trapped moisture in my face mask was causing me to hyperventilate. I missed a transit call, causing us to get hit with a 30 second penalty. The final stage didn’t go so well either. Although we kept pace with the competition, I had to bail at the finish line to keep from up-chucking in the car.

We were down by 1.2 natural seconds heading into Sunday, 31.2 counting our penalty. The only option was to do our best on the first loop. Over the first leg we eked a few seconds back from our competition, despite the car misfiring for several miles following a water crossing. With one loop of three stages left we had to make our presence known.

Stage 13 was ours. It’s where the event turned. The notes were perfect, my calls were perfect, Dillon’s drive was perfect. We won the stage and took the lead back. Our main competition also suffered some major issues, giving us a wide berth through the final two stages. Our new found maturity came into play again.

Not wanting to risk another Olympus style last minute error we didn’t risk anything on the penultimate stage. Our only goal was to finish. When we crossed the final time control we had it, we won Oregon Trail by two minutes and MaxAttack! by one. Olympus’ bad juju was behind us.

Being the determined rally fans that we are, we weren’t going to let that stop us from enjoying the event as if we were there. So we created this uber-Twitter-rally-mashup which allows the user to quickly search popular #hastags for various rally series. Be sure to check it out and make sure you’re tagging your tweets!

Using these rally feeds, we found out big news such as ACP’s engine catastrophe (Watch the video on the left), Pastrana’s broken link and flat tire at the Super Special, and Ken Block’s narrow win over Antoine. We were also able to hear from competitors, service crew, and Rally America official news right as it happened.

We’re happy to report that Dillon Van Way and Ben Slocum of Team 600 scored 2nd place in 2wd in their Ford Focus after a consistently fast weekend. They were beat by the frighteningly-fast 1990 VW of Duplessis/Woods and were trailed by Conley/Rudolph.

Other interesting things from the weekend

• Privateers William Bacon and Peter Watt in a 2006 EVO proved that Sno*Drift was no joke, making their second podium in as many rallies.
• Because of Pastrana’s mechanical DNF, the podium was Ford, Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi which was the first National Podium without a Subaru in 5 years, according to the rally gurus @WorldRallySport
• http://www.stagetrack.net/ was launched and was supposedly tracking the rally somehow, and more specifically Dave Mirra. We’re not sure if it’s meant for organizers, competitors, fans, or somewhere in-between, but we like the potential.
• The weather was nice for once. Now we’re really mad we didn’t make it.
• Hanson and Hanson in their ’07 STI had a dominating performance taking 1st place in the SP class for the 2nd rally in a row.
• Most of all, I think we missed The Roadhouse, hungover SuperSonic burritos and awesome Ozark sightings.

For more pics & vids than you can shake a sway bar at, click here:  http://www.100aw.org/media.html

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.

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.

WorldRallySport.com caught up with the Zedril’s during the 2nd service. Hear what they had to say below.

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 Zedrils 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.

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.

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.

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!

the best shape and preparation its ever been inDillon 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!

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.

Also be sure to check out Barefoot Racing’s Official Report on their blog.

TERRA FIRMA

We’ve got a ton of stuff in store for the new decade. We’re hittin’ as many events as possible to make sure we’re giving everyone a fair chance to snag some gear. Be sure to scroll right above to checkout the list of this years events including dates and locations.

Also look for a bunch of new merchandise being dropped throughout the year. We’ve already released a new shirt, go take a look. Our Rallicons posters that many of you have seen at past events are now available over in the shop. Oh and Hats! That’s about all I can say about that right now, and that the people we gave early peaks to said they are the sweetest hats ever! We hope to have them available at Sno*Drift and online shortly after.

One final thing, as if you hadn’t noticed. We did a bit of a redesign on the site. You’ll find out why in the months to come but you can get a preview of what the new design allows us to do by checking out each of our team pages, 600, 708 and 744. If you’re viewing the site in IE6 then you might notice some inconsistencies in areas. To bad, I’m not fixin’ it, it’s 2010 and Internet Explorer 6 is dead. Upgrade to a better browser, here’s one, here’s another, wait one more. Trust me you don’t know what your missing in your dark hole alone with IE6. Overall the new design is much cleaner, easier to navigate and allows us to focus on the quality of content we provide to you.

We’ll see you on the stages!

Check out this trailer documenting the progress of the Rally4Life Team training and entering the 2011 Dakar and raising $4 Million for charity. Visit the website, www.rally4life.org and donate to help save 200,000 lives around the world.

Facebook Page

Sponsors

So Merry TF’n Christmas from all of us here at Terra Firma. We’ve decided to give away the below prizes to two lucky winners. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment (on this post) stating why you love rally.

The Prizes

• Prize 1: Your choice of a Terra Firma t-shirt currently available on our site.
• Prize 2: A Terra Firma exclusive sticker pack.

The Ground Rules

• Rule 1a: YOU - Leave a comment below stating why you love rally.
• Rule 1b: YOU - Be sure to leave a valid email address because that’s how we’re gonna contact you so you can get your prize when you win.
• Rule 1c: YOU - Make sure to leave the comment before December 18th or you wont be eligible!!! Multiple comments by the same person will result in disqualification.
• Rule 2: US - On December 18th we will choose two random comments as winners. We’ll contact each winner and time permitting, will mail each prize out so you can receive your shiny new Terra Firma gear just in time for Christmas. We’ll also post the winners in our next post.
• Rule 3: Nothing, thats it.

Information

If your around you should stop by say hey and grab some free stickers. We’ll be hangin’ out under our tent at the spectator stages selling gear and talkin’ the latest rally rumors and news with the fans.

Be sure to give a ton of love to the Zedril bros of Zedril Rally Sport. They’ll be pushin’ hard (as usual) in their perfectly tuned Mitsubishi Lancer. Also be sure to grab their team desktop background over here.

Make sure you check back and keep refreshing this page because we’ll be supplying the latest updates all weekend long.

Updates

Fri 10:19 pm: Apparently Pat Richard rolled during the shakedown stage. All is ok and they only encountered cosmetic damage and are already set for tomorrow.

Thanks to @flatovercrest and @NeilMcDaid for the update and photo.

Grab the .zip file below to download the whole set. Or click each background to save individual files.

DOWNLOAD HERE

We have to apologize for the lack of live coverage this weekend. We hope you were able to find it elsewhere.

It wasn’t because we didn’t want to, or felt lazy. It was mainly because of lack of cell service or wireless ANYWHERE, and also mainly because we were talking to so many people and selling our new products and also mainly because, well, you’ll see in the pictures. Things got a lil’ nuts both nights. Luckily, other rally coverage experts such as World Rally Sport were there to capture the event in greater detail.

Team

Terra Firma had two cars competing in this years Lake Superior Pro Rally so we were, as usual, very excited.

#600: First off, we had Dillon Van Way and Ben “The Pirate” Slocum. Arriving after one of the best displays of the Press On Regardless motto that the rally community has seen in years (See Rally Colorado: day 2). Their car may be broken, but definitely not their spirits. Coming into the rally, all Van Way needed was 1 point, which he easily nabbed, to place first in the National 2WD Championship Season. Not bad for the youngsters rookie year.

#744: Also racing this weekend was the #744 Barefoot racing car driven by none other Paul Koll and co-driven by Timothy Knorr. These guys fought hard and finished the weekend in 2nd place behind Chris Greenhouse and Don DeRose.

Photos

Here are some pics from Anthony Devney. A full event gallery can also be seen online. We urge you to check it out, as well as past events, at his website: D Squared

Check out our gallery of LSPR behind-the-scenes action.

Videos

I was at LSPR this weekend, filming for two great teams. I put together this little ditty using a few clips that didn’t make the initial cut on those projects. It’s about a minuteHere’s a wicked video, amazingly posted a day after the event. Whipped into shape by driver, designer and all around devoted rally fan. Matt Johnston. I can’t wait to see the rest. Here’s what he said about it.

Terra Firma News

The event went really well for Terra Firma. We had a lot of fans and competitors come and introduce themselves to us. If we were mutually lucky, they walked away with some fresh gear, and we learned something from them.

We also launched a few new shirts designs / re-designs and garment options. Be sure to check out the shop to see for yourselves.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the design we decided to release it with a newer car and some new hidden elements. (See if you can find the UP)

The new design is available in our shop in mens short and long sleeve and womens long sleeve.

We also did another print run of our ever popular Rallicons design with a more prominent orange.

Rallicons v2 is now available in mens short and long sleeve and womens long sleeve. We will also be printing another run of zippered hoodies soon which we quickly sold out of at LSPR.

Detail view

Short Sleeve Mens

Long Sleeve Mens

Long Sleeve Womens

Short Sleeve Mens

Long Sleeve Mens

Long Sleeve Womens

Photo from jamesbialas via specialstage.com

What we’re looking forward to

ONE. Who is going to get 2nd and 3rd in the overall points race? K.Bizzles? A-man? ACP? They’re all within striking distance of 2nd and 3rd depending on how they finish. Throw L’Estage into the street-fight, and standings will mean even more to these gents. Pas-T has had the championship secured for what seems like forever, so we’re just pleading with him to throw-down some spectacular drifts at every spectator corner. I’m a Block fan, so I’m hoping he gets 2nd, and doesn’t ball it up again. Hopefully the “Solberg Effect” allows him to keep the pace without offing it.

TWO. G2 Central Regional Championship: Our boy Paul Koll of Barefoot Racing is only 25 points behind 2nd place Chad Eixenbergersonschwartzberg. In the regional events, teams can score a max of 60 points each day, so anything can happen here. Matt Bushore could also catch up if all others have epic fails.

THREE. DVW needs ONE point. This one precious point will secure his national 2wd championship in his ROOKIE season! Check out their awesome spectator guide below. It’s really all you need for the rally.

FOUR. The LSPR Experience. An LSPR virgin might think otherwise, but Houghton/Hancock, MI, eh, is just an epic area for a rally for a number of reasons. First is the scenery. You’ll see. Second is the scenery. You’ll see. Third is the downtown ‘experience.’ There are some great eats down there, and also a great nightlife when the rally (or school) is in town. Still don’t believe me? Well I point to Ex-zip-it A, the LSPR 5-PAGE DINING GUIDE I’m pretty sure other rallies can’t claim a dining guide to their name. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve only been to LSPR. kidding.

FIVE. The Delaware Delta. The Delaware Delta is a short stage on day 2 which is often run 2 or 3 times in various directions. It is the most famous spectating spot for the weekend because of it’s high visibility and amazing action. Here’s my 6th year anniversary intro to rally in 2003. Keep in mind I imported this off of a FILM video camera, on a mac with OS 10.0, with iMovie v.-1.0. Just watch for those awesome transitions.

Gary Grahn sent us this pic of the prepped National Guard car ready for action. Driver Mark Fox is in the running for a rookie of the year title. Gary is the crew chief for White Oak Rally, as well as the White Frog Entertainment STi. He’ll have his hands full. Good luck to Gary and both teams!

SIX. New Terra Firma Gear. Last but definitely not least, we’ll have some new designs at the event. Shortly after, said designs will be online. We’re looking forward to hearing and seeing what ya’ll think of our new stylings.

Follow #ra9 on Twitter and check back on our site for updates, photos and videos.

Day 1

Results and standings after day 1 of the Pacific Forest Rally.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for more updates on the Zedril Rally Sport team and the Pacific Forest Rally!

Day 2

Results and standings after day 2 of the Pacific Forest Rally.

Grochowski Night photo from Ista Photo via World Rally Sport

Good morning rallyists. The results below are after stage 5. The top three overall haven’t changed, but it looks like the 2wd battle is heating up! The Zedril’s Lancer holds only a 2 second lead over the Olsen’s GTi. If either of these two cars have a slip-up, the Golf of Grochowski/Junilla are within striking distance as they are only 30 seconds off the pace.

After 9 stages, here are the results. Big news is Grochowski is out with a gearbox issue. No spare. L’Estage is reeling in Richard by taking stage wins on 6-8. There are still plenty of other battles down the leaderboard. Losier and Trinder are only seperated by .5 seconds. Neumann and Armstrong are only 5 seconds apart.

TV2GO crew: Start of SS11 delayed by wounded bear and hunters. Problems sorted and car 0 is now on stage. Hey Nath who won10

Flat Over Crest: Near end of Mab 3, Antoine has problem. Went by with flashers on.

Natalie Richard: Tiny piece on turbo broke. Crew did an awesome job in 20 min service to fix.

Dean Campbell: Antoine had boost problems, but fixed now. Lost 40 seconds or so. Just drive for the championship now. #cdnrally

Pat has fixed power problems, which has helped. Safe lead now. Leo is having problems with the car shutting off.

Losier has boost problems coming and going. Otherwise ok. In fifth. Neumann and Armstrong battling along with MJB.

Grochowski says motor is toast. Can’t get above 130. ‘Helmer is downhill, so I just won’t lift and are what happens’

Leo crashed out at AMR, 20 feet down embankment. Crew are ok

What happened to Zedril’s though? They are now in last over 50 minutes behind?!? Update: Zedril Rally Sport had scoring errors online, they are still in first place and driving awesome as usual.

Final Results

See more pictures at World Rally Sport

Flat Over Crest has a great write up, pictures, and competitor quotes.

Congrats to the all the competitors, and especially the Zedrils for tearing it up again in 2wd!

Once you click there, you’ll want to go into the “preferences” section and set the timezone. There will be dead spots, but, the Zedril’s location will be updated whenever there is a significant change in speed or direction and are within 100km of a repeater/tower.

The Zedrils have typically only given this information to family and friends, but they agreed to share it with us so we could track their progress through-out the weekend and share it with the rally community.

the rally community is like family anyway, so, please post the tracking on terrafirmaclothing.com, I’m sure a lot of people will find it cool

We’d have to agree. I’m sure teams use APRS to monitor their drivers, but as far as I know, there isn’t a team that made it public. That’s just awesome.

In regards to the conditions, the Zedrils had the following to say:

“As for PFR (Pacific Forest Rally), the weather is going to be nasty and we’ve taken every single tire we own…Nokian ice tires, A034 snow tires, soft gravels, hard gravels, etc.”

The Zedrils said they are planning to push hard right from the start (as long as traction is there) and gain a lead right away, similar to what they did at Defi. However, for this event, they said they have no choice but to push.

Zedril Rally Sport basically has the Group2 title wrapped-up; however, it’s the 2wd national championship that is up for grabs. It gets a little confusing here, so bare with us. The Zedril’s DNF at Rocky really hurt their title chase because only 2 events from the East and 2 events from thehowever, it’s the 2wd national championship that is up for grabs West count towards the 2wd championship and seeing they DNF’d Rocky (and only earned 1-point at the event), PFR will be the only real western point scoring event for Zedril Rally Sport. In a nutshell, Jan & Jody HAVE to finish 1st or 2nd in 2wd and Eric/Leanne have to finish behind them. Assuming we’re correct on our math, if Zedrils finish 2nd and Eric/Leanne finish 3rd, there will be a tie in points; however, the Zedril’s will win based on the number of wins they have compiled…that is, unless Eric/Leanne decide to go to Tall Pines, which, they’ve already stated they will not be attending. Although they are the only other team that can grab the title away from the Zedrils, the competition will be intense with Zebe/Tomasz and their G5 monster, and also Gord Olsen who is a previous Group2 champion himself.

The coverage starts with six new hours of action-packed rally programming culminating with the U.S. premiere of 2009′s first WRC event, RALLY IRELAND, at 8 PM ET”

Also in the six hours of “World Rally Madness” will be…

3:00 pm: GREATEST STAGES – This episode profiles the most challenging events from the history of rallying.

4:00 pm: DARING DRIVES – Viewers ride along as the legends of the WRC are pushed to the limit and beyond by some of the most spectacular and technical stages on the rally racing circuit.

5:00 pm: GREATEST CARS – The machines are the stars of this episode, which showcases the greatest rally cars of all time.

6:00 pm: TOP TEN SPECTACULAR CRASHES – Even the best make mistakes and in the WRC, those mistakes can be stunning. This program counts down the most exciting crashes in rallying history.

7:00 pm: 2009 WRC SEASON PREVIEW – This episode introduces viewers to the drivers, manufacturers and events that will make up the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship.

8:00 pm: RALLY IRELAND – The 2009 WRC kicks off with a monumental challenge: 217 miles of impossibly narrow, rain-slicked country roads through both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These tight and serpentine stages take drivers through the Sligo Mountains and Fermanagh Lakelands where, in places, the narrow roads are little more than the width of a car.

HD Theater also plans to show all of this season’s action from the WRC with the following shows:

RALLY NORWAY – Sunday, October 11 from 8-9 PM ET

FXPRO CYPRUS RALLY – Sunday, October 18 from 8-9 PM ET

VODAFONE RALLY DE PORTUGAL – Sunday, October 25 from 8-9 PM ET

RALLY ARGENTINA – Sunday, November 1 from 8-9 PM ET

RALLY D’ITALIA SARDEGNA – Sunday, November 8 from 8-9 PM ET

ACROPOLIS RALLY OF GREECE – Sunday, November 15 from 8-9 PM ET

ORLEN RALLY POLAND – Sunday, November 22 from 8-9 PM ET

NESTE OIL RALLY FINLAND – Sunday, November 29 from 8-9 PM ET

REPCO RALLY AUSTRALIA – Sunday, December 6 from 8-9 PM ET

RACC RALLYE DE ESPANA – Sunday, December 13 from 8-9 PM ET

RALLY GB – Sunday, December 20 from 8-9 PM ET

Information

Travis Pastrana has dropped into 8th place overall due to penalties on the last stage of day 1 (SS10).

John Conley is starting the day in 1st with Dillon Van Way following in close second. This should turn out to be one heck of a battle for 2WD.

Top 5 Overall:
Andrew Comrie-Picard / Jeremy Wimpey – #20 – 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution – 57:13.7
Andi Mancin / Maciej Wislawski – #176 – 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution – 58:34.4
Ken Block / Alessandro Gelsomino – #43 – 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI – 59:13.4
Nathan Conley / Todd Moberly – #116 – 2004 Subaru Impreza – 1:01:10.0
Mark Fox / Jake Blattner – #54 – 2004 Subaru Impreza – 1:01:32.3

Updates

8:40 am: Dillon Van Way is very optimistic for the start of Day 2 Rally Colorado.
via @MrVanWay

well we are starting the day off 3.6 seconds behind. We still have no turbo, but we arent giving up yet

9:00 am: Travis Pastrana, after being penalized into 8th place, has withdrawn from Rally Colorado to preserve the car for Round 9 Lake Superior Pro Rally

9:27 am: Co-driver Jeremy “Worm” Wimpey says he’s enjoying the ride with ACP. It’s their first time racing together and they’re doing well.
via @ACPRally

12:13 pm: Car 970 – Helton/Butler – has withdrawn from the rally due to mechanical issues. The team came in to service on a tow rope.
* The rain is picking up. Some of this afternoon’s stages may be too muddy to be passable; organizers are considering alternate routing.
via @Rally_America

12:26 pm: Car #47 Rooney/O’Hanlon’s run at Rally Colorado is done, smacked a bank on last turn of SS13, broke LR upper control arm
via @SoCalRally

12:50 pm: Dillon Van Way tweetin’ out at service:

in to service, its been a battle every stage with Conley. We got the lead but quickly switched back over

via @MrVanWay

*Rally organizers have officially declared Rally Colorado’s Stages 15 and 18 cancelled — too muddy.

1:06 pm: Car 408 – Matthew Leavitt/Brooks Freehill – are out of the rally. Looks mechanical. They just came in to service on a flatbed.
via @Rally_America

2:02 pm: Rally cars are heading out to run two more stages today: SS 17, then SS 16. They will return to Steamboat Springs after that for the finish. It is expected the delay will mean that the podium will be later than originally scheduled. Expect cars at around 6 p.m.
update from rallyamerica.com

3:26 pm: Preliminary reports that Block is stopped on course — mechanical?
*Update: More news on Ken Block: reports he’s off the course with a triangle. Could be engine trouble. Doesn’t look like he’ll finish.
*Update: Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino are confirmed out of the rally with mechanical problems. The car was smoking and the engine may have expired on the 15th stage of the rally.
via @Rally_America and rally-america.com

4:34 pm: Reports Dillon Van Way/Ben Slocum (car 600) rolled half-way on the second-last stage, but were able to right the vehicle and keep going…
via @Rally_America
*Update:Van way came by us with heavy damage and his boot lid strapped to hood. Fifth gear roll apparently. via @granthughes

5:54 pm: Provisional results for Rally Colorado: ACP, Mancin & Conley, with more stage wins, takes third over Fox. via @Rally_America

Photos

Videos

Ken Block on SS#8 Rally Colorado. Video from FocSrallyX

ACP talks about what it’s like to drive in the rainy muddy conditions of the second day of Rally Colorado. Video from Rally America

Ken Block talks about some more differences of driving the slower, less powerful super production car instead of his open class car. Video from Rally America

Current Standings

source: rally-america.com

Information

Ken Block is Driving Dave Mirra’s Super Production Class Subaru Impreza WRX STI, it should be quite a different experience from their Open class especially at these altitudes.

Also as we stated in the preview (but we have to mention it again) Dillon Van Way and Ben Slocom have a wicked new Plaid car wrap designed exclusively by Terra Firma

Updates

10:42 am: Already today we have carnage as car 450 in the Open Light class 1990 Audi Quattro 90 Driven by, Gus Bergstralh and co-driver Kevin Bahus has rolled at the first spectator stage. They are confirmed to be OK.

1:04 pm: Car 466: Brian Gottlieb/Rebecca Ruston is reported out on SS2 with a broken axle. Also car 419: Brian McGuire/Jennifer Kraus is reported to have crashed on SS2. Few details but no injuries.
Crash updates provided by @rally_america

5 Leaders after Special Stage 6:
Pastrana – 32:29.5
ACP – 32:54.6
Block – 33:18.5
Mancin – 33:39.8
Conley – 34:27.9

2:24 pm: Conley broke a drive shaft putting Dillon Van Way and Ben Slocom 11.5 seconds ahead. Talking to Dillon and Ben after 6 stages here is what they had to say:

building back confidence behind the wheel, brake and cooking issues, we are wingless by choice

3:00 pm: Cars are heading to the final 3 stages of day 1.
Car #413 Schmidt / Schnell is out after super special with a problem that he says is “not mechanical.” Schmidt, who is running this event in an E85-powered Subaru, says he’s not sure exactly what is wrong but it might be an issue with the alternative fuel. The veteran isn’t giving up, though. He’s expected to get the car working and re-enter Sunday’s regional event. via rally-america.com

3:34 pm: Ken Block started today in the SP class — ended SS9 in 2WD… Driveshaft went and they finished 9 in front-wheel drive. Will be fixed!
Battle shaping up for third overall. Block’s ahead of Mancin but the Polish driver is picking up the pace.
Pastrana vs ACP for first. ACP lost some time to mechanical issues earlier and with stage times this close it’ll be hard to catch up.
Updates provided by @rally_america

4:40 pm: We caught up with Lucy Block (Ken Blocks wife) who is driving alongside co-driver Chrissie Beavis in car #430 a 1988 VW Golf in Group 2. Here is what she had to say about the end of day one at her second Rally.

its my second rally, the first where I’m driving the whole event. Chrissie and I took turns driving at Maine. The Roads are fast and fun, but you have to keep it tidy. There’s not much room for error as several have found out

5:50 pm: The racing portion of day one is officially over as cars are heading into the parc ferme in downtown Steamboat Springs, CO. However this doesn’t mean we’re done. We will be adding more updates, photos and videos as we organize our assets and relax for a bit. Check back soon

6:34 pm: In some crazy turn of events Travis Pastrana took some huge penalties for hitting some chicane elements dropping him into an unbelievable 8th place. Dillon Van Way was also penalized for hitting a cone on the final stage costing him 3 minutes and dropping him to second behind John Conley in 2WD.
updates via @ACPRally and @MrVanWay

8:11 pm: Day 1 Standings

9:54 pm: You didn’t think we were done yet did you? We caught up with Jake Blattner and Dillon Van Way before parc expose ended, here is what they had to say about day 1 and their plans for tomorrow:

Jake Blattner:

having a great time at CO, fun atmosphere great roads. We’re just Keeping it in the middle, same plan for tomorrow.
We’d like to thank Terra Firma for the interview, WRS, National Guard for the keeping our freedom to rally alive, White Oak and the service crew

Dillon Van Way:

altitude is a killer here. As long as the roads are twisty and have rhythym, we’re good. As soon as we lose that, we lose time.
We’re looking forward to day 2. Its cool being really close in times and swapping back and fourth and congratulating each other

10:49 pm: A special thanks to Chris and Zach from Denver for being the Terra Firma Super Fans of the night. Check out the pictures of them sporting TF gear and chillin’ in Dillon Van Way’s car in the photo section below.
Come on out to the Tap House in downtown Steamboat Springs, CO and have a couple drinks with us and discuss the day in review.

Photos

Videos

Interview with Christopher Moore #608 – Group 5 – 1977 Dodge Colt

Interview with Aaron Helton #970 – Group 2 – 1983 VW GTI

Interview with Jeremy Brown #825 – Group 2 – 1992 Toyota MR2

Super Special Stage oval track with ACP and the ever awesome Master of Rally Ceremonies Will Mattox video from Rally America

Ken Block discusses what it’s like to switch from his open car to Dave Mirra’s Super Production car
video from Rally America

Current Standings

source: rally-america.com

Keep checking back and hitting that refresh button because we will be updating with content, pictures and videos all day long.

Be sure to check back frequently as we will be updating all weekend long. This should prove to be another exciting Rally weekend. Who knows what the Colorado roads have in-store for the nations top drivers.

All of us here at Terra Firma are extremely excited for our sophomore appearance at a National Rally Event. This is our first time attending the Colorado Rally and figured what better reason than to promote our newly launched (see TF launch) apparel company and help the grassroots motor-sports grow in the U.S. of A.

Rally Colorado 2009 will be held in the beautiful year-around resort community of Steamboat Springs over the long weekend of September 17-20. Rally Colorado 2009 will be held in the beautiful year-around resort community of Steamboat Springs The national level event will be the eighth round of the nine event Rally America National Rally Championship and will include approximately 108.37 stage miles on Saturday and Sunday. The Middle Cog-1 Rally America Regional Rally, a Coefficient 3 event, will be held on Saturday and will include approximately 67.61 stage miles. The Middle Cog-2 Rally America Regional Rally, a Coefficient 2 event, will be held on Sunday and will include approximately 40.76 stage miles. Both of these Regional Rallies with be points events for both the Central and Western Rally America Regional Championships and for the Southwest Rally Cup Series as well as the Colorado Rally Cup.
- www.rallycolorado.org

Plaid Pevails

Check out Van Way & Slocum’s Ford Focus #600 new car wrap designed by us here at Terra Firma. Who ever thought Plaid could look so sexy? Love it? Hate it? Feel free to let us know with your comments below.

As far as Rally Colorado goes for Van Way & Slocum here is what they had to say this morning.

Recce went well, they’re new roads for both Dillon and I so we’re in for a challenge this weekend, especially considering the lack of a turbo at this altitude

Dillon Van Way and Ben Slocum are 2 points behind Mark Fox from being awarded the Rookie of the Year Trophy. This is quite impressive as Mark Fox and Co-Driver Jake Blattner are in an open class Subaru!

expect another reliable performance by newcomer Dillon Van Way from Carencro, LA.
– rally-america.com

They are also 26 points ahead of second place John Conley and with a win in Colorado will seal the deal on their 2009 Rookie Season 2WD National Championship.

Top Standings

Travis Pastrana – 128 pts
Andi Mancin – 78 pts
Ken Block - 65 pts
Andrew Comrie-Picard – 63 pts
Tanner Foust – 62 pts
William Bacon – 48 pts
Arkadiusz Gruszka – 33 pts
Piotr Wiktorczyk – 30 pts
Mark Fox – 29 pts

Useful Links

Rally Colorado Spectator Guide (866 B)

Rally Colorado Supplemental Regulations (1.64 MB)

]]> http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/events/colorado-preview/feed/ 1 http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/thoughts/obama-anti-demo-derby/ http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/thoughts/obama-anti-demo-derby/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:48:06 +0000 terrafirma http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/?p=937 You heard it here. According to one source, Obama is anti-demolition-derby.

Time reported this ground breaking story on how the cash for clunkers program is a huge blow to the balls of the demolition derby industry, here

I think there’s something hilariously ironic about this quote below, about how people who destroy old cars on a regular basis, are upset about old cars being destroyed. Participants in these events, in which drivers smash into one another until there’s only one engine left running, don’t enjoy the sight of old cars going out of commission.

Credits

From Time Magazine

]]> http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/thoughts/obama-anti-demo-derby/feed/ 0 http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/team/zedrils-defi/ http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/team/zedrils-defi/#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:34:05 +0000 terrafirma http://www.terrafirmaclothing.com/?p=892 After a quick 5-stage jaunt at Rallye Defi on Friday, the Zedrils are keeping the 2wd lead going into day 2.

With only 15 km of racing on Friday in the Montreal area, competitors were pushing hard to keep or gain positions and were all seconds apart on the leaderboard. Jan & Jody Zedril’s Mitsubishi had a 9 second lead over the Suzuki of Kocandrle\Brandt after stage one and grew that margin to 24 seconds by the end of the night.

Ken Block in his freshly-built uber-custom Mk2 Escort went off with a mechanical issue (wheel stopped when it hit the fender or “wheel bite”), then had to retire after continuing problems including a bad fuel pump. Here is a video of his off on stage 1

Update Ken Block in car video from above crash.

Overall leaders after day one are Richard/Ockwell, L’Estage/Richard and Comrie-Picard (ACP)/Durant.

Competitors without cars to repair had a good chance of getting, at most, 6 hours of sleep before the start of the grueling day 2 bsed out of Montpellier. The longest stages of the rally are in the morning so teams have to bring their A-game, because the afternoon stages are shorter and therefore harder to make up lost time.

Chevreuil, the third stage of day two, is nearly as long as the combined competitive stage total from day 1. After this stage, the Zedrils Lancer is holding its 2wd lead and have increased their margin over the Switf of Kocandrle\Brandt to over one minute, and nearly 4 minutes over trailing 3rd place 2wd team of Grochowski/Junnila in the VW Golf.

Check out the Zedril’s team page here

Image from http://www.flatovercrest.com

Update

11:00 EST:

An unofficial source (@reachdean) says Pat Richard is out with a broken gearbox, ACP is out with oil system issues, and Leo had brake problems and lost a lot of time. #cdnrally

The results after stage 12 show that Richard and ACP are out of the rally

The race for 2wd continues, as Grochowski/Junnila in the VW post a stage win on EC 12, Montpellier. However, their winning margin was a matter of seconds, which won’t take much out of their defecit to the Zedril’s which is now over 7 minutes.

Standings after stage 12 for overall: L’Estage/Richard, Henderson/Murphy (-2:45), Henderson/Murphy (-4:00). If L’Estage can keep his wits about him and avoid mechanical issues, it looks like the rally could be his. The same goes for the Zedrils going for the 2wd win!

Check out the Zedril’s team page here

After Stage 13, the song remains the same. L’Estage, Hendersen, Besner are the top 3 overall. However the 2wd race for 2nd place just got MUCH tighter. For an unknown reason, Kocandrle/Brandt in the Suzuki posted a 9:00 time (must have been stuck on stage for a while) for Stage 12, losing over 6 minutes. This dropped them to 3rd in 2wd giving up 2nd place to Grochowski/Junnila in the Golf. Because of what happened on stage 12, Kocandrle/Brandt is now 24 seconds behind Grochowski/Junnila.

This battle for 2nd place in 2wd will be the battle to watch as the rally continues!

Results have been posted for stages 14-17. The 2nd place battle for 2wd continues with Kocandrle reeling in Grochowski, stage by stage. On stage 14, Kocandrle had Grochowski by 1 second, and on stage 15 they had the exact same time of 2:28! (+3 sec on Zedrils) Kocandrle’s Suzuki gained 10 seconds on the Golf of Grochowski on stage 16, and another 8 seconds on stage 17, bringing him within FIVE seconds of the VW. There are four stages left, and it should be an amazing race to the finish!

Zedril Rally Sport’s Lancer doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. They blazing the fastest 2wd times stage after stage, opening their lead to over 9 minutes.

After Jarnac Est (1), the top 3 overall haven’t changed much. L’Estage isn’t slowing down, and has increased his window to a 3 minute lead over Hendersen, and 4 minutes over Besner.

Update

5:13 EST:

Unofficial report from @cwoods87: No Besner on stage ss20 #cdnrally

That means 3rd place is up for grabs for either Losier (+6:37) or Hobbs (+6:41) or even Urlichich (+6:47)

L’Estage Wins at Rallye Defi!!

L’Estage/Richard were able to hold their lead for the remainder of Day 2, with Henderson/Murphey coming in 2nd overall. It was looking like Besner was going to take 3rd, until he retired with turbo problems after stage 19. Hobbs/Tremblay were able to take 3rd place overall as a result.

The Zedril’s ran an AMAZING event and held the lead in 2wd from beginning to end. Kocandrle/Brandt in the Suzuki Swift slowly but steadily were catching Grochowski/Junnila’s VW Golf and were eventually able to take 2nd place from them on stage 19.

In the PS class, Wright/Wright took 1st, followed by Deans/Burke and Ouellette/Ouellette. In PGT, it appears Schmidtke/Vokes were the only to finish, giving them 1st.

What a 2wd battle today! Time to go celebrate for the Zedril’s win!! Great job guys!

Check out the Zedril’s team page here

Credits

Title image from: Flagworld.com

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