Driving Sports

Pics Update!

A few pics from today, a very foggy and damp Stage 4, have been posted to the Gallery.

Wet! Wet! Wet!

We're returning from the wettest rally stage ever. Seriously, a  sideways deluge. Couldn't see who was who. Still managed to get some  video tho.

Once we get out of this parking lot it's off to dinner.

Kickoff in Cardiff

Wales Rally GB kicked off tonight in Cardiff with a bang (literally... lots of fireworks), as every competitor rolled over the ceremonial start. All except for the privateer MG S2000 team of Stuart Jones and Craig Parry... they walked across the line as damage from the shakedown stage sidelined the car for the night. On the stage they proclaimed that their car would be ready for competition on Friday.

Petter Solberg, by far, was the crowd favorite. A massive cheer rose as he crossed the start. In his interview on the deck he said that he was looking to win this one for the fans. Insider tip: the Subaru World Rally Team is testing a new glow-in-the-dark sticker scheme. It should make for some interesting photos.

Way down at the 52 start position, Travis Pastrana rolled across the start with a surprising amount of applause (after the top 10 cars started, the crowd thinned dramatically) but little other fanfare. It would have been nice if the announcer had at least mentioned that Travis was the sole American entry. The Russian and Polish Subaru Rally Teams received a lot more attention from the announcer. (granted, they are running open class and Travis is batting down at Group N)

For live updates from the rally with scores and news, also check out Jason and Yuji's LIVE WRC report at SubieClub.com. I'll be out on stage all day tomorrow, which will limit my access to information. And, as has been seen, remote data connections are turning out to be sketchy.

Opening Tonight in Cardiff

Just returned from the shakedown stages. Beautifully sunny weather, with a slight chill in the air. Tomorrow's forecast is sidways rain and more chilly temperatures. Should be fun. I have lots of video and got a good interview in with Travis Pastrana, Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson.

Petter is feeling good about this event, but I could tell he's certainly itching to get his hands on the 2008 WRC car. That won't see a stage until much later in 2008, however, so he's making due with what he has. I predict a top five finish for him this week.

Travis is here to improve his skills running this format. He's not expecting to win his class, just get better.

It should be an exciting event, with Gronholm running his final event before retirement and all the other drivers pushing to get a good season-ending result.

Have to run out again, now to the kickoff ceremony in downtown Cardiff. I'll upload more photos later tonight.

Here's your hat. What's your hurry?

Woke up. Grabbed coffee and a toast. Packed into the Tribeca and we're  off to the stages for shakedown.

Track and Country

After wrapping our tour of Prodrive our group headed to Prodrive’s test track near Warwick. Here we sampled a few different Subarus in less-than-normal conditions.

First up was the high-speed circuit in a 2006 STI Type UK, followed by attempting to drive a 2008 WRX on an ice simulation course. Then, after lunch, we wrapped with a technical course in another 2006 Type UK, with the coup-de-grace of running a Prodrive Group N car around the course for a few laps.

The biggest challenge of the day was getting used to all the cars in a right-hand-drive configuration. I could see that driving on the street wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but trying to retrain my left hand to “know” what gear it was in was turning out to be a significantly greater challenge than I had predicted. Jamming from 3rd to 2nd under pressure of a fast-approaching apex gave wake to muscles I didn’t even know were in my shoulder. This was terribly distracting to my brain, which was otherwise occupied with keeping the car on the track at speed.

Stratford upon Avon

Staying one night in the town best known as Shakspeare's birthplace. Unfortunately, finding a decent Internet connection has been impossible so you'll have to wait for the next town before I can post about the trip to the Prodrive test track.

Prodrive tour

We just completed the tour of Prodrive: WRC car prep from motor to 
frame to final car. See the gallery for snapshots from the tour. Here 
is Atkinson's car prepped for Rally GB.

Flavors of Oxford

It's 3am in the UK, and I can't sleep.

Myself and three other journalists (Auto Week, Playboy, Sports Car International) are staying our first night at a funkified inn called the Crazy Bear just outside of Oxford. There are several of these popping up across the UK. Though it looks like a traditional pub on the outside, inside each room has unique upscale furnishings. My room has an interesting zebra-patterned rug. But at least I don't have the near-vertical flight of stairs that Aaron from SCI has to ascend.

Arriving in London

Nine hours from Seattle to London on an uneventful flight. Hardly slept a wink, so hopefully I can get caught up on sleep tonight before I head out to Prodrive tomorrow morning. My watch still says 3am, but it's almost noon already in the UK.

On the Road to WRC Rally GB!

Starting Monday, November 26, Ryan Douthit will be reporting "live" on DrivingSports.com as he travels abroad. First stop: Testing a Group N rally car at Prodrive UK. Next, the Subaru World Rally Team and Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana prepare to tackle WRC Rally Great Britain. There will be fast cars, fine dinners and a rollicking good time in the old country!

To see images from the trip, click on the UK Moblog Gallery on the right. Ryan will also be making entries from his cell phone every step of the way! Refresh this page often for the latest updates!

2008 Jeep Patriot Reviewed

The Jeep Patriot is the “boy half” of two models that Jeep introduced in 2007. The girl half is the Compass – same engine, same platform, but less macho in its styling and interior. This may be the first time an automaker ever explicitly said they were making two versions of the same car aimed at men and women.  I mean, you can point to the VW Rabbit GTI and Cabriolet, I suppose, but they never admitted to it.

Cutting to the chase, the Patriot is a nice small crossover SUV. It’s got the same 2.4-liter engine that powers most of the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep economy lineup, but with 172 horses, and 165 lb-ft of torque, it moves the Patriot quite nicely. The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) gets some credit for the car’s gutsy performance – even if the tendency to rev up to redline for all acceleration takes a bit of getting used to.

Mitsubishi Sponsors U.S. Alcan 5000 Winter Rally Team

To the question of whether Mitsubishi is supporting rally teams in the United States, the answer is an unqualified Yes. Team Mitsubishi Alcan has been formed to compete in the 2008 Alcan 5000 Winter Rally, which will take place in February. The six team members all reside in or around Portland, Oregon, and intend to challenge the Subaru and BMW factory teams for the win.

The Alcan Rally takes competitors over 5,000 miles from Seattle, Wash. to the village of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, approximately 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the shore of the Beaufort Sea. The Alcan is a two week torture test for both vehicles and rally teams, and is the toughest and longest competitive road rally in North America.

Mitsubishi Supports Canadian Rally

FlatOverCrest.com is reporting that Mitsubishi is making a big investment in privateer rally teams in Canada. Now, what about the US, Mistu? Any team support lovin' coming this way?

Here's a clip:

Mitsubishi has confirmed today a long-term and lucrative "rally support program" for the Canadian Rally Championship that encourages amateur participation in the sport.  Featuring a travel fund, prize purse, subsidized entry fees, and other incentives, the program is geared towards all levels of privateer Mitsubishi teams from Open Class through Production. The program also includes the same support for the Targa Newfoundland rally, held each September.

Top Gear: Motorhome Racing

Richard Hammond from the epic UK car show, "Top Gear," tries a new sport involving motorhomes and a racetrack. Anyone want to give this a try here in the States?

No VW Scirocco for the USA

Car and Driver is reporting that in a recent interview with President and CEO of VWoA, Stefan Jacoby, that the USA will not be getting the new Scirocco after all. Here is a clip from the posting.

The decision has been made: no Volkswagen Scirocco for North America. Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America, revealed the decision to Car and Driver in an interview at the L.A. auto show.

The four-passenger coupe will go on sale in Europe in mid-2008. But the U.S. already has the GTI and the R32, which are enough halo vehicles for what is a niche segment, Jacoby says.

“We need to focus on our core products,” he says, namely, the Rabbit, the Jetta, the Passat, and the launch of the Tiguan compact SUV. “The [2009 Scirocco] is lovely, but we can’t have everything.”

BMX Legend Mirra Makes His Rally Debut

Cool news for rally fans, straight from SRTUSA:

BMX legend Dave Mirra will make his competitive rally racing debut this weekend at The Rally Of The Tall Pines, the last round of the 2007 Canadian Rally Championship, held in Ontario, Canada. Mirra will be at the wheel of a Monster Energy Subaru Impreza rally car fielded by the Vermont SportsCar team.   Joining Mirra in a second Subaru fielded by Vermont SportsCar will be Subaru  Rally Team USA driver Ken Block, who  narrowly missed out on winning the 2007 Rally America National Championship at the final round last month.

Prodrive USA Closing

We just confirmed that Prodrive America will be closing its doors at the end of the year. If you were hankering to score some hot Prodrive wheels, now is the time to hit up your local dealer.

Best wishes to Horacio, Dan and the whole crew over at Prodrive America. Truly the nicest guys in the business. The upside is that Dan can now focus on honing his m8d Guitar Hero Halo sk1llz, y0.

I'll be getting more details straight from Prodrive UK when I visit next week as part of my Rally GB trip.

Remember the Bricklin SV1?

What does Subaru, Yugo and this odd looking future car of the past have in common? Malcolm Bricklin. The car pictured here is the first automobile Bricklin designed himself, the SV1. Those guys behind it aren't the roadies from the Lynyrd Skynyrd tour, no, they're the team that made it happen.

Not just another Ford V8-powered supercar-wannabe from the late 70s, the SV1 was well ahead of its time in the implementation of safety features: Crumple zones, "safety paint" colors and impact bumpers were all on the menu. Only 3,000 were ever built. For more info, check out the Bricklin Owners Club.

New DrivingSports.com!

Welcome to the new Driving Sports web site! We're making some changes to make the site easier to maintain and more enjoyable to visit. It will take a couple weeks to get our archives moved over, but in the meanwhile, we'll have a steady flow of fresh content!
If you're looking for a particular article, you can still access the old site here.

2008 Ford Taurus Limited AWD Reviewed

Ford is bringing back the Taurus nameplate for the 2008 model year, replacing the Ford Five Hundred. The Taurus has been one of Ford’s biggest selling models of the last several decades, and they’re clearly banking on the familiar name to boost sales in the mid-large sedan segment.

2008 WRX STI at Laguna Seca

We had a chance to drive a pre-production 2008 Subaru WRX STI at Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. Here is the in-car video, along with telemetry data, from one of the warm-up laps. (Click the jump to see the video.)

In short, the new STI is a brilliant piece of machinery that is significantly more capable than the outgoing model. The looks are subjective, but we think that Subaru really hit the target with this offering. It will just take some time for the fanbois to get used to the looks of this hatch-only silhouette. Once in the seat, gripping the leather-wrapped steering wheel and harnessing over 300hp with the right foot, nothing else will matter.

You'll have to pick up the December 2007 issue of Subiesport Magazine to read about our full results from testing the hot new 2008 Subaru WRX STI (available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Hastings, Books a Million, etc.)

I'm going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali...

Today, I’m down in California to test the new-for-2008 Subaru STI. I have high expectations for this new model.

This is a two day program for journalists that consists of some better-than-average dinners, a presentation about the new car and lots of seat time. The car is “officially”unveiled at the LA Auto Show later this week.

Since this is a long-lead event, I won’t be able to share my driving impressions in this blog. But you can look for the next issue of Subiesport Magazine to get all the facts. I will, however, be able to post some pics, so look for those in the days to come. (Click “Action Pix” above, then Mobile Pix, then select the slideshow to see images sent “live” from my iPhone.)

We’ll be doing some coastal driving, in addition to track sessions. I have all my test equipment with me, so as to get as much tech info possible about this new model. Hopefully Subaru will also have an older STI available so I can get comparative numbers.