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I've gone to tons of racing events in my life, including Formula 1, American LeMans, Nascar, Drag, SCCA, Offroad/Crawl competitions, Karting, and many more. None of those racing styles offer the spectator the amazingly intimate access to the drivers and crew, as well as proximity (almost too close;-) to the racing action as Professional Rally!!!
The New England Forest Rally took place between Sunday River, ME and Berlin, NH this past weekend. It featured stars like Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, ACP, and Dave Mirra. There were also many more awesome local teams tearing it up with the factory team from Subaru including Tim Penasack from Wazoo Racing (Merrimack, NH), and William Bacon from Bacon Motorsport (Nashua, NH).
The Rally Cars themselves are a Tuners dream, Subaru STi's, WRX's, and Mitsubishi EVO's are the bulk of the AWD's, and some awesome Saab 99's and VW GTi's for the FWD's. All are making huge power, have incredible torque, and operate in probably the toughest conditions of any motor sport, the back wood trails and roads at speeds exceeding 100 mph in all weather conditions!!!
Motostar Wheels headed up to Sunday River Ski Resort after work on friday evening and arrived just in time to see the teams begin their 45 minute service to fix any issues with their cars from the stages that they raced during the day. If the teams exceed the 45 minute time period they are assessed huge time penalties for the next stage. Rally is a race against the clock and the time between 1st & 2nd is measured in seconds, so being penalized for a lengthy service is to be avoided at all costs.
The WAZOO RACING WRX!!! The crew jacks up the car and puts the service stands in so they can work freely. Teams will setup the service area, and triage their issues prior to bringing the car up so they don't waste time.
They were having issues with the Downpipe over heating some components in the front suspension, so they fabricated a heat shield solve the problem. Tim Penasack is the team President as well as Driver, and Mechanic in this shot he is wearing the headlamp and kneeling in front of the suspension.
Check out the Pirelli PZero Rally Tires! Motostar Wheels.com is the Sole US Distributor of those tires!
After the service is completed the teams put the car away for the night. They return in the early am to fuel the car and Drive to the first stage of the day, in this case it was a super special in Berlin, NH.
After the Super Special we headed North and East about 45 minutes to a stage in the woods that we could watch the flat out racing and see what full speed Rally America Racing is all about. The Rally Cars also must travel to the stages on regular roads, obeying the speed limits. It was very cool, at one point I was following the Bacon Motorsport EVO, and being followed by Travis Pastrana in his STi, really really awesome!!! We parked my LGT and hiked into the woods and found a great spot to watch.
Once the cars started racing by at full speed it was amazing, the speeds that these cars come thru the course is incredible!!!
Travis Pastrana's Subaru STi, he was cooking and went on to be the overall Winner of the NE Forest Rally
Tim Penasack's WAZOO RACING Subaru WRX! They ended up finishing 2nd in class and 7th overall! Nice work guys!
The Bacon Motorsport EVO
The ART Racing EVO
ACP's Rockstar Energy EVO X
Sweet Old Skool GTi Rally Car from Team O'Neil Rally Team
Another great VW GTi
Somerset Subaru's STi
Synaptic 3's STi
Team O'Neil's Ford Escape Rally Truck on stage
This was the first time that I had attended a Rally Race. I must say that I am now hooked on that style of motor sport, it has so many great things to offer a racing enthusiast!!!
Special Thanks to the Tim Penasack, Brian Goss, Josh Allen, and the rest of the WAZOO Racing Team for the hospitality throughout the weekend, we had an awesome time!!!
Rally America Links
www.wazooracing.com
The New England Forest Rally took place between Sunday River, ME and Berlin, NH this past weekend. It featured stars like Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, ACP, and Dave Mirra. There were also many more awesome local teams tearing it up with the factory team from Subaru including Tim Penasack from Wazoo Racing (Merrimack, NH), and William Bacon from Bacon Motorsport (Nashua, NH).
The Rally Cars themselves are a Tuners dream, Subaru STi's, WRX's, and Mitsubishi EVO's are the bulk of the AWD's, and some awesome Saab 99's and VW GTi's for the FWD's. All are making huge power, have incredible torque, and operate in probably the toughest conditions of any motor sport, the back wood trails and roads at speeds exceeding 100 mph in all weather conditions!!!
Motostar Wheels headed up to Sunday River Ski Resort after work on friday evening and arrived just in time to see the teams begin their 45 minute service to fix any issues with their cars from the stages that they raced during the day. If the teams exceed the 45 minute time period they are assessed huge time penalties for the next stage. Rally is a race against the clock and the time between 1st & 2nd is measured in seconds, so being penalized for a lengthy service is to be avoided at all costs.
The WAZOO RACING WRX!!! The crew jacks up the car and puts the service stands in so they can work freely. Teams will setup the service area, and triage their issues prior to bringing the car up so they don't waste time.
They were having issues with the Downpipe over heating some components in the front suspension, so they fabricated a heat shield solve the problem. Tim Penasack is the team President as well as Driver, and Mechanic in this shot he is wearing the headlamp and kneeling in front of the suspension.
Check out the Pirelli PZero Rally Tires! Motostar Wheels.com is the Sole US Distributor of those tires!
After the service is completed the teams put the car away for the night. They return in the early am to fuel the car and Drive to the first stage of the day, in this case it was a super special in Berlin, NH.
After the Super Special we headed North and East about 45 minutes to a stage in the woods that we could watch the flat out racing and see what full speed Rally America Racing is all about. The Rally Cars also must travel to the stages on regular roads, obeying the speed limits. It was very cool, at one point I was following the Bacon Motorsport EVO, and being followed by Travis Pastrana in his STi, really really awesome!!! We parked my LGT and hiked into the woods and found a great spot to watch.
Once the cars started racing by at full speed it was amazing, the speeds that these cars come thru the course is incredible!!!
Travis Pastrana's Subaru STi, he was cooking and went on to be the overall Winner of the NE Forest Rally
Tim Penasack's WAZOO RACING Subaru WRX! They ended up finishing 2nd in class and 7th overall! Nice work guys!
The Bacon Motorsport EVO
The ART Racing EVO
ACP's Rockstar Energy EVO X
Sweet Old Skool GTi Rally Car from Team O'Neil Rally Team
Another great VW GTi
Somerset Subaru's STi
Synaptic 3's STi
Team O'Neil's Ford Escape Rally Truck on stage
This was the first time that I had attended a Rally Race. I must say that I am now hooked on that style of motor sport, it has so many great things to offer a racing enthusiast!!!
Special Thanks to the Tim Penasack, Brian Goss, Josh Allen, and the rest of the WAZOO Racing Team for the hospitality throughout the weekend, we had an awesome time!!!
Rally America Links
www.wazooracing.com
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