Seven 9s and 10s

POV Rally Champion Mark Higgins Near Crash at 150 mph @ 2011 Isle of Man TT (by RoadandTrack)

This is a truly remarkable save. Crashing at 150mph on the brick-wall-lined streets of Mann would be absolutely devastating. Survival would be impressive, regardless of the amount of safety equipment in your car.

Last weekend I watched Mark’s brother David win STPR. Impressive driving ability runs in the family.

High-res ronbailey: 2010 Ford Fiesta - Monster WRC via cache.gawker.com I’ve got some conflicting feelings about Ken Block’s new contract with Ford. On the one hand - as a Subaru-fanboy - it’s sad to see his great relationship with Subaru come to an end.  It was mutually beneficial to Subaru, to Ken, and to Ken’s DC brand.  His Gymkhana videos are the things of legend. On the other hand, an American driver (Ken) racing an American brand (Ford) in the biggest rally series in the world (WRC) should do good things for the popularity of rally in America.  Hopefully he finds some success when playing with the big boys in his seven WRC events.  Success could help shed the international impression that America doesn’t care about rally (which is generally the truth), and more importantly, it could help grow the popularity of rally in America.  However, I anticipate that he will not be successful. I predict that he won’t finish at least 4 of the 7 events, and in those events he does finish I think he’ll be well down the leaderboard, scoring points in none. He’s proven that he can be competitive in Rally America when he doesn’t drive recklessly and he keeps his car on the road, but if he can’t even consistently beat Travis Pastrana in this country, why should anyone believe he’ll be able to even compete with WRC upstarts Sebastien Ogier and Evgeny Novikov - let alone super-talented veterans Mikko Hirvonen and 6-time world champion Sebastien Loeb - in international rally? Regardless, the new Fiesta is a nice looking machine and Ford’s full-time commitment to Rally America is a good thing. Competition is a good thing.  The Mitsubishi EvoX has proven to be a bit of a disappointment in professional rally (although it’s been a tremendous success in the consumer market), and I look forward to seeing if the Fiesta can give Subaru and the STI a run for it’s money.

ronbailey:

2010 Ford Fiesta - Monster WRC

via cache.gawker.com

I’ve got some conflicting feelings about Ken Block’s new contract with Ford.

On the one hand - as a Subaru-fanboy - it’s sad to see his great relationship with Subaru come to an end.  It was mutually beneficial to Subaru, to Ken, and to Ken’s DC brand.  His Gymkhana videos are the things of legend.

On the other hand, an American driver (Ken) racing an American brand (Ford) in the biggest rally series in the world (WRC) should do good things for the popularity of rally in America.  Hopefully he finds some success when playing with the big boys in his seven WRC events.  Success could help shed the international impression that America doesn’t care about rally (which is generally the truth), and more importantly, it could help grow the popularity of rally in America.  However, I anticipate that he will not be successful. I predict that he won’t finish at least 4 of the 7 events, and in those events he does finish I think he’ll be well down the leaderboard, scoring points in none.

He’s proven that he can be competitive in Rally America when he doesn’t drive recklessly and he keeps his car on the road, but if he can’t even consistently beat Travis Pastrana in this country, why should anyone believe he’ll be able to even compete with WRC upstarts Sebastien Ogier and Evgeny Novikov - let alone super-talented veterans Mikko Hirvonen and 6-time world champion Sebastien Loeb - in international rally?

Regardless, the new Fiesta is a nice looking machine and Ford’s full-time commitment to Rally America is a good thing. Competition is a good thing.  The Mitsubishi EvoX has proven to be a bit of a disappointment in professional rally (although it’s been a tremendous success in the consumer market), and I look forward to seeing if the Fiesta can give Subaru and the STI a run for it’s money.

High-res 8:30a - Woke up, caught up on Tumblr and Twitter, decided to avoid the Simplify Media trend. 10:15a - Dropped Outback off for service, picked up loaner car. 10:30a-1:25p - Drove to Canandaigua and intentionally got myself lost driving my zippy loaner around the lake on country roads I’ve never seen before.  Stopped to take photos a few times; I think there are a few very good shots. 1:40p-2p - Took a nap (in the loaner) in the parking lot of Finger Lakes Race Track. 2:10p-present - Enjoying a strawberry-lemonade smoothie & reading about the history of Roosevelt Island at Cole & Parks, staring at my phone, waiting for Van Bortel to call and tell me my car is ready. present-future - !^&@%%$&^@&*(!^%@%$^!@#dead

  • 8:30a - Woke up, caught up on Tumblr and Twitter, decided to avoid the Simplify Media trend.
  • 10:15a - Dropped Outback off for service, picked up loaner car.
  • 10:30a-1:25p - Drove to Canandaigua and intentionally got myself lost driving my zippy loaner around the lake on country roads I’ve never seen before.  Stopped to take photos a few times; I think there are a few very good shots.
  • 1:40p-2p - Took a nap (in the loaner) in the parking lot of Finger Lakes Race Track.
  • 2:10p-present - Enjoying a strawberry-lemonade smoothie & reading about the history of Roosevelt Island at Cole & Parks, staring at my phone, waiting for Van Bortel to call and tell me my car is ready.
  • present-future - !^&@%%$&^@&*(!^%@%$^!@#dead