Driving Sports Reports - Rally America Round 5, Stage vs Stadium Rally

[supersideways]

America stage rallying is on the brink, however, it is due to the poor marketing of the series (inc. no TV package), strange car-class system, cost of using Jemba notes, reliance on people like Pastrana to bring interest, hard for privateers to match the factory cars with half year series, changing of X-Games style event, ... lots of areas to fix really

[hardlycalledart]

forza!

[s4stem]

Subies sound so nice.

[linkinlogg69]

i was at the 2010 olympias rally all i can say is a miss ken in the sti my personal opinion fords suck but antoine knows how to tear it up in the evo

RIP Colin McRAE

[adrianTNT]

That is how an EVO takes the corner 1:38 and this is a front wheel drive 2:29 :)

[ASirensSoliloquy]

Scoob for life.

[NoLimitzPlz]

great footage

[Xyb3rTeCh]

nascar is for rednecks, rally is for real blood-adrenaline enthusiast drivers.

[ALMIRANT3EZEKIEL]

tht guys face bothers me (the 2nd guy )

[ddriver22]

you suck at forza

[ICEMAN99TURBO]

All I hear about is Nascar this, Nascar that., I'm tired of it. American needs Rally to give fans something other than an "Circle" type of race!

[mbc92028]

OK. Try and book Acer Arena in Sydney for a gig next summer. Its already more then 1/2 sceduled out. FACT

[drivingsports]

@mbc92028 Uh, that's great. Not really relevant to the discussion, however.

[mbc92028]

I just think your being naive if you think Pastrana isnt scheduling out atleast a year in advance.

[drivingsports]

@mbc92028 We can only report what we learn from sources directly involved. You are arguing based on what you believe were the scheduling timelines, but you make no indication that you have first-hand knowledge about what actually happened. Like all organizations R-A had a schedule well before it was made public and you can bet that R-A works hard to make sure it's #1 driver isn't going to miss 1/3 of the season. We'll certainly be discussing with Pastrana the next time we talk with him.

[mbc92028]

@drivingsports Yeah that makes sense Nitro Circus Tour of Australia was just thrown together at the last minute. Are you kidding me they had to have locked in the stadiums in Oz over a year ago to make sure they did nt have conflict with other events.  Rally-America didnt get there shit together on their scheduel til almost new years.

[drivingsports]

@mbc92028 Only reporting what we heard from folks that are actually involved with the situation. If you don't want to believe them, that's your choice.

[mbc92028]

1st stop mis-informing. Pastrana made decision to miss two rallies, before rally America changed its format. Adding 3 rallycross events and dropping 3 real rallies. Before the changes drivers were required to drop 2 events from their points standing any ways, so him missing 2 events would have not mattered.

2nd- Rallycross is in no way a replacement for stage rally. Stage rally is the most pure form of motorsport their is, rallycross is just another racing series.

[drivingsports]

@mbc92028 According to our sources Pastrana double-booked Oregon Trail after the R-A schedule was secured. He had to make the decision to do the other event in lieu of OT knowing that it would cost him the Championship. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for him to make, but that's what went down.

[DZoneTV]

Stage rallying in America won't last too long if they don't get some bloody tarmac events. Who wants to race on gravel for an entire season?

Also, I would like to see how these American rally drivers do in rally championships in Europe.

[drivingsports]

@DZoneTV Would be nice if Rally NY were included in the R-A calendar. That's one of the few tarmac races in the US.

[x0PaRaDoX0x]

lol, the guy is playing with a Playstation controller and at the end the other guy picks up an Xbox controller...

[drivingsports]

@x0PaRaDoX0x Those are both XBox controllers (we have a white and black one in the office)

[horizontalfour]

I've said it before...

"Just how serious is Rally America? Seems very obscure with no real coverage and for Travis to go off and make money in Australia doing back flips on his bike while the competition threatens his rally title... it makes the series look unimportant and even more average." Plus I really could care less for the little Fiesta. It's a woman shopping car and no amount of competitive ready modifications will make it ok... this is a motorsport event and it is a lie on wheels.

[stickendicken]

dude you have a funny looking mug

[mdavidson2183]

I enjoy the Super Special stages as do alot of other people. Its easy to spectate so I think RalllyCross will take off. However theres nothing like driving to a remote location in the PA wilderness and hiking a mile to a stage 2 hrs before the stage starts and seeing cars fly down a two track style dirt road!

[davdaking]

haha forza 3 in the background

[AWDfreak]

Thanks DSTV for the vid! Due to lack of coverage, I don't know what's really going on in rally right now.

[chucksta2k6]

i know some secrets that we can look forward for next years rally at susquehannock.

[drivingsports]

@chucksta2k6 That's a long time to hold a secret. Send me an email with the info through our main site... promise I won't tell.

[RAAM444]

wow epic plug

[fountasp10]

drivingsports isnt about cars anymore it is commercial

[medelucki1]

freakin ken block!! why would he ever leave the ever reliable subaru for a crappy ford!

[evilmxdude]

Love the Terra Firma shirts!!!!!!

[dbanner126]

Forza III in the background FTW!!!

But true car guys only race In-Car view....

[dbanner126]

It's funny how the drivers are like "Eh screw rally america, I have better things to do..."

I guess this series is not exactly a big deal to pastrana...

[jorgearribatoluca]

Ken Block did alot better in the Subaru Team. Thats what he gets for driving for Ford now. Hey no offense to the american car fanatics.

[jeep6242]

@jorgearribatoluca The real offense is taken by people who think and don't mindlessly back any one manufacturer foreign or domestic because they are deluded fanboys. Subarus kick all ass! No Mustangs rule the universe! Not surprisingly neither is true. But I know I waste my time because the butt hurt over Block leaving is not yet able to be measured by science at this time and no amount of milk and cookies will make the pain go away.

[element645]

although stadium races are very exciting staged races are the heart of rally and always will be and some stadium races arent as good as others i was at the rally last weekend and enjoyed the stages more than the stadium race

[nukemutant187]

Mirra should stick to riding bikes, Pastrana needs to decide if he wants to race or not. And for block its not his fault, but what did he expect? its a ford. and for the Evos they have some good drivers, but the truth is they lucked out this season.

[jeep6242]

@nukemutant187 Butt hurt much? Sick of Subaru fanboys crying over Block leaving. I could give a crap about Ford, and I have nothing against Subaru in general but Subies get their ass kicked in WRC and IRC so the Ford comment just makes you sound ignorant. How many mechanical DNF's did Solberg have? Derp what do you expect duuurp it's a Subaru. See how stupid that sounds?

[nukemutant187]

@jeep6242 Im ignorent...? can you not read? whos crying? i said its not Blocks fault hes not finishing, its his car. I dont care who he drives for. and as for Solberg 4 DNF's in a row do to mechanical failure... duurrp dipshit i dont think so. And calling me a Subaru fanboy... who are you? I injoy rally, and Subarus arnt the only cars i root for.

[jeep6242]

@nukemutant187 Well phrasing a nearly one off engine and sequential gearbox designed by a respectable Swedish rally car prepper as "What do you expect it's a Ford" is still stupid. I retract the other part about the fanboy stuff. After about reading 20 comments that are fanboy derived on every video or blog post about Block for months and months I felt like a little purging. Perhaps unwarranted in this case.

[nwardtd]

@jeep6242 @nukemutant187 block seems to have the same luck and skill no matter what he drives. I'm not saying I think he's bad, but last year he finished 4 of the 9 rally's in the subaru getting first twice, then second, then third.

[plorwax]

@nukemutant187 

[TheRallycrossKing]

wow....all dave mirra does is wreck....drivingsports you guys should sponsor me build me a car and ill move up in the ranks next year.

[SmashedTV4U]

Block Out again......... This is getting old.

[SilentBob008]

I wish I could rally for a living...