Finland's four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen drove a Bentley Continental Supersports convertible on the hazardous frozen waters of the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Finland, at a breathtaking 205.48 mph (330.695 km/h) to set a new world speed record on ice.
Kankkunen was in irresistible form with his all-wheel drive, 6-litre, 12-cylinder Continental Supersports convertible which, in line with the Company's CO2 strategy, ran on biofuel. The world's fastest soft top enabled Juha to shatter his own 2007 world ice speed record of 199.83 mph (321.6 km/h) set in the Continental GT at the same location
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Breaking News: Rally in the 100 AW
Rally in the 100 Acre Wood is reporting on their official Facebook page of a last minute entry by Travis Pastrana .
While leading the 2010 Rally in 100AW, Pastrana hit a drainage ditch on the Potosi Super Special stage on day-two of the rally, and was forced to retire. No official entry has been posted to the Rally America entry list at this time.
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Christian Edstrom tries desperately to make repairs to the stricken Subaru @100aw 2010. Photo: Neil McDaid |
Rally in the 100 Acre Wood is reporting on their official Facebook page of a last minute entry by Travis Pastrana .
While leading the 2010 Rally in 100AW, Pastrana hit a drainage ditch on the Potosi Super Special stage on day-two of the rally, and was forced to retire. No official entry has been posted to the Rally America entry list at this time.
In other news Joseph Burke Motorsport is reporting a blown engine in his open class Mitsubish sustained during testing, Team Burke should have a new one in place tonight... more to come….
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
T. Hanson Motorsports Ready to Challenge the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood
Salem, MO – Coming off a historic performance in the opening round of the 2011 Rally America National Championship, Travis Hanson and co-driver Terry, are off to the foothills of the Ozarks for the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood. The Hansons secured a place in American motorsports history while recording the first-ever overall victory for a Super Production class car, during last month’s Sno*Drift rally, in Michigan. The popular victory was made even more impressive by virtue of the fact that they were able to beat factory-backed, professional efforts in their privateer Subaru STi.
This weekend the father-son team will face renewed challenges from fellow Super Production competitors as well as the Open Class teams who find themselves looking up at the Hansons in the standings. The event is based in Salem, Missouri and runs through the scenic, Mark Twain National Forest and is known to be a challenging race due to the high speed nature of the roads and changing conditions.
In the past, the teams have been confronted by road surfaces that range from dry, to slick and ice to snow during the same weekend. A fact not forgotten by Travis who remarked, “Hundred Acre Wood is a favorite event of mine and we have had success here before. With conditions changing from day to day at times, you’re never sure what to expect which adds to the challenges we’ll face if we want to follow up our win." Last year the team won the SP class along with 5th place overall.
Between Sno*Drift and 100 Acre Wood T. Hanson Motorsports has spent considerable time searching for sponsorship. “In order to make our efforts sustainable for the rest of the year, we have to find some support,” explained Travis. “We have proven that we are competitive, our car prep is good now we just need some color on that white car!”
Team O’Neil Rally School in New Hampshire has stepped up as a supporting sponsor for the remainder of 2011. Travis is an instructor at Team O’Neil. “The education I have received from Team O’Neil over the past few years has been instrumental in my success,” stated Travis. “Team O’Neil is the best driving school in North America and I am proud to wear the Team O’Neil flag.”
Currently residing atop both the overall and Super Production standings in this season’s Rally America National Championship, both father and son are eager to return to the stages and continue their drive for a title. “Our season began in the best possible way,” said Terry, "and we hope to see another solid finish."
For more information on T. Hanson Motorsports, please contact: t.hanson523@gmail .com
Photos/ Neil McDaid / http://www.rallyworldnews.com/
Monday, February 21, 2011
Block steps down while Higgins and L’Estage seek redemption, @ Rally in the 100 Acre Wood
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The 2010 100AW overall podium, [left] Antoine L’Estage 2nd, [center] Ken Block 1st, and Billy Bacon 3rd. Photo/Neil McDaid |
Salem MO, February 25th; Round #2 of the 2011 Rally America Championship.
Rally in the 100 Acre Wood [100AW] has been a round of the RA National Championship for just five years, and in each of these years Ken Block has claimed the overall victory. Block had made 100AW his own, although many had come close, no one had ever managed to knock Block off the top step of the podium. Due to his commitments on the WRC, Ken Block will not return to defend his title this year.
Rally in the 100 Acre Wood [100AW] has been a round of the RA National Championship for just five years, and in each of these years Ken Block has claimed the overall victory. Block had made 100AW his own, although many had come close, no one had ever managed to knock Block off the top step of the podium. Due to his commitments on the WRC, Ken Block will not return to defend his title this year.
For the defending 2010 Rally America Champion, Antoine L’Estage, his 2011 RA campaign got off to a disastrous start with an uncharacteristic off at Sno*Drift resulting in a DNF, L’Estage will be looking to erase that memory with a victory at 100AW. But we expect that Antoine will have his hands full with Subaru’s David Higgins, who is also out for redemption after been forced to retire at Sno*Drift with engine failure.
With only a few stages completed between them at Sno*Drift, it’s hard for us to gauge Higgins pace against L’Estage.
Although the stages at 100aw suit the driving style of both Higgins and L'Estage, one would have to give the edge to L’Estage based on his prior knowledge. Antoine finished 2nd behind Ken Block in 2010 after charging back from problems on day one, for Higgins this is his first visit to the Ozarks and his first proper outing for Team Subaru USA on gravel .
Coming off his first national podium at Sno*Drift, privateer Travis Hanson will be hard pressed to repeat his victory in an SP car on the fast flowing gravel stages of the Mark Twain National Forest, but as we seen at Sno*Drift anything is possible. Expect the second Team Subaru driver, Dave Mirra to continue to improve his pace with new co-driver Marschall Clark, as they try to keep privateers Burke, Hanson and Lagemann at bay.
Ramana Lagemann who withdrew from Sno*Drift prior to the event will return to competition at 100AW with a current body style, SP Class Subaru STI. While Lagemann is very capable of an overall podium finish, we expect his main focus will be to secure the attractive $7,000 price offered by Subaru for the top SP Class Subaru to finish. L'Estage, Higgins and Mirra will go into a seated draw on the 24th to determin road position.
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Pictured driving his Ford Focus at 100aw 2010, Dillon Van Way will be looking for another top 2WD podium finish in his 2011 Fiesta this weekend. Photo/Neil McDaid |
Ford Racing will be looking for a repeat performance in 2WD from Dillon Van Way. Dillon claimed the overall 2WD podium at Sno*Drift, giving Ford their first U.S. victory for the 2011 Fiesta. As we file this preview we are somewhat surprised not to see Chris Duplessis and team Scion Racing on the entry list, obviously there is still time, so we live in hope. Challenging Van Way for the 2WD Podium at 100aw will be Team O’Neil driver, Wyatt Knox in a Mazda Speed 3, and Chris Greenhouse in his Neon.
Although we have lost the likes of Pastrana and Block among others from the 100aw entry list, the entry for 2011 is still up over 20% on 2010.
The rally organizers have done their part to make the event a more fan friendly experience. Taking a page from the WRC, the Rally will get underway Friday afternoon in Potosi with a short spectator Super Special. Teams will then head out to tackle the first of the forest stages, before returning to Potosi from a second assault at the super special. There will be a total of 6 stages on day-one which will run into the night.
Day two will open with back to back passes of the “Southern loop” stage SS-7-8; this is one of the most technician stages of the rally @10.85 miles in length.
As in 2010, spectators will have access to a great location on “Scotia North” stage-SS9,[Spectator point-E] but be warned! arrive early. From this officially designated spectator area the rally cars will be visible for a long distance as the approach at speed before navigating a tight square right turn, this is a very popular and exciting location, the access road to the spectator area gets filled quickly with parked cars, so again get there early.
Rally fans will be treated to a third pass on Super Special "SS-10" in Potosi on Saturday afternoon, before the teams head out to tackle the final 6 stages of the rally, 3 of which will run in darkness.
The Rally will conclude with a podium celebration in Salem.
Stay tuned for updates throughout the rally.
Follow along on TWITTER #ra2 #usrally #100aw
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Extra Cash in the Jar for VW crews at 100 Acre Wood Rally
Inaugural 2011 Honey Jar Challenge takes place at 100AW
The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood hosts its inaugural Honey Jar Challenge this February 25th and 26th, 2011. This event will run concurrently with the rally and is open to any Volkswagen rally team. The top 5 overall finishers of the two-day challenge have a chance at splitting $1,500 in prize money and merchandise. The goal of the Honey Jar Challenge is to raise the awareness of the featured rally teams in a meaningful shootout style event. Sanctioned by RallyCar, the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood will cover over 120 racing miles that will test rally teams from all across the country on a variety of gravel road surfaces. It's set in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains and contains some of the most scenic roads on the RallyCar calendar.
A diverse field of Volkswagen rally cars is expected to enter, including Matt Bushore, from Ann Arbor Michigan, and his brother Andrew in their VW Jetta. Local crowd favorites Mark and John Huebbe, from St. Louis, in their historic 1970 VW Beetle. Lastly, Colorado native Roger Matthews look to capture the Honey Jar trophy in his 1984 VW Rabbit GTI.
Rally action begins at the Lions' Park in Potosi on Friday, February 25th at the 1:00pm Parc Expose. That's essentially a car show before the competition day starts. Fans can meet drivers one-on-one and collect a spectator guide providing driving instructions to nearby viewing areas. It is a perfect starting place for a day full of rally action and an adventure in the beautiful Mark Twain national forest. The Saturday action begins in downtown Salem at 8:00am, February 26th with another Parc Expose. Guides and event schedules can also be found at the event website http://www.100aw.org/.
Photo ©Neil McDaid
Photo ©Neil McDaid
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