Team GotCone.com driver Christy Carlson competed in last weekend’s Rally America Rally in the 100 Acre Wood event held on the usually very fast roads around Salem, MO. The heavy rain that fell on Thursday made the roads very slippery and made for some deeper then usual water crossings.

Carlson set some impressive times right from the start. She was able to put down one of the fastest 2WD stage times during the Super Special Stage at Potosi Lions Park, despite having the fuel pump lose power and having to coast across the finish. The fuel pump was fixed and the car was able to make it’s way to the next stage. More…

Heavy rain lead to some slippery roads in and around Salem, MO this past weekend, but that didn’t slow down Antoine L’Estage. The 2010 National Champion set impressive times right from the start and was able to hold off Subaru Rally Team driver David Higgins to take the victory.

L’Estage jumped out to an early lead in the opening Super Special stage and ended Day 1 with a 22 second lead. L’Estage was able to keep his Rockstar Mitsubishi EVO X going just as quick on day 2 and Higgins had no chance of catching up. David Higgins got his first championship points of the year in his Subaru Rally Team STI, after having engine issues at Sno*Drift. Third place went to Dave Mirra, in his Subaru Rally Team STI, who took his 2nd podium in a row. Travis Hanson who became the first Super Production competitor to win a National Rally America event overall at last month’s Sno*Drift, took 4th overall and first in Super Production.

The 2011 WRC season got underway last weekend and it is already shaping up to be a great one. The event marked the debut of the new breed of rally cars, namely the Ford Fiesta and the Citroen DS3. Ford was looking to get back on top after struggling and falling to the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier in 2010. And get off to a good start they did taking all 3 podium spots in Sweden.

Mikko Hirvonen drives his Ford Fiesta to victory at 2011 WRC Rally Sweden

Mikko Hirvonen wrapped up his first victory of the year, looking more like the Mikko of 2009 where he challenged Loeb for the driver’s championship. “I was really nervous before the last stage but what a fantastic start from the team with the new car,” Mikko said. “The car has been quick straight away and after a tough season last year I am really pleased with this. But I am not taking this feeling any further. We’ve won here and now we need to move on to the next round in Mexico where it will be a different game. But I’m very happy with this and it couldn’t be better to have a Ford one-two-three.”
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The 2011 Rally America season got under way on Friday with the first stage of Sno Drift, held in Atlanta Michigan. As usual the name told the tale with stages covered in ice and snow, with frigid temperatures in the teens and twenties for most of the event. There was less snow then usual, so the snow banks weren’t as high which meant there was much less room for error.

Travis Hanson makes history winning Sno Drift in his Super Production Subaru

The lack of snow banks had an impact right away for last year’s Rally America champion, Antoine L’Estage and his Rockstar Mitsubishi Evolution X as he went off on stage 4 and was forced to retire from the event after not being able to restart the car. Before the off by L’Estage, he held a 20 second lead over new Subaru Rally Team Driver David Higgins, who then assumed the lead. But the first day would claim Higgins and his Subaru STI as a victim as well. Going into stage 6 Higgins had a lead of over 2 minutes in front of Super Production driver Travis Hanson, but Higgins’ STI motor failed on the stage and he was forced to retire from the event.
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Everyone remember the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books from when they were growing up. The stories led you to certain points where a choice needed to be made and that choice was left up to you. Each choice had a different result and a different story. Well, now you can Create Your Own Rally Adventure, by choosing which angle you want to watch the Subaru Rally car go through a stage of the Canadian “Rally of the Tall Pines”. The 2011 Subaru STi Rally Car is driven by Pat Richard and the co-driver is Alan Ockwell.

Well the 2011 WRC season is just around the corner and there are a bunch of changes coming up. New cars, drivers with new teams and more. So, I thought it was a good time to do a quick update on what was going on.

Last week Ford revealed the new livery for the 2011 season for the new Fiesta WRC car. Ford said it is meant to be an aggressive looking livery. It sure looks good to me.

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This weekend is the first Gymkhana Grid event, put on by Ken Block, DC Shoes and Monster Energy. The Ken Block Invitational event will be held December 3 & 4 at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, CA. Competitors include Ken Block (obviously), Formula Drift driver Dai Yoshiahra (Nissan 240SX), Rally driver Andrew (ACP) Comrie-Picard, Drift/Rally driver and Top Gear America host Tanner Foust, Drift driver Stephan Verdier (Subaru STi) and most interestingly to me, 2010 Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. in Ken Block’s personal car a 1978 Ford Escort Mk2. Vaughn Gittin JR normally drives a Ford Mustang for the Ford / Monster Team.

Vauhn Gittin JR will be driving Ken Block's Ford Escort MK2 at this weekend's Gymkhana Grid event.

Missing from the event will be Travis Pastrana who apparently has “forgotten how to turn right” (at least according to the ‘commercial’ put together for the event) since he has left the Subaru Rally Team and officially announced a Nascar campaign for 2011, teaming up with Michael Waltrip racing. More…

Rhys Millen recently teased a Climb Attack video made in conjunction with Hankook and Red Bull and it’s finally here. Rhys took his Hyundai Genesis Coupe ‘drift’ car up the beautiful slopes of Serra do Rio do Rastro, sliding and drifting his way up leaving behind clouds of smoke. I’m not sure how he had any tires at all left by the time he was there as you can see long black marks behind him in the smoke as he drifts nearly the entire thing. Enjoy Red Bull and Rhys Millen’s video Climb Attack Brazil video below.