Rallying

Gumball 3000 Rally Still Heading To North Korea, Bringing Tony Hawk, "Jackass" Cast And David Hasselhoff

Despite last year's deadly early ending, Gumball 3000 founder "Mad" Maximillion Cooper's dropped yet another press release announcing his intentions to include North Korea as a one-night stopover on this year's "10th Anniversary" Gumball 3000 rally. But now he's also providing a list of attendees he plans to bring on his little merry-go-round-the-world adventure. Expect to see such luminaries as the entire crew of MTV's "Jackass," Tony Hawk and David Hasselhoff brought on for the ride. Good god, will the madness ever end? Full press release below the jump. More »

8:20 AM on Wed Jun 18 2008
By Ray Wert
1,981 views, 36 comments

Latest by n/a: From the sounds of it, not all of the people name dropped will be in this one, it was just a list of all the people who have, at some point in history, participated. I seriously hope the Jackass guys are more »

obituaries

Ove Andersson, Rally Hero: 1938-2008

Ole Andersson, the Swedish-born racer best known for his Toyota-based European rally teams, died yesterday when his 1957 Volvo crashed during a vintage rally event in South Africa. Mr. Andersson began his racing career as a driver in 1963, and by the early 1970s he was running his own team, racking up plenty of podium time (including the 1975 Safari Rally, which he won at the helm of a Peugeot 504). It's a tough blow for all of us to lose this master of rally hoonage, who piloted such Jalop-approved machines as the Celica, Alpine, and 504. [Reuters, The Guardian]

8:00 AM on Thu Jun 12 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,685 views, 19 comments

Latest by mr.chöppèrs: Vila i ro, Påven. I always imagined heaven was much like a classic rally set in an exotic locale, anyhow. more »

choose your eternity

PCH, Vintage Baja Racer Edition: Peugeot 404 or 1957 Baja Bug?

The recently-exhumed Lancia Scorpion takes the win over the electrical-system-challenged Merkur XR4Ti by a 60/40 ratio in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll, preserving Italy's status- for now- as a PCH Superpower. And, speaking of PCH Superpowers, we have some unfinished business from Wednesday; it seems that a German car managed to beat a French one (albeit by a margin thinner than a typical Hell Project owner's wallet), which casts some doubt on France's status as the world's lone PCH Omnipower. Was it a fluke, caused by the Peugeot's Chevy running gear? Let's see how another Peugeot-VW matchup plays out today, with a couple of sand-in-your-teeth desert heroes vying for your vote!
More »

5:20 PM on Fri Jun 6 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,647 views, 44 comments

Latest by OrangeBeers9: @BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ > HAILS POLAЯ DE MAN WHO PUT THE Я IN ЯEVEЯS: What he said - 404 all the way. A dog could fix a bug, and a dog doesn't even have thumbs. more »

racing news

2008 Subaru Impreza WRC Comes Together In Front Of Our Eyes

We've always been big fans of the yellow and blue, and the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRC entrant is no exception. And if you were curious, there's a decent amount of work needed to take your stock 2008 WRX and convert it into a rally monster. See above. After all that work it's nice to see the result isn't this, though the Impreza could use 800-inch chrome rims. [SWRT]

4:00 PM on Thu May 29 2008
By Matt Hardigree
2,888 views, 12 comments

question of the day

What Would You Convert Into A Rally Car?

The photos today of the Ferrari 308 GTB rally car combined with the VW Thing (which rallied against the Allied Forces) got us thinking again about rally cars. Anything can be a rally racer, whether AWD/FWD/RWD or even 6WD. From the diminutive Kia Rio to the insane Suzuki Escudo, anything can be rallied. Anything... More »

11:40 AM on Wed May 7 2008
By Matt Hardigree
3,193 views, 169 comments

retro

Minnesota, February 1967: Let's Go Racing!

Those crazy Minnesotans aren't going to let a little 20-below weather stop them from taking their Saabs and MGAs out for some racing, you betcha! My grandfather, a proud St. Paul native, was serious about rally madness and ice-racing lunacy back in the 50s and 60s, and he'd probably still be doing it today at age 91 if his eyesight were a little better and he still had the ol '356 (or the Corvair... or the Dauphine...). He's handed over some of his racing memorabilia to me, including his Curta Peppermill and some of his old Twin Cities Sports Car Club newsletters. Here's the February 1967 TCSCC newsletter, which shows how those tough-guy Minnesotans pretended they weren't freezing their nodules off in ludicrous weather conditions. Uff da! Yeah, it's not as cool as the 8mm movie film I have of actual races, but I haven't had a chance to get them digitized yet.

4:00 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Murilee Martin
862 views, 16 comments

Latest by professorjonathan: How nice of them to race in honor of my being born on 18 February 1967! Clearly, they postponed the actual race so they could celebrate for a day, sober up and get to driving! :) {ProfJonathan} more »

racing news

Woodland Creature Costs Pastrana Victory At Sno*Drift Rally This Weekend

You're all well aware that we think racer Travis Pastrana is a bad ass. Sadly, superior driving skills don't exempt you from bad luck. This Pastrana learned during the last stage of the Sno*Drift Rally. All that stood between the Team USA WRX STI and victory was about 11 miles of icy Michigan roads and one adult deer. Christian Edstrom may be a talented co-driver, but there's no navigating around that at high speed, in the dark. Better luck next time guys. [Break.com and Sno*Drift]

10:30 AM on Thu Jan 31 2008
By Matt Hardigree
3,491 views, 51 comments

Latest by n/a: The mansqueak was me. You try looking up out of the notes at 80mph just to see a side of venison come flashing out of the woods from the left. But the beeps were Travis. Apparently, he saw other deer just more »

racing

Waving to the Masses: Driver POV From Rally de Wallonie 2005

There's nothing like a good rally driver-POV video clip to kick a lazy Tuesday into the troposphere. This, from Belgum's Rally de Wallonie in 2005 shows a Porsche GT3 996 being piloted by a driver unafraid to wave back at the crowd following tricky cornering maneuvers. That's what we call rally spirit. Oh, and no crap Euro synth pop to ruin the whole thing. [Thanks to Travis for the tip.]

9:15 AM on Tue Nov 13 2007
By Mike Spinelli
1,308 views, 39 comments

racing

Group N Spec Mitsubishi Evo X: To Be Course Cars for WRC Japan

Tis the season for the new Mitsubishi Evo X to invade our consciousness like a reoccurring yen for BBQ-flavored potato chips. Whatever your vice, Mitsubishi's latest news is its latest evo, in Group N rally spec, will be pressed into duty as course cars for the upcoming WRC rally stop in Hokkaido, Japan later this month. The cars are fitted with a full roll cage, purpose-built running gear, brakes and close-ratio gearbox from Ralliart. The new Evo will be properly homologated for FIA World Rally competition (naturally), with the first rally models to hit the international circuit by the second half of 2008 or early 2009. Click through for press release. More »

1:45 PM on Mon Oct 8 2007
By Mike Spinelli
3,293 views, 20 comments

Latest by sweeper240: The EVO looks great, MUCH better than the new WRX... I hope that the general public answers with a completely lopsided aggregate purchase order for the EVO X. more »

in memoriam

A Tribute to Colin McRae

With the magnitude of this weekend's loss becoming clearer with each passing news story, we kept busy by cutting together some footage from Colin McRae's career into a Jalopnik tribute clip. We only wish there could be more.

8:08 AM on Mon Sep 17 2007
By Mike Spinelli
3,461 views, 6 comments

Latest by ElChupacabura: The new 0-60 Magazine has a recent article about Colin, it's a great read. He is truly amazing. My heart goes out to his family. more »

transcontinental policeway

Polizei on the Londino

Herr Roy and his compatriot Mister Ross are off to galavant about the Old Country again, this time in an unmarked, mystery-Polizei vehicle (we're guessing that it might be a Continental GTC, but have no conformation from Ross nor Roy on that at this point). The event? The Londino, a transnational treasure-hunt/tour of sorts where men and women of a certain stature travel from London to Portofino merely on a series of hints. If one of the tasks is to bring back Jeff Ott, a la Paul Curran's legendary Benicia treasure hunt immortalized in Cometbus, we'll poop. We'll poop twice if they actually pull it off. [Team Polizei]

2:00 PM on Tue Aug 21 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
787 views, 5 comments

Latest by Turboner: @Evil Rick Wagoner: I took a date to see that movie. Worst. Mistake. Ever. Didn't get laid, didn't even FEEL like getting laid after that... BTW, can you just poop on command? I usually wait till it's on deck before I more »

policing south jersey

Herr Roy Goes to E-Town

During Alex Roy's long association with Jalopnik, we've come to regard his M5 as something of a piece of folk art; a snot-beat, pricey machine that's likely done more of what it was designed to do than just about any other E39 built. Herr Roy, of course, is a showman, and while his steed of choice is generally considered one of the finest cars of the last three decades, it's still a seven-year-old blue sedan. But somehow with the addition of antennae, stickers and Albanian goat-track dust, it becomes something else. It's almost a parody of the CSL Batmobiles in a way, but just as deadly in its own right. Alex and our pals Jeff Musical, Emil Rensing and Rob Ferretti took the M5 and a few other chips of the Bruce block down to Englishtown for the VW/Audi show at Waterfest over the weekend. It was bad enough that Roy showed up in a Bimmer. Worse? Rensing brought his F430. [Team Polizei]

3:20 PM on Wed Jul 25 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,052 views, 6 comments

Latest by Ray Wert: @yourk: J.F., it's OK. At least one of us knows your name. more »

armed with a lancia

Some Stratos Goodness

The Lancia Stratos, of course, is one of the most completely, totally and amazingly stupid-rad cars ever built. We have no idea what the narrator is saying besides "Lancia, "Stratos" and "Bertone," but in the end, it matters not. Just look at the goldurn thing and feel warm, fuzzy and altogether too happy that humanity managed to build such a device. Also, scope the Stratos show car in motion. Jeepers!

11:00 PM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
754 views, 15 comments

monster 'zook!

Hoontastic XL7 Seeks Pikes Peak Pwnage

Mister Rod Millen, Monster Tajima has your 1994 Pikes Peak Hill Climb record in his sights and he's picked one of the most astonishing Suzukis this side of a turbine-powered Gixxer to make his run at your 10:04:06 time. Featuring a whole bunch of race-spec equipment, not the least of which is its twin-turbo, thousand-horsepower GM V6. We're ascared of this machine. Incredibly ascared. [Suzukisport via Autoblog]

8:45 PM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,303 views, 15 comments

street car, rally car, f1 car

Clarkson vs. Herbert vs. McRae

Here's an obviously old bit we'd never run across before — Clarkson arranges three Ford products on the starting line at Silverstone — a Cougar, Colin McRae's WRC Focus and Johnny Herbert's Stewart F1 machine — and gives himself a flying head start with Herbert leaving in the tail-end position. Watch and get stoked.

8:45 PM on Mon Jul 16 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,550 views, 17 comments

rolling thunder, thor!

Volvo is Latin for 'I Roll'

Somehow we think that when the good people at SKF launched the Volvo brand eighty years ago, this sort of rolling wasn't exactly what they had in mind. Nevertheless, the stout Swede handles this spill with aplomb.

7:30 PM on Mon Jul 16 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
371 views, 9 comments

adventures in audiovisual disconnect

Two-Stroke Screaming Song of the Saab

The best thing about two-stroke Saab rally cars, besides the Scandanavian dung-beetle styling, is that they sound like they're moving at roughly five to eight times the speed of light when they're well, not exactly going that fast.

Saab 96 2-stroke singing [YouTube]

Related:
La Carrera Panamericana: Mothers of the Pearl [Internal]

7:45 PM on Wed Jul 11 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,398 views, 22 comments

check out all its majesty

The Majesty of the Safari Rally

When we were at the Detroit Auto Show last January, we marveled at the Lancer GSR that'd carried Jogander "The Flying Sikh" Singh to victory on the '74 Safari Rally, wondering how on earth somebody would bomb across Kenya in such a machine. But bomb to victory he did, as have many others since 1953. Sit back, relax, gape in awe and play spot-the-Stratos. – Davey G. Johnson More »

6:45 PM on Fri Jun 29 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
620 views, 13 comments

Jalopnik

2009 BMW 7-Series Thinks It's KITT, Has Human-Detecting Night Vision

Gawker Media Network