2013 Rally America Championship Season Opener: Sno-Drift!

[HiTempguy1]

Why not spread the rally love? While most of the motorsports season sees some downtime during this part of the year, rally is starting up across North America with the Sno-Drift national rally kicking things off in the US.

Big news is Ken Block is back to compete in the whole Rally America series, with his entry into Sno-Drift only announced yesterday.



Look for a 3-way battle between Ken Block, Briton David Higgins (Subaru Rally Team USA) and Canadian Antoine L'Estage (Mitsubishi Rockstar team).

Last year was one of the iciest north American rallies in recent memory, with very low speeds and virtually no traction (no studs allowed)! Some videos from the event last year:





I'll keep this thread updated over the course of the event with anything major from the front of the pack. Antoine has by far the most ice/snow racing experience of the group, but as a privateer (he is not a factory backed team!), it's hard to compete against the factory backed efforts of Ford and Subaru. Needless to say, the wild card will be Ken Block, with him having dominated all 3 north American events he entered in 2012.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Is this series on TV at all?

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
Is this series on TV at all?

No The last time it aired on TV was in 2007. They do have their own productions though, with the event recaps as well as last year, they were doing live from stage HD coverage.

www.rally-america.com

[CanmoreOrLess]

You'd think you'd be able to watch this using an Xbox or PS? It would be a natural tie in with the race video game market, as all sport is advertising driven rally car racing ought to be a profitable venture for TV.

Yet if the cars went around an oval 250 or more times it gets first class airing and support. We live in a shallow pond society.

[ercchry]

so block did well at this? why does he suck so much at normal rally?

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
It would be a natural tie in with the race video game market

A lot of the people you see and hear in the videos are directly involved with those video games, so I'd agree. Sadly, it's a complex chicken and egg thing. When Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra, and Ken Block were competing, it wasn't hard to get over 100,000 views of your videos on youtube if they were well produced back in 2008 before the economic crash. Global Rallycross (another great series) has taken a lot of steam out of the rally sails also.

Luckily in Canada, we've had TV coverage thanks to TSN for 20 years of our championship (which I'll be posting about next week )

Edit-

Originally posted by ercchry
so block did well at this? why does he suck so much at normal rally?

He doesn't. Having competed against (behind) him, I can quite easily say he is one of (if not the) best rally drivers in North America. With his time spent in the WRC, expect him to dominate the American series this year (having essentially a WRC car and Ford backing doesn't hurt either)! It is a lot of fun to picture Ken as the stereotypical rich guy buying his way, but he has paid his dues. Everyone crashes, and if you are trying to go fast, you crash a lot at the beginning! Hell, I almost wrote off two cars last season!

[HiTempguy1]

New SRTUSA livery:



New Rockstar Mitsu livery:

[ercchry]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1



He doesn't. Having competed against (behind) him, I can quite easily say he is one of (if not the) best rally drivers in North America. With his time spent in the WRC, expect him to dominate the American series this year (having essentially a WRC car and Ford backing doesn't hurt either)! It is a lot of fun to picture Ken as the stereotypical rich guy buying his way, but he has paid his dues. Everyone crashes, and if you are trying to go fast, you crash a lot at the beginning! Hell, I almost wrote off two cars last season!

by normal rally... i mean WRC... finishing off 2012 with a whopping 4 points or 2011.... with 6 points or 2010... with 2 points...

[Kramerica]

Originally posted by ercchry


by normal rally... i mean WRC... finishing off 2012 with a whopping 4 points or 2011.... with 6 points or 2010... with 2 points...

I'm fairly certain he only hit up something like two events a year in WRC, I'm too lazy to look it up though.

[ercchry]

Originally posted by Kramerica


I'm fairly certain he only hit up something like two events a year in WRC, I'm too lazy to look it up though.

there was one year that it was only two... the other two years... uh no

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by ercchry


by normal rally... i mean WRC... finishing off 2012 with a whopping 4 points or 2011.... with 6 points or 2010... with 2 points...

He's competed on and off in the WRC for 3 years. Should he be as fast as Loeb, who no-one can beat? Sebastion Ogier? Who are you comparing him to?

Most of the drivers in the WRC have over one hundred pace note events under their belt. Hell, all of the drivers in the top 10 have over 50 WRC events. You don't just jump into the WRC and dominate (unless you are Loeb, but that's another story).

Edit-
Not to mention testing weekly and basically eating/sleeping/breathing rally.

[ercchry]

with the amount of hype everyone gives him, yeah... yeah i would have to compare him to the best drivers

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by ercchry
with the amount of hype everyone gives him, yeah... yeah i would have to compare him to the best drivers

Fair enough. I'm not hyping him, just happy to see him competing period! He didn't do the RA series last year except for a couple of events, great to see him back for the full season