It was only a matter of time before the new Subaru WRX STi hit the trails in North America, so it makes sense that Subaru Canada is partnering with Rocket Rally Racing and past champion Pat Richard. Both a show car and the rally car will be built, in an effort to capture the 2008 Canadian Rally Championship.

Press release after the break
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ASO, the organizers of the event, have signed a deal with a promotion company in Argentina! And although the South American rally likely won’t happen this year, when it does it will likely revert to Dakar’s traditional January 1 starting date and take the place of the Pampas Rally in the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. The Pampas Rally will go to Chile and back again.

There has been other routes discussed such as Paris to Beijing Dubai and even Australia but the reports show those possibilities as being too expensive. Morocco was also discussed but intelligence ruled out because of terrorist problems in that area.

ASO had discussed running the event in 2008 just in Morocco, but intelligence ruled that out with terrorists close to the Mauritanian border.

Actors and racing. Names like Paul Newman, James Garner, Steve McQueen have been associated with racing. Today’s racing heart throb is Frankie Muniz. Back in the late Nineties and early part of this century, it was Jason Priestly. All of the guys mentioned have raced seriously on one level or another. For Priestly however, his racing career was cut short by a crash in practice that left him with long standing issues that have prevented him from getting back in the car.

Once the racing bug bites, it has a way of not letting go of some of us. Priestly has been so afflicted. It has been announced that the Canadian racer and friend Jim Freudenberg, former GM of Kelley Racing have teamed up to form the Rubicon Racing Team. A veteran driver will be announced shortly to pilot for the team at one event only, the Indy 500. The car will be built by Indianapolis-based Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

Priestly is looking forward to getting back into the racing scene and spending time with some old friends. Gene Simmons could not have planned a better feel good story for the Memorial Day classic.

Jeff Bressler has become a pretty regular fixture around The Garage over the past few months and he’s been a pretty good fit. Not only is Jeff well entrenched in the traditional auto media world, but he’s also a huge race fan and participant. Fortunately for Jeff, unfortunately for us, the time has come for Jeff to take the next step in his auto blogging career. Really, it’s a good deal as the opportunity has come to take over the editorial reins at 4 Drivers Only which is part of the Creative Weblogging network. Jeff, we wish you well, and hope that you’ll continue to be part of the community here in The Garage.

When we picked up the 2008 Ford Focus from Ford, we were on out way home from a few days in Niagara Falls. We consists of a family of 5 and we were concerned whether we would be able to fit all of our stuff into the little sedan. Fortunately, those fears were unfounded as the Focus’ trunk is enormous, even with a sizable sub-woofer occupying the left corner.

That substantial storage locker comes at a price however, as the rear seats don’t have much in the way of legroom. The trip from Oakville to Whitby was just about far enough for the 13 & 9 year olds. The 7 year old was just happy to check out the cool mood lighting. I hate to say it, but the car would benefit from a few inches less cargo space if it allowed for more rear legroom.

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Yet another week of mind boggling car industry wanking here in The Garage, most of it of little interest to readers so I won’t elaborate. Suffice it to say that I’m happy to be hanging out in front of the laptop on a wickedly cold Sunday afternoon reading this week’s contributions. This week’s CoW is a bit light, but we have some fun reading so grab a cold one and get ready for a hot lap around the auto blogs.

First up this week we’ll stroll on over to the Madeline Kane’s fun place. Mad is looking for readers to submit their very own limerick or haiku. Her own creation is a little ditty about the dangers of consuming Italian Fare while driving.
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Canadian racers and race fans alike have stayed on top of Canadian racing for years by picking up a print copy of Inside Track Motorsport News. Every year, fans look forward to the Reader’s Choice Awards, when fans can vote for their fave racer. Thanks to this cool thing called the internet, we can vote for Ron Fellows by the IT Breaking News Blog and following the link.

Did I mention that Ron Fellows is in the running?

God knows I love all things automotive and while I do enjoy the Barrett-Jackson auction and all that automotive eye candy as much as the next guy I still have to admit it’s simply too long to enjoy in one sitting. For me, it’s almost as if it’s being crammed down my throat until I can’t take no more.

Like anything else, too much of a good thing is boring. For those of you who feel the same Barrette-Jackson has a place on their site where you can relax and enjoy the TOP 10 from each day. It has some awesome photos and it short and sweet which leaves us enough time to get back on the track where the real enjoyment is at.

That is what God’s wrath would sound like if he found out you were schtooping his daughter!

Perhaps one of the best lines I’ve ever heard to describe the sound of an internal combustion engine. The fact that it is in response to the award worthy sound of the Aston Martin Vantage makes it all the more humorous. Once again, the very young lads over at InamorAuto have put together a great piece of work. Sure it’s a little over the top at times, but these guys are barely out of high school. They are supposed to be over the top. I expect we will see great things from Ittai Geiger and Jared Silver in the years to come.

InamorAuto Episode #2 after the break
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Perception and reality are often very different. If the reaction I got from friends and co-workers is any indication, Ford has some perception issues to deal with with the 2008 Ford Focus.

“Nice looking car. How much? 25 grand? Why buy that when a Civic is so much cheaper?”

When did people get the perception that Honda’s are cheap? In Canada, the base Civic sedan lists for $16,990. Compare that to $15,999 for the entry level Focus. Our tester was far from entry level, having been jammed full of every option conceivable at this level. The msrp on our little silver sedan was a lofty $24,764 before freight and pdi. Just for fun, I decided to do a little number crunching on the Honda site. All I can say is, Wow! To get all the stuff that was in our Focus, you have to begin with a Civic EXL and then start adding options. By the time you have all the goodies the matched up, you have a Civic that sells for $31,175!

Now that we’ve got a firmer grip on reality, we can get on with life with the Focus on the road.
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