Friends of The Garage Travis Allison and Andrew Harvey recently spent a day at the edge of a snowy while a handful of rally teams tested their machines for the upcoming season. The resulting combination of photography and video is very cool. The sequence photos are so smooth they look like video.

Rally Test Day from Travis Allison on Vimeo.

If there is one Canadian rally that I’ve regretted not running, it’s Perce Neige. Held in the dead of winter in snowy Quebec, PN is truly a test of man and machine. Way back in the early Nineties, my team owner, John Heintzman campaigned the little Suzuki and learned the hard way that stock alternators are not designed to power a full light pod, high beams, front and rear defrosters all at once.

The 2008 season is under way today and the boys at Flat Over Crest are there in full force. Andrew Harvey is shooting stills, while Warwick Patterson gets more of that incredible video that he’s so well known for. Another member of the FOC team is Erik Ockwell, who is manning a microphone for the newly launched FOC Rally Radio, where fans can get daily updates, live from the snowy forests of Northern Quebec.

I went to pick up mail today and it’s like Christmas all over again! My copy of the flatovercrest.com 2007 rally video magazine had arrived. Of course as soon as I got home from shooting photos of the Taurus X, I had to plant myself in front of the new lcd tv to get my fill. Oh my!

Way back in the early Eighties, there was a video put together about the glory days of Audi and the Group B. That video pretty much set the standard for rally video and has withstood the test of time, even today it is plastered all over the gootoobz. Nothing else has really come close to capturing the passion and excitement that is performance rally. Until now. Canadian film maker Warwick Patterson has produced, filmed and edited what may be the best rally video ever created!

The dvd holds the video magazine, which is a 30 minute movie and a bunch of extras, including in car footage and raw footage from the 2006 WRC Mexico. The feature is so stunning that an old school TV would be a waste. With a modern hd tv, the filming has an almost surreal quality that allows the cars to jump off the screen, while the dust is still hanging in the air. The well chosen sound track keeps things pumping as we travel from New Zealand to Mexico, then back up to Ontario and Quebec. The in car footage from Sylvain Erickson’s car in the snow is downright frightening.

If you have even the faintest interest in performance rally then you absolutely MUST get yourself a copy of the video!

A new standard has been set!

The other half of the Flatovercrest.com team is expert photo guy, Andrew Harvey. Andrew is one of our favorite auto shooters here in The Garage, largely because of his unique talent that allows the true emotion of rallysport to shine through his images.

We’ve already posted about the calendar a couple of times in The Garage, but I still think it is worth an extra mention in the Gift Guide. Why? Because I’m betting that a lot of readers would love to find one of these in their stocking!

You can pick it up through AndrewHarvey.ca or FOC

Yippeee! My 2008 Rally Calendar just arrived courtesy of Andrew Harvey! What a calendar it is too, with gravel, snow tarmac and more. As if time doesn’t go fast enough, now I have a reason for the months to fly by.

You can get your own by visiting AndrewHarvey.ca Just be sure to duck when those bits of flying gravel jump off the page!

Regular readers of The Garage have seen the work of Canadian rally photographer before, as we’ve showcased it on occasion. Now, leading up to Christmas, you can have your very own collection of Andrew’s images on the wall in your garage, office, bedroom. This is Harvey’s 3rd annual 14 month calendar, showcasing some incredible shots of the world’s best.

Direct your loved ones to the box at the top right of your screen, or click through to Andrew’s home page.

Somehow I missed the fact that X Games 13 was happening last week, but Andrew Harvey and crew got to LA and as always have captured some incredible moments. You can read about the whole adventure and see tons of great images at Flat Over Crest.

Andrew Harvey has posted a bunch more photos from the 2007 Rocky Mountain Rally and I just couldn’t resist these shots of a Volvo 244 Turbo in action.

See the brick trying to fly after the break
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Over the past few months, Andrew Harvey has been playing with some funky new lenses or something, which have given many of his shots some really different perspectives. A cool example is the Subaru above, taken at the 35th running of the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally last weekend in Pennsylvania. Be sure to visit Flat Over Crest for a bunch more killer shots.

The Oregon Trail Rally is done and it looks like one of our fave shooters Andrew Harvey was throwing back some Jack. Or was Jack throwing back at him? Either way, Andrew’s got a killer gallery of images up. This guy’s work rocks!

Now will someone tell me what the deal was with the über Quattro? It looks more like a group b car than a North American club rally car.
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