Driving Sports

Episode #15: Porsche's new 918 concept breaks cover and it's a stunner. Economy, power, speed all in one wickedly sexy package. Then, we're off to Missouri where Ken Block is gunning for his fifth straight win at the 100 Acre Wood Rally, Round 2 of the Rally America Championship. Can Travis Pastrana, Antoine L'Estage or any of the other teams stop him?

Bonus content (available exclusively in our iPhone App): Porsche 918 Spyder Wallpaper, In-Car Footage of Travis Pastrana of the Subaru Rally Team USA on SS1 at the 100 Acre Wood Rally.

Welcome to your Driving Sports Extra for the first week of March, 2010. For bonus content related to this episode, check our app for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, now available in Apple’s iTunes App store.

This week: Something evil comes from Germany, and we visit Missouri for Round 2 of the Rally America Championship.

Excited by the Porsche 911 Hybrid race car we featured a couple weeks ago, but looking for something a bit more economical from our friends at Stuttgart?

Okay, how about this? The Porsche 918 Spyder Concept.

With a parallel hybrid system, this eco-friendly version of the Carrera GT manages a claimed 78 miles to the gallon. Seriously.

Depending on your mood, the system can be set in one of four modes: e-drive, which is pure electric. Hybrid, which makes it act like a Prius – only not so ugly. Sport, which sacrifices some economy. And finally Race… which gouges economy right in the eye, plucks it, frys it and serves it up with a side of cole slaw.

In short, this Concept Porsche takes the populist hybrid idea and bends it into a twisted, evil version of itself.

How evil? Think a 200 mile per hour top speed and 0 to 62 miles per hour in a face-tearing 3.2-seconds. Thanks, in part, to the 500hp V8 and dual electric motors. (jump cut) We’re talking fruits of the devil evil here.

The 918 Spyder concept is set to make its debut at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show this week. In the interest of all that is good and holy: you have been warned.

This past weekend rally fans turned their attention to Salem, Missouri, for Round 2 of the Rally America Championship and – more specifically – to see if Ken Block could take home an unprecedented 5^th straight win at Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.

This is a fast gravel event, that plays to Blocks strengths behind the wheel, but it wasn’t going to be easy: former teammate Travis Pastrana, Canadian Champion Antoine L’Estage and many other talented drivers were lined up to steal Block’s thunder.

Let’s take a look at how it all shook out:

In 2-wheel drive class it was yet again the classic 1990 Volkswagen Golf of Chris Duplessis and Catherine Woods. They took Dillon Van Way’s 2002 Ford Focus to the woodshed and dominated their class to the very end. Van Way trailed by a massive six minutes, which had to be humbling for the 2009 class champion.

Yes, it’s starting to feel like déjà-vu as Super Production was yet again dominated by the father-son team of Travis and Terry Hanson. Their Subaru STI finished the 103 mile event more than two and a half minutes faster than the nearest class rivals.

But it was in the overall standings that things got interesting.

The privateer team of William Bacon and Peter Watt yet again showed the big guys how it was done, by taking their second third place podium of the season in a Mitsubishi Evolution 9. For this team, consistency was key: they ranked 3^rd or 4^th in each of the 15 stages over the two-day event. Pulling off another podium just proves that this team isn’t a one-hit wonder.

After a valiant battle for first place, the Rockstar Rally Evolution X of Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard suffered a puncture on Day 2. That delay, as well as a challenging water hazard, knocked the experienced team to a second place finish overall, but nearly three minutes ahead of the Bacon Evolution.

Finally, the overall win at 100 Acre Wood for the fifth straight year goes to Ken Block. This is the first podium for his new Monster Rally Team Fiesta and goes to show that Rally is more than just outright speed; it also takes restraint.

Block wasn’t the fastest of the weekend, he only won three stages outright:  In fact, former teammate Travis Pastrana won eight stages and was leading the rally by a full minute before he lost a rear control arm on Day 2 and was forced to withdraw.

L’Estage won the other four stages and was consistently faster than Block, overall. But, when luck turned against the two leaders, Block’s Monster Rally Ford Fiesta was able to press through for ultimate victory.

Next up, the Rally America Championship moves out to the west coast for two great events: Olympus Rally on the Washington State coast and the Oregon Trail Rally in Hood River, Oregon. Both these events are technically challenging, and have been known to cause grief for even the most prepared teams. They are also considered to have some of the best rally roads in the world, according to international drivers that have competed there.  No, really, driver­­s have actually said that.

Olympus kicks off on the 24^th of April, but Ken Block will be making his WRC debut at the Corona Rally Mexico on March 5. We’ll let you know how he fares in next week’s episode of the Driving Sports TV Extra!

Thanks for watching!