Driving Sports

Mitsubishi Evo X Debuts at Canadian Rally Finale

Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard and guest co-driver Chrissie Beavis will make the gravel debut of the first rally-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X on the continent this coming weekend at Canada’s rally season ender.

“We really want to take this opportunity to put the car through its paces on gravel for the first time before we get to the serious building stage,” said Comrie-Picard. “It’s an amazing car and we look forward to getting it out there into gravel rally competition.”

Comrie-Picard drove the car to a Modern division victory at the Targa Newfoundland in September, where it debuted on tarmac in a standard class.

Not Done Yet! - Canadians Prep for Rally of the Tall Pines

Unpredictable weather and challenging roads set the stage for a fierce final showdown at Canada’s rally season ender, the Rally of the Tall Pines, November 20-22, in Bancroft, Ontario.

Subaru Rally Team Canada’s Pat Richard and co-driver Alan Ockwell have already secured the Canadian championship title, but defending champions Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard are looking for redemption in what has been a frustrating Canadian season.

Lancer Ralliart Hits the Sweet Spot

Back in the first golden age of sports cars during the 1950s and 60s, automakers had a habit of producing their sports cars in a basic version, a super-duper hot rod version, and then a kind of in-between version. The in-between car was often idiosyncratic and nearly always reflected the factory design team’s conception of how the car really should feel. In other words, those cars hit the sweet spot between performance and comfort at an attractive price.

Thus, cars like the Porsche 356SC and 911SC were perhaps not as fast as the Carrera models, but had a certain balance of comfort, performance, and longevity that made them the favorites of those who really knew and understood the breed. Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and other serious sports car players also made these special low-production models. If you check your trivia, you’ll find that people like Sergio Pininfarina, Enzo Ferrari, and Ferry Porsche tended to drive these special cars rather than the all-out performance models.

Symphony of Speed

Consider your average racetrack: By itself it’s just a strip of pavement, and not a very attractive strip at that. It will certainly have crumbling edges, linear grooves carved into its back and strokes of melted rubber slathered in crazed zig-zags—usually near the corners. Even more, unlike public roads, it doesn’t even go anywhere. It just sits there, baking in the sun.

Add a couple thousand pounds of steel, several gallons of petrol and a piece of meat behind the wheel, and that lonely and circuitous path takes on a whole new meaning: It has a rhythm, a harmony. Much like with music, it’s not just the instrument; the composer and performer are kind of important, too. Change any one of these elements and a delicate concerto can easily be warped into a bombastic stadium anthem.

This brings me to a day I spent recently at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California. I flew into LAX on the redeye from Seattle, picked up an Evolution X MR from the press fleet – thanks, Mitsubishi – and made the trek an hour and a half north towards the desert.

Driving Sports Time Attack Draws Hot Machinery

The first ever Driving Sports Time Attack got underway today at Portland International Raceway as part of the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland.

22 cars are entered, ranging from a 1971 Datson 510 with a full Toyota Supra drivetrain to a selection of pumped Subarus, a nice assortment of RX-7s and winding out with a right hand drive JDM-spec Nissan R35 GT-R.

On Friday, competitors had an open 45-minute practice session to get the feel of the new surface and corners at PIR, and they made good use of their time.

One select photo appears at right, but a full gallery of pictures is available here.

The action continues tomorrow evening with 4 rounds of Time Attack competition - timed to 1/1000th of a second. May the hottest shoe win!

Results: http://blog.drivingsports.com/blog/timeattack.html

Tough Times at the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally

For a replay of Driving Sports' Live coverage of STPR 2008, click here. Live coverage sponsored by Perrin Performance.

If the Rally America teams thought their trials and tribulations were safely left behind in Oregon, they received a rude awakening at this week’s Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally.  “Waste management” was an appropriate name for the event, as the destruction tour that is the 2008 Rally America season continued at full throttle.

Starting from the top of the seed list, Subaru Rally Team USA arrived with two new 2008 STI hatchbacks. The new rally machines showed up straight from the shop, apparently without much testing time to shake the bugs out. This may prove to be the team’s undoing for the year, because before the paint was even dry the rear suspensions on both cars failed in spectacular fashion.

The early season juggernaut of Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino sputtered to a halt in Oregon with a DNF, and faltered again on stage 2 in Pennsylvania. According to rally control reports, the rear lower control arms failed and left the former points leaders stranded by the side of the road. This ended their national hopes for the weekend, but the veteran rallyists came back to contest the regional event the next day.  Oregon Trail winner Travis Pastrana and co-driver Derek Ringer experienced similar troubles on stage 2, but made it back to service for repairs and were not time-barred.

Patrick Richard Takes Rocky Mountain Victory

Two-time Canadian Rally Champion Pat Richard (pronounced Ree-shard) made his return to the top of the podium in a new 2008 Subaru Impreza STI at the Rocky Mountain Rally, Round 2 of the Canadian Rally Championship, presented by Subaru.

Despite teething problems with the freshly prepared car, Richard swept into the lead this weekend after championship rivals Andrew Comrie-Picard and Antoine L’Estage suffered mechanical problems that forced both teams out of the rally.

“We didn’t expect to win, but it’s a great finish,” said Pat Richard. “The team worked really hard to make this happen.”

Photos by Andrew Harvey Photography

Rally Action Moves North to Alberta

The top driving talents in Canada are heading to the Calgary area on May 23-24 for the Rocky Mountain Rally, Round 2 of the Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru.

The contest will see a fierce battle for championship points and the debut of a much-anticipated new competition car from Subaru Rally Team Canada.

Defending champion Antoine L’Estage and his co-driver Nathalie Richard are looking to extend their championship lead after starting the season with a win in February at the Rallye Perce-Neige-Maniwaki.

Mitsubishi Rolls Out the Evo X MR

On the heels of the successful introduction of the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR, Mitsubishi Motors today announced the availability of the more technologically-advanced 2008 Lancer Evolution MR, the newest and most sophisticated version of the model series that began 16 years ago.

The Lancer Evolution MR arrives at showrooms in the U.S. in June and is available for a suggested retail price of $38,290. The MR features more user technology and a broader market appeal than the entry level GSR, including an advanced 6-speed Twin Clutch Sportronic Shift Transmission.

Western Automotive Journalists Gather For "Media Days" At Laguna Seca

The Western Automotive Journalists organization gathered this week in beautiful Monterey, Calif. to test drive the 2008 sports and luxury car field from virtually every automaker doing business in North America. Journalists from up and down the west coast arrived to test the full fleet of 2008 cars on the winding mountain roads of Carmel Valley and at speed on the track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Yes, that's the new Nissan GT-R parked next to the NISMO Edition 350Z in the photo to the right. Yes, they're as good as you think they are.

Events such as this serve a number of purposes, including a rare chance for side-by-side tests of comparable cars from different automakers, and also to allow a relaxed atmosphere to talk shop with the manufacturer representatives. But I wouldn't lie to you and tell you it was anything like working - this event is big-time fun.