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Rally Film with Michael Fassbender

May 13, 2020 by ponycargirl 1 Comment

Photo: Oliver Hegarty

While rallies and racing seasons are postponed and cancelled north to south, east to west, some gems are coming out to give us a much-needed fix. Famous for Band of Brothers, 12 Years a Slave, and X-Men, actor Michael Fassbender is releasing a film in three parts via the VERO social network. Fassbender was invited to be Ireland’s Rally of the Lakes ambassador in 2019 for its 40th anniversary where he was filmed driving the stages. The actor is no stranger behind the wheel having raced and 460bhp Porsche 911 in the Porsche Sports Cup Germany at Hockenheim and Nürburgring.

The first episode launched April 12 shows the lead up to the rally and his first recce with co-driver Barry Goodman. Directed by Mario Conte, the second and third episodes will be launched Tuesday May 19 and Tuesday May 26, respectively.


See the full Part One episode here.

Film credits: Director and Editor: Marco Conte. Camera: Niall Foley. Camera and Grade: Oliver

Hegarty. Sound: Neil Horner

Car crew credits: Owner: Gary McPhillips, Support Team: Cathal Sheridan, Francis McPhillips,

Dessie Keenan, ‘Mad’ Mick Maloney

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New England Forest Rally 2017

July 30, 2017 by ponycargirl 1 Comment

The New England Forest Rally (NEFR) is the fifth of six rallies on the American Rally Association (ARA) in the organization’s first year. As in previous years, the stages are run over two days on forest roads from Bethel, Maine and Errol, New Hampshire. Started in 1991, previous winners include Patrick Richard/Nathalie Richard, Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom, Antoine L’Estage/Nathalie Richard, Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino, and David Higgins/Craig Drew.

With a list of 45 entries, the first two stages of the rally kicked off at Concord Pond after Parc Expose at Sunday River Resort, and the race of attrition began. After service and Stage 3, Stage 4 was cancelled; first there was a bit of miscommunication about an injury to Robbie Durant, Travis Pastrana’s co-driver, but after it was resolved communication was lost and the stage was cancelled. Durant suffered an impacted spine and couldn’t continue after Stage 4, then Pastrana put in a formal request to switch co-drivers. Rule books were consulted, and the race steward approved Pastrana continuing the rally on Saturday with a new co-driver. An available, licensed co-driver was found in Greg Dorman, also SRT USA’s Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator. An unusual situation to say the least, but ultimately within the rules.

Saturday started off dramatically when car 111 – Luis Teixeira and Kadence Verge – had an off requiring medical attention and Stage 5 was cancelled. Laughlin O’Sullivan and Scott Putnam had an off on Stage 8 – Sturtevant Long and had to leave the stage with the car on the back of a tow. By the end of Stage 12, both Pastrana and Higgins had damaged right rear suspension, but both were repaired enough in service to continue to the final stage on North Road.

Pastrana won overall with Dorman, Higgins and Drew in second, and Jeff Seehorn and Karen Jankowski in third in only their second time competing at NEFR. Pastrana, ever the sportsman and good-guy, jumped off the podium after the champagne spray and gave his trophy to a young girl in front. Completely speechless, he told the girl to come back next year and he would autograph the trophy for her.

Andrew Comrie-Picard and Jeremy Wimpey drove an all new Ford Focus RS rally car to first place in Production 4WD, and frequent regional competitors Alvin Fong and William Machin had their first ARA national podium in second in the 2006 Mitsubshi Evo 9.  Sumit Panjabi and Matt James rounded out the podium in 3rd.

Clinching the Open 2WD Championship was Ryan Millen and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino in the Toyota RAV4.

There was a noticeable increase in spectators since 2015, boding well for rally in North America. NEFR efforts have paid off and the VIP bus has gone from a bus ride on a school bus to a spectator areas on a couple of stages to a VIP experience offering food and drink in addition to the transportation.

ARA has one more rally in its 2017 – Ojibwe Forests Rally August 25-26. While there were some growing pains with the controversy over Pastrana’s co-driver switch and questions over Higgins’ car being underweight at the end of NEFR, the non-profit organization is addressing the issues for future rallies.

…and still no mooses.

















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Racecars at New York International Auto Show

April 21, 2017 by ponycargirl Leave a Comment

New York International Auto Show has once again rolled into town with automakers bringing their shiniest, most innovative cars to to dramatically pull cover from and show off. Scattered amongst the concept, halo, and current production vehicles are the unattainable to many of us – the race cars.

The Saratoga Automobile Museum has a display of some classic and curious cars, and brought a few classic race cars from their collection. Included in their display are a Midget Racer from the 50’s, a 1909 Alco-6 Racer, 1950 Allard, and the 2009 Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch.

Fresh from winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship BUBBA Burger SportsCar Grand Prix at Long Beach, the Cadillac V-Performance racing team Konica Minolta DPi-V.R drew admiration on the show floor, still with grit from the race on the wheels.

The Ford GT was the NYIAS poster car, and is front and center in the Ford booth on a rotating palette.

Formula e will race in Brooklyn this summer and there are two Formula e cars at the show. Jaguar now has an electric vehicle in the series, and Formula e also has a booth with champion Nelson Piquet’s car. Not to be outdone, BMW recently announced entry into the series with Andretti Formula e in 2018.

Subaru Rally Team USA has two new drivers in Red Bull Global Rallycross this year, having poached the Patrik Sandell from Ford and bringing on Chris Atkinson after he raced a limited schedule in the series last year. Atkinson’s GRC car is shown in the booth.

Alexander Rossi was the first rookie winner of the Indy 500 in 16 years, winning the 100th running of the race in 2016 in this Honda-powered Indycar.

Probably the dirtiest race car on the show floor is, of course, a rally car. This 1990 Audi 80 Quattro, 5 in line 10v 2.3 turbo has been raced in rallies in the US and Canada such as Tall Pines and Snow Drift since the 90’s, and is currently being restored to rally shape.

There are a lot of racing as well as classic gems on the show floor – here’s a full gallery of some of my favorites.

1909 Alco-6 Racer (Alco Black Beast)
1950 Allard
1950 Allard

Midget Racer from Saratoga Automobile Museum
Kurt Busch 2009 Miller Lite Dodge
Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

onica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R
onica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R
onica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

Acura NSX
Ford GT
Jaguar Formula e

Jaguar Formula e
Jaguar Formula e
BMW i8 Safety Car

BMW
2018 Camry – Kyle Busch
Subaru Rally Team

Honda Indycar
Lexus
Mazda

Venturi
NASCAR
1990 Audi 80 Quattro rally car

1990 Audi 80 Quattro rally car
1990 Audi 80 Quattro rally car
Audi

Classic Volvos
Classic Subaru
Nissan Rogue One with Death Star

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Crazy Leo wins first round of 2017 Canadian Rally Championship

February 5, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

The intention was to shoot for a win in the production class, but when it came time to perform, returning Canadian rally star “Crazy Leo” Urlichich pulled it all together in spectacular fashion to win the Canadian Rally Championship portion of the 2017 Rallye Perce Neige.

In the early morning stages, Subaru Canada Rally Team ace Antoine L’Estage, paired with returning co-driver Alan Ockwell, was fastest on the road, with Urlichich hanging out in the top five, just a handful of seconds behind L’Estage’s open class machine. Canadian rally legend Frank Sprongl assured me via Facebook that Antoine’s style was more suited to the fast and open forest stages which were to follow. Unfortunately for L’Estage, that was not to happen, as technical gremlins left him wrestling with a mostly rear wheel drive Subaru.

By Special Stage 6, Urlichich had won his first stage and not long after was running in third position overall behind American Rally Association entries David Higgins and Travis Pastrana.

Always a fan favourite thanks to his flamboyant driving style, Urlichich commented through the day that the addition of studded tires, which are legal at Quebec events, made all the difference, offering a consistent level of grip at all times.

By the completion of the final stage, Higgins had won the overall event and the ARA portion, followed by teammate Pastrana. Urlichich took third spot in both, while claiming the overall win in the Canadian championship.

Teams now have until May to prepare their machines for the Rocky Mountain Rally in B.C.

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Image credit: Maciej Janiak

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Crazy Leo returns to competition at Rallye Perce Neige this weekend

February 2, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

After a couple of years away from competing, Canadian rally star Leo “Crazy Leo” Urlichich is making a return to the action, beginning this weekend at the season opening Rallye Perce Neige in Maniwaki, Quebec.

Best known for his exciting driving style and off stage antics here in Canada, Urlichich underwent a maturing of sorts when he spent the 2014 season competing in the D-Mack Fiesta Trophy series, which is part of the WRC.

Following the season in Europe, the driver returned to Canada, where he invested his time in teaching others to drive. Urlichich’s Race Lab school focuses primarily on teaching the techniques needed to safely drive on mixed surfaces, such as we often find on Canadian roads in the Winter months. Of course Urlichich also offers driver coaching for rally competitors as an extension of the school.

Crazy Leo’s previous rally efforts in this country have been at the wheel of a fluorescent orange, open class Subaru, affectionately known as “The Beast”. For his 2017 entry into the Canadian Rally Championship will instead be a production class Subaru which has been dubbed “Disaster”.

Disaster, before the addition of a wrap.

Leo has already been out doing a bit of testing to ensure that Disaster is ready for the challenges of rural Quebec.

Perce Neige has a reputation for being tough on teams, and Crazy Leo has a bit of a history at the event, with his high speed crash during the 2012 event garnering massive attention across the web.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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Crerar moves up the ranks at Monte Carlo

January 21, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Ontario driver Ian Crerar described the roads on the morning of day 3 at Monte Carlo as absolutely treacherous. By stage two, the ice began to soften and the drive became “less diabolical”. By the time stage three began, the team made the switch from worn out studded tires to tarmac slicks!

As I write this, Special Stage 13 has come to a finish and Crerar and Levesque have moved up to 48th place overall, a 21 spot improvement from their starting position!

Clearwater Design Racing supporter Derek Perry is at the rally and grabbed these shots of the Canadians in action on SS7, saying “This car produces a very pleasing exhaust note, and Pat and Ian put on an impressive display as they rocketed past. Spectators on the hillside were quite selective with their applause but they screamed and clapped loudly as the boys showed more aggression than most with their driving.”


There is drama at the top of the leaderboard, as the Hyundai of Thierry Neuville has dropped back to 15th position on SS13. Ford driver Sebastian Ogier is on maximum attack, reportedly taking big risks which have paid off, putting him ahead of Neuville on SS12. Ogier retained his lead on SS13.

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Thoughts on the Monte Carlo tragedy

January 20, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Joaquim Santos’ Ford RS200 enters the crowd at Rally de Portugal in 1986. Photographer unknown.

By its very nature, rally is the most pure form of motorsport. Real, production based cars being driven at their limits on real roads.

Road racing enthusiasts may argue that there is no door to door competition, but there is a rawness and honesty to rally that just can’t be found in other forms of the sport.

With that rawness comes an inherent aspect of risk. Risk that applies to pretty much every aspect of the sport, from competitors to support workers to spectators.

The pinnacle of the sport, the World Rally Championship, takes place for the most part, in Europe, where the fans are rabid for the sport. So much so that they often put themselves in insanely dangerous positions. Perhaps the most infamous incident occurred during the first stage of the 1986 Rally de Portugal, when Portugese driver Joaquim Santos got loose in his factory backed Ford RS200. The apex of the turn was crowded with fans, thirty one of whom were injured, while three died. This incident was one of several that, when combined, led to the death of Group B.

By now, you have likely read that a spectator was killed yesterday on the first stage of the Rallye Monte Carlo, when Hyundai factory driver Hayden Paddon’s factory Hyundai entry went wide on a turn and hit the rock face on driver’s right. At some point during the impact, the spectator was also hit and thrown up the hillside, and then rolled down beside the point where the car came to rest.

There has been some debate in this house over my use of the word stupid to describe the person, while still not knowing the fate of the individual. I believe I was called insensitive. “What the guy did was stupid, you can’t call the guy stupid.” Meanwhile, stories around the web continue to say that the person was a photographer. I’ll tell ya, as a photographer, if the guy was a photographer, I would be even more critical.

Every time some guy who somehow scams his way into getting photo credentials for a motorsport event and then gets caught (or worse) doing something stupid because he didn’t really understand the requirements of the gig, it makes my life as a motorsport photographer that much more difficult. Every time one of those guys gets hurt, it hurts everyone else involved. It hurts the sport.

Stupid hurts the sport.

This guy was not a photographer. He was not wearing a photo vest. He was a guy with a GoPro. I have been told firsthand by a trusted source that he was not part of the video crews working the corner. No, the 50 year old Spaniard was an overzealous fan who repeatedly ignored requests from corner workers and urging from other spectators to move away from the area. He had positioned himself at the exit of a fast, slippery corner, with a rock wall behind him. A spot with no place to go if things went pear shaped.

The guy made a choice to put himself in harms’ way. His foolish choice cost him his life. Worse than that, Haydon Paddon now has to live with knowing that he killed a man during a competition. A firefighter has to live with the memory of giving CPR to a dead man for 20 minutes while waiting for an ambulance, because it was not his place to “call the time”.

Worse, the sport will suffer because there are already those who feel the cars are too fast, just like they did thirty years ago.

The real photographers and videographers will likely have to jump through even more hoops in the future, because of one guy.

One guy who was stupid.

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Day 2 update from Monte Carlo

January 20, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

 

Day one at the 2017 Rallye Monte Carlo began with tragedy, as an errant spectator was killed when hit by Hayden Padden’s crashing Hyundai. Padden has been withdrawn from the event.

The driver’s Hyundai team mate, Thierry Neuville, however is leading the rally at the mid point of stage 6.

Our great Canadian hope, Ian Crerar and Pat Levesque are doing us proud, having moved up from their starting spot of 69th overall to 59th. That puts the #113 Peugeot in 10th spot in the R4 class.

Crerar has been taking some time out to shoot some Facebook live clips along the way, including this one from the finish of stage 5, where the driver talks about the fan installed “gotchas” that teams are having to navigate.

image credit: WRC

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Monte Carlo: First stage cancelled due to crash involving spectator

January 19, 2017 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

“First stage scrubbed… Must have been a big accident”

This observation from Canadian WRC competitor Ian Crerar shows just how little information filters back to the entrants during an event.

The accident in itself wasn’t too bad. On a tight mountain pass, Hayden Padden lost the back end of the Hyundai entry at the exit of a sharp left turn and smacked the rock face. The impact threw the car into the air and onto its side. When the car comes to a rest, a spectator can be seen pinned underneath the car.

Hyundai verified that it was indeed their man and that a spectator was involved, on Twitter:

SS1 UPDATE: it’s reported that a person was involved in Paddon’s accident. We are liaising with the organisers to have more news.

— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) January 19, 2017

Update: The spectator has died.

As a motorsport photographer, this kind of stupidity drives me absolutely insane. Why on earth is there a human standing at the exit of a turn, with no protection and no place to escape. Every single time something like this happens, it makes my job as a shooter more difficult.
 

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2017 WRC season kicks of in Monte Carlo with live stream and a Canadian competitor

January 19, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Rally fans have been more excited than usual for the start of the new WRC season since Red Bull announced that they would be live streaming every round of the series. For North American fans who are used to seeing little or no coverage outside of clips on social media, this is huge.

Canadian fans have an extra reason to be excited, as “one of us” is competing in the first round, the Rallye Monte Carlo, which begins this evening. Long time racer/rally driver Ian Crerar and co-driver Pat Levesque are checking off one of my own bucket list items by taking on the historic event. This is Crerar’s Clearwater Design Racing’s second event in the WRC, having scored a podium finish in Corsica in 2016. The duo are once again driving a Peugeot 208 R2 in the RC4 category.

Clearwater Design Racing’s view from above the clouds during recce


This year’s Monte Carlo is more than 85 per cent new and promises to be grueling. 382 km of stages are book ended by an exhausting 1,029 km of transit sections.

Live streaming begins at 4 pm tomorrow, here.

Be sure to follow Clearwater Design Racing as they post photos and Facebook live updates.

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