The Rally Blog » Opinion

Poll – Who will win Race of Champions

mrwatkins83 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:16:47 +0000

There are literally a dozen drivers that have the opportunity to win tomorrow’s Race of Champions finale. Here’s the driver line-up:

Michael Schumacher
Sebastien Vettel
Jenson Button
Andy Priaulx
Tom Kristensen
Mattias Ekstrom
Mikko Hirvonen
Marcus Gronholm
Chad Reed
Mick Doohan
Yvan Muller
Guerlain Chicherit
David Coulthard
Giniel de Villiers
Tanner Foust
Travis Pastrana
Clivio Piccione
Emanuele Pirro
Ho-Pin Tung
Han Han

A bunch of these guys have what takes to ace tomorrow’s test. My money is on a rallyist, though. Someone like Gronholm might surprise us. Tomorrow should be interesting. The broadcast starts late morning / early afternoon here in the States. You can set an alert on Freecaster.tv to remind you to tune in before the coverage starts, as well.

Please take a minute to vote your selection in the sidebar to the right.

Poll – Will you follow ROC?

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:20:41 +0000

The end of the motorsport calendar marks the return of one of my favorite yearly events, the Race of Champions. This year ROC will be held outside of Europe for the first time. Beijing’s Bird Nest, China’s Olympic Stadium, will play host to this year’s event and will feature the top driving talent from around the world.

The event will be a three day contest, featuring the Nation’s Cup, and the Race of Champions itself. Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana are signed on to represent the USA next week (November 2-4).

So this week’s question is a no-brainer: Are you going to follow this year’s Race of Champions? Please take a moment to answer in the sidebar to the right. Feel free to discuss your thoughts on ROC here.

Readers disagree with Rally America

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:03:25 +0000

After a week of voting, readers have soundly voiced their opposition to the changes in the 2010 Rally America schedule. Almost all of you voted against the shortening of the calendar.

Do you agree with Rally America’s decision to shorten the 2010 calendar to just six events?

# No (88%, 15 Votes)
# Yes (12%, 2 Votes)

A total of 17 votes were cast.

The 2010 season will feature three fewer events than recent seasons. Rally Colorado, Lake Superior Performance Rally and Ojibwe Forests Rally were all left out of next season’s calendar. The announcement came following this year’s LSPR at the season-ending banquet. It’s worth mentioning that three RallyCross events will be run under the Rally America banner next year with more coming in 2011.

Jean Todt wins FIA election and I die a little inside

mrwatkins83 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:50:55 +0000

Well, Ari Vatanen lost the bid to become Max Mosley’s successor as the head of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the sanctioning body for Formula One and World Rally Championship, today.

Amid accusations of intimidation and unfair voting practices, Todt handily won the election, 135-49. The FIA says that 12 votes were dismissed because they were invalid (or the voter abstained).

I have to say that I’m very disappointed in the result. Sex-scandals aside, Mosley was an awful President and has allowed the WRC to dwindle during his entire tenure. I’m glad that he’s gone, and I hope that Todt will do a better job promoting and developing stage rally for the future. But who knows? Maybe he’ll be videotaped getting spanked by prostitutes while dressed up like Stalin.

New Poll – Do you agree with Rally America’s decision to shorten the 2010 calendar to just six events?

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:12:41 +0000

Pretty simple question. I posted my thoughts on the changes earlier today. Please take a minute to answer in the sidebar to the right. If you’d like to express your thoughts, feel free to post them here. Related posts:Poll – Will you follow ROC?Poll – Who will be this year’s championship runner-up?Poll – What was the biggest [...] Related posts:

Rally America releases 2010 schedule and it sucks

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:15:30 +0000

Rally America announced their schedule for the upcoming season yesterday at the end-of-year awards banquet held following this weekend’s Lake Superior Performance Rally.

January Sno*Drift Rally Atlanta, MI
February Rally of the 100 Acre Wood Salem, MO
April Olympus Rally Olympia, WA
May Oregon Trail Rally Hood River, OR
June Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally Wellsboro, PA
July New England Forest Rally Newry, ME

Next year’s national championship calendar will be missing Rally Colorado, Ojibwe Forests Rally and Lake Superior Performance Rally. RA says that it is to reduce costs and to allow more organizational support for three rally cross events scheduled to be run next season.

Mike Hurst, the Rally America competition director, commented on the calendar changes in a press release:

After a great deal of consideration and review of the past three seasons, we’ve decided to reduce the Rally America National Championship from nine to six events to help reduce team costs and increase competition. The 2010 championship schedule will include two national-level rally events on the west coast, two on the east coast and two in the central portion of the United States. The six-event schedule will not only make it more affordable for the teams, but allow for better competition as well as allow Rally America to introduce European-style rally cross competition in the fall.

The press release also talks about the sport’s continued growth, but if the audience is expanding as fast as Rally America claims, then they should be able to provide support to events like Colorado and Ojibwe (which are two excellent rallies). Dropping three events at this point in the game makes about as much sense as telling Subaru they’re no longer wanted as a series sponsor.

The series will also conclude in July. That leaves more than five months of the year without any rallying whatsoever. Rallying will become harder to follow when there are fewer events and too much time between them.

I like rally cross. It’s fun to watch and there is plenty of opportunity to build and develop a series here in the States. I do wish that Rally America didn’t have to reduce the calendar and drop good rounds just to make room for Rally Cross (if there is an interest, it can support itself). Call me a traditionalist, but I’d much rather walk the stages all day than in the stands for two hours. Maybe it’s just me.

I’m not happy with these decisions.

What are your thoughts? Do you think that Rally America is making the right move by reducing the number of events in the series calendar?

Finally, I get my hands on DiRT 2

mrwatkins83 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:33:42 +0000

DiRT 2 for DS

Last night I went to Best Buy to buy a game for my Nintendo DS. I’m flying up to New York this weekend and wanted something to do while at the airport and on the plane.

I decided on buying DiRT 2, despite the fact I would be playing it on the DS instead of an Xbox 360 or PS3 (I don’t own either). I anticipated being disappointed after playing the 360 demo at a friend’s house.

I was not.

The game feels like a more realistic mix of Mario Kart and Cruis’n USA. There are plenty of tracks, venues and cars to choose from (I’ve only unlocked two cars after a few hours of gameplay), but the controls are where DiRT 2 shines. I learned early on that you can’t simply press the accelerator and go like you can in Mario Kart. The game actually requires skill and an eye for terrain.

There are proper rally courses, rally raid stages and several trick areas (jumps, stunt driving).

So far, I’ve been extremely pleased with my decision (I could be playing Littlest Pet Shop right now). Don’t get me wrong, graphically speaking, the game is nowhere close to matching even the Wii version, but the insane amount of options you’re given just in customization of the car alone provide hours of solid entertainment. If you own a DS, I strongly recommend you checking this one out.

Poll – Who should represent USA at ROC?

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:54:55 +0000

Photo courtesy Race of Champions

There have yet to be any confirmations regarding the American contingency for this year’s Race of Champions. ROC will take place in Beijing on November 2-4.

ROC has pretty much filled its roster of driving talent. World Champions (current and former) are well represented in the line-up. One problem for the event is the NASCAR Chase for the Cup, which will be in full force during the ROC event. Scheduling competitors who are also driving for the NASCAR title will be extremely difficult. ROC is sandwiched in between Talladega and Texas.

We’re basically left with Indy car drivers and the rally guys.

Take a minute to pick who you think should represent the United States. The poll is located in the sidebar to the right. Feel free to discuss your vote here.

Readers pick Richard to take crown

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:23:51 +0000

After a week of voting, you guys chose Subaru Rally Team Canada’s Patrick Richard to take home this year’s Canadian Rally Championship driver’s title. Antoine L’Estage, who leads the series, needs to finish ahead of Richard (or second if Richard wins) at Rally of the Tall Pines to take home the title.

Richard will need an inspired drive to take home the hardware. It’s a great battle, regardless. At least CARS goes all the way to the final round of the championship before deciding its champion unlike Rally America.

Ari responds, sort of…

mrwatkins83 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:30:11 +0000

I sent off a request to interview Ari Vatanen last week and received a response from Tiina Lehmonen, who I can only assume is Mr. Vatanen’s PR person. It’s no secret that if I had a voice, I would vote for Vatanen to succeed current FIA President Max Mosley in the upcoming elections. But, I don’t.

Here is the response:

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for your e-mail and kind support. Mr. Vatanen is on his Africa tour at the moment and he shall be extremely busy these three weeks before FIA Elections. I shall forward your message to him.

I know that he appreciates your help a lot.

With best wishes,

Tiina Lehmonen