As part of our coverage of the Paris Auto Show, we decided to throw in some bonus galleries of cars we thought were cool but didn’t quite fit with the rest of our coverage. Paris was the site for a lot of important competition cars from French manufacturers, like the Peugeot HDi LeMans car, the...
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MINI‘s long awaited WRC entry debuted at the Paris Auto Show Thursday as the MINI Countryman WRC, flanked by rally heroes such as David Richards (founder of Prodrive) and Jean Todt, president of the FIA, flanked the car as it revved its engine for all to hear. The sounds of a rally-built 4-cylinder filled the...
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Ford’s new challenger for the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, the all-new Fiesta RS World Rally Car, made its first global public appearance at the Paris Motor Show today. The Fiesta RS WRC will make its competition debut in Rally Sweden, the opening round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, on 10 – 13...
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With the huge success of their C4 rally car, Citroen has a lot to prove with their DS3 successor. Having already claimed three driver’s championships and two manufacturer’s championships in four quick years, the DS3 will have a ton to live up to. Obviously the playing field is a tad different with the new 2011...
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MINI will officially debut the new Countryman WRC rally car at the Paris Auto Show later this week. A selection of spy photos and videos of the car have already surfaced online, but MINI has been quick to clarify that the car was not wearing its official WRC bodywork. Joining the WRC car will be...
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Rhys Millen, pilot of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe Formula D car, will drive a Hyundai Accent WRC car at the U.S. Rallycross Championship in New Jersey on October 2-3 and November 6-7. “We’ve really benefited from our Genesis Coupe Formula Drift partnership with Rhys, and so we’ve decided to expand on that with this move...
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Last week we reported that MINI’s new Countryman WRC had completed its initial shakedown, and now we’ve got a trio of videos to prove it. The Prodrive-developed WRC car has been testing out in Portugal with Markko Märtin behind the wheel. As we mentioned before, the aerodynamics seen on the MINI Countryman WRC currently won’t...
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As part of Ford’s latest Fiesta promotion, Ford is enlisting the help of NASCAR stars Richard Petty and A.J. Allmendinger as well as newly minted rally legend Ken Block. The contest, called “43 Fiestas“, has Ford giving away 43 flat screen TVs, 43 ticket-and-hotel packages to the Ford NASCAR 400 Sprint Cup race and one...
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MINI‘s new Countryman WRC car has just completed its initial “shakedown” by Prodrive, the incredibly successful motorsports company that is building the rally car. More importantly, however, we’ve been provided with the first glimpse at the rally version of the MINI crossover, with a massive rear spoiler, big off-road tires and a significantly lowered suspension....
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Saab is reportedly considering a return to the World Rally Championship. News of this exciting development comes after executives at Saab’s new parent company (Dutch sports car maker Spyker) recently met with WRC bosses in private. Not having competed in the world’s premiere rally car series since 1979, the Swedish automaker is believed to be...
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Subaru has teamed up with famed rally car builder Vermont SportsCar to prepare two rally cars for their X-Games drivers, Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra and Sverre Isachsen. Starting with a 2011 WRX STI, the Vermont SportsCar crew stripped everything out of the interior and did the requisite rollcage and seam welding jobs needed to make...
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Now that Ford has wrestled Ken Block away from the clutches of Subaru, the company is looking to leverage their alliance with the internet superstar beyond their collaboration with the new Fiesta and the upcoming rally car based off the compact hatchback. In an interview with radio station KROQ, Block was asked about a special...
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MINI has officially announced that it will enter the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year, teaming up with Prodrive and running a Countryman crossover. The MINI Countryman WRC is being developed by the legendary Prodrive race team (which helped Subaru win six championships) to run part of the 2011 season as it prepares for a...
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To build hype for the upcoming Rally Finland, reigning WRC Champions Citroen have released ten of their best “big-air” photos from this year’s rallies in Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden. Having attended a few rallies ourselves, we know a thing or two about getting big air in a car, and we like it. The...
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Rumors that MINI will enter the World Rally Championship have been swirling for almost a year now, but that could all end later this week. According to the most recent reports, MINI will confirm its intentions to join the WRC series later this week with renowned British racing firm Prodrive set to take over operations...
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As Ford Racing just announced, they will be supplying 43 Fiestas to the Team O’Neil Rally School in New Hampshire in order to create the Fiesta Rally School. The O’Neil Rally School will outfit each Fiesta with a roll bar, rally suspension, and off-road tires so that aspiring rally drivers can safely learn the Scandinavian...
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With the demise of Mitsubishi’s Dakar rally program, Volkswagen has stepped in to fill the void left by the iconic Pajero rally truck. The Race Touraeg has performed admirably, but Volkswagen driver Carlos Sainz demanded that the Race Touraeg 3 be a significant step forward from previous iterations. While the Race Touraeg 2 was mechanically...
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“It’s been a while since I’ve used ‘Toyota” and ‘awesome’ in the same sentence,” said one AutoGuide staffer, “but these pictures are really cool.” Toyota played a large roll in this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, displaying some cool race and road cars, and the company was wise enough to take a whole bunch of pictures...
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According to a recent report by Car & Driver, the 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI sedan is three years late to the party for a number of reasons. Initially, Subaru decided to focus its efforts on the hatchback body style for the current generation STI because of advantages this body shape would provide their WRC...
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Despite Toyota‘s lack of results in Formula 1 racing, the Japanese automaker has had considerable success in rally racing. With their TTE performance division having significant ties to Europe, Toyota is planning to show off some of their important rally cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. The Celica ST185 and the Corolla WRC will...
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Toyota appears set to return to the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year after an absence from the sport of over a decade. Last week we reported on Toyota’s fact-finding missions at several WRC races, and now the Japanese automaker has been linked to Prodrive – a motorsports company that helped Subaru rise to fame...
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After being kicked out of the WRC for cheating, and then coming back to win the championship in 1999, it’s safe to say that Toyota has had an interesting history with the World Rally Championship. Whatever you think of the team, their white and green Castrol livery is still one of the most iconic examples...
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MINI is set to join the World Rally Championship in 2012, competing with the new Countryman crossover. Rumors to this extent swirled just ahead of the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year where the Countryman was unveiled, but nothing ever came of it. The MINI fans at MotoringFile say the project is still in the...
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Mikko Hirvonen has done an admirable job in WRC. Despite never winning a championship, Hirvonen has stepped into the shoes of legendary driver Marcus Gronholm as Ford’s new factory driver, regularly battling the reigning champion, Sebastian Loeb. When Hirvonen isn’t flinging the Ford Focus WRC car through various rally stages, he can be found driving...
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