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Another round of the ARC, and another win for Toyota. Simon Evans didn't have things all his own way with Steve Glenney, Eli Evans and Spencer Lowndes providing some early resistance. But Evans and his Group N(P) Corolla are in a league of their own at the moment, walking away with the win as others faltered.

Second place was a good return for Neal Bates, who's hard work on the S2000 Corolla is starting to pay off, while Spencer Lowndes out-smarted the faster cars around him and capture third for the event.




Photos courtesy of Toyota Racing Development, Pirtek Rally Team and Redline Photographics.


Music this week from:

Lover - Never. Their 2007 debut release features the award winning (2006 ABC Newcastle Music Awards, Best Rock Performance), dance-floor-cutter, 'Never', which was recorded under the sonic guidance of Rob Taylor (The Whitlams, Screaming Jets, INXS). The CD is available from the bands MySpace page.


Dirty Pink Jeans - Dance. The 4-piece from Melbourne are gigging locally during September and October. Check out dates at their MySpace page, and their 5-track EP is available for purchase here.


Cassette Kids - Acrobat. Cassette Kids are an up and coming new wave, indie/dance band from Sydney. The Kids formed in early 2007 and strip their music back to its basics. The Kids are currently working on their debut EP, which will be hitting the stores and ready for consumption in early November. But in the mean time, you can hear more from Cassette Kids at their MySpace page.


If you like the song, email the artist and let them know. Or, better still, buy a CD!


Background music: Cargo Cult - 'Wed' (courtesy of Magnatune). Incidental music by Derek K. Miller.


Technorati Tags: Rally NSW, Great Lakes Rally, Simon Evans, Neal Bates, Eli Evans, Dean Herridge, Michael Guest, Darren Windus, Brenden Reeves, Super 2000 Toyota Corolla, Super 2000 Ford Fiesta ARC, Australian Rally Championship, V8 Supercars, V8SC, Formula 1

Labels: ARC, Rally

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Sorry everyone; I've run out of time to put a show together this week. But TheDogBox #76, with coverage of the NSW round of the Australian Rally Championship, will be out next week.

As the rally world comes to terms with the untimely and tragic death of Colin McRae, World Rally Radio have produced a wonderful tribute podcast, including interviews with Nicky Grist, David Richards.

You can download or listen to the podcast here.

Photos courtesy of fraise and magpie967.

Labels: Rally, WRC

'Hot off the press', here's the latest video from Rally Indonesia.



(Also available at YouTube).

Labels: APRC, Rally

It's been nearly two years since the ARC visited my home state, New South Wales. And for me, it has lots of good memories.



Photos by Serdar

The round had moved away from the Central Coast (where I grew up) to Bathurst, and provided the opportunity to watch the super specials from the roof of the pit complex at Mount Panorama.

They began on the race track start line, ran through Hell Corner and then made a left-hand turn onto the dirt course constructed behind the pit buildings. It not only offered a great view, it also allowed you to wander downstairs and eyeball the crews working on their cars in the pits.

Mt Panorama also offered the first view of Fords brand new, rear-wheel drive, Group N(P) Focus. After promising all year they would contest the last couple of ARC rounds, the new Ford team had run out of time. But at least we could walk up and have a sticky-beak through the windows.

Of course, this was the last time we saw the Subaru Australia team, and the last time Cody Crocker won an ARC round. (He'd well and truly wrapped up the '05 title before coming to Bathurst). And it was also the last time we'd see Juha Kangas in Australia, the popular Finn bowing out of the ARC in a Les Walkden Subaru.

There was a great fight between Dean Herridge and Simon Evans. In the end, it was Dean who claimed second in both the rally and the championship.

The 'bad luck' award went to Scott Pedder, who started the event holding 2nd place in the championship. But a big accident on day 1 saw him DNF the opening leg, and when the weather intervened during Sunday, he wasn't able to score enough points to hold off Herridge and Evans.

But for me, my most lasting memory was of Sunday. After a gloriously sunny Saturday, Sunday was cold and wet and miserable.

We got down to the Bobs Creek early and grabbed a good spot, and waited. And as it got closer to the start of the first stage, it got colder and it got mistier. 15 minutes or so before the first car was due, a mob of 'roos hopped their way down the course, although it was bit hard to see them, the mist reducing visibility to about 10 metres or so.

And then to add insult to injury, it started to bucket down.

I don't think I've ever been as wet as that Sunday in October 2005. The road became so muddy, the zero car nearly went off at a 90 deg left-hander. One or two competitors made it through before the stages were cancelled.

There were a couple of super specials left to run, but we decided to head home, and I almost had a head-on with Eli Evans on the road back to the highway.

All up, it was a great weekend. The sort of memories you can't get on TV, and you can't get sitting in a grandstand. And that's what I love about rallying.

Labels: ARC, Rally

The wraps have been official taken off the '08 Subaru Impreza, launched ahead of the
Frankfurt motor show by Petter Solberg.





In their press release, Subaru say the car represents a fundamentally new approach to the Impreza, and they will commence testing before the end of the year.

"We are on schedule with development of the 2008 car and the first body shell will be completed within a matter of weeks. We aim to be running the car in the last quarter of this year, and its competitive debut will be decided by the progress of testing and also that of the current car." - Richard Taylor, SWRT.

Source: Subaru World Rally Team

Labels: Rally, WRC

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At last! Someone else wins! Jussi Valimaki dominated Rally Indonesia from start to finish, while Katsu Taguchi banked solid times all weekend to take 2nd. The MRF Lancers turned around the disaster of Malaysia, for their best finish since the opening round in New Caledonia.

A simple mistake by Cody Crocker midway through leg 1 wrecked his event, 5th his worst result of the last two seasons. But even 5th scored him enough points to claim back-to-back APRC titles.




Thanks to www.jussivalimaki.com for some of the audio interviews featured in this podcast.

Labels: APRC, Rally

Another tough day of rallying in Indonesia, and Finland's Jussi Valimaki made the most of his great start on day 1, to complete the event at the top of the time sheets. Valimaki claimed his second win of the season, nearly a minute ahead of his MRF team-mate Katsu Taguchi.



With wins on the two morning stages, Valimaki remained in the top three all day to take the win, jumping into second place in the series.

But coming home with a 'wet sail' was Motor Image Subaru driver Cody Crocker, winning the final four stages of the rally and taking his second APRC championship title.

Although he was unable to improve on his 5th place from Saturdays stages, Valimaki's maximum points haul means Taguchi will not be able to catch Crocker in the championship, even if the Motor Image driver fails to score points at the final round in China.

Hiroshi Yanagisawa put his DNF in Malaysia behind him to claim the final podium position, and climb past Rifat Sungkar in the battle for 4th place in the championship. The Japanese driver is now just one point behind India's Naren Kumar, who was forced to retire mid-way through leg 2.

The podcast of Rally Indonesia, with all the details of the rally and interviews with the drivers, will be available for download from aprclive.com from Tuesday morning.

Unofficial Final Results:

1. Jussi Valimaki
2. Katsuhiko Taguchi +1:41
3. Hiroshi Yanagisawa +2:45
4. Gaurav Gill +4:24
5. Cody Crocker +4:39
6. Rifat Sungkar +6:39
7. Brian Green +16:12

Photo courtesy of jussivalimaki.com

Labels: APRC, Rally

In a shock turn-around to the APRC season, Jussi Valimaki and his MRF Lancer has blown away the rest of the field to lead after eight stages of Rally Indonesia.

And even more surprising, after a near trouble-free run all season, the man who looks most likely to take the title, Cody Crocker, has had his worst day of the season, 5th at the end of the leg and trailing Valimaki by a massive four and half minutes.

After a disastrous Rally Malaysia, the MRF Lancer team have turned it around in Indonesia, with Valimaki taking seven of the days eight stages, only bettered on stage 2 by his team-mate Katsu Taguchi.

By contrast Crocker and his team-mate, local hero Rifat Sungkar, have had a day to forget, unable to match the MRFs on the slow and dusty Sulawesi stages. By midday service, Crocker was just two seconds behind second-placed Taguchi. But after lunch he struck trouble, dropping two minutes on stage 6 and hemorrhaging more time on the final two stages of the day.

Another six stages await the crews on Sunday, and Crocker will need to catch Gaurav Gill, more than a minute ahead of him, to capture 4th place and enough points to seal the championship ahead of the final round in China.

Unofficial Results Leg 1 (Updated)
1 Jussi Valimaki 1:46:55
2 Katsuhiko Taguchi 1:47:52
3 Hiroshi Yanagisawa 1:48:53
4 Gaurav Gill 1:49:42
5 Cody Crocker 1:51:24
6 Naren Kumar 1:51:28
7 Rifat Sungkar 1:51:39
8 Brian Green 1:55:46


Photo: jussivalimaki.com

Labels: APRC, Rally

I mentioned on TheDogBox #75 there's a rumour going around that Volkswagen is preparing two Super 2000 spec Polos for entry into next years Australian Rally Championship.

I wasn't able to confirm the speculation in time for the show, but today Jon Dawe, GM of Press and PR at VW Australia contacted me to say: "From a factory perspective we have no involvement with the Australian Rally Championship next year."

Labels: ARC, Rally

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Rally NZ 2007; it will probably go down as one of the great fights of WRC history. Sebastien Loeb almost grabbed an up-set win. But after losing the lead at the end of day 2, Marcus Gronholm came from behind to snatch victory. 350kms of stages over three days, the two were split by just 0.3 second.

There's a great little video of Latvala on the Whaanga Coast stage up at YouTube.




Photos courtesy of Alan MacDonald (Macspeed Photography) and Taniwhaiti.

Plus, Ed Ordynski steps down as ARCom chairman, and rumours of new manufacturers for the ARC; Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and possible Volkswagen (????).

Music this week from:

The Ember Days - Your Eyes Light Up. From their brand new album "Your Eyes Light Up", which is being released on September 10 in New Zealand. For international orders, you can purchase the CD directly from The Ember Days MySpace page.


Edwin Derricutt - Stay. Right from the very first chord I thought this was an album I was going to enjoy, and I haven’t changed my mind. The songs are well written, reflecting a thoughtfulness of notable faith and conviction. - Tim Page, NZ Musician Magazine.

You can purchase Edwins debut CD from CD Baby.


Tim Finn - Incognito In California (mp3) from "Feeding The Gods" (What Are Records). One of the most influential Kiwi artists over the last 30 years, Tim Finn has created an impressive body of work. Whether partnering brother Neil in Split Enz and Crowded Horse, or recording his solo albums, Tim Finn legacy can be heard in the recordings of antipodean bands of the past two decades. Buy it at eMusic or Napster


Background music: Cargo Cult - 'Fifth' and 'Helium' (courtesy of Magnatune). Incidental music by Derek K. Miller.


If you like the song, email the artist and let them know. Or, better still, buy a CD!


Technorati Tags: Rally New Zealand, Marcus Gronholm, Mikko Hirvonnen, Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson, Sebastien Loeb, Francois Duval, Dani Sordo, Henning Solberg, ARC, Australian Rally Championship, V8 Supercars, V8SC

Labels: Rally, WRC